Familiedag.

Hebt u dat ook, Familiedagen? Vast wel, want iedereen heeft nou eenmaal familie en die moet je af en toe zien.

Ik had vandaag familiedag, van mijn moederskant, waar zij de jongste is van 7, en mijn ooms dus opa van me zouden kunnen zijn en mijn nichten en neven al getrouwd zijn en 3 kinderen onder de 10 hebben.

Hebt u dat ook, dat u sommige mensen vaak ziet, en andere mensen eigenlijk nooit, maar dat u tijdens zo'n familiedag toch praat met de mensen die je wel wat beter kent? Ik denk dat ik weet hoe dat komt. Namelijk, mensen die jou al kennen hoef je niet het hele verhaal over je studie en over je hele afgelopen levensjaar te vertellen en u hebt aan uw kant weer wat meer dingen over de ander waar u naar kunt vragen. Een update krijgen is per slot van rekening leuker dan een heel verhaal opnieuw te moeten vertellen.

In de auto hadden we ( mijn broer+aanhang, moeder en vader) het er al even over. Jaarlijkse familiedagen, waar je dan die standaart vragen, die saaie antwoorden, en awkward gesprekken hebt zonder dat je het nu ook echt heel leuk vind, maar omdat je elkaar nooit vaker ziet kan je nooit echt verder met elkaar leren kennen, want dan is het al weer zo lang geleden. Daarom bedachten we allemaal hele rare, genante vragen die we dan aan mensen konden stellen zodat wij tenminste niet saaie verhalen hoeven te houden die we zelf al zo vaak verteld hadden. Vragen als : Hoe zit dat nou, met de overgang? Of, wie van uw broers heeft U het meest lief? Maar ook kwam ik op vragen als : Wat is er het moeilijkst aan uw huwelijk? Of, Wat betekend de Heilige Geest voor u? Of: Wat denkt U over de toekomst? Ik heb ze niet allemaal gesteld, het voelt ook wel heel raar om zomaar dit soort vragen te stellen.

Toch, het was een heel andere dag geweest als ik het wel gedaan had, dat kan ik je zo ook vertellen.

Get away

Even 4 dagen relaxen in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland.

Bas.

Er gebeuren heel veel leuke dingen.

De grootste daarvan is vakantie, daar ben ik nu mee bezig. Om zondagavond lekker rond surfen op het net, gewoon omdat het kan en omdat ik morgen toch kan slapen tot zo laat ik wil.

Ik studeer natuurlijk in Almere, en daarom heb ik aanstaande week dus vakantie.

Iets wat ik veel zal doen deze week is spelen op onze nieuwste gezinsuitbreiding:

De Semi-akkoestische bas die mijn papa gekocht heeft.

Ik wil er een naam voor verzinnen, maar ik ben daar nog niet klaar voor. Ik moet het beestje eerst beter leren kennen voordat ik er een geschikte naam voor heb. We zijn allemaal ongelofelijk blij met dit nieuwe gitaartje en hij zal ook veel gebruikt worden ( door mij, of een ander). Ik wil op basles, want hoewel ik de noten we ken, en ook het octaaf wel te vinden weet, werken mijn vingers toch niet altijd zo fijn mee en klinkt het niet altijd even goed. Met wat les moet dat verholpen worden, ga ik zo van uit!

Ik zie hem staan en mijn hart word blij. Hij is zo mooi. Zijn hals zo mooi slank doch sterk, ik krijg rillingen wanneer zijn lagen tonen tot mij komen. Hij wacht geduldig totdat ik hem uitnodig om op mijn schoot te rusten en al hij daar dan is verblijd hij mij op zijn tijd weer met de mooie klanken uit zijn buikje.

Voel ik mij alleen, dan weet ik dat hij mij altijd verblijden kan.

Sunday lover

Het komt, door mij drukke bestaan, tegenwoordig niet zoveel meer voor, zo'n zondag als deze. Natuurlijk is elke zondag een beetje hetzelfde, omdat ik me altijd soort van brak en uitgerust tegelijk voel, maar deze zondag gaf me een soort gevoel van : ah, lekker weer zoals vroeger.

Na de kerk pannekoeken gegeten met M. en A. terwijl er goeie grappen, mooie gedachtes en fijne woorden werden uitgewisseld terwijl de zon hard haar best deed er wat moois van proberen te maken. ( dat lukte goed overigens)

Daarna naar huis om mijn papa, mama, grote broer,vriendin van grote broer en kleine broer over te halen om naar buiten te gaan (want de zon was zich nog steeds aan het uitsloven) en zijn toen op het Wekeromse zand uitgekomen. Heerlijk! Dikke trui aan, muts, handschoenen, stevige schoenen, lekkere sjaal en gaan! De wind in m'n gezicht, uitkijkend over de zandvlakte en de mooie bomen aan de zijkant, op zoek naar een mooie klimboom. Bij het vennetje nog gezocht naar zonnedauw( want met werkweek hadden we die gevonden) maar helaas niet gevonden.

Mooie bomen uitgezocht om een potje fanatiek boomtikkertje te doen en flink te lachen.

Fijn naast mama lopen terwijl we de mooie wolken bewonderen die de mannen zo op de wolken van independence day vinden lijken.

Diep en hard duiken in het zand om zo cool mogelijk de frisbee te vangen en er later achter komen dat dat duiken helemaal geen zin heeft, maar dat het best leuk is om zonder echt een rede te hebben in het zand te vallen en net niets te breken.

Natuurlijk mensen van de kerk tegen komen, want zo werkt dat op zondagmiddag wandelen. Kort stichtelijk praatje maken, maar dan vooral weer verder lopen om zelf van de natuur te genieten.
Heel eventjes legertje gespeeld, maar er waren niet echt heuveltjes om achter te verschuilen en papa en mama konden ons nog steeds zien, dus daar was de lol ook snel van af.

Uitgeput weer bij de auto aankomen, want rennen in mul zand is best vermoeiend, hoe leuk het ook is. En de wind en de kou maakt je ook altijd een stuk moeier aanvoelen dan dat je bent.

Na het eten fijn club gehad, waar we programma gemaakt hebben en waar ik tot de realisatie kwam dat we best een fijn clubje zijn!

Ik kan genieten van zo'n dag als deze, waarbij er in je achterhoofd een gedachte zit die zegt : zou je je tijd niet beter kunnen benutten?. maar de stem die roept : je houdt van mensen, ga naar buiten, ontmoet mensen, doe fijne dingen"is altijd een stukje sterker. En daarom voel ik me nu zo fijn, omdat het zo goed voelt om met mensen te zijn waar je van houdt. Wat klinkt dat lekker afgezaagd. maar zo mag het dus ook zijn en zo simpel kan het dus ook zijn.

Dit gevoel ga ik bewaren voor de week,

succes ermee!

I know now

You know what ym dad does what he has a little bit of time left?

He watched the news. First at channel 1, thatn 2, than 3. And I was sorting out my mail, so I could hear the news too. Three times. I think it's kind of stupid my dad watches it three times, but I do see the benefit of it, too.

Because my dad watched the news three times, I now know everything about the cloud of ash coming from a vulcano from iceland. I know that is is about 5 kilometers high, and that many flights are cancelled, and that there are many people sleeping on the airport tonight and that the cloud will only go away if the wind changes or if it is going to rain but that is not very likely. They do not know how much it will cost eventually, and when the problem will be over.

Because my dad watched the news three times, I now know that Guus Hiddink is no longer the coach of the Belgium soccer team, he left after half a year. He is also coach at AZ ( dutch soccer team). It is not totally true, but most likely he will become coach of the national soccerteam of Russia.

I also know now that the game between Ajax and Feyenoord ( two dtuch soccer teams) will be held two times, and that only the supporters of the team playing in their own place can come, so there won't be many fights..

I mean, I wouldn't have known all this if my dad didn't watched the news three times in a row..

WOW.

Lydia

What she said

Today was a good day.

I followed advice from Mirjam and just did things I liked ALL DAY LONG.

Sleep till 9.30, went with my little big brother to Utrecht to buy AMAZING clothe ( Simon did a good job, his new clothe are SOOO awesome) we ate real Belgium fries with REAL mayonaise, we walking in and out of shops, observed weird people in trains ( do you have ANY idea how cool it is to sit in a train and just look around and see other people having their life at the same time as you.. there was this lady on the phone hearing some kid she knew was catched by the police because of something really bad and we could hear her say everything! I would have liked some privacy, but she didn't need it. And there was this girl sitting next to me and her hair was really nice and she had this voice that reminded me of someone else. And Simon could see this guy make a nice computer graph design thing for a dutch soccerteam. And this ALL in 2 sqaure meters.. Isn't that unbelievable, how worlds can be so close and yet So far from eachother??)

ANYWAYS, I went to my horse, which was really sweet. I found a mouse in his food.. I wanted to kil it after I had catched it, but it run away faster than I could follow, so he got lucky.

And tonight I just have been hanging out with the computer and the mail I need to deliver tomorrow....

I will sleep tonight and not wake up early tommorow.

Love

SIEM

What can I tell about him? He is this kind of guy that is just in my life, whether I notice it or not. He's not allways been in my life, but I have been in his. I was there when he was just a few days old, and I was just a few years old.

When we were younger, we had this strange, but precious thing. When Simon wasn't born yet, I played with Josse, but now Simon was there, I had a whole new item! And I loved to play with Simon. He laughed more than he could talk. His hair was allmost white, his eyes big and blue, his smile made my heart jump everytime. When Simon was still a little young fella, he bited me sometimes. We would have a small fight, and Simon would bite me in the arm, or just anywhere he could. I would not bite back, I would hush him, and tell him I loved him still. Except for that one time he scratched me in my head, and I had a scar like Scar from the Lion King. My mum got pretty angry I think.

This are just small things I remember.

I also remember this boy of 5 years old, walking on a mountain of a hight that young boys liek that are even not suppose to be. He was strong! He was SO young, but still he was not tired, and just walked on top of it. That was sweet. When we played game in the little shack, he didn;t know the game, but he would randomly use the "Joker"Cart and make us all laugh.

The thing is, Simon still makes us laugh. Not with his "Ben je nog sterruk" joke (Are you still strong simon was a joke he did all the time, We would ask him, and he would pretend like he was showing of his arm muscles.. very cute) but with his humor. Let me tell you one thing about SImon: He has humor!

And today it is his birthday. 15 years, what do I have to do with that? I am his bigger sister, but he is getting big himself too!

That picture by the way, is pretty old! He'll not like it to see it. But I love it. See that smile? He still has that.

I love my Simon, and I always will. He is my little big brother HALLOO!

And today, he is more big that little..

Lydia

Across the Country of Germany

It was early Friday morning and the light of the sun was still on the other side of the world. Normally I am asleep then ( There is an exception though) and there is no sound in the house. But this friday, was not going to be a friday like others. So, why not change it first thing in the morning by waking up early! And that's what we all did. One earlier than the other, but before 7 am we sat around the table, ready for breakfeast. I preferto wake up alone, and eat my breakfeast in silent, but that was not going to happen. Luckily, I was to tired to really freak out, and so I kind of sat there in my own world, waiting to wake up.
As soon as I sat in the car, I closed my eyes again and slept for an hour of 2. I allways like that, sleeping in the car. It's the only oppertunity for me to sleep in my brothers arms ( which I love by the way, but don't tell him or he won't let me do it again).
We were going to Germany! In about half an hour, we were in Germany. To tell you, it does not feel any better. There is not a big difference between Holland and Germany. I guess the font of the sign next to the roads is different, there is no speed limit on the high ways, and, of course, everything is written in German. Other than that, it's like every other place. I somewhere expected to be cool again, because I had not been in Germany for a while. I thought It might be really fancy, because all my friends in America are SO jealous about the fact that I can be in Germany in 30 minutes.. To tell you the thruth, I find the fact that I drove or 30 hours in ONE COUNTRY more significant than being in Germany in half an hour. Oke, I am getting off with my story. Back to the point : being in the car was somewhat Boring, even though it was in Germany. Simon and Josse are pretty funny though, because they like to play Arnold Swachenegger and other weird types. That makes my mum laugh, and that makes me smile.
So, We went to Altastenberg, or Winterberg. The weather was not great, but hey, who cares! There was snow, there were no people ( and family the Leur likes things 1000 times better when there are not people everywhere) and failing was just not an option.
So, ski's on, and GO. I've cross-country skiied before, and Dad too, but as for Simon this was a WHOLE new experience.
Simon liked the falling the best. We liked it too. He would cross one Ski over the other, which caused him to get stuck in a really uncomfortable posistion with his legs all crooked and awkward, what made him scream and move even more funny, and than he would fall and laugh out loud in the cold snow. We laughed too, and waited till he was up again.

There was this one REAL steep hill. It was crazy when I think about it now we even went down! I said i had done it before, we went cross country skiing a couple times with school, and I thought I had done this before. So, I went first. When I increased speed the tears came rolling of my eyes, I was going pretty fast. When I was halfway, my knees were bend ( I was trying not fall, and with bended knees i was more stable) and my hands were waving in the air, and my mind was getting crazy. "I'VE NEVER BEEN SO FAST BEFORE. THIS IS DANGEROUS. DON'T DO THIS. WAIT, I AM DOING THIS. HOW AM I EVER GOING TO STOP. MAYBE I SHOULD JUST FALL. NO, I AM GOING WAY TO FAST FOR THAT. WAIT, IS THAT ICE I HAVE TO CROSS? I CERNTAINLY CAN'T FALL THERE, I WILL BREAK EVERY BONE IN MY BODY. I GUESS YOU JUST HAVE TO KEEP GOING. " It was dangerous. I went way to fast. There was this blurry sight ( my tears, remember) and i jsut really hoped i would make it to the end.
AND... I did! I did! Didn't break anything, didn't even fell. It was amazing, but i did realized this was not going to be good if my ( old) dad was going down ( without his new glasses, so he pobably coulnd;'t have seen a thing) this thing! So when I saw Josse coming down with that fear in his eyes, and that high scream, I was hoping he wouldn't break anything. He did not. Papa, mama and Simon went walking down. We all came back alive (I might have been overacting this a bit, but hey, it sound good. but there was a steep hill and it was dangerous.)

It was a long trip, and to tell you, not that easy, but it was beautiful. The trees had a deep green that made the forrest a bit mysterious. Allmost a bit Like Narnia ( I do tend to call every forrest with nice snow and quitness a "narnia forrest", but this one really was). It was a bit foggy, and wet, and I can allways smell the trees, which I love. There were places where big, square patches of untouched snow where you could look to the other side, with more hills with snow and trees. It wind was strong, but soft. It was not a painfull, cold wind. It was a soft wind, just pleasant and sweet.

After that we went to Winterberg, a cute German place, where I bought some postcards for my favorite American's and we went in to drink some coffee and eat some ApfelStrudel mit sahne. That was sweet ,and warm, and just all good. We walked around a bit more, to see the nice houses, which do look pretty German to me.

And than the way back. I was tired ( it seems Like I am allways tired when I am in the car) and so I slept for a while. My back and neck were really painful, so sleeping didn't went that well. We have the great ability to make up 'car-games' in a second. And so this trip, we made a new game. It's easy. The basic thing is : "Who first sees a ...... is the winner." No idea what you win, but you win. We've looked for many things. a dead dog, a car with a broken backlight, shoes, a woman with blond hair and glasses, a bald guy, a cross country skiier, a caravan, a tractor, a river, a soccerball, somthing pink, a police car, a car, and on and on and on. I've won MANY. So I am a winner. Loved that game :)

Stopping at McDonalds ( i knwo that's bad, but it reminded me of America SO much. Because somtimes we would go to some place, and on the way back, we went to Mcdonalds and could pick something of 2 Dollars, and that was jsut enough for lunch. And so we did the same today) We could buy something for 2 euro's. I picked the baked potatoes with sour cream. It was sweet ,and when we were home we made fries and watched the movie the Bucket list. WONDERFUL Film.
I remembered today I had made a bucketlist of things I wanted to do when I was in America.. Weird to see how i did not do anything of the list.
Want to know the list?
Maybe next time.

I have pictures
This was my friday, how was yours?
Lyd

For the sight.

My sweet, nice dad is not that old.

But old enough to need glasses.

And I went with him and my mum to pick glasses! This was REALLy fun, and i truly think my dad only looks even prettier with glasses.

This ones he didn't buy, but I liked them anyway.

Of course, I had to fit some too. And I found them

I even was HOPING I needed glasses, just so I could buy these ones...

Thý're only 29 Euro, so even if i don;t need glasses I could buy them ha!

Lydia