The weekend-as relaxing as every vacation day

1 July 2012

Sunday afternoon. Yesterday was a relaxing day and then the evening was filled with family.

In the morning Mom and I went into Emmen with Uncle Gerrit to do some shopping. I went to a bicycle shop. I love going to bike shops in other countries! I did find a couple cool accessories and some fun gifts. We then went into a shopping center and had our morning "coffee." There is a department store called Vroom & Dressman (V&D) and they have a small eatery there. I love the "gebak" (cakes and pasteries) in the Netherlands. Mom had a cake with cream filling covered with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and "red" berries. I had a pecan, apple, lemon tart/cake! Yummy...could have had tea, but chose to wash it down with Chocomel.

The great thing about being in the Netherlands is the easy familiarity of it. This is the 8th time I've been here (8 1/2, if you count in utero;-), including living here for a 1/2 year in college. I have favorite foods and places. The language and the pace are familiar. There are lots of relatives. There is such a familiarity, that I sometimes forget which things only exist here and which exist in America.

We had my other aunt and uncle (the "bicycle theif") over last night along with my 3 cousins and their kids. I had never met 2 of my cousin's kids and it had been 20 years since I'd seen my one cousin's wife. It has been a good 7-8 years since I'd seen everyone else in the Netherlands.

As far as the food familiarity, I just keep finding things that I love. We had Borrelnootjes ("beer nuts", but not like US beer nuts) and Kroepoek (Indonesian chips). I'm keeping a list of things I still want to eat while here.

The plans for the week are shaping up. A good balance of family time, visiting time, and just hanging out time!

This morning we went with Uncle Gerrit and Aunt Gre to church. I really like organ music...must be in my blood. 3 of my uncles are very musical and 2 play the organ. I also have a couple cousins who play and at least one of my cousin's kids. The church service has all organ playing. It's a "heavy" organ sound, but I really like it. My uncle sometimes plays, but wasn't playing today. There is a very distinct style to the music. I also got to hear Uncle Ger play at the house this morning, but it wasn't exactly the same style.

After lunch we went to Uelsem, Germany where my family has a vacation home. We met up with my cousin John and his wife Joke (pronounced "yoke ah") and rode with them back to their home in Amersfoort. We will be with them for the next 3 days. One of the highlights of the day was the delicious quiche for dinner. Yum and yum! Tomorrow we are heading to the Floriade, an international horticultural expo that only happens every 10 years.