Hello, Hello! I know I haven’t written in a while and I am sorry about that! Nevertheless, here is my next entry on my life’s journey in the Netherlands. I have yet to receive my visa, which makes me jobless but not fun-less. Since my last entry I have experienced Brussels, Sinterklass, and a Dutch course.
We will start with Brussels. As many of you know my old roomy from South Africa lives there! The great and wonderful Nele. She welcomed me with open arms a good beer and some chocolate. What better way to start off a girls weekend! My first night there I got to experience something only certain students can experience at Neles school. A baptism is what it’s called. The event is simply goes like this. You enter into a large party tent. Inside this party tent you will find the walls and ceiling is covered in large garbage bags. As you look around there are students dressed in surgical robes and funny hats. Each hat represents what department you belong. On the hat has stars that represents how many years you have been studying. Then there is a pin you receive once you have graduated that is put at the front right. Now that I have explained the outfit I will get to the party. The beer is free…they hand you two cups at a time. Everyone is standing around waiting for the baptism to begin. Then the curtains open to show a stage with naked people on it. This is the introduction to the baptism. It is older individuals how have already been baptised and are probable seniors. They give a little show and then all hell brakes loss. The freshmen start there play (naked). And everyone in the crow is going crazing. They are throwing this weird blue stuff at the people on stage and the crowed is getting covered in a green-slimy-gak-like-substance. Then there is a break. And during the brake they open up the purple tub of goooo. This is where I get totally covered in purple goo because Nele thought it would be funny to through me in! But I got her back! By the time I was done with her she was a purple monster! Okay! So the next day I spent in the art museum while Nele was busy with a job interview (which she got! Congrats!) They have a great art museum and in 2007 they are opening a Magritte wing!!!
Then it was off to the huge balls in the sky! This was quite interesting! Here is a picture! I forgot the name of it…sorry! I just know that it was made for the Exbo in the 50’s.
Then on the next day we went to her parents! Who are so cute! There we decide to go to the spa for the day! It was heaven (now this might sound like I am getting the rule treatment over here but going to the spa is a regular thing for these people. They go at least once a month. And it only cost like $20 for the whole day of relaxation. This is something I love about Europe)! Okay and finally it was the big day! The parade that celebrates all the students who where baptised the weeks before! It was placed on the coldest and wettest day, which didn’t put us in the mood (we are old farts now! Both done with school so when returning to the event it is hard for us to put our party shoes on when they are sopping wet!). Well this parade goes through the city centre of Brussels. There are large trucks that drive the bar for each division through the city and it is amazing to see! Mom if you think Loras homecoming is bad wait until you see this. There are students peeing on shop windows, they are puking on doorsteps, shops are closed for the day and have hired security guards to stand inside the shop so nothing is harmed. I saw two ambulances cruse through the crowed of at least two thousand students and I only stayed for a block of the parade! Now that is heavy drinking at noon.
So that was Brussels in a nutshell of course we did more then that but I thought these high lights where important to share with you!
Now on to Sinterklass! This is a tradition much like our Santa Clause. It is celebrated on the 6th of December. Sinterklass comes on a boat for Spain bring gifts for the good children and if you are a bad child he will take you back to Spain and turn you in to a Piet! A Piet is a helper to Sinterklass but the funny thing about these Piets is they are black! To become a Piet you must paint yourself black and wear a goofy outfit! Here you can see Mark getting ready for his black Piet outfit! I had the opportunity to witness what Sinterklass because Marks dad does it for his company every year! Mark and his sister Natalie where his Piet’s this year! When Sinterklaas entered into the room the children where sitting in there sets patiently, running for either the door or hiding behind there parents while others screamed at the site of Sinterklaas and his black Piet’s. It was hilarious. Once in the room Sinterklaas greets everyone then they sing a song and receive paperknocjies (don’t know how to spell that word! They are tiny ginger snaps). Once the song and dance was done each child is called up to talk to Sinterklaas. This is when they give him something like a drawing they did and then talk about why they made such a drawing so they can receive there present (from my point of view this is a typical Dutch thing! Negotiate your way through life and all of its challenges if there is no negotiation then there are no presents). Once the conversation is over they receive a present which they take back to there spot and wait until everyone has a present to open. While the present are being handed out the Piet’s are helping Sinterklass. They help by throwing more of the paperknocjies on the floor for the children to pick up and eat or for everyone to step on and smooch into the carpet! These little cookies look like dog food! So I had a hard time eating them and watching the children eat them off the floor. After we left I asked Mark about children eating off the floor it and his answerer was “that is the best part!” Maybe it is a Dutch childhood thing I don’t know but I thought it was a little gross. After all the entertainment from the little children it was back home for a typical Dutch dish! Pee soup….ummmmmm! That is good stuff! With fresh bread…o it is yummy! THEN we have the exchange of Sinterklaas gifts between the families (Marks mom’s brothers family joined us). This is also very entreating because the point of the gift exchange is to not knowing who has you and to making something out of your gift. You also make a poem that is making fun of the individual or explaining something about the gift or there life. I had Nathalie and she is always competing in hoarse riding so I made her a trophy! (Stupid I know but I don’t want to offend the family…I am just a girlfriend after all). Marks bro had me! He made me a PowerPoint presentation for the Dutch language! It was horrible I had to stand up in front of the family and read all the slides before getting my present! If you want to see it I can send it to you just let me know! I also had to help Robbie get his present by singing Paradise by the Dashboard Light….which as also horrible! If you want to see pic’s go here…o yeah I cut my hair! Took about 4 in. off!
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellaveraksc/album?.dir=1c0ere2&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bellaveraksc/my_photos
Here is the poem Robbie wrote me…

Dear Kelly

Sinterklaas had a little talk with black Pete,
And I don’t mean markey’s thing that spits seed.
Black Pete told Sinterklaas that there was a new girl in the picture
And that the Bouman family would get an international mixture.

A girl named Kelly had found markeys heart,
And she wasn’t going to leave him apart.
She will follow Markey in every heartbeat
And go to Holland, the country of hookers and weed.

Sinterklaas wasn’t exactly over the moon,
As he had to learn English and rather soon.
What was Kelly like and what did she do?
Does she even deserve a present in her Shoe?

Sinterklaas couldn’t go to America on a horse,
That would kill the horse and Sinterklaas of course.
But Sinterklaas on a plane was what everybody had feared,
To fly to America after 9/11, wearing a dress and a beard.

Finally Sinterklaas arrived in the States
And learned that Kelly likes the ice and to go figure skate.
She is artistic and likes to paint,
Only good news, Sinterklaas thought, she must be a saint.

Kelly has a loving family and a funny granny,
Still she said that she was going to live with Danny. (Mark didn’t rime)
Kelly left the country of Starsky and Hutch
To go and live with the incredible Dutch.

In Holland everything changed in her live,
Kelly turned out to be the perfect housewife.
Making diner for 5 days in a row.
‘That was nice’, Mark said; ‘You can do the dishes tomorrow’.

Sad as it is, Kelly is not allowed to get a job.
And so she was thrilled when there was an injury in the knee of Rob.
She would go to Rob and watch a movie together,
That was so much fun, she hoped Rob would never get better.

Sinterklaas understood more and more about the American vision,
As Kelly introduced Halloween and the Thanksgiving tradition.
With Kelly these party’s are as good as it gets,
With Halloween she bought pumpkins and on the wall she made bats.

Then there was a great thanksgiving meal,
Sinterklaas heard it was delicious, for real.
Sinterklaas was just about to make a wish to find a woman and never be alone,
When Rob was cutting the turkey and destroyed the wishbone.

Although a few lessons in dutch,
Kelly is not able to speak much.
It has nothing to do with Kelly’s persistence,
It was just time for Sinterklaas to through in some assistance.

To help Kelly switch to the Dutch mode,
Sinterklaas developed an English to Dutch translation code.
Read the instructions on the second letter,
This will hopefully make your Dutch a lot better.

If you use the code well and rather swift,
Then you can open your gift.
Because learning Dutch will take some time.
Reading English won’t be a crime.

Kind Regards

Sinterklaas and Black Pete.