Sunday, March 30, 2008

Bah. Bye.

The last three, four, five, days have been crammed. Every second was filled; with a last night of doing the dishes (I washed approximately 5000 plates during my contract-time), a last day at the hospital-restaurant, a last (sliding-)training, a very nice party at my house (with one great result; my goodbye present to the house; the lower part of the toiletdoor is missing now :), my very last game (won with 8-1 :D), a last beer, wave and bye at Confide, C.S.R., and yesterday, it was time for me to close the heavy Perron 0 front-door, for the very last time that I was officially living there. And sometimes, sometimes...., I slept!
So many goodbye's. Collegues phoning me from other buildings, to tell me I should be carefull. Little presents. Goodbye-hugs from old friends at my parents church. Cake. Hugs, and lots of the three dutch kisses in the changing-room. Beer for me during the break in the game, more little presents and beer afterwards. One extra beer after work at LEF. Everybody seems to know that I'm leaving.
And I hate it.

But somehow, I felt like saying goodbye to all the 'I-do-recognize-and-greet-you-but-I-don't-even-know-your-name' kind of people, who I see walking around in Delft. The guys from the snackbar in our street. The cute, quiet doctor I always hope to see at the restaurant of the hospital. The lady at the supermarket. Guys from the footballteam. Neighbours in the street.

Anyway. The goodbye's are almost over. Only some of the ones closest to me, to go.
Than it's time for hi's and hello's. To old friends, and, I guess, to new one's as well.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Easter

2200 christian students, from all over Europe (from 40 different countries) visited Linz, Austria, for the Easter- weekend for a conference of IFES. Services, biblestudy, praying, free time, talks, live music, some sleep, and some more service, worship-music and talks.

The gym at the Kreutzwesternschüle in Linz.

Dinnerhall, everybody got a meal within an hour(!)


Some views; one afternoon we took the steepest railway in Europe, or the world.


Sundaymorning véry early. A park in town, filled with all those students. Trumpets. Halleluja. Singing. Celebrating.
(And cold feet.)

Mhmm. Easter-breakfast.
Main hall, used for services, talks, worshiptime, concerts, etc.

Two well-used free hours (a day) in the afternoon :)

The perfect son-in-law...

Long story cut short; we had to take the train back, instead of the car. Little accident, because of snowfall. This is in the first train, feet still frozen.

Germany.

Sleeping Maaike.

Sleeping Roy.

Sleeping Roel.


We lived in 8, or so, different trains. From 6.30 am till 9.30 pm.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Barcelona!

For four full days, five nights (at a youth hostel), we walked through Barcelona. Arrived Thursday at the end of the day, left Tuesday morning early. We didn't use public transport at all; our feet, legs and knees had enough of it, on Monday night (to be honest also already during the day). My mum and sister envited me on their citytrip, which was tons of fun. In a beautiful, warm city.
Barcelona is a clean city, with a relaxed atmosphere, situated at the Mediterranean sea.


Arc the Triomphe



Some work of Gaudí. He's everywhere in this city.


The Cathedral of Barcenola.




First view at the Sagrada, seen from the roof of the Cathedral.

Colombus, at a height of 50 metres, looking out over the Mediterranean sea.


Quite some picture's of Gaudí's masterpiece; the Sagrada Família. It's defenitely one of the best churches I've ever seen; the whole building is drenched with praise to our Creator. And it hasn't even been finished yet! Lots of things are based on nature, and eventhough it is a place crowded with tourists, the sculptures are so impressive, that the passion of Christ hit me again.





You see the church is still open, scaffolds are everywhere. Should be finished in 2025.



Front.
Impressive.



La Rambla, the busy boulevard which leads to the old port.





National flag, with that lovely clear blue sky as background.


La Pedrera (Gaudí again), with some enthousiast family members.

At Olympic park Montjuïc.


Pool (with view over Barcelona), which is mostly enjoyed by sea-gulls at this moment...


Swiss and French alpes. One hour and fifty minute flight.


We experienced some véry sunny days (even for Barcelona, at this time of year), so we ended up with our eyes closed, faces towards the sun, on a bench, or in a park, every once in a while... Delicious.

Check that fresh, full, green grass... Spanish mothers talking to their children. The birds singing their songs. Sun. Relaxation.