Brugge, Belgium

Around five, six, weeks ago, I travelled to Brussels, by train, where I was supposed to meet Veerle (my 'African' friend from school). We enjoyed ourselves in the capital of Belgium that day till we had to take the last train towards Brugge, where she and her parents live. Brugge's whole centre is UNESCO heritage, and there are lots of café's, bars and pubs, so I stayed for a couple of days :) It was a kind of cold, but I enjoyed some home-cooked Belgium meals, some movies, lots of Belgium specials, Veerle's (/everybody's) company and Brugge itself. So, thanks guys!




Manneken Pis, in Brussels

The royal palace, with Belgim flag, in Brussels

Brussels

Brugge (from now on)

Tourists in all kinds and sizes

Brugge, as seen from the tower Belfort (366 steps up)

Mhmm. They came up with a couple of hundred Belgium special beers. Hot waffles with sugar. Chips. And Belgium chocolate, mixed in this pancake on at least three different ways!

Right now I'm at my parents place, where I did spend my Christmas days, and the ones around them. Soon I'll be in the train to Delft, where I need to get some things done, pack some other things, and than I'll get into a bus for the whole night to.... London!! I don't need to work this whole week, and Veerle arrived there yesterday, so we're gonna have some more fun in the United Kingdom. Till Sunday.

By the way, is spend with a 't' or a 'd' ?

Maastricht, kringweekend 2.3

Finally the pictures of that weekend with my biblestudy group. Nr. 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 were shot by me, myself and I.

Pure enjoyment, this beautiful lady

Each cross is there to remember one fallen soldier

Waiting for the bus

Maastricht, and 7 of us

Our present (as found at the attic of my house, 2 minutes before we left) with the poem, for the ladies, to thank them for their hospitality. It had something to do with knights, hills, horses etc.

New personal record

Wauw.
I was pretty tired the last few weeks, and last night (1.00 am) I decided to nót set an alarm. This 'morning' when I opened my eyes, thinking, 'Ok, now I feel like I've slept enough', reaching for my phone to check the time, I barely believed it: 14.40...
I checked the time earlier, that was when one of my roommate's, Henrik, was going through my clothes laying on the floor, in search of the key of his bike, around 8.45 am. But between that moment in time, and about an hour ago, there's nothing but a heavenly black hole...

Hi there.

No work today. Just studying, (so) I found some time to edit the pictures in the post about Belgium. They're bigger now.
Last week I visited Veerle in Bruge, Belgium, for some days. Together we discovered Brussels, and she showed me all the good things of her city Bruge. As always, pictures are on their way. And now I am on my way to a wet and windy football practice.

Terschelling

Mum and dad eating a krentenbol, hiding against the wind

Pure mystical craziness. How life and living, nature and surviving, works

One brother, with his girlfriend, one sister and two parents.

(Finally some pictures which I shot myself, with my parents' camera.)

Ai ai ai...

Found out more than a week ago, but I barely dare to tell...
I failed.
BIG time.

Shame on me.

Good eyes needed

Everybody

Combining a lecture with some fresh air

Cleaning up

The dam

Inside

Down at the foot

Typical Belgian view

A game, (some) discussion going on

4.45 am, it seems to be a battlefield

This was all in Belgium, with Moot2, C.S.R.
Good weekend, I'm leaving for work; doing the dishes for endless hours. Mhhmmm. Soaky hands.

P.S. We won today's footballmatch with 9-0, and I scored two of them :)

Trips down South and up North

Three weekends ago my biblestudy group (six guys, two girls), myself included, left home for a weekend to discover Maastricht and the Dutch Mountains :) (remember the highest one is 300 meters...) We invited ourselves into a christian studenthouse, where we baked pancakes, and eggs in the morning, listened to music, played games and got some sleep. Friday night we drank beers in town, Saturday afternoon, after a lazy morning, we walked through the colourfull (whahaha)hills. We also visited the Netherlands American Cemetry and Memorial in Margraten, which is there since WWII. At night we were invited at some party, and after another lazy morning we had a good look at Maastricht by day, followed by a service in a church at the end of the afternoon. More (caramel and cashewnut) pancakes, more dishes, more games and more sleep.

Most of us took the first train Monday morning early (5.22), because students get to travel here for free ór during the weekend ór during the week. After some dozy time I splitted from the rest of the group, by keeping on going to the North, towards Harlingen, to take the boat to the island of Terschelling, where my parents were renting a caravan for a week. The last two years we went to Texel, one of the other little Dutch islands, also full with dunes, some little towns, 'wad', beaches, forests and wind. Because I messed up some things with boat tickets etcetera, and because the boat trip took two (!) full hours, I finally touched the ground at 5 pm, where my dad rented a bike for me. Luvely; a good, long breakfast, bike and walk the whoooole nice and windy day, laugh, be quiet, think, not think at all, talk and be quiet again. And than the warmth of a little caravan, tea, a good meal, reading/studying, music and my parents presence. Thanks.

And last weekend we went to Baelen, in the eastern part of Belgium, with what should be about a quarter of C.S.R.; Moot2 (eight biblestudy groups together). It was about the same story as the weekend in Maastricht, with the only difference us being a bigger group.
Mhmmm, special Belgium beers, Old Amsterdam (the cheese), noisy games, a walk through the woods around a big quiet lake, four hours of sleep each night, a walk down + through the dam (one door wasn't locked), worship sessions accompanied by guitar, good jokes, even better conversations, a very warm welcome in a little church where the service was in German, fall colours, an outside-lecture ("because it is possible") and selfmade candles. Kortom, it was fabulous and completely brilliant, a weekend to remember, and more memories to cherish.


And how do I fill up the rest of my time? Well, next to my job at the hospital, I found another job at a little restaurant here in Delft. From now on, I can work both during the day ánd during the night, if I want to. Need to pay the bank. Need to pay my parents. Need to save some money. Want to buy new football shoes, my old ones are falling apart. Want to buy a camera so I can talk to you through pictures again. (There are pictures on the way about these three trips, I just need to get them from other people and/or the internet.)

And I'm still having friends, and footballteams, and family :) And all the things at C.S.R. And a sportscard. And books. And roommates. And a life. And a guitar. So, don't worry, I'm keeping on going, enjoying life and all things it is bringing!

Bad smell

It was a sunny Saturday two weeks ago. In a polder close to Delft.

Official activity was 'boerengolfen' (= farmer golfing), with some studymates. 'Side'-activities were closely related to mud, ditches, fighting, stinky water, sun, beer and hugging some black and white ladies.

Later that day, my teammates from football didn't want me in their car, because the smell hanging around me...

"Ik ben vandaag zo vrolijk, zo vrolijk, zo vrolijk. Ik ben behoorlijk vrolijk, zo vrolijk was ik nooit."

Saturday night I realised I should've been grumpy. At leást grumpy.
But I wasn't. Not at all, actually. Not a single cell in my body.

That morning, when I was trying to leave for a football match, I realised my bike had been stolen during the night...

- I will miss you, my loyal and brave little golden bike, with the old pink peeking through the paint. Thank you for serving me all those years, appreciate it very much. I do hope your new owner will be good for you-

Anyway, it's a complete mistery. Which human being, with brains, would want to have my bike?? It was a complete wreck, a rusty disaster on two wheels. Lately, when I was using my bike, people started to turn their heads. And I think you can say residents of any Dutch city are used to quite something, talking about bikes...
To make things worse, we, at that time, number 1 of the competition, needlessly lost 3-1 from the number two... But I was still happy when the game was over. The trick's probably that sunny fall weather. Or that double lp full of music of Herman van Veen I bought last week, for one euro.

Ooohhh. That sunny fall weather. Persistent for almost two weeks now. It made me bike to, plus through, The Hague, and on through the dunes, to Leiden, yesterday. Crispy leafs crunching under my tires.
Hé, kleine meid op je kinderfiets...

The only thing. Loads and lots, lots (!) of people. At some points they scared me in some way.
It made me long for Canada, where I would have my own forest ; )
Do not get me wrong, I enjoyed being where I was, extremely hard. It's just, some moments the people in this world, myself included, are dissapointing.

Mhmm. Looks like a kind of depressed end of this post. But I'm not, I asure you:
Vandaag ben ik zo vrolijk. Zo vrolijk. Zo vrolijk. Ik ben behoorlijk vrolijk, zo vrolijk was ik nooit! Ik was wel vaker vrolijk, heel vrolijk, heel vrolijk, maar zo behoorlijk vrolijk, was ik tot nog toe nooit.