400 years of Dutch-Australia history

And to mark the occasion, the lovely couple you see here are heading downunder today. They are none other than NL's very own Crown Prince Willem-Alexander (first in line to the throne) and his Argentinian born wife, Princess Maxima. Seems their week long visit will be spent mostly in the company of Little Johnny Howard in Canberra - aren't they the lucky ones?! Hope he doesn't make too much of a fool of himself.


These two are no dummies. Willem-Alexander is a law & history major, is very active here in the field of water management, is a member of the IOC committee, and has his private pilot's license. Maxima is an economics major, has held high level positions in a number of banking institutions, is currently a member of a UN financial advisory group, and speaks fluent Dutch with not even a hint of a Spanish accent. I'm jealous!

Even Queen Beatrix has a law degree, is an accomplished sculptor, and plays an active role in advising the government on legislation. In fact, the whole royal family here seem a lot more like real people than the cloistered British royal family, and there doesn't seem to be that tacky tabloid fascination with stalking the royals to get those unguarded photos of them in their weakest moments. Anyway, hope they have a nice time in Oz.

Alli xxx

Can't find good Thai food?...make your own!

I spent a lovely day yesterday with my friend Noo preparing some very yummy Thai dishes. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to find good asian food over here and I have really been suffering withdrawals!

We met at the toko (asian grocery store) to buy our supplies, then headed back to her apartment to start cooking. To be honest Noo did pretty much all of the actual cooking, whilst I was more like the kitchen hand! But those potatoes and onions were expertly chopped :-)) Whilst waiting for the chicken mas-sa-mun to cook (a 3 hour process!) we had poh-pia-thot (spring rolls) and the really tasty laab kai you can see above. Yep, these photos are of the real thing, all prepared with our own two hands. It was soooo yummy, and always nice to cook together with friends. Thanks Noo!

Alli xxx

The new & improved Dutch police force?!

Hot off the press - we can reveal the brand new vehicles of the Dutch police force. With numbers of recruits declining in the past few years, the clever people at the top have a new recruitment campaign! Create a vehicle aimed at guys with excessive amounts of money (ie movie stars, gangster rappers, and tv talk show hosts); and create a vehicle aimed at encouraging those old ex police wo/men to come out of retirement. The scootmobiel even comes with it's own flashing blue light for those in hot pursuit of (older) criminals, and rumour has it that its "engine" is so highly tuned it can reach a top speed of 35-40 kms per hour.

Maybe Australia needs to sit up and take notice :-))))

Alli xxx

The Middle East comes to Europe

Jeroen and I took advantage of the perfect autumn weather yesterday to visit our own little piece of the Middle East right here in Nijmegen. The concept of open air "museums" is big here. Last year we visited the open air museum in Arnhem, a beautiful re creation of how the Dutch have lived over the past 250 years. All the exhibits are real buildings etc specially "imported" from different parts of the country, and include everything from a windmill, an old lolly shop, a 1970s house, to a farmhouse from the 1990s moved to the museum when the farmers had to make way for the construction of a freeway. See the museum website for more details and photos: http://www.openluchtmuseum.nl/english

Anyway, back to yesterday! We visited the Bible open air museum situated amongst the lovely greenery of the Berg en Dal forest. Despite the fact that neither of us are religious, it was really interesting! It is a pretty good attempt to create an understanding of the history of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, and has recreated authentic examples of village life, bedouin camps, and the influence of the Romans on the Holy Lands. Pretty funny to see those types of buildings against the backdrop of European trees instead of out in the middle of a desert. Lots of interaction with the "locals" was included - we were able to enjoy glasses of herbal tea, taste some freshly baked Bedouin flatbread, and test our musical skills by blowing on some kind of goat's horn thingy!

Not sure why this concept of open air museums hasn't taken off in Australia. It's a really fun and interactive way of learning history.

Alli xxx

Some autumn scenery (and a bit of football)

We started our week long herfst vakantie (autumn vacation) by doing a bit of wandering in a local forest yesterday. I'm surprised at how much I am enjoying being so close to nature reserves and forested areas over here. I was never really into visiting parks or gardens in Melbourne, but it is a nice thing to do on a sunny afternoon and not too overcrowded. At the moment the leaves are changing to various hues of brown, orange, and red, there are varying kinds of weird looking mushrooms springing up, and chestnuts & acorns are falling from the trees - a regular autumnal paradise!

After our bit of bos wandeling we travelled "all the way" ;-) to the local village of Schaijck to watch Piet (Jeroen's dad) referee at an amateur football match between the home side and the village of Oss. See him in action above! The final score was 1-3 and with the home side losing, the "crowd" of approximately 30 spectators was pretty quiet, and I missed having my meat pie and sauce at half time!

Alli xxx

The latest photos (courtesy of Noo)

Yep, here I am hard at work on a Saturday afternoon trying to earn a living from the poker machines at the local carnival (kermis) :-)) My friend Noo (that's her above) and I met up for a cup of coffee then headed off to check out the kermis - needless to say I didn't go on ANY of the rides. Way too scary!! And as you can see from my layers of clothes, it is definately getting colder here :-/

Noo and I know each other from school. She is originally from Thailand, has been here about 1 month longer than I have, and has her birthday the day after mine - what fun, another Virgo! School is going well. Today was my first day in a higher group. I have finished with the first level and have moved on up! The pace in the new group is quite a bit faster, there is more talking (all in Dutch of course), and everyone is a lot more advanced than I am. But all this really helps me to learn faster (I hope!). I must remember to take my camera to school one day. It is located in such a beautiful old building that it is worth posting some photos for y'all to see.

Alli xxx

Herfst is here

The herfst (autumn that is!) has well and truly arrived, with grey and decidedly cooler weather and discussions at school about the best way to serve up brussel sprouts (spruitjes)!! Apparently it is now THE season for these lovely little green numbers, and a BIG favourite seems to be serving them together with another autumn special, chestnuts (kastanjes). As far as I can tell, it seems the combination of these two is delicious and is mostly reserved for special occasions, like Xmas. Maybe for my first winter Xmas I can convince Jeroen it is a good idea to serve this dish ;-))) Actually I really like both, but can't imagine what they must taste like together.

Alli xxx