My winning streak continues

I went to my third football game today, and what a perfect sunny autumn afternoon to watch a game. NEC Nijmegen played Feyenoord (from Rotterdam) and won 4-1 :-)))

Brett Holman (pictured left), a good Aussie boy from Bankstown NSW, scored the first goal and NEC was actually 4-0 up all the way into the last minute when they scored an own goal to go to 4-1


It was a VERY unexpected win and the crowd of 12,000 were in ecstasy. Amongst the crowd were, of course, the away supporters (all 300 of them!) crammed into the little walled off area at one end of the stadium, and the NEC supporters happily waved them goodbye as they all left again in their buses on their trip back to Rotterdam :-))

Maybe we should go more often and NEC would move on up the ladder a bit. We have a perfect record now of 3 out of 3.

Alli xxx

And the winners are...

... from the top, Jan Marijnissen, Geert Wilders, and our very own "Harry Potter", Jan-Peter Balkenende. Don't be too worried if you have never seen any of these lovely specimens, let alone even heard of them - they are all Dutch politicians ;-)

We had a general election here yesterday for the Tweede Kamer (the equivilent of the House of Reps - I think!) and these 3 appear to be the big winners. Jan Marijnissen is the leader of the SP (Socialistiche Partij) and they made huge gains, winning 26 seats, up from 9. They also have the best logo, featuring a big red tomato that they "throw" at all the other parties!! The freakadelic looking Geert Wilders is the leader of his own party, Partij Voor De Vrijheid, and basically their platform is based on the anti Islamicisation of NL - they won 9 seats with that idea (amongst others!), and last but not least is Harry Potter, oops I mean Jan-Peter Balkenende, the leader of the CDA (Christen Democratisch Appel) who have maintained their position as the biggest party in the parliament with 41 seats of the total 150.

Now the fun starts! No one has a big enough majority so some sort of coalition has to be formed. As far as I can tell, that is going to be a pretty complicated process considering the differences in political platforms and ideologies of these groups. Can't imagine a mid to right wing party like the CDA getting into bed with the Socialists, and NOBODY wants to get into bed with Geert Wilders and his group of crazies - an interesting few weeks/months coming up!

Alli xxx

Sinterklaas has arrived

Every year, on a Saturday between 12 and 18 November (ie TODAY!) Sinterklaas (St Nicholas) arrives here in NL. He travels on his steamboat all the way from Spain, and is accompanied by his white horse and what seems like hordes of freaky looking black faced helpers all called Zwarte Piet. Each year he arrives at a different seaside port or riverside city, and Dutch national television broadcasts the festivities live so everybody can join in the fun. Huge crowds are there to meet him as he gets off the boat and rides through the town on his horse, followed closely by all the Zwarte Piets who throw sweets and pepernoten to all the kids fighting each other for a glimpse of the Sint. I witnessed his arrival here in Nijmegen today with my own two eyes and the crowds were going into a frenzy! It was one big carnival atmosphere - everyone getting very excited as his arrival drew closer, and breaking out into songs when he was sighted on the river in his boat. Lots of fun!

The day after arriving in NL, Sinterklaas makes his way to Amsterdam and then travels throughout the entire country visiting schools and homes to determine if the kids have been good or bad. Apparently the only city that forbids Sinterklaas to appear before 5 December is Deventer, the city where my Dad grew up :-) If Sinterklaas ignores the "law" and makes an appearance before 5 December, the penalty is a fine of 2,250.00 euros or three months in jail!! At one stage Sinterklaas even argued that the ban in Deventer violated his civil rights and took the case to court, but the local mayor successfully fought to maintain the ban.

On the evening of 5 December (pakjesavond), to celebrate his own birthday, Sinterklaas distributes gifts to all the good children by riding across the rooftops on his white horse and dropping gifts down the chimney - sound familiar!!?? I have heard rumours that the really naughty kids are gathered up by Zwarte Piet in big sacks, taken back to Spain when Sinterklaas leaves the country on 6 December, and made into pepernoten for the following year. Pretty scary stuff to be telling 5 year olds. The not so naughty ones are just threatened with a beating by Piet's twig broom! Also part of the tradition of pakjesavond is the writing of humourous poems for your friends and family members. Maybe that's where Hallmark got their idea!?

As a warm up to the whole gift thing of 5 December, kids also put out one (only one!) wooden shoe by the fireplace on each of the two Saturday nights between Sint's arrival in NL and his birthday on 5 December. The shoe is filled with tidbits for the horse (hay, carrots etc) and a list of gifts the shoe owner would like to receive. During the night Piet manages to climb down the chimney (maybe that's why he is black!?) and exchange the tidbits and list for some goodies. Sometimes a small gift is left as well. In centrally heated houses Piet miraculously sends in his gifts through the water pipes!!

Another part of my integration test successfully completed :-))

Alli xxx

I really like...

...Moby :-)

I've just downloaded his latest album (actually a Best Of collection), and even though I already have all the tracks on my collection of his "real" albums, it's kinda nice to have all the faves in one place. It also includes the new single, "New York, New York" with vocals by Debbie Harry.

Apart from his music, I think I like him so much because he really appeals to the nerd in me. Mostly because he appears to be such a nerd himself! Who else could make a track written about quantum physics sound so cool? His hit "We Are All Made Of Stars" does just that. Away from the recording studio, he has set up a vegan cafe/tea emporium in New York City - how is that for nerdy?! and he also spends time as one of the artistic members of the Little Idiot art collective. All in all, one big fat nerd!!!

If you are at all interested, check out his own personal blog (a bit like my blog thingy only with way more intelligent "musings"!), or the Little Idiot website at:

http://www.moby.com/

http://www.thelittleidiot.com/

Alli xxx

Learning a new language

Now that I have been at school for almost 3 months (already), I thought it might be a good time for some reflections.

When I first arrived here in mid January, and up until about 2 weeks ago to be honest, the whole concept of learning Dutch was like standing in front of a giant brick wall. A brick wall that I couldn't see over, or have a chance of breaking through. Even though just about every Dutch person I have met speaks perfect English, it still feels like being a bit on the outside when you can't understand anything of the conversations going on around you, whether just out walking on the street or in a more social situation. Sometimes it does my head in.

Even though my 3 months here last year meant I understood a few individual words and recognised the weird sounds of the language, I really couldn't follow anything in a worthwhile manner. My brain was hearing the familiar words being spoken and would then make up the rest of the context around them - 9 times out of 10 I was getting it totally wrong. You know the way it goes - you hear the word "coffee" for example, and you guess that people are discussing the merits of cappucino versus cafe latte, wrong!! They are actually discussing the latest trends in interior decorating, and are planning to paint the living room in some sort of "coffee" coloured paint ;-)) Pretty dumb example I know, but you get the idea!

However, now that I have a whopping 3 months (almost) of study up my sleeve I can see a doorway appearing in the brick wall. A closed doorway, but a doorway nonetheless! I am beginning to understand a few of the crazy grammar rules, I can make short sentences, I can understand much more than just one or two words in someone else's conversation (handy for eaves dropping purposes!), and rather than 9 times out of 10, I am getting it totally wrong closer to 7 times out of 10 ;-) Listening and writing are by far so much easier than speaking, and I have to continually convince myself no one will laugh at me if I make mistakes when trying to speak. Oh the burden of being a perfection driven Virgo!!!

Anyway, I have decided that learning a new language should be fun, and will try not to get too stressed out if I don't get 100% on every test. Can't wait for that door in the brick wall to actually open. I'm gonna run on through it when it does!

Alli xxx

Yep, the horses have been rescued

Not sure if this weird news story made it to Oz - it seemed to make it onto plenty of other worldwide news broadcasts, so...

A group of 100 horses were left stranded on a tiny mud "island" on Tuesday last week after a massive storm pushed water outside the dyke area of Marrum (about 140kms north of Amsterdam).

Sadly, 19 either drowned or died of exposure, while the rest were left stranded for four days before they could be rescued. They looked pretty miserable all huddling together with their backs against the wind :-(

However, they were finally rescued yesterday after the water had subsided enough to allow 4 riders on horseback to wade out to the "island" and lead them all back to safety. Yay!

Alli xxx

PS Oh the irony! I just heard on the news tonight (06 November) that the horses rescued on Friday are owned by a guy who was breeding them specifically for the slaughter house. You can guess what will happen to them now that they have been returned to him........so much for the heartwarming human interest story :-/

And in other horsey news...

I am now the proud owner of my first Dutch novel ;-)))))) Yep, my reading standard has reached the dizzy heights of a 10 year old (I think!). We purchased this book on the spur of the moment for the whopping price of 50 cents at today's book market.

Alli xxx