Oh, and yesterday...

...Jeroen and I both had a free day so we visited the Nationaal Bevrijdingsmuseum (Liberation Museum) in Groesbeek, a short drive through rolling green hills from Nijmegen. Yes, we are lucky enough to live in one of the hilliest parts of the country!

This whole area played a major role during WWII, when Nijmegen was pretty much a frontline city. A major allied offensive against the Germans, known as Operation Market Garden, was launched here during September 1944 when they attempted, through a combination of massive numbers of airborne forces (paratroopers) and ground forces, to recapture a series of bridges in the hope they could then cross over the Rhine into Germany. The whole operation lasted 9 days, about 10,000 allied troops and 2,000 German troops were killed in action, and in the end the offensive was a failure, with the bridge over the Rhine (at Arnhem) proving to be the "bridge too far". If any of you have ever seen the movie "A Bridge Too Far" you will know what I am talking about!

In the photo to the left you can see British tanks crossing the bridge here in Nijmegen during its successful recapture!

The museum itself was REALLY interesting and had different sections focussing on different periods of the 1930s/40s/50s. It was designed to lead you on a chronological journey - setting the scene with an explanation of the rise of Nazism/Facism, moving onto the German invasion & occupation of NL, the liberation, and later the reconstruction of the country after the war.

The most moving exhibits for me were those focussing on the lives of ordinary people during the occupation. At first it seems people just tried to adapt to the occupation and get on with life as normally as possible. But as time passed and resistance grew, life got increasingly difficult. People went into hiding; of the 140,000 Jewish people living in NL prior to 1940 only 30,000 survived the war; and during the winter here of 1944-45 (known as the Hunger Winter) over 20,000 people died of starvation or malnutrition! In search of food people often walked for tens of kilometres to trade valuables for food at farms; tulip bulbs & sugarbeets were commonly eaten; and furniture & houses were dismantled to provide fuel for heating.

Throughout the museum there were recreations of things such as the secret cupboards people would sit in to listen to illegal radio broadcasts of the BBC and Radio Orange from London, and of the air raid shelters people created in their own cellars. And last, but definately not least, there was a moving memorial to all those who died in battles around this area. Countless allied troops (American, Polish, Canadian and British) were listed as being killed in and around Nijmegen, Arnhem and Groesbeek. We even saw some soldiers' names listed as being killed during battles on streets just around the corner from our own house here! Such a surreal and sad feeling.

I also think I have a bit more of an insight into and understanding of the sort of hardships my Mum and Dad (as young children on opposing sides of the conflict!) must have experienced.

Alli xxx

My afternoon

Well, I had an interesting afternoon :-) I spent 3 hours talking non stop to two groups of 20 school students (most of them about 14 years old)......god, how exhausting!!! I don't know how school teachers do it every day!

Anyway, the short story is that one of our friends (Monique) is a school teacher in Boxmeer and she invited me to visit her English classes to talk to the kids about Australia (luckily all in English!) They are busy with some kind of backpacker project so I went and spoke to them about life in Australia. I even had some funny "props" to keep them entertained - a snowdome of the Sydney Opera House, a mini stuffed platypus, a stubby holder with some aboriginal art on it, and a couple of calendars with some nice photos of various landscapes.

It was pretty funny actually.....most of them were quite interested and had some good questions about our history, politics, culture, aboriginals etc etc But some were so not into it - gotta love those cheeky 14 year old boys who just clearly want to get out of the classroom and enjoy their weekend.

But I had fun there anyway :-D

Alli xxx

Unglamorous club - humph!

This article (see link below) appeared in The Age today! What do they know??? They can't even spell Nijmegen!

..."But the two who impressed most were another debutant in Carl Valeri and attacking midfielder Brett Holman. Both are in their early 20s, both play at unglamorous clubs — Valeri at lower-division Italian club Grosseto, Holman in the Netherlands with NEC Nijmegan — and both did their chances of making the Asian Cup squad in July no harm with their performances against an almost full-strength Chinese team"...

http://www.theage.com.au/news/soccer/rising-talent-boosts-australia/2007/03/25/1174761282111.html

But nice to see the "local" Nijmegenar doing well :-)

Alli xxx

What's in a language?

On my expat women's forum we have been having an interesting conversation lately about the way a language evolves over time, and the connection between language and cultural identity. Sounds pretty intellectual doesn't it? There are a couple of women on the forum who are doing MA's in linguistics, and they had some interesting bits of info.

As anyone who has travelled to France probably knows, the French are extremely proud of their language and are determined to preserve it in its purest form. This appears to be closely linked to the French sense of cultural identity, and their determination to remain FRENCH. Apparently there are even fines handed out to those who commit a "language crime"! For example, if someone uses a foreign word in a public speech they are punished with a fine. They also dub all foreign movies and television programs into French - pretty funny when you try to imagine someone on "Neighbours" or "Macleod's Daughters" speaking French ;-)) I think Germany and Italy also dub everything, makes for amusing viewing but I don't agree that it's a good idea. I think the whole mood and intention of the original creators gets "lost in translation".

Strangely enough, the Dutch don't make such a big fuss of the whole language thing. They use soooo much English it's not funny. A bit of a shame really, 'cause I feel like I am not forced to speak Dutch at all. I should be grateful for small mercies though - we don't get everything dubbed into Dutch ;-)) BUT you would think that a language spoken by such a small percentage of the world's population is worth some fierce protection.

On a related topic, I have been watching a few foreign language movies on DVD here lately. Didn't even think when we first bought them that they wouldn't have an option for English subtitles, only Dutch - doh!! It is definately good practice and I am getting faster at reading :-) As my Dutch is getting better I have noticed though, on English language movies and/or tv programs, that the translations into subtitles can leave alot to be desired! Sometimes the translations don't make any sense at all, the words are changed totally, or they constantly get numbers around the wrong way (due to the fact that numbers in Dutch are read as three & fifty instead of fifty three for example). The funniest instance I have seen of this was on "Friends" when Joey's date was described as being 92 instead of 29 ;-)

Anyway, a bit of food for thought. Something that I hadn't really thought about before because I pretty much took it for granted that everywhere I went I could speak English. And maybe next time you watch a subtitled movie you will wonder what they are REALLY saying! :-D

Alli xxx

Spring has "officially" sprung...

...on 21 March, and that means Keukenhof is open :-)) I am determined to get my act together this year and pay a visit to NL's famous, and very beautiful, flower gardens. The gardens are spread over an area of about 70 acres and during the spring "season" over 7 million bulbs are blooming in unison! The gardens were first opened just after WWII and quickly became famous around the world. Famous enough (and prestigious enough) even for Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard to celebrate their 28th wedding anniversary there in 1962.

Now despite the fact that the tulip has become a symbol of the Netherlands, it is actually a wildflower originating in Turkey over 500 years ago and imported to NL. It was quickly adopted as their own, and for some reason that insignificant looking little bulb caused economic madness here during the 1600's. Apparently there was a massive illegal market for the bulbs, which saw trade leading to massive fortunes being won and lost. When eventually the bulb market crashed, thousands of Dutch businessmen were financially ruined overnight!

Alli xxx

PS Mum, I promise to take lots of photos! :-))

This could be me !

I just got back from an info-bijeenkomst (information session) at the TNT Post depot around the corner from home. They are currently looking for postal delivery people (I know!!) so I reacted on their website and was invited to today's session.

God, something that would be sooooooo bloody easy to do back in Oz suddenly becomes one big scary obstacle to conquer. I nearly didn't go but in the end I gritted my teeth and forged ahead. It wasn't too bad and I understood most of what was being said, BUT it gets soooooo difficult when it comes to me asking questions or trying to speak :-/ and I feel like an idiot.

After the "presentation" we were all handed a 6 page scary looking (in Dutch of course) application form that we were expected to fill out on the spot! I got scared, took the form, made my excuses and came back home......aaaggghhh Anyway, I will have a better look at the form in the safety of my own home and drop it back off to them tomorrow (maybe!)

Alli xxx

Planes, trains and automobiles

Well, just trains actually. With the beautiful spring weather we are having at the moment we were inspired to have an afternoon out yesterday at the spoorwegmuseum (train museum) in Utrecht. Bloody hell, what a crazy city to drive around in trying to find something when you don't have a proper map! Unlike inner Melbourne, a beautifully planned city on a grid pattern, most old Dutch cities just kind of grew in a haphazard way once they got too big for the old city walls that contained the original city. Utrecht (amongst other cities here!) also has a canal system which just adds to the craziness of the street pattern. Anyway, needless to say, we got a bit lost! And nobody we asked seemed to have any idea what we were talking about :-/ However, Jeroen's military skills finally came to the fore and we found it.

BUT after all that, the museum itself was a bit disappointing. There was not enough stuff to read, all the train carriages were locked so you could only "look but don't touch", and the whole place was full of nerdy model train collectors due to some special weekend exposition. Despite that we had a nice afternoon out and the sun shone brightly. To be honest my favourite part of the museum were the toilets! They were modelled after those of an 1800s station - lots of beautifully patterned ceramic tiles and shiny woodwork.

Alli xxx

High water in Nijmegen

I know, I know, difficult for ya'll to imagine having TOO much water! BUT, here in Nijmegen the melting alpine snows and all the rain we've been having lately means the river Waal has risen to quite a high level - it's almost over the protective bank, and the area where we swim in the summer is all under water at the moment. But don't worry, we are in the "high" part of the city and living on the second storey of our building :-))

Alli xxx

A quick astronomy lesson

We had a total lunar eclipse here last night. I can't remember ever seeing one so it was pretty cool to have such a good view.

A lunar eclipse happens at the time of a full moon when the earth is between the sun and the moon, and when the moon passes through the earth's shadow - bet someone out there didn't know that! Last night's eclipse saw a perfect alignment of the sun, the earth, and the moon and the shadow started to cross the moon at about 10.30pm, with the height of the eclipse at around midnight. By the time the moon was in full shadow, it had become a nice reddish, orangey colour (see photos - taken from Nijmegen's very own starwatch centre!). We also had a good view of Saturn.

I do remember seeing a total solar eclipse back when I was in primary school - October 1976 according to the records. I remember our school class making cardboard viewing thingies with pinhole peepholes, and I also remember our chickens at home being VERY confused when darkness descended in the middle of the day :-)

Alli xxx

I am a "legal alien" again!

Yay.....we picked up my new resident's permit today. Unlike the first one, which I received within three weeks, this one took over three months! AND it arrived just two days before my current one expires - phew! The good news is that it is valid up until March 2012 so we won't have to worry about renewing it every year. And I think after living here for a period of five years I can apply for permanant residency. The bad news is I will have to live with the stunning photo you can see here for the next five years :-/ Due to all the new "big brother" rules you can no longer smile or look remotely human in passport or official identity photos!

On a related issue, there is a very heated debate raging here at the moment about dual nationality. With the newly elected parliament come two members who have dual nationality, and therefore, hold two passports. The extreme right wing "Partij voor de Vrijheid" is calling for a motion of no confidence in these parliamentarians and demands that they give up their non-Dutch passports. As far as I can tell the arguments are based solely around some kind of loyalty issue - apparently if you have two passports you are deemed not to be a loyal Dutch citizen and are unable to fulfill the duties for which you were elected without some kind of conflict of interests. But, unfortunately, maybe the issue is being used by those who just don't want Muslims in the government (the two people in question are of Turkish and Moroccan descent). It's a difficult subject and I can see some valid arguments on both sides. However, if I ever decided to try to get a Dutch passport and was forced to give up my Australian one, I don't think I could do it.

Alli xxx