NEC Nijmegen creates history

Woohoo - NEC Nijmegen is off to Europe :-)

The UEFA Cup that is, which, after the Champions League, is THE European club football tournament. NEC qualified yesterday (for only the third time in club history) after a 0-1 away win against NAC Breda, although it was a meer formality after the 6-0 thrashing against NAC here in Njmegen on Thursday evening.

Jeroen and I went to the game on Thursday and witnessed one big football party. NAC never really had a chance, and after the beautiful third goal by Nijmegen's very own Socceroo, Brett Holman, there was no looking back! The win yesterday also meant NEC have won 9 games in a row, a club record I think.

We watched the game yesterday with about 8,000 other supporters decked out in red, green & black on the "big" screen set up at the Goffertpark. In the photos above you can see Jeroen & I and Betty & Sam (the kids of one of Jeroen's colleagues) proudly flying the NEC flag :-)) and below a couple more photos of the celebrations that followed.

Alli xxx

PS.....it is only mid May, but there are already crazy Dutchies out there totally ready for the Euro 2008 tournament that begins next month. Check this out......

It's SO green here now

While ya'll are probably getting a bit cooler and the leaves are falling from the trees, we here are in the midst of a burst of bright, lush greenness :-)

All the trees are now full with their new spring growth, the birds are twittering and there is not a cloud in the sky. For the past week or so we have already been enjoying temperatures of 25-28C, so it is looking good for summer.

At the moment, this is the green view from our balcony :-)

And over in the west of the country, the flower fields (mostly tulips) are in full bloom. They create a beautiful geometric patchwork that people travel for miles to see.

Alli xxx

Hello out there

Long time no post hey!!?? Sorry. I am currently in the middle of 6 days off work, and the sun is shining - yay!!! Seems spring has finally sprung here. We are now having days of 24C and I definately no longer require my scarf and/or gloves when cycling to work.

It was Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) on Wednesday, Hemelvaart (Ascension Day, or more commonly known as Jesus Fly Up Day!) on Thursday, tomorrow it is Dodenherdenking (Rememberance Day), and on Monday it is Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day) - whew. We celebrated Koninginnedag with a couple of thousand other people at the Oranjepop music festival at a park here in Nijmegen.

Jeroen is now back at work and as I sit here typing, I am looking at my 5 little bonsai seedlings :-) Our friend John gave us each a bonsai DIY kit as a wedding gift. The kit included seeds and 5 of mine (Japanese black pine) have sprouted! Jeroen's (Japanese cedar) still haven't done anything, but we live in hope. Apparently for the first 12 months we don't need to do anything to the seedlings apart from watch them slowly grow. Sounds easy hey? After that, according to THE bonsai website, I must be "steadfast in the attentive and uncompromising care of the tree". Geez, talk about pressure to perform! Anyway, maybe after another 20 years or so I wil be able to post a photo here of my own little "tree" :-) Stay tuned!

Alli xxx