Bosschen Bollen

Even though it was very overcast and drizzle had set in for the day, we headed to ‘s‑Hertogenbosch on Saturday for some exploring!

‘s-Hertogenbosch, the capital of the province North Brabant, means The Duke’s Forest and is affectionately known as Den Bosch. Saturday is market day and the Markt Square and many adjacent streets were lined with stalls selling all kinds of wares. There is a statue of the famous Dutch painter, Hieronymus Bosch, in the Markt Square and also a medieval well which was covered up due to it being market day. We also saw the Stadhuis, or town hall, and De Moriaan, the oldest building in Den Bosch. De Moriaan has a stepped gable and dates back to medieval times. There was a very lively and festive atmosphere in den Bosch on Saturday probably due to the market and a lot of people being outside on the streets.

We continued wondering around the city and found the Sint Jan or St. John’s Cathedral. The Cathedral was built between the late 14th to 16th Centuries and nothing of the original Romanesque style (round arches) church remains. The Cathedral is in the gothic style (pointed arches) and closely resembles but is also very distinctive from the Notre Dame. The impressive features of this cathedral are its size, the many beautiful stained glass windows and the original great organ with intricately carved wood dating from 1617. This truly is a beautiful church and definitely worth a visit. Regular services are still held here and a communion service was finishing as we arrived. The singing really made our visit so much more enjoyable, the acoustics in the church are wonderful!

After Sint Jan’s it was time for a hot drink! Justin’s sharp eyes spotted The Chocolate Company where we indulged in decadent hot chocolate! You choose your own flavour of chocolate square attached to a wooden spoon and stir it into a glass of hot frothy milk to dissolve the chocolate. Bron chose a dark chocolate and hazelnut with lime spoon while Justin stuck to a cappuccino which was at least 50% cream! They have 50 different kinds of chocolate spoons to choose from covering white, milk and dark choc plain and with different flavourings and some also come with a touch of liquor. I originally thought they used Belgian chocolate but upon investigation learnt it is called Valrhona and is of French origin. This shop was a great find and definitely worth a visit! There is one in Amsterdam too… (hint hint Shell!)

We were also told to try Bosschen Bollen or chocoladebollen from Jan de Groot Bakkerij. There was a long queue outside the bakery when we arrived, which we took as a good sign! Apparently they make the best chocoladebollen. A Bosschen bol is a giant hollow pastry ball filled with whipped cream and completely covered in dark chocolate. Very wicked and very moreish! Brenainn you would really like them!! We bought two to bring home; they got a bit squashed but were still yummy! Google ‘Bossche Bollen’ for some pics =)

We were really keen to visit the Noordbrabants museum, with works by Brueghel and Van Gogh amongst others, but we were disappointed to discover that the museum closed at the end of May for restoration work until the end of 2012! Fail.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the city and enjoying the atmosphere. We really enjoyed our day out and will be back to Den Bosch again! Hopefully on a sunnier day next time…

Sunday saw a home cricket game and as the weather was predicted to be pleasant, Bron spent most of the afternoon soaking up some rays, occasionally watching the cricket but mostly reading her book! Justin’s first 6 overs went for 17/1 and the last two 17/0. His batting was looking good but he was the last batsman in and there were few overs remaining. The team lost the game and Justin finished on 13 not out. The national Holland team has a one day series on at the moment with some English clubs and will be playing at Justin’s club (VOC) on the 17th and 18th July. We are quite keen to watch the Sunday game on 17 July. Won’t be quite the same as watching cricket at Newlands but will be nice to see the national side in action!

No plans this week except Justin is going to Nijmegen (on the German border about two hours away) for work tomorrow and this weekend we are going to Bruges! Yay! Can’t wait! The weather is forecast to be sunny but not too warm, yay! =) Looking forward =)

Hope you are having a good week!

x 

Jan de Groot Bakkerij, the Bosschen Bollen shop!

The Stadhuis

De Moriaan 

Scene in the Markt Square

Sint Jan Cathedral

View of the altar inside the Cathedral. Notice the statues of Saints on the pillars.

The great organ

Chocolate spoons at the Chocolate Company! 

Looking contemplative on the cricket field

Justin bowling

Watch that ball closely!! =)

I HAVE A JOB!! =)

Some of you might know that I went for a first job interview in Delft on Wednesday 8 June. I was quite pleased to be called back for a second interview on Tuesday this week (21 June). I thought the interview went well and was really glad when they phoned me back in the afternoon to offer me the job! *yay* I have a job! =)

So. Details. It is a research technician post in the Bionanoscience Department at the Technical University or TU Delft in Delft. At the moment it is only a temporary post for one of the technician’s maternity leave but it is a growing department and if this temp contract is satisfactory for both parties it may be extended to a full time post. The experiments performed in the department are single molecule measurements of DNA and proteins using magnetic tweezers and nanopores. It is more physics than molecular biology and I don't understand all of it, at least not yet ;~) My job will be to make the funky pieces of DNA and RNA that they (students and post docs) need for their experiments. So I won't have my own project as such but will be involved on a lot of projects but probably on a more surface level. I really enjoy DNA work and cloning and they use interesting ways to get the constructs that they want so I think it will still be a good place to learn new things. 

Initially I was not keen for a temporary post but since I am not entirely sure what I want to be doing right now, it’s not a bad option. Why didn’t someone tell me that after completing a PhD I wouldn’t have all the answers and not know what direction I want to go in?? At least I will be earning an income, have some experience other than my PhD project and be able to add Dutch references to my CV.

I have applied for a lot of post doc positions and also approached many labs even though no official post was advertised. I have met with some people from Erasmus MC (the medical centre of the Erasmus University here in Rotterdam) but none of the labs have funding for new projects at the moment. Although some of the projects sound interesting, there isn’t anything I feel very passionate about. Also, the labs I have met with did not feel very friendly and the environment just doesn’t feel right. From the first interview, TU Delft had a good feeling about it. The Bionanoscience Department is a young growing department and everyone I met with was friendly and made me feel welcome. It was very different to Erasmus MC and I think it will be a good place to work. Maybe if the right project comes along in the right lab, Erasmus MC will be different.

The start date has been set for 11 July, so I have two weeks of unemployment left. I am looking forward to starting and having some science brain stimulation again! But I am quite nervous as well. It has been a while since I have been on the bench and hope I haven’t forgotten everything!

So watch this space!

In other news, we are going to Bruges next weekend! We wanted to take some time off and go away in August but since I will be part of the working class by then and will have to take leave, we decided to make use of the next two weeks before I start working. So it was a last minute decision and we booked accommodation last night! Yay! We leave on Saturday morning and get back Tuesday evening. Belgian chocolate, beer and fritters here we come! =)

Also, Shell and Graham have booked flights to come stay with us in the first week of August! Super Yay! =) Shell will be here from 1-9 Aug and Graham from 6-9 Aug. Looking forward to seeing them again and doing some exploring together!!

It is Saturday today and we went to explore s’ Hertogenbosch or Den Bosch as it is affectionately known. In the next post we will tell you about our day out! Also keep an eye out for the pindakaasvloer and life in Holland so far, coming soon! =)

Hope you are having a good weekend!

x 

Graduation dinner at Eendracht

This weekend we decided to take it a bit slower after a few pretty busy weekends recently. After a slow start on Saturday we cycled to the local market in the wind and on/off rain. We picked up some good cheese, cashew nuts, dates, chocolate and some old school music DVDs all for a good price.  The afternoon was spent chillaxing before a dinner date! We also had a very kewl skype chat with Brenainn (Justin’s brother) and Kirsten (Bren’s wife). Yay! Thanks guys, glad we could finally organise a chat! =)

Saturday night was dinner date night to celebrate graduation last week Friday. We had originally booked dinner for last week Friday night but changed it to this week Saturday because we went to the Pinkpop festival =) The restaurant we went to is called Eendracht. In English eendracht means unity, accord, harmony or union. An unusual name for a restaurant but makes sense since it is located on Eendrachtsweg. They certainly did create harmonious unions on the plate!

Eendracht is a small restaurant, seating 30 at the most, with very simple and rustic décor. The room is arranged so that you can watch the chef in action! Tables to seat 4 line one wall and couples are seated on the opposite side of the chef’s work counter. We sat at the original hand-made wooden counter (the chef and his grandfather made it together) in front of the chef and had an easy conversation with him throughout the evening. There is also a small outdoor section which seats about 12-20 and an upstairs room kitted out with its own kitchen which they use for hosting functions.

Of Dutch origins, chef Pepijn Schmeink, has been in the industry for 22 years although he looks like he is only about 35 years old. He has worked all over Holland and also spent 7 years in the States. He opened Eendracht 5 years ago, has been married for two years and is eagerly awaiting the arrival of their first child in August.

There are three seatings for dinner, 6pm, 7:30 and 9pm, to stagger the evening and give the chef time to prepare the meals. We chose the 7:30 seating. There are no menu’s at Eendracht, every evening is a surprise dinner! You can choose between a 4 or 6 course menu and if you want a wine pairing with your meal. They also have a good wine list to choose your own bottle from. We chose the 4 course menu accompanied by the wine pairing. The 6 course menu had rabbit as the main course which we chose not to have. The poor bunnies! But as Pepijn so kindly pointed out, they were already dead (we had been warned about the forwardness of the Dutch…). Chef Pepijn has many friends and contacts in the farming world and obtains all his ingredients fresh. However, this also means that he receives whatever is available and in season, one of the reasons for the surprise and variable menu. The portions are small, but you feel satisfied at the end of the evening and not like you have over-eaten, and are very well presented.

As an appetizer we were served a cold cucumber gazpacho with little shrimps on top in a creamy sauce accompanied by a sparkling white wine. There was also sour-dough bread on the table for dipping into olive oil, coarse salt and fine pepper. The first course was mackerel, smoked in the wood-burning oven in front of us, served with beetroot carpaccio on a bed of baby tomatoes and beetroot sorbet on top. This course was accompanied with a sparkling rosé wine. I can’t remember the names and grape varieties of all the wines we drank, but they were all of French origin.

The second course was a little lamb sausage on a roasted yellow pepper sauce, couscous and zucchini round on top of stringy lamb pieces served with some salad greens and a strip of roasted aubergine. The wine was a yummy light red of sorts.

The main course was a firm white flaky fish that I can’t remember the name of, on top of a creamy potato sauce and a creamy cauliflower sauce served with edible seaweed and some other things I can’t remember, lol. With the main course we had a very yummy white wine reminiscent of a Mulderbosch blanc fumé or wooded Chardonnay in taste and its deep butter yellow colour.

The fourth course was a small cheese platter of three different French cheeses, two cow’s milk and one goat’s milk, served with slices of walnut and cranberry bread, plum chutney and walnuts in a spicy honey. The pear cider was refreshing and complimented this course well!

The fifth and final course was a sweet dessert of strawberries marinated in something, a piece of white chocolate ‘pizza’ (white chocolate buttons on phyllo pastry drizzled with honey cooked in the wood oven) and rhubarb sorbet. Dessert was accompanied with a sweet white wine which tasted very much like a noble late harvest. Justin finished the meal with a cappuccino served in a cup with no handle, lol. To warm your hands in winter I guess.

Apart from sauces and sorbets which were pre-prepared, Chef Pepijn cooked and prepared everything fresh for each sitting. It was amazing watching him work. His work space is very organised but he is very also busy, he didn’t stop all evening. There are only two other staff, one waiter and one kitchen hand/waiter. Pepijn left after the last guests received their main meal and the two waiters handled the rest of the evening on their own. We left shortly after he did. What a lovely evening and exquisite food! Thank you for spoiling me boy boib!

Have a look at www.restauranteendracht.com for some pics of the restaurant and more info on Chef Pepijn.

Happy Father’s day to all the Dad’s today! Hope you’ve had a kewl day =) Justin’s cricket game today was in the Hague but got rained out after 15 overs. Justin bowled 6 overs and bowled someone out on his first ball =) Today marks the half-way point in the cricket season.

Not much planned for this week. There are some building alterations underway in Justin’s office this week so he will probably work from home some of the days. Bron has a second interview at Delft University on Tuesday and an informal meeting at Erasmus MC on Wednesday. Bron’s Mom is sending a parcel with a Dutch lady who lives in the village and is visiting Holland. Yay! Thanks Meeps!! So we will fetch the parcel from Haarlem on Saturday. Haarlem is near Amsterdam and looks like a kewl old town so we will do some exploring while we are there too.

Hope you have a good week!

x

PS: No pics from the week but these are of the assembly of our new Ikea units and the finished product =)

The pieces and assembly... 

...the finished product! 

Our apartment is looking way more tidy and organised now that all the boxes are finally gone! The plan is to get a kewl new flat screen TV to go on top of the cabinet at some point... Justin can't wait until his unemployed wife has a job!! Watch this space =)

We survived Pinkpop 2011!

We survived a 3 hour train trip to Landgraaf, a 66 000 strong crowd, 8 hours of LOUD music, interesting public toilets, another 3 hour train trip back to Rotterdam starting at 24:00 and cycling home at 3:00. But that means that we also survived Pinkpop 2011!!  =)

We left Rotterdam Central station at 11:17, arrived at Landgraaf station after 14:00 and made our way to the festival area. The programme started at 15:00 with De Staat on the main stage. We orientated ourselves and looked around a bit before moving on to the 3FM stage to get a good spot for Manic Street Preachers at 16:00.

I first heard of the Manic Street Preachers in 1996 when I was in standard 7, a new teenager and suddenly into music. Their big hits at that time were ‘a design for life’, ‘if you tolerate this (then your children will be next)’, ‘Kevin Carter’ and ‘everything must go’. The band is from Wales and was formed in 1986 so they have been making music for a long time. They also played some new songs so apparently they are still making music! The band members look a lot older than I thought they were but they put on a decent show. I would say it was probably the second best of the day.

When we arrived it was pretty busy going through ticket check and security but there was still lots of space to move around the festival area. Somewhere between arriving and the end of Manic Street Preachers it was suddenly very crowded! Seriously, there were a LOT of people! But we never felt unsafe or worried about security. Everyone was easy going and although there was a lot of beer being consumed we didn’t see any violent incidents. Apparently Pinkpop has never had any incidents in all its history which is good going considering it is 42 years old already. Everyone is just there to enjoy the music.

There are two stages in the festival area at Pinkpop, a Main Stage and two other stages, the 3FM (serious radio) and Converse (the right to get loud) Stage. The first act was on at the main stage and then one on each of the other stages and then back to the main stage (at the same time). Acts are an hour long (except for the main act which was 1.5 hrs) with an hour inbetween to prep the stage for the next band. There is also space on the grass at the back of the main stage area where you can sit and chill if you need a time out. So there is some choice in what you want to see and how hectic you want to make your day but it is still a busy day.

No food and drink is allowed to be brought into the festival area but, although expensive, there was a fair choice of food and drinks available. It was also pretty well organised with lots of outlets and you generally didn’t queue very long to get served. Pinkpop also operates on a moneyless system. Vouchers are purchased at a separate kiosk and are exchanged for food and drinks at outlets. There were also t-shirts and Pinkpop souvenirs on sale (cash system).

I was quite disappointed with the public toilets at Pinkpop. Maybe I have a high expectation of portable loo’s since my Dad was in the business and only used the best ;~) These ones did not have a flush system, toilet paper or anywhere to wash your hands. Altogether too gross. And what is up with public urinals here?? A square plastic stand with four urinals around it and guys are not shy to use it. And once again nowhere to wash your hands. Honestly. Fortunately there was a ‘free’ water stand and I was able to get some water to at least rinse my hands. To-take-with items for next time definitely include a small tube of hand-wash or wet wipes at the least! We only saw one toilet area with about 20 porta-loo’s, definitely not enough for 66 000 people. I sincerely hope they serviced them before the start of each day’s performances!

We followed Manic Street Preachers with Lifehouse on the main stage, Ash at the Converse stage, Elbow at the main stage, Alter Bridge at the 3FM stage and finally Colplay on the main stage. Irish band Ash is another band I enjoyed as a teenager, but to be honest I can only remember one of their songs! lol. Which they did play =) Oh yeah! She was taking me over. Oh yeah! It was the start of the summer… They were a lot louder than I remember and we didn’t hang around for long after they had played oh yeah. We didn’t know Elbow or Alter Bridge before Saturday but were keen to check them out. Elbow is a British alternative rock band which we found to have a very mixed sound, some heavy some mellow. We did enjoy them but took the opportunity to have a bathroom break and find something to munch. Alter Bridge is an American metal band made up of former Creed and other band members. Apparently their song, ‘blackbird’, has been voted as having the best guitar solo of all time by Guitarist Magazine. You tube it and see if you agree. Although they have a good stage presence and gave a good performance, they were a little too heavy for us and we left early to get a good place for Coldplay =)

So. Coldplay. The main act of Saturday. Let’s just say that if you have tickets for any of the shows in SA, you won’t be disappointed! Coldplay have an incredible stage presence and gave a very good performance. Their act is very high energy and the good use of lighting really adds a lot to their show. They also used other props during the show. The show started and ended with fireworks, colourful confetti poured out of air vents at one point, bouncy ball-type balloons were passed into the crowd, there was interesting circular neon lights on stage and their instruments had a painted colourful graffiti look.

Coldplay played a lot of songs from their Viva la Vida album but also mixed it up with older material from previous albums. We recognised a lot of songs from the Coldplay Live 2003 DVD and it would seem as though they haven’t changed the lighting etc. for those songs since then. I guess if it works why change it? They also played 3 or 4 new songs which we will apparently love and which will do well in the charts. Coldplay are also very modest. Not. The band came across as very friendly but we did detect a hint of over confidence in their show. The show started 20 min late, I’m not sure why as they were just wearing t-shirts and jeans, but ended on time and we felt we had to feel privileged that they came back and played an extra 3 songs. Apparently the stage set up for Coldplay is the biggest and most complicated seen at Pinkpop. At least you know they don’t compromise for their shows. Chris Martin kept asking the crowd if we were ok during the show but he obviously never heard me ask for a drink as it never arrived ;~) All in all it was a good show and is totally worth seeing. You will definitely enjoy the SA shows.

By the time Coldplay had finished playing it was about 23:00 and time to head back to Rotterdam. The trains were running a bit late and there was some confusion as to the destinations of some trains, but we eventually made it back to Rotterdam Centraal at 03:00. We cycled to the station in the morning and were pleased to find our bicycles where we left them in the bicycle parking garage =) It was the first time we have ever used a bike parking garage, lol. We made it home at 03:15 and in bed by 03:30! Enough time for a few winks before time to get up for a cricket game, well, some of us ;~)

There were some interesting umpiring decisions at Justin’s cricket game on Sunday due to the fact that the batting side umpires the game. The game was much closer than the previous week but VOC still lost by 18 runs =( It was unfortunate that they lost but mistakes in the field and a slow batting pace is probably where the mistakes came in. It was a home game this week and Bron enjoyed watching some of the game. The Dutch national cricket team are playing at the VOC grounds on the 17th and 18th July and we might catch one of the games.

Today was a public holiday, tweede Pinskterdag or Pentecost. We took it easy after quite a busy weekend. It was cloudy all day and rained on and off. But we managed a cycle to the neighbouring town Schiedam and then back to Rotterdam City Centre.

We had a good weekend and enjoyed our first Pinkpop experience. There are a lot of music festivals on this summer. We are quite keen for one in Belgium called TW Classic at the Werchter Festivalpark on 9th of July. The line-up includes Bryan Adams, Texas, Simple minds and James Blunt. But looking at the train times it sounds like another long day. Maybe planning to go to another festival the day after one is not a good idea!

Below are some pics from Pinkpop. No cameras were allowed into the festival area so these are only from Justin’s camera phone. Better than nothing! Check out www.pinkpop.nl for more pics of the weekend.

Hope you are all well and had a good weekend! Enjoy a day off on Thursday!

x

Arriving at Pinkpop

The 3FM Stage

Manic Street Preachers on the 3FM Stage

View of the main stage from the back of the grass area

3FM Stage

No crowd surfing!! 

The Converse Stage tent

Coldplay on the Main Stage!! 

Coldplay!

Justin at Coldplay

Bouncy balloon-type balls

Coldplay here we come!!

We were super bleak to hear that Coldplay are finally playing in South Africa this year, just when we have left. Imagine our surprise and excitedness upon hearing that they are playing at a festival called Pinkpop in the Netherlands this weekend!!

‘Pinkpop’ might sound like a Gay Pride Parade but it is actually a 3 day music festival held over the Pentecost long weekend at Landgraaf in Southern Netherlands. Pentecost is ‘Pinksteren’ in Dutch and the logo for the festival is a doll in a pink dress hence ‘pinkpop’. The first festival was held in 1970 and this year is the 42nd time that the festival is being held. Pinkpop has been announced by Guinness World Records as the oldest musical festival in the world.

We only learnt about the festival yesterday when Justin’s brother Brenainn told us that Coldplay are playing in the Netherlands THIS weekend and are we going?? We seriously need to get informed! Weekend tickets are sold out already but lucky for us day tickets are still available and we bought two tickets for Saturday. Coldplay here we come! =)

Before you start feeling too jealous, we will have a 3 hour train trip to get there, another 3 hours to get back and will probably only get home at about 3 o’clock in the morning. Not to mention the ~60 000 strong crowd which no doubt be mostly drunk and the strong possibility of rain. Will be just like going to a 2010 World Cup Soccer match! Except no vuvuzela’s, which can only be a good thing! At least we have had some training then. I can’t remember the last time I got home at 3am. Thought my days of that, short lived as they were, were over. Apparently not! I’m glad it’s not me playing a cricket game on Sunday ;~)

Coldplay is the main act for Saturday playing a 1.5 hour set starting at 21:00. Other acts on Saturday include De Staat (who?), Manic Street Preachers, Madi, Lifehouse, Ash, Simple Plan, Elbow, Selah Sue, and Alter Bridge. The main act on Sunday is Kings of Leon and on Monday is the Foo Fighters. There are more acts on Sunday and Monday than Saturday but we recognise more of the bands playing on Saturday! We must be getting old.

But Pinkpop isn’t just about the music. Festival goers can also sign an Amnesty International petition to release human rights activist and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Liu Xiaobo, currently held as a political prisoner in China and also learn more about Oxfam and their goals of ensuring fair trade and food security in a fight against poverty and suffering.

If you want to know more, see pics of previous festivals and can handle reading it all in Dutch, check out www.pinkpop.nl.

So, hope you have a kewl weekend and see you on the other side of Pinkpop!

x

Hemelvaartsdag Long Weekend

Thursday was a public holiday in the Netherlands for Hemelvaarts Dag or Ascension Day and Justin had Friday off work too so we had a nice long weekend. And the weather was nice for four days in a row! Sunshine with a bit of wind, was great! But Monday it was back to clouds and rain.

Thursday we headed to The Hague for exploring! First up was a walk through the park to see the deer and onto a more wooded area. The deer are in a large closed off area so people can’t get to them but you can still get pretty close. They are very relaxed and don’t get stressed if people come up close-ish. There were some little ones, medium sized ones and of course on main Daddy looking one, lol. The wooded park area is quite wild. It was really nice to see people using the park to cycle in, walk their dog, play with their children, ride their horse etc. and it is really lovely at the moment being all green.

Next was a quick stroll through the city. The city is a lot older than Rotterdam, I keep having to remind myself that Rotterdam was bombed flat in WWII, but also has a young funky feel to it. We walked through the Binnenhof which is the parliamentary and government buildings which was originally a hunting lodge for counts in the 13^th century. We also passed other official looking buildings like the ministry of finance etc.

The Hague also has many museums such as the well-known Mauritshuis the collection of which includes works by old masters such as Rembrandt and Vermeer and is home to ‘girl with a pearl earring’ by Vermeer. I really want to go to this museum but it was a beautiful sunny day to be spent on the beach and not in museums! We have agreed to do the museum thing when winter is upon us and it is cold and yukky again.

The main aim for the day was to hit the beach! Scheveningen used to be a fishing village but then became a seaside resort. There are two long piers which stretch into the ocean, a fancy looking hotel called the Kurhaus, the old harbour and miles of sandy beach! We had lunch at the end of one pier and watched people bungy jumping from a crane type structure, not quite the same as Bloukrans!

After lunch we had a long walk on the beach between the two piers; it was so nice to feel sand between the toes again and walk in the lapping water. Just like Cape Town, there were more people on the beach than in the water! lol. I am really amazed at how people sun bathe here, clothes off, costume on and in the sun! No hat, no sunglasses. I wonder if they use any sunblock. It is only the beginning of summer but just about everyone on the beach had an even all over tan already. The first sign of sun and they are out there, it’s amazing. We stayed covered up with hats on, the power of the sun is deceptive in the wind, but still managed to change colour a bit. Yay! I now have a stripe tan =)

Scheveningen is one of the beaches closest to us and easy to get to using public transport so we will probably go there when we are looking for a beach fix. Hoek van Holland is the other close-ish one that we still want to check out which is also relatively easy to get to. I also want to go to Hellevoetsluis sometime but it is more of a mission by train.

I really liked The Hague and we will be back for more exploring!

On Friday afternoon we had a picnic in a park called Kralingse Bos with a guy from Justin’s office, Joppe, and his wife, Claire. Two of their friends also joined us. We have a park close to where we live called The Park, very original, but Kralingse Bos is much bigger ad has a lake/dam in the middle that people sail on etc. It was another lazy afternoon vegging in the sun but it was great. A good opportunity to work on our tans! Bron also made her first milk tart ever for the picnic and it went down well =)

Saturday morning Justin finished putting together the new Ikea cabinet that he had started earlier in the week, yay! It is all finished =) We packed another picnic with the aim of cycling to Schiedam to explore a bit and have a munch there. But Bron was too nervous on her bike after her fall and the weight in the basket at the front of bike wasn’t helping so we didn’t make it very far and landed up picnicking on a spot of grass next to the canal instead. Epic fail. We did however cycle into the city after dropping off the picnic goodies and Bron is feeling a lot more confident on her bike since cycling around with Justin a bit.

We watched the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie, On Stranger Tides, on Saturday night. I was expecting it to be poor considering it’s the fourth in the series but was pleasantly surprised. We really enjoyed the movie and definitely recommend it. Somehow they always manage to come up with something new and fresh while still keeping to the original Pirates plot i.e. Jack chasing a girl and The Black Pearl. What was different about Saturday’s movie was that we cycled there! I can safely say that I have never cycled to a movie before! Even when Justin lived 100m from Cavendish Square we used to drive there because it wasn’t safe to walk back at night after the movie, crazy.

Sunday saw Bron cycling to church and then organising the new bookshelf and cabinet while Justin playing cricket. They lost horribly but Justin was told that he should be playing for the second team =) The game was reduced to 30 overs due to rain delaying play. The opposing team, Rood and Wit, made 262/8. Justin’s figures were 42/2 after 7 overs but he didn’t make any catches this time. Justin’s team, VOC, were all out for 79 and Justin made a dismal 9 (his words!). VOC also lost the game they played on Thursday so hoping there will be an improvement soon! Come on guys! 

And then it was the end of our four day weekend =( But this weekend is another long weekend =) Sunday is Pentecost and Monday is Tweede Pentecost, very strange but we are not complaining! No plans for the weekend yet except for dinner on Friday night since it is somebody’s graduation day… Some exploring probably and a cricket game, of course.

Hope you are well and having a good week!

x

The wooded park area at The Hague

Deer in the park!

A bicycle in a canal. Next to it was also an umbrella. Hm. 

The Binnenhof

Fountain at the Binnenhof

Sand sculpture in the city streets to commemorate WWII veterans

Bungy jumping from a crane gadget at the end of the pier at Scheveningen 

The beach at Scheveningen. Note all the bodies on the sand and not in the water! 

Trust me, I'm a Doctor =)

So I can finally share with you that I have passed my PhD! YAY! =)

I found out that I had passed my PhD pending minor corrections in the first week of February when we were in Rotterdam looking for an apartment but I only received the examiner’s reports with the requested corrections when we got back to Rotterdam after our travels. It was supposed to be confidential until my corrections and response to the examiner’s reports had been received by the Doctoral Degree Board (DDB) so we told a few people such as family and people who asked, but now that it is official we can share it with everyone =)

So all of you who think I have been a site-seeing couch potato since Justin has started work, think again! Apart from unpacking a mountain of boxes and organising our apartment, a lot of time has been spent completing the corrections, getting my supervisor’s approval, printing everything and getting it posted off to Cape Town in time for June graduation. It was touch and go but the documents finally made it there and were handed in last week Friday. I received the final ‘pass after corrections’ confirmation from the DDB on Monday. So it is done and dusted and all is set for graduation next week Friday, the 10th of June.

Unfortunately I will not be present at the graduation ceremony in Cape Town next week, which is a pity but what can you do. I would like Justin to be there as well but flights for both of us at the moment is just not practical. It will still be a special day wherever we are and we will be on that stage in CT in spirit! We are planning our own celebrations this side =)

Thank you to everyone who helped me during my studies, whether it was help with the actual project or just being supportive. You guys were great and I could not have done it alone. Special thanks to my parents and family, to my awesome husband Justin, to my lab mates and cell group. You guys rock! Also a special thanks to Rob and Sue who received the docs in CT and helped me to get everything handed in on that side. Thanks guys! I’ll stop there before this becomes an Oscar speech! lol. But seriously, thank you.

Congratulations to Chris who also recently passed his PhD. Chris and I started our Master’s together in the same lab and then upgraded to a PhD degree. So it has been a long road for both of us and it is awesome to be graduating together. Enjoy grad dude!

So at the moment my time is mostly spent looking for a job. Hopefully the right one comes along soon! Watch this space!

In other news it is a long weekend this weekend and the weather forecast is looking good, finally! Still no fixed plans but some exploring will happen, maybe watch the new X-Men movie, complete the assembly of our new Ikea goodies and of course Justin’s cricket game on Sunday.

Sorry, no pics this time. Those of you who usually just skip to the pics can get the gist in the first paragraph or two ;~)

Have a kewl rest of week and weekend!

x