Southern Spain: Malaga to Seville

As Marph already said, we spent 16 wonderful days exploring Andalusia, the most Southern province of Spain. We started in Malaga and made a round trip in our rented Ford Fiesta. This blog will focus on the route from Malaga to Seville and the next blog post will focus on the return route from Seville back to Malaga.

First things first, we had 16 days of constant sunshine! Too amazing. It is the most consecutive days of sun we have had since leaving SA a year ago! It was about 18-20ºC everyday except for Granada which had a max of about 11ºC due to snow on the Sierra Nevada mountains. We managed to catch a few rays and have had so many comments on our ‘tan’ since our return to the Netherlands. We were thinking you would probably lose your tan if it was only 20ºC for a few weeks in SA! Lol. It made a really nice change to the 6ºC, epically windy and very wet weather we have been (and still are!) having in the Netherlands. And we still keep being told that it this is unusually warm for this time of year… The other nice thing was the sun sets about an hour later in Southern Spain in the Netherlands which really makes a difference to the day. But it rises at about the same time or so.

Something else that deserves a mention before we get started is driving on the right hand side of the road! Justin did a really great job of getting us around in our little Ford Fiesta rental. Well done Boib! It took a while to adjust to getting in the other side of the car, doing gears with the right hand and remembering to drive on the right hand side of the road! You also need to remember that turning right is easier than turning left etc. Road rules in Spain also seem to be more guidelines, people seemed to do their own thing anyway and also park anywhere. One thing we certainly would not have survived without is our recently acquired GPS. Thanks Kate! Justin did really well to get us around but some narrow roads and too many one-way roads can be problematic! Kate was great except for the few times she mixed up her lefts and rights. But now that we have hired a car and driven around we will be more confident to do it again and maybe around here which will make day or weekend trips much easier =)

Malaga to Seville:

We landed in Malaga quite late on Sunday 19 December 2011 and so decided to spend our first night close by in Torremolinos. After picking up some car snacks the next day we were ready to start exploring! Our first stop was Ronda in the Publeos Blancos region. These are small towns with white-washed houses that were built in the mountains so that people could get away from the bandits that roamed the plains; there was even a bandit’s museum in Ronda!

We headed out for walk around the town after checking into our hotel and were surprised to find everything closed! We thought ok, maybe it’s holidays or things are closed on a Monday. But after 5pm everything opened and the town became alive and very vibey. Our first taste of Siesta time! We did not find Siesta time to be very big when we were in Barcelona and Madrid last March but in the Southern parts of Spain Siesta is very beeg. In every town we visited everything was closed from 2-5pm. So you would think that things opened early in the morning. Nope. Shops only opened at 10am. General opening times were 10am-2pm and 5pm-8:30pm with some variations. We had to learn to plan our day around Siesta time! 

Ronda is a lovely quaint old town that bridges a deep valley. Sights include the Puente Nuevo or new bridge and the bull ring. The bridge starts at the very bottom of the valley and goes all the way up to the town, about 100m; an impressive feat of engineering for the early 18^th century. Ronda’s bull ring, or Plaza de Toros, is the oldest and first purpose built bull ring in Spain. Although we are not fans of bull fights it was still interesting to walk around the inside of the ring and see the holding pens, the equestrian arena and other livestock areas.

On one of our days in Ronda we did a road trip through some of the other white washes towns. We enjoyed the leather shopping in Ubrique, the views of Gibraltar in Gaucin and being rock rabbits around a ruined Moorish castle in Jimena de la Fronteria. Driving around the narrow streets in these towns is not for the feint hearted! It was really nice driving around the mountain areas and seeing white-washed towns pop up around corners, it is very scenic. We also saw many wild cork trees with the bark stripped off to a certain height and also many wild olive trees. Green olives are a favourite tapas in many areas.

The most cloud we had the whole holiday! Having breakfast on the beach in Torremolinos.

LBJs sharing our crumbs =)

Our little Ford Fiesta Rental! We didn't realise how many windmills Spain has! But we didn't see any of the old style ones like you get in the Netherlands, only the new turbine types. Fortunately we didn't have a lot of wind, only on the last two days. 

View of the valley and white-washed houses in Ronda

The Puente Nuevo in Ronda 

View of the valley from the top of Puente Nuevo in Ronda

Boibs at Ronda

Bull outside the Plaza de Toros Ronda

Plaza de Toros Ronda

Stairs in the bull ring

Ruined Moorish castle at Jimena de la Fronteria

Typical round Moorish arches in the Mudejar style

From Ronda we headed to Jerez de la Fronteria which is close to Cadiz and is in the Sherry producing area. We stayed at a really nice hotel on a sherry farm or bodega a little out of town. It was so peaceful and quiet and with beautiful landscapes especially with the colours at sunrise or sunset. Jerez was a great place for chilling and reading our books. The restaurant at the hotel was also kewl except for the lack of English… but they tried really hard =)

We drove through to Cadiz and spent the day exploring! Cadiz has a very North African feel with its narrow streets and flat roofed houses. We visited the Cathedral with its golden dome of yellow tiles and enjoyed panoramic views of the city from Torre or Tower de Poniente adjacent to the Cathedral. The rest of the day was spent exploring the narrow streets, walking along the seafront promenade, trying to get into very closed old castles and walking in the parks.

We didn’t explore the town of Jerez that much but we did make a stop at the internationally known Royal Equestrian School. Think university for dressage riders, carriage riders and saddle makers. Since we visited on a Friday we missed the Lipizzaner show which happens on a Tuesday and Thursday. But we did get to watch the training session, check out the leather saddle and equipment studio and walk around the grounds and old manor house. It was a little quiet being holidays & two days before Christmas but one friendly security guy took the two of us around the stables and showed us the tack room. It was really nice of him to show us and be so friendly. We met one of the 5 Spanish horses going to the Olympics in London later this year. Keep an eye out for the Spanish horses in the dressage category!

Bull cut outs dot the country side. As do fields of solar panels. 

View of Cadiz Cathedral from the promenade

Bron at the top of Torre de Poniente 

View of Cadiz from the tower

Tower bells

Boibs at the top of the tower

From Jerez we moved onto Sevilla! We really enjoyed exploring Seville although we didn’t get to go into too many things since we were there over Christmas and most things either closed early or weren’t open on the 24^th, 25^th & 26^th. We only really had the morning of the 24^th to do touristy things. But we really enjoyed exploring the streets of the city. Sights we saw include the Torro del Oro, the Plaza del Toros, Plaza Nueva, Plaza Duque de la Victoria, the Cathedral, the Real Alcazar, Plaza de Espana and the old city walls (our hotel was right by the city walls and we had a view of them from our room). We loved how the Moorish architecture was integrated into the city and many buildings had the round Moorish arches. We also loved the orange trees full or ripe oranges that lined the streets in Seville and in many of the other cities we went to.

We really wanted to go into the Cathedral but it wasn’t open any time we were able to go. We did however hear the bells doing a special peal for Christmas. Wow! Super loud! We did however go into the Real Alcazar which is the old Moorish Palace. We really enjoyed the Real Alcazar! We loved the mix of the different Moorish arches, the running water, the colourful tiles, the fancy carved plaster work everywhere, the fancy ceilings and the excellent use of water, space and light. There was also a massive garden which we explored a bit. It was a little taste of what we expected the Alhambra in Granada to be like so it whet the appetite a little.

On Christmas eve the hotel put on a special dinner for out-of-towners who didn’t have any family around which we went to. It was a really good deal for a 6 course meal including wine and champagne. For starters we were served Iberian cured ham with hard cheese followed by 6 loungostines each (!) and soup. Mains was fish done in a mussel sauce with veg etc. Dessert was a wicked chocolate torte and a big plate of chocolates and other goodies. Was hectic! The barman also kept our glasses well topped up with white wine. We felt like we had a good session of the usual Christmas over feeding =)

Christmas day itself was very quiet. Not much was open but we did have a nice walk through the quiet city. We also enjoyed a seasonal Starbucks coffee, one of the only things that was open, lol.

And on the 26^th it was time to move onto Cordoba! Watch this space for the second installment on Southern Spain: Seville to Malaga =)

Seville's Cathedral

Random building in Seville with typical Moorish architecture

Nativity scene in Seville. Most towns we went to were really festive with strings of lights in the streets, Christmas trees, trees made up of lights and the hotels also generally made a lot of effort and had lots of decorations up. Was nice and festive =)

The Real Alcazar

Plaster work and tiles in the Real Alcazar

Some of the gardens at the Real Alcazar

Plaza de Espana

Bron at Plaza de Espana

Orange tree lined streets! 

Our favourite pose, chilling in the sun in the park =)

In other news the Netherlands is still as windy and gloomy as when we left. We were back at work on Thursday so it was a nice slow two day week to ease back into things. This week will be way more hectic! Justin had his first cricket practice of the season yesterday and is feeling very stiff today! Lol. So it is back to smelly sweaty cricket gear on the balcony, oh yay. Also Bron’s contract at the TU Delft ends at the end of January but she has been offered another year contract in the same department. The lady who went on maternity leave (Susanne) is back on the 16^th of Jan and in Feb we both go to a 4 day week. Yay, can’t wait! =) So that was good news to hear just before we went on holiday. Super glad that we will both still have a job in this current economic climate.

Today, Sunday, we had one of Bron’s work colleagues Marijn and his wife around for lunch and board games. Was a fun afternoon =)

Until next time! Hope you are all well and have a good week!

x 

Marph goes to Andalusia

It was a 16 fantastic days spent exploring Andalusia (southern Spain). We started in Malaga and made our way to Sevilla via Torremolinos, Ronda, Jerez de la Frontera and Cadiz. The trip back to Malaga was via Cordoba, Granada and Almunecar. This was all achieved in our little rented left-hand drive Ford Fiesta =) 

These are some of my pics (the other two are still wading through the 1,000 or so photos that they took). Enjoy!

We saw lots of small white villages or Pueblo Blancos ....

.... and tasted some of the Sherry that makes Jerez famous ....

... and visited Spain's oldest bull ring in Ronda ....

... and enjoyed a healthy breakfast on a park bench in the sun ...

... and checked out the funky tiles and found some time to read .... 

... and enjoyed the yummy seasonal Starbucks coffees! Flavours tasted include ginger bread latte, peppermint mocha and mocha praline ...

... and visited some beautiful palaces, like the Mezquita in Cordoba ....

.... and saw lots of orange trees. Like lots. Like seriously lots. With oranges still on them ....

... and saw some awesome sights like the view of the Alhambra from the adjacent hill in Granada (a mirador is a view point)...

... and tried the local food like tapas ....

... and there was more sunshine and more sights like this view of Granada from the Alhambra ....

.... and found some snazzy post boxes for posting post cards ....

... and of course we ate some ice-cream. In the Sun. Of course. 

So apparently those other two are working on photos and a blog post and I am supposed to say something along the lines of check back soon. Blah, blah, blah.... I'm sure their blog won't be nearly as cool (or popular) as mine. 

Hope you have a Marphy kind of 2012 =)

PS: Thank you for 6 200 +  page views! 

The G10 Procedure

This week I was again travelling for work, and again it was to a country that is fairly paranoid about safety and security. In hindsight it is easy to laugh about, but as usual, only in hindsight. I call it the G10 procedure, and it went something like this:

For most International flights you can get away with booking in an hour and a half (or maybe even an hour) before the flight, but for this particular country, and especially this particular airline, you need to use every minute of the three hours that they allow for. The process starts with you, the passenger, arriving at the airlines’ specially demarcated check-in area. The check –in area is surrounded with bullet proof glass and there are a number of guards all carrying semi-automatic rifles. Having arrived at the check-in area you are then approached by, what can only be termed, a Profiler. The Profiler’s job is to scrutinize your passport and look for anything that might be considered suspicious. This may be the fact that you are a resident of a country other than the two you are flying between. It could be the brightly coloured stamps of a country that you visited in the past that is not on talking terms with the country you are hoping to visit now. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact that you were born in Polokwane, or worse yet, you have more facial hair than what your passport photo shows. In my case there were multiple reasons for the ‘Profiler’ to get excited. This then results in even more bizarre questions being asked, like “Why did you decide to fly today?” and “Do you have to go on this trip?”. What is the correct answer??

Having decided that I qualified as suspicious, and having had this confirmed by the head Profiler, I was then informed that I would have to proceed to Gate G10, and that I would have to be there one and a half hours before scheduled take-off.

Gate G10. She made it sound so simple. Surely it is the gate after gate G9? No. You see gate G10 is not a real gate. It is a room located below all the other gates and it is not sign posted as “This way to G10”. It is only by asking the heavily armed security guards for directions that you will ever find gate G10. Once you are in G10 the G10 procedure starts. It starts with a Department of Home Affairs type of wait. Take a seat and wait for your number to be called. I was number three in the queue. Once your number is called the process starts all over again. The passport is scrutinized, your hand luggage (and checked in luggage if you are unlucky) is turned inside out and the barrage of questions starts all over again. Having finally decided that I could proceed to the next ‘stage’, I was given a personal escort to the security check. At the security check I was taken straight to the front of the queue where the lady operating the x-ray machine was informed that I was “one of the people from G10”. This got the lady and her colleagues all very excited. They spent the next few minutes double checking that the x-ray machine was working properly (what were they using it for up until now?) and that any other machine that was supposed to make a noise and flash with red lights did as it was supposed to. Great fun, as long as you are not the guy at the front of the queue that has caused all this fuss to be made.

Eventually, after having had my bag scanned, and having done the standard belt and shoe strip, and having gone through the metal detector, and having had the obligatory security pat down (even though the metal detector never actually went off), I was clear to go. Now I could proceed with my trip looking forward to the return trip…

Having spent all this time in the airport, I managed to encounter a few other funny moments:

1)    Whilst standing in the check-in queue (the one where you are given your boarding pass in exchange for handing over your suitcase), two girls in front of me decided to unpack their suitcase on to the scale at the check-in desk. Apparently they were 14 pounds over weight and had to “make a plan”. This was all working out fine for them for the first five or so minutes until the check-in clerk realized that her check-in desk was starting to look like a flea market. Needless to say the girls were asked to take their stuff and weigh it somewhere else.

2)    On the way back I had bought some small presents for Bron. I had originally intended to send the presents with my checked in baggage. This plan was foiled. The security check (yip, bag gets x-rayed before you even check-in) decided that these presents need to be packaged separately. So these two little gifts, each the size of a fist, would need to be boxed separately. The box that was eventually brought for these two little packages looked like it could be used to ship two pairs of shoes, a drum, half a cow and still have some space left over. And then I am supposed to take the airline seriously when they measure the size of my baggage.

Anyway, tomorrow we are off to the south of Spain for our end of year break. Here’s hoping we don’t encounter another G10 procedure.

Merry Christmas all and we will be back and blogging in January. 

Some end of year photos

Celebrating Sinterklaas with some friends (the meal is Stamppot and sausages - a traditional Dutch meal)

Playing a gift swap game at Sinterklaas

The Oliebollen (think sweet vetkoek) seller

A hot oliebollen sprinkled with sugar

Our christmas tree

Some of the festive lights in Rotterdam

The National Architecture Institute (Rotterdam)

Sunset in Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv coastline

Coastal engineering in action: an offshore breakwater and the resulting salient

Ice-skating with Bron's department

Note from the editor: 

Despite best intentions I have as yet not put together another blog on life in Rotterdam which I am quite bleak about. As you can see from the above photo's we have been pretty busy these last few weeks with some social activities but also trying to get things finished at work before we go on leave. But watch this space!! There will be more blogging next year and there will definitely be more posts on living in Europe. As Justin said we are off to Spain tomorrow, yay! Looking forward very muchly. Things will probably be quiet on the blog front while we are away but watch out for Marph and stoires from Spain in January =)

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! 

x

Hint van de Sint

Hoor de windt waait door de bomen!

Hier in huis zelfs waait de wind!

Zou de goede Sint wel komen als hij’t weer zo lelijk vind?

Als hij’t weer zo lelijk vindt.

Ja hij komt in donk’re naachten,

Op zijn paardje oh zo snel.

Als hij wijst hoe wij verwachten oh dan kwam hij zeker wel,

Oh dan kwam hij zeker wel.

Tomorrow is Sinterklaas in the Netherlands! This is one of the traditional Sinterklaas songs and it is spot on with the wind, it has been howling all week!

So, what is Sinterklaas? Sinterklaas is based on Saint Nicholas, the patron Saint of children, sailors and the city of Amsterdam. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving and leaving coins in shoes left out for him. Father Christmas or Santa Claus is also based on Saint Nicholas but Sinterklaas is not at all linked to religion here which is really nice. Other names for Sinterklaas include de Goedheiligman or just de Sint.

Sinterklaas is celebrated on the 5^th of December, on the eve of the birth of Saint Nicholas. Legend has it that the Sint arrives by steam boat from Spain three weeks earlier. Each year he arrives in a different city in the Netherlands, the only criteria being there must be a harbor. This year he arrived in Dordrecht. During the three weeks he visits children in many different cities in the Netherlands and also has ‘help’ Sints as one person can’t be everywhere at the same time, even if he is a Saint.

Sinterklaas ends on 5 December with children receiving gifts from the Sint. Traditional gifts include something hand-made, a well thought out poem about the person and a chocolate alphabet letter. But these days marketing has taken over and toys are also popular gifts. One of the stores motto at the moment is ‘Hint can de Sint’ as ideas for what to buy. Also traditional is leaving your shoe by the fireplace, or more creatively by the extractor fan in the kitchen if you don’t have a fireplace, for the Sint to come down the chimney and leave sweets in it.

In our experience most people celebrate Sinterklaas in some form but it is most popular with families with small children. We really like the fact that Sinterklaas and Christmas are kept very separate; it is a big no-no to confuse Sinterklaas with de Kerstman and even to put up a tree before Sinterklaas is over. It is also nice not to be all Christmased out by cheesy carols in the shops etc. before the beginning of December! But we have been warned that the day after Sinterklaas Christmas hits the shops big time. But I think Christmas is less commercial here than in SA since people mostly do gift giving at Sinterklaas and Christmas time is more for spending time with family.

Traditional treats for Sinterklaas include chocolate alphabet letters, spekulaas biscuits, gevulde spekulaas (a thick layer of amandelspijs, a type of marzipan, sandwiched between two spekulaas biscuits), kruidnoten (think mini ginger biscuits, too more-ish) and truffle kruidnoten (kruidnoten covered in chocolate and dusted in cocoa). Kruidnoten and truffle kruidnoten are definitely our favourites!

We had a lovely dinner and gift swop game last week Sunday with some friends from Justin’s work. We all brought a nice gift and a kitsch gift and swopped them around with a dice with rules for what to do for each number (1 = swop left, 2 = unwrap, 3 = swop right etc). It was really fun and we highly recommend it as an alternate to the ‘yankee swop’game.

Today we had some friends over and enjoyed some snacks and good wine whilst playing board games. It was really fun. It is really nice that we finally know some people over here that we can call friends and do fun stuff with.

Tomorrow, Sinterklaas, both our companies close at 3pm so people can have more time with their families. We are looking forward to an earlier day and a nice quiet dinner together =)

In other news it is two weeks until we leave for Spain! Woohoo!! So much of excited. Next weekend we have booked to go to the Batman Live show which we expect to be mostly acrobatics similar to Cirque du Soleil. And Justin flies to Israel again next Sunday for three nights. We are hoping his new beard gets him through airport security easier this time ‘~)

Finally, yay to Shell & Graham spending some time with our good friends Joan & Mayira in Santiago, Chile this weekend! Hope you guys had a great time together! Wish we could have been there too! Next time =)

Have a good week!!

x

Rotterdam: City of Water

It is 11 months today since we left SA on a beautiful hot sunny day last December. How this year has flown! Although we haven’t been in the Netherlands for a full year quite, it is a good time to share some of our experiences of living in a European country. This will be the first in a series of blogs on life in the Netherlands!

As the title may suggest, today we will be talking about water. Rotterdam is the largest and busiest port in Europe and the fourth busiest in the world. But that is not the water I want to discuss. Today we will broach the subject of the very average Northern Hemisphere weather we are now subjected to and then never talk about it again!

So we arrived in the UK at the beginning of January and in the middle of winter. I remember thinking that it is absolutely freezing but then we discovered what freezing was when we went to Berlin and Prague! But we managed in the cold and still did a lot of exploring & had a great time. By the time we got to Spain and Portugal it was warming up nicely and there was promise of a good Summer on the way. We even had an amazing sunny mildly warm week in Paris, it was amazing for early Spring! But when we arrived in Rotterdam at the end of March it was like being back in Italy! Paris, only 500 km away, was a pleasant 20ºC but the Netherlands was still only about 12ºC. We were disappointed but still full of hope for a good Summer.

Time went on and still the weather didn’t really improve; lots of cloud, rain and wind. Typical Cape Town Winter stuff. It was mid-June when someone told us to hang in there, June is often iffy but wait for July and August. But July and August came and went and still there was no real Summer weather. It did warm up a little bit, it was probably about 18-20ºC each day but not really warmer than that. We really missed the hot guaranteed sunshine days!

The one nice thing though is the long days. In the middle of ‘Summer’ it was still light at 10:45 pm! It slowly starts getting darker earlier until the end of October when it is light until about 6pm. Then daylight savings time end and it is suddenly dark at 5pm, too awful!

So we didn’t have a great Summer. It was very wet, cloudy almost all the time and often very windy. It is a good thing we had 10 years of practice in Cape Town! Just before it started getting cold we had an amazing 10 days of sunshine at the end of September. So that made it two full weeks of sunshine in the whole year! One week over Easter and 10 days in September. Too sad. When we viewed our apartment in February our landlord was very proud to show us the air conditioning unit in the bedroom. I remember thinking that we probably won’t need to use it and turns out I was right ‘~) However, the locals here agree that it was a very average Summer so that is at least encouraging and that it is not always like this! Here’s to hoping for a better one next time!

 And then before you know it, it is getting cold again. At the moment the max daytime temperatures are between 8 and 13ºC which is not too bad. But we have had some 5ºC days. Those are the days when it freezes at night and my bicycle is covered in ice in the morning. Generally it is ok and we are handling at the moment. The last two winters have been early and particularly cold. No one really knows what to expect this year. There have been predictions for another cold one with lots of snow but so far this hasn’t happened. Everyone keeps saying how unusually warm it is for this time of year and when is the cold weather coming? The ski resorts (no not in the Netherlands, way too flat here!) were due to open this weekend but I’m not sure what snow they will be skiing on. so we will have to wait and see what the weather does this winter. Wish us luck!

Weather records this year:

-          Most recorded sunshine hours this Spring, ever

-          Hottest Easter since 1930 something

-          Coldest June or July, can’t remember… it is best to forget these things! But there was no day above 25ºC which is the threshold for being considered Summer.

-          Wettest Summer since 1960 something. Our neighbours asked us to water their garden while they were away over July/August. We didn’t have to even check on the garden never mind water it there was so much rain that month.

-          Coldest Summer day since whenever. People at work were complaining that they had to put their heating on in the middle of ‘Summer’.

So this blog may sound like we complain about the weather a lot and never do anything because it is bleak outside but this is actually not the case. In the beginning we were pretty bleak about the weather but I think we have mostly gotten over it now. Capetonians have a great habit of becoming hermits in the winter time but Shell and Graham and Deirdre and Allen did a great job of getting us out of that habit in the UK and Ireland, respectively. We are trying hard to follow their example this Winter! But even over the wet Summer we still got out and did stuff and went exploring as the blog posts through this year show. We have decided to be over the weather since there is nothing you can do about it and just carry on as normal.

Having said that though it is hard not to miss the sun. We really do miss the sunny days in SA. Since moving over here we have really had to adjust what we consider to be a beautiful day. During the Spring and very average Summer we were still pretty fussy but now if the sun makes an appearance it is almost enough to qualify! But like I said, we try not to fixate on the weather and just get on with it.

So, now that we have discussed the weather we don’t have to go there again! Please be nice and not mention the lovely weather you are having during the wonderful SA Summer! Thanks ‘~) Future topics for Life in The Netherlands blogs will include food, life in Rotterdam and things we do/don’t like about living here. Suggestions and questions welcome!

Right now we are off to a Sinterklaas dinner and gift swop party! More about that next time.

Have a good week!

x

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

I just couldn't wait any longer! Had to have one now!! =)

On the weekend we bought a little Christmas tree and set it up. It makes everything so much more cheery! Especially when it is grey and misty outside...  We really wanted a real one this year but they are not available yet and since we will be away over Christmas it may not be worth getting one this year, bleakness. So we decided to get an artificial one instead. Justin wanted to get the massive very life-like looking one for 150 euro but I said no! What a grump hey. Maybe when the sales are on... But this little one is cute and does the job. If we are here for Christmas next year we can get a real tree. Apparently Christmas and Sinterklaas don't get on and putting up a Christmas tree during Sinterklaas is a big no no, lol. 

We had some other social activities on the weekend too. On Friday night one of Bron's work colleagues had a birthday party which we went to. Was nice to hang out socially and for Justin to meet some of Bron's work people. Justin also got to meet Gus!, the awesome labradoodle who sometimes comes to work with his parents. Too much of cuteness! He is my answer to my need for a constant supply of dog loves

Our neighbours (our landlord's brother Ferdinand & his wife Femke) have their own business making and selling cards and other home-made goodies. On Saturday afternoon we joined them for a 'kaartenparty'; think Tupperware Party but with cards. Was nice to hang out with them and chat a bit. Unfortunately we learned that Ferdinand has cancer in his leg and is waiting for further tests etc. Very sad. 

Justin was approached by his cricket club to coach the under 16 side. This past Sunday he had his first coaching session. I think it went well. The boys are enthusiastic but Justin is going to have a hard time teaching them not to try hit every ball for a six and to bowl, not throw the ball! This coming Sunday Justin has another coaching session and then probably some more in January. 

This coming weekend we have been invited to a Sinterklaas party! Sounds like we are going to play a yankee-swop type game.  And with the merry season soon upon us we have some other social activities lined up =)

So, saw on News24 about Black Tuesday in SA. What is up with this secrecy bill? Seriously. I love the Nando's ad's though, they are always so sharp. 

Thanks Shell & Graham for the awesome epic update of the Inka Trail & the climb up Machu Pichu! Sounds epic!! Sorry to hear you are stuck in Bolivia =/ Hope it sorts out soon! Thinking of you! Keep the pics and updates coming! 

Have a good week! 

x 

Dreaming of an African Christmas...

Our little tree! Complete with gifts =)

Love Packs!

We have been really blessed with so many parcels and goodies from family and friends at home this year and we just want to say thank you! We love getting parcels from home and it has helped to get us through our first year away from home =)

Some of the goodies we have received this year include:

- Milo, rusks, an awesome woollen coat, much missed bodywash and sunlight washing powder from Bron's Mom

- Lots of photo's of Bron's niece and other family  in the post from Bron's Dad

- Our feather duvet, Tresemme shampoo, quite a few pairs of Clarks shoes and a decent supply of Sudafed to get us through the winter from Bron's sister Michelle in the UK. But you guys forgot the biltong! Epic fail. 

- Germolene and sweet basil from Kirsty

- A copy of my phd thesis from Rob & Sue (via Kirsty)

- Milo, germolene and gifts from Justin's brother Brenainn and his wife Kirsten (via Laura)

- Gifts from Justin's parents (via Laura)

Thank you so much to everyone who has brought stuff over for us! It has been great to get so many love packs from home and we really appreciate it! Clearly the 'we are missing' list on the blog has had an impact! I must update it '~)

On Sunday evening we went through to Amsterdam to meet our friend Laura Peinke who was here on business. It was so nice to see you Lau and thanks for bringing gifts from the family for us! We had a really nice time catching up with Laura over traditional Dutch pancakes! Too yummy. 

We have been good and not opened the pressies yet! We are guessing that they are for Christmas but since we won't be here for Christmas we might open them on Sinterklaas. We saw Christmas trees in the shops already and are so going to get one this weekend and set it up already! lol. Thanks Mum and Dad & Bren and Kirst for the gifts! Feeling spoilt and loved =)

In other news Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands this past Saturday. Sinterklaas is on the 5th of December but he arrives 3 weeks before and goes around the Netherlands visiting different towns. He arrives by boat in a different town each year, this year it was Dordrecht's turn. We are really enjoying the different Sinterklaas treats such as kruidnoten, pepernoten, and gevulde spekulaas. Think mini-ginger biscuits, mini-aniseed biscuits and a thick layer of marzipan sandwiched between two spekulaas biscuits. Mc Donald's has brought out a kruidnoten McFlurry, need to try one! But more about Sinterklaas on 5 December! 

It has suddenly cooled down here and this morning was the first day of frost on the ground. It is usually very misty in the morning which makes it seriously cold! My bicycle that lives at Delft Station was frozen over this morning; there was ice on the seat, handlebars and tyres. My bum was not pleased! And I'm sure there will be more of that to come. Oh yay. 

Anywho. Have a good week and catch you on the weekend! 

x 

Pancakes in Amsterdam with Laura!

Bron had hawain, Laura had apples & nuts with whipped cream and Justin had cherries & liqueur with whipped cream. Too decadent! 

Autumn Colours

So Autumn has arrived and we decided that we had better make the most of it while we can (we get the feeling that if you blink you might just miss it). The weather this weekend has been great - which in the Netherlands means no rain, no wind and temperatures in the mid teens. 

We decided to head out to Kralingse Bos. The options for getting there from our place include catching a tram, catching a bus, or cycling. We decided to cycle! Kralingse Bos is the largest park in Rotterdam and there are loads of ways to spend time there. You can take your boat out on the dam, walk in the forest, picnic  in a meadow, drink beer under a windmill, eat pancakes at the waters edge, visit a deer sanctuary or enjoy the various cycle paths. 

So, with a title like "Autumn Colours", there really isn't much point in writing too much. Besides, a picture is worth a thousand words...

Kralingse Bos

And signs of Autumn

Bron getting quite good at this bike thing

Some of the local residents of Kralingse Bos

One of the canals on the way home

Mathenesserlaan and our local neighbourhood

And returning at the end of the day to my (Justin's) favourite colour this Autumn!

Today (Sunday) we had Nicola (Justin's cousin), Mike and their son Aidan come to visit. It was great seeing you guys and we hope you enjoy the rest of your time in the Netherlands and Belgium.