Danke well :)
For the first time, I understood what it felt like being an outsider, when you do not understand a single word being said in the whole cacophony of sounds in the airport. I was overwhelmed and it was that split moment I realized that I was alone, all by myself, in this strange new place. In that moment of anxiety as I scanned the crowd searching for a familiar face Uncle Kenneth called my name and waved. A sigh of relief escaped from my lips as I walked towards him, as I knew that everything will be okay now that I've found him.
After getting off to an awkward start trying to keep the conversation going as we first traveled by bus and then train back home, Uncle Ken and I soon engaged in a comfortable flow of topics from my parents' welfare back in Malaysia to him giving me a detailed history and narrative of the countryside rushing past outside our window. It was this initial 'conversation' we had that led to us having conversations like this daily in the evening after dinner with a glass of wine in our hands as we gaily discussed about, well just about everything in general really, we just enjoyed each others company so much and we could talk about almost anything under the sun. I miss you Uncle Ken, and our little conversations. Your Irish humor can never fail to make me chuckle.
I can still remember the time we went to get Chinese takeaway in Mothering Sunday and I experienced for the first time the Dutch people's craze for Chinese food. We spent about half an hour at the restaurant just to place our order but the nightmare was thew waiting when we had to almost wait for more than an hour just to get our 'nasi goreng' (fried rice), 'bami goreng' (fried noodles), 'babi pangang' (roast pork aka siew yuk), 'foe yong hai' which is really 'egg fuyong', kip (chicken) and 2 stuks Sate (2 sticks of satay).*
I miss you taking me cycling, the first day I arrived, just because I was so excited to do so in the Netherlands. Yes I could just only scrape at the bike pedals and the seat was dangerously loose as you had to put it at the lowest possible so that I could reach the pedals but I really enjoyed myself that day, cycling down the lanes in Amstenrade, enjoying the sun on my back and the wind in my face.
I miss watching you work in your garage, listening to you explain to me patiently what you were doing and the mechanics behind it. I love your Triumph and how you have lovingly restored in to its full glory and keep it in such mint condition both inside and out. It was a treat getting a trip in the Triumph and
putting on your old Air Force goggles for better effect.
Introducing you to zweedse gehakballetjes (Swedish meatballs) was truly an enjoyable afternoon at IKEA where I also learnt that WoonBoulevard exists and boldly claim it as my family's when what 'woon' really means in Dutch is 'life'.
And I truly experienced life in the Netherlands staying with Uncle Ken and Aunty Marty. This wonderful old couple treated me like their very own daughter. They opened up their house to me, fed me, and spent time showing me around the Netherlands. I couldn't have asked for better hosts or tour guides. Aunty Marty couldn't wait to show me around so she brought me across the border into Germany for a day.
I loved Aachen, the quaint, historical town she brought me to, which she also says, is her favorite German town. She knew absolutely everything interesting about the city and riveted me with historical facts about Charlemagne aka Charles the Great aka Karls des Grossen whose 1200th death anniversary was celebrated in that town during the period when I was there. Walking down the streets of Aachen one would see statues of Charlemagne everywhere, even on the local delicacy, a kind of spiced biscuit called 'printen'. It is said that Charlemagne's remains were preserved in the Persephone Sarcophagus in the Dome Cathedral and I was really impressed with how the Germans took their history so seriously and preserved it so well too. They had an archaeological site properly preserved behind glass walls but also easily accessible to the public which is also free so the people can simply enjoy a stroll in the park and view the archaeological site if they want to do so. I really loved Aachen and I look forward to visiting it again.
Despite the wet weather we had in the Netherlands during my stay there, it did not dampen our spirits in the slightest and Aunty Marty still wanted to take me to the Keukenhof flower show because the tourist in me still demanded to see the famous tulip fields of the Netherlands. Even with the rain pouring down it still did not deter tourists from visiting the flower festival and I still did manage to take several beautiful pictures of the flowers in the rain, albeit with tourists in the background. Still, we had 'poffertjes', a traditional Dutch batter treat resembling small fluffy pancakes with a coating of sugar on top. Eating them hot out of the pan in the cold,wet weather was heavenly.
Traveling on into Amsterdam, Aunty Marty bought me a ticket to go on a canal trip while she took a rest on shore. The one hour boat trip was enough time to see the sun burst forth from behind the clouds and made for some really nice pictures in the canals. Leaving Amsterdam and Keukenhof that day only strengthened my resolve to return someday and explore the city in greater detail, preferably in the company of Fong, whom I kept thinking of during my day trip there.
I was also fortunate enough to meet up with my Swedish friend Anna who was studying at the University of Maastricht and who thought it would be interesting for me to come and join in a student event in town on the 10th of May. As she had classes in the morning, I took the train to Maastricht on my own and spent the day wandering around the streets and stumbling across the hidden gem aka Selexyz Dominicanen bookstore in an old Dominican church. It was clear that the people of Maastricht were a really creative bunch as when Anna took me on an inside tour of her campus she explained to me that the university had bought many of the old buildings which were due to be demolished due to the amount of money involved in preserving them, and then lovingly restoring them and transforming them into lecture theaters and student study rooms without making much changes to the original interior. I gasped with amazement as I entered one of the lecture theaters where sunlight shone the original church stained glass windows onto a custom built raised platform for students to sit around a podium where they can then listen to the lecture. As if that wasn't enough to amaze me, Anna then took me to the highlight of my day in Maastricht: the Landhuis. The law in the Netherlands was that if one were to take over an abandoned piece of land and live on it for a number of years, it would automatically become theirs. In this case, a group of young people took over an old abandoned factory and decided to make it their home. Years of adding bits and pieces to it whenever they could resulted in an amazing place that can only be described through personal experience. I can only say that I had the time of my life making new friends, dancing to really good music in the pub and drinking local beer at the pub they built in the old factory. It was an 'out of the world' experience that I will never forget.
I was also very fortunate to meet up with Jan-Willem in the small town of s'Hertogenbosch where we had a good day just catching up with each other over an 'uitsmijter' (three fried eggs with runny yolks over a scrumptious sandwich with ham and cheese and salad). Jan-Willem also took me 'geocaching', which was really fun to do with a really good partner who doesn't mind running about in the rain turning up rocks and whatnot just to find the 'geocache' so that we could note down our names with pride that we have found it. We ended our meet-up with a good old fashioned tea and 'bosshe bol', a whipped cream filled chocolate ball which was a local dessert of s'Hertogenbosch.
Aunty Marty also took me to visit her sister in Maastricht and we spent a lovely afternoon going through the pictures I had taken of my trip thus far and exchanging stories and tales over tea and mini bosshe bols which were more enjoyable compared to the huge bosshe bol I had previously in s'Hertogenbosch.
All in all, my trip to the Netherlands was an unforgettable experience and I really really look forward to visiting again in July before I head back to Malaysia. The places I've visited there were really amazing and all but I have to admit that it was the company of my friends there that made all the difference. Here's a big shout-out to Anna for taking me to the Landhuis, Jan-Willem for bringing me geocaching, and most of all Aunty Marty and Uncle Kenneth for being my family in the Netherlands, always looking out for me and doing their best in every way to ensure that my stay in the Netherlands was nothing short of spectacular. Danke well.
*For those want to know more, the Chinese takeaway we had sounds quite familiar to most Malaysians because the Dutch has had a history with the Indonesians and have actually incorporated quite a bit of Indonesian food and culture into their own as well, thus the names of the food.
After getting off to an awkward start trying to keep the conversation going as we first traveled by bus and then train back home, Uncle Ken and I soon engaged in a comfortable flow of topics from my parents' welfare back in Malaysia to him giving me a detailed history and narrative of the countryside rushing past outside our window. It was this initial 'conversation' we had that led to us having conversations like this daily in the evening after dinner with a glass of wine in our hands as we gaily discussed about, well just about everything in general really, we just enjoyed each others company so much and we could talk about almost anything under the sun. I miss you Uncle Ken, and our little conversations. Your Irish humor can never fail to make me chuckle.
I can still remember the time we went to get Chinese takeaway in Mothering Sunday and I experienced for the first time the Dutch people's craze for Chinese food. We spent about half an hour at the restaurant just to place our order but the nightmare was thew waiting when we had to almost wait for more than an hour just to get our 'nasi goreng' (fried rice), 'bami goreng' (fried noodles), 'babi pangang' (roast pork aka siew yuk), 'foe yong hai' which is really 'egg fuyong', kip (chicken) and 2 stuks Sate (2 sticks of satay).*
 |
| Uncle Ken's Triumph :3 |
 |
| Our Boulevard dad!!! XD |
putting on your old Air Force goggles for better effect.
Introducing you to zweedse gehakballetjes (Swedish meatballs) was truly an enjoyable afternoon at IKEA where I also learnt that WoonBoulevard exists and boldly claim it as my family's when what 'woon' really means in Dutch is 'life'.
And I truly experienced life in the Netherlands staying with Uncle Ken and Aunty Marty. This wonderful old couple treated me like their very own daughter. They opened up their house to me, fed me, and spent time showing me around the Netherlands. I couldn't have asked for better hosts or tour guides. Aunty Marty couldn't wait to show me around so she brought me across the border into Germany for a day.
I loved Aachen, the quaint, historical town she brought me to, which she also says, is her favorite German town. She knew absolutely everything interesting about the city and riveted me with historical facts about Charlemagne aka Charles the Great aka Karls des Grossen whose 1200th death anniversary was celebrated in that town during the period when I was there. Walking down the streets of Aachen one would see statues of Charlemagne everywhere, even on the local delicacy, a kind of spiced biscuit called 'printen'. It is said that Charlemagne's remains were preserved in the Persephone Sarcophagus in the Dome Cathedral and I was really impressed with how the Germans took their history so seriously and preserved it so well too. They had an archaeological site properly preserved behind glass walls but also easily accessible to the public which is also free so the people can simply enjoy a stroll in the park and view the archaeological site if they want to do so. I really loved Aachen and I look forward to visiting it again.
 |
| One of the picturesque streets in Aachen, Germany |
Despite the wet weather we had in the Netherlands during my stay there, it did not dampen our spirits in the slightest and Aunty Marty still wanted to take me to the Keukenhof flower show because the tourist in me still demanded to see the famous tulip fields of the Netherlands. Even with the rain pouring down it still did not deter tourists from visiting the flower festival and I still did manage to take several beautiful pictures of the flowers in the rain, albeit with tourists in the background. Still, we had 'poffertjes', a traditional Dutch batter treat resembling small fluffy pancakes with a coating of sugar on top. Eating them hot out of the pan in the cold,wet weather was heavenly.
 |
| Tulips with tourists as background in Keukenhof even in the rain |
I was also fortunate enough to meet up with my Swedish friend Anna who was studying at the University of Maastricht and who thought it would be interesting for me to come and join in a student event in town on the 10th of May. As she had classes in the morning, I took the train to Maastricht on my own and spent the day wandering around the streets and stumbling across the hidden gem aka Selexyz Dominicanen bookstore in an old Dominican church. It was clear that the people of Maastricht were a really creative bunch as when Anna took me on an inside tour of her campus she explained to me that the university had bought many of the old buildings which were due to be demolished due to the amount of money involved in preserving them, and then lovingly restoring them and transforming them into lecture theaters and student study rooms without making much changes to the original interior. I gasped with amazement as I entered one of the lecture theaters where sunlight shone the original church stained glass windows onto a custom built raised platform for students to sit around a podium where they can then listen to the lecture. As if that wasn't enough to amaze me, Anna then took me to the highlight of my day in Maastricht: the Landhuis. The law in the Netherlands was that if one were to take over an abandoned piece of land and live on it for a number of years, it would automatically become theirs. In this case, a group of young people took over an old abandoned factory and decided to make it their home. Years of adding bits and pieces to it whenever they could resulted in an amazing place that can only be described through personal experience. I can only say that I had the time of my life making new friends, dancing to really good music in the pub and drinking local beer at the pub they built in the old factory. It was an 'out of the world' experience that I will never forget.
 |
| Landhuis, Masstricht |
 |
| Uitsmijter ;) |
Aunty Marty also took me to visit her sister in Maastricht and we spent a lovely afternoon going through the pictures I had taken of my trip thus far and exchanging stories and tales over tea and mini bosshe bols which were more enjoyable compared to the huge bosshe bol I had previously in s'Hertogenbosch.
All in all, my trip to the Netherlands was an unforgettable experience and I really really look forward to visiting again in July before I head back to Malaysia. The places I've visited there were really amazing and all but I have to admit that it was the company of my friends there that made all the difference. Here's a big shout-out to Anna for taking me to the Landhuis, Jan-Willem for bringing me geocaching, and most of all Aunty Marty and Uncle Kenneth for being my family in the Netherlands, always looking out for me and doing their best in every way to ensure that my stay in the Netherlands was nothing short of spectacular. Danke well.
*For those want to know more, the Chinese takeaway we had sounds quite familiar to most Malaysians because the Dutch has had a history with the Indonesians and have actually incorporated quite a bit of Indonesian food and culture into their own as well, thus the names of the food.
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