Wind, Wind Go Away....

It's been very windy for the past 2 days now, the same strong wind I'm sure that battered Britain in the last few days. I read on Yahoo that some people got killed by falling trees while others were injured. All these were reported in Britain, I have yet to hear of any casualties in the Netherlands.  I woke up at 4 am on Wednesday morning to the sound of these fierce howling wind, it sounded so eerie that I was actually scared to go to the bathroom!!! What a weather to start the new year!!! My Dear Son began his first day for the new term on Wednesday, I was actually tempted to call the teacher and said "I'm sorry Ilham couldn't come to school today because his mother is not feeling well.... it's the wind you see... it makes her sick!! "  Imagine what Mrs Jannsen would say to that!!!!  Mr Porrit (the head teacher) would soon circulate a letter of warning to every parents (or rather a parent like me) to send their children to school NO MATTER what, unless they are SICK (and regardless if it is the mother who WAS sick!!!) Honestly, I was not sick, I was just feeling lazy.... To his credit, my DS was so impatient to go to school again, no doubt looking forward to play football at recess time.... and not because he misses his school :D

This windy weather seems to be occuring so much lately. I did not recall it being this windy last year when we first moved to The Hague. Three weeks ago, it was so windy that I felt scared to sleep in the bedroom. DH was back in Malaysia for a meeting, so it was only me and DS. We decided to sleep in the living room instead. I hope this weather condition will soon be over, I'm actually tired of fighting against the wind to go to school to pick DS up. Even grocery shopping gets much difficult with the bags decided to fly up and away in the wind !!!

Happy New Year 2011

As I sit here at the kitchen table facing the big window, the sound of fireworks can be heard in increasing regularity. Once in a while, the sight of fireworks illuminating the night sky will distract me from my computer screen, startling me in my deep concentration. And it is only 6 o'clock!!! It's not even midnight yet. In fact, for the past three days that's how it has been. It only increases as we approach the new year.

Fireworks are a popular way to celebrate New Year in the Netherlands. At the stroke of midnight on new year's eve, fireworks are set off continually for about one or two hours. The nice thing is we do not have to go far. The whole of neighbourhood will be firing their very own fireworks!!! In the Netherlands, towns or cityhalls do not organise central fireworks display, except for Rotterdam where the national fireworks display can be seen.

Rotterdam - Picture courtesy of Pyroworld via Mr Google

When we were in Amsterdam, we would be waiting on the 3rd floor window as 12 midnight approached. We would be running to and fro between the front and the back rooms to witness the beautiful display. All were set off by the neighbours. I expect here in The Hague would not be much different.

In the Netherlands, long time ago there used to be a tradition of holding feasts and lighting special fires in the darkest part of winter. These are reflected in luxury meals served during this time of the year and the fireworks and bonfires lit on the evening of December 31 until the early hours of January 1. There is also the tradition of eating food which contain a lot of fat or oil, such as oliebollen and appelflappen. The story goes back to the time of the pre-Christian Germanic goddess Perchta (Bertha). People believed that Perchta would fly across the sky with evil spirits in the darkest part of winter and try to cut open the stomachs of anybody she met. However, her knife would slide off the people who had been eating fatty food :D

To my dear family and friends (personal and bloggers alike) I wish you HAPPY NEW YEAR. May you and us here, be always blessed, become a better Muslim, have good fortune and excellent health in the coming year, insyaAllah.

 

Fancy A FEBO Snack?

 

Walking down the streets of Amsterdam or any major cities in the Netherlands, it is very difficult to miss FEBO. FEBO is actually a Dutch chain of walk-up fast food vending machines. It offers cheap snacks from a wall lined with coin operated machines. The snacks sit inside little metal boxes with transparent doors and under some kind of heating devices. Simply insert coins, open a little window and retrieve the snack of your choice. Snacks sold are typical Dutch food like croquettes(veal or beef), satay croquettes(whatever that is), frikandellen(sausage), bitterballen(dutch meatball), kaassouffle(deep fried cheese pastry) and typical burgers. The food are prepared behind the wall and are regularly stocked.

While waiting for the train to Paris last week, I managed to take pictures of a FEBO at the Rotterdam station. I had been meaning to take photos of it for quite sometime. This is what it looks like...

Very cheap, as low as 1 Euro

Croquette or maybe frikandel

Burger

Reading some of the comments on the internet, it's said that the snacks are quite tasty, though may not be the healthiest :D

First Impression

This is not my first visit to the Netherlands. I had been here before, years ago.... during my student time. Brief as it was the visit then, the Netherlands, or commonly referred to as Holland, striked me as a friendly country. I remember when the four of us were in The Hague at the central station, trying to get to Madurodam, the miniature city. We approached an old man asking him how to go there. Unfortunately, the old man couldn't speak English, and we had problems communicating to him. Our pronounciation of Madurodam must have been wrong because it took him a long while to understand it. When he finally did understand where we wanted to go, he launched into an explanation, his hands waving here and there. When he finished, he looked expectantly at us, his gaze landed on each of our faces, only to be met with blank stare from us. He started explaining again... and again... What must he thought of us... In the end we gave up and decided that we had to ask someone else. But then, the old man waved to us, indicating that we should follow him. So, we got on a tram with him all the way to Madurodam. When we reached there, he also got of the tram and after saying goodbye to us, he went to the other side of the road to wait for the next tram back to the central station. What a sweet old man, he went out of his way to help these 4 stupid students who should have known better to at least learn a few phrases before they went travelling to foreign country.


I will never forget him. Because of him, I had a good impression of Holland.

Our House - Amstelveen, Amsterdam

 

When we came to Amsterdam back in 2008, I was prepared to dislike the place, it must be the same as London and I hated London. London is nice to visit, but it's not a place to stay. I should know, afterall I spent almost 7 years in the United Kingdom, most of it in London. It was congested, dirty and cold. I hated cold then and I hate it now.

It was winter, so everything was so dull, cold and gloomy. Everywhere I looked, it was dark, grey and colourless, even the sky was grey. How I miss my hot and green country. Then, spring came and I started to see flowers and bright green young leaves along the way to school. I realised then, that there were actually lots of trees along the way and everywhere. I never really realised their presence before because they didn't have any leaves !!! How wonderful !!! Funny how a little bit of green and colours make you change your outlook of a place. I started to see how nice the place was. Everywhere there were canals and there were wild ducks and swans happily paddling in the water. Only then I realised that there were actually lots of little parks in my neighbourhood !!! And just a stone's throw away, there was a large grazing field, you could see cows, sheep and horses happily eating grass. On your lucky day, the cows would be grazing on our side of the field, only a little canal separated us. It was beautiful and peaceful, we hardly heard any traffic.... I loved the area, I love it still :)

 

Cows grazing happily in the fields

Ducks everywhere

The grazing field and the canal are only 3 minute walk from the house. Whenever we had visitors, we would take them around the house, to the field and canal, to feed the ducks. They all agreed that it was a nice and quiet place.



Sunrise - walking distance from home

Within a few minutes drive from the house, there was Amstel River.

Amstel River

In winter, the area was so beautiful... but that deserves another entry on its own.