So on Thursday, 18 October, our family was in Lusaka. We had said affectionate farewells to our
amazing super-nanny, Sarah Moriah, the night before, after she and I returned
from our crazy whirlwind girls’ outing to Vic Falls. (She was staying on in Lusaka for another week or so with another
friend.) We had repacked our luggage in
what we hoped was a semi-sensible fashion for our upcoming crazy days of
travel. In the afternoon we drove to our
friends the MacDs who had invited us to come for dinner before our flight. We would be leaving our truck parked at their
house during our 3-month absence from Zambia, and our colleague Phil who
was also at their house would be giving us a lift to the airport that
night. We had an enjoyable, relaxing
dinner with everyone. Afterwards there
was time to put the children in their pajamas before heading to the airport -
it must have been sometime around 8:30 or so that we left for the airport. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11:45pm,
an overnight flight direct to Amsterdam.
(Direct flights are so nice!)
The flight arrived as scheduled in Amsterdam the following
morning around 9am. By the time we got
through immigration, collected our bags, and found our way around the airport
to the meeting point, it was past 10am. We had arranged to spend the weekend
with old friends of my family’s, a Dutch family whom we’d known since meeting
in California
in 1997. Way back then, the father,
Bart, was in CA on a business trip and brought his wife and 3 young children
along. We met them when they visited our
church one Sunday, and really hit it off.
During the remainder of their stay we got together several times – going
swimming together, going on picnics to the redwood forests, and going to the
beach are some of my fond memories. The amazing thing was that all of us kids
got along really well even though they didn’t speak a word of English and we
didn’t speak a word of Dutch… we had great fun.
After they returned to the Netherlands, I kept in touch with
their daughter Hanneke by email. As she grew our correspondence became easier,
because she learned English in school. Originally our letter-writing consisted
of a process whereby I dictated an email to my dad, who typed it up for me and
sent it to her dad, who translated it into Dutch and gave it to her! As we grew older we could write letters
directly to each other, and her English improved year by year! We have not been in close correspondence in recent
years, but remained friends on Facebook, and Hanneke’s parents have remained in
close contact with my family. When my
parents traveled through Europe on their way to visit us in Scotland in 2010, they passed through the Netherlands and
spent a couple of days with their family.
At the time I was very sad not to be with them visiting my old friends!
So when it turned out that we would be traveling
through the Netherlands
ourselves I contacted Bart and Alida and asked if we could visit them for a
weekend. They welcomed us with open arms!
When we arrived at the airport on Friday morning the 18th of
October, we were met by their eldest son Henk – who was a lot taller than I
remembered him as a child of something like 5 years old! He brought us from the airport to their home
in a small town about 30 minutes from Utrecht. As soon as I walked into their garden I felt
peaceful. :)
It was so beautiful and quiet, with lovely flowers and shrubs. They had a pet duck (whose name I’ve
forgotten). We were warmly welcomed by
Bart and Alida with a cup of coffee sitting in the sunshine in their
garden. We managed to visit during some
lovely weather for the Netherlands
– beautiful, spring-like, sunny weather.
They truly made us feel at home for that
weekend! We stayed in the 3rd
floor of their house, in a large room. They had beds for the children, which
had belonged to Alida when she was a child.
They had gotten high chairs for the children and car seats for us to use
that we could take outings in the car. They
even installed a child safety gate at the top of the stairs specially for our
visit! (That was nice because it meant
the kids could play on the landing with a big box of lego and other toys and we
didn’t have to worry about them.) They
did everything to make us feel absolutely comfortable, and it was a lovely way
to begin our holiday. We had such an
enjoyable visit with them. On Friday we
rested a bit and didn’t do much other than visit. Bart took us for a short walk into town, to
see the nearby canal and the shops. We
stopped and got gelato – the first gelato of our Europe
trip, but certainly not the last! :) Henk was home briefly and then went back to
his own apartment. Their 3rd child, Herman, was around and we
probably saw the most of him.
On Saturday they took us on an outing to Utrecht so that we could
see a Dutch city. We strolled around for a
while, and then Bart and Alida took us on a boat tour of the canals, which was
really interesting. It was fun to get
the feel of our first European city – the different architecture, the canals,
the bicycles everywhere, the open-air cafes.
On our way home we picked up Hanneke who is a student in another
city. She came home for 1 night, so at
least we got to see her briefly – I hadn’t seen her since she was 7 or 8 years old!
It was so fun to stay with Bart and Alida and get a
taste of Dutch culture. Enjoying Dutch
treats, yummy coffee, Dutch cheese, Dutch sausage… mmmmm. Listening to their family playing music
together in the family room.
Chatting. Resting.
On Sunday we went to church with Bart and Alida
and family. We were impressed by the
warmth and friendliness of their congregation.
It was a restful day. In the late
afternoon Bart and Alida took us for a short drive to a park with nice walking
trails and woods, and we had a peaceful walk with the children. Alida brought a
plastic bag so that Elijah could help her pick up horse chestnuts under the
trees. It was a beautiful evening and
felt like autumn. We walked across a
large grassy meadow covered in beautiful autumn leaves – the only true glimpse
of autumn we got that year! They were
huge, crisp leaves. Elijah and Ketzia
had a fabulous time crunching through them.
David and I absolutely loved the idea of going for
a family bicycle ride along the canals, so this morning (Monday the 22nd) Bart and Alida
made arrangements for us to borrow bicycles and bicycle seats for the children,
and off we went! We had a seat clipped
behind David for Elijah, and a seat clipped in front of me for Ketzia. Alida went with us to lead the way and show
us around. It was SO MUCH FUN. I think it was the most fun day I’ve had
since I got married! The weather was
stunningly gorgeous – sunny, cool, and refreshing, and the countryside was
beautiful. It was so enjoyable to bike
along somewhere that didn’t have lots of ups and downs! The kids had a great time, and Ketzia even
fell asleep in her seat. :)
After lunch the children went down for their naps
and David stayed with them while I went to the shops with Alida (on our
bicycles). I needed to buy nappies and
food for our train journey, and also wanted to get a Dutch memento to give to
my mom for her birthday which we would be celebrating in Italy that week. Then it was time to re-pack our
bags for our train journey tonight…
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