Home in Holland

breakfast in the sunroom

my big bed

a water mill

a windmill


windmill

boat ride through the canals in Amsterdam

old houses along the canals

Herman in the tulip fields

me in the tulip fields too

rows and rows of tulips

Herman

Houses along the canal in a little town in Friesland

at the beach along the North Sea

sun bathing on the deck with Ypie

That hat says "Captain"...that's me, Captain Danielle

Herman and Ypie

The real captain

First mate

in Friesland again

Sunday I traveled from what felt like home back to my temporary home, all the while thinking about my real home. To translate: I travelled from Holland back to Paris, all the while thinking about Canada.

What’s “home” anyways? In Paris it’s where my bed and all my belongings are. However, Holland FELT like home. Holland has Weesjes’ and other names I recognize; it has spiced cake, King peppermints and home-made tomato soup; it has cows and grassy fields. It’s a little piece of home.

Before I stepped off the train on Wednesday afternoon, I had a feeling I was going to like Holland. And after meeting Herman and Ypie at the station, I was convinced even more of that feeling. I could not have asked for more generous hosts!

Upon arriving at their house, we sat down for tea to get to know each other a bit better. I wasn’t a tea drinker when I left Canada, but in Holland I drank an average of 4 cups a day…not bad. Because it was Queen’s Day (I already forget the Dutch name) there were big celebrations in every town, so that night we went to see fireworks. They put on a pretty good show for a little town!

Thursday I was allowed to sleep in, in my big room with a big queen-sized bed that was alllllllll for me…. After breakfast and tea in the sunroom we headed out to see the area—a water mill, a wind mill, and the town of Zutphen. Herman has a bit of a sweet tooth, but Ypie doesn’t let him eat too much sugar and salt (“because he has to watch his health of course!”), so any time he wanted something sweet, he’d ask if I was hungry for ice cream or fries or a milk shake. I’m not one to turn down sweet food, so I said yes to icecream (for lunch) and I ended up eating a soup bowl-sized portion of the best gelato in the world. Yes, it was even better than gelato from Italy. All weekend, as Herman kept on finding out more about me, he would classify my traits as either Weesjes or non-Weesjes. It turns out I’m pretty Weesjes, and preferring sweets to healthy food is no exception. I’m also Weesjes because I like meat, because I lose things a lot, because I’m emotional, and because I don’t get seasick. Glad I live up to my name (not for too much longer though!!!)

The afternoon and evening saw lots more tea drinking, a visit with his twin brother Sietze, a delicious supper and then a relaxing night in front of an English movie (“Two Weeks Notice”…lame. Don’t ever watch it).

Friday we were up early for a day in Amsterdam. We had a nice cup of tea beside one of the canals and then went for a boat ride through them. I love the old Dutch houses—they’re colourful and so different from anything else I’ve seen in Europe. We walked around a bit, through the red light district, past Anne Frank’s house and later enjoyed a pancake lunch. After Amsterdam we headed to the tulip fields, where I was amazed to see rows and rows and rows…and more rows of tulips of every colour; it was absolutely beautiful! We also took a drive out to the sea for a walk along the beach. We stopped at a nice little restaurant for steak, fries and icecream cake on the patio (Herman’s choice…I promised not to tell Ypie).

Because it was close to Liberation Day, there were lots of war movies on TV, so that night we watched Schindler’s List. I had never seen it before, and although I had to stay up late to see it all, I’m glad I did. It was a very touching movie, one I would recommend.

Saturday morning we were up early again, this time to go sailing on their boat. We drove up to Friesland, where it was docked in a town called Heeg, and then took it out to sea. Well, more like out to lake. There was no wind for the first couple hours, so we moved at about a pace of 2 sea miles per hour. On the way back there was more wind, but it was head on, so completely useless. We putted around with the motor though, and I got to be captain for a while. On the way back there was a nice restaurant right along the canal, so Herman parallel parked the boat and we disembarked for some…no, not tea…we switched it up for some hot chocolate, yum!

Saturday night we swapped photos—I showed them what I’ve been up to in Paris and some photos of Jordan and the family. They’re big travellers, so I saw some photos of their trips to Australia, Argentina and Antarctica.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast, and then headed back to the train station. Ypie even packed me a lunch with gouda sandwiches and suikerbrood (sugar bread from Friesland), that’s how well they took care of me.

It was sad to say good-bye at the station; I think I blinked back a couple tears as I boarded the train. I could blame in on an exhausting couple of weeks, but I think it was mostly because for a few days, I felt like I was at home. And then I had to say good-bye to home all over again, and to a couple who took care of me like my parents and grand-parents would. A lot of the tastes, smells, sights and sounds were familiar, and although at that moment it made me homesick, thinking about it now makes me excited about my return. Only 24 more days….only 24 more days.