Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke

Last Monday and Tuesday were amazing!  I was a bit depressed the week before.  I guess I got a bit homesick and lonely, or maybe a lot homesick and lonely.  So I was very excited to visit relatives.  And Tante Tieneke is so loving and wonderful and gezellig, with lots of hugs to give, which I was needing quite badly.

Kim and I packed overnight bags, and Monday morning Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke picked us up and drove us to Den Haag (the Hague) to Madurodam, a mini-world of the Netherlands.  It was super leuk (cute/cool) to see both things that I'd already seen in Rotterdam and other cities, as well as other parts of Holland that I haven't seen yet.  I especially loved seeing all the palaces and majestic old buildings.  Madurodam was one of the top things on my list of must-sees in the Netherlands, and I'm so glad that Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke took me there. 

Yup, lots of excitement and things to see at Madurodam!  After that educational and fun day we drove to Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke's house in Lekkerkerk and had a delicious dinner or patat (fries), frikendel (Dutch equivalent of hotdog, and don't ask what's in it), and kroketten (you have to try them to fully appreciate them, the taste is too delicious to explain).  And then we had ice cream for dessert.  After dinner we had tea and relaxed and chatted, all in Dutch of course.  The two days spent with Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke were exceedingly good for my Dutch, and Kim's.  We even caught ourselves speaking Dutch to each other once.  Oops!  And Tante Tieneke said I could call home, which was also wonderful.  It's always so good to have a chat with my mom.  Then she said I should call Oma too, and ask what day she and Opa are coming to the Netherlands.  Thankfully I have the number memorized, as well as the extra digits I need to call Canada from the Netherlands.  But unfortunately she wasn't home.  I'm so excited to see Oma and Opa when they come!  It's hard being away from family for so long.  Phoning and emailing definitely help, but it's not the same as seeing them in person.

And then we went to bed in the lovely luxury guest room.  The beds even have switches that make them sit up and down!

 

The next day we had a yummy breakfast and then headed off in the car.  The original plan had been to go to the Keukenhoff, a gorgeous flower garden, but the weather was cloudy and threatened rain.   So instead we went to Noah's Ark, which was in Dordrecht.  I was so excited to find out we were going to Dordrecht.  It's the city where the Canons of Dort were written at the Synod of 1618-1619!  After learning so much about them in preconfession class, and having to memorize large portions of it I was thrilled to be able to go to the city where the history was made.  I tried to explain that to Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke, and that proved to be the most challenging moment in our communication.  Usually we understood each other pretty well, but I just didn't have the Dutch words in my vocabulary to facilitate the explanation of a term such as 'Canons of Dort'.  But in the end, and after some laughter and much perplexity we finally all understood each other.

 

Noah's Ark was HUGE!  It's amazing that Noah managed to build that without the machinery we have today.  It's also incredible that he had the perseverance. That could only have come with much help and inspiration from God.  There was also a real kangaroo in the ark!  Kangaroos are my favourite animal.  Maybe in heaven I'll ask God if I can have a real one as a pet.

 

 

 

 

And then (yes, there's more!) we went to the Grote Kerk, the actual church where the Canons of Dort were written! 

 

There was also a little showcase (in the picture) to show what the synod would have looked like with all the men in black suits sitting there discussing. 

After that we were all quite tired.  We'd done a lot of walking and a lot of learning.  So we went back to Lekkerkerk and had some more tea.  I also phoned Oma successfully!  She's coming in just a few weeks!

And then, for one last adventure, Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke took Kim and I out to the Pannenkoe, a pancake restaurant.  There I had the most delicious pancake ever.  It was huge!  It had mushrooms, onions, and cheese on the inside, and ham and cheese on top.  I wasn't so sure I'd be able to finish it because it was so huge, but it was too delicious not to eat all of it.  Good thing I do lots of biking here in the Netherlands.

After that delicious dinner they brought us back home to Rotterdam.  We had all sorts of happy and exciting stories to tell the Macleans then!  (Over a cup of tea of course).

The rest of my week was also full of fun things to do.  I didn't have time to be homesick this week, and I'm very glad too.  It helped so much going to Oom Gijs and Tante Tieneke for two days, so dank u heel wel!

Last week I was almost tempted to go home early.  And tomorrow, bright and early at 5:00 AM, Kim and I are off to Prague, Czech Republic!  And straight from there we're going to a young people's camp, sort of like Maylong.  I still can hardly believe we're going to Prague, because I'm so excited!  So I figured I'd better catch up at least a bit on this blog before I had so many more adventures to blog about.

Oh!  And just one more thing which must be said.  I got to play on the real carillon last Wednesday! (instead of just the little practice one).  It was a bit intimidating knowing that everyone in the neighbourhood can hear me, but playing that instrument is one of the best experiences of my life.  It sounds so unique and beautiful, and I can't wait until I can play it again.  It also only hit me afterwards that I'd just been playing an instrument valued at over 100,000 euros.  What an honour to play it! 

And now I'd better get myself off to bed.  I don't want to be grumpy tomorrow and there's a very long bus ride up ahead.  So until next blog post (which won't be for over a week), goodbye everyone except Kim, and hello Prague and adventure!