iceskating

watching the news on dutch tv tonight. oh dear, there is a fever going on in holland. with the biggest concentration up north, in friesland. people are getting ready to go. sitting at kitchentables covered with newspapers, a rag in hand and some grease in a tin. preparations. this time it is true. there will be iceskating on natural ice. the best thing there can be. so get your skates ready, we are off. something i so miss where i live. i recall my childhood, outside the hague. after elementary school, in the months of december and january, we would run home and pick up our skates and go out as fast as possibile. we would be skating on small ditches and man made lakes until after dark. never wanting to go home, even with feet frozen off. it was the best time of the year. growing older, we would skate where ever the frozen water would bring us and at the end of the day we would catch a bus or train to take us back home. it was always a big adventure. where would we go, and the most important question...would the ice hold us? we were used to listen to the ice to squeak. we would know how fast a tear would rip thru the ice from the rumble and know if we would be safe. stamping on the solid floor "clonk, clonk" ... yes, this is thick enough. riding against the wind, in a geese mars, so the first would become the last every so often to have a break . with a newspaper under your sweater to keep in the heat and the cold out. there would be stalls with 'koek en zopie' in strategic points, where you could heat up a bit with some hot chocolate and cookies. i was so lucky to grow up in a time where there was no doubt about it that one could skate every winter. the last years i have been following what is going on in holland. happy people, sad people, waiting, measuring, ice thick enough, ice not thick enough, elfstedentocht(11-city tour 220 km in friesland) or an alternative somewhere in sweden. i wish the old days with cold weather would come back, it was so great. no one should miss out on this experience.

last day of xmas vacation

what a pity, it is over. the days of lounging around and bringing kids to the slopes. got most of the xmas deco down. not all, that hurts too much. was on the phone the other day with a dutch guy. the dutch are crazy....... about skiing. the ones that like to ski, do it all year round. the town where my mother used to live, zoetermeer, has its own indoor skiing paradise. so even in summer you see people going in, dragging ski's and snowboards along. when i was small, before these indoor ski domes, people used to practice skiing on pine needles in the dunes. can you imagine that?! so the guy i was talking to, said he was going to austria for a week of skiing. leaving at 11 pm, after a day of working, driving all night, and then he would expect to be at the point of destination at 8am. then they would go for a little breakfast and then off hitting the slopes. and this is a story you hear from almost everyone. the last day they will ski until about 4 pm, pack and drive back and go to work the day they arrive. no relaxing at all. can you understand now why there are so many 'plaster flights' going from all places back to holland?!

dutchwomanabroad@gmail.com

new year 2012

last night i was really missing the dutch tradional treats we eat on new years eve. our famous oilballs and applejacks. my family members will say 'yuk' and my thighs would balloon up even more if i had to eat all i would make. but one or two wouldn't have been misplaced. is it a good thing or a bad thing that i can go to bed at 11 pm and can sleep thru until the next morning? lordie, lordie, it seems like we live in a resort for the elderly. no fireworks starting at 4 pm and going on until 4 am the next day. no neighbors walking the streets with a bottle of champagne at midnight kissing and  maybe a bit of brawling. i, ahum, we, usually, the last 5 years or so, spend the 31st at home alone. it is not my night of the year, i get a bit depressed, another year full of sh.. gone, and i hate all agitation about 'the new year', that everything will be different. i think 'new year, same sh..'. hubby falls asleep at his usual 7.50 pm and i will sit under the hood in the kitchen with a book, smoking and drinking by myself. boys went off to locarno this year with friends. and if you sit at home alone, as i do, and eventhough it is not my evening, it still would be nice to go out the door at midnight and see some people. a no-go around here. but then going to bed early gives you a great start in the new year with no hangover and the 1st of january is not a wasted day.

wishing you all a great 2012. x