emmasen 097

29Nov08

- At Maria's home, I slept in one of her son's room, as he had gone to join friends for an overnight gathering.

- In the morning, her husband bought fresh aromatic bread from the village bakery, and we also had eggs, cheese, ham, and tea/coffee.

- Maria and husband then brought us to visit her school.

- After that, they drove us to visit the famed Kroller-Muller Museum, but first, not without having morning refreshment of tea and ooh-the-best apple pie.

- The museum has some of the best works of Vincent van Gogh, Isaac Israels, Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso.

- We were then driven to Arnhem, where we had afternoon tea. I had the most satisfying Pea-&-Ham soup with crisp bread.

- After returning back to their home in the evening, they picked up yummy Chinese-Indonesian restaurant food - sweet sour fish, satay in peanut sauce, keropok, pork chop in gravy, stirfried vege, fried rice, and white rice!

- Then, Maria drove us all the way back to our accomodation!

- I thank ABBA for blessing me with such a warm Dutch hospitality experience! Hallelujah.

emmasen 096

28Nov08

- Fontys Uni organized a 'children's fairy-tale' visit by Sintaklaas (Santa Claus) to our cohort. Sintaklaas was accompanied by assistants here in the Europe context, and their names are generically called Black Petes (Zwarte Pete).

- We each received a present, and we also exchanged 'anonymous' gifts.

- I bought a block of quality Netherlands cheese (Charles from Kenya, also a devoted Christian, selected my anonymous gift)

- I received a 2009 Netherlands Calendar. From Sinterklaas, I received chocolates.

- In the evening, Maria, a Dutch course-mate, invited Tracy and Yee-Ling to her house to stay overnight. Maria is a Special Education Needs Coordinator who had worked as a primary teacher for about 30 years. Her husband - a Principal of a mainstream school - cooked a multi-course dinner! Lerkker! (Delicious!)

- We had appertizer, 2-hour simmered soup, pan-fried beef, white asparagus, brussels sprouts, chickory, mashed potato pommes, ice cream, salad, wine, then, after dinner, ruby port or tea/coffee!

emmasen 095

27Nov08

To me functionality and practicality is frequently more important that beauty. My utility streak can be seen in improvising the environment for the benefit of function. (I remember that my Dad also has this knack of fashioning things out for utility sake) However, it is ABBA's creativity that I will give glory to.