Christmas 2012

For the first time in decades I have celebrated Christmas in the Netherlands! The day before Christmas I traveled by train to Franeker to celebrate Christmas Eve with Pim and Nanda. Of course with a nice dinner!

Christmas Eve in Franeker

The next day the three of us drove to Groningen, where Ruud and Jur had invited us for Christmas. The weather was mild, no snow. On our way we passed the picturesque town of Balk. Here a picture of the town hall (1615)

Balk

In Groningen another nice dinner.  Did I say already that after I am back in Malaysia, I will go on a diet?

Christmas dinner

The day after Christmas, Boxing Day, is called the Second Day of Christmas in the Netherlands. It is a day for family visits. The weather was nice, there was even a bit of sun. Good weather for a walk.

Walk

Ruud and Jur had organised a family brunch. It was nice to meet my two favourite nephews (both of them have visited me in Malaysia). And you can see how happy my brother is with his granddaughter..:-)

Brunch

It was a nice and pleasant Christmas celebration. To end this post, here is a picture of the two Christmas trees, in Franeker and in Groningen. One is an artificial one, the other is real. Can you see the difference?

Christmas trees

 

 

Journal 14-12-2012

As usual I am suffering from jet lag, waking up in the middle of the night, feeling sleepy in broad daylight. Sniffy too, and coughing a lot. Cold! But no snow.
On Tuesday I was invited for dinner by Inez. I found a fleece and an old winter jacket in a cupboard, gloves, and a head cap. I went on my bike to Inez, where I arrived half-frozen.

Winter in Holland

But the company of Inez and the nice, typical Dutch dinner (and a few glasses of wine) brought me back to life soon…:-)

IMG_1995

 

IMG_1996

 

 

The next morning it was raining, and I seriously considered to stay in bed the whole day…:-) Here is the view from my bedroom window.

Bedroom window view

But in the afternoon the rain stopped, fortunately, because I had planned to go to the University, where an ex-colleague of me was giving a farewell/retirement party. It was nice to meet many people I had been working with, ten years ago.

Farewell party

I could not stay long because I had invited Yolanda, Paul’s sister for dinner.

Dinner Yolanda

And the next day my brother Pim came to my place, also for dinner. As I wrote in an earlier post, I will gain weight during these few weeks…:-)

Dinner Pim

Today I have visited the recently re-opened Stedelijk (Municipal) Museum of Amsterdam, my favourite Modern Art Museum. It was closed for renovation for about nine years. What a pleasure to see again many of the famous paintings of this museum, for example this Mondriaan. Click here for a detailed report

Mondriaan

I will end this post with a bit of Malaysian news. Just before I came back to Amsterdam, I realised that my road tax and car insurance were about to expire. So I asked Aric to renew it for me. He came back to me with a shocking discovery!

Do you know that you have not  renewed it December last year? So for one full year you have been driving without insurance and without road tax. Quite a miracle that you have not been caught by the police!

Here is the old sticker, expiry date December 2011!

Car Sticker

In Memoriam

Last week Aric’s father passed away after a prolonged fight against cancer. He was not yet seventy years old.

He was a good man and will be dearly missed by his wife and children. I liked him, he always had a big smile for me, it was a pity that his knowledge of English was about as bad as my knowledge of Chinese, so our communication was mainly nonverbal.

It was only two months ago that we had a family gathering in Parit Baru, where Aric took this impressive picture.

The funeral rituals have taken place, following the Taoist tradition

At the cemetery

Sad