Day 117: Zwarte Piet Came to Our House!!

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Zwarte Piet came to our house last night. I have no idea how he got in, but magically he did! I bet he used the golden key that the mayor gave Sinterklaas. He must have known that Charlie had written a letter and left out treats for Sinterklaas’ horse.

Boy, was Charlie surprised to come downstairs to find that Zwarte Piet had left pepper noten and candy in our Dutch Wooden Shoes!

He was so thrilled that after school today, he wrote a thank you note and left more food for the horse, hoping that he’ll come again.

18Nov2012

Day 116: Sinterklaas and the 1000’s of Zwarte Pieten

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Today we celebrated an old, Dutch tradition from the 1930s of welcoming Sinterklaas to town from Madrid on his steamboat. He arrived with huge fanfare and docked his boat on the Amstel River next to the Het Scheepvaartmuseum. The Zwarte Pieten were entertaining the crowds, singing and dancing and repelling from the rooftops, excited for Sinterklaas’ arrival. It was such a site to see and a day to experience true, Dutch culture.

We got up early on this Sunday morning to take the tram to Amsterdam Central Station, and walked over to the “best” spot to see his arrival.

My favorite part of the day was people watching. Everyone was in such a good spirit and were happy and were together with family and friends. Kids everywhere were dressed up in Zwarte Piet hats and painted faces and costumes.

Not having experienced this celebration but once when I was a child, I was in awe and didn’t want to miss a thing. I don’t know who was more excited – me, my mom, or my kids!! I guess it was a good day for all.

Zwarte Piet means Black Peter, and there are several different explanations as to what he symbolizes. There is some controversy over his being, which I’d rather not discuss here because I think it takes away from the true intent and context of the original celebration. Literally thousands of people are dressed up as this character with their faces painted black. They run around and tease the crowds, play tricks, ride scooters or roller blades and hand out pepper noten – small, miniature ginger/cinnamon like cookies and small candies. They also gave out post cards and flags to wave along the parade route.

The story is that Sinterklaas arrives in town on his steamboat, and then parades through town on his white horse with his helpers before St. Nicholas Eve on December 5th. This gives him time to visit all the good childrens’ homes before the big event.

He received the golden magic key from the mayor and can now magically get into the houses to deliver small presents. Children leave letters and carrots in their shoes, and Sinterklaas replaces them with gifts.

It was really exciting to experience this celebration today with so many people along the parade route. The spirit in the air was truly friendly, warm and jovial, despite the cold and sunny weather. I think it’s a great way to bring on the holiday season. To learn more about Sinterklaas, you can visit wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas.

Watching Charlie’s excitement today at the parade, and seeing my mom help him write a letter to Sinterklaas in Dutch and drawing pictures on his letter was pure joy. I wish that everyone could feel the magic and spirit of being a kid, filled with wonder and curiosity and a touch of fear, waiting and anticipating when Sinterklaas and the Zwarte Pieten may come and knock on our door, throwing pepper noten inside and filling his shoes with candy and toys.

Happy Holidays!! xo

9Nov2012

Day 106: People with Passion

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Do you know anyone who is passionate about what they do or love? These people are my favorite. I don’t necessarily have to share their passion, I just love listening to their stories and being around them when they are doing what they love, especially when they share what they love from their heart. These people usually are filled with joy and peace and light, and their eyes sparkle.

When we were in Rome, we went on a private tour with Bruno and spent 3 hours with him. There were 7 of us, and all of us were engaged and listening and laughing and anticipating what he might share next. We all wanted to hug him and were thankful for all that he shared and taught us. We asked him how he chose to become a tour guide, and he said he absolutely loved Roman history and studied history in Florence. He was confident and knowledgeable and knew just how much to share. He was joyful and patient while giving us a tour, and if we had time, we would have scheduled another tour with him, just because he was so passionate and fun to be around.

Today we did a walking tour of Amsterdam with Michelle.

Our passionate tour guide, Michelle.

She studied World War Two history and she is quite passionate about her subject. She was prepared and brought laminated photos to show us the past along with the present. She made eye contact with all 7 of us. She never was in a hurry and spent extra time with us. She shared just enough context to make history come to life and to help us feel what life might have felt like as a Jew, a Dutch person, or a German during Hitler’s regime. She was passionate and talked about the history book she was currently reading. She loves what she loves and shared her love with us and we were so enthralled and thankful. I think this type of passion makes people successful. It brings joy to their lives and that is success to me.

Beautiful Amsterdam – Monet painted this scene. Don’t you love the geese floating by? They were paid! 😉

The Anne Frank sculpture just outside the Anne Frank house.

What are you passionate about? How do you share your gifts and talents? How do you keep learning?

8Nov2012

Day 105: Admiring Amsterdam

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. I love the architecture, the canals and the trees. I like people watching and just the feel and vibe of the city. It reminds me a little bit of San Francisco in a way, with all the little pockets of character and charm. The trams, buses and metro system make it very easy to get around and I’m finally getting comfortable with the transportation options and timing.

Today I took my parents to see the Anne Frank house. You’re not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, so the picture posted here is from the cafe attached to the museum, which provides a lovely place to sit and relax and take it all in. I’ve been before, and it always moves me to tears, thinking of her struggle as a young girl and all she had to sacrifice. And even though her freedoms were taken away, she still continued to have a positive attitude, to look for the good in humanity and to make the best of her situation. She is a good role model for all of us. Her death was such a tragedy, making me wish she could have held on to hope for just a little longer.

Namaste.

22Oct2012

Day 89: Fall in Amstelveen

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Here I Am…
appreciating the fall weather in the Netherlands.

I went for a run with my dad this morning and the sun was shining. That’s a big deal here, and it set the tone for the rest of the day, inspiring us to Be outside.

As you look at the pictures, I hope you’ll take a moment to appreciate what surrounds you and to say a prayer or think a positive thought for those who are struggling right now. I love you…and wish you peace and strength.

22Oct2012

Day 88: Fun at the Amsterdam Marathon

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

My mom and I had so much fun dancing on the sidelines of the Amsterdam marathon today, cheering on the runners. The music was loudly playing and we had balloons, a large, Dutch flag, American flags and British flag themed umbrellas we were twirling and waving around. Can you imagine how much fun we were having, being silly and loud? Too bad the video clip was too long… but it sure was good! I laughed, at least! Can you see me laughing?? 😉

The runners were so happy and were giving us high fives and cheers and smiles and were waving their hands up in the air with us. There were over 30,000 runners from several different countries, but we all smiled in the same language.

We were there to support Becky and Anthony and were so excited to see them run up to us. Jeff is so good with maps and we had an app with their race numbers to track where they might be on the route. We were having so much fun anticipating their arrival that we forgot how cold it was outside. At least it wasn’t raining, and we were successful finding each other.

After the race, we hosted a family dinner at our house for 20!! My mama and I cooked together yesterday and prepared and served everyone today, along with help from Dad and Jeff.

Her special spaghetti sauce was a hit, as always! It’s so nice to have her and my Pops home with me! Salud!! xo

Day 87: International Family Gathering in Amsterdam

Today we celebrated my sister-in-law’s (Becky) 26th birthday in Amsterdam.

Becky and Nate live in London and love celebrating life all over the world! I love how adventurous they are. They got married last year in Napa Valley and brought our families and their friends together for the wedding of the century. And tonight she did it again!

She and her brother are running the Amsterdam marathon tomorrow and she brought us all together to celebrate her birthday and to watch her race tomorrow. We all had a good time, eating and drinking and socializing together. Happy Birthday, Becky! And many, many more! Good luck at the race tomorrow. We’ll be cheering for you and Ant!

15Oct2012

Day 82: Stop and See the Goose

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

It’s kind of like stopping to smell the roses, but today I had to stop and notice the goose across from my car before driving off to volunteer at the bookfair. I still find it surprising to see him out of the water and sitting so close to the edge of the sidewalk. I just like to stand and watch him and smile. When a dog walks by, he stands up and stretches his wings to make him really tall and squawks loudly, alarming the dog and his walker. The next dog walker walked by in the street as to not alarm him.

This is a picture of the school book fair, that I thought Brenda and Val would especially enjoy. It was so chaotic and kids were everywhere. It was quite exciting to see everyone so excited about English books. Another small world story… my PEO sister owns the bookstore in Amsterdam that put on the book fair today. So of course I had to volunteer and have fun during the process, chatting with friends and meeting new people. I think that’s one of the joys that comes from volunteering!

Juliana is standing in front of the boxes that included books on hold. The children came through with their classes during the school day and picked the books they wanted. They then filled out a small paper form with their name and their room number and attached the paper to the book with a rubber band. They were then staged here and waiting for them when their parents arrived with their money or PIN (everyone PINS…aka using a debit card to pay; usually credit cards aren’t accepted, so instead of asking if someone takes credit cards, they ask if they can PIN. Did you learn something new??) This process was quite crazy as the little pieces of papers would fall out of the books as eager students looked for their treasures. But there were several happy faces and most of the boxes were empty by the end of the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Did I tell you that tomorrow my parents leave Sunny California to fly and come stay with us for 2 months?!?!?!

I AM very excited!! Isn’t it strange to think they leave on a Tuesday afternoon and arrive on a Wednesday morning? Only 2 more sleeps…just hope I can sleep! xo

Day 73: windmill on a sunny day

windmill on a sunny day

Gorgeous day along the Amstel River

white walled shoes and tires

I wrote a post for today and lost it while trying to post the above picture! UGH!! That part I don’t like.

So now I’ll share an abbreviated version – because it’s late and the pictures say it all. Thanks to the Holzers for inviting us to go on a ride with them. So much better than furniture shopping! They knew the way along the Amstel River and into Amsterdam, and we had a blast. Luckily for their weather app that predicted good weather from 1 – 7 pm too, because this morning, was rainy, breezy and cold! Who knew the sun would come out and stay out, especially since it was raining on us as we began?

I love days like today – where you don’t really have plans but have tentative plans, and then things just fall into place. We were supposed to meet some friends of Juliana’s, but Jeff wasn’t feeling well, so I had cancelled. Then Patti had mentioned the idea of going for a bike ride, and I was thrilled when Jeff felt up to it. We probably rode for 3 – 4 hours with a couple breaks in between. The sun was shining and it was absolutely gorgeous and crisp out. So glad we didn’t stay indoors!!

We made thai curry and homemade pizzas for the kids as an impromptu dinner. I love when a short visit leads to hours of shared time together. Good times! xo

gardening lady along our ride today.

28Sep2012

Day 65: A message from Juliana

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

Finally!! It’s my turn to write, the suspense has been killing me! But anyway, it’s finally Friday. On Friday’s we have a late start day that starts at 9:20 instead of 8:30 so I get to sleep in a litte bit. I mean seriously doesn’t this school know that you need your beauty sleep?:) At school, I really like my teachers, some of the best I have experienced in my entire student career! I have adapted to this school just as much as my previous school and have made many friends. I made it onto the travel volleyball team and so far have gone to The Hague and also have done an overnighter with a host family in Bonn, Germany. We have many other games coming up in Belgium and Luxembourg to name two. So volleyball has been really fun. I am also involved in the school with student council which is a lot more responsibility than being a normal student. I was elected homeroom representative and meetings are every Monday for the rest of the year. You have to plan the middle school assemblies, after school activities, events, dances, represent your homeroom and also have to be extremely involved in the school. I do enjoy being a leader in school.The weather has been getting colder, darker, and rainier each day so there’s been lots of rainbows and double rainbows!

Amsterdam Park after the rain with a rainbow. We got soaked!!

I am taking Dutch and Mandarin as my languages and currently one of my favorite classes is Dutch. I would love to be able to have conversations and become nearly fluent in Dutch by the time we make our way back to California. We have been to London, Belgium, Germany, and all over Holland, we have trips planned for Italy and hopefully France and Israel! I think it was yesterday that our car arrived and our house is feeling homie so with that, we are settling in fairly quickly and nicely. I would love to hear from you all! Miss you all and the Warm California Sun!

Yours from Amsterdam!

Juliana