Food, Family and my Dutch heritage
Our first day in the Netherlands every one of the SQAD slept till around midday but we woke up just in time for my mum’s brother (nickname: Oome Wowa) to come over for dinner.
While staying at my grandparents (Opi and Nana) house we walked the dog every morning and evening. Which was the perfect bonding time between Opi, my brother and I. Of course, we also bonded with Opi and Nana’s dog (Tyqua), and yes, I am going to write a blog all about her soon. Our time at Opi and Nana’s was wonderful - it felt like a little slice of home after traveling for 9 months. We enjoyed warm home cooked meals, a clean space and looking at old photo albums snuggled on the couch.
Family and Food
There is something so nice about having family around. We shared many meals together, on one night, my mum was making Indian for the whole family as desert we went into town for ice cream. Another night Oome Wowa came over and my brother helped him make some Indonesian food for dinner. It was sooo good!
I prefer baking and making small snacks, Nana was kind enough to teach me how to make apple compote, it is cooked apples with a little bit of sugar and cinnamon. It’s used quite a bit in traditional Dutch meals and is served on the side of potatoes, veggies and meat. We even picked fresh apples for the compote from some trees in the neighbourhood on our morning walk with Tyqua since it was apple season at the time we where there.
During our stay we did eat a lot of ‘bitterballen’ and ‘kaaskroket’ (Bitterballen are usually made from a meat-based ragout that is formed into a ball, coated in breadcrumbs, and kaaskroket have a creamy cheese filling, deep-fried until golden brown and crispy).
One thing I loved about being in the Netherlands is cycling with Opi and Nana to a farm where they produce cheese, milk and eggs. We saw the animals that produce the produce. I will say though the cow enclosure is very stinky, but they are really cute, and the babies are even cuter. My brother and Opi managed to make the best pancakes I have ever eaten. It was made with fresh flour milled from the windmill in a nearby town (Cothen) and topped with cheese, bacon and capsicum.
In the two weeks that we stayed with Opi and Nana, David’s 81 year old uncle named Bruce was able to fly from Scotland to Amsterdam, then got a train from to Utrecht to visit us. Although I did not know him before this visit, I still had a wonderful time in Utrecht walking around the city with him. We got to see the Dom Tower and the Domkerk of Utrecht (Dutch word for cathedral) with was very interesting. It is a Protestant church, it was Catholic before the protestant reformation.
The reason why the Dom Tower is not attached to the church is because there was a big storm in 1674 witch literally blew half of the church away. This was one of many religious places we visited in the last month, but you will learn more about that in future blogs. On this day Oom Wowa was our tour guide through the city because he lives there. While David, my mum and David’s uncle went on the boat tour my brother and I got the best hot chips in the city with Oome Wowa.
Culture
Opi and Nana live in Wijk bij Duurstede and while we were staying at their house, there was a Monument Day that happens only once a year. We got to see and enter lots of old buildings, such as the town’s windmill – while they were actively milling grain into flour. You could see the wooden gears turning.
We also visited the Castle and even the belltowers of one of the churches in the city centre. We did not get to see everything that was open that day, but we got to see the highlights. A cool part of this day was that actors walked around dressed as characters from different time periods. They even had a whole area where people dressed as Vikings. The funniest costume I saw was at the castle, people were dressed as chickens.
Language
I have been raised bilingual English as my first and primary language and Dutch as my second. I don’t hear Dutch spoken very often in other places in the world so when I’m in the Netherlands I think wow, I can actually understand people. It feels even more true after being on this trip for so long and living in countries where I don’t speak the language.
It does take me a few days to switch over to Dutch, and I don’t use it very often in my everyday life, so it takes time to switch on that part of my brain. This particular time we visited it was slightly more difficult because David was with us, and he can’t speak any Dutch so half of the conversations were in Dutch, and the other half was in English. Overall, I could understand everything and express myself quiet well in Dutch, but I think I would improve quite a lot with more time in the country.
Thank you to Opi and Nana for having us in their house for two weeks. I hope you guys enjoyed your self as much as we did.
The next blog will include a story about Tyqua before we start of our trip around Europe.
