Sinterklaas has arrived

Here is a little taste of Christmas tradition in the Netherlands.  

Sinterklaas arrives early in Holland with his gifts, in November. He is dressed in Bishop's robes and journeys in a boat with his helper who is called Black Peter and who wears Spanish clothes. It is said that the pair live most of the year preparing lists of presents and writing every child's behavior in a very large book. Many people go to Amsterdam docks to greet him. He mounts a snow horse and rides through the streets in a great parade, amid many festivities.

All Dutch children know that Sinterklaas lived in Spain, where he spends his time recording the behavior of all the children in his little red book, while Piet stocks up on the presents.

We took Collin and Ethan to the shopping mall to see Sinterklaas arrive.  The slide show has photos of us watching the "Black Pete" band, Sinterklaas arriving on his horse drawn carriage, and Black Pete passing out candy to all the children.  I know, the "Black Petes" aren't exactly politically correct, but it is a very old tradition here in the Netherlands.

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Efee

"Efee" is our nickname for our little guy. Collin couldn't prounouce the "th" in Ethan, so he would say Efan, so somehow we ended up with Efee.

So, here is an all Ethan post-especially for you Nana and Grandma Barbus.

Official Residents

Here are some photos (not terribly exciting) of our trip to the city hall to pick up our resident cards. So, now we are official. They enable us to apply for health insurance and prove residency for any other reason while we are here in The Netherlands.


We had to bike to the city center (about 15 minutes away). It was very cold and it started raining just about the time we started pedaling.


Outside the city hall, modeling my "drowned rat" look.



...and there are the cards

just a quick note

Hi everyone- just wanted to let you know that I fixed my blog, so that anybody can leave comments-not just those with a google account. Hope to hear from ya.

A day in Nuenen

Vincent van Gogh lived and worked in Nuenen from December 1883 to November 1885. In retrospect, his stay in Nuenen was one of the most important and productive periods in his life. He chose as inspiration for his paintings the hard everyday life of fellow man. The results of this amazing effort in Nuenen are 194 paintings including The Potato eaters, 313 drawings, 25 water colours, 133 sketches, 10 lithos and 29 'juvenilia' (drawings of young people).

This is the Van Gogh statue in Nuenen it depicts him walking through town with his sketches tucked under his arm. His parents lived in Neunen and he had a girlfriend here.


The Roosdonck Windmill. This windmill appears in several of VanGogh's sketches.


This is a sketch by VanGogh of the DeGroot family home. They are the family that appear in "The Potato Eaters" painting. You can see the Roosdonck Windmill in the background.

"The Potato Eaters"


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It was a beautiful day for a bicycle ride. It was about 11 miles round trip. The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous. We had a great time.

Ikea

We don't have Wal-Mart, but at least we have Ikea. It is about a 20 minute bike ride from our apartment. This is one of many visits that we will undoubtedly make.

...more from around the house

Ethan looks a little unsure about this "brothers" thing.

This is the view from our balcony. All the tents and trucks are there for the outdoor market that they have every Wednesday.

This is Ethan's first cereal feeding.