Saturday, 31 May

So, I arrived in Holland on Saturday after a beautiful train trip through the border and Utrecht. Amsterdam was a bit mad - and the ticket machine wouldn't accept my credit card! At least I had cash, and I paid E5 to get a train to Hoofddorp and then E2.2 for a bus ride to de Olmenhorst, right where the wedding was!
It was so scenic, seeing the little houses, bicycles everywhere, and very neat roads, pavements and gardens.
I spoke to the driver in Dutch and managed to successfully communicate my plans. So he dropped me off, and I walked with my bags down the driveway of Landgoed de Olmenhorst, the birds singing and a light breeze blowing.

What a jolly wedding in the middle of an orchard, so apple and pear juice was freshly served. There was a very warm welcome to me from the family, wide smiles and interested eyes, asking about my trip and how I am finding Holland. I met Jantien, Jeroen, Hanneke, and Laura, but there were still lots of people mulling around. I had missed the ceremony, but there was still more on the program. Lots of singing too. It seems like most of the different family units had composed poems or songs for the bridal couple and had each a turn to read it out, or sing it out. There was also a guitarist and violinist who played some country-style dance music and everyone got quite excited with their clapping and jumping.

There was a yummy table of main course laid out too and my plate was overflowing before I had even taken of every dish. Rices, sosaties, salads, casseroles, sauces, etc, all very delicious. The pudding was a bit weird though. Hardish jelly that you had to almost crunch in your mouth, and spaghetti mixed in with the base. And some fruit salad.

Unfortunately I seem to have lost some photos on my phone. I had taken a picture of Jacqui at about 10pm, where the sky was still light! It only gets dark about 11pm, and so you we have extra long days to fit a whole lot of activity in. But then it gets very cold. Eventually we were walking with our hands over our ears to stop the biting cold from giving us a headache.

Laurens and Lucinda took us to overnight on their boat! They are harbouring about an hour away, so we took a long night drive with them in their car, and chatted about life in SA and life in Holland, and a bit about Christianity.
It was so amazing to drive into the harbour and then park on the quay. They have a 20-berth yacht and told us to choose a cabin for ourselves. Although it was so late already, they offered us something hot to drink. We had some mint tea (without milk or sugar), snoeped on some Dutch cheese, and then went to bed.