Cabbies...

As I mentioned before, "it was a great blessing not to have to do all the driving myself", also for company... (Sorry Kev and Oli - a little bit then -, but it was hard to resist posting this one; it is a testimony though to your dedication and hard work to help us get across).

A welcome break

Although another would still or again be welcome indeed, we very much enjoyed a weeks' holiday at the sea on a camping in Dishoek (Zeeland). We stayed there in a bungalow tent (more like a house) with Allard, Johan and Mathilde in another tent and a bit further on Annewieke's mum in a caravan. Annewieke's brother Willem Jan visited us there for a day with his children - Ilona, Myrte and Joël - another day Annewieke's sister Ineke with her daughters - Hannah, Nina and Louise -, with whom we also had a wonderful time sharing old and news and spending leisure time and meals together. It was an excellent location with just a row of dunes to cross to get to the sea-side. Most days we were at least at some point able to go to the beach and get our share of sunshine for the summer. For Aron the beach was a marvelous thing to explore: Sand has an interesting feel to it, but a nasty taste!!Shells are a completely different kind of thing though, and the sea... well... it's rather cold but fun.Allard's Kite was very cool to watch...But the rambling and scrambling was by far the best thing!And somewhere... beyond the edge of our horizon beyond sea and sunshine But not beyond our memories... lies Stoke-on-Trent...

What's happening at the moment?

Presently we are trying to get daily life into shape. As the most urgent things have been done in the house, I have been concentrating on the admission requirements for the Master Christian Studies of Science & Society - if you don't know what that course is all about, then you can read more about it here, I might post more about it (also content-wise) later on - . The final requirement for me to be admitted was to pass an oral exam on the history of philosophy. I took the exam last Friday and have passed the exam, so all is set and ready. It looks like it is going to be a very intensive course, I already have homework even before we started, but I was able to make a good start by reading some 50 pages beforehand. This means all the rest of my time and energy that I can spare needs to be bend on finishing my thesis, which is making good progress; still ever taking more time than I want/anticipated. But we have made some contacts within the Church as well, in particular with a number of people who live in our direct neighbourhood; about 35 addresses, some right round the corner in the same block of appartments. Needless to say, this is kind of a culture shock compared to Hartshill Bible Church, nevertheless we have been warmly welcomed and it is hard not to feel at home. Yesterday we had a nice evening at one of the families' home, who had invited all the Church people from the neighbourhood to have a chat about how holidays have been etc. That was an excellent chance to get to know a good number of people, while enjoying excellent homemade Italian food, which was the theme of the evening. We contributed some Tiramisu, which was interesting to make and the taste was not bad at all (I mean, others appreciated it too). On Thursday Marcel came up from Zeeland (the South-West coast of the Netherlands) to bring us another truckload of stuff, like a wooden playpen and a whole bunch of toys which their children no longer use. Aron didn't know where to start, but quite soon he found out that riding on a car is much better than pushing one around; He enjoys walking behind it, which he is picking up very quick, despite the slippery floor. The picture also shows a bit of the house (towards the kitchen), more of that will follow later.

How did we get back?

I suppose it's appropriate to start with our move back to the Netherlands and how that went. We had most things prepared long before, but the time we had with the van was limited (even though it was a week). We had to make the most of it, especially with all the things that we had to pick up here and there in the Netherlands (Eindhoven, Gouda, Ede, Putten and not to forget Ikea in Arnhem). It was a great blessing not to have to do all the driving myself, however much I like it. We also had the pleasure of getting acquainted with Oliver, who joined us just in time to make for the ferry in Dover (the British railways lived up to common expectation).

Kevin is a very skilled driver, even adjusting to driving on the right side of the road was no problem; I felt perfectly safe. We 'left' the right side once in the Netherlands, but it happened precisely in the best of all places to correct it making use of those broad cycle lanes they do over here.

Even Aron made impressive progress with his driving skills, given the fact that this vehicle was slightly bigger than his usual size of toy-car.

Back here in the Netherlands...

Dear reader,

As promised, we hereby present the first (of many?) post(s) within the medium through which we hope to keep you updated on what has befallen us. This first post confirms that we are indeed still alive.

To be continued...