The Cola Cola Mentos experiment is quite simple. Throw a couple of mentos in a bottle of Coca Cola and a huge fountain of cola will be the result. At least in theory. To Alex I had to explain that this experiment would be impossible to do inside the house. Everything would be covered in cola. This one needed to be done outside.
The somewhat disappointing result can be seen in the video below.
Sport is not only fun, it is also very healthy. Alex goes to taek wondo twice a week, and these classes are basically running, jumping, doing obstacle courses and every now and then also kicking and hitting an imaginary enemy.
His taek wondo teacher is a nice man who has quite a bit of authority (great for getting all the kids in the class to behave). He knows very well how make all those kids behave and we can really see the discipline in all those kids. Sometimes the teacher gives a compliment, and you can almost see the complimented kid grow a little. Bad behavior results in a punishment of a couple of pushups or sitting on the side for a while without participating in the current game. Simple and effective.
After a little getting used to Alex is going really great. So good that after a couple of month he already had the basic 20 taek wondo moves down, and this is enough for a promotion to the white-yellow band!
*Proud*
I feel like I don’t have much to tell the world, but thinking about this issue made me realize that is not really true. I did move from Holland to Spain to a new environment and basically a new life. This made my own personal insights a lot more valuable. My life lessons could and should be shared with the world, so we can all get (a little bit) better. Sadly I don’t really feel like sharing, I feel the content I can provide will not be up to the task, and I think/feel there would be a very limited interest, so I’ll pass.
On the other hand there is something in my life that is even more exciting. My sons Alex and Alan also live in two worlds. Dutch and Spanish influences that help shape their realities and their vision of the world around them. The views these two boys have of the world is not contaminated by prejudice, assumptions, fear and diplomacy. Their view is still youthfully naive and full of hope, trust and faith. This is much more interesting and represents the real value. Even if the actual content does not mean so much these are the raisins in the cake.
Coincidentally I have been making small movie clips of our kids since their births, so all the need is a little tweaking. We need to add an intro, and at the and a nice “See you next time!”, and they will have a super interesting vlog. Lets just give it a try.
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Alan is growing very very fast. Not only his physical size, but also mentally there is a lot of progression. Partly because he is being stimulated almost full-time, but also because he is a very smart little guy. He understands almost everything he is asked, and it does not matter if you ask him things in Dutch or Spanish. He also asks things himself using a limited set of vocabulary in both Dutch and Spanish.
This birthday was celebrated with a big party, and Alan quickly understood that it was all about him. The was clearly very pleased with all the gifts. Up to the next year!
Once more Alex has earned a medal, and again at a running match. He likes to run and it helps that there are a lot of runs especially for kids where everybody gets a medal.
More then a year ago we went to a tryout of Taekwondo with little Alex. The gym was very close by so it could have been perfect, but sadly Alex didn’t like it one bit. If fact after the first time just looking it was difficult to get his inside the building without protest.
Now, more than a year later the tables have turned. This time it was Alex who requested that we take him on a test class a the same Taekwondo gym we went last time. We were quite amazed by this turnaround, and we suspect it is because Alex’ friend Miguel also goes to Taekwondo and he already earned his yellow-white belt. Miguel was so positive about this sport that he somehow convinced Alex to give it a try. What could be better than a couple of hours of sports and discipline each week.
It arrived! A big box was delivered to my home. I am very happy because I know what is inside. Do you know? The kids will be happy for sure, even though Alan will need to be a bit patient. He is still a little small for this box. Alex will be very happy, as it fits perfectly with the small collection he already has.
My problem now? How do I get a huge box (47cm x 55cm x 40cm) with number 75192, weighing about 15 kilos safely to Spain.
Alan visited a running event last week. He himself did not run, but his big brother did. Alex ran a nice round for the “pequeno valiente” organization. An organization that helps little kids with cancer. At this event I shot this nice picture of a naughty Alan.
I for one have never done it before. On the local fair there was an attraction where you need to hit a small iron thing with a big hammer. It is called “De kop van Jut”. If you hit it correctly a small piece of iron goes flying up, and the higher it reaches, the better you have hit it. The concept of this game has never quite appealed to me.
When Alex and I were checking out the fairground, a day before the opening, it was exactly this attraction that called for Alex’ attention. The attraction was still covered in some plastic, but after explaining how it worked Alex instantly knew he wanted to give it a go and it went first on his list of things to try. The concept of taking a big hammer and hitting something as hard as possible (or even harder) was something his fell in love with at the spot.
Eventually Alex took his first massive hit, the machine barely survived and all alarms went off and Alex loved every moment of it.