Jut’s head

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.

Alex 6 years!

Alex jarig 6!6 years already. Time really does fly. Alex will have to attend school legally soon. His first tooth is loose, and now also his birthday. Most of Alex’ friends were abroad on holidays so Alex wanted to go with his remaining friend Miguel to the Elder science museum, followed by a delicious happy meal. Afterwards at home we had a great party with lots of gifts.

Godfather and religion

The force!The official role of a godfather or godmother is to educate their godson about religion. Ana and I both attended a catholic school, but still the faith in a god is not really part of our lives. In fact, we really don’t believe. Even though belief is not really part of our lives we still baptized our sons Alex and Alan. In part for the family and in part for the attached celebration.

The godfather of Alex is Miguel, and he found the perfect way to educate Alex in religion. Not the normal old fashioned way, but through stories and games. A bit like how the bible tries to teach us religion through multiple stories. During his last visit Miguel explained the entire Star Wars saga and they plays hours on end with a fun star wars game. You might wonder what that has to do with religion, but that’s covered.

Alex in concert

Today we enjoyed another concert by Alex. It took place in the “club Nautico” of Las Palmas. The song that was performed was called “Las Abejas” (the bees), and it went very well.

Movie or picture

Sometimes I find myself with a dilemma. Do I grab a movie, or is it better to shoot some pictures. A difficult choice at times and in Leeds I made the wrong choice. I made lots of pictures, and only a short movie of a wonderful micro-concert by our own Alex.

Class photo

A class photo is a very nice way to remember your class for when you are a bit older. It is nice to see your classmates and even nice if you are still in contact with some of them. A picture makes it easy to remember, but it seems that pictures are not a very reliable way to remember anymore.

Alex just got his class photo of his class with 5 year-old. A nice picture but with something strange. Just look yourself: Klassenfoto Marpe 2016!

klassefoto-marpe-2016-added-kidAt first glance there is nothing wrong with the picture. A typical picture with a lot of kids that remarkably all look more or less at the camera. We only noticed Alex who seemed to have his eyes a bit closed, but hey, they are kids after all, so this is to be expected.

Then I noticed something else. The boy on the bottom right seems to be floating. A better look makes it clear somethings up here. The boy looks at the camera perfectly, has a clean black uniform, and his colors are more crisp. This boy has been added to the class photo using a photo made in a studio.

The teacher and the two most right boys were cut from the rest and moved a little to the right. The new kid was added and moved to the background, blurred a little, and then the teacher and two most right boys were moved a little in front of the new boy. Just like he was there. But in reality he wasn’t there. Should we want him in the picture even if he was part of the class? If we are going to edit the class photo anyway, why not just all studio pictures of all kids, smiling, clean and looking at the camera, and paste them all in a class composition.

First performance

Alex has been going to the Yamaha music school for almost two months now. He has a one hour class every Monday and he has to practice a couple of time through the week. Enough to get the basics. Here is a part of Alex’ first performance, together with his best friend Dario.

Doing the dog?

Doing the dog?!English is without a doubt a very important language. Still, in the education we are giving Alex and Alan it is a little less important. For our sons Dutch is much more important. I want them to have at least a basic knowledge of Dutch so that they can manage themselves once in Holland. At school English is also a little less important. Alex’ school focuses more on German, with German classes every day, and English only twice a week.

We still feel that a little English at school, and all the English we can get on the TV should be enough to get a basic understanding. At least, as long as he is not taught incorrectly. At his school Alex got a drawing with the English title “What’s doing the dog?”, the words are in an incorrect order, which make it quite wrong. It should have been: “What’s the dog doing?”. Such a mistake in just once sentence is sure making us a bit worried.

Yamaha

Yamaha e323!Alex has a hard time enjoying extra activities outside of his school hours. He did not like kung fu, and swimming was also a no go. Now we finally found something he likes. The Yamaha music school. Making music on a keyboard.

Alex already followed two classes, and he enjoyed them. He now knows Do, Re and Mi! We got a keyboard at home, so he can practice all he wants. The neighbors are not (yet) complaining, so Alex must be doing a good job.