Monthly Archives: September 2011

Buckler beerrun

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Buckler!In Holland the brand name Buckler was destroyed by a comedian but in Spain the brand Buckler beer still exists. At the end of this week Buckler is sponsoring a beer run.

The beer run is a running match of about 6 kilometers across the beach. Sadly, the match is just the day before I’m leaving for Madrid, so I don’t think I’ll be attending.

The strange thing about this running event is the publicity. In some places you see posters announcing the race, and these posters look pretty professional. Of course there is also a website and this is the weird part. I have never seen such a horrible website. The website offers a bank account number for you to deposit your money and that statement that the run will commence somewhere after 7 o clock. There are also a number of empty pages and that’s it.

There is also a statement that the run should be completed barefoot and in a swimsuit so there will probably not be and time measurements. And where will you store all your stuff? It just smells like a scam but still I am curious. Maybe this Friday I’ll walk towards the beach and have a look.

Wineroute

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A good wine!This weekend I was planning to follow the wine route of the Gran Canary Island with a couple of friends.

Although I’m really ignorant about wines I do like to drink a glass of wine every now and then. I found out that the Gran Canary Island has quite a history of growing grapes and wine production. Between the 16th and 18th centuries wine was the most important exported product.

Right now wine has no more importance for the local economy but there are still a number of sites near the capital Las Palmas where the still have some production of wines.

The value of wine production for the touristic industry is slowly being increased, because the locals found out that there is profit in wine drinking tourists, but there is still a long road to travel. There is a route past six bodegas near Las Palmas. Sadly you need to inform quite specifically in an information point to get the information and than you need to arrange everything yourself. Call the bodegas yourself, make the appointments and arrange transport for the visits.

There is no need to go unprepared. A document to value the wines is a good thing to bring.

In the end the wine route proved to be a typical Spanish thing. If you don’t speak Spanish it will be impossible to make any arrangements. From the six bodegas 2 could not be reached. One was closed and another was only interested in bigger groups. A third was only open from 17:00 till 20:00, but only on Saturday. The last bodega told me we were welcome in October.

Finally we cancelled our wine route. Not so unexpected that this route is no so much published. Maybe in some months we’ll try again.

A child, a tree and a book

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Recently I have been hearing a saying by some Cuban hero José Martí, that the Spanish people like referring to. He was asked what every person should do before this death. His reply:

“Tener un hijo, plantar un árbol, escribir un libro.”

In English: “Have a kid, plant a tree, write a book.”. Years ago I already planted a tree. Recently we wrote our first book and since this year we are blessed by a son.

Is that it then? I hope not, and I think the Cuban was wrong. I don’t know the things you need to do before the end, but I think you should strive to enjoy every moment. Reach for all the goals you can think of and that are important to you. For me things are going pretty well until now, and I hope they will continue to go well. *knock on wood*

Flying visit

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Alex sandwich!
This weekend I made a quick visit to Madrid. Just to have a look at Alex and hold him for a while. It was very nice to see him again and be able to hold him. His weight is now 3700 grams. He is no longer a thin baby and his dark blue eyes are getting lighter. A beautiful baby.

Sadly I could not stay long and right now I’m already home again. The little one will have to take care of his mother for the next two weeks and then I will go and help him with this task. I hope these two weeks pass fast.

The whirlwind of paper

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Red tape!!I was shocked. After Alex’ birth they gave me a little book. The book contained all the steps I needed to follow to report the baby and register his as a Spaniard. Following all the steps should eventually result in a Spanish identity card.

Well, I really found out. The two weeks I got off from work right after Alex’ birth were completely spend in traveling between various agencies. In Alcala, the birthplace of Alex. In Alcorcon where we were staying. In Las Palmas we we needed to register Alex on our address.

Today the little one is exactly one month old. He is registered in the town hall and is entitled to medical care. Ana got a few months off and I was able to justify my two weeks off. The only thing that still needs to be done is a few trips to the city halls in Las Palmas and in Alcorcon to get his identity card. This should be the last step and then we finally have the possibility to fly. First we’ll fly to Holland and then towards our home in Las Palmas.

In Holland we’ll try and get the Dutch citizenship for Alex. The procedure is explained on the website of the Dutch embassy in Spain, but it did not really clarify things for me. In October I’ll be in Madrid and I will pay a visit to the embassy to find out more, and if that does not do the trick I’ll try again when we are in Holland.

Blue Steel

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Alex is growing a lot and I’m happy that Ana send me some pictures every now and then so I can keep up to date of recent developments while being separated from my son this month. Here is a picture of Alex’ version of Blue Steel.
Alex - Blue Steel!

Jack Robert

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Jack!Our branch of the Berg family tree is growing like a cabbage. Two years ago it all started with the little Annabel and now… now we have a huge increase in the number of sons. Three weeks ago our son Alex was born, and today in the early morning little Jack Robert was born. Beware, the Berg dynasty is coming!

Jack was born at 3:19 and weighs an impressive 3750 grams! We congratulate father Bert, mother Sally and big sister Annabel!!!

The effect of 100% discount

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Publishing a children’s book is one thing. Nowadays with all the help you find online, anyone who does a little bit of research can do it. The problem is to generate awareness. This is where I have not succeeded. The past ten days, the digital version of our book could be downloaded for free, which resulted in a grand total of one download.

Apparently I need to make people more aware. Maybe experiment with a promotion. Google Adwords regularly sends me offers of 75 euros for a marketing campaign and who knows, maybe that will have an effect. I will have to give it a try when I feel our book is perfect.