Sinterklaas, Santa Claus and the three kings

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Alex is lucky, because he is part Dutch he has three gift getting events. First the Sinterklaas visits him, then Santa Claus and finally the three kings. All bearing gifts. Alex clearly remembered Sinterklaas the best, and I was wondering why.

Sinterklaas 2014!I think the answer lies in Alex experience with the three events. All events involved some great arrival. Sinterklaas arrived in Cadillac, with a drum band. Santa Claus arrived in a mini helicopter and the three kings arrived in three boats. Alex had his picture taken at all three events, and every saint was dressed up and looked impressive. Soon after each arrival Alex received a few gifts (at night) that were delivered in some magic way.

The only difference that made the Sint stand out was that when the Sint arrived he shake the hand of Alex (the picture moment, just like Santa and the Kings) but this moment was accompanied with a little present and some candy. Enough to make it a memorable event.

2014

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Happy 2015!Another year has passed, and even if the years are all quite similar every year still comes with surprises. This year I returned to Spain for most of the time. Working three weeks from home and one in Holland works out much better.

This year Alex turned three. He is getting to be a big boy, and we can already talk about lots of topics. I speak Dutch with him and he replies in Spanish and sometimes with a little Dutch. He does like to be the center of attention, but we presume this is normal for all little kids. At school he is doing very well.

Ana had a quiet year. Still working at the hospital and being a great mother.

We wish everyone a very good 2015!

Sinterklaas

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Sinterklaas will even visit the Canary Islands! Tonight we are all going to the south to see the sint. All the Dutch children have been invited to hotel Barbacan where the Sint will make his appearance. Alex behaved very well the last year, so there is a good change he’ll get a nice gift.

Update: Alex received his present together with a lot of candy. He liked the party a lot and it was nice seing the Sint arrive with a percussion bend, fireworks en the sint in a nice cabrio instead of his usual white horse.

Photos

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Pasfoto!In Spain even the schools are very commercial. If you want a photo of your kid and his entire class you are required to buy a photo package with a lot of extras. The photo package contains lots of small portrait photos, a calendar with photo, a couple of Christmas cards with photo, a key chain with photo and a few bit portrait photos.

We are lucky that Alex is quite photogenic.

Bugs

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Meat is getting more and more scarce. There are more people every day, and even though we can fit more animals in smaller spaces they can’t keep up with the growth of the human population. In our near future we will have to widen the range of things we eat, and it looks like we will have to include bugs into our diet.

Alex and me have started already. A dried bug it’s all that bad, and if you mix it with something else it should be okay. What surprised me was that Alex didn’t have any problem trying a little bug.

Bugs, Alex and Adrie!

Coincidences don’t exist, or do they?

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When Alex was heaving some surgery a few month ago we met another family who’s daughter was having the same surgery as Alex. By coincidence it turned out the the girl, like Alex, had a Dutch father and a Spanish mother.

Later we fount out that our children go to the same school because coincidentally we live quite close to each other.

Month go by and we regularly meet in the street when we take our kids to school. Thanks to them we get in contact with a few more semi Dutch families.

Today I was really surprised by the level of coincidence. While I am at home in Holland, in Noordwijkerhout Ana meets the other family in the street and somehow the conversation turns to the background of the other Dutch father. It turns out that he comes from the same small town as me, Noordwijkerhout.

Truly a remarkable coincidence!

Beer!

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Beer!Una cerveza por favor. This is a much heard phrase in Spain. It is the way to ask for a beer and it is one of the first sentences I mastered when studying Spanish.

But… I will not be needing this sentence anymore because we are going to try and make our own beer. We already have a big package of natural ingredients, two huge plastic buckets a a lot more stuff. I look forward to making a all natural beer.

We need to think about a good name for our beer. Does anyone have any ideas?