Week in Alkmaar

Apologies to our dedicated followers who wait anxiously for an update from our end! :-P The city of Alkmaar kept us very busy over the past few days. Obviously heaps has happened such as the visit to the cheese market, bike ride on the dunes, a free weekend away (which we decided to spend in Alkmaar itself), two vocational days, architectural tour of Alkmaar, visit to the incinerator, dinner at the District Governor's house including a pre-conference formal dinner with past governors of district 1580.
We also experienced a glimpse of spotlight last week when the Noord Holland newspaper decided to interview us! So all up, it was a full on week with plenty of variety to keep us amused.

A few things we got up to:


Cheese testing at the Alkmaar Cheese Market. A very popular attraction with tourists. The Current Foreign Affairs Minister was present to officially mark the opening of the season and we were VIP's too!

More Cheese!

After the cheese market we went on a boat ride on the canals of Alkmaar. It wasn't an ordinary boat ride, there was plenty of physical activity such as lying on the floor to keep us from getting knocked out by the very low bridges! See below...

Duck!

Marijke (Co-ordinator) & Shanna preferred to sit on the floor..

We had an amazing day riding through the dunes and half way through the bike ride we stopped for a coffee break and what do we find..a Kiwi Owned restaurant! A mere coincidence.

Our 'tour guides' made sure we had a fun day on the bikes & we sure did! Drinks were the perfect way to end the day:)

Tour of the bulb fields..

Stunning tulip fields... (spot the familiar faces)

Architectural tour of Alkmaar

Our stay in Alkmaar ended at the District Conference on Saturday where we presented a short presentation and ended with the Haka; which as always was very well received:) We're now into our last week which is in Region 3. Its been great so far and can only get better in Amsterdam!

Will keep you posted...!

Doi:)

Tot Ziens Haarlem and surrounds, Dag Alkmaar!

WOW! What an amazing week we had with Lex and his team from region 6. They had a great programme for us and we were very sad to leave today :(

Our final full day in the area was yesterday of which we spent the morning exploring the old fortress on the Island at Ijmuidn. It was a wierd atmosphere as there was so much history and the thought that men really lived in concrete bunkers in those conditions was contrasted with the fact the facility is now used for corporate events and team building days with all the modern luxuries installed! We had lunch in an old bunker that slept 24 men! Hard to imagine when you see how small the room was.

After lunch we jumped back on a boat to the mainland to be taken to Corus, a massive steel manufacturing plant now owned by the Indian company Tata. We arrived and were shown a DVD about the plant and how the steel making process works. (At which stage Thijs had a bit of a kip ;)). After that we were fitted with a host of protective clothing; lab coat, steel capped boots, goggles, hair nets, hard hats and ear pieces. This meant another episode of Nageen swimming in oversized things, although she really did look the part!

All 11 of us were taken to a tour bus, yes a massive 50 or so seater just for us, to be driven around the site. The plant is huge with more roading in Kms than we could have walked in a day. During the tour we saw the melting process and looked into a liquid steel mixture. We had to walk over plates that could be lifted to access the liquid, this was a bit of a worry and so Shanna avoided them whenever she could, images of falling in were rife! We also got to see the flattening process where the steel slabs are squashed and stretched to specific sizes, then the quality section where they test for all sorts of components to make sure the steel is of the higest standard.

It is a massive operation and gave us an insight into another world of which 9000 people work. While most of the chemistry of it all was lost on the team (evident in my lack of clear explanation here!), Chris stepped up and was in his element as a Chemistry teacher asking all sorts of questions I could not even attempt to repeat!

That concluded the day and we all returned to our host families for our last night with them.

This morning we had breakfast in Limmen with our current Rotary coordinators and our new host families. Lex gave a great goodbye speech and warned our new hosts that we were trigger happy with the old photos! When in Rome we say!! It was a sad goodbye as Jan, Lex, Roel and Thijs amongst others all put so much into the week for us and we will miss them!

We spent the afternoon on vocational visits but will update you about them this weekend as well as adding images to this blog.

So a new week, new families and new adventures! Until then, we wil be enjoying the gorgeous old city of Alkmaar!

Doei Doei!

Sonya

View of Corus from the skyline of Ijmuiden

Flag atop the fortess that was once home to the Germans in WWII

Outside of the main bunker of the fortress

Old bunker where we had lunch...more exciting pics to come from our resident 'pap' Kepel

Haarlem, Tuesday 13th of April

As Chris said below we are having a fantastic time. It’s hard to believe that we are now half way into the trip. Time has passed so quickly. The program which the Haarlem team put together for us really has been awesome.

Last Saturday was a free day so we girls knew exactly how we would be spending it – shopping! Chris had fun getting a whipping on the golf course while Kepal watched his host daughter’s hockey game. That night some of the team got together to experience the Haarlem nightlife and from all reports it’s good times. The girls dominated the dance floor and Kepal was impressed that beers are only Euro 2.50 and how friendly the Dutch ladies are!
Monday was a vocational day which everyone seemed to enjoy. That evening we were at a golf club for a Rotary meeting where we gave our well groomed presentation with Sonya receiving the first applause over Chris yet again. I think the Haka successfully scared the other golfing patrons.

Today’s program has been focused around the sea. To begin with we had a tour of the Sea Museum and learnt all about the massive construction of the North Sea Canal. Following this we were lucky enough to have a fantastic ride on one of the sea rescue boats. Although the boat is not used these days for rescuing (its 40 years old with a top speed of 9 knots) it was good fun all the same. Kepal was thrown over board in a dry suit while Shanna successfully executed a daring move of jumping onto another rescue boat while in rough weather and at speed.
After a lovely lunch at a canal-side restaurant we had a tour on one of the canal tug boats. Passing though one of the big locks we also all had a turn of driving and testing out its maneuverability. Top day!

One day left to go which will be spent at Corus, the massive steel manufacturing plant. It will be sad to say goodbye to everyone but of course there’s lots of exciting things ahead of us.

Over in out
Philippa

Rescue boat

Kepals dry swim in the North Sea

Shanna jumping boats

Kiwi Crew in the north sea


Hercules the tug boat

'Typical Dutch' seaman maybe? He must've been freezing..

One of the big locks on the North Sea Canal

Nageen on the helm

Competitive kiwis playing the Dutch bowling game.

Have seen a few of these!! (lucky to go inside this one though)

Mr Windmill showing us around

Shanna reigning in team leader

Tulips!

Interested yet on the verge of suffering from hypothermia

The Black Book - filled with everyones 'woopsy daisies'

Busted!

Raw herring wasn't Sonya's best experience (if only there was an after shot!)

Den Haag (The Hague)

Tourists!

Mr Paparatzi

The Keukenhof flower park

Week Two

We have moved from area 4 to area 6 and are located in the towns of Bevewijk, IJmoudin, and Heemskerk. Highlights from the last few days are:
•Further Rotary presentation at the Haleemmermeer van 1852 club. We also have presented at the Sandpoort Rotary club. In all the clubs we have presented to we have had positive feedback about the presentation but also about New Zealand. Chris (without the team) also spoke on one of the vocational days at the Velsen Rotary club.
•The haka has been a ‘big hit’ and we have completed two other private showings of it to Rotarians and others who have missed it.
•We have had free time. Used it wisely to write the blog and to catch up on diaries. The Haleemmermeer rotary clubs were very hospitable and there were a few late nights sharing NZ experiences with them and also them trying to teach the team Dutch. Lots of laughs.
•Went to a concert of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in a glasshouse.
•Visited a hospice- a Rotary project .
•Viewed Rotterdam Harbour reclamation project. 120 hectares for just this one wharf.
•Viewed the Concert Hall in Amsterdam – outstanding acoustics and setting. One of three, which is the best in the world.
•Water Board of North Holland and saw extensively the processes for dykes, polders and water management. What they have learnt from their past and what they are planning for the future to do with global warming and a sea level rising was amazing. Keeping their feet dry and learning from other disasters the Dutch take things head on.
•Typical dutch meal as well as a gambling skittle game called ‘Kegelen’.
•Town of Edam and the Museum to show how the towns were organised for water control and quality.
•Visited an actual windmill pumping water and the history behind the windmills.
•Visited a black market bazaar – On a good weekend about 60,000 people visit this market place.
•Two vocational days were had. Once again both were very busy.

We are all having a fabulous experience and with three weeks to go it is going very fast.

Dinner out with Mace and Harry

The Fedship shipyard

Mace and Kepal in Mr Dick Von Lent's Fedship boardroom.

The ladies catching a 30 second ferry to De Kaag island

A cruise around the local lakes with beer, cheese, olives and a whole lot of laughs.

Queen Dora showed us a good time!

Aalsmeer flower actions.

Flora Holland - Largest Flower Auction World-wide!

Gosh the last few days have just flown by...it’s been jam-packed but we’ve now reached the first pit stop of our journey. Because it’s Easter Weekend, we’ve been staying at the De Rustende Jager Hotel for the last couple of days. The girls are two to a bedroom, while the guys have their own little room each. That’s okay though because Kepal got his own when he woke up in the middle of the night by what he thought was a massive earthquake, but what actually turned out to be the washing machine vibrating through his bedroom walls!! Haha.

Anyhoo to fill you in on the last couple of days...As Nageen said we went to the flower auction. The next day, Wednesday, we had our first vocational day. Chris spent a couple of hours at a flash secondary school, Philippa was with the Human Resources Department of a big IT company, Nageen was at a hospital, Kepal visited two police stations, Sonya spent her day visiting several volunteer organisations and an ambulance department, while I roamed a huge forest and sports park reserve for the day. Everyone really enjoyed their day. The evening was spent with host families.

On Thursday we had the morning free and then for lunch ran through our presentation for the first time to a Rotarian crowd of about 50 people. It went really well, the haka was well received, there were even gasps, the boys did a great job!! This was followed by a visit to the Peat Museum and then a 2 hour cruise in an enclosed and heated boat on one of the local lakes . We were served wine and cheese and had a really good afternoon just having a few laughs!! Then it was off home for the last night with our host families.

The next morning, Good Friday, we said a sad goodbye to our host families, dropped our bags off at the hotel and drove off to our first site visit of the day. We went to an Autistic Centre and an Assisted Living Apartment Complex for the Disabled. Some of the residents showed us their homes and they absolutely loved it and were so proud to be showing us around, it was great!! In the afternoon, we went off to a shipyard that builds luxury mega-yachts. This place was amazing, the crème de la crème of boat-building places in the world. Not even a winning NZ lotto ticket 5 times over would enable you afford one of these boats. The amount of money involved in building these mega-yachts is mind-blowing! We rounded off the day with a great dinner where we all tried a bit of eel...yes, we were pleasantly surprised, and also a few drinks at the local pub.

The next morning we were off to Mauritshuis, a small museum where we saw several Rembrandt paintings and the Girl with the Pearl Earring. We had a private tour-guide talking us through some of the history behind the paintings and that made all the difference to making this a great experience! Then we took a leisurely stroll in the rain through the city of The Hague and saw the parliamentary buildings, the Queen’s Working Residence (unfortunately she was out so we couldn’t pop in and say hi) and we also visited another museum, Panorama Mesdag, which has a 360 degree view of a painting. Was awesome!!! After lunch we took off to Keukenhof, the bulb fields, what Holland is known for! Just gardens and gardens of tulips, roses and other beautiful flowers!! We spent a few hours here and just took it all in. We were a bit early for our dinner reservation, so took a drive to the local beach, Nageen was almost “accidentally dropped” in the water!! We then made our way to a restaurant on the island Kaag and enjoyed the company of Rotarians and their wives late into the night.

Here we are now on Sunday, our day off! Was good to have a bit of a sleep in and just have a relaxing, chilled out day. We took the bikes out for a ride, was awesome. Because everyone’s so tall here the bikes are huge, so poor Nageen and Sonya can’t reach the ground with their feet once they sit on the bikes. So Nageen piggy-backed on the back of Kepal’s bike and we took off for a good hour’s ride. No helmets. Our own cycling traffic lights. Good way to see town.

Got the music going now...off to dinner soon. Catch you all again soon :-)

Arrival in Amsterdam!! Yay!

The 24 hour long flight payed off when we landed at Schipol Airport. We were greeted by Arend Sijpestein(DG), Marijke(Co-ordinator) and our host families and presented not only with flowers but cellphones that were already topped up! Now that definetly got us smiling, especially when we were hunting for one inside the airport.
So this was it, the kiwi crew parted ways and headed home with their new dad's!
For most of us it was an early night and I don't think anyone had trouble falling asleep. And just to add, I felt a bit lonely with out my crew!!:( But that didn't last long cause came day two we were once again together at 8am! The day began with a bang at the Flora Holland Flower auction, the worlds largest auction. Now, this was one impressive and massive place. Two hours later we were told that we'd only seen 10%! We were given a guided tour of the place and were privileged to be given access to " No Tourist" areas. What followed next was a visit to a family owned organic business with a noble cause. The owner of this business provides opportunities for special needs people to put their skills and abilities to good use.

Lunch..which at the time seemed like the best 'activity' of the day was at AMU Rotary club situated within a hotel. As much as we dared to try 'Dutch' Food most of us ended up having soup,salads and sandwiches. Although Kepal more fondly known as squirrel and Chris as Bandi had something different (can't remember the name).
Shanna and I (Nageen) were full on our soup and struggeled with the sandwiches, which we were told were small servings but not really!

We were now headed for Schuers, again a family owned business speciallising in flowers. Quite a flash place this was with some very flash people!! The flowers were just amazing, magnificent colours and perfect. We were introduced to Red Naomi, White Naomi, Muscat, Heatwave, Angelina and what not. The Dutch are very creative when it comes to naming their flowers!

Hans, who was looking after us took us back to his car workshop where we rested and munched through a bucket full of easter eggs! Hans very kindly gave us each a bucket of eggs! They weren't just for us but also for our hosts...hmm..dont know about the host part.

The Rotary club of Mijdrecht were having their meeting at the Umbrella factory as part of their 'day out'. Yes, a gradual change for us from flowers to a workshop and now umbrella's! But we weren't complaining. We got a tour of the place, a delicious dinner and a free umbrella each!! And most importantly we each got 1 minute of fame to introduce ourselves!

This was the end of our long, exciting and informative day! And ofcourse there heaps more to come.

keep blogging!!:)