The Netherlands
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The Netherlands |
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The Netherlands is a pretty crazy place, compared to little New Zealand. This place is tiny compared to home, but at the same time, it is enormous. The differences between the two countries are to many to name, but the I can safely say that this place has to be one of the easiest non-english speaking countries to start out in. Sharon will be the first to say that the english skills of most young people here are better than most countries; even if you go out of the cities, all the way up to Friesland. I arrived in September, and Sharon turned up in December, 2002, and it we left in the start of March, 2003.
But anyway, you don't really want to read boring crap about what I think of this place, so here are some photos.
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Since I've been in New Zealand pretty much my entire life, my extended family was always a bit of a mystery to me. I had heard all of their names, but I had no idea who they were or what they looked like. Fortunately, I can say that this is no longer the case, having meet all of my aunts and uncles, some of my cousins, and also my grandmother.
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Friesland. This is the central Northern part of the Netherlands, bordered by the Ijsselmeer (W), the North Sea (N), Groningen (E) and the rest of the Netherlands (S). The typical traveller wouldn't normally get this far, but we ended up here because my extended family has a cookie factory (where we got boring jobs, with the perk of getting fat from chocolate-covered waffels), and a house where we could stay.
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Many people thought we (especially Sharon) were crazy when they found out that we would be here during the middle of winter. Looking back, I've got to say that had I known it was going to be this cold, I probably would have changed my mind. But, we did it, and it was an experience!!!! Highlights would have to be ice skating on the canals, and trying to walk to work when everything was covered in a thick layer of ice. But that damned weather is also to blame for the accident we had, involving someone else not taking a corner very well (at all), and us being in the way. |
Cycling. The netherlands is quite rightly known as a land full of cyclists. But they are definitely a different breed. Here, people are brought up with bikes, and no one finds it at all strange to pick the kids up from school, do the shopping or visit family on a bike. Because of this, pretty much every road in the country has either got a cycle lane, or (especially for the bigger roads) a seperate cycle path. New Zealand traffic engineers could learn a thing or two :) But there is one thing that cycling in the netherlands doesn't have; hills. Sure, that's great if you want to ride around, but the views from hills are so much better, and more importantly, mountainbiking is way more interesting. I guess we'll have to wait for another country before we'll get to do that again. |
