Guus Bosman

software engineering director


You are here

dailylife

Budni vecher 2014

Christmas fell on a Thursday this year so I took today off to make an extra long weekend. Since we were working on Wednesday we started early with the budni vecher preparations -- I started the dough for the pitka on Tuesday night. When the Zanes arrived around 7.00 pm we had the table ready.

We had a great budni vecher although sadly some of our guests couldn't make it. The coins fell to Jonathan and to Sasha, a lucky sign. We made kadaif for the first time, that recipe needs some more work. But the zele surmichki were absolutely excellent and we had nice stuffed peppers with beans. Irena brought grape leaf surmichki and for dessert butternut squash with apples.

Nora was delighted to see Julian and Ilana again and they had a great evening together. Her English is getting better.

dailylife

Caroling

Tonight we got together with our neighbors for a round of Christmas caroling.

It was cold out but we had a nice time before dinner -- singing and talking and eating some cookies.

I greatly enjoyed the singing and aside from a little confusion with "Oh Christmas Tree" I think we did a fine job. Nora shook her Christmas bells.

plants

Christmas tree 2014

On Sunday we bought our Christmas tree and put the lights up, and Monday night we put the ornaments in.

This is the first year that Nora helped with the decorations. Which means there is a little spot at the bottom of the tree where she many decorations close to each other.

Another change we made compared to last year was that I brought a measurement tape to the place where they sold the trees. Last year we got an 8 foot tree -- not a good fit for our 8 foot ceilings and I had to cut off a chunk to make it fit in the living room. This year we have a 7 foot tree and that obviously worked much better.

dailylife

"Papa, Дядо Мраз spreekt Engels!"

Yes, yes, indeed. Дядо Мраз -- the Bulgarian name we use for Santa Claus -- was in Clarendon and he speaks English.

We had brunch at the Boulevard Woodgrill and then we went to the Clarendon Commons where we saw Santa Claus and a Snowman and we met Rado and Maria there also.

Дядо Мраз asked Nora: "What do you want for Christmas?" but she didn't really know what to say.

So Sinterklaas speaks Dutch and English, and Дядо Мраз speaks Bulgarian and English.

dailylife

Sinterklaas duet

A few days ago Nora and I sang a few songs together, in Dutch.

Listen to it here.

Nora: Dat is het liedje.
Guus: Ja gaan we nog zingen.
Nora: Ja!
Nora: Nee nee!

Guus starts to sing.

Nora: Nee, niet nog zingen.
Guus: Nee, niet meer zingen?
Nora: Nee. Niet meer zingen!

Guus: Ken jij bijvoorbeeld het liedje, Sinterklaas Kapoentje?
Nora: Em, ik kan niet Sinterklaas Kapoentje.
Nora: Oh nee. Nora kan dat liedje niet.
Nora: Ik kan wel... 'en we zingen en we springen'.
Guus: Oh ja! Siiinterklaasje kom maar binnen.... etc

Nora: Oh, het is daar donker...

Guus: En kan jij ook wel het liedje 'Zie ginds komt de stoomboot'?

Nora: Eh ja!

Together:

Zie ginds komt de stoomboot
Uit Spanje weer aan.
Het brengt ons St Nicolaas
Ik zie 'm al staan.
Hoe... huppelt zijn paardje het dek op en neer
Hoe waaien de wimpels al heen en al weer.
Zijn knecht staat te lachen en roept reeds toe.
Wie zoet is krijgt lekkers
Wie stout is de roe
Oh lieve Sint Nicolaas kom ook eens bij mij
En rijdt toch niet stilletje ons huisje voorbij.

dailylife

Sinterklaas in Washington

Today Saint Nicholas arrived at the Dutch Embassy. This year we've been reading Sinterklaas books for a few weeks so Nora knows Sinterklaas and his helpers well.

We arrived a little early so we had plenty of time to look around. The Pieten arrived soon and I guess they liked Nora because they came back every few minutes to make sure she still had pepernoten. The bigger kids would store the pepernoten in their bags -- but Nora took just one at the time.

Like last year, Sinterklaas arrived on the balcony of the central hall of the embassy. It was nice to sing the old songs.

The little kids were then invited in the big room and soon all the two-year olds were called forward. Nora was very brave -- much braver than I think I was at that age -- and comfortably sat next to Sint Nicholas on the sofa. She gave him a big hug too.

Sinterklaas knew "dat Nora heel goed Bulgaars spreekt" and even knew about Meneer Prascho. She got a big present from Piet; a box with play dough.

The event is very well organized and we had a magical time.

Recent comments

Recently read

Books I've recently read: