Guus Bosman

Wednesday evening my colleagues dropped me at Munich Airport (thanks guys).

Lufthansa, the national airline, has its own terminal and it's very spacious and luxurious. There were no lines for security (it looked like nobody was traveling) and there was free coffee and a selection of 8 free newspapers to chose from at the gate.

At the gate there was an electronic reader for the boarding pass; the first time I've seen that. The flight was one hour and 15 minutes and I arrived at Schiphol around 6:30 pm so I easily made it for the 7:10 pm train to Rotterdam. So at 8.00 pm Joost and Ankie picked me up in the Maas City.

This weekend Jaap, my father, celebrated his 60th birthday.

Saturday morning we prepared the caravan (travel trailer) and loaded it with the equipment, food and drinks we would need for the party. We picked up the cakes from and fresh bread and arrived the camping site in the Dijkgatsbos at 12.30 pm.

It took us about an hour to get ready. Ettie and I went to Wieringerwerf to pick up some red wine and the first guests soon started arriving.

Jaap really enjoyed the party and guests; a good way to celebrate a 60th birthday.

I talked with so many people which was great but there's never time enough! It was a wonderful party. I met Anouk for the first time, Rob and Kirsten's daughter, and she is a very happy and sweet baby (she smiled when she saw me, that of course is a good sign). Jerry and Marjolein brought a game with wooden sticks which was very well received.

After seeing The Complete Rembrandt we went for a walk through the city. We had lunch in a side street of the Rokin, where we ultimately figured out the mystery of where the sandwiches came from (a nice broodje gezond).

We visited four bookstores that afternoon, which was wonderful. I bought a few books, including an Indonesian cookbook, but mainly it was great to browse and peek at the books. We also visited a Blokker, Xenos and Hema to look for some things for today's birthday party. I bought a Dutch pan about which I'll write more later. We had dinner in V&D, the same one where we were two years ago. In the evening we visited Oma Bosman, who wasn't well, in Beverwijk.

Saturday afternoon I took the Q-line bus, the quick service to Leeuwarden. It was a beautiful trip across the Afsluitdijk and through Friesland. Ettie & Gerben met me at the bus station. It was sunny and although not as warm as Friday the weather was great to sit outdoors. We had lunch with coffee at 'Bagels & Beans', a US inspired place. It was great to see Ettie & Gerben and to be together.

We walked through downtown Leeuwarden. I had never really been there before and it's a great place. Lots of people, lots of stores, lots of outdoor seating. It reminded me of Haarlem. Bikes everywhere of course, and at 5.30 pm most shops started to close. We visited the Gruttersmuseum, an old-fashioned store, and then spend an hour in the Boomsma museum next doors which is dedicated to this liquor that is produced in Leeuwarden.

Ettie and Gerben's new house is beautiful. It's very light inside and everything is very new. For those of you who know Ettie it's no surprise the house has a great garden. In the evening we had dinner together, hutspot andijvie with bacon bits and fresh onions. We made a gorgeous walk through the country side -- about 5 minutes from the front-door you're in the Frisian country side. We did a great walk, 5 kilometers through the fields.

When you come back to your hometown after two years, you'll notice the changes. The bakery has a new owner (although the personnel is partially the same), the Kroon clothing store is out of business (which is no surprise since there was nobody ever there), the library moved to the same building as my mother's school and the old building is now in use for the biljart club, the Beurs is called the Oude Beurs again but is sadly closed and will be demolished, just like one of the three old churches.

And other things stay the same.

The butcher 'Van het Riet' is still there, and the Duizendpoot (which was Poot until years ago), the cute Wieringermeer museum is still there (open on Saturday afternoon's and by appointments), and of course the grocery store which I'm looking forward to to visit just to ogle all the familiar-but-now-slightly-unknown brands and products, including the wonderful and super cheap cheeses.

Friday evening Ettie & Gerben came to Middenmeer, and we had a nice family dinner. Jaap baked delicious home-made pizza and it was as great as I remembered.

I wasn't sure if I'd be able to sleep well. The first night in Middenmeer I was exhausted after the traveling; it's the second night that's usually the hardest due to the time difference. However, I slept great. I woke up at 4:45 am, and it took my a good hour to fall back to sleep but I woke up at 8.45 am, a little groggy but with 8 hours of rest. Yesterday's morning run and the long walks later in the day surely helped.

In the morning a fun project was waiting for me -- going up in the attic at my parent's place. Five years ago we stored our belongings there and every time I've been back it's been fun to dive into the boxes and pick up things to bring to the States. I picked up some goodies and selected some boxes to empty out. We also prepared the audio equipment for Jaap's birthday party next week.

The next morning I woke up at 8.30 am, full of energy. Over breakfast we organized some things for next week's party and I went for a run.

It was a gorgeous run through the Wieringermeer, a triangle through the country over the Molenweg ("Mill Road"). Roads here are straight, flat and windy -- very different than in North Carolina. It was absolutely beautiful to be out in the fields.

There were many farms with more modern things, like horseback riding, just housing and there's even a Bed & Breakfast on the Molenweg. There was the smell of kruitefluit, onions or flower bulbs, dry mud and yes, manure. The wind made it easy, even though it was warm and sunny.

I like to talk a walk break half-way, but that felt awkward because I kept on meeting people I know. I wouldn't one people who see me once in a blue moon to catch me taking a walk break!

We went for a walk at the Eno River today. We were there around 7.00 pm when the sun wasn't shining very bright anymore and we saw a lot of deer.

On the road near the park someone had put home-made signs: "slow, baby deer", and in their garden were at least 8 deer, including young ones.

There's a large park around the Eno river and on our walk through the woods near the river we saw a beautiful animal that we had seen only once or twice before. I thought it was called a possum, but tonight I looked it up and the animal we saw is a raccoon.

The raccoon was about to climb in to a tree when it saw us. It stared at us for a while, hid behind the tree trunk and then walked away. It reminded me of a cat in the way it seemed to pretend "Oh, I wasn't never planning to climb in that tree, you silly human".