Best of all, today I met Gerwald’s mother, all his aunts, his two brother-in-laws and his niece and nephew. They are all wonderful people. Gerwald’s mother is so sweet-looking. He has an aunt called Pya and Ria. They were amused about me discovering the stop light was in the shape of Neinje, the rabbit cartoon popular in Holland.

Then, Gerwald and I went to Houten, where he lives with Annemieke. Their apartment is so awesome. It’s really colorful and clean but with just the right amount of yuppy “messiness.” It was full of cards and pictures and just random pretty or witty things that they posted on the walls and front door. They had a whole wall of books. The furniture was tasteful and playful.

Best of all, there was a lot of vintage furniture! Old radios, old suitcases, old bicycle and motorcycle helmets and even old documents (there was a 19th century newspaper and novel). Gerwald is into bikes and so there were miniature bike models and a bike frame painted a bright orange-y red on a table. He was making a new bike out of it. I loved the poem entitled “Thuis” on their window. The word means home in Dutch. There was a clock in the form of a stack of books given by Annemieke. 

He put on a Dire Straits record while we ate this very Dutch sausage (I will find out how to spell the word soon!) in bread (which reminded me of pan de sal), curry sauce and cranberry juice. Spectacular lunch!

Then, we visited his brother-in-law and his kids in a nearby part of Houten. I rode the back of his bike (which is about 50 years old) and the pleasant trip to parks and lots of kids coming home from school lasted only five minutes. Peter, his brother-in-law is charming with big blue eyes who told me a bit about Paris. His niece, Sarah, is divinely cute and pretty and very smart and witty too. She can’t speak English but she was so cute and playful. Levi, who is two (a year younger than Sarah) is shy but also very smart. Eva, just four months old, is a pink ball of cherubic cuteness. I realized then how different Filipino babies are from the Dutch babies. Just seeing Nowee in my head, alongside Eva or Levi, makes me gape out how diverse humankind can be.

Best of all, today I met Gerwald’s mother, all his aunts, his two brother-in-laws and his niece and nephew. They are all wonderful people. Gerwald’s mother is so sweet-looking. He has an aunt called Pya and Ria. They were amused about me discovering the stop light was in the shape of Neinje, the rabbit cartoon popular in Holland.

Then, Gerwald and I went to Houten, where he lives with Annemieke. Their apartment is so awesome. It’s really colorful and clean but with just the right amount of yuppy “messiness.” It was full of cards and pictures and just random pretty or witty things that they posted on the walls and front door. They had a whole wall of books. The furniture was tasteful and playful.

Best of all, there was a lot of vintage furniture! Old radios, old suitcases, old bicycle and motorcycle helmets and even old documents (there was a 19th century newspaper and novel). Gerwald is into bikes and so there were miniature bike models and a bike frame painted a bright orange-y red on a table. He was making a new bike out of it. I loved the poem entitled “Thuis” on their window. The word means home in Dutch. There was a clock in the form of a stack of books given by Annemieke. 

He put on a Dire Straits record while we ate this very Dutch sausage (I will find out how to spell the word soon!) in bread (which reminded me of pan de sal), curry sauce and cranberry juice. Spectacular lunch!

Then, we visited his brother-in-law and his kids in a nearby part of Houten. I rode the back of his bike (which is about 50 years old) and the pleasant trip to parks and lots of kids coming home from school lasted only five minutes. Peter, his brother-in-law is charming with big blue eyes who told me a bit about Paris. His niece, Sarah, is divinely cute and pretty and very smart and witty too. She can’t speak English but she was so cute and playful. Levi, who is two (a year younger than Sarah) is shy but also very smart. Eva, just four months old, is a pink ball of cherubic cuteness. I realized then how different Filipino babies are from the Dutch babies. Just seeing Nowee in my head, alongside Eva or Levi, makes me gape out how diverse humankind can be.

Vanmorgen ontbeten wij bij kaarslicht. Want precies vijf jaar geleden besloten mijn lief en ik elkaar in het openbaar te lieven. En nog steeds lieven wij malkander. O, wat lieven wij elkaar.

Vanmorgen ontbeten wij bij kaarslicht. Want precies vijf jaar geleden besloten mijn lief en ik elkaar in het openbaar te lieven. En nog steeds lieven wij malkander. O, wat lieven wij elkaar.

In de afgelopen maand dat ik geen tijd of zin had om te bloggen, zijn er veel momenten geweest waarover ik kon bloggen. Geweldige bruiloften, prachtige vliegermomenten, schokkende ontdekkingen, drukke stressdagen, lekkere bak- of kookresultaten, zonnige relaxkwartiertjes, gezellige vriendenweekenden, zwangere friedien-mededelingen en nog veel meer.

Maar ik blogde niet. Jammer he?

Vanmorgen ontbeten wij bij kaarslicht. Want precies vijf jaar geleden besloten mijn lief en ik elkaar in het openbaar te lieven. En nog steeds lieven wij malkander. O, wat lieven wij elkaar.

In de afgelopen maand dat ik geen tijd of zin had om te bloggen, zijn er veel momenten geweest waarover ik kon bloggen. Geweldige bruiloften, prachtige vliegermomenten, schokkende ontdekkingen, drukke stressdagen, lekkere bak- of kookresultaten, zonnige relaxkwartiertjes, gezellige vriendenweekenden, zwangere friedien-mededelingen en nog veel meer.

Maar ik blogde niet. Jammer he?