Linda's Canadian Adventure

As a little girl Linda was crazy about dancing, she was always dancing. She took lessons, a toddler that could make real balletmoves. We loved it when she could show what she had learned at the end of the year, a little girl with a crepe paper skirt and a paper crown. One day a Marching Band was founded in our village, with marching-girls, and Linda wanted to be a marching-girl no matter what. You might ask why I’m in this nostalgic mood, well, I’ll tell you. Our theatre group is puting up a play about a marching band with marching-girls, our girls have to learn how to twirl and that’s how the memories are all coming back. I will never forget her first performance, such a little girl with a uniform dress, those little boots and a shako that was too big on her head. The thing was dangerously wobbling back and forth with every step she made, but she loved it. Quickly she became very skilful with the baton and she became a real twirler. She entered a lot of competitions and in a beautiful outfit she performed candid for the jury with a radiant smile. She won every jury over with her great appearance, even if she dropped the baton a couple of times, she kept smiling and the jury was hers. The biggest succes came when she formed a duet with her friend Brigitta, they were a lovely couple together and they became the Dutch champions. My, my, we sure motored around the country, we were gone for days going from one competition to the next, and the shelf filled up with trophies. Now the trophies are in a plastic bag in the shed, once in awhile a trophy roles out, first price in Rotterdam, second in Deventer, it’s glory of the past, but the fun we had.

As promised I will write about some Canadian habits that I found interesting. First the traffic, although Vancouver is a very busy big city the traffic is very relaxed. No fingers or yelling, no very polite. Linda and I were away for the day with Mike’s big volvo. On the way back we were in rush hour and Linda knows how stressed I can be in a car, but she remained calm. At one point we had to move three lanes over to the left, an obstacle I can’t overcome and I wanted to stick my head out of the window to convince the people on the road with my charm to let us through. Linda just smiled, put her turn signal on and glided from lane 4 to lane 1. I was lying at the bottom of the car, but everybody just lets you go through, the way it’s supposed to be. Another time, when we were away together again, I saw three rows of people standing on the side of the road, three very neat rows, each with a few metres in between. On my question what these people were doing there Linda replied: “they are just waiting for the bus”. Well, my jaw dropped and I got a fit of the giggles. Can you imagine here in Holland, we are standing in a row at the busstop, here it is pushing, fighting for a spot, elbowing and thronging. Yes, earlier, in elementary school on the school square, at the buzzer we would stand in line until the teacher came to pick us up, but at a bus stop, pfooffff no way. It just shows how different things can be in another country and I can tell you more, but that’s for next time.

My girls was in Holland for the past three weeks and it was fantastic. I could touch her, hug her and smell her, just like when she was a baby. I wasn’t sniffing her all day long but a mother understands what I mean, isn’t that true mothers??? Mike was here for 10 days as well and I’m glad he is feeling better. I can’t understand he didn’t get sick from all the eal sandwiches and bottles of Fanta. After that he would eat a bowl of vla, brrr, but he loved it. The weather was great, especially for Holland where we are supposed to get just rain, but no, sun, sun and more sun. It is very nice to see how Linda’s friends spend time together. She was running and flying around, I got tired just looking at it. But we also had our quiet moments and that was lovely. She still has her radiant smile and her deadly look, I’m glad. Now it is quiet in the house, my cats look at me as if they are saying: “where is she?”, well boys, she is gone, no more cuddling and scratching, you have to cope with me again!!! Saying goodbye came too soon, but fortunately Claire was at the airport too so we could support each other. We watched her go away until the last piece of her blue shirt was gone, bye Linnie, we are thinking of you and we miss you. BUT in September I am coming to see you and we are going to have a party together with Lia, Rinus, Margriet and Jan.

Tineke

Ten days in Canada, ten days with my sweeties, it was so much fun. It is very nice to see how the kids are doing in this far away country and they are doing great. When you come from Holland and you see the exciting live in Vancouver it makes you feel you’re living in a Dinky Toy country. It is so spacious and big and beautiful. Canadians have a few odd habbits, but I will get into that later, it really made me laugh. William’s first soccer game gave me a whole new perspective on the game, I can give our Marco v Basten (coach of the Dutch soccer team) a few pointers, but I will tell you later. I am very glad they are doing so well, even Linda has adapted pretty well and she hauls Mike’s big volvo through the mad world they call trafic like she has been living here for years. Yes, my two cheeseheads are doing well, but they have two sweet Canadians at their sides. Sheri is already used to the visitors that come by once in awhile, it is all new to Mike, but he thinks it is a lot of fun, I was the first, there’ll be more to come, so Mike I’ll talk to you later. Saying goodbye was hard for me, I walked away and saw the two standing there, a little lost between all those people. It will always be a difficult moment but I am proud of my two and my heart will always be with them in that far but beautiful Canada.

Tineke in action behind the computer

After being a star on stage on saturday -it was a big success- followed a sunday with a performance in the cantine of the Kudelstaart soccer club RK.DES. My cousin Anita is head of the bar and has gotten the rest of the family so far to help her out, and we do it with pleasure!!!

Annette, Truud, Tineke and Anita

My sister Truud and I run the kitchen together with Annette and Thomas. Truud and I are above the frying pans and fry snacks for the hungry soccerplayers.

Truud with fries

Fries with peanut sause and mayonaise, called ‘war’. Fries with mayonaise and ketchup, called ‘flip’, you name it. The other snacks: frikadells, croquets, hamburgers and meatballs are very popular.

Fortunately it wasn’t very busy so we had time to see Thomas score a beautiful goal, he was playing very good today. Now and then we could watch the national league play on a big screen, Ajax is our favorite team. The game ended in a tie so not a very big success. It was very nice to hang out with each other like this, we had the change to catch up on everything. The men got louder, the rounds of beer quicker, the jokes got worse. 5 pm is closing time and we can clean up.

Truud and Tineke

When everything is shining again we have a drink for the road and go back home -tired but satisfied- and we can put our feet up. In 6 weeks we go again, Jipppiae!

Well, what did I tell you, trust in BOB, he’s going to make it and yes, he has made it. One of my cousins had her birthday and they just bought a new broad screen television, and when I saw BOB I was a little dissapointed. He was a little fat guy, but that was caused by the tv, everything looks different. I think it is absolutely great for him, rightfully earned. No messing around, just acting normally, and skating like crazy. It was a little tense for awhile, but after the finish it was great. And he’s so strong, did you see that, he threw Ingrid his trainer in the air and she almost flew out of the stadium. Well Kudelstaart can raise the flag and the orange pennant, BOB is coming home. But I have to congratulate Canada with their skating girls, they did a terrific job. I saw an item on tv about Clare Hughes, she lives in a beautiful place there, in the middle of the splendid nature. A wonderful athlete. In four years in Vancouver, well I want to be there to cheer for our skaters, maybe I can be BOB’s personal assistent, you never know. Well it has been great, I enjoyed myself.

I have been looking forward to it, the games in Turin, I like to watch speed skating almost every weekend, when my eyes don’t fall asleep, well, that happens when you’re very comfortable on the couch. So I thought: Yeah, we are going do the best we can with the whole Dutch team, to win or not, participating is quite an honour isn’t it?? And yes, it is very special to us because one the men is living in Kudelstaart, who???? Bob, Bob de Jong. Yes, in our little town at the water. The other day I was at the grocery store and guess who I ran into, Bob, the one and only Bob. I had goosebumps all over and I followed Bob through the store, forgetting all about my groceries, I sneaked past the racks and looked at Bob in total extacy, across the dogfood and between the chocolate sprinkles and the peanut butter. I almost fell over a crate Heineken beer, but I didn’t loose sight of Bob. Just when I almost fell over a buggy my eyes fell upon my grocery list and I got back to my senses, Bob headed for the cassier and I trudged through the store. But another hero lives in my current town, De Kwakel. G. Romme (I can’t spell his first name). I see him train often with his wife, an old classmate of Linda, isn’t that nice? He is wearing an elastic around his waist and on the other side is his wife, Romme has to pull her to get going. Well, I would let him go, see how fast he can do the 500 meter, haha. But he didn’t get to go to the Olympics, what a pity, I had my banner all ready. My family is totally orange crazy, especially during soccer it is a madhouse, everybody is dressed in orange, otherwise you’re not allowed in. It is one big fun-chaos. But what I wanted to say, I am angry. At those silly skaters. They won a bronze medal, and oooooo what a dissapointment, it wasn’t gold, so what, bronze is great too, but no, they couldn’t laugh, even worse, they were crying. They behaved just like little kids that didn’t get what they wanted, yuck boys, that’s so lame. Sven Kramer skated on a little block, things happen, right!!!!! Erben Wennemars had a face like he just wet himself and Carl Verhyen looked like a tragic clown, boys boys. Bob would never behave like that, Bob from Kudelstaart, our Bob. Even if he doesn’t win anything, participating is the most important thing.

When the sun sets in flaming gold,
I want to cry out, take me with you,
I want to travel on your golden rays,
Don’t let me wander in the last sunlight,
I don’t want to be left behind in the dark of the night,
Because I know that where you rise in your beaming beauty,
In a distant country, where my heart longs to go,
Because you are living there so faraway,
When de first rays of sunlight stroke your sleeping faces,
And will wake you from your deep sleep,
I will lie awake and stare at the moon,
And I wonder how we will continue,
I am not lonely or scared, but missing you causes such pain,
And every time those thoughts, when will I see you again,
As a child you have beautiful dreams,
You think they will all come true,
O, sun take me with you, if only in my dreams,
And make one of my wishes come true.

It has been fourteen days since Linda has left for Canada with the necessary teers at the airport and an empty space in my stomach. Fortunately I didn’t have much time to be sad because son William was visiting Holland for a few days and that was very nice. But that ended too and he left for Canada leaving a trail of boxes and bags everywhere in the house reminding me of the battlefields the little Bakkers left. Daily life started again, working at the rose nursery, learning my part for the new spring play, having a good workout at the gym with my friend Jopie (taking it easy) and doing groceries with Ger, a very nice friend who is 82 years old. After doing the groceries we have a little egg nog with whipped cream and usually a bite to eat. The cats didn’t like it one bit. No more Linda’s lap, no more boxes with clothes to sleep in, none of this. So they find each other to have a nice nap.

This week I had a lingerie party at my cousin’s house. Another cousin has started her own company which means she organises a party at someone’s house and tries to sell her lingerie. There were racks filled with lingerie in the livingroom. While we were enjoying coffee and cheesecake Joany presented her different sets, lovely bras with matching g-strings. My sister and I looked at each other and were thinking the same thing: this is not for us. But the girls with beautiful sizes lept at the racks and disappeared in the bathroom to try them on. Once in awhile, one of them came out to show and ask advice from the audience. Later on in the evening, there was wine and snacks and the husband was called: he could come home, everything was nicely covered up again. In spite of all the tiny sets there was a nice set for me so everyone went home happy. Well, this shows, life goes on and fortunately I have a lot of contact with Linda and I hope she’ll be happy with Mike, and brother William, and sister-in-law Sheri.

Hello, my name is Tineke, mother of son William and daughter Linda, divorced and 58 years old. I was born in the Netherlands in a small village near Amsterdam with the peculiar name of Kudelstaart. It is located at a large lake, the Westeinderplas, a lovely spot in the Netherlands. I married my high school sweetheart and we were real Kudelstaarters with an extensive social life. I was fanatically involved in a theatre group and my hubby was playing soccer and was involved in the local carnival society. Both the children were typical village kids, the son was playing soccer and the daughter was twirling at the local music society. Furthermore, they were involved within the theatre group from a young age on. They grew up in a secure community and my expectations were that they would grow old near their hometown too. But things turned out very differently, they didn’t like the ways of the village and slowly they went to do their own thing. After high school it became clear to me, they loved the big city and especially Linda has lived in several big cities in Holland because she was studying and working there. Son William met a Canadian girl in Holland and after two years he left to this far and strange country to marry the love of his life. Linda graduated last year and began her career, but a vacation with her brother changed her life. She met a friend of her brother, chemistry happened and yes, she is going to Canada as well. If someone would have made up this story I wouldn’t have believed him, but it has happened and I hope my aliens will be happy in their new country. I would like to write little stories on the weblog of Mike and Linda now and then about the life in Holland because we can have a good time here too.

Tineke