Our Last Day :-(

Hi Everyone,

Well the adventure is at an end :( Tonight we are spending our last night in our favourite city Haarlem. There are few words that would attempt to encapsulate our experiences over the past five weeks, life changing is an understatement.

We have spent the last week enjoying the canals and architecture of Amsterdam. This week included a day trip on a boat putting our feet up and catching some sun, walking tours of the city, Heineken experience, canal bike trips and of course the evening before Queens Day (VERY BIG!!) and of course Queens Day itself. The city was full of people and we were appropriately dressed in orange.

Lastly we just wanted to thank all of the people from Rotary District 1580 who helped make our trip so amazing. Our farewell dinner was a perfect send off and we enjoyed leaving everyone with our final Haka.

As we now say Doi Doi!

Week in Alkmaar

Apologies to our dedicated followers who wait anxiously for an update from our end! :-P The city of Alkmaar kept us very busy over the past few days. Obviously heaps has happened such as the visit to the cheese market, bike ride on the dunes, a free weekend away (which we decided to spend in Alkmaar itself), two vocational days, architectural tour of Alkmaar, visit to the incinerator, dinner at the District Governor's house including a pre-conference formal dinner with past governors of district 1580.
We also experienced a glimpse of spotlight last week when the Noord Holland newspaper decided to interview us! So all up, it was a full on week with plenty of variety to keep us amused.

A few things we got up to:


Cheese testing at the Alkmaar Cheese Market. A very popular attraction with tourists. The Current Foreign Affairs Minister was present to officially mark the opening of the season and we were VIP's too!

More Cheese!

After the cheese market we went on a boat ride on the canals of Alkmaar. It wasn't an ordinary boat ride, there was plenty of physical activity such as lying on the floor to keep us from getting knocked out by the very low bridges! See below...

Duck!

Marijke (Co-ordinator) & Shanna preferred to sit on the floor..

We had an amazing day riding through the dunes and half way through the bike ride we stopped for a coffee break and what do we find..a Kiwi Owned restaurant! A mere coincidence.

Our 'tour guides' made sure we had a fun day on the bikes & we sure did! Drinks were the perfect way to end the day:)

Tour of the bulb fields..

Stunning tulip fields... (spot the familiar faces)

Architectural tour of Alkmaar

Our stay in Alkmaar ended at the District Conference on Saturday where we presented a short presentation and ended with the Haka; which as always was very well received:) We're now into our last week which is in Region 3. Its been great so far and can only get better in Amsterdam!

Will keep you posted...!

Doi:)

Tot Ziens Haarlem and surrounds, Dag Alkmaar!

WOW! What an amazing week we had with Lex and his team from region 6. They had a great programme for us and we were very sad to leave today :(

Our final full day in the area was yesterday of which we spent the morning exploring the old fortress on the Island at Ijmuidn. It was a wierd atmosphere as there was so much history and the thought that men really lived in concrete bunkers in those conditions was contrasted with the fact the facility is now used for corporate events and team building days with all the modern luxuries installed! We had lunch in an old bunker that slept 24 men! Hard to imagine when you see how small the room was.

After lunch we jumped back on a boat to the mainland to be taken to Corus, a massive steel manufacturing plant now owned by the Indian company Tata. We arrived and were shown a DVD about the plant and how the steel making process works. (At which stage Thijs had a bit of a kip ;)). After that we were fitted with a host of protective clothing; lab coat, steel capped boots, goggles, hair nets, hard hats and ear pieces. This meant another episode of Nageen swimming in oversized things, although she really did look the part!

All 11 of us were taken to a tour bus, yes a massive 50 or so seater just for us, to be driven around the site. The plant is huge with more roading in Kms than we could have walked in a day. During the tour we saw the melting process and looked into a liquid steel mixture. We had to walk over plates that could be lifted to access the liquid, this was a bit of a worry and so Shanna avoided them whenever she could, images of falling in were rife! We also got to see the flattening process where the steel slabs are squashed and stretched to specific sizes, then the quality section where they test for all sorts of components to make sure the steel is of the higest standard.

It is a massive operation and gave us an insight into another world of which 9000 people work. While most of the chemistry of it all was lost on the team (evident in my lack of clear explanation here!), Chris stepped up and was in his element as a Chemistry teacher asking all sorts of questions I could not even attempt to repeat!

That concluded the day and we all returned to our host families for our last night with them.

This morning we had breakfast in Limmen with our current Rotary coordinators and our new host families. Lex gave a great goodbye speech and warned our new hosts that we were trigger happy with the old photos! When in Rome we say!! It was a sad goodbye as Jan, Lex, Roel and Thijs amongst others all put so much into the week for us and we will miss them!

We spent the afternoon on vocational visits but will update you about them this weekend as well as adding images to this blog.

So a new week, new families and new adventures! Until then, we wil be enjoying the gorgeous old city of Alkmaar!

Doei Doei!

Sonya

View of Corus from the skyline of Ijmuiden

Flag atop the fortess that was once home to the Germans in WWII

Outside of the main bunker of the fortress

Old bunker where we had lunch...more exciting pics to come from our resident 'pap' Kepel

Haarlem, Tuesday 13th of April

As Chris said below we are having a fantastic time. It’s hard to believe that we are now half way into the trip. Time has passed so quickly. The program which the Haarlem team put together for us really has been awesome.

Last Saturday was a free day so we girls knew exactly how we would be spending it – shopping! Chris had fun getting a whipping on the golf course while Kepal watched his host daughter’s hockey game. That night some of the team got together to experience the Haarlem nightlife and from all reports it’s good times. The girls dominated the dance floor and Kepal was impressed that beers are only Euro 2.50 and how friendly the Dutch ladies are!
Monday was a vocational day which everyone seemed to enjoy. That evening we were at a golf club for a Rotary meeting where we gave our well groomed presentation with Sonya receiving the first applause over Chris yet again. I think the Haka successfully scared the other golfing patrons.

Today’s program has been focused around the sea. To begin with we had a tour of the Sea Museum and learnt all about the massive construction of the North Sea Canal. Following this we were lucky enough to have a fantastic ride on one of the sea rescue boats. Although the boat is not used these days for rescuing (its 40 years old with a top speed of 9 knots) it was good fun all the same. Kepal was thrown over board in a dry suit while Shanna successfully executed a daring move of jumping onto another rescue boat while in rough weather and at speed.
After a lovely lunch at a canal-side restaurant we had a tour on one of the canal tug boats. Passing though one of the big locks we also all had a turn of driving and testing out its maneuverability. Top day!

One day left to go which will be spent at Corus, the massive steel manufacturing plant. It will be sad to say goodbye to everyone but of course there’s lots of exciting things ahead of us.

Over in out
Philippa

Rescue boat

Kepals dry swim in the North Sea

Shanna jumping boats

Kiwi Crew in the north sea


Hercules the tug boat

'Typical Dutch' seaman maybe? He must've been freezing..

One of the big locks on the North Sea Canal

Nageen on the helm

Competitive kiwis playing the Dutch bowling game.

Have seen a few of these!! (lucky to go inside this one though)

Mr Windmill showing us around

Shanna reigning in team leader

Tulips!

Interested yet on the verge of suffering from hypothermia

The Black Book - filled with everyones 'woopsy daisies'

Busted!

Raw herring wasn't Sonya's best experience (if only there was an after shot!)

Den Haag (The Hague)

Tourists!

Mr Paparatzi

The Keukenhof flower park

Week Two

We have moved from area 4 to area 6 and are located in the towns of Bevewijk, IJmoudin, and Heemskerk. Highlights from the last few days are:
•Further Rotary presentation at the Haleemmermeer van 1852 club. We also have presented at the Sandpoort Rotary club. In all the clubs we have presented to we have had positive feedback about the presentation but also about New Zealand. Chris (without the team) also spoke on one of the vocational days at the Velsen Rotary club.
•The haka has been a ‘big hit’ and we have completed two other private showings of it to Rotarians and others who have missed it.
•We have had free time. Used it wisely to write the blog and to catch up on diaries. The Haleemmermeer rotary clubs were very hospitable and there were a few late nights sharing NZ experiences with them and also them trying to teach the team Dutch. Lots of laughs.
•Went to a concert of ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ in a glasshouse.
•Visited a hospice- a Rotary project .
•Viewed Rotterdam Harbour reclamation project. 120 hectares for just this one wharf.
•Viewed the Concert Hall in Amsterdam – outstanding acoustics and setting. One of three, which is the best in the world.
•Water Board of North Holland and saw extensively the processes for dykes, polders and water management. What they have learnt from their past and what they are planning for the future to do with global warming and a sea level rising was amazing. Keeping their feet dry and learning from other disasters the Dutch take things head on.
•Typical dutch meal as well as a gambling skittle game called ‘Kegelen’.
•Town of Edam and the Museum to show how the towns were organised for water control and quality.
•Visited an actual windmill pumping water and the history behind the windmills.
•Visited a black market bazaar – On a good weekend about 60,000 people visit this market place.
•Two vocational days were had. Once again both were very busy.

We are all having a fabulous experience and with three weeks to go it is going very fast.

Dinner out with Mace and Harry

The Fedship shipyard

Mace and Kepal in Mr Dick Von Lent's Fedship boardroom.

The ladies catching a 30 second ferry to De Kaag island

A cruise around the local lakes with beer, cheese, olives and a whole lot of laughs.

Queen Dora showed us a good time!

Aalsmeer flower actions.