Leaving our beloved new families in Nijeveen was always going to be an emotional experience. After enjoying sleeping in for the first time in a few days, we congregated for the final time at De Eendracht where our families provided brunch. We ate together, hearts somewhat heavy at the impending parting, though making the most of each other’s company while we still could. After photographs together in the hall, now largely tidy from the streamers, confetti and other substances that were dispensed on the floor during the celebrations of Saturday evening, we boarded the DOS ’46 Toyota convoy for the last time and made the short journey to Meppel station, making our final farewells on the platform, with hugs, kisses, handshakes and promises that this was not really goodbye.
At the end of our train journey to Halfweg-Swaneburg, we had to head out from the station to find the accommodation we had booked weeks ago from back in New Zealand. Although it was a longer walk than we had expected, with all our cases and other luggage, the sun was shining and it appears spring may finally be making an appearance in The Netherlands.
Droompark, which is where we are staying, is a large holiday park on the edge of a nature reserve. We are staying in small but tidy units and using this as a base to explore the area, and Amsterdam, which is just a few kilometres away. Schipol Airport, one of the busiest in Europe, is also nearby and in the late afternoon we watched the jet streams criss-crossing the sky, with the setting sun shining on them, making amazing patterns.
After stocking up on provisions at a local supermarket, Vikki and Leigh prepared dinner and we had a chilled out evening.
Mark, Rob and Bevan made an early start to Tuesday, leaving the Droompark before everyone else was awake, to walk to the station to catch the train into Amsterdam where we stood on the cold cobbled streets in a queue for the Anne Frank house. Although booking online enables you to avoid the queue, the museum isn’t taking online bookings now until late May, so we waited for almost two and a half hours. Compared to what the inhabitants of the house had to deal with 70 years ago, any discomfort we felt about that was less than nothing, and everybody else in the queue seemed to have the same attitude to the experience. Inside the exhibits are simply presented and sombre and the museum visitors walk past quietly to take in the story of Anne Frank, her family, the four people who helped them survive in the secret annexe, what writing her feelings about their difficult secluded life meant to Anne, the family’s betrayal to the Nazis, their deaths in concentration camps, and Anne’s father Otto’s mission after the war to make sure her story was heard and understood. Going through the house is an emotional experience and one that helps provide insight into what effect oppression and war have on innocent individuals. We will encourage the other members of the squad to visit the house in the next few days.
Meanwhile they met us at Amsterdam Central Station at around 1pm. From there we went to Albert Cuyp market, one of the largest in Amsterdam, where the street is lined with stalls selling fresh and cooked food, and various goods ranging from souvenirs to leather products to luggage to jewellery to clothing. We enjoyed the afternoon as typical tourists, exploring all the stalls, tasting some of the traditional Dutch foods, and spending money on various products.
Next our mission took us on a tram to Blauw-wit, the largest korfball club in Amsterdam, which was founded in 1916. Casper Boom met us off the tram. Casper is a long time player for DOS ’46, and a national squad member for a number of years, including when the Dutch team won the World Championship in 2007. Casper now works to promote and develop korfball in schools in Amsterdam, helping Blauw-wit and a number of other clubs to recruit young people from different ethnic communities in the city, turning them into korfball players. First Casper took us to a Turkish takeaway restaurant, then we went to the sports hall, where the Blauw-wit A2 team was waiting to play. We enjoyed a game against them, which we eventually won 10-8. Our loyal friends Milanne, Coen and Nico were there to support us, and Inge, or Belgian friend, had come all the way from Antwerp to see us play one more time. Although the game was less intense than we played over the weekend, it was fun to play more different people, giving some of the players who didn’t make much court time over the weekend more of a game this evening. Liam was one who played the whole game, doing some excellent work in the rebound and scoring a well-deserved goal.
Because of what was happening next in the hall, we were lucky to play on a special floor, made for high profile korfball covered on TV, with no other court markings for other sports.
After our game we changed and waited for the third play off between the Blauw-wit first team and TOP, from Sassenheim, the defending champion from 2014. These two won one each of their first two games in the series to see which will make the big final in Ahoy, in Rotterdam, on Saturday, so there was very little between them. Although the crowd was not as large or noisy as in Nijeveen last Saturday evening, the atmosphere and the game were intense. Great skills were evident on court from some amazing players and the game started at an incredible pace. Most of the first half the game was even, with defensive pressure and tension making the shot conversion rate relatively low. TOP in particular were able to negate the effectiveness of Gerald van Dijk, who scored 11 against them on Saturday. A penalty miss by Blauw-wit, who play of course in blue and white, changed the momentum and at half time TOP was up by 10-7. That pressure grew in the second half and the home team was unable to raise its game enough, much to the delight of the noisy visiting supporters, who urged their team into the final once again with a 27-18 victory.
As we left the sports hall, along with around 1000 other people, a scuffle broke out between a couple of rival supporters. Although it was nothing serious, Bevan and Vikki were isolated from the rest of the group and we had to spend a few minutes finding them before meeting up all together again at our bus stop. When you are used to Christchurch, being on a large articulated bus at 10.30pm on a weeknight, when that bus is full and passengers are standing, shows the difference between our own city and the one we are in at the moment.
Tot morgen,
Rob
At the end of our train journey to Halfweg-Swaneburg, we had to head out from the station to find the accommodation we had booked weeks ago from back in New Zealand. Although it was a longer walk than we had expected, with all our cases and other luggage, the sun was shining and it appears spring may finally be making an appearance in The Netherlands.
Droompark, which is where we are staying, is a large holiday park on the edge of a nature reserve. We are staying in small but tidy units and using this as a base to explore the area, and Amsterdam, which is just a few kilometres away. Schipol Airport, one of the busiest in Europe, is also nearby and in the late afternoon we watched the jet streams criss-crossing the sky, with the setting sun shining on them, making amazing patterns.
After stocking up on provisions at a local supermarket, Vikki and Leigh prepared dinner and we had a chilled out evening.
Mark, Rob and Bevan made an early start to Tuesday, leaving the Droompark before everyone else was awake, to walk to the station to catch the train into Amsterdam where we stood on the cold cobbled streets in a queue for the Anne Frank house. Although booking online enables you to avoid the queue, the museum isn’t taking online bookings now until late May, so we waited for almost two and a half hours. Compared to what the inhabitants of the house had to deal with 70 years ago, any discomfort we felt about that was less than nothing, and everybody else in the queue seemed to have the same attitude to the experience. Inside the exhibits are simply presented and sombre and the museum visitors walk past quietly to take in the story of Anne Frank, her family, the four people who helped them survive in the secret annexe, what writing her feelings about their difficult secluded life meant to Anne, the family’s betrayal to the Nazis, their deaths in concentration camps, and Anne’s father Otto’s mission after the war to make sure her story was heard and understood. Going through the house is an emotional experience and one that helps provide insight into what effect oppression and war have on innocent individuals. We will encourage the other members of the squad to visit the house in the next few days.
Meanwhile they met us at Amsterdam Central Station at around 1pm. From there we went to Albert Cuyp market, one of the largest in Amsterdam, where the street is lined with stalls selling fresh and cooked food, and various goods ranging from souvenirs to leather products to luggage to jewellery to clothing. We enjoyed the afternoon as typical tourists, exploring all the stalls, tasting some of the traditional Dutch foods, and spending money on various products.
Next our mission took us on a tram to Blauw-wit, the largest korfball club in Amsterdam, which was founded in 1916. Casper Boom met us off the tram. Casper is a long time player for DOS ’46, and a national squad member for a number of years, including when the Dutch team won the World Championship in 2007. Casper now works to promote and develop korfball in schools in Amsterdam, helping Blauw-wit and a number of other clubs to recruit young people from different ethnic communities in the city, turning them into korfball players. First Casper took us to a Turkish takeaway restaurant, then we went to the sports hall, where the Blauw-wit A2 team was waiting to play. We enjoyed a game against them, which we eventually won 10-8. Our loyal friends Milanne, Coen and Nico were there to support us, and Inge, or Belgian friend, had come all the way from Antwerp to see us play one more time. Although the game was less intense than we played over the weekend, it was fun to play more different people, giving some of the players who didn’t make much court time over the weekend more of a game this evening. Liam was one who played the whole game, doing some excellent work in the rebound and scoring a well-deserved goal.
Because of what was happening next in the hall, we were lucky to play on a special floor, made for high profile korfball covered on TV, with no other court markings for other sports.
After our game we changed and waited for the third play off between the Blauw-wit first team and TOP, from Sassenheim, the defending champion from 2014. These two won one each of their first two games in the series to see which will make the big final in Ahoy, in Rotterdam, on Saturday, so there was very little between them. Although the crowd was not as large or noisy as in Nijeveen last Saturday evening, the atmosphere and the game were intense. Great skills were evident on court from some amazing players and the game started at an incredible pace. Most of the first half the game was even, with defensive pressure and tension making the shot conversion rate relatively low. TOP in particular were able to negate the effectiveness of Gerald van Dijk, who scored 11 against them on Saturday. A penalty miss by Blauw-wit, who play of course in blue and white, changed the momentum and at half time TOP was up by 10-7. That pressure grew in the second half and the home team was unable to raise its game enough, much to the delight of the noisy visiting supporters, who urged their team into the final once again with a 27-18 victory.
As we left the sports hall, along with around 1000 other people, a scuffle broke out between a couple of rival supporters. Although it was nothing serious, Bevan and Vikki were isolated from the rest of the group and we had to spend a few minutes finding them before meeting up all together again at our bus stop. When you are used to Christchurch, being on a large articulated bus at 10.30pm on a weeknight, when that bus is full and passengers are standing, shows the difference between our own city and the one we are in at the moment.
Tot morgen,
Rob