Beatritsche, Haarzuilens, The Netherlands

Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Sep 21, 2008, 11:28 pm	Wow! This is so exciting! I'm on my first trip! I crawled out of the envelope and I was welcomed by this large group of TVs. They were all very nice for me and asked me about my other travels. I told them I didn't have any, and then they all starting reminiscing about their first journeys. Well, at least it sounds like they're having lots of fun being a TV. I'm sure I'll like it too! Today we accompanied our host to her work. She wasn't able to take any pictures there, so we just sat inside her bag and listened to the security people who were guarding the bag while our host was working. After just a few hours our host came back, fetched the bag from the security people and went outside. She then took us for a small walk through The Hague. Here I am in front of the Buitenhof. This is where the government convenes and where they take all the big decisions. Here I am in front of a statue of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. He was a Dutch stateman in the 16th century. This sofa was made of mosaic tiles for an art project in the city. It wasn't really comfortable, but it was pretty. This is the other side of the Buitenhof. The little tower in the middle of the picture is where the prime minister resides. Here's another Dutch statue called 'Kleine Jantje'. This is the skyline of The Hague. The building on the left is the railway station, the central station of The Hague. And to top it off: here's me with a Dutch lamppost.
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Oct 3, 2008, 11:07 pm	Today we received a box by mail from Germany! Our host has participated in the Random Acts Part 2 challenge. This is what she received: And look at these pretty flowers she also received today:
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Oct 13, 2008, 10:19 pm	Today our host brought us along to Leiden where her university is. And because the weather was really nice today, we got to see something of the city. Here I am in front of a statue of Rembrandt, a famous painter who was born in this city. There's lots of water everywhere here in the Netherlands: And of course, a Dutch windmill. More water, but also a very pretty sight. Here's another statue of the painter Rembrandt. And this is one of his paintings, mounted on the wall behind me. And finally, some more water and Dutch trees.
Blurchen Posted Oct 18, 2008, 10:53 am	So.. it´s time to leave my home and see a bit more from the world! =)
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Oct 23, 2008, 7:57 pm	Today Synapse, Hoppity and Resi and Chipper left us. We wished them all the best and hope to meet them again some day! We were sad to see them leaving, but then the doorbell rang and two new TVs arrived! Count and Ambrosius!
Charda charda1982@gmail.com Posted Oct 26, 2008, 5:45 pm	This morning we had a really nice breakfast with fresh croissants. We baked them off ourselves and it smelled delicious! Look at the picture of the windmills on the cheese package. That looks pretty Dutch, right
kiskis Posted Nov 6, 2008, 1:29 am	Hello Mom! I have arrived in Chiba. It was quite a journey. I will update the log later with photos. I must sleep now.... I know I shouldn't as I have a big jet lag and it is still morning....(-. - )zzZ
kiskis Posted Nov 7, 2008, 2:33 am	Hello Mom! How are you? I'm still jet lagged but I feel much better. Yesterday, kiskis took me to the airport that she works at. I slept while she was working and during the break, she took me to McDonald's. She ordered Gurakoro Burger, a seasonal menu, and shared it with me It is a croquette with gratin filling sandwitch. It sounds weird but it was good. Other than that, I didn't do much yesterday.... Well, today, it is raining here. kiskis was supposed to go to a hospital but she decided not to. She already has a sore throat and she doesn't dare to get a cold. So she introduced me to some of her cats. This is Boots. He was named after the Puss in Boots from Shrek. He is red haired and green eyed. kiskis told me that he needs to loose some weight for his health. He looks OK to me, though. This is Weasley and Sakura. They look a bit evil in this picture but they are pretty nice cats. Weasley was named after the famous Harry Potter charactors, the Weasleys. He was born while kiskis and her fiance were reading Harry Potter series. He is a gentle one. He told me some stories about kiskis and her partner and made me giggle. Sakura means cherry blossoms in Japanese. She gave me a little kiss! She is a sweetie!! And I met Mr.Lemony, the latest kiskis' TV. He seems nice. I told him how nice to be a TV and he was so excited about being one. He still doesn't have any plans yet but I'm sure he will enjoy wherever he goes! Well, I will write again, mom! See you soon
kiskis Posted Nov 11, 2008, 5:28 am	Hello Mom! I think I've adjusted to the time zone, finally Today, kiskis took us to the local drug store. She was looking for some letter pads to write to her penpals. There were so many cute stuff! kiskis told me that there are some shops that are filled with those cute stuff. I really want to visit some someday Have you ever heard of Pocky? It's apparently big here in Japan. It's a pretzels covered with chocolates. There are some like that other than Pocky, like the ones you can see like Toppo (It's actually a pretzel fille with chocolates.) and Fran. They are delicious!! Mr.Lemony recommended me to try Jagariko. It is a potato-chips-like sticks. I tried and it was so good!! The wall of cup nooles! kiskis' fiance who is American told me that those are way better than the ones in his own country. It's getting cold which means that Christmas is comming!! Well, Christmas is not the biggest holiday in Japan and most of Japanese people are Buddhist but they still celebrate Christmas. By the way, have you ever heard of Anpan Man? It's the charactor on the boots you can see on the photo. He's really big here. Most of the kids are admiring him. Those drinks are called Chammerry. It is non alcohol champagne like drink for kids. They drink it on Christmas After the drugstore, kiskis took us to the local grocery store. They sell vegetables and such that were made in the area. These are Japanese cabbages. kiskis is going to cook some stew with those tonight. It might be interesting.... Those are taros. They are great when they were boiled with broth, kiskis says. Those are Mochi, rice cakes. Japanese people cook it a lot in winter. They also sell stuff local people made. Some fabrics were dyed with some traditional ways. Chiba is famous for its peanuts. Everything looks so delicious!! Oh, by the way, kiskis is going take me to Tokyo sometime this month. She's going to visit her friends and her family. This is so exciting!!
kiskis Posted Nov 17, 2008, 10:50 am	Sorry for the lack of updates, Mom. Yesterday, kiskis took us to the shopping mall. You can't see from this picture how big this mall was but it was big! There was a game center. There were so many "UFO catcher"s and they were filled with toys like us As the mall was so crowded, we decided to visit just a shop. kiskis picked up her favorite shop. It is originally a book store. But they sell music, too. They also sell sweets and snacks. You can see cookies in beer flavor an ramen (Chinese noodle) flavor. You can also see cans of beer flavored candy. I wonder how they taste:P There were some toy like stuff. They are actually stuffs for cleaning. It might be fun to clean when the tools are cute kiskis treated us some doughnuts from Mr.Donut, a Japanese doughnut chain. Yummy I will try to write again soon, Mom!!
kiskis Posted Nov 24, 2008, 3:53 am	Hello Mom! Everything is getting Christmasy here in Japan. This is the Christmas tree in Mos Burger, a humberger chain in Japan. Can you see those ornaments that are supposed to be chicken wings? Mos Burger was really nice, by the way. I loved the onion rings there kiskis' partner loves video games so we went to some game shop and found this big Gundam! This is a train to Tokyo. YES! I finally went to Tokyo kiskis went there to meet her parents. This place was so crowded. Shinjuku This is where we stayed. It was a really nice place It was surrounded by those weird bars and clubs, though:P The night view from the room. The day view from the room. Shinjuku is really a busy place! kiskis loves it there. Akihabara After Shinjuku, we went to Akihabara, which kiskis calls the nerdy city. They met up with a friend of theirs. And they went game hunting When people hear "Akihabara", they think of the word "otaku" which means a "nerd", kiskis told me. I could see that being there:P But it was fun watching people there Well, they didn't have much time to exploring Tokyo more but I had fun there. Hope I can go there and see more of itXD
kiskis Posted Nov 30, 2008, 10:19 am	Hi Mom! The weather has been pretty here in Japan Today, kiskis and her partner took me for a walk. The pictures might look a bit too dark because it was getting dark outside. Those Japanese maple leaves are pretty. It is hard to see in this picture but there were some cherry blossoms on the tree even though it is not the season yet. We came across a big earthworm! It was almost 30cm. There are so many rice fields. They had been cropped, though. They look really nice in early autum, kiskis says. The color of autumn is beautiful. The Bamboos. The town is pretty close to the airport. The plane flew right above us. The walking around the town was so pleasant By the way, kiskis and her partner got married last week! They have been a bit busy for a while for their paperworks and such. That's why I couldn't post as much as I want to. They will be busy for a while ahead to plan their wedding but I will try to post as much as I can! See you mom!
kiskis Posted Dec 2, 2008, 12:06 am	Hello Mom. We went to a shopping center nearby the house. There was this Christmas decoration I want to show you Isn't it beautiful? Hope you enjoyed the pictures
kiskis Posted Dec 11, 2008, 2:07 am	Hi Mom. Last week, kiskis took me to a trip to Hakone, Kanagawa. We couldn't take much pictures because of low battery But we had so much fun there! The train with so many steps. The train goes up and down the and the road was sloping a bit too much for people to stand. But with those steps, people can stand on it. Hakone is famous for its hot springs. Of course, we couldn't take pictures there as people get naked. It is sooooo good to have a hot spring in the cold weather. I really enjoyed it. Hakone has some pretty mountains. It must be really nice in autumn, I guess. As it is getting colder here, most of the leaves had fallen.... We could see a bit of Mt.Fuji from the train home. Can you see the top with snow? It is Mt.Fuji. It was beautiful!!! The airport kiskis works at has some Christmas decorations I will take some more pictures of Christmas tree next time. See you!
kiskis Posted Jan 2, 2009, 9:51 am	Hi Mom. How are you? I'm good. It's been cold here. It's a bit too late but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! How did you spend your Christmas? Those are Christmas decoration at the airport kiskis works at. This isn't a good picture but this is the tree kiskis and her partner decorated. (I'm pictured with Spots Leopard here, btw.) Those are presents kiskis' partner got. He loves video games Those are what kiskis has got. She's so happy with the electronic English-Japanese-Russian dictionary. We had some chickens for dinner and had a champaing but I forgot to take pictures I was a bit too drunk Well, I'm going to post about New Year's Day and stuff next time. Miss you, mom.
kiskis Posted Jan 7, 2009, 5:45 am	Hi Mom! How are you? Hope you are doing good. I forgot to tell you that I've learnt how to say "Happy New Year" in Japanese. It's あけましておめでとうございます(Akemashite Omedetougozaimasu). In Japan, people have 年越しそば(toshikoshi soba, soba is buckwheat noodles) on New Year's Eve. If you can't finish the noodles before New Year's Day, you are going to loose the luck with money in the comming year. As kiskis doesn't like soba and is kinda allergic to it, she had うどん(udon, thick white noodles) instead. It was tasty We also had a glass of mango sparkling wine. It was good!!! On New Year's Day, we went for 初詣(hatsumoude, the first visit to the shrine or temple of the year) to 成田山新勝寺(Narita-san Shinsho-ji), the temple nearby. It was so crowded. It's one of the 3 best shrines/temples that gathers the most people on New Year's Day. We were waiting to get into the gate. The number of people to go into the temple was limited by the police. We waited for like 30 minutes to get into the real temple. The beautiful building in the temple. There were so many stalls on the street. This shop was selling the New Year's decorations. Aren't those impressive? Well, hope you had a great New Year's Day. I'm going to have some 餅(mochi, rice cake) later See you!
kiskis Posted Jan 26, 2009, 3:31 am	Hi Mom. Sorry it's been a while. I was to visit the new host a bit ago but kiskis had some internet problems and couldn't have the address. So I'm going to leave here tonight. I had a good time here and am looking forward to visiting new place! See you soon, mom!
inkie1010 Posted Feb 1, 2009, 6:32 pm	Hello mum! I arrived in Eindhoven yesterday! It was a long trip from Japan, so I went to bed immediately after being welcomed by Mortimer. Today we went to "Genneper Parken" in the south of Eindhoven. There is a lot to do there, a huge swimming pool, called "Tongelreep", a ice skating stadium, a Open air museum of history, a lot of nice walking trails and a cheesefarm! So we went to the cheesefarm this afternoon and here are the pics! Me & Mortimer in front of the farm (it was very cold today brrrr) And me alone in front of the farm, we also bought some eggs (see the chickens) Say CHEESE!! Yummy yummy yummy! The 'producers' of the cheese That's it for today! I hope to go on an adventure soon again! Bye Bye for now! hugs Beatrische
inkie1010 Posted Feb 3, 2009, 8:10 pm	Hello mum! Today me and Mortimer helped our host to cook a (not so fancy) dinner Here are the ingredients, potatoes from the farm we visited on sunday, vegetables and German steaks Boiling the potatoes! And while waiting for the potatoes to boil, we read a local newspaper Hugs Beatritsche
inkie1010 Posted Apr 13, 2009, 6:22 pm	Hello here I am again! We went to Amsterdam this weekend! Here are the pictures: Me, Mortimer and MousyMouse in front of the Royal Palace, you see the church in the background. There was a funfair on the Dam! On the stairs of the Royal Palace. The entrance of the busiest street in Amsterdam, Kalverstraat. Aaah sleeping in the tram That was it for now! Hugs Beatritsche
inkie1010 Posted Apr 26, 2009, 2:24 pm	Hello!! Yesterday we visited the Elf Fantasy Fair in Haarzuilens, near Utrecht. There was anything which has to do with fantasy and science fiction, middle ages, etc. Many people were dressed. The festival had a great atmosphere and it was at "Kasteel de Haar" a beautiful castle. Here are the pictures: That was it for now! Hugs Beatritsche

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