Midget Golf and Black Pete

It's difficult to fully understand if the sentiment behind 'midget golf, maybe it somehow lost in translation? Using 'Google Translate', I typed in 'midget' and the Dutch interpretation is....'midget'. So, midget golf is for those who are height challenged? I'm not sure as no one was playing on the pitch when we visited. Aaron below has obstructed the letter 'T', but nonetheless, I think you can clearly see the sign.

The Dutch language still uses the term, 'gehandicapten', where in UK it is not sociably acceptable to describe those physically less able. 

And as for Black Pete, or 'Zwarte Piet', that's a whole different story. I've been reading about it as my brain just can't fathom how a whole country can enjoy dressing up as Zwarte Piet in this day and age. Pete is apparently Sintaklaas's helper, who goes down the chimney to deliver presents. That is why he is black as he is covered in soot. Except, he's not covered in soot. Only his face is blacked-up. The guys who dress up as 'black Pete' also make their lips big and red, put an afro wig on and wear gold hoop earings. And their clothes are very clean, with no soot on. But it's all jolly and fun. Apparently.  I would feel very uncomfortable if I was Afro Caribbean and was surrounded by these Black Pete's.  The tradition only started in 1930's, so it's not really very old and interestingly materialised at the same time as fascism. 

Unlike the UK, where it is no longer acceptable to call people 'black', we refer to Afro-Carribeans. Here, people are definitely 'black'. The sales guy in the bike shop described someone's skin as being 'darker than this black pen here, really black' and seemed to be quite excited/gleeful about the concept. A conversation with a Dutch mum took a slightly interesting turn when she described her concern over schools just for blacks. I can't wonder whether the whole black Pete story has led to many Dutch people being, dare I say it, racist.

I am yet to witness any black Pete's as there is a date in early December dedicated to Sintaklaas and his Piet's, My husband's office have kindly invited me and the children along to the Sintaklaas and Zwarte Piet party. I promise I will post the photos. In the meantime, the shops are full of little chocolate Sintaklaas and Pieten. Even Playmobile make a special model to celebrate the event. http://www.fonq.nl/product/playmobil-sinterklaas-en-zwarte-piet-4893/41602/?gclid=CMyLg4u8xLoCFcJb3godr3EA2A

In the run up to Sinter Klaas, I'll keep this blog updated with our experiences as they happen.

10 November

Here's a picture my daughter picked up in the supermarket to colour in.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3529346/2013/10/18/Sinterklaasorganisaties-bereid-uiterlijk-Zwarte-Piet-aan-te-passen.dhtml

17 November

So today is the day Sinter Klaas arrives in Amsterdam with his Pete's. We went to see the parade today. It didn't seem sinister, the Pete's were very jolly, giving out sweets, playing music, dancing and walking on stilts. The only part which I felt uncomfortable with was the costume. As my 7 year old daughter observed, 'there are a lot of people from Africa here today'. She already sees people with a different skin colour as not belonging, being from a different country, they couldn't be Dutch people to her because of their skin (which was blackened with face paints).

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We are now in the thick of the SinterKlaas and Black Pete celebrations. The customs vary, but many parents choose to select days on which children can leave their shoes out over night, near the fireplace (or radiator, if there is no fireplace) and Piet leaves presents in the shoes to be found in the morning. It's a lovely tradition and I haven't noticed any malice or negative associations with Black Pete. He is a jolly, generous, joking kinda guy. 

I consoled myself with this, maybe it's not so bad after all, as Black Piet is very much loved by the children and they enjoy his e antics too. But the reality is this. When I took my children to school yesterday, there are dozens of these little golliwog type charactors hanging from the ceiling. In the classroom, there are dozens of books with illustrations of these little Black Pete charactors, which all look the same and are caricatures of an Afro Caribbean person, with the big red lips and gold hoop earrings. 

I was really shocked to look up at the blackboard and see two, pictures that had been completed by the children (aged 4 - 6 years) of Black Pete. I will try and capture a photo, but I find it disturbing how much emphasis is placed on creating a black caricature like this in an educational environment. I actually felt really claustrophobic and sick to see this pictures staring down at me. Like they were a symbol of everything racist I have grown up fighting against. My inner moral compass urged me to tear them down. But, the pictures had been completed by two of the children in the class. I'm looking forward to taking my kids out of that environment, when the start a different school in a few weeks.

Spot the Piet's on the blackboard of my son's classroom. They were drawn by some of the children in his class.

In retrospect, I can now understand how the Piet character is very jolly and a generous chap, much loved by the children and parents alike. It is therefore difficult to dislike the charactor. The charactor is not the problem though. It's the blacked up faces, the painted red lips and the gold hoop earings and what they symbolise. I can understand how the familiarity of Piet blinds people to how he may be offensive. However, in the UK, we lost golliwogs and the little guy on Robinsons jams. No one really missed it, we moved on. We also no longer talk about 'handicapped' people, but people with disadvantages. 

Wheels

Choosing Wheels

We had a car when we arrived in Amsterdam. A lovely big right-hand drive seven-seater Renault Scenic. It is great, except everyone cycles in Amsterdam and cycling is much more fun. 

So we looked into all sorts of options. Short bakfiets (tricycles), long bakfiets, cycles where you have one child seat in the front or one at the back. We settled on a long bakfiets. 

Last Saturday, we visited a local bike shop to try out the long Bakfiets. I was very wobbly at first and couldn't stop looking at the little front wheel. How would it work? When you turn the handle bars, the wheel looks like it doesn't turn very much. It's a big heavy bike too, especially when you've got two children in it. So I cycled round the block and it was surprisingly fine. I can't remember the last time I rode a bike and then there's the added worry of carrying little ones in a box on the bike. I went out on a 'normal bike' a few days ago and managed to fall off! 

Safety

What would happen to the children if I fell off this bike?

http://bakfiets.nl/nl/zie-in-actie/video/1/

I've extensively web researched safety and security of the bakfiets. Apparently many of the bakfiets are stolen each year. We have a very heavy lock to use when we aren't using the bakfiets.  The bakfiets is positioned very low to the ground, so if the bike does fall over, the children don't have far to go and are also protected by seat belts and a wooden box. 

Learning

We did a practice trip to the children's school today. All was fine until we hit A CORNER and A HILL. AT THE SAME TIME. I sadly had to dismount and push the bike along. Hopefully as time goes on I will get more confidence with hills and corners. 

We have three children. The oldest has just learnt to cycle, but apparently (according to a Dutch man) children need to hitch a ride until they are 10 years old. 

A New Friend

I'm writing this three weeks after we bought our Bakfiets. I had a love/hate relationship with it. I really liked it as it gave me freedom with the children for the first time ever. Freedom to do some excercise. Louis clearly enjoyed siting in it as he can see much more than he can from the car. I had begun to hate it as it is so heavy with both boys sitting in it. A couple of times, as I stopped it tipped over. It fell in a slow motion way and neither of the boys were hurt. While I used my body to prevent the Bakfiets from falling and was covered in big bruises.  The first time we were due to use the Bakfiets to do a school run, there was a massive storm with 120 mile an hour winds. We did try and brave it and ride the Bakfiets to school, but soon turned round. Ava is very keen to cycle and rides quite slowly. It is very difficult to ride the Bakfiets slowly as it becomes more wobbly. 

There are stoppers underneath the Bakfiets. You have to heave the bike backwards to engage the stoppers and forwards to set them free. This requires a lot of strength, especially with both boys in the bakfiets, but it is becoming easier now.

In the last few days, it's suddenly not quite so scary. We've now had the bakfiets for about four weeks. I am very conscious of cars, other cyclists and motorbikes, which are allowed to use the cycle lanes. I'm also becoming less wobbly. I can just about let go of one of the handle bars if I have an itch or need to signal right or left. I'm really starting to enjoy it and love my new school run. Here's a picture of what our school run is like now, quite different from my old 3 mile school run of sitting in traffic.

Five on Bikes

We've also enjoyed some family cycle rides, which is a brilliant new family activity. I love the fact that we can do exercise and go exploring together. Ava, my 7 year old is amazing, yesterday she cycled over 10K. Here's a picture us on our long cycle ride to the goat farm in the Amsterdam Bos (forest).

Pimped

We had fun sticking some daffodil stickers. The skateboard sticker I bought online arrived disappointingly small. 

Bins

Out of everything which has caused confusion since I moved from London to Amsterdam, it's THE BINS!

So in London, we had four bins. One for general waste, one for garden and food waste and one for cardboard, tins and plastic and the last bin for paper, glass and tins. 

All the bins lived on our drive and were collected weekly. It was something I took for granted. 

The Blue Bin

Imagine my surprise when we only had one blue bin outside our house when we arrived here in Amsterdam. The blue bin said 'paper' on it. It is stuffed full of paper and we have been here for 9 days and it has not been emptied. There are no other bins. I have since found out that this bin is emptied once a fortnight. So the first Thursday, I diligintly placed my bin on the edge of our property, so not to obstruct the pavement. It was not emptied. I noticied my neighbours bin, which was in the middle of the pavement had been emptied. The next time it was blue bin day, I left the bin in the middle of the pavement and it was emptied. So at least now I know what to do...

Bins in the Ground

At the END of the street there is a bin set in the ground where you can take your general waste. Yes, you take your general waste. This is kind of tricky. I've tried to hold the big sack of rubbish and my toddlers hand, but I need two hands to hold the rubbish. I can't leave my toddler in the house by himself while I take the rubbish to the end of the street. I can't put him in the buggy and take the rubbish as the rubbish is too heavy and I can't push the buggy with one hand. We now make it into a game (which takes about half an hour) and involves much hand washing afterwards.

As for recycling...I spotted some differently coloured bins at the end of a street a few blocks away. I went and checked them out and as the signs were in Dutch, I had no idea what they were for. I have no internet access unless it is WiFi, so I couldn't translate the signs on the spot. I took photos of the bins (what has my life come to), went home and used Google Translate to figure out what the bins were for.  It transpires that there is a provision for glass and paper. But that's it, no cardboard, no plastic, no tins, no cans. Bulky cardboard is collected one night a week. I thought the Dutch were into recycling. I looked up the local waste service on the internet and the advice is to take any other recycling to the nearest tip. 

Until today, I had no idea how the bins were emptied as they appear like postboxes, sticking out of the ground. Check this out...This bin we saw being emptied on a very busy high street in Haarlem, on a Saturday afternoon. A very strong magnet lifts the bin out of the ground before it the contents are released into a truck.

Where?

We looked at living in Leiden. We visited it and it seemed very pretty, with lots of canals. I asked around and was told it was 'too Dutch'. Many people didn't like it and said that if you weren't a biochemist or at the university you would find it tough. 

We looked at Haarlem and liked it a lot. To live near the sea and by a city seemed ideal.

But, we are Jewish and need to be near kosher food selling places. 

In the end, we ended up in Buitenveldert-Oost. A great area, full of playgrounds and parks. The children's school is in Randwijk, which is a prettier area. 

Our house.

 Our street.

And we're only a 20 minute tram ride from this...

AmsterdaminMotion

How?

How?

There were many factors to consider. Schools for the children, where would we live, what would we do with our life in London...

We struggled to find a school which would take both our 7 year old and our 5 year old. Some schools wanted to send our 7 year old to an immigration school for a year, where she would learn nothing else but Dutch. The international schools had no places available and long waiting lists. 

Four days before we were due to leave, we found a school which had places for both children and wouldn't send our oldest off to immigration school.

For some reason, it seemed difficult to rent out our house in London. We had three estate agents on the case, but hardly anyone came to view. Also a few days before we were due to leave, we hired a new estate agent and they found a tenant that same day. 

So it all came together in the week before we were due to leave. 

We decided to take the car and travel by overnight ferry, which was a lot of fun. Here are the children on their bunk bed in our cabin.

Why?

Moving from London to Amsterdam

Why?

Ash, my husband, was offered an amazing job opportunity in July 2013. As a family, we had a choice. I could remain in London with our three children and Ash could return from Amsterdam at weekends, or we could all move to Amsterdam. Ash was offered some relocation funds which would help with our move. 

So we made a tough decision to move. A tough decision for me as I'd invested a lot of time and effort in my fledgling business, Teeny Tiny yoga (www.teenytinyyoga.com). I loved my business, it was running yoga classes for mums and babies and toddlers and I was about to teach children too. My reputation had grown and I was offered new contracts in some big community centres. 

However, I was also just about to reach 40, my oldest child had just turned 7 and this could be the last chance as a family to do something 'different'. The trajectory we were on, living in North London, was a happy and comfortable one, but living in Amsterdam offered new adventures. 

So we would leave behind our lovely house and garden in north London and find a new home in Amsterdam in October 2013.