The Arrival of Winter and the Shaping of Community
Today a guest post by our co-worker Helen. She gives an impression of our work in the village. I gladly share: Winter arrived quite suddenly here in Croatia, with an immediate drop in temperatures and a permanent cold mistiness to the air. We’ve been enjoying a long, warm Autumn, but in the turnover of…
Pepper seeds in the pocket of a refugee
“Hey!” I exclaimed when I saw peppers in full bloom in the garden in the middle of Germany in the summer. “Usually, you see peppers more to the south than here.” “That’s right,” answered the mother of the house. “But, we also actually come from a bit more to the south.” And so, this story…
The War I Did Not Know About
“Yes!” shouted Femke. She had just discovered that 83% of the Dutch children who watch this program on the national television (jeugdjournaal) voted that they did not learn enough about the First World War. This Great War, which ended 100 years ago this week, passed our tiny country and we were not involved. But, it…
I love you, Grandma!
Laurens had been homesick. The change to his new school was a big one. And, for a few weeks, he cried every night that he wanted to see grandma and grandpa and play in the garden. Now, thanks to my parents—I told them this, and they said, “It is time for a good hug!” So,…
The world around my table
Finally: The blog title Here he goes! But What Do We Call This? was a question I asked a few weeks ago when we finished our blog course. It took me a while to find a good title for this blog. It went from: Between the Laundry Lines (too female-only) to: Table Talk (with a wink…
Elvira, a woman with vision
The temperature in Osijek has dropped about 28 degrees in the last few days. Last Friday, we sensed it coming and dove one more time into the Drava river and kissed it goodbye for the winter. Now, we are inside, long-sleeves are found again, and Elvira and I enjoyed some time together over a cup…
Here we go, but how do we call this?
Yay! We FINISHED! Last year, for Christmas, Jelle gave me a blog course by Jeff Goins. And this summer we have been working on it in the wee hours of the day. Hiding from the heat, outside, working on the blog course, inside. We learned a lot, Jelle fixed everything behind the scenes. Thank you, Jelle!…
A new season, a new rhythm
Here we go: September has arrived. Laurens went for the first time to the Croatian school, and we do school at home with the girls, online. We are pretty proud of Laurens, speaking three languages fluently, while we are still struggling when conversations get more complicated. Also, we are a bit impressed by the girls’…
Rejected at your work: how would you respond?
One of our Roma friends talks about being rejected: When I graduated I was employed at the state hospital at the intensive care unit, everything was fine until the moment (..) they found out that I was a Roma. I noticed that they began to behave differently towards me, more negativity in the sense that they…
Summerjobs for the girls
Marijke and Judith both found lovely opportunities for summer jobs in the Netherlands. It was their first time flying together. Jelle brought the girls to the Budapest airport, and Jelle’s dad received them in Eindhoven (NL). Judith worked at a blueberry farm, and Marijke worked with granddad at the Free University of Amsterdam. It was…