Back On Board

Hey all, happy new year!!

I hope you are all enjoying some quality time with friends and/or family at the moment, and that those at home in NZ are having a great time in the warm weather at last.

I have just last night returned to the ship from my Dutch extravaganza holiday, which was awesome. Having been away from the ship for almost three weeks I am not as up to date with the goings on, so I will update you on health related matters as soon as I am familiar with them myslef! But for now I will share a little bit more of my vacation in The Netherlands.

Here we are Christmas day, when I opened my collosal amount of presents sent from various people back home. Thanks heaps to Mum and Dad, Heyhoes, Griffiths-Smiths and of course my most awesome church homegroup! As the dutch traditionally do not give Christmas presents, this was a new experience for all but me!

We had a wonderful Christmas breakfast and then on to some of Jan Pieters relatives house in Rotterdam. There we had a wonderful Christmas evening, which was finished off nicely with my first ever Pavlova - I have to say although it looks a bit suspect, it was delicious!

The next couple of days after Christmas were also action packed. JP, Annemarie (his sister) and I went to Amsterdam and saw the Bodies exhibiton - which was absolutely fantastic, I really recomend you see it if you get a chance. I also went ice skating for the first time ever (I only fell over when I got hit by another skater) and had a great time.

Then of course New Years! I was able to learn all abou the wonderful Dutch traditions - especially Ollieballen, which are donuty raisiny treats that are cooked on new years eve, and of course the fact that sky rockets are still legal in The Netherlands! At midnight the sky was ablaze with explosions and colours, it was so amazing - I have never seen more fireworks or been as deafened by them as on new years! It was an amazing experience.

As well as meeting a lot of family members and friends, we made the trip to Den Haag (The Hague) where we visited Madurodam - a big city of minatures representing all the main cities/towns/attractions of Holland. It was great fun walking through the minatures, and seeing how perfect they were. THey had windmills, canals, airports, ships, trains, historic buildings, tulip fields, bridges and more. It was a wonderful day despite the cold!

We were also blessed enough to make it to our friends from the Anastasis - Carl and Ilne's wedding in Rijsen on Friday. It was great to meet up with some other crew members and also to share in their special day. Both bride and groom looked fabulous despite the low temperature.

I had a wonderful break and had a great time meeting Jan Pieters family and friends, eating real food for a while, and experiencing my first ever winter Christmas! Hope you are all well, will update with some Mercy Ships related news soon!