Prom and hockey

The end of Paula's secondary school life was celebrated with a Prom, an American-style party, which also seems to be common in The Netherlands nowadays. All the kids dress up in suits and dresses, and even Paula joined in. She wore a dress for the first time since she was 5 years old.... The party was held in Madurodam, the miniature town in The Hague. For some unknown reason the parents were also invited, but had to leave at 10 pm. We had some speeches, dinner and left. Early in the morning Piet picked up Paula, for the start of her real holiday. One of the first things she did was go to Amsterdam with a few friends. And next week she will go to our house in France for a week, with 3 other friends.

In The Hague the world championship hockey is being played these weeks, and we took the opportunity to see some matches. The football stadion of local club ADO and the area around it has been transformed into a hockey temple. We saw an exiting match between Belgium and India, with the Belgian men scoring the winning goal a few seconds before the final whistle. The final match of the day was between the Dutch ladies and Japan. With 15,000 spectators in the stadium (unique for a hockey match), beautiful early summer weather and an easy win (6-1) it was perfect end to the evening. 

Mary and Paula ready for the Prom

A unique picture: Piet in a tuxedo and Paula in a dress

Paula and friends at Madurodam

 Paula meets Gandhi at Madame Tussaud in Amsterdam

 The Dutch ladies team at the start of their match against Japan

 Piet, Dorien and Paula are "orange" fans

Final score

Done!

Paula spend the last 5 weeks studying for het final IB exams, and these are done now! Although the results are not expected before early July she feels pretty good. There is no doubt that she will pass her degree, the only uncertainty are her final marks. As there is no selection for her study she can really relax now. She will spend the whole summer in France, but most of the time she will be working in the local restaurant, to build a financial buffer for her future student years.

Beau's best friend Jim has retired. He was getting quite old (23 years) and the only thing he seemed to enjoy were his easy rides with Beau, and spending time together in the outside paddock. As he was suffering a bit from old age ailments his owner decided to move him to a horse retirement home, in the green open area east of The Hague. He was taken there by all people involved, including Mary, Paula and Dorien. There are large pieces of land with different groups of horses, and Jim was put with some other equine pensionados. Mary and Paula came back a few days later to check on Jim, as he had suffered a bit in his new herd. He is doing fine now.

Beau hasn't noticed so far, his brain is apparently unable to process Jim's disappearance. A distraction was a jumping event at a nearby stable, with Dorien. They decided on relatively low jumps, as it was the first time for us. Beau obviously liked it, and the second round he was really racing around the course. He made no mistake, and could pick up two rosettes at the end. Everybody was very pleased, and is looking forward to the next opportunity.

 Paula studying in the front garden

Beau acting as lawnmower in our front garden

Dorien at the start a practise ride for International Award

 Beau and Dorien at the jumping competition

Paula and Jim at the horse retirement home

Cross country

All three ladies are very active with Beau, and are improving their skills continuously. Beau is in good shape, and they have slowly been increasing his workload. Paula and Mary are coaching each other at the stable, and all three are doing a lot of outdoor rides as well.

This weekend they registered for an outdoor cross in nearby Madestein park. Dorien was the lucky one (together with Beau of course). They loaded Beau in the trailer and drove over. After a warming up they had to complete a jumping course as a test, and then they could start. Despite the short distance, the foul weather (rain and wind) and Beau's somewhat erratic ride they had a lot of fun, and are keen to repeat the exercise. They drove Beau back, cleaned him up and had to go home for study and other chores.

 Beau and Dorien during the cross country ride

Beau and the girls afterwards - and a lot of grass to eat

Piet is still spending a lot of time in London - the Tower Bridge

Easter break in France

We drove out early morning this time (allowing Paula another evening with friends, and Mary a horse riding lesson). On the way we picked up Coline in Dijon. She is a friend of the girls who has been in our village several summers visiting her grandparents, and they have kept in contact on Facebook. As she is in between studies and looking for friends who enjoy the outdoor life she combined an entry exam at Grenoble University with a stay with us. Their main activity was building a tree house, and it remains amazing to have a 16-year old and two 18-year old girls enjoying this type of activity. In the summer it will be completed, and used for overnight stays.

The rest of the time was spent in the garden, doing some cycling and a first ever visit to nearby Briancon, which has a lovely old part of town on top of a hill. The planned reconstruction of our terrace wall had to be postponed (again), and we were promised that it would be ready before the summer holidays. Paula spent time studying, but managed at least one outdoor activity every day. Piet got some serious training rides in for La Marmotte early July, including 114 km ride in the Vercors, without a single flat stretch. As always the break was too short, and on Sunday morning we drove back home, to Beau and his 13th birthday celebration.

Dorien and Mary in Briancon

Lunch in Briancon

Mary and Dorien walking in the outskirts of Briancon

Paula and Coline on Col du Lauteret

Coline and Paula in the Via Ferrata of St. Christophe 

Paula studying in the garden

Catching up

It has been an extremely busy period for us, and it is time for a catch-up. Mary has been taking care of the renovation in her parents flat, doing her part-time job, acting as secretary for a horse riding club, and managing the Lambregts household. The end is in sight, as the flat is nearly ready: the bathroom, floors and walls are done. Mary’s parents are very happy to be close to us, and we all drop by regularly.

Paula has been ending a phase in her life; she had her last day of secondary school. Her year group organised a whole week of activities, and Paula has turned up on horseback (on Beau), as the Mad Hatter, and as a castaway. This was mixed with many social evenings, as her friends will spread over the world to go to university, and many she will not see any more after the summer. She also completed her pre-Uni course at Leiden University, with a distinction for her research project.
After long deliberation and several introduction days at different universities Paula has decided to start an Applied Earth Science Bachelor program at Delft Technical University, which is a small town next to The Hague. She abandoned her long term dream of becoming a vet, due to the very limited flexibility of the study, and your working life afterwards. Early May Paula will start her final IB school exams, and on the 23rd of May it is all over! In addition she has been taking driving lessons, passed her theory exam, and is preparing for her first test.

Piet has been extremely busy in the office, running a project in Rijswijk and London, and having 7 consecutive weeks with flights back and forth to the UK. In two months he has been only 3 days at his own desk in The Hague, trying to keep his regular day job running remotely.

As you can imagine we were ready for a long Easter break in France!

 Beau and Dorien are jumping without saddle, stirrups and bridle

Paula and Beau on the way to school for stunt week

 Paula (the Mad Hatter) and Charlotte (the Cheshire Cat) at stunt week

 Paula's group at the diploma ceremony of pre-University in Leiden

Find Wally (or Paula): the whole pre-University crowd

Cape Town (V)

For his project in South Africa Piet went to Cape Town again, for the fifth time already. He is always enjoying these trips: working with the local team, the (generally) good weather, and the possibility to see the surroundings.

This time there was an added bonus: the Cape Argus, the biggest organised cycling event in the world. Two of his colleagues from the Cape Town team had asked if he wanted to participate, and as you can guess convincing was not difficult. So he borrowed a cycling transport bag and took his own bike with him on the plane. Piet flew out on Friday, on Saturday was the registration and on Sunday the event. Piet even got a Shell cycling kit, and was ready to go. With more than 35,000 cyclist one can imagine the size of this event; all the roads were closed for traffic, and the start was a well-organised schedule that took 4 hours! Unfortunately Piet couldn't cycle with his colleagues as the start groups are strictly regulated, and he only saw them at the finish. The ride started downtown Cape Town, and went southwards towards Cape of Good Hope, on one of the highways. Then the coastal road was followed, and the peninsula crossed from east to west, returning to Cape Town along the Atlantic Ocean road. There was a very strong wind, which made the ride tricky in places, and Piet finished the 108 km in 3 hrs and 45 minutes. Time for a beer with his colleagues!

The week afterwards Piet spend time in the office, did voluntary work in Kayelitsha township, gave a lecture at a university, met the South African authorities and also did some more bike rides early in the morning, to benefit from the hills behind the hotel, and of course the nice weather. Next stop: Ronde van Vlaanderen.....

The Castle of Good Hope, an old fort build by the Dutch

Cape Argus: the coastal road towards Simon's Town

The climb at Smitswinkel

Chapman's Peak: a beautiful stretch of road along the Atlantic Coast

Descend from Suikerbossie

The home stretch: cycling towards Camps Bay and Cape Town

 Andrew, Peter and Piet after the race

Piet teaching at the University of Western Cape

Early morning cycle: Lion's Head and Table Mountain (left)

A short skiing trip

The drive from the Champagne took longer than expected, due to the busy holiday traffic. We normally drive down through the night, and don’t notice any queues at the tollbooths or petrol stations. We started our week with a day of rest, organising the house and sorting out our ski gear. The weather was beautiful; we had a full day of sunshine and reasonable temperatures. Piet even went out on his bike and rode up his training mountain Col d’Ornon. Mary did some work in the garden, and we sat outside reading our books. The next 5 days we went up to Alpe d’Huez to go skiing, with 3 very nice, sunny days and good snow, and 2 days with snowfall and limited visibility. Our last descend was in a whiteout–blizzard! The girls were always leading the pack, and managed to do a number of black runs without their parents. The week ended with another day of rest, cleaning the gear and the house, and Paula’s first “real” job: as a dishwasher in our local restaurant. This is a preparation for a potential summer job, which she really would like to do in France.

On Sunday we had the usual trip home: leave the house around 6, arriving in The Hague late afternoon, with plenty of time to visit our lost son: Beau (now nicknamed "the granny killer").

 Beautiful weather in Bassey on our first day

The ladies on the Sarenne

 Dorien stylish on the Sarenne

Paula and Dorien at the entrance of the infamous "Le Tunnel" black run 

Paula skiing moguls on Les Balcons