update on" I'm homesick, I'm over it"

Hi readers and friends,

So the church did get in touch with me and I got picked up by a big bus on the main street. I had to walk to the main street first. I got a ride from neighbours to the main street. Then I was there too early so I waited. Finally a big white bus came. I had rang him to ask what the bus looked like. So while we were talking, I saw the bus arrive. The ride to the church was about 20 minutes and it was with nice views. I met David and Josie Silver there. They are kiwi's but have been living in Haifa for 30 years now. 

The church service itself was great. Good music, worship and some dancing.
Good message too, about all the tribes of the world becoming " one new man" in Jesus.

Afterwards there was tea and coffee outside and then the bus took us back.( us meaning the people that don't have transport to the church)

I did a read again on the Airbnb house that I had cancelled by the sea( Haifa) and the latest 2 reviews( in July) were terrible. They wrote that the room was dirty, it had no air conditioning, and it was right next to trains passing, so it was noisy too. The owners Liz, was " laid back" hence why she didn't answer my questions.

So now I know why I cancelled it, although not really knowing why, but there is a reason for everything.
I've also decided that to reduce stress, I will use the " Uber" or " Gett" taxi system here for when I am travelling with luggage except for going to Jerusalem, then I could go in the bus.

So that's the update. But to recommend staying here in this neighbourhood? Only if you have a car.
Public transport with luggage is a nightmare.

I feel homesick- I'm over it!

Hi readers, friends and prayer warriors.,
Yes you might think, "oh wow, she's in Israel!!!", but I am now totally over it. I wish I could go home right now.
I am staying in a nice place( Airbnb), but I feel location isn't great for a solo traveller, arriving on Friday afternoon , close to Shabbat when all shops close at 4 pm. I got here at 2 pm, there was nothing in the house. Luckily there was a small corner store where I could buy the basic's. Milk bread, some chicken pieces for tonight, and they had canned tomato sauce and ravioli.
So I had some bread at 4 pm and tonight I'll make the chicken and the ravioli and tomato sauce with added milk and that was very yummy.
But I had a meltdown this afternoon, in the shower. I just knew it was coming. I cried and cried my head off. ( this is after I arrived)
I felt so all alone! I was hoping someone or a family would ask me for Shabbat dinner. No one asked me, not even the owners of this Airbnb. Not even an other friend I knew from Chiburim who said she would be there during this weekend. I am in Israel and can't even join a Shabbat dinner!!! I really feel disappointed and let down. Then the Kehilat HaCarmel ( the church at the top of Haifa at Isfiya, a Druze village) haven't written back, even though I wrote them months ago. Yes I got one email to say contact them the day you arrive. Well I did that and I still haven't heard back.
And oh, the trains didn't go today, no, not because it was close to Shabbat but because they were working on the train tracks. They didn't have a replacement bus, like in Holland, no you have to figure it out yourself how to get there. With my 3 pieces of luggage, there as no way I was going to try and walk to a bus stop and try all that in 33 C heat. So I ordered a taxi through their Uber app( their's is called " Gett"app.) It works the same way.

on the way to Haifa by taxi

flowers along the highway

  Yes it was expensive and yes it was 2 hours drive but worth it as it took away all the stress and hassle. OK maybe an other reason for the bawl.
Now I am here and there is nothing to do except watching TV and my laptop. I wished I had chosen the other Airbnb by the sea. The only reason I had cancelled it was because she didn't write back after i asked some questions and it seemed also isolated , but looking back there would have been more to do there than here. Why oh why did I cancel it? I can hit myself sometimes. So stupid of me. Anyway what is done is done, I can't change it now. Hopefully I will hear from the church tomorrow. I can also ring them up to make sure they get me. They promised to pick me up as they have a van for people to pick them up.
I am pissed off with myself and homesick. Well, at least I have had an outlet and that is this blog.
We will see what happens tomorrow.
But the view on the other side of the road is amazing and I will insert some pictures of that and also of my room here.
Signing off now.

on the way by taxi

view across the street of Haifa

View across the street between houses

My Bed in the Airbnb Haifa

My space, lounge, kitchenette and bathroom

lounge, dining and bedroom all in one

Bye Holland, Hello Israel!

So I left the Netherlands on the 25th of July, with Transavia.

The flight was a day time flight, it took 4 hours.
We flew over Germany, Czech republic, Slovenia, Romania, Hungary, and Turkey and Cyprus and then in TelAviv. I filmed the takeoff and landing,. it is on my Facebook page.
I also had a movie on my laptop which I watched during the flight, " the Iron Lady" about Margaret Thatcher.
After the landing, I got y private transfer taxi( I had pre ordered that online.) That was all good and I got to the hotel in good time.
It had been 40 C in Tel Aviv the day I arrived.
The next day it was 33 C. I borrowed one of the free bikes here and biked to the beach. ( Gordon beach) I swam in the sea. The sea was warm like a bath, at least 29 C. It had big waves, so it was a weird experience to feel such warm water with the waves.

It didn't give me a cool down at all.
So I asked the waitress there about the Gordon pools. She said that the water in Gordon pools was nice and cold.

So on my bike I go and go into the Gordon pools for the rest of the afternoon. The water was refreshingly cold. 24 C. So much better than the sea. I spend the rest of the afternoon there.
In the evening, I took a taxi to Sarona Food market, a very similar sort of place as the MarktHall of Rotterdam. I had some dinner there and cold tea.

Sarona Food market

After looking around some more and outside I used the App " Gett" , it's similar to Uber taxi. And it worked.
The hotel here is cute. I have a small room but comfortable bed and nice big bathroom. I have slept well here and that is important. I even had a nap yesterday afternoon from 5-6 pm.
This morning I had a nice breakfast with poached eggs in a bed of spinach. And lots of salads.

TelAviv

When I went online to see about the train tables, I saw that no trains are running to Haifa today. Bother!
So instead, I used my " Gett" app again and ordered a taxi to my next address. I know it's a lot of money but I have to in these sorts of emergency situations, I think it's wise. I have 3 pieces of luggage and it's very hot.
It takes all the stress out of it. I have noticed I am a lot more anxious lately about these sort of things, but it always works out in the end.
God does look after me.
I will update you when I get to Haifa.

Bucket list: Live Andre Rieu concert in Maastricht. Achieved July 2018

I have been watching Andre Rieu concerts of DVD's for years. There have been some very good concerts. The ones I have liked the most were the ones held in his hometown of Maastricht.
The ones that stood out were: Where mr Steins played the bells of the old church and played on the organ.
And other ones I remember were when he had some guests and also the ones where he played all the old songs from our childhood TV programs. And he had some excellent singers like Marusia and Carmen.
This concert, that I attended, if I had seen it on a DVD would have been a very average concert, with no one special as a guest and no extra ordinary pieces were played apart from maybe the clog-dance.
BUT....Because I was IN it, and was able to experience the hype, the atmosphere and being amongst it, made a difference and still will be a highlight for me.

I did a boat ride in the afternoon, and ( some of you might not know but I came here alone) 2 ladies asked if they could sit beside me. And I said " of course" and from then on, we chatted. They are a bit older than me and from the UK. The whole boat ride we chatted and it turned out that they also are going to the concert. They were in a different cafe than me so I would find them I said.

When I got to my restaurant" Aux Pays Bas" , I was allocated my seat. It was outside but at the back against the window of where it goes inside, so quite locked in. But after awhile I got to know the people. A couple from the Netherlands( 20 min drive away) and 1 couple from North Carolina, and opposite them a couple from the UK,( they knew each other) and at the end an other Dutch couple.

The view wasn't great. One sun umbrella's pole was in the way of the screen in front of us, and it was either a left or a right screen.

At the interval, I went to see my 2 UK friends( my new friends) and they had a fantastic spot. Also in a cafe but opposite the stage at the back of the big crowd. The screen was very much in front of us and you could see the stage too. So I decided to stay there with permission from the manager.
Oh, I forgot to tell you that we had dinner first( before the concert started) So I had dinner at the first cafe and then the show started and at the interval I moved to my friends cafe " Gouches"
After that it went really well. The people started to swing and dance on the streets and I ended up dancing with Kath and Hazel too, and it went from doing a waltz to hip hop to Greek dancing and then bollywood dancing. The sweat was pouring down. But lots of fun.

After the show was finished I stayed with he ladies with some more drinks. It was 1.30 am before I got in bed. My Airbnb was 2 streets walk away from the venue, yet it was a quiet street and I didn't hear the music at all the night before.
I am very happy with this weekend and I didn't needed to have worried about going there on my own.
God had it all under control and gave me friends  BEFORE THE CONCERT EVEN STARTED( DURING THE BOAT TRIP)
God is so good, he even thinks about the small things, but for me they are BIG.
I did pray that God would supply me with nice people , even friends , for the concert, and he did.
And now Kath is also my new Facebook friend.

Bucket list is ticked off. PS and I even met the man himself:

I had also had an other nice happening this weekend. My cousin, Hans Diederix, has a daughter, studying in Maastricht, Eva, she is studying Music at the conservatorium. I had not met her but wanted to, I had messaged her via Facebook and we met at a cafe. I am totally delighted to have met her. She is a wonderful and beautiful girl, who also loves the Lord Jesus, like her Dad and Mum and wants to follow His ways. We had a great time talking and I was glad I met her. An other new family member.

Biking to Belgium

Hi readers,
This was one of those things I wanted to do last time. But last time( 2 years ago) was bad weather and not possible.
This time, the summer here has been exceptional, so much so that there is a drought, and it has been going on since the 24th of June.
So with that heat in mind and the enormous amount of sweating that I do I thought it was better to hire an e-bike for me for one and half day.. Day one I biked to the natural swimming pool, " the iron man". Second day I e-biked 40 km into Belgium and back.( so 20 km each way) so that was great and I managed it very well with the e-bike.
When you get to Belgium, there is an Abbey in front of you, and part of that is converted to a Cafe and lunch place.
That's where I stopped for lunch. On my way back, Aaron and Violet met me halfway back and we biked into Geldrop town for a nice ice-cream.

the border

in Geldrop 

in Geldrop

Friends from 2003

So today I met up with my German friends , Beatrix and Bernd , that I met in 2003, on the German Cruise ship, "Der Astor", the cruise that took us around Thailand, Vietnam and Hainan and ended up in Hong Kong.
 In 2008 I visited them in Essen, where they live, and I stayed a few days. They then took me to Cologne and did some sightseeing.
 And now, 10 years later, I meet them again here in Eindhoven! Now I could show them around here! 
Yes it was planned.
 And next year, on the 11th of February, they will arrive in New Zealand, at Mount Maunganui, on a cruise ship, and I will pick them up to spend time with us on the farm for one day.
 It was great to see them again and we talked a lot and ate a lot too. Lovely to have good friends that are quality friends!

My friends Beatrix and Bernd from Germany

eating kibbeling( fish)

the Cathedral in Eindhoven

The South of France week

Hi friends,
This last week I flew to the South of France, where my brother lives.
I took a Transavia flight( a cheap but good Dutch airline) straight from Eindhoven to Nice.
While I was waiting for the flight in Eindhoven, I started to talk a lady opposite me and a lady next to me was listening. I started off in English, and usually I try some Dutch too. Long story short I told them I was originally from the Netherlands but lived in NZ for 37 years, but now I am in the Netherlands because my son and granddaughter live here. Then I said but my home town is Voorschoten. Then the lady next to me said" No way" That's My Home town too.!!! And my Dad was the GP there( one of them) then I said, what was your Dad's name?She said " Dr Vrijenhoek" I said" That was OUR GP, our family Doctor, he was a lovely friendly man with a beard. Always willing to come when there was a sickness or accident". Then I told her how he came to visit me after I had fallen off my horse when I was 15 and he re-assured me would get better many times." (I had a concussion that time with some memory loss.) He visited me every day for 3 days. Then the lady said that from my story she got goosebumps.  And then I also got goosebumps. Here I am some 43 years later and I meet my doctor's daughter, who would have been 1 at the time!!! Now we are friends on Facebook. How cool is that?
So I Went on Sunday night 6 pm( 8th of July) and returned on Sat 14th of July.
Ron had booked me in a cute hotel in Napoule, which is near Mandelieu, which is near Cannes.

My hotel Le 8

On day 1 he and I went to a sports shop and he bought me a snorkelling set and a set of flippers and a new bum bag( my old one  the clip was broken so no good.)  He said there is a good beach on opposite the hotel.
So he took me to all the beaches within walking distance. There were about 2 good ones and 1 not so good and the others were pebble beaches.
He also showed me where the pier is so I could take a ferry to an island 25 minutes by boat. So I decided to do lots of snorkelling .

The castle on the coast, Napoule

water at St Marguerite island very clear

These last pictures were taken on the island of St Marguerite, off the coast of Napoule. It is a 25 minutes boat ride. I went there twice. These last water pictures I took on Friday, my last full day there. I also went to Ron's apartment and the swimming pool that's part of his complex. They had a street BBQ there and I stayed for that. Ron and I also went out for dinner lots of times.

on the ferry to St Marguerite

at Ronald's pool.

Ron and I having dinner.