Travel blog, wanderlust, backpacker, follow instagram @travelwithasri for real time update
Search This Blog
Sinterklaas is Hier
Every once in a year around from 17 November to 5 December is the happiest time for kids all around the Netherlands. Do you know why??? It's Sinterklaas (Sint Nicolaas, Saint Nicholas), you might be questioning why so early, it's not even Christmas yet. Well, Sinterklaas in NL is not Santa Claus (I mean the fat man with a red suit). Let me tell you a little bit about Sinterklaas tradition in NL. Unlike Santa Claus with the magic sleigh and flying reindeer. Sinterklaas sail to NL with a steamboat from Spain (altough originally Sinterklaas came from Turkey). I'm not gonna tell you a lot about the history of Sinterklaas, because you can just read it in wikipedia. I'm just gonna tell you my experience celebrating Sinterklaas day in NL on 2012. Okay back to Sinterklaas tradition, usually around 16-17 November (depends on when the weekend is), Sinterklaas comes to a city in NL on a boat, with zwarte pieten (his helper) who carries bags full of chocolate, kruidnoten, pepernoten, and candies, and they will give it to the kids (and the adults as well)
Me and Zwarte Piet
Sinterklaas and The Kids
Goodstuff from Zwarte Piet
Sinterklaas in Stoomboot
Is that all? of course not, I told you it's the happiest time for kids, after sinterklaas arrived (Sinterklaas intocht) there are series of little presents that they will get, usually it's a small stuff (not in size, but not the "big thing" yet) like chocolate, candies, or tiny toys.. but you don't get the present just like that, there's some stuff you need to do first before you get the present. First of all, you have to make a drawing for sinterklaas (tekening voor sinterklaas), and then you have to put your shoes in front of fire place and put the drawing inside, and then sing one of the sinterklaas song. If you well behave, you will get a nice present, just like the song said "wie zoet is krijg lekkers, wie stout is de roe" (the nice one will get something nice, and the naughty one will get a spank)
Step 1 A Drawing
Step 2&3 Sing A Song after you put the shoes
Step 4: Iets lekkers als je zoet bent
When I was a little in Indonesia we also have the Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet, but Zwarte Piet was really scary, he carries a bag so he can put a naughty kid inside and then throw them into the sea. Apparently that story is too scary for kids, so now they only have the "Good Piet". If you're naughty Sinterklaas will only take you back to Spain with him (Oh I'm sooo gonna be naughty for this)
The next step after the administration process is Leaderless Group Discussion and interview. The process usually take 2 days, depends on your luck, some people finish it in 1 day. A day before the said schedule on their timeline, you will receive an email with details about the venue and which group are you in. All participant need to be there at 8 AM, my location was at STAN Student Center, Bintaro. Luckily my aunt lives in Bintaro, so I stayed over at her place which is 10 minutes away from the venue. Without further due, I will tell you about the process December 2nd I couldn't sleep the night before, I guess I was nervous. I woke up around 5ish, because we had to be there on 7.30. I left around 6.15, because I didn't want to be late. When I got there, the place is already crowded with hundreds of participant, I found an empty seat next to someone, I didn't really remember his name, we had a short conversation. There are lots of great people there, some of them are yo...
In this post I'll share information about what to do, what to bring, and what to have when you decided to become an Au Pair, or maybe when you decided to move to Netherlands for Travel, doesn't matter how you come here, I'm here to help you enjoy the most of it: What to bring: Credit Card(s): Why? Well, you will need credit card to book plane ticket, hotel, etc. Make sure you have enough money on your bank account to pay your credit card. I use internet banking facility to pay my credit card bill. But if you don't have credit card, it should be fine, you can ask the hostfamily or maybe your friends to help you book the ticket. But for me it means less freedom, and sometimes they are too busy, and you'll miss the opportunity to get the cheap-promo ticket. It's your call :) Minimum amount of clothes: Why? Clothes here are cheaper than in your home country (at least for me, since I come from Indonesia), and you can get nice clothes and maybe branded stuff ...
It's a long holiday, so i decided to write a blog.. Today my brother and I are home alone.. and I made some delicious cheese garlic bread... cheese garlic bread it's an easy but delicious food.. it only took about 10-20 minutes... and it's gone in second.. lol.. :p Ingredients: Garlic (chopped), unsalted butter, baguette, oregano, and cheese :D How to: Mix the chopped garlic, butter and oregano.. spread it on the top of baguette, and shred the cheese on top of all that.. and then toast it until it looks like this (slightly brown, and crispy).. dont let it turn black... :p
