It was very hot this weekend, about 30 celcius. For The Netherlands, that is quite hot. Each weekend my boyfriend and I have a little road trip. We usually end up going to the same places, but they are quite the drive. So by the end of each weekend, it feels like we’ve been on a little road trip.
My boyfriend and I live in a small village by the sea in The Netherlands. During summer it’s quite hot in the town center, but beach life is quite nice. My mother inlaw has her own little beach house where she stays most of the summer. We try to visit my mother inlaw as often as we can during the week and otherwise in the weekend. Our weekend usually involves visiting my father first, then my mother, then the Indonesian church family and then… Well, whatever else.
First destination: The old man
My father lives in a retirement home in Enkhuizen, an old harbor town in the north of The Netherlands. It’s by the sea, with lots of old historical buildings and monuments. I believe the oldest building I’ve seen there is from about 1500, but the town itself is much older than that. It’s becoming quite popular amongst tourists. For us it’s about an hour by car to get there.
Saturday around noon when my boyfriend and I dropped by, it was very hot outside. Dad lives in his own world and stands by his own truths. He prefers to keeps the windows of his appartement closed. It’s stuffy and hot and smells a bit funky. God forbid if anyone dares to open the window for some fresh air. What if bugs fly in, or he might catch a cold? To get some fresh air, he will go out to the backyard every 15 minutes for a smoke. But by the end of each week, I see at least 2 sometimes 4 empty packs of cigarettes. He claims to only smoke 5 cigarettes every day. He will claim this to his pulmonologist every six months. That his lungs are getting worse every year, must be because of a curse put on him by all of his ex wives. Or maybe the doctor is making it up?
Earlier this year, my father finally agreed that living closer by for his family would be a good idea. Last year was a different story. No way was he going to live near Amsterdam, where the rest of us live. But earlier this year, I could enroll him on a waiting list for retirement homes nearby. With staff shortage everywhere in healtchare and long waiting lists, it’s probably going to take quite a while. I hoped to move my dad before the summer. But maybe it’ll later somewhere this year? Time will tell.
Anyways… My dad always requests the same shoppinglist. Cookies, candy, cake, 3 cartons of fruit flavored yoghurt, instant cappuccino and 2 packs of smokes. I could not bring in the smokes but he then will be even more grumpier. They can barely handle his temper at the retirement now. Let alone if he is out of smokes. He tends to leave dirty mugs filled with spoiled yoghurt and a dirty a spoon in the fridge. It’s quite the treat each weekend! So I always have to go and wash his dirty dishes. Then I put the groceries in the fridge and kitchen cupboard. Oh and in the meantime, I serve dad his cappuccino and his cake while he watches TV and reminisces about my dad’s version of the good old days. After about a few hours, my boyfriend and I went on our way to our next destination.
Second destination: Mom and friends
My boyfriend and I starting living together about a year ago. I’ve introduced him to my mom, my brother, my dad and my Indonesian Church family. These two friends of my mom and I from church have been asking to meet up for dinner for quite a while. He is an old friend and I’ve know him for several years. She joined the Indonesian church family about 3 years ago. She hardly speaks any Dutch or English, mostly Indonesian. I’m not quite sure what their relationship is. He says they’re just friends, she says he’s in denial. He is a good guy though. He does a lot for the church and helps whomever wherever he can. Setting up a get-together with them was quite the hassle. Something always came up. So this time we picked Saturday late in the afternoon.
My boyfriend and I drove off to pick up my mom. We wanted to pick her up from her home first. She insisted to travel by train and meet us halfway. My mother is a stubborn sweetheart and wants to be as independent as possible. Unfortunately, due to a roadside fire, a lot of trains were canceled that Saturday afternoon. She called me to inform that she was taking the bus instead. We met up at Amsterdam Bijlmer, where my boyfriend and I had our very first date almost two years ago.
Because it was so hot, we decided to have a little drink first. It’s always nice to hang out there at Amsterdam Bijlmer. Spent a lot of my younger years there. A lot of rock and pop concerts were held a venue there in Amsterdam Bijlmer. Seen Linkin Park live in concert twice at te HMH and the Backstreet Boys once in the Johan Cruijf Arena and the last time also in HMH. Lots of fond memories to that area.
We drove back home, because our friends would meet us there. And surprisingly, they were on time! My boyfriend and I moved in together during corona time, almost a year ago. Aside from my mom and his mom, we haven’t really had visitors here. So I was a little nervous at first.
We showed around our little appartment. My boyfriend and I are both geeks. He collects cars, comic books and paints Warhammer figures. So there’s a lot of stuff like that displayed in our living room. Aside from that, wee have an ongrowing collection of Funko Pops in a cabinet right in our livingroom. And then there’s Beast, my Game PC attached to our TV. Because well, I like to play video games. I also have a vacuum robot. We’ve named him Rolly Polly and it plays the Super Mario tuner when it is done vacuuming.
We also have lots of souvenirs from our trip to France last year. Two daggers and a sword that we found in a souvenir shop in Mont Saint-Michel. We had also stumbled upon this music shop where they had this cute little Piet Mondriaan inspired ukulele. My boyfriend bought it for me as a gift. My friends like to play instruments so they wanted to play the ukulele of course.
After a short ukulele jam session and some drinks, we went off to the beach. We had a nice little stroll along the pier. It was quite crowded at the beach, lots of people trying to find some refreshement in the sea. Some kids like to jump off the pier into the water. It’s something my boyfriend did when he was a kid too. I suppose it’s something any kid would do, growing up near a beach.
I had made reservations at a Chinese Restaurant at the beach. We were the first ones to arrive. They had aircondition which was a bonus, since it was so hot outside. The food was good and we had ice cream for dessert. I think we spent a good 3 hours at the restaurant. We had laugh and shared stories, snapped a few pictures of the food. At the Chinese Restaurant they have a robot that helps pick up the dirty dishes. After dinner we parted ways with our friends.
At night we drove off to my mom’s house in my old hometown. It’s about 40 minutes from our little village to my old hometown, where my mom lives. We spend some time in the backyard. It was nice because it had finally cooled off a little.
Then it was Sunday
Sunday morning my boyfriend and I always make Danerolles croissaints. Sometimes we have it with Starbucks ice coffee. Sometimes with some juice or a cup of tea. My mother tends to skip breakfast. But every Sunday, I try to make sure that we have breakfast together.
We talked about the events from the day before and whatever else that came to mind. We also talked about church. Because of the summer weather, the Indonesian church family decided to have an outdoor sermon, at a park somewhere in Amsterdam. My boyfriend and I weren’t too sure if we wanted to attend the sermon.
Mom was also checking up with my brother. My brother avoids my brother as much as possible and we don’t understand why. My mother tried to talk to him, I tried to talk to him. But to this day, my brother doesn’t want to talk about it. All he says, is that needs time.
It makes going to church together a little complicated. It makes getting together as a family a little complicated. My brother doesn’t visit my father either. When we were kids, we jokingly agreed that when our old folks would really be old, that he would tend for mom and I would tend for dad. Jokes on me, I suppose… Oh well…
My mother ended up going to the outdoor sermon with my brother. We offered her a ride, but since she was meeting up with my brother she prefered to just travel by bus and train instead.
It was going to be another hot and sweaty day. Before heading back home, my boyfriend and I went to buy some groceries at the supermarket in my old hometown. It’s so nice and cool in a grocery store. They had some nice wines for sale. And a grill that is supposed to work on batteries. Then it was off to our village by the sea. We stopped by at the beach. Spend some time with my mother inlaw, drinking wine and eating cheese. Surprisingly ran into some of my boyfriends old friends. He hadn’t seen them in 20 years. Yeah, that was interesting. Hearing my boyfriend’s childhood memories from their perspective. Had a good laugh.
After visting my mother inlaw, we went back to our own little appartment for some Netflix and Pizza. We’re hooked on “Good Girls”, it’s a good watch if you haven’t seen the series yet.
Will see what next weekend brings. It was a good little road trip though.
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