My First Christmas in Holland

How did I celebrate my first Christmas in Holland?

The Christmas this year was the first time that I didn't celebrate it  in my own country - Philippines. For the whole 21 years of my life, I always celebrate Christmas with my family in the Philippines. But now, I'm living now here in The Netherlands and trying to establish my life here. I could say that it was sad to be far from your loved ones but there was also in the other side that would experience it for the first time and make you happy. So it was really mix emotions of  sadness and happiness. But still, there are some ways to ease your longingness with your loved ones such as sending mails to them, calling them on phone and the most accessible now is using the Internet- Skype, Yahoo Messenger, MSN, Facebook etc.

Last 10 December 2011, me and Dennis attended a Christmas Party here in Almere with the Samenleven ladies together with their families. I joined in Samenleven ( a group of Filipinas who got married or had relationship with a Dutchman) before I arrived here in Holland. I saw their website while searching informations about the Civic Integration Exam. I found it interesting where I could meet them here in Holland and be friends with them. Ate Ranessa was the first one I meet. She was also living here in Almere and we study in the same school. She was very kind, friendly and helpful. She gave me a lot of advices about the life here in Holland, how to study Dutch, our school and a lot of things. She invited me on the party and encouraged me to attend it. We went there where I met them all personally. We had a great time there where we ate different, delicious dishes which prepared by each of families, gift-giving and received each one of us a present, and the children practiced 'Mano po' which was the Filipino gesture of respect.

Here in The Netherlands, the Dutch people celebrate Christmas for two days: 25 and 26 December. They call it 'Eerste en Tweede Kerst dag' (First and second Christmas). These two days are spent with family, singing carols, playing games, watching movies, reading Chritsmas tales and indulging in holiday feasts.They eat a large breakfast or brunch and a special Christmas meal. Some people plan and cook a large meal with a range of luxurious foods at home. These meals could include game meats, roast pork, fondues or gourmetten (the most typically Dutch Christmas meal, a style of eating that involves a grill on the table so that everyone can cook bite-sized pieces of meat and vegetables themselves). Second Christmas Day is often spent visiting family or, weather permitting, going ice skating or on an outing. Leftovers are enjoyed on this day.

25 December 2011 - I had a wonderful Christmas dinner with Dennis, Jeroen (Dennis' brother)  and their father, Ton. I prepared Chritsmas cookies, lumpia shanghai and coffee for snack time and a gourmet schotel for dinner. For the lovely dessert, we had vanilla and chocolate nuts ice cream. After that, we exchanged gifts where we had our raffle names last time we celebrated Sinterklaas. This was the list of gifts what we received that day: Anne- small wallet and pantoffels, Dennis- a gift card worth of 20 euro, Jeroen - 100pcs of DVDs, and Ton- a Yatzee play game.

 26 December 2011- Dennis, Jeroen and I had a delicious dinner with Chicken Rollade, vegetables and baked potatoes. I made a Leche Plan for our dessert.

Christmas 2011

My Greetings For You This Christmas!

Discovering a new dish!

Aside from Dutch and Philippine foods, I learned now a new dish from my Thai friend named Nanthicia. I met her when I'm still in the group of Inburgering. She is also live in our street. So if ever I want to visit her, I just used my feet to go in their house. 

Stir fry Noodles with green curry

 Last few weeks ago, she invited me for a lunch in their house and she cooked a Thai dish which they called it, Stir fry noodles with green curry. I do really like it even it's really spicy. I like the taste of the lemon leaves and green curry that mix with chicken and vegetables. I watched her while she was cooking this dish because I wanted also to try to cook this for Dennis. I knew that he would love it too because he likes also spicy foods. So last week, I cooked this dish for the first time. I was so glad that I got the same taste as Nanthicia cooked that's why I cooked again last night and we're really both like it.

The Ingredients for this delicious dish

It's nice that when you decided to live in other country, you learn and adapt their culture and also their foods. Here in The Netherlands, you will see a lot of foreigners such as Moroccans, Surinamese, Turks, Thais, Chinese, Vietnamese, Africans, Indonesians, Europeans, Americans and also Filipinos which they were already establish their culture here and shared with the inhabitants of Netherlands. It seems like the Netherlands is a multicultural country.

Sinterklaas is also for adults!

Traditionally, the Dutch celebrate Sinterklaas on the eve of 5th December, with festive family parties when gifts and surprises are exchanged. This celebration is the most awaitng event of most children here in Holland, which children sing Sinterklaas songs and put their shoes next to the window or door, or, by the fireplace or heater, along with a nice drawing, a wish-list and a carrot or hay, and maybe a saucer of water, for the horse. Children are looking forward in the next day or on 5th December to receive presents from Sinterklaas if they are behave well, that is the idea believed by the children where Zwarte Piet keeps a record of all the things they have done in the past year in a book and that good children will get presents from Sinterklaas, but bad children will get chased by Zwarte Piet with a stick. Most of the parents, significant family members or friends are the only who put presents on their shoes or dressed like a Sinterklaas so as many children as possible get a chance to see Sinterklaas and get a present. The main reason for this is to teach the children what is good  and bad, and the thought of gift-giving or sharing with others.

Sinterklaas Slinger

Sinterklaas is basically for children but here in the Netherlands, adults also join on this celebration. Dutch people love to have fun with their family and friends especially making surprise to them. The element of surprise is a small gift may be wrapped in a huge box, or it may be hidden and require following clues to discover where it is. So yesterday, me and Dennis, including his father and brother, held our first Sinterklaas celebration because we would not have much time to do it on 5 December. Even we don´t have yet kids in our family, we decided to celebrate it just to have a family bonding with fun, enjoyment and surprises. I told Dennis that it would be more fun if we were going to play a game like what we did last year together with Dennis´friends. But I planned to divert this game which suited for us  that would make interesting and enjoyable for the father and brother of Dennis. I was thinking to make a Sinterklaas board game with full of consequences and rewards but I was lucky to find the same board game I was thinking of in one of the stores here and it was nice that it´s not so expensive to buy it. It was also the same game where some members of the Badminton club held their Sinterklaas celebration last Friday night. I bought also a Sinterklaas decoration (Sinterklaas slingers) to feel more the spirit of celebration. It was great that all of us were enjoyed and surprised last night. 

Sinterklaas cadeautjes

Sinterklaas board game

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