Familie Dag
Today i attended Family Day.
My mum has five sisters, and one brother. Out of the 7 children, she is the only one who lives overseas (complete other side of the world to be exact). The rest of them live in at least an hours train ride of one another. So living in NZ having never met any of mums side of the family, i always assumed we were missing out on something huge, that all the family were really ridiculously close and always having fun together. Turns out that i was a little misled. Talking to some of my cousins prior to family day, i heard comments like 'i havent seen him for like 10 years' or 'i havent seen her since opa died' or 'I dont want to go to family day, nobody knows who i am - they think im my sister'. This made me quite sad. I had assumed that they all knew each other well. It turns out the family only used to be all together only when opa and oma had their birthdays or wedding anniversaries. But i dont think the family has all been together since they died. I was quite excited about it!
My cousin Edo picked me up in the morning, and we got a little lost driving out to 'The tea house', just on the outskirts of Utrecht. It was brilliant going out to the countryside and getting some fresh air, and we were lucky with the weather. The forecast was rain, but the sun held out for this day.
When we arrived the majority of the family were there..i already counted about 30. Others cam e later. Most of the family were there, minus a few.They were all quite pleased to see me, i guess i was sort of a novelty, coming from the other side of the world. Anyhow, i had to go around the whole family introducing myself, shaking hands, doing the 3 kisses on the cheek thing. Gets exhausting after a while. Im quite over it, i find it quite impersonal, give me a good old bear hug anyday.
It was lovely. I had some good chats with some cousins i hadnt met yet, and arranged to go and stay with the two aunties that i havent been to stay with yet. So thats quite exciting.We ate pannenkoeken and drank tea, very typical of the dutch.
I dont have any photos of the day, because i was too busy talking. But i will try and get some off my uncle, and post them later.
My mum has five sisters, and one brother. Out of the 7 children, she is the only one who lives overseas (complete other side of the world to be exact). The rest of them live in at least an hours train ride of one another. So living in NZ having never met any of mums side of the family, i always assumed we were missing out on something huge, that all the family were really ridiculously close and always having fun together. Turns out that i was a little misled. Talking to some of my cousins prior to family day, i heard comments like 'i havent seen him for like 10 years' or 'i havent seen her since opa died' or 'I dont want to go to family day, nobody knows who i am - they think im my sister'. This made me quite sad. I had assumed that they all knew each other well. It turns out the family only used to be all together only when opa and oma had their birthdays or wedding anniversaries. But i dont think the family has all been together since they died. I was quite excited about it!
My cousin Edo picked me up in the morning, and we got a little lost driving out to 'The tea house', just on the outskirts of Utrecht. It was brilliant going out to the countryside and getting some fresh air, and we were lucky with the weather. The forecast was rain, but the sun held out for this day.
When we arrived the majority of the family were there..i already counted about 30. Others cam e later. Most of the family were there, minus a few.They were all quite pleased to see me, i guess i was sort of a novelty, coming from the other side of the world. Anyhow, i had to go around the whole family introducing myself, shaking hands, doing the 3 kisses on the cheek thing. Gets exhausting after a while. Im quite over it, i find it quite impersonal, give me a good old bear hug anyday.
It was lovely. I had some good chats with some cousins i hadnt met yet, and arranged to go and stay with the two aunties that i havent been to stay with yet. So thats quite exciting.We ate pannenkoeken and drank tea, very typical of the dutch.
I dont have any photos of the day, because i was too busy talking. But i will try and get some off my uncle, and post them later.
posted by simone marie at 9:21 AM
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