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23-25 September 2010Robert and Kathryn visiting Jaap and Ineke in HeemstedeJaap's impressions:
Robert and Kathryn's impressions of that visit: One of the most memorable impressions was us meeting for the first time at Schiphol Amsterdam International Airport and being driven to your house in Heemstede and meeting Ineke who (same as Kathryn) was wondering what you both were like (Ineke too – these strange people from New Zealand). We had corresponded and worked on a common project for several years but our wives only had second hand knowledge of us. I found an instant ‘oneness and bond’ with both you and Ineke. We enjoyed the day with you as travel guide seeing Volendam, Broek in Waterland, De Rijp en de Glip and walking around Haarlem and visiting the Groote Kerk. It was a highlight to meet your daughters and their partners and children and Ineke’s family at her birthday on 25 September 2010.
laatste update: vrijdag 20 februari 2015 15:10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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U kunt een e-mailbericht met vragen of opmerkingen over deze website
verzenden aan jaap@schlotjes.nl
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After about 6 years of writing and
communicating via email and occasional phone calls, there was a lot of
excitement and anticipation as I waited for Robert and Kathryn at the Airport
Amsterdam, on that Thursday morning, 23rd of September 2010. I went
very early to the airport because I was afraid that I might perhaps miss them
and wondered whether I would recognize them from the photos that we had
exchanged over the years. However, We were able to recognize each other
instantly without the aid of a “Schlotjes” sign. Robert and Kathryn were very
tired when they arrived and the first thing we did was drive back to our house
in Heemstede. We spent three days together and walked around the historical
centre of Haarlem, visited Volendam where we all had eel for lunch, went past
windmills in the polder landscape, Broek in Waterland and other places such as
de Rijp en de Glip, taking coffee breaks at appropriate times. We talked a lot.
Robert and Kathryn told us about their lives in New Zealand while we talked
about our family, the Schlotjes which of which I am the last male with this
particular spelling in the Netherlands. We visited a special place, “the
family-house” on the Meerweg, where Uncle Thon and Aunty Nellie lived and also
Aunty Nellie’s and Robert’s father Frans en Wilhelmina. This is the house that
Robert and his parents lived in before they emigrated to New Zealand and was
used as their base when they came to Holland on visits over the various years. I
was very impressed in how interested they were in our lives in Holland, our
children and the rest of the family. After their stay with us, Robert and
Kathryn continued their visits to other family-members in other parts of
Holland. On Saturday afternoon, while they were with us they attended the
birthday-party of Ineke and met a lot of family members on both sides of our
family our children, their partners, grand children, and Ineke’s brother and
sister. In the evening I dropped them off at Uncle Thon’s place at his
retirement home in Heemstede. It was for me and Ineke a very rich experience to
meet them, and we promised to come to New Zealand, one day.
