Sylvia's Journal

English speakers, just bear with me for the next few lines. Today is a rather special day in Holland that requires a rhyme.

Een klompje met wortel bij de haard
Wachtte op een bezoek van Sint en paard
Maar vanochtend was het klompje leeg
Zelfs geen koekje van eigen deeg

Het zijn vast die terrorist wetten
Die Sinterklaas hier beletten
Om stiekum huizen binnen te gaan
Daar hebben ze echt een hekel aan

Stel toch eens voor, zo’n zwarte piet
een blanke die je van roet voorziet
Politiek is dat hier niet erg korrekt
slavernij die door een traditie lekt

Hier wacht men op Santa uit ’t Noorden
En weet niet van rijmende woorden
Men koopt zich wekenlang dol en daas
Geef mij maar Sinterklaas!

Today Sint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) visits Holland. Last night on the other side of the Atlantic, little Dutch kids put their shoes, boots or wooden shoes (traditionally) near the fire place (or if missing, near a heat source). They fill it with straw and carrots for Sint’s horse. Black Peter will crawl down the chimney and put presents in the shoes. At least that’s what I believed happened and what I did when I was little. Tonight the grown ups and the kids who have figured out who really gives them their presents, sit around a basket filled with gift-wrapped packages in all shapes and sizes. The basket was delivered on their doorstep after a loud knock on the door but with no one there when the door was opened. You then say ‘Thank you Sint and Piet’ into the empty street. Each package has a poem attached, supposedly written by Sint and/or Piet, in rhyme. They will write whatever there is to say about the recipient of the package, good or bad. The package itself may or may not contain a real present. When it doesn’t, it usually requires a search to find the real present someplace else in the house.

Sinterklaas is another of these rituals that is hard to explain to outsiders. It was always my favorite event. Technically speaking it is not a holiday. You don’t get the day off like you do for Christmas. I do miss it here when December 5 comes around. We still celebrate it, when the girls are back, on Christmas Eve. We start around midnight because it takes us all day to get our rhyming and surprise packaging done.

Axel did get a present yesterday, but not from Sinterklaas. He was able to retrieve his driver’s licence from the registry of Motor Vehicles in less than fifteen minutes. Hats off to the registry! Armed with his license we then picked up the car at the garage. It is fixed in the way that old people are fixed after they get another piece of their body replaced; things will be OK until the next thing goes, which could be anytime. We keep our fingers crossed that this ‘anytime’ is not in 2007. Replacing a car is one thing we cannot quite handle at this time, nor any more big repairs like this.

With the car back Axel did something that he dreamed about for the last couple of months: go to the grocery store on his own and buy exactly what he wanted. It was a great feeling of freedom, he reported after he returned several hours later. This simple pleasure of shopping on your own!