54 connections nov2014

Connect International serves the international community in the provinces of Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe and Noord Holland.

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Supported by an international staff and Board of Directors, we provide quality relocation services and practical information to help familiarize international residents with all aspects of living, working or studying in the Northern Netherlands, as well as organizing events and activities to make connections.

ConnectingWorlds

Welcome New Members!Serv ices :

Jo in Us!You can register to become a Connect International member via our website. For a small yearly fee, you receive the Connections e-magazine newsletter delivered directly to your email inbox, you have access to the Connect International community through organized events, you can ask us any questions you may have and much more.Visit: www.connect-int.org

● Immigration services● Home search & set-up● Social events, activities & clubs● Career services● Business events● Books & guides● Information sheets● Knowledge database

Connect International would like to welcome the following new members: Margarita Cabrera,Maria Gracia Flauto,Jacinta Elottor (Elly) Onuoha,Rosalyn Slot-Carthew,Kimberly Cooper,Isabelle Degors & Martin Levasseur, Sonja Pyott & Marcel van Tuinen,Franz Aguirre & Natalia de Castro,Rebecca Dornbusch,John Qi Dong, Elaine & Philip Hedigan, Yumiko & Gareth Connagh,Astrid Jaspers,Victor Saraiva,David DeGeest,S. Guntern,Claudia Bos,Peipei Wu,M. Cavallo,

https://twitter.com/@ConnectNH

https://www.facebook.com/pages/ConnectNH/185249751488726

Contact : Publ ica t ion Team:Connect Head O�ce:Gedemte Zuiderdiep 98, GroningenPostbus 16, 9700 AA GroningenTelephone: 050 7440087Email: [email protected]: www.connect-int.org

Publisher: Stephanie Fermor-PoortmanAssistant Editor: Margaret MetsalaContributers to this issue: Stephanie Fermor-Poortman, Alexandra van den Doel, Jennifer Bauch, Carol Nieuwland-Goss, Lori McKinney & Maren Drewes.

Interested in advertising in Connections E-Magazine?Advertising Rates per Issue (10 issues per year) : 1/4 Page (12.5 x 9.5 cm) €25,00 1/2 Page (12.5 x 19 cm) €50,00 1 Page (A4 - 21 x 29.7cm) €100,00

Contact [email protected] for more details.

Everything you need to make yourself at home in the Netherlands

UNDERONE ROOF

Connect International has a full membership

Enjoy Writing?The Connections Newsletter is seeking volunteer writers who enjoy writing on a theme, informative articles, or opinions they want to share. Interested? Contact us [email protected]

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Connect Noord Holland (Alkmaar):Telephone: 06 25394234Email: [email protected]

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Attention Writers!

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NovemberCalendar

November 2014

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NovemberEvents

CONNECT (Groningen, Friesland & Drenthe)

Blanca Vergara - Promote yourself to CEO of Me Inc.Date: 1 November 2014, 10:00 hrs

Parents Coffee Time Date: 4 November 2014, 10:00 hrs

Connect for Coffee Date: 7 November 2014, 10:30 hrs@ La Place, V&D in Groningen

Beading for charityDate: 10 November 2014

Dutch Customs and Culture Workshop Date: 10 November 2014, 19:15 hrs@ IWCN, Gedempte Zuiderdiep 98


Crafts Club EveningDate: 11 November 2014

Bead Weaving WorkshopDate: 16 November 2014, 14:00 hrs@ IWCN, Gedempte Zuiderdiep 98

CONNECT Noord Holland(Noord Holland)

CNH Connect for Coffee Date: 14 November 2014, 20:00 hrs@ the home of Bobbi Jo, Uitgeest

CNH Kids & Coffee Date: 19 November 2014, 9:00 hrs@ the home of Martine, Alkmaar

Book ClubDate: 17 November 2014, 20:00 hrs


Coffee Morning AssenDate: 19 November 2014, 10:30 hrs@ V&D La Place in Assen

Prezi WorkshopDate: 19 November 2014, 18:30 hrs@ IWCN, Gedempte Zuiderdiep 98

Connect for Coffee Date: 21 November 2014, 10:30 hrs@ La Place, V&D in Groningen

Christmas Felt Garland WorkshopDate: 23 November 2014, 14:00 hrs@ IWCN, Gedempte Zuiderdiep 98


Connect Crafts Club Date: 28 November 2014, 10:30 hrs

CNH Book Club Date: 19 November 2014, 20:00 hrs@ the home of Caroline, Bakkum

CNH Connect for Coffee Date: 28 November 2014, 20:00 hrs@ the home of Federica, Alkmaar

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InformationCenter

by Alexandra van den Doel

It’s that time of year again! Controversy rages about St Nicholas’s helper, and children will soon be glued to Het Sinterklaasjournaal (should be starting November 10th this year) and putting their shoes by the chimney/radiator/back door in hopes of some yummy treats or presents. By the way, this putting the shoe out ready for gifts appears to go back as far as 1427 when the rich in the parish of the St Nicholas church in Utrecht left gifts of money in the shoes on the evening of December 5th and the proceeds were distributed on December 6th (the saints day of St Nicholas).

Sinterklaas Goodies

up with Father Christmas/Santa Claus will perhaps remember receiving this trinity of bounty in their stockings on Christmas Day.

Trivia: As well as chocolate coins, chocolate in the shape of paper money is now also sold. In olden times, Sinterklaas and his helpers threw money mixed in with the pepernoten.

Chocolate LettersEdible letters date back to the Middle Ages. Children in schools run by nuns made their initials out of bread dough as an educational tool for learning their letters. As a reward for diligent work or achieving neat writing, the children were allowed to eat the bread letter.

The shops have been full of these typical treats since September and I hope you have already had the opportunity to try some. These treats are not just yummy excuses for tooth rot and extra weight gain, some of them have traditions going way back.

(Chocolate) MoneyAlthough St Nicholas was buried in Myra (Turkey), his relics were transferred to Bari (Italy) at the beginning of the 11th century, in a basilica built there. The religious order of nuns in charge of caring for his remains started the tradition of leaving bundles with oranges, nuts and coins on the doorsteps of the needy on the eve of his birthday. Those who grew

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InformationCenter

Pepernoten are made of taai taai. The recipe contains treacle and the pepernoten are chewier and irregularly shaped.Kruidnoten are confusingly often called pepernoten and many Dutch when referring to pepernoten actually mean kruidnoten. Kruidnoten are brittle and round and taste like speculaas.The throwing of pepernoten has its origin in the sowing of seeds in the fields. Like throwing rice and confetti at weddings, it is a fertility ritual.

Trivia: Kruidnoten can be found in many varieties: chocolate, caramel, truffle, extra brittle, cappuccino, mokka, stroopwafel, candy covered, etc etc. Speculaas is made with speculaaskruiden, a mix of spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, white pepper, aniseed, coriander seed, clove powder), which resembles the mixed spice used in, for example, Christmas cakes in the Anglo Saxon countries.

Between then and the 1800’s, letters of bread, biscuit and “banketletters” (puff pastry with almond filling shaped into letters) were widely sold and amongst other things used as advertisements.At the end of the nineteenth century, chocolate letters started to be produced commercially.

Trivia: Although all the letters sold nowadays are the same weight, the M looks the biggest and is the most popular. Although supermarkets now sell the letter I, it is still not sold by the big chocolate producers, because it is thought to look too chunky (because of the need to have the same weight as the other letters). Chocolate letters are finely ribbed; not for aesthetic reasons, but because it helps them come out of the mold more easily.

PepernotenWhen is a pepernoot not a pepernoot? When it’s a kruidnoot.

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InformationCenter

professions from sailors to prostitutes and pirates to virgins, from thieves to merchants and children to butchers as well as being seen as a matchmaker.

So, the traditional Sinterklaas treats hark back to his good works and miracles mixed in with fertility rituals that in turn hark back to pagan times. Whatever their history, they are consumed with gusto in our house and I hope you (learn to) love them too.

SpeculaaspoppenSpeculaaspoppen, or dolls made out of speculaas, have long been a traditional courtship gift in the Netherlands. They were particularly popular exchange gifts at fairs around St Nicholas where boys and girls would gift these, or hearts, made out of sugar (another popular Sinterklaas treat: sugar-work animals, shapes, hearts) to each other, trying to find a potential mate.

Trivia: St Nicholas was patron saint of many different and varying people and

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InformationCenter

LifeExperience

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Dive adventures in Bonaireby Jennifer Bauch

It all started with my friend Leo who said; “Come on let’s go diving in Bonaire”. Promptly I enrolled myself for a diving course and after six weeks I passed my PADI exam. Having done my lessons in an inside pool and a dark murky lake in Tynarloo, I wondered how my diving experience in Bonaire would be. Warmer climate, clear waters with excellent visibility and swimming without a full length wetsuit made me look forward to the trip.

Before my departure I had a look on http://www.tourismbonaire.com/bonaire-dive-sites for different diving sites and the required diving experience. The excitement grew with each click of the mouse.

Our group of eight people got off the plane at Flamingo International Airport in Bonaire. Already the name gave an exotic feeling. A rental car was waiting for us at the airport which took us to our hotel, Van der Valk, with it’s own private beach.

buddy. Holiday bliss flooded into my mind. The first few meters you swim toward the coral reef wall. At first I looked everywhere. Then my focus changed to close up views of the coral reef and seeing the small creatures emerge from the coral and from behind the rocks. Handsigns and smiles got exchanged continuously when spotting a special fish, rays or turtles.

The group dynamics changed abruptly and got excited with each turtle spotting. It was my first turtle sighting and I loved it. Three turtles were

We were eager for our first dive. You can rent diving gear at the hotel (reservation is advised) or at any diving resort. In no time we were equipped and suited up with a swimming t-shirt, oxygen bottles and snorkel gear.

My nerves started to race as my first independent dive was only seconds away. As a newbie, I was guided by my friends and experienced dive

LifeExperience


swimming close to us. The silence of the water, the true beauty of the s u r r o u n d i n g nature and my own breathing made this whole experience magical.

I took off my gear , cleaned it all and enjoyed a well deserved drink with dinner. It was a perfect ending to our day. Each following day was just as magical.

reef or a structure like the Salt Pier or a ship wreck.

For both beginners and advanced divers, Bonaire is a winner. I am sure there is much more to discover in Bonaire. Not only diving spots, but also the natural parks, rural villages and the night life. I look forward to returning in the future.

Bonaire has lots to offer. Fantastic diving places, natural parks, local art and a delicious dining scene, all of which can be practically reached with a rental car. Our group made a list of our most desired diving spots and combined it with the lunch and dinner possibilities. The website www.infobonaire.com/divemap.html can give you a good overview of available sites and the accompanying ability level.

Each day we did two different dives (some with a diving instructor/master). Some sites, such as White Hole, we could approach by boat. Others could be reached from the beach. Each time it was a short swim to a (double) coral

EntrepreneurFeature


Food forThought


Kitchen Talk By Carol Nieuwland-Goss & Lori McKinney

This month we’re talking about kitchens. You know, that room & space where we can spend a lot of hours creating edible dishes to enjoy and share with family and friends.

Making the most of our kitchen space lends a huge helping hand with our efficiency, proficiency, and ultimately, our pleasure as we cook and bake along. What we are aiming to do here is to encourage you to take a good look around your kitchen, whatever the size or shape, and visualize how you currently use that space. Ask yourself what works and what doesn’t work, and then ask why, or why not? You’ll need time, pen & paper (or your cell phone notepad, if you prefer), and shrewd honesty to do this exercise.

Like us, you may have a vision of what your Dream Kitchen would look like. The good news is that there is no reason to wait forever: consult that vision, see the realistic possibilities, jot

down notes, and begin with small changes to make the most of what you already have!

By shrewd honesty we mean that you need to fess up to what things you really use, and what you do not. We all have some nifty appliances and gadgets in our cupboards ‘just because’ and yet, we’ve not used them once! Let them go. Free up that space for the things you DO use on a regular basis. The goal here is to get organized by removing the items that you have not used in a long time, if ever, and find a new home for them (selling or donating, for example.)

As you work your way through your kitchen, opening up more space as you


Food forThought

clear things out, allow your mind to visualize the things that your Dream Kitchen has that will now work in your current kitchen. To help you get started we put together some questions to get you thinking along the lines of bringing your favorites within easy reach while working in the kitchen. We also provided our own answers to these questions to get your juices flowing.

What do you wish your kitchen had? Carol: More space and storage. (I solved this by purchasing a butcher block cart with drawers for storage and the top is additional counter space.)

Lori: Better utilization of the kitchen layout as a whole- more counter and cabinet space What is your most indispensable tool or piece of equipment? Lori: Kitchen Aid, whisk, high temperature silicone spatulas, submersion blender, and the list goes on…

Carol: chef’s knife, food processor, zester. What is your favorite go-to cookbook, cooking blog, or website? Carol: Heidi Swanson’s ‘Super

Natural Everyday’ cookbook; Heidi’s website www.101cookbooks.com

Lori: I have so many, but if I was to choose one, currently it would be, ‘The Book of Buns’ by Jane Mason and the blog- www.davidlebovitz.com What are your top 3 pantry items? Carol: I always have herbs and spices; olive oil and eggs in the cupboards.

Lori: A wide-range of flours, olive and grape seed oils. Also herbs and spices. What one tool or piece of equipment do you wish you had? Lori: Dough whisk.

Carol: Vitamix juicer. What type of cuisine or cooking technique would you like to learn? Lori: Molecular gastronomy

Carol: Tempering chocolate.

Hopefully these few questions have given you the inspiration to think about how you use your kitchen, what you may need to add, or say goodbye to, as well as insight into the things you enjoy cooking and baking the most. With the holiday season just around the corner, what better time to compile


Food forThought

a ‘short list’ of possibilities to continue toward turning your own kitchen into exactly how you dream it to be. We would love to hear your responses to the questions above, which we may use in one of our future columns *without names to respect privacy*, so please email us at [email protected] with your answers. It could strike a spark of inspiration for someone else.Plus, if you have any other thoughts, questions, or foodie ideas, please drop us a

Savvy thrifty bargains! Before purchasing small kitchen items- explore your local thrift shop (kringloop) for finds – there, great items can be found often for a fraction of a price.

Going to a pot-luck in the near future? Skip the ‘throw-away’ containers, and instead explore your local kringloop for dishes and pans!Again- these can be purchased often for even less than the throw-away. Simply prepare your potluck dish to take along to the party and leave the dish for the hostess with the instructions to keep for herself or pass the dish forward to the next party, instructions repeated.

Tip of the Month

note, we’d love to hear from YOU!

Coming up in December – Get your holiday season groovin’ merry & bright!

Places to goThings to see


Learning to skateBy Alexandra van den Doel

In Groningen, Sportcentrum Kardinge (www.kardinge.nl) offers skating lessons for children and adults, both for absolute beginners to those needing a refresher course, and from 6 years old to 106. Lessons are always in groups, so there is an opportunity to make new friends too.

There is currently an 8 week course (both child and adult) underway and new ones are due to start 12 January 2015. In addition there are short intensive courses during the Christmas vacation and February half term for children. These courses are every year, so if the dates don’t suit this year, why not try next winter?

A quick internet search under: schaatslessen Noord Holland, schaatlessen Friesland and schaatslessen Drenthe gave plenty of hits, so why not find something in your neighbourhood and give it a try and really integrate with the Dutchies, before winter sets in?

Three of my four children (then aged 6,

7 and 9) and two of their friends learnt to skate during the Christmas vacation last year. The huge group of children was let loose onto the ice and their (sometimes comical struggling) movements monitored for a little while. The group was then subdivided into 4 levels, each with their own teacher. The progress over the next four days was just remarkable. My youngest went from not even being able to stand on the ice in skates to confidently skating around obstacles and in tunnels. My daughter learnt to skate backwards and all five of them had great fun; four mornings well spent! The course was not cheap (especially when paying for multiple children), but I feel it was well worth it as they can now go to the ice rink with friends when

Places to go Things to see


invited and attend birthday parties at skating rinks with confidence. It is also a great day out to take the whole family to a frozen-over field, lake or canal to see the country from a completely different perspective.

men’s teams too for practice. Referring back to Jani’s earlier mention of bruises, I asked how dangerous this sport was. Jani assured me that due to the “no checking” rule for women and the padding (helmet, shoulders,

Somebody who learnt to play ice hockey in later life is Jani Mahoney. Jani is from Washington State, one of the big US ice hockey states, and she could skate from a young age. When looking for a new (lower impact) sport, Jani came across a female ice hockey player when she was in her mid-forties, who encouraged her to join up. However, there was one condition: never mind that she could skate; she had to be able to stop! After a week’s intensive practice just on stopping (and several bruises later), Jani joined up and never looked back.

When she moved to the Netherlands around 4 years back , one of the first places she visited was the newly formed women’s ice hockey team in Groningen: GIJS Racoons (www.gijsgroningen.nl) . There is now a women’s league, but they still play

elbows, knees etc), the injuries if any, are no more frequent that any average sport.

According to Jani, ice hockey skating is easier than figure skating (due to the shape of the skates), more graceful and flexible than speed skating (due to the movements and that hockey stick to lean on), but not too elegant as you tend to have to skate with your behind in the air. This said by a tiny and very elegant woman by the way. However if you can learn to turn on a dime and you know how to STOP – why not give it a go.


Upcoming Workshop

Let’s talk about visionsBy Maren Drewes

Let’s talk about visions. It happens all the time: when attending a friend’s party, when running into a former colleague on the street, when meeting new people in a new country, when going to a conference. People ask that question “So - what do you do?”

If you run your own business or work as a freelancer you especially want to have a convincing answer that vividly captures what you do. After all, your interlocutor might be a potential client and might even have background knowledge of your area. “I support organizations to communicate their vision sustainably”, I usually answer and try to tell from the person’s reaction whether she has an idea of what that might entail and whether she would be interested in getting to know more details. Wouldn’t we end up having way more fruitful conversations if people asked not “what you do” but “why you do it”? Or if we told people why we do what we do even if they ask us what we do? I believe that telling people your motivation will get you those benefits.

Mission and vision statements.So where do we usually encounter the whys in a business context? To make it simple, you could say that a mission statement is a good standard answer to the question “what you do” as a company, while a vision statement answers the question “why you do it”. While mission statements describe in the present tense what you do, for whom and how; a vision statement

describes a desired future state that your work helps to create and is formulated in an inspirational (yet simple and clear!) manner. And just as with those two questions, by focusing on the former, many people neglect the latter.

Tips on how to find and communicate your vision.The following are steps that I found useful for myself and when working with clients.The earlier the better, but it is never too late to start thinking about your vision.Practice zooming in and out: if you find it difficult to think about a vision for your business, start small and think about a vision for your new house (if you have just moved), your holidays etc. Or if you are good at thinking


Upcoming Workshop

bigger, think about the vision you have for your life and then think about what role your work is supposed to play in it.Collect: Your vision is like a collage of many different ideas. You might not be able to think of everything at once. So take your time and take notes when something crosses your mind.Prioritize: Once you have some ideas, put them into categories and distil the most important points.Clarify: I’d like to emphasize this point since it is often neglected. Make sure that you understand what your values mean to you and that you are not just using big words to sound good.Simplify: A good vision should be clear, simple and short.

In November and December, I will offer two introductory workshops on the presentation software Prezi, which I find to be an excellent tool for communicating your ideas, visions or values, because…

• Using the software is intuitive and fun• It’s free (in its basic version).• You are not tied to slides but present on a virtually endless sheet of paper. • You are free to find the apt visual structure for your content. That way you can communicate how bits of information relate to another. Your audience will be able to follow your talk more easily and remember your presentation as a visual metaphor.• A Prezi presentation can easily be added to a WordPress blog or website.

Yes, you’ve noticed! So far I have only told you about what I offer. Here is why: I want that the quality of an idea determines its success, not the amount of money with which it is promoted. Thus, I want small businesses to be able to present themselves as successfully as large companies. Nowadays, that is very well possible if you know some great strategy and communication tools.

54 connections nov2014

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