LeoniesLife

Saturday

Best and Most healthy patat in the Netherlands :)

Kinderdijk

This afternoon I went to see the windmills in Kinderdijk. It was beautiful! All the flags are up because today is our queen's birthday! Happy Birthday, queen Beatrix! [gallery]

Age, gifts and lying

Last Friday I turned 34. I know, not very impressive: not old, not young, not reaching 40, just 34. Age doesn't mean a whole lot to me anyway. Ever since we left the Netherlands in 1997, I've hung out with people at least 10 to 30 years older. The first social gathering I was invited to as an expat wife was a lady's 50th birthday party. I remember it quite vividly. Drinking pink champagne at 10 o'clock in the morning with heavily loaded women (jewelry and body fat), talking about their grandchildren, latest fashion and menopause problems. The birthday girl came up to me and asked how old I was. I explained her that I had just turned 22 and recently had moved to Warsaw. She asked if I had children. When I told her that I didn't have any and that I only had been married for 2 weeks, she replied: "Well, that wouldn't have been very decent anyway, would it!" But I actually didn't want to write about this. I want to tell you something about the cool gifts I got. Sudoku toilet paper, a plastic shark, a nice tray and a candy bra. As you can imagine, some gifts were sort of chosen out of selfish reasons. Like the candy bra. Julian had picked it, which didn't surprise me at all. Up till he was four, his teachers or babysitters, or let's say all women that he liked with cup B or more would tell me that he had sneakingly stroked or squeezed their breasts! I think the extended effects of the extended breast feeding really go way beyond what I could have imagined! As soon as I had unpacked this red-blue bra, with according to the box: sexy design, shiny quality and to be consumed before January 2012, the children started asking if they could eat it! So I gave them some, but even after enough candy to make them jump up and down like little kangaroos, the whining just went on and on! I told the children that it was my bra and that they couldn't have more and put it on a shelf. A few hours later, I heard Eva and Michelle whispering, moving furniture and arguing that ended in a full blown fight. Strangely enough, they calmed down by themselves and then seemed to be quite content. 5 Minutes later, Michelle walked in looking like this:    And even after heavy interrogation, she still wouldn't admit that she had eaten from the bra! What a great secret agent is she going to be!

life

Twin issues

Today, Eva and Michelle had their first day in school. In Skopje they used to go to a school/daycare that they loved a lot. So it's not their first school experience, but still. It is the first time that all four are in the same school and even more special, all in different classes. We've been thinking a lot about whether it was a good idea to keep Eva and Michelle in the same class or not. Because now, they are so used to be together. Staying together will give them a sense of security in a completely new situation and separating them at this point, just after a move, might be a bit traumatic. But the director of the school advised us to let them go to different classes. And even though it brakes my heart in a way, I know it is the best for them. Especially now that they are still socializing a lot, playing and getting ample opportunities to tell their stories in class, it is good that they have all the freedom to do that in the way they want, individually. And it is a lot easier for the teachers as well! Having an identical twin sister I remember what it was like to always be generalized as the "sisters Pauw", competition about whose friend was mine or hers and not being able to make up stories in class. Even now I notice a big need for companionship and I do find it hard to make certain decisions on my own. But is that so bad? And would that have been different if we had been in separate kindergartens? I don't know. We have lived very separate lives in the past 12 years and that has really shaped our own identities a lot. But every time we see each other, we're both a bit freaked out by how much we look, think and act alike. And we realize that it's not that we don't have our own identity, they just happen to be almost the same! I had prepared Eva and Michelle a bit, told them that they would have their own teacher and friends and they seemed quite happy with it. When I picked them up this afternoon, both were smiling and ok. The teachers told me that none of them had mentioned their sister once! Both had really enjoyed school and were excited about their class. But at dinner time, all of a sudden out of the blue Eva asked me: "So tomorrow, I can go to Michelle's class, can't I?" It might be a bit difficult in the beginning, but I know that they will eventually get used to it. And they can still enjoy their special relationship and do lots of naughty things together when they're at home!

kindergarten, life, twins