Newsletter Spring `08

Mark Your Calendar, EURO 2008
Euro 08 is coming up and it’s going to be a huge
nailbiter. On June 7th ‘Oranje’ will be playing its
first game against Italy. For the record, they
haven’t beaten Italy since the 1978 World
Championship in 1978, o, did I mention Italy is
the reigning World Champion? On June 13th it
will be the runner up of the last World
Championship, France, without Zidane, still a
huge contender. The third game will be on June
17 against the number one of Group G in the preliminary rounds, Roumania, Netherlands came in
second in that group. They tied Roumania at
home 0-0 and lost in Constanza 1-0.
In the quarter finals number 1 and number
2 of Group C will continue to play the number 2
and 1 from Group D, Greece, Russia, Spain or
Sweden. On June 21 it will be D1-C2 and on June
22, C1-D2. The semi finals will be on the 26th
and the final game on June 29. Coach Marco van
Basten announced his squad last week, although,
he is still able to make changes.
Goalkeepers: Sander Boschker, Edwin van der
Sar, Maarten Stekelenburg, Henk Timmer.
Defenders: Wilfred Bouma, Tim de Cler, Urby
Emanuelson, John Heitinga, Kew Jaliens, Joris
Mathijsen, Mario Melchiot, André Ooijer.
Upcoming Events
June 7
Belgian Beer and Breughel Fest
June 21 NAADV master Golf Tournament
July
Pool party
August 2 Rafting or Canoe Trip
Sept.
Are we ready for 2008 Euro Soccer?
Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay, Giovanni van
Bronckhorst, Orlando Engelaar, Nigel de Jong,
Denny Landzaat, Hedwiges Maduro, Clarence
Seedorf, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart,
Demy de Zeeuw.
Forwards: Ryan Babel, Klaas Jan Huntelaar,
Danny Koevermans, Dirk Kuyt, Ruud van
Nistelrooy, Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben, Jan
Vennegoor of Hesselink.
The slogan of the Dutch team this year will be: Eén
doel, één gevoel, samen zijn we Oranje. One
mission, one feeling, together we’re orange. If the
team is as bad as the slogan I have to fear the worst.
Publication of the Netherlands-America Association
of the Delaware Valley, Inc.
SECRETARIAT: 224 Bella Vista Road, Devon, PA 19333
FIRST CLASS MAIL
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
Speelgroep picnic
Nov.
Indonesische rijsttafel
Nov.
Heritage Day
Dec.
Sinterklaas
Dec.
Holiday Borrel
Jan.
New Member Welcome Reception
March
Annual Meeting
April
Koninginnedag
Be a member, and you receive fliers at
your current membership address for
upcoming events and on the electronic
mailing list from the NAADV.
De Brug
Merck toch hoe sterck
“De Brug” is a newsletter for and by members of the NAADV.
De Brug • Summer 2008
www.naadv.org
Michiel Bartman, Our Olympian at Boathouse Row
On August 8 the Beijing Olympics will commence. Michiel Bartman, head coach at Vesper,
one of the oldest clubs at boathouse row,
knows a little about the Olympics. He has competed and won in Atlanta (gold), Sidney and
Athens (silver).
The Olympics have consumed his life for
all those years. Everything he did or didn’t do
was weighed on a scale, will this improve my
changes of winning or not? Going to Paris for a
weekend? No. Going out for dinner, maybe, as
long as there’s no alcohol involved. In order to
win a six minute race, once every four years,
Bartman had to train twice a day, for more than
twelve years. He had to deny himself the pleasure of life we mortals have grown accustomed
to. The sacrifice, the hard work, the concentration, I really think we can learn a lesson from
these guys.
After so many years of intense competition
Bartman has descended from Mount Olympus
to become the head coach at Vesper. He is happy
to have retired from competitive rowing because
now he can do more injury prone activities he
likes to do, like karate, or biking through the city,
where he had his first biking accident ever. He
ran into an pedestrian who for some reason
deemed in necessary to step into his path.
He has been hired by Vesper, the Kellys are
its most prominent members, to reinvigorate its
competitive stature in the world of rowing. The
legendary club already has six olympic gold
medals, but the last one was in 1964 at the Tokyo
Olympics. The leadership of the organization
wants to put the Vesper rowers back to where
they think they belong, at the number one spot.
Bartman explains that after his arrival he
started working with a group of athletes in order
to bring them to the highest level. Of course
they wanted it to happen immediately, Bartman
says, but that’s not how it works. First we needed to work on technique and strength, we
haven’t even covered game tactics yet. Bartman
has observed that many rowers on boat house
row are strength-rowers with bad technique. I
have never seen so many rowers needing lower
back surgery, Bartman says. In the Netherlands I
knew only one guy who needed surgery, and he’s
View of Philadelphia, 2008. Michiel Bartman
been rowing ever since. Another priority of his
are the maritime skills of the rowers. Even if it is
a sport, you are still captain of a boat in traffic,
that means you have to obey the rules and pay
attention. The schuylkill bends, had many
bridges and, especially after a heavy storm there
tend to be tree trunks floating right underneath
the surface.
www.vesperboatclub.org
www.michielbartman.com
Belgian Beer Tasting “Yum Yum”
The production of Belgian beer is steeped in
Medieval history. In the so-called Dark Age
people had to drink beer because water was
contaminated. One had to drink beer in order
to survive, we are talking 500 years or so B.P.
(Before Pasteur.)
So, from an evolutionary point of view beer
is still good for us. We celebrate this on our annual Belgian Beerfest which will take place at the
home of Maurice and Anne Koningstein who graciously offered their home for this tasting event.
Beer without is food is of course like patat
without mayonnaise. At the event there will be
home made fries, mussels, saté with lots of
peanut sauce. Guests are requested to bring the
healthy stuff: a Belgian appetizer, salad, vegetable
dish or dessert. The event is for adults only, $20
for tasting-guests, $10 for non-tasting guests.
Location: The Koningstein Residence in
Cheyney, PA
When: Saturday, June 7, 2008 - 3:00pm
Directions will be sent via e-mail or phone to
those who respond. If you did not receive a flyer,
contact Cisca Jansen: [email protected]
Interview with the New President of the NAADV
Many people that move into the area go through
the same adjustments and life changes as everybody else. You don’t realize this until you talk to
others in similar situations. Sharing your stories
is helpful and often a lot of fun. Furthermore,
for many young families, it is a great opportunity to introduce their children to, or keep them in
touch with, Dutch traditions. Finally, our events
provide opportunities to meet new people and
establish lifelong friendships.
How long have you been in the US?
Since October 4th 1994 (almost 14 years)
Did you live in this area all the time?
Yes, in Philadelphia and its suburbs
Why did you come to the US?
My plans were to work in the US for a year or so
to see what the US was all about. Then I wanted
to move on to Australia to work there for a few
years. Obviously, I never made it to Australia
because I liked it here.
Name a few positives and a few negatives compared to the Netherlands.
The spaciousness of the country and the diversity of the landscapes are real positives to me. I
like that you can own a house here with a nice
yard for a reasonable price. Of course I miss the
luxury of all the extra vacation days and the
social systems like universal health care that the
Netherlands has to offer.
Why did you join the NAADV?
My passport had expired and I needed a new
one so I met with Yvonne Orova who took care
of these matters. When I visited her to discuss
the passport issue, she mentioned the NAADV.
I went to my first NAADV event which was a
Rijsttafel to check things out. I had a great time
and met some interesting people so I decided to
join. The people that I met at the Rijsttafel
became good friends and have been ever since.
Congratulations with your election, why did
you decide to become president of the
NAADV?
Bert de Jong invited me to join the board
around 1998. Since then, I have organized different events and was secretary for several years.
The New President of the NAADV Sicco Popma
During this time, I have seen some of the issues
we deal with as an organization. The biggest
challenge, in my opinion, is keeping the organization current and relevant to its members.
Therefore we need to regularly evaluate, adjust,
and define the future role of the NAADV. If
need be, we may have to adapt the organization
in order to meet the needs of our current and
future members.
What would you like to see happen with this
organization?
It would be great to see more people actively
involved in the organization. I would like to
improve the process of organizing and advertising events so we attract more participants. This
in turn will help our membership grow.
Why do you think it is important to meet other
Dutch and Belgian people?
Anything new in the pipeline?
The new board recently had its first meeting and
came up with several new ideas and some
improvements such as:
- Create local chapters that organize local gettogethers
- Change the organization of events. Each event
will have its own organizational team with one
board member overseeing the events. This way
it is easier to evaluate and improve the events for
the following year
- Rework “De Brug” and create a fresh full-color
newsletter
- Make our website more interactive so people
can register, pay dues online, post blogs, and
download podcasts etc.
To make this all happen, we welcome volunteers
who are willing to spend some time organizing
events. We are also open to new suggestions and
initiatives that could improve our organization.
You're from Friesland, is it true that the Frisian
language is close the English language?
It is closer to English than Dutch with some
similarity in words and pronunciations. My
Frisian accent would be clearly noticeable in the
Netherlands but due to my Frisian background
I do not have the obvious Dutch accent and usually puzzle the Americans a bit.
Colophon
Board Members
“De Brug” is a newsletter for and by members of the Netherlands-America
Association of the Delaware Valley (NAADV).
President
Sicco Popma
610 832-0363
[email protected]
Vice President
Rob Heerkens
610 964-8558
[email protected]
Secretary
Cisca Jansen
610 638-1207
[email protected]
Secretary Emeritus
Sylvain van Gobes
215 844-8665
[email protected]
Please send announcements, recipes, contributions and advertisements
for the upcoming issue to Gerald van Wilgen, Editor, Phone: (856) 261-1673,
Email: [email protected] or to Erwin van Zanten, Designer,
Phone: (610) 969-8195, Email: [email protected]
And don’t forget to pay your dues and update us on any address changes,
so that we can keep you up to date with what's going on at the Naadv!
Membership is:Student $20, Single $25, Family $35 and Patron $60 or more.
For more information look at our website at http://www.naadv.org.
Be a member and you receive fliers for upcoming events and on the electronic
mailing list from the NAADV. To join the electronic mailing list, please send
a message to [email protected]
Treasurer
Stefan Lint
610 853-0950
[email protected]
Audit Committee
Ria Blaschek
610 649-7538
[email protected]
Nell Daniels
610 565-4856
[email protected]
Director-at-Large
Roderik Alewijnse
610 896-8015
[email protected]
Antonie Tripp
215 661-0191
[email protected]
Board member-at-Large
Elisabeth Boeynaems
267-266-7877
[email protected]
De Brug Editor & Design
Gerald van Wilgen
856 261-1673
[email protected]
Erwin van Zanten
610 969-8195
[email protected]
Webmaster & Flyers
Shelly Rabuse
610 896-8015
[email protected]
Sinterklaas Comittee
Deborah Kowal
610 964 8558
[email protected]
Volunteer!
Queensday 2008
All the NAADV activities are run by volunteers to keep the cost of membership to a minimum. It is appreciated if you would sign up
to help out for at least one activity each year.
Please send an email to [email protected] with
your preferred activity.
The NAADV Queensday celebration took place
at the beautiful St. Mary’s church in Wayne on
April 26th. About 100 members and guests
attended the event, including 40 children. The
children built their own royal crowns, slammed
the orange birthday piñata and sank their teeth
in pieces of “koek” strung to a wire, an activity
know as ‘koekhappen’. Thanks to our volunteers: Edy and Hans Scholten, Rob and Debby
Heerkens, Elisabeth Boeymans, Marjo van
Gelderen, Nicky Einthoven, Shelly Rabuse and
Cisca Jansen for putting it all together.
Children going Dutch
Koekhappen and they were delicious
Dit was de eerste keer dat ik naar de speelgroep ben gegaan en ben zeker van plan om
het regelmatig te doen.
Ik vond het echt een leuke gelegenheid om
ten eerst de kinderen een kans te geven om met
andere Nederlandse kinderen te spelen. Je hoort
ze dan een mengelmoesje van Nederlands en
Engels praten. En ten tweede was het voor ons als
ouders ook heel erg gezellig om samen met je
landgenoten even bij te kletsen. Marcel en
Michelle hadden allerlei lekkere Nederlandse hapjes. En Michelle heeft later samen met de kinderen
nog echte Nederlandse paddestoelen (rood met
witte stippen) gemaakt van eieren en tomaten.
Groetjes, Ilonka
If you are interested or have questions,
please e-mail Susan Kil-Hershey at
[email protected]
Where are our Wereldkids?
Hitting a “Dutch flower” piñata
De Brug is certainly not the spot to hand out
homework, but we’re going to do it anyway.
Hereby the assignment to our 8 - 14 year old
members. Go to www.wereldkids.nl and contribute. There are stories, photos and videos
from many parts of the world, but none out of
the Delaware Valley. If your contribution is
accepted, let us know we will mention it in the
next De Brug and, of course, will give you an A+.
Thank You Roderik and Shelly
Next Year
Henry Hudson Year
Henry Hudson wasn’t Dutch and he deliberately went the wrong direction ( he was supposed
to go norht and then east), and in the company
of rapscallion discoverers like Amerigo
Vespucci and Christopher Columbus, he probably wouldn’t stand out, but it’s the results that
matter and those we will be celebrating next
year. Both old and new Amsterdam will be
involved in a plethora of exertions, many
focused on maritime activities.
We would like to thank our former president Roderik Alewijnse and Shelly Rabuse for for opening
their hearts and their home to the NAADV.
www.henryhudson400.com