Peppermint church

On the 10^th of March, Markéta, Noel and I went to Schouwen, a nice island north of Kruiningen. On the way to our host families for this day, we had to cross the Oosterschelde, an estuary between Tholen and Schouwen-Duiveland.

You feel like you are driving the car directly on the water.

John brought Noel and me to Marianne, a single mother of four children.

When we arrived we were welcomed by two lovely, but noisy dogs.

Both of us were very impressed by Marianne's house. We felt welcomed from the very beginning.

First we met her daughter Julia, who showed us around. They have horses, chicken, cats, dogs, goats, rabbits and a rooster. We were so jealous of her and at the latest when we saw the pool, we invited ourselves to come back in the summer.

The farm they have is surrounded by a nature reserve for birds. It has to be amazing in summer.

At ten o'clock we went to church. It made a very bright, friendly and open impression. The walls had the colour of mint.

And that fits to the church, because during the service most of the church-goers got some peppermints out of their bags and began to chew. Marianne told us, this is common in the Netherlands, but we saw it for the first time.

Marianne and our magnet message

When we came back to the farm, Marianne began to cook lunch and asked us to build a sentence with her magnets. It took us a while, but you can see the result in the photo.

The lunch was very delicious and we could see that Marianne likes to have guests in her home. Not only neighbours were there, but also her brother, who lives very close and two people, who help with the horses.

It was a very convivial company!

After lunch Marianne showed us the island. But because it was so cold, we went by car to a lot of little villages, through little alleys. Not easy with a big jeep...

We came back right on time, John and Markéta just came 5 minutes after we arrived.

When I look back to this day, it was probably one of the greatest days here in the Netherlands, although it was rainy and cold.

But I met this open and friendly woman, who is stronger than you would ever think.

Because of her hospitality everyone feels so welcome in her house and I look forward to seeing her again.

Wietje, Germany