Going home ......

The journey from Hilversum to Zwolle called the journey home.
Quite an interesting day, to say goodbye to Nienke and Walter in Hilversum. It was difficult to leave them but I had to do that to go home. Funny enough I was put on the wrong train, also interesting for me to be on a train for the first time. Just when I was seated, then there was a phonecall from Nienke: she said: Listen, Ibrahim, please listen carefully: get out of the train as soon as possible at the next station. Please get out of this train! I was a little scared; what's happening??? Well, it was part of the trip. Very fortunate there was someone helping me in the train. So I had to talk to that person that there was something wrong. So he helped me out of the train at the next station, where I had to wait for Johan, who was in the next train, to pick me up. Just out of the train I was confused, and didn't know where to go. Then in three minutes I had a call from Johan telling me to run. So I did, and had to go in a different train, with Johan, this time. It was nice to see him again, and he had to explain what went wrong. Then it was clear, so I had a free mind now. Little did I know that the train could drive very fast, 140 km/h. It was very smooth and not noisy, as we have in Africa. This was hard to believe! All the same it was a very good experience to be in the train.
We arrived in Zwolle at 19:16 and Pap was there (Johans dad) to pick us up. In Zwolle I saw snow for the first time! Not so much, but quite nice! Then we got home, there was Boike, who was also patiently waiting for my arrival. Although it was strange for Boike to see me for the first time, he still welcomed me. This is to tell how well-trained dogs are in Holland. It was an easy evening, talking to Pap about my trip, and we had to wait for Mom returning from work. I was really eager to meet her for the first time. Though she was a little bit late that day, I was still patient to wait for her. I could give her a big hug from Ghana. That was it for friday.
Saturday (03/06) I was early in the livingroom, around 7:30. Then Pap joined me and we had breakfast. We talked about the night before, the whole trip, experiences, surprises, that was quite interesting. Then we had to walk with the dog Boike, round a small lake with some farms, quite a lot of ducks, not owned by someone. This is really food for Africa! It was quite a very cold morning, but the sun was shining. After half an hour walk we returned home. Then I prepared and had to go with Johan to the city. Around a quarter to two we left for the city and for meeting Mariëtte. She lives in the citycentre, in a very nice appartment. It was nice talking to her, I could hear her play some Ghanaian music on her computer. For the first time in Holland I had Ghanaian music! We had to pay for a parkingspace for the car for a certain amount of time. That was really surprising for me, but Johan explained me why. We went to Moms workplace De Zonnesteen, and there me met Mom en Pap who had a party of friends. So we went to the office and Johan explained all about this place for cancer-patients. It was a nice and wonderful idea to start such a place where people can talk which eachother. We left for the shop V&D, a very big shop again! We had a lunch in V&D (bread with chicken and soms salad) with a glass of fruitdrink. This time not jolof-rice in Ghana. Very interesting to know that my stomach can really handle this change of food. I am happy about it!
So I told Johan to please drive me to an place where I could see the nature, and he did to a park. We walked around the park for half an hour; there I saw water with ice on it. Really very cool. Then we had to go back to the car and we could pick up Lieske at the trainstation (Johans sister). Just before that Johan showed me a mosk in Zwolle. It was quiet, and I was happy to see it in Zwolle. So we picked up Lieske, she is a very nice daughter to talk with. I had a great time talking with her. We went to a supermarket to shop for Mom, a very big supermarket with a variety of products. Sometimes difficult to choose what to bring with us: just tea? No, 2 meters shelves with different varieties. This is what I mean. We had a nice time shopping, and had to drive home. In the car I realized the weather was 0 degrees. Also good that I could handle it.
At home Lieske had to prepare rice and vegetablesauce with chicken, this was really delicious. Then we talked about the whole day, and made plans for the next day. But I asked that sunday should be an easy day for me. This was good to tell, that I needed it. So we had to wait for Mom en Pap for returning from their party, and again this time I slept a little late because I enjoyed talking to the family. I also made phonecalls home, this was a success. I had to go to bed and that's it for saturday. Mom and Pap gave me an electrical blanket to warm-up my bed. It was really great to use this!
Sunday (03/07) we had breakfast in the morning, then Lieske arranged to visit a horse-stable, which of course was one of the interests for me, so I agreed to go with her. It was so nice to see big horses, and also very small ones. It was nice to see the training of these horses and find them in their boxes. They had blankets on them, and I found out that these horses can eat bread. It was really nice to talk with some horseriders and owners, and they were very friendly. I see, the Dutch are really very friendly.
So we had a cup of tea to warm ourselves up at the stable, and they also showed the feed for the horses, and made some pictures with Lieskes friend Jessica and her big and very friendly horse.
Also around there were a lot of playing fields for sports, it was nice to see the people training in the cold. We drove around the outskirts to see more farmhouses. We saw some specific types of horses, different from what we saw earlier (Islandic). Then we had to drive home, also very happy coming back out of the cold into the warm house.
It was nice to see that Mom had some lunch for me, it was really lovely from her.