Like Fries With That?

OZ100 owns and operates a farm in Friesland, in the north of the Netherlands. The founders of the community live there, as do others who for whatever reason seek a more peaceful and isolated setting. Friesland is considered by Nederlanders to be quite different from the rest of the country. As a matter of fact they have their own distinct Germanic language.

Alas, I didn't have much opportunity to interact with native Frisians. This weekend was the annual ceremony where the 'inner circle' renew their lifetime vows. Usually it is held in Amsterdam but the people on the farm had asked that we do it there. So we packed up virtually the entire household, stuffed them into minibuses, and ferried them two hours north to the farm.

Well, the weekend was pleasant enough, but rather than go into great detail, I have pictures. Yes, pictures! Worth a thousand words, or so I hope. Well, this camera is only rated for about 750 words per image, but hopefully you'll get the idea.



Part of one of the farmhouses we were staying in. Surrounded on all sides by grass and muddy ditches.



And cows!


Inside our farmhouse is a huge open room with lofts on both sides and small rooms partitioned off beneath the lofts. The inside ceiling, curiously enough, is thatched.



Looking down on the main room from the loft.



The loft where the boys slept. Note the slanted part of the ceiling.



Two Larissas at breakfast. Big Larissa there on the right is from Russia. Little Larissa is the little black girl seated back right, if you can make her out.



More outside pics. This is a view of the 'driveway' to the farmhouse.



More cows! I believe they outnumbered us humans by a healthy margin, but they seemed non-threatening.



This fellow was a bit more threatening. That's why he's kept on a chain.




There's also the cutest little pony you ever laid eyes on. She wandered right up to me while I was trying to get a picture. I felt really bad because immediately after I snapped this the flash sent her bolting.



Assorted Oudezijds children. Oh sure they look cute...

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In other news, Brenda is another transplanted English speaker living in the house (she's Canadian, but we won't hold that against her). She's a bit further along in her Dutch than I am, but she's documented some common sources of confusion between our two languages on her blog.