Trip to Rhodes Island (Greece)...

Sunday 13 August

After a short flight (only an hour and five minutes, just enough for a sandwich and a drink) we landed at Rhodes airport. After we collected our luggage and stroller for Enna-Marie we got on the bus that took us to Rodos Palace. Rhodes looks a bit like Israel, except that it is more mountainous and less Middle Eastern...

Our hotel room on the eleventh floor was quite nice, overlooking the swimming pool and with a view of the mountain. Since we arrived quite late in the afternoon the swimming pool was already closed by the time we were ready for a dip, and so we decided to try the pool at the Sofitel Capsis hotel next door. Not a great success though as it was very windy outside, and already quite cold. So we decided to wait until the next day for a more relaxing swim.

In the evening, we missed the belly dancing entertainment, but we were just on time for the disco dancing.

















Monday 14 August

This morning we took a taxi to the old town and had a wonderful time sightseeing (taxi costs 6 euros all over Ixia city, additional 1 euro if you call/request one). Rhodes old town looks a bit like Akko, except that it is much cleaner and much better maintained. Imagine if one day old Akko would look so pretty as well... We took lots of pictures, looked at different shops and enjoyed being tourists. We had a Mousaka and Gyros for lunch in the Rustico restaurant in the middle of the old town. Very nice atmosphere, and very good food!

In the afternoon we decided to just stay by the pool and relax. After Enna-Marie's first swim in the Medditerranean last week this was her first time in a pool. The water was of course a bit colder than in the sea, but after just a few objections she really enjoyed herself in the water.

In the evening, there was a show especially for the kids.































Tuesday 15 August

Today we joined an organized tour (a bus full of Israelis) to explore the east coast of the island. It was 38 degrees and so perhaps not the best day for such an outing, but we survived it, and also Enna-Marie did not seem to be too inconvenienced by it at all...

We started off at the valley of the butterflies. There is one kind of butterfly that is indigenous to Rhodes, and they're basically all in this valley. Apparently in the past people had complained that there were hardly any butterflies around, but that problem appears to have been resolved.

Afterwards, we drove to Lindos, a village half way down the island. Here we walked for just a bit in the narrow and crowded streets, bought a few souvenirs, and fled into a cafe to escape the scorching heat and enjoy a refreshing ice coffee... the best one we ever tasted!!

In the afternoon we visited an old fisherman village for lunch, got our feet wet at the beach, and ended the day visiting a ceramics factory where we bought few souvenirs to decorate our home.

We did go to the evening's entertainment although we were all exhausted from all day's trip, but we didn't stay long.

















































Wednesday 16 August

Today we decided to enjoy the hotel facilities, in particular the lobby area of the hotel, which was a wonderful playground for Enna-Marie - she made some new Greek friends Georgio and Georgina, and the swimming pool. We spent much of the afternoon just being lazy and just going in and out of the pool. We met a Dutch family (there were quite a lot of Dutch tourists in Rhodes esp. in our hotel). Late in the afternoon we visited Mrs. Ursula Muhlschlegel, the wife of the late Hand of the Cause of God Dr. Adelbert Muhlschlegel. The Muhlschlegels pioneered to Greece in the late 1970's and Mrs. Muhlschlegel has been living in Rhodes for the last twelve years or so. It was wonderful to see her, a very energetic, lively and hospitable lady, and also to meet a few friends who used to and are still pioneering in Rhodes, Vessal and Daniel Maani, and Bijan Rohani and his daughter Nura.

There was another cabaret-comedy show in the evening...the entertainers were Italians, it was just an okay show.






























The Food in the Hotel

What we consider to be one of the highlights of our trip was the delicious food in the hotel! A great variety of meats, fish, pastas, rice, salads, soups, fruits, pastries and desserts.

Relaxing at Dor beach

Last weekend we had a relaxing afternoon at Dor beach, some 30 km south of Haifa. We went with Canan and Arnold and had a great - and much needed - time eating, relaxing and swimming. This was Enna-Marie's first mediterranean swim, and she greatly enjoyed it! It was also a good preparation for our trip to Rhodes, where we will be off to tomorrow! Here are some pictures...

Latest Tricks... (updated)

It has been such a joy to witness Enna-Marie's developments in recent weeks, and we wish you could all be here to see it with your own eyes... While Maarten was away for a few days in Kyrgyzstan, Menchie taught Enna-Marie to close and open her right hand. Menchie would say: "close-open, close-open", and she would look at her hand with great interest and open and close her palm. She would also turn her left hand around in response to a certain song... And when stretching out our hands and saying "Allah'u'Abha! Enna-Marie", she would stretch out her hand in return and shake ours.

In the meantime she has also learned to roll over while on the bed, crawl backwards for about half a meter, pull herself up to standing when she sits in the box, and her latest trick is that she can clap in her hands when we sing "clap your hands, 1-2-3".

Here is a video:

Standing up Excercises!

Enna-Marie has discovered that the laundry basket is an excellent place to practice her standing up skills. She can now pull herself from sitting in a split second :)

Enna-Marie's first tooth

Following Enna-Marie's seventh (month) birthday, her first tooth started looming on the horizon. Although its been paining her somewhat, it doesn't seem to have been so bad, apart from perhaps one day. While number one is out, and quite sharp already, number two is on its way as you can see from this picture...

Visiting Mr. and Mrs. Ramirez

We spent a relaxing Friday afternoon with the Ramirez'es. Kuya Fred is in town for a few weeks, and we went to have lunch with them. Also Kuya Willi joined us for dinner later on. It was nice to be out of the home for a change, and spend some restful time with them.

My Friend Leah and Me...

"Just the other day, my friend Leah and me were taking a nap in one of the bombshelters of the building in which daddy works... I was sleeping so deeply, that I didn't notice that mommy took a picture of me. But my friend Leah, she actually woke up and curiously looked into the camera. By the way, Leah's parents are both from Mauritius, I heard it's a nice place for holiday".

New Boss in Daddy's Office...

That's right :), pretty soon my dad will be out of work..he he...!

Enna-Marie at seven months...

This is such a cute video that I could not resist putting it on our blog! Enjoy!!

Reading time with Daddy...

Excitedly listening (and talking...)!

Attentively listening to daddy

Daddy I want some more stories please...

The Situation Here...

Despite the situation in the country at the moment, we are doing fine. Enna-Marie is blissfully unaware of what is going on around her, and feels quite secure with either of her parents close by. We hope that the country will quickly return to calm. We request for your prayers.

Farewell Brunch for the Villa's...

Sadly, our dear friends Evelin and Santana have left the World Centre, after almost four years of service. We got our 'marriage group' together one last time at least to say goodbye which was nice. They are now in Estonia, they called us this afternoon to tell us they arrived safely. We miss them already, and hope it won't be long before we will see them again.

We had a farewell brunch for them at Negeen and Victor's place, with OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD blueberry pancakes made by the unstoppable Italian Pasta Chef Victor, OUTSTANDING muffins by Luxembourg's pastry-queen Jamak, DEVELISH Devils-Eggs by Dutchamacallit Martijn (or was he just taking credit for what May actually made??), MOUTHWATERING crackers and cheese by the Japanese/Australian Sushi emperor and empress Shingo and Amelia, and THE-BEST-EVER scrambled eggs by our very own Filipina "Adobolicious" mama Menchie!

May and Shingos' Birthdays...

Our dear friend May recently celebrated her birthday at the beach. Her hubbie Martijn organized a surprise b-b-q party for her. A lot of friends came, and even her sister Shirin, who used to serve here a few years ago, was visiting from South Africa. We had a great evening, and OH, the food was delicious!

The three sisters, Yas, May and Shirin...
Dutch - Brazilian connection with Kirsten, Ana-Gerda, and Melissa... (remember, this is right after the World Cup, where both Holland and Brazil were untimely eliminated...)
Sarah, Carmel, Evelin and Rocco, with Victor in the background...
GROUP-PHOTO!! It seems we have to take one of these at every BWC gathering :)
Kerstens and Schoots...












Another dear friend, Shingo, also celebrated his birthday in STYLE with an afternoon full of games, thanks to Amelia! Friends and family came over to enjoy the day with him. We had a great time!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAY AND SHINGO. Hope we will enjoy many more birthdays with you guys!

Rocco is about to wreck what Amelia had so carefully constructed...
Playing 'For Sale', a simple yet very nice game that Maarten just could not win...

Highlights: every womans dream!

Enna-Marie has a disctint feature (for the moment at least) that makes her the envy of many women: natural highlights ::)). She was born with a few golden streaks in her hair, and they became more pronounced after two or three months. We don't know if they will last, but we're enjoying it for now on her behalf, as she is blissfully unaware of them! Here are two pictures of her hair, this is the best we could do:


Photo without flash:

And one with flash:

Some more visitors...

The Ardjomandi family visited us recently. Khodadad and Veira (and son Ruhullah) from Moldova were visiting their parents Jamshid and Soeki who are serving here at the World Centre. Last year they were also in town, but we could not have them over at our place due to busy schedules. This time we didn't want to miss them, so it was nice to catch up with them and we hope to see them again next time with a new addition to their family..:-)!

Edwin Edpalina and wife Rizalita were also in town recently for pilgrimage. They are originally from the Philippines, but are now pioneering in China. Edwin, who is an old friend of Menchie, is a very talented music teacher. He has been travelling in Asia for several years now, and all the while has been involved in recording Baha'i songs in different languages. During the last gathering with the Filipino friends, he presented to us his travels, showing photos and sharing songs from his albums. Menchie remembered many of these songs (English and Tagalog) from her own children's classes and various gatherings back home in the Philippines. She can't wait to have a copy of these songs to start teaching Enna-Marie!!

FilmLoops

Here's a cool new feature we're trying out. Its called FilmLoop, and it displays sets of up to 30 pictures as a filmstrip in your blog... The first one below is taking the images directly from Flickr, the second one is a loop of selected pictures from our computer...

Short Trip to Kyrgyzstan...

Last week I was fortunate to spend a few days in Kyrgyzstan during another work-related trip. It's a very beautiful country with very high mountains - which I only got to see from a distance - and very warm and friendly people. I met up with Zeinab and Seid, who both used to serve at the Bahá'í World Centre, and made some wonderful new friends as well!

Here are some impressions of the country and the friends I met...

This picture was taken after the first day of the training I facilitated. It is in the backyard of the National Bahá'í Centre. From right to left are Akaki from Georgia, Seper from Uzbekistan, Counsellor Nassimova from Kyrgyzstan, Mahnoz from Tajikistan and myself.
This picture is of the Popovs family, in whose guesthouse I stayed. They are a very nice family, and their daughter, Luda (on the right side), has actually been living in Holland for the last four years or so. She speaks fluent Dutch, and we were able to have a nice conversation about the Faith.
Who would have thought this guy would still be around?? Yes, Mr. Lenin himself, still standing in front of the polytechnic university of Bishkek where one of the meetings was held.
Victoria, who took the time to show me around Bishkek for a few hours and Zeinab who happened to be visiting Bishkek from Kazakhstan.During lunch in a restaurant with a few friends, including Seid who is sitting to my right and Roy sitting accross from me, Counsellor Rouhani, Mahnoz, Akaki and Seper.

The Three Little Ones...

Rocco, Shiori and Enna-Marie were together playing last Thursday. We just want to post these pictures of the three little ones whom we love so dearly. Look how they have grown, Rocco turned 10 months old today, Shiori is 9 months old, while Enna-Marie turned 6 months yesterday.