Unterwegs...

The nomadic life of Mara & Raf

Coldplay (2)
Wembley Stadium, London, UK

A sky full of stars

Together with my brother David and housemate Ieva, I went to a Coldplay concert at Wembley Stadium. What a spectacular show! Lights, balloons, confetti and fireworks. We all contributed to the show with the wristbands we had received at the entrance. These were coordinated and lit up in different colours and rhythms… turning the stadium into a see of blue or yellow (unsurprisingly for the song ‘Yellow’), making waves or heart-shapes. Coldplay also made…
Read more
Belgium 11
Lavaux, Belgium

Family gathering in Belgium

Preparations for the celebration of Mara’s parents’ 50th wedding anniversary were in full swing in early 2020, but as with so many things, Covid put a hold to those plans. But now, more than two years later, we’ve finally been able to mark the (more than) fifty years of…
Read more
IMG_9668
Luxembourg

Groussherzogtum Lëtzebuerg

This was a little outing to Luxembourg with some of the family while we were staying near the border in Belgium. Supposedly, the visit had nothing at all to do with the fact that this place was still missing on Mara’s list of ‘country points’ ;-) But let’s just…
Read more
Euros 2022 Germany-Finland
Sheffield, UK

Women’s Euro 2022

Raf follows football at various levels, but Mara only pays attention when there’s a colourful international tournament going on. With the women’s Euro taking place in England this year, it was a good opportunity to watch some games in the stadium and spend some time with friends and family…
Read more
Lake District
Gosforth, Lake District, UK

Fells and lakes

The second part of our trip to the Lake District involved staying in a yurt on a farm, surrounded by lots and lots of bleating sheep. We love hot summer weather, but having just experienced the hottest day in England’s recorded history, the cooler weather and the sea breeze…
Read more
Lake District
Keswick, Lake District, UK

Lakes and fells

The Lake District in the north west of England with its lakes and fells (hills) is the perfect location for walking. Spending some time there had been on our to-do list for a while, and the visit of our wonderful friend Anett from Germany created the perfect opportunity for…
Read more
Kenya elections peace promotion marches
Nakuru, Kenya

Peaceful elections in Kenya

Elections in Kenya haven’t always been peaceful (see some previous blog entries from 2013 and 2017). The Salvation Army is keen to break this cycle of violence and promote peace in the weeks leading up to the elections. Similar to previous election years, this started with a workshop but…
Read more
Party guests
Hannover, Germany

Wedding party in Hannover

Lizzy, our close friend, who we have known for more than 20 years, got married to Stefan and they invited us to their party in Hannover. Raf had a few days off before the party and travelled to Berlin to visit his brother Sammy and family. Unfortunately, he then…
Read more
ice cream
Stuttgart Germany

Working from another home

I decided that it might make sense to stay on the continent between the training in the Netherlands and a conference in Denmark, which also meant I was able to spend some days at my parents’ place and work from there. My sister Priska and her family also live…
Read more
1F50FC0F-D51B-4552-BAD9-BDFF1BD9639F
Ede-Wageningen, Netherlands

PREPARE training in the Netherlands

Training has always been part of my responsibilities, and after two years of travel restrictions it was great to be in a classroom full of enthusiastic students again. With delegates from the Netherlands, Czechia, Belgium, Poland, Finland, Germany and the UK, as well as my co-trainer Chris, I spent…
Read more
Hiking
Benifallet, Spain

Easter with friends from many places

Easter had a Spanish-Polish-Ukrainian-French-British-German-South African flavour for us this year. We were in Spain and spent the Easter weekend with a group of twelve people, seven cats, one dog and two birds. Our good friends Anna and Remi, whom we have visited a few times before, also had some…
Read more
Response operation at Palanca border
Palanca border, Moldova

A safe place to sleep

Moldova is another neighbouring country of Ukraine, which I have now been able to visit. Despite being one of the poorest countries in Europe, people welcome their fleeing neighbours with open hearts. The Salvation Army provides emergency accommodation for up to 100 people each night. Most of them only…
Read more
Response operation at Siret border
Siret border, Romania

“Kyiv is the most beautiful city in the world”

After having visited Poland, I went on another support visit, this time to Romania, also a neighbouring country of Ukraine. Again, the Salvation Army is not huge but we have now established two major relief operation locations (plus some smaller scale work in the four other places where we…
Read more
You are safe here
Przemyśl, Poland

“You are safe here”

On the 24th of April war started in Ukraine. Many people fled across the border to neighbouring countries and the largest number fled to Poland. I went on a support and assessment visit there to see how the small Salvation Army there (we have a presence in only four…
Read more
Bamboo planter rescue mission
Hemel Hempstead

This, that, and the other

Over time, this blog has also become a place for us to compile pictures of small events and random moments which don’t warrant a post of their own. Here’s another little collection of pictures from life during recent weeks: We had some friends, family and neighbours around, went to…
Read more
nativity set from Peru
Hemel Hempstead

Another Christmas and New Year’s stuck in the UK

Our bags were pretty much packed and we were ready to go on a jet plane to Germany for our first trip abroad for almost two years. And then everything changed again. The omicron variant took off in England, travel regulations changed, and it became clear that we’d need…
Read more