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Location Date UK 1316473200 Netherlands 
1315782000 Belgium 1315609200 Luxembourg 1315350000 France 1315263600 Italy 1314572400 Vatican 1314399600 Austria 1313881200 Germany 1313622000 Switzerland 1313535600 Ireland 1311980400 -
Location Date Schoonebeek 1315782000 Terherne 1312498800 Berlikum
1312412400
After a rather long hop (drive), skip (flight) and a jump (train ride) we made it to Friesland ... the province in The Netherlands where my Dad's family is from. Oom Arjen met us at the train station and brought us back to their house where Tante Anna, Aunty Margareth, Uncle Albert, Beppe, Steve & Danielle were waiting. It was great to see everyone again.
On Thursday Oom Arjen took Danielle, Steve, Beppe, Brett and I for a boat tour around their part of Friesland (which is 1/3 water). Being summer, there were plenty of other people with the same idea, enjoying the sun and water ... and the odd large ship carrying cargo. We got to see the typical Friesian homes, storks and stork nests, rich people's holiday homes (with garages for their boats), farms (with canals acting as fences and only the odd random gate in the middle of the grassy fields) and of course, Friesian cows!
After lunch we headed to Berlikum/Berltsum which is where my Pake & Beppe were born and grew up. Beppe showed us the homes she lived in, the place where Pake lived (after his family moved off the boat), where they went to school, their church and the wall where the bullet hit when the Germans shot at Pake during WWII. It was very special to have Beppe show us these places and to hear her talk about their childhood and teenage years (they started dating at age 13!).
We were given a tour of the church by the church caretaker. Wow that guy knew a lot! He spoke very good English and he was a great story teller. He told us all about the rare bats that live in the church roof during the summer months. We then all (except Beppe) headed up into the church ceiling and onto the roof! The stairs were very steep and high and I certainly wasn't expecting such an excursion when getting dressed that morning and putting on a skirt! Just before we climbed onto the roof we saw my great grandfather's name scratched into one of the beams with the dates that he'd been up there. Given my family is so new to New Zealand it was cool to go in a place my ancestors had been. Despite my fear of heights, the views from the roof over Berlikum were impressive.
After Berlikum we went to look at the dikes and Oom Arjen pointed out the special sheep they have grazing on them, where the left leg is longer than the right. I had to reassure Danielle that he was only kidding ;) We had afternoon tea with Tante Faye and Garry and then headed back to Terherne before going out for a delicious dinner. It was interesting observing the customs of the waiters, they say alstublieft (if you please) when handing you a drink or your meal and eet smakelijk (bon appétit) once all meals had been served.
- Rebecca
- comments
Monique Great reading your stories from Friesland - and I can go - yip, I remember that story!
Dad B Very special for me too. There is always a draw to the family heritage.
Kristin Raney So glad you got to have this experience, how very special for you! (was going to use the word precious but we all know what that means ;-))
Evelyn Mullen Fantastic story! My grand parents and my mother all born in Berlikum. A wonderful place! Just not big enough to accommodate the up and coming generations, therefore greener pastures were found to accomodate their growing family with 4 sons and a daughter who all needed work and space to grow however too bad to leave this wonderful area. My maternal greatgrandfather owned and operated an Orchard in Berlikum! He was also instrumental in the building of the Church in Berlikum!, the Christian school as we'll!
Julie R I was born in Berlikum. My grandparents had a bakery that later my Father had. It was located on the corner. Renzema was the name.
Amanda V Julie R, I wish I could remember more of my family history right now. My Beppe was Atse (Alice) Renzema and her family owned a bakery. I know my Pake, Pieter Smits, was from Berlikum and that they grew up together.
Amanda V Atje*
r vos Julie Renzema I remember your parents very well. Around Sinterklaas Dec 5 they would display delicious treats in the windows of the livingroom. We would all admire the chocolate frogs'candy canes etc.. Mrs Renzema would give me a handful of candies when I left after buying bread. Very generous. I remember when they left. Sad days b/c a lot of families left our village. My family eventually left for the NOPolder and I left the Netherlands for Canada when I was 19. Still visit Berlikum every year and walk around the cemetery of the Hervormde Kerk where most of my family is buried.
Evelyn Mullen Who sent this on to me? I want to get in touch with this person, I love all the information about Berlikum, I am re- writing my family tree story, the first attempt had so much misinformation, I have since learned a great lot, I love it all, it has been a great challenge and a real loving attempt to bring all this into focus the insight to this family, as they immigrated to America, what they went through what they contributed to this country, and how they loved it all so very much! Please get in touch with me! [email protected] thank you so much.
Evelyn Mullen Please, Rebecca, get in touch with me, [email protected] I want to visit with you about Berlikum and your family there, I think you and I are related I have a fantastic book all about Berlikum, please let's visit about all this I am so fascinated with it all!