November 7th, 2026 ~ Page 3 of 9 ~ One

🧸 Q-time 🧸

In which store do you never get bored?

Shops where they sell fragrances, etc., and then, for instance, body lotions and hair products with that exact same scent…

although I think that after a while I’d barely be able to tell the difference between the perfumes anymore, but if my nose 👃🏾 were to keep cooperating, then I think it would be a perfume shop.

😌😌 Testing scents, feeling body butter and lotions 👇🏾😌, and seeing various product colors.

What is your favorite memory from your school days?

Dancing & playing🥰

I loved playing in the playhouse in the 1st-grade classroom. It was kind of like a miniature two-story house.

I loved connecting with my favorite teacher and receiving loving attention from her.

I was filled with wonder when, for example, Sinterklaas was about to visit (so I’ve been a fangirl for a long time—and I think even before the Spice Girls, Sinterklaas was my very first favorite outside of my home at least🤭 —though my father was the one I looked up to at home.).

The anticipation, smelling freshly baked ‘kruidnoten’ in the assembly hall which my favorite teacher made🤯 in the kitchen. The kitchen was past this stage on the left, right near the exit.

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The assembly hall as seen in this photo: where I am reaching, so excited for their visit!!

On the day Sinterklaas and his crew arrived, we’d sing all kinds of songs in the classroom and assembly hall to welcome him, like “Sinterklaasje kom maar binnen”

Getting a handful of ‘strooigoed’ such as ‘kruidnoten’ and ‘schuimpjes’. Which were usually my favorite among what I received.

And now that I’m older, I only buy a bag of ‘schuimpjes’ and ‘kruidnoten’, as if I’m picking them out of the ‘strooigoed’ mix again. Sinterklaas in the front would read out of his big book with his white gloves. Curious to see what he would say👁👁.

And when he left, we’d often sing a song to say goodbye too, “dag sinterklaasje dagg dagg, luister naar ons afscheidslied.”

And after leaving my shoe out all night long at home my parents would fill a burlap bag with presents for me, which back then I believed was Sinterklaas who came by on his horse. Kind of like a fairytale, but with the environment participating to make it feel real🤩.

I also enjoyed singing together in the classroom before eating, “smakelijk eten smakelijk drinken haphaphap, slok slok slok”. I think my love for tangerines started in my childhood…

I feel like I ate quite a lot of tangerines🍊 in and around school days. Including Sint Maarten—yes, that was fun too, singing all those songs at the doors in the neighborhood and coming home with a bag full of candy, wow!!! 🙂

What a privilege looking back on it now.. because among all those tangerines there was definitely plenty more to find,

like Smarties, raisins in a small red box and I think those hard candy hearts with words on them, like “lief” or something.

Candy necklaces of pastel-colored hard beads, rolled-up licorice laces, salmiak lollipops,

cola lollipops with a pink stick and where the packaging was shiny, bluish-looking. Small gold Haribo packets with soft gummies. And yes, making the lantern at school from start to finish.

And I also liked the games in the gym, like “zakdoekje leggen niemand zeggen”. We’d sit on the floor in a circle (with our eyes closed I think), and one of our classmates whose turn it was would walk behind us carrying a handkerchief.

They were allowed to place it behind someone, and at the end of the song it was time for action for the person who had the handkerchief behind them, though I don’t remember exactly what that was.

And then this game: “schipper mag ik over varen ja of nee moet ik dan nog geld betalen ja of nee? jaaaaaa? hoeeee?” and then someone got to decide how the whole class had to move to the other side of the gym hall—I think hopping on one foot was one of the options mentioned.

De Kerseboom😌 school beautiful times, wonderful.

And after school, playing a lot with Barbies, dolls, pets, stuffed animals, and friends. I remember feeling so much exuberant laughter during this period, cracking up or being giggly together over the smallest things.

Beautiful Kersenboogerd memories.

In grades 5 and 6, we moved from Kersenboogerd to the neighborhood of De Grote Waal, both of which are located in Hoorn.

Moments I’ve danced, like performing in primary school in grade 5/6 with classmates back then. To Jennifer Lopez’s Let’s Get Loud 🙂 we danced, we even performed it!!!! Next to this performance, to me, because we were sometimes allowed to dance in the classrooms, it felt just like a little party!

I can’t remember the dance moves anymore, but together with those girls I felt so alive and happy while we lost ourselves in the music and dance moves to Let’s Get Loud. So much fun!!

So yes, secretly whenever I hear that song, I go back to one of my favorite moments at that school, De Jules Verne.

And after school, I loved dancing in the living room, for instance to Britney Spears’ Oops!… I Did It Again, …Baby One More Time, or Christina Aguilera’s Genie in a Bottle.

Dancing & playing for me was—and I’m gradually growing back into making it—a way to be, to feel, a way to connect with my happy child mode and to connect it with those of others. From family to friends. I’ve danced and played (board)games with many ❣️

Who always makes you happy?

🙇🏾‍♀️

What is something you used to dislike, but can appreciate now?

Raisins—maybe because back when I was little, after laying all my Sint Maarten candy out on the floor at home, I’d recognize raisins as the healthy option and reach straight for the sweeter chocolate (sweet tooth :)🦷) like Smarties instead.

But now that I’m paying more attention to health, they’ve become a welcome addition to my morning oatmeal, and more and more often in my pancakes on days I treat myself a bit extra.

As for raisins in my oliebol? I don’t think I’m quite there yet :p. In fact, right now, Nutella in my oliebol is my preference :).