Weekmarket of Heemstede

 The weekly market of Heemstede is open again on Wednesdays. Only foods are for sale, such as fish, vegetables and fruit, cheese, nuts, potatoes, healthy food in short. Flowers and plants are for sale on the square in front of the Town Hall. Crates have been placed in front of the stalls so that you cannot stand too close together.
Most stalls have a screen installed to protect staff and customers. If everyone keeps the 1.5-meter distance, the market can remain open. Pay as much as possible with the debit card.

 

The Keukenhof gardens

Keukenhof has put a virtual walk through the park online. The park is closed this year, but the flowers are blooming beautifully. Unfortunately, you can’t smell them, but it does bring in a spring feeling.
via the link below you can take a short walk through the park.

https://keukenhof.nl/nl/nieuws/keukenhof-opent-virtueel/

You can also take that virtual walk-through YouTube.

Check  the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-zsQwGZ5lc8

The noble Coronavirus

 

Here you will find information about the coronavirus that the town hall of Heemstede has made available for its inhabitants. The measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus also affect Heemstede. On the link below we have listed the practical consequences for you. We try to achieve the accessibility and the level of service in this way as much as possible. However, it may not always be possible to provide the service you have come to expect from us. We hope for your understanding in this matter.

There is also an English version of this information

https://www.heemstede.nl/actueel/actuele-informatie-over-het-coronavirus

“Current information about the coronavirus | Town Hall of Heemstede”

On this page, you will find our live blog about the coronavirus. The latest post will be at the top. Do you have any questions about the virus? View the frequently asked questions and answers on the website of the National Government or the GGD Kennemerland website about the latest developments in your region. You can also call the RIVM: 0800-1351.

www.heemstede.nl

There is also information available on the Facebook pages of the organization mentioned above.

Participation statement

On March 12, the Participation Statement was issued to new residents of Heemstede and Bloemendaal. The people who received the participation statement came from Syria, Eritrea, and Yemen. They have had a three-day course on Dutch core values: freedom, equality and solidarity and participation. It has been three really intensive days for the participants. Two translators were also present to translate the text into Arabic(Syrian) and Tigrinya.
On the last afternoon, Ingrid and Ellen gave practical information about Dutch and Heemstede eg. about the flower parade, Father’s Day, making arrangements to shift the clock back and to be on time. All this explained with a PowerPoint presentation made by Ingrid. It was a light-hearted ending.
After that, the participation statement was distributed by Town Counsel Member Sjaak Struijf. And people were proud of this achievement.

 

Art Exhibition  Heemstede

 

The art exhibition in Heemstede takes place from 20 to 22 March.

The art exhibition is being organized by artists for the eighth time. It is of high quality and it is nice to walk around and see the various forms of art.  What is there really there to see and experience?

Contemporary paintings and drawings, sculpture, photography, ceramics, goldsmiths’ art, glass art, graphics, mixed media, and installation art interspersed with a musical interlude, poetry and probably again this year activity for children. The artists themselves will be present to gladly tell you about their work.
The art fair is held at Sportplaza Groenendaal on Sportparklaan.

An(other) enthusiastic member of Heemstede Platform Integration


“Passion”

Ingrid van de Kasteele has also been on the Platform for more than four years. There I got to know her as someone who is very passionate and therefore also thinks that all kinds of issues are not getting solved fast enough. Too little is achieved in concrete terms. That is why Ingrid has also distanced herself from the platform for a little while in the past, which I can understand really well. But then there is always that passion in her, that desire to do something for other human beings. It was fun and interesting to discover that passion in ourselves together, something you do understand when you sit together in the Platform.

 But that only really comes forward when the two of you are sitting at the dining table together. And there, of course, we did not just only talk about the Platform, but also about our pets and our love of traveling (hence the photo of Ben from Cuba).

 Ingrid has put the center of gravity of her activities in helping among others, permit holders of Heemstede with the Dutch language. She can really mean something in that. That requires a lot of patience and clearness. And  Ingrid has learned that in her life. She started as a kindergarten teacher and subsequently gave her lessons in the philosophy of life and later on she also did theater. In all these activities that she has been a part of, clarity and patience were essential. Whether they were children of the age of four to sixteen or elderly people with dementia at a nostalgia club. This quality of her is also a prerequisite at the NT2 schools for permit holders. Ingrid is not only a language coach for permit holders, but also for immigrants from Azerbaijan, China, and Korea. And she also helps Syrian dentists on their way to get their name in the BIG register(a register for healthcare professionals). Moreover, she is one of the driving forces behind the taalsoos, which takes place every Wednesday morning in the library of Heemstede (Plein1).
In short; it was an interesting conversation with Ingrid van de Kasteele and I am very glad to share that on the website.

Ben Steinebach

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Do you know?

Do you know about that the television program “Nederland in beweging” that every morning broadcasts on the channel Max. You can stay fit by following Olga Commandeur and Duco Bauwens!  Viewers can participate in the exercises that they perform. It starts at 9.15  am on NPO 1 and lasts 16 minutes. A nice opportunity to workout without even having to leave the house.

Also, do you know that children between 4 and 11 years old can travel by bus all day for € 1.00 during the entire vacation?
For more information visit: https://www.connexxion.nl/nl/shop/singleticketproduct/3169


Do you know that you can very well improve your Dutch language by watching the television program Lingo? You see the popular word game every day at 8 PM at SBS6 with the host Jan Versteeg.

 

Chair of Heemstede Integration Platform

 

Passion
At the request of the webmasters, Ben Steinebach and I, Ingrid van de Kasteele, entered into discussions together. About the platform, what drives us and what connects us. Coincidentally, we were sitting at the same table at the information evening in the Heemstede town hall in September 2015.  It was an information evening about how Heemstede will deal with the flow of refugees coming to the Netherlands. At the end of that evening, you could sign up for a platform, which mainly wants to promote the integration of refugees and permit holders. Ben and Ingrid both signed up for this and they have been sitting at the same meeting table once a month for four years now. And then at the dining table. We just decide to chat and then Ingrid will write “about Ben” and Ben will write “about Ingrid”. This time we have something to tell about Ben.

We quickly come to the word “passion”. We are both driven by the passion to do something for our fellow human beings in different ways.

Ben says that his expectations regarding this platform and his contributions to it were pretty high. He thought that every permit holder could get a job and a house for example. But that did not turn out to be that easy, that was a bit disappointing, but he does think this platform is important for the future. He hopes that the platform will get some status and be a worthy discussion partner for the town hall of Heemstede. As a macroeconomist, Ben has kept himself busy with the whole world during his working life. But it is becoming more fun to be busy locally. Ben is also chairman of the foundation that is working on the Adriaan Pauwjaar. Moreover, he has recently become a member of the board of the Podia Heemstede foundation. A nice coincidence of this is that Ben comes into contact with volunteers who have been paying their contributions for a while. For example, towards the subsidy. Ben doesn’t like the word networking, but that is how it works.

Ben has learned a lot from years of experience with there Eritrean house-keeper. Godchildren and grandchildren have emerged from it. But he also got the experience with the bureaucracy of “The Dutch rules and regulations”.

 Ingrid and Ben’s are really looking forward to have a private meeting place for permit holders and the residents of Heemstede. A place where various for everyone activities can take place at set times. But also where you can just walk in and meet each other. All in all, integration is at the top of the platform’s list.

Next time we will share something about Ingrid that Ben thinks is worth mentioning …..

Spring is coming

 The months of January and February are a bit gloomy. The days are short and the weather is not really cheerful either. Apart from that, what is nice to see is that the crocuses and daffodils stick their heads above the ground. Everywhere in Heemstede you can see them blooming, on the Dreef the daffodils do their best and on the Valkenburgerplein the crocuses are blooming in all sorts of colors.
In Groenendaal you see lots of snowdrops. It is also very nice to put bulbs in your garden in the autumn so that you can follow it closely. If you don’t have a garden, you can also have flower bulbs bloom on your balcony.