Children’s disco at WIJ Heemstede


Disco for children aged 6 – 10 years
From September to May there is a real children’s disco every month in Plexat. A DJ will make sure that all children can dance and jump on his music. Usually, we also do a dance competition, or we go limbo dancing.
Upon arrival, the child’s name and telephone number are noted, so that parents can leave their child carefree. Parents can have a cup of coffee in the foyer of WIJ De Luifel in the meantime.
The disco is on Friday from 7 to 9 pm and costs 3 euros including candies and 2 lemonades.

Click on the link below for more information:
https://wijheemstede.nl/lijst/jeugd/kdichtisco-6-10-jaar/

Prinsjesdag 2020

Prinsjesdag is a very old tradition in the Netherlands. it is always on a fixed day of the year:
the third Tuesday in September.
Prinsjesdag is a day full of ceremonies (a ceremony is a ceremony to celebrate something
special, for example a wedding or an anniversary). Everything that happens on this day is
very precisely prescribed.
On Prince’s Day, the king and queen first take a tour through The Hague in the Golden
Coach. The Golden Coach is a carriage of the royal family, which Queen Wilhelmina
received from the city of Amsterdam on her accession to the throne in 1898. They drive
from Noordeinde Palace to the Ridderzaal at the Binnenhof. The Knight’s Hall is a beautiful
hall from the Middle Ages that is only used for very special gatherings. Behind the Golden
Coach drive other carriages and behind it all kinds of other important people walk. It is a
very long procession. There are always many people along the route who want to see the
king and queen and the carriage.The members of the Cabinet (ministers) and of the Senate and House of Representatives and other guests are seated in the Ridderzaal.


The king and queen sit on two beautiful chairs (thrones) and then the king reads the speech
from the throne. In it, he tells about the government's plans for the following year. He also
explains how the government thinks about the future of our country and what problems
there are in the Netherlands and how we could deal with them. Nowadays, the king himself
can also help a little with the text.

Unfortunately, due to the Corona crisis there was no driving tour through The Hague in the
Golden Coach this year, they came in a service car and the speech from the throne was not
in the Ridderzaal but in the Grote Kerk. Very few people were also allowed to come and
listen.
But all the ladies were well dressed and wearing beautiful hats!

National Cleanup Day September 19


The national Cleanup Day will take place on September 19 this year. This day is also the World Cleanup Day, a special and important initiative of the Plastic Soup Foundation

On this day you are supposed to go through your street or neighborhood with a garbage bag to remove the litter. It must be done according to the RIVM rules (keep your distance, stay at home if you any symptoms, and wash/sanitize your hands frequently). After that, the streets will look way better and way cleaner.
Do you want to clean up your street or neighborhood as well, ask some neighbors and friends to join too and sign up through the link below:

https://www.nederlandruim.nl/toch-landelijke-opschoondag

New Coronameasures

There are new measures.

 This was necessary because more and more people are getting infected. Research has shown that infections mainly occur during parties and gatherings, often in people’s homes.

This is, therefore, the new measure:

  • You can not invite more than 6 people to visit you at the same time. Little children do not count.

There will also be stricter checks on compliance with the rules for the catering industry and for rooms where meetings are held.

Schools

  • The schools are open again. Students do not have to keep a distance from each other but students must observe the 1.5-meter distance from their teachers.
  • Schools should provide good ventilation.
  • Schools are allowed to take additional measures themselves, such as wearing a mouth mask.

No new measures were announced during the press conference on Tuesday, September 1.

The policy is still:
**************

Wash your hands frequently,

Keep a 1.5-meter distance from others,

If you have complaints, stay at home and get yourself tested.

Neighbor‘s Day 2020

Neighbor‘s Day is the day when neighbors meet each other and do fun things together. This can be anything: having a drink together, decorating the street together, playing games together, making a treasure hunt for the children together, cleaning the street together, and so on.

Neighbor’s Day is celebrated every year in September. This year it’s on September 26th.

The Neighbor’s Day was started by Douwe Egberts (a well-known Dutch coffee manufacturer) and the Oranje Fonds (a foundation that donates money for social activities). They subsidize the celebration of this day.
Do you also want to organize a Neighbor’s Day with your neighbors?
 On this link, you will find some information and tips:
https://www.burendag.nl/vier-burendag

You can register to organize a  Neighbors’ Day together with your neighbors, but an association can also register.
Maybe all of this is too difficult for you. In that case, keep an eye on the local newspapers of Heemstede to see if a Neighbor‘s day is being organized in your area, and just have a look! It is a lot of fun !! And also a great way to get to know some people from your neighborhood.
We wish you lots of fun!!

The schools have reopened again

The schools in our region started their first day on Monday, August 17. In order to start the new school year well prepared, the following advice may help.

  • Choose the easiest way to school!
  • Make sure you put your smartphone in your bag
  • Is your bag on your back or on your luggage carrier?
  • Make sure to check if the light on your bike works beforehand.

Stay out of the blind spot of cars or trucks. This means that you always stay to the right and keep a good distance behind a large vehicle so that you are three meters behind it.

If you want more information, click on the link below. There you will find information from Veilig Verkeer Nederland.

https://vvn.nl/de-scholen-zijn-weer-begonnen

 

New Corona measures from the 6th of August

How are you and what are the newest rules?
The number of corona infections is increasing again, now especially among young people. Many infections originated in places where many people were together who did not observe the social distance
On Thursday, August 6, Prime Minister Rutte gave another press conference. This is what he said;

● People still don’t follow the corona rules.
● More and more people are getting infected with corona.
● The rules are being adjusted.

Education

● Meetings are only allowed if they are really necessary, for example, to provide live information. Only small groups are then allowed.
● Student associations are not allowed to organize meetings.
● Study associations and student sports associations may only organize meetings if they are really necessary. In small groups, until 10 pm at the latest, and without alcohol.

Catering industry
● You have to make a reservation beforehand.
● You get a seat at a table or bar.
● You must answer questions about your health on arrival and leave your name and telephone number so that you can be called if someone in the restaurant or bar is found to be infected.

Local measures

● If necessary, additional measures can be taken in your own place of residence, e.g. adjustment of opening hours of the catering industry and of the shopping center, mandatory masks in busy streets, or the prohibition on meetings with many people.

THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL IS :

● COMPLY WITH THE RULES OF THE GOVERNMENT
● STAY AT HOME IF YOU ARE HAVING ANY SYMPTOMS,
● KEEP 1.5 METERS DISTANCE,
● WASH YOUR HANDS FREQUENTLY,
● AVOID GOING TO BUSY PLACES
● If you do this, the chance of catching the coronavirus is very small.

Happy news!

Here is a piece of happy news from Facebook.

Kiflom and his family have become Dutch: they have got the Dutch nationality. Kiflom is a translator for our website. He translates from Dutch to Tigrinya. 

On behalf of The Platform, we congratulate him and his family wholeheartedly and wish them best of luck.

Layla and Ellen

The Taalsoos in the times of Corona

The taalsoos, which we have already mentioned and written about before, used to take place in the library on Wednesday mornings, but it also stopped when Corona made its entrance. Quite unfortunate, because both the participants and the volunteers used to enjoy these mornings a lot.

In addition to practicing the Dutch language, it was always a pleasant social affair! But then the library closed. And when it opened again, we couldn’t be with so many people in one room to comply with the corona SOPs. But then… the town hall of Heemstede decided to put up a big tent near the library so that the taalsoos could take place over there. We posted a photo of the tent in the group app and asked who would like to come and join us again. Turns out, a lot of people want to join us again!
Then came two weeks of all the corona SOPs and measuring and measuring and the even more SOPs and measuring again. Eventually, with due observance of all the rules, it turned out that a maximum of twelve people could be present in the tent at the same time. That was a little disappointing because the tent seemed so big… .. But it on the other hand was great to see everyone again.

We started with an “energizer” so that everyone could start actively. Unfortunately, we are also not allowed to sing, oh, and yes yes we also sing songs in the mornings at the taalsoos. Then the distance had to be more than one and a half meters! Then we made as long sentences as possible by sticking together as many words as possible by using words like but, because, because and be, and that was a lot of fun and went very well.

So the taalsoos is back again!