On the Beach

“If we can’t have snow, we’ll take sea,” I thought last Sunday. On so we went to the beach. That’s the luxury of this country. We found a spot on the shore, out of the wind, and hung out all day, dreaming about building our own seashore villa. One day. Maybe. If we win the lottery. Hana and her cousins caught crabs, threw stones in the water, searched for sea shells, fell in the water and tried fishing. That last one was a little complicated with a pole but no tackle. Never mind, maybe a fish would just sink its teeth into that bamboo pole they were holding into the water. It didn’t. What a surprise. Now if I’d live on the seaside; I’d invest some money in a real fishing pole. There’s beautiful land on the shore, mostly undeveloped, or developed poorly, like a factory for instance. Who on earth builds a factory on the seaside? Yet land prices are here are sky high. A million dollars for a crummy piece of land, and with what you’ve got left you can build yourself a wooden shack. If anyone lives on the Batroun coast or neighborhood, and has a piece of land on the shore, wants some nice neighbors, but doesn’t want a beach club or a twenty floor concrete monster next door; mail me! And so we lounged all day, until the sun went down.

Not Designed by Women

And so the search for that unfortunate flight 409 is still going on. They’re looking for both plane and two black boxes; one in the rear of the plane that contains all the flight information, and one in the front that recorded the conversation not only between Beirut Airport and pilot (which is recorded by Beirut Airport as well), but also between pilot and co-pilot in the cockpit. This one may explain the erratic flying pattern the plane displayed in its very last moments.

The Lebanese Army being briefed by the search team

But this search is not as simple as it seems. The flight recorder in the rear has a beacon which gives off a ‘ping ping’ once it hits the water. Sounds travels very far in water. It took them some days before they were even able to pick up the beacon sound. But apparently it does not have a device (like you see in police movies) that can zoom into the location of the device on a computer screen and identify its location to the nearest meter. Uhuh, they sort of have to follow the sound. An added problem is that there is an underwater cliff nearby. Anyone standing in between high rise buildings in Beirut should know that this can be very tricky; you can hear the plane, but you can’t really tell whether it’s flying by on your right or on your left; the sound bounces off the buildings. On top of that, they hear the ‘ping ping’ in an area that somehow does not coincide with the last radar position of the plane. This could be due to a number of reasons, all very technical.

The screens they are looking at (picture above)

You wonder why they haven’t developed flight recorders that do send out their location. The Air France plane that went down over the Pacific Ocean some months ago had the same problem. The pilots can figure out their location with a GPS, but an outside source cannot. And so they never could locate the black box, because that one went down in an area of lots of underwater cliffs and valleys. Unless you’re right above it, there’s no way of picking it up any time soon. And the thing only seems to work for about a month before it runs out of batteries.

An ROV operated by Oddysey Marine Exploration Inc.

On top of that, not every search ship seems to be equipped with a similar set of search equipment. One ship can search to this depth, the other to that depth, this one has a side-scan sonar, the other one has something different, this ship can lift things up to a depth of 100 meters, that ship up to 3,000 meters, and so you’ve got to get them all working together in order to get only one job done; locate and salvage a plane. Right now there are 3 ships on the job; 2 of which assist a third one, the Ocean Alert of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. On board the Ocean Alert

And all of that makes me wonder; why not just build in a simple location devise in every plane? And every car, for that matter, so you can find it if it get’s stolen. And why not implant it in your children as well. That should be able to track down a kidnapped child in a jiffy. Aha, I hear some women think; let’s implant it in our husbands as well. Well, all this stuff is most obviously not designed by women.

No Snow

33°57'30.70"N & 35°48'53.97"E

Dear Theo,
In case you miss the skiing in Lebanon; don’t. This morning we went up, after getting reassurances from several people that there was plenty of snow. After all, it had been raining for quite some days. As a matter of fact, the weather had been so bad that an Ethiopian airliner went down in it. When we got our skis at Maison du Ski (you’d think these guys would know snow, no?) we were again reassured that, no, all slopes were open. As we were driving up, we started getting in calls from friends who already were on the slope that Cabbane (name of a ski-lift) closed, al little later hat Lac (another ski-lift) had closed, and when we reached the parking of Wardeh, all lifts had closed. The only lifts that were operating were the baby hills, and I did not exactly work my way into my (poeder prinses) ski suit for that.

We went snow-shoeing instead. When we got back to Beirut, it was 27 degrees Celsius. 27! I think we can call this the official end to the ski-season in Lebanon.
On a brighter note, I got a crash course in underwater-wreck salvaging, types of black-boxes and how they are going to lift flight 409 from a depth of 1000-something meters by someone who is actually looking for the plane and who’s done lots of salvage operations. Lots of insiders stuff coming up, so keep you posted. How's Aqaba?
Talk to you later.

Six Degrees of Separation

Don’t they say that ‘if a person is one step away from each person they know and two steps away from each person who is known by one of the people they know, then everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth? ‘ (source)

People on the beach, hoping for survivors to was ashore. Or maybe they're just there to see anything at all.

Because this place is so ‘metropolitan yet small town’, and everybody knows everybody, it seems half of Lebanon was on that plane. A colleague had a cousin on the flight. The cousin of the mother of my daughter’s playmate was on the plane. In the classroom next to hers a boy lost both his grandparents and an uncle and aunt. A friend of the Ethiopian housekeeper in the building next door was on the plane.

Very few bodies have been found so far; which is why the army assumes the plane did not explode at great height; otherwise wreckage and chairs and suitcases and bodies would be strwen all over the place. They assume the plane came down largely intact, and that most people went down in the plane, and with the plane, to the bottom of the sea.

In the army chopper, looking for floating wrechage

And if you do not find bodies, you most definitely will not find survivors, although my colleague asked me to pray for her cousin. Now they’re after the black box. This one is probably at the bottom of the sea, and reports vary that it lies between 150 to a 1,000 meters deep, as it is on a slope. In both cases, that’s too deep for conventional diving, and so a ship with an AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle), the Ocean Alert of Odyssey Marine Exploration Inc. has been chartered which is currently searching in the area where they presume the air plane has crashed; an area of some 100 square kilometers.The Ocean Alert looking for signs of the plane underwater

The reason why it is such a large area is because they lost touch of the plane at an altitude of some 9000 feet. Apparently the tower asked the captain, at 3,000 feet, to avoid a storm, and swerve right, upon which the captain replied “roger”, and swerved left. The tower asked the captain again, not to go left, but right, and again the captain replied “roger” and continued going right into the storm instead of out of it. He then suddenly climbed up to 9000 feet, and disappeared. They don’t know why this happened, but assume that a lightning strike may have send the instrumentation of the plane astray. It’s all speculation of course, and nothing will be known until that little black box – which is orange, by the way – is found. The reason why this black box does not send out a signal is unknown. The underwater beacon should, once it hits water, have been activated, but it hasn't.

This black box is somewhere in the rear of the airplane - ‘an area most likely to survive a crash’ – and it records the previous 30 minutes of the flight crew's conversation and radio transmission. I know of an airplane crash in Iraq, which wiped out everyone except a man I know, his wife and his child. They sat in the back as well. I’ll have to make a mental note of that. On the other hand, the back of the plane is also where the toilets are. Maybe ask for a seat in the middle next time.

Flying above Rauche

If you want to hear some of those 'famous last word' conversations on flight recorders; here is a link.

Flight 409

The sea is beautifully colored this afternoon. Shades of blue, green, aquamarine and turquoise all the way to the horizon. The sea is often that pretty after a storm. And it has been stormy for the past two days, complete with heavy thunder and lighting.

And so a plane went down early morning. Into that sea, a little south of Beirut. They don’t know yet what brought down Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 at 2:30 A.M., but some reports surface that people saw a ball of fire going down. I thought planes were built to withstand lightning strikes, but that seems to be incorrect.

And now everyone is standing there, looking at the sea. 82 passengers and 8 crew members are missing. Parts of the passenger list has been released. 51 are Lebanese; Many African countries have thriving Lebanese business communities. 23 Ethiopians, a lot of them probably domestic helpers who were on their way home after a two-years stint in Beirut. They hadn’t seen their family in some two years, and that farewell two years ago turned out to be their last one as well. Some other nationals as well. Two Britons, and it seems the wife of the French ambassador was on board. Some people have been retrieved, but it doesn’t look like we are going to find any survivors.

You probably wouldn’t think so, as we’re always in the enws for one type of disaster or another, but airplane crashes are very rare in Lebanon. The last one was in 1975, flight 204 from the Hungarian Malev, with 60 people on board. That one also fell in the sea as it was flying in during the night. But since then, no commercial flights crashed in Lebanon. A ship sank last month though, off the coast of Tripoli, also in heavy weather.

As a result parliament, cancelled its session and schools and ministries closed early today.

The black box of the Malev flight was never retrieved, but circumstances were slightly different then. Hubbie was asked to dive on this one. We’ll see what happens.

Big City

It's been raining for days now

Such a big city, so many people. Over 1 million, some say. Yet even when it rains, wherever you go, you run into friends. I guess that is one of the charms of Beirut; a busy metropolis with a small-town mentality. Everyone knows everybody else.

She doesn't want to be in the picture; hides behind the menu

More Nahr Ibrahim Hiking

Ranunculus ficaria (I think) and a purple anemone

I did some more hiking along the Nahr Ibrahim. Hence the flowers. The valley is teeming with them right now, as if it is spring.

The Ibrahim river starts in an aquifer (underground reservoir) somewhere in the Jabal Homsaya mountain. There’s Karst aquifers all over Lebanon; the main groundwater resource in Lebanon. If you want to know more about karst; Abdul Aziz Rantissi, one of the founders of Hamas, once gave me a lecture on that.
And in Afqa, the water comes thundering - through a huge opening - out of the mountain. It’s quite a sight if it is spring time, because the waterfall is quite impressive then. Right now we haven’t had much rain, and so the river is kind of slow.

Apparently you can climb into the cave some 3 kilometers, but there is not a whole lot of information I could find on that. A Belgian team did a nearby cave, Faouar Dara, also connected to an aquifer. From this source: Some 80% of precipitation occurs from November through February. The karst water emerges from five first-magnitude springs (Ain ez Zarqa (11m3/sec), Ain Anjar (max. 10m3/sec), Nabaa Ouazzani (max. 6m3/sec), Nabaa Arbaain (max. 3m3/sec) and Nabaa Barouk (max. 3m3/sec), plus hundreds of second- and third-magnitude springs, and thousands of smaller springs. More than two-thirds of the area of Lebanon (i.e. 6900 km2) is karstified and ( . . . ) karst features include many types of solutional shafts and galleries, grottoes, subsurface lakes and rivers and most types of speleothems. There are at least 15 aquifers in Lebanon, of which 14 are in karstified carbonate strata.

I can’t figure out any details on the river. It is somewhere around 22 kilometers long, and starts at approximately 1,200 meter above sea level. It seems the river is used to generate hydro-power. Some 67 KWh was generated in 1999. There are 3 plants with a total capacity of 32.5 MW (source). I’ve been there several times now this year (2010), but I missed this event; ‘BEIRUT: The ISF warned citizens Monday to stay away from the banks of the Nahr Ibrahim river from January 4 to January 7 as river channel cleaning works might cause heavy floods.’ That would have made some nice photo material. Or even a nicer post; ‘Dutch nationals swept away by floods in Lebanon’.

Update: Lalebanessa gave me an excellent link with cave info; The Afqa cave is 5260 meters long! And about those 67kWh; well, how am I supposed to know anout that stuff? With all the power cuts we're getting, 67 kWH goes a loooooong way as it is used in bits and pieces.

Nahr Ibrahim Hike

Where are we?

The Nahr Ibrahim Valley (river runs down)

It reminds me of the Rocky Mountains. It reminded Joke (say ‘Jo-kah’) of France, and Marijke of Austria. When it gets beautiful, it’s sometimes hard to imagine it’s in Lebanon. But it is, less than 40 km north of Beirut. I think.

Getting there

Last Sunday some friends and I decided to go for a hike in the Nahr Ibrahim Valley. It is one of the most beautiful valleys in Lebanon.

The Nahr Ibrahim Valley (Valley of the Abraham River). Probably because it doesn’t have any real roads going in and out of it. It does have one very narrow steep road going in, wide enough for one car, and another sand path going out, but that’s it.

We went in Joke's new car, and had to do some parts off-road.

Because it is not so easy to reach, it is still pristine and clean. We got lost a couple of times, because my GPS was not quite sure. Or actually I thought my GPS was not quite sure. I’ve been there before, and remembered it being somewhere else, but in the end, we got there, in Janna, at the bottom of the valley floor.

Ibrahim River

We were the only once in the valley, except for some local inhabitants, 12 in all, maybe, and 3 charcoal makers, who passed by us with a mule stacked with bags and bags of charcoal which they then transport to a little van which moves it to Beirut. I wouldn’t mind a house here.
This river isn’t that long. It starts, 1,800 meters above sea level, in Afqa, where it comes tumbling down out of a cave, and runs through a gorge all the way to the coast which is some 20 kilometers away. From here (Janna) you can walk all the way to Afqa. With ease.

"Hello"? Are we off the network here? We have no network, and therefore we do not exist.

But when you are with ‘ladies with children over 18’, or with ‘ladies with little children’, it may be a little complicated to negotiate (yes, that’s a word, Marijke!). So this epic hike, which I had planned, was not to be. But they promised that next time, when wouldn’t have their daughters with them, then they would really hike. I mean, like hike hike. Hmmmm. We’ll see.

Hiker Girls

The river seems to be subject to many legends, Google claims, but I don’t know any of them. Well, maybe the Adonis legend. In mythological terms, Nahr-Ibrahim is known as the river of the god Adonis, (the god of fertility). Adonis was said to be gravely injured as a result of his falling prey to a wild hog and when his beloved, the goddess Astrate, ran to save his life, his blood mixed with the waters of the river and brought about his fatal death.Broken-Hearted, Astrate fell down to her knees by the riverside where she died imprinting, thus, her love story with Adonis forever on the sand. As such "Nahr-Ibrahim" gained a third appellation, the River of Immortal Love. (Source)

Playing Survival

The children were into poking holes in monster houses, catching bugs and building fires so they could roast tomatoes. Sorry girls, next time we bring marsh mellows.

So yeah, what happened to this hike of epic heights? Hmmmm, next time.

The inhabitants of Lasaa see so very few visitors that they have set up their coffee house in the middle of the road.

And when I got to work on Monday, a colleague of mine had to rub it in that he had hiked all the way from Marjayoun over some mountain range into the Beqaa Valley, past Hezbollah check points on isolated mountain tops, through forests that were empty and clean, an epic hike of some 6 hours through unexplored territory. Enough already. Next weekend ladies, we're really going to HIKE!

Quality of Life

Fresh from the press: we score a measly 54% on the 2010 Quality of Life Index. Together with another ten countries, among which Russia, Belarus. Zambia and Swaziland. There are 110 countries in the world where life is apparently more pleasant.

Lebanon
Cost of living 68%
Leisure & Culture 56%
Economy 50%
Environment 65%
Freedom 42%
Health 85%
Infrastructure 36%
Risk & Safety 21%
Climate 61%
Final Score 54%

The only reason why we do not feature any higher than that is because of the ‘Risk & Safety’ situation. We’re at the bottom of the list there. Apparently we score only better than Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Sierra Leone. Ouch.

This is how they calculate our ‘Risk & Safety’ factor:
'Safety and Risk (10%). For this category, we use the U.S. Department of State’s hardship differentials and danger allowances, which are based on extraordinarily difficult, notably unhealthy, or dangerous living conditions' (source).

Somehow I disagree with that. It is positively safe here. Chances of getting mugged here after a night out are virtually zero. But there you have it.

We do poorly on the Infrastructure as well. Okay, I agree with that one.

Holland features somewhere on the 7th place. Yes, that place where they are freezing their tushies off right now.

And so I leave you with a documentary (in Arabic), The Lebanon I Dream of, that ‘highlights the real issues of daily life of every citizen in Lebanon, from driving in the morning through the mess to go to work, through corruption, pollution, theft, instability, terrorism, death tolls, education, social security, emigration, and finally ignorance that is the main obstacle for change.’

Hmm, I wanted to leave you guys with a happy thought. Maybe better not watch the movie then.

A Service Announcement

A Dutch Evening in Beirut. Yes, you could be one of the in-crowd in the exclusive Dutch community! If you’re into Dutch Cuisine (yep, you read that right, the Dutch have a ‘cuisine’, and the quotation marks are in order here), then here’s your chance.

Tomorrow evening, Thursday, January 14, you have the choice of the following totally & traditional Dutch Winter Dishes:

Boerenkool met worst

Zuurkool met worst

Hutspot met gehaktballen

You don't know what kind of food that is? All the more reasons to come!

Where? The Rising Phoenix, Ain el Mreisseh.
Time? 8 p.m. (yep, we dine early)

Please call Anne at 03-265761 or mail her for reservations.

Just What I Need

My love for spiders is quite. . . infinite.

So you can imagine then with just what exhilaration I read this Tuesday morning that a new spider species was discovered in the Middle East.

The Cerbalus Aravensis.

Just what I need! Another spider in the vast spider array of this region. We’ve got plenty creepy crawling wildlife in Lebanon as it is (hat tip to Kheireddine for this excellent web site on Lebanon's wildlife, plants and habitats). And what about these nasty suckers in Iraq? Camel spiders, they call them.

But no, not enough. We need to discover even more. And not only that. No, it’s the biggest one in the Middle East! It’s got a leg span of some 15 centimeters (5.5 inches).
And what’s more, the thing is right near us, lurking around in the dunes of our southern neighbors (A team of scientists discovered the spider in the dune of the Sands of Samar in the southern Arava region). With their track record, this thing is bound to invade us any time soon.

Luckily, they are on the verge of extinction.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Dutch link
English link

Taking Care of Business, the Lebanese Way

I had to pay my annual ‘Mecanique’. No, not another venting session, but dealing with government services in Lebanon is intricately confusing, time-consuming, complicated and frustrating.

So much in fact, that an entire industry has developed itself around these government institutions that will do the work for you, because you - as a citizen – cannot deal with the amount of illogical and futile paperwork and/or civil servants and stay sane at the same time. They’re called fixers in my neighborhood, but their work is perfectly legal. And very welcome.

I know it is the same for Egypt and Syria, as I’ve had to deal with bureaucracy there as well, but I assume it is similar in other Middle Eastern countries that have had to deal with colonial powers. I don’t know who’s to blame for it; the Brits or the French, but it has resulted in a complete industry that operates independently, yet side-by-side, government institutions.

Back to the Mecanique.

So the Mecanique of my car was due in December.

You cannot get your Mecanique if you have not bought a government issued ‘third-party’ medical insurance, which is about $50. This one is not your regular car insurance, which you still will need to buy separate from the government insurance. And for reasons that elude me, my Mecanique was due in December, my government insurance in February and my personal car insurance in September. Why this cannot be coordinated within the same month is a mystery to me.

So I go to the bank, where I usually get the government insurance, before I get the Mecanique. No, they say at the bank, that must be done in Jounieh these days.

“Jounieh?”
“Yes, the Nifa’ah Jounieh, because you have a J in your license plate. J of Jounieh”

There is indeed a J in my license plate. I never really got that part, but now I do. So you pay taxes in the district of your license plate. Never mind that I don't live in Jounieh, nor that I bought my car there. Whatever.

And off to Jounieh I go. It happens so that I have nothing scheduled that day, but imagine you’re at work? How are you going to organize this?

In Jounieh, I finally find the Nifah Jounieh. I show my car license, but the lady at the desk shakes her head.

“No, Madam, you’re in the wrong place, you need to go to Dekwaneh.”

I just passed Dekwaneh, while in traffic jam on my way to Jounieh. If there is one thing you learn in this country, it is never to take no for an answer, and so I try again.

“But my license has a J of Jounieh.”

The lady looks at me, and laughs.

“No habibti, J is for Jebel Lubnan (Mount Lebanon). G is for Jounieh” So much for that woman at the bank. "Besides, without the government insurance you cannot get the Mecanique anyway.”

A yes, of course. And so here I am, wrong place, wrong time as well, because I am one month late, with the incomplete paperwork.

In comes a lady who sort of roams around the office floor, and grabs my papers.

“What do you need? Show me your paperwork. Where’s your insurance? You’re late! Now you have to pay a penalty! Why are you late?" she scolds me. “Why don’t you have this paper? And where is the original of this? No, you must have an original! If the police catches you like this you get a fine. And why does this insurance cost so much? You pay half with me. Why did you not come in December? Haram, the penalty is almost $100. Couldn’t you have gotten someone else to do it for you? You should have asked your husband.” And with a “Never mind. Come with me to my office, I’ll do everything for you,” I am ordered to follow her.

Ooof, you sigh, saved! Someone is willing to take interest in your case.

But as you follow close behind her, you notice that you now have left the government building, and enter a shabby building across the street with all kinds of small cubicle offices, where lots of men hang around, smoking, talking and drinking coffee. Now this surely can’t be kosher?

She is willing to do the whole paperwork for me, for a nominal fee of $15. And then I’m set – government insurance and Mecanique, all the way to December 2010. As a matter of fact, she has already put me in her agenda for November 25, 2010, when she will give me a call to remind me to come to her so she will organize my papers. What was my phone number again?

It sounds fishy, I am thinking. Surely it cannot be that easy. If I was supposed to do it in Dekwaneh, how come it is suddenly possible to do it now here, in Jounieh? And everything at the same time? Her Arabic is too fast, her French too limited. I call hubbie for advice. He speaks with the lady for a minute, and gives the advice: “Let her take care of everything.”

5 minutes later I leave her ‘office’, with all the paperwork in hand, penalty taken care of, stamped, signed, paid for and with official seal, ready for another year. And I had it checked. It is all complete, and perfectly legal.

So why would anyone still bother going through the official channels, when for $15 extra, you do it faster, and with no aggravation whatsoever? Hence and entire industry that has developed itself around government offices, taking care of business.

Four to a Bike

Not such an unusual scene . . .

It should have been snowing, but instead, it is 24 degrees Celcius. I'm not complaining, but I am telling you, it's not us (Lebanon) that's creating this global warming. Just look at these guys; four on a motorbike; one kid on the tank, the other dangling by the side. I sure hope she's not losing her grip any time soon. And mom behind dad. Helmets, anyone?

Hamra on an Early Saturday Morning

Hamra on an Early Saturday Morning: Reading the Paper

The weather is unseasonally warm for this time of year in Lebanon, while in Holland, it is unseasonally cold. They’re looking into the 11 Cities Ice-Skating Tour.

'Western Europe generally has a maritime climate with mild winters and summers, influenced by the western winds over the ocean. Only when the continental and northern inlands regions are cold and an eastern wind blows, the proper conditions arise for this ice skating race' (source).

Hamra on an Early Saturday Morning: Getting Breakfast
(Guy on the scooter is eating a mana'kish)

I, on the other hand, should have been skiing, but am now looking into a hike on Sunday with two friends. Both have children over 18, and as thus consider themselves ‘advanced in age’. I am not allowed to plan a strenuous hike therefore, I was told yesterday. One is hiding behind the fact that she is taking her smaller daughters with her as well, and they of course “cannot walk that far.” I haven’t told them yet, but I am planning a hike of the quality of the elfstedentocht. They’ll find out tomorrow. Harharhar. Hamra on an Early Saturday Morning: On His Way to Work

And thus I leave you with some pictures of Hamra on an early Saturday morning. I had to run an errand, am still possessed with an overzealous amount of energy, and wanted to beat the crowds, hence the early hour.

Hamra on an Early Saturday Morning: Future Construction Site

Something of Everything

A boat passing by the shore of Beirut this morning

Hmmm.

This month, I have to pay my mecanique (something like road taxes, and since I have a new car, I’m in the highest scale, but I’m not complaining), my son just dropped his school fee letter on my desk, which means my daughter’s bill is coming along as well (and if you live in Lebanon you know that that is not going to be a $150-thing like in Europe), I need to pay the office fee for a new housekeeper, the ticket for a housekeeper flying home, my phone bill for 3 months is due, and I need a new printer. And I’m looking into installing a fire place.

Sticking on the new bill board of the month.

Ouch.

I just barely survived the December month, which was celebrated in two places, thus two times gifts. I guess we’ll wait with the fireplace. It’s going to be 23 degrees C this weekend anyway; who needs a fire place?

The grocery deliveries waiting in front of the supermarket.

And so I will leave you with something of everything. Some things I saw while walking my daughter to school this morning, for instance.

My SIL and her youngest son with her home-made Galette des Rois (Epiphany, or Feast of the 3-Kings). Yesterday was the 3-King Feast. I remember celebrating that in Holland with a cake in which a bean was hidden. Here I have to go to my SIL's part of town, as it is not celebrated in my part of town.

H and her cousins decorating home-made speculaasjes.