Sinterklaas

Last Saturday, we celebrated Sinterklaas with the rest of the children from the joint venture. Sinterklaas, which usually falls on 5 December, is a typical Dutch tradition that, from my understanding, similar to the Santa Claus tradition that I'm a little more familiar with, not that I believed in him as a child. The whimsical tale of Santa Claus, with his team of of flying reindeer, sneaking into the chimneys of houses didn't make much sense to me, growing up in tropical Singapore and our high-rise buildings? Johan thinks I was a little deprived ... ha ha. Oh well.

So anyway, the Sinterklaas celebration which took the entire afternoon was I assumed very enjoyable for the children. Just like Santa Claus, Sinterklaas also had 'records' of all the children and their conduct during the year. I think the only child that wasn't addressed was Sera, since her parents failed to submit her 'story' to Sinterklaas prior to the party. So while the other children had their one-on-one sessions with Sinterklaas, Sera was checking out the party scene, enjoying the music, food and the drinks.

For more information on Sinterklaas, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Sinterklaas traditionally arrives in a boat, but being in Qatar, he arrives in a desert quad bike. Those black faced guys with him are his helpers.

There's Sera, participating in her own usual way

Her present from Sinterklaas - a box of musical instruments.

Having fun with her egg shakers, one of the instruments from her presents