Normally nobody who knows me is surprised to hear that I have people staying over. But when I explain how Sean ended up at my place, I admit to have received some surprised looks. Quite simply, he has fixed something on the dashboard before we were heading off to the bushpilot course in South Africa, asked where our group was coming from and when he said: “Oh, Holland, I will be there later this year”, I handed him my card and said: “Do stay in touch in case you need any help.” Spontaous me again….

Team Italy never lost their spirit

This “help” turned out to be the offer of accomondation while his youngest son Rick was playing as captain in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup Qualifications for team Italy ( http://www.icc-europe.org/Tournaments/ICC-U19-Cricket-WCQ-2018-Europe-Div2). Having been living in the UK for 3 years and visiting numerous times since, so far I had managed to be blissfully unaware of any cricket rules. This was the week when my ignorance to this sport was about to change! Sean tried his best to explain rules and regulations to me in theory, but only after our Hamburg flying trip was cancelled due to bad weather (why again do I want to live in Holland???) and we used the now spare time to watch Italy vs. Holland the shadows of my nescience lifted. Already upon arrival we were positively surprised and somehow put back in time – the game spirit is just so traditionally English that one tends to smell tea and scones even when only Dutch Toasti and Coke are offered for visitors. Sean struggled about theory paid off when while watching, we got hooked quite easily and fast and finally managed to understand the rules. Not that difficult to count the crossings of batmen while the other team is running after the ball and thankfully the score board shows how many of the 11 batmen per team are out already and how many of the 50 overs to play have been done. So we might have seen Italy lose against Holland – but we won the rules of cricket for ourselves. Unfortunately the successes of Italy during the whole tournament were…well, let’s call them limited, however, team spirit was high and the good mood never fainted.

Approval for the Flying Chicks

Surely Sean’s visit was not only about cricket, we also set off to pay back some of the hospitality we have received from the SkyAfrica team earlier this year. We started with a welcome BBQ at Kajsa’s family home giving handy hints and top tips of places to see and things to do….and most certainly taking him up in the air was a MUST as well. For once the Dutch weather gods have been good to us, so we could head South from Rotterdam to Midden Zeeland airport. Quick break for a drink and back we go along the coast and the always stunning views of the Nieuwe Waterweg back into Rotterdam.

Fazit: Being spontanous and inviting opens new horizons. In this case we got to know a very “cool beans” family better, enjoyed discussions about the differences of lives in South Africa, Italy and Holland, got to learn about a great sport we have been so unaware of before and got lots of fun out of the time spent together. We sincerely hope that this was not the first and last acquaintance we meet along our ways and had the chance to get to know better, but just the beginning of a South Africa friendship with many more to come all over the world!