Sint and Piet and Paul

We found out that Saturday, the day after we arrived home, Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Piets were arriving in Antwerp. Sinterklaas is Belgium's santa. He typically arrives in town in mid November and delivers small gifts almost everyday until his birthday, December 5th. Christmas is then celebrated as only a religious holiday. This is very new to us and we are learning more about it everyday.

Sinterklaas' boat pulled in to Antwerp just a few blocks from out apartment. He was greeted by hundreds of kids. Sints helper are known as Zwarte Piets. The story is that the Piets are ones that go down the chimey to deliver the gifts and as a result, they are covered in soot. This is why all of the Sint's Piets are made up in blackface. I will be the first to say that it is a little bizarre in more ways than one.

Sinterklaas and one of his Piets.

This past weekend we got an email from Paul, one half of our Dutch Bike Repair Team. He was going to be in Antwerp for the weekend and asked if we wanted to get together. We ended up meeting him for dinner. We couldn't quite figure out what he was doing in town. All of Paul's answers were a little strange like, to buy dried miso soup and seaweed spread or to see the gypsy musician at the Vogelmarkt. When Paul stepped away for a minute, Craig asked me if I thought he was going to try and kill us. He was a little weird, but I didn't think that was on his agenda. Craig then asked me if I thought Paul was going to ask to sleep at our apartment. I didn't think that was his plan either. The night was a little strange and I don't think we will be getting together with him again, that is unless we need emergency assistance with our bikes.