VINCENT 2002

This picture was taken in Bukhara, where we went to a beach in the middle of the desert together with an Uzbek hotel owner. She owns the hotel where we already stayed a few times, it is a very nice place. She cooked plov for us and we ate this at the beach. Her hotel is in the middle of town and from there you can walk to all the nice monuments, like Labi-Hauze, the Mir-i-arab madrassah end the Kalon Mosque.
Here we have breakfast with our Dutch friends Nina and Deborah. They are very nice, even though they are girls. In the meantime they have moved to the Netherlands but we still visit them whenever we can.
In Uzbekistan, we played a lot together and we went often to the mountains with our parents, to have picnic, walk around and play.
This picture on the left was taken in the mountains, in Sokok, where we went for a walk on a misty autumn day. It was very exciting, we had to climb fences and cross mountain streams. On the right you see me and Mirjam, who is the sister of Victors friend. I love little children and I am very good at playing with them.
To the left you see me and my mother in between soldiers at the border of Shakhimardon. It is always very difficult to get into this place, they are asking for papers and stamps you never have.

It could be they mean bribes, but my mother never wants to give in and prefers to talk with them for an hour, with us waiting in the car. However, in the end the soldiers always appreciate it and this time even wanted with us on the picture. They wanted us to send them the picture, but mail in Uzbekistan is not very reliable!
This is my eleventh birthday; we went to play Paintball with some friends. I and my friend Sobir Jon liked it very much. My mother thought it was a disaster, since some of the smaller children got hit and were crying continuously. David even got a real bruise, because he stood too close when I attacked him. So next year I will have to choose something else.