netherlands activities

sales and educational events

Sales at our house

If you really know what items you would like to buy from the old Oooom Piet stock you can try and arrange a visit to our warehouse- which is our home. Please mail or phone Lexa to do so.
Home Sales such as Ikat Afternoons and Silver Sales will only come this fall. At the earliest- a lot of other things are going on and fortunately almost all we sell is timeless.

Sales at markets near and in Leiden

The Boekkunstbeurs will be held on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 November, at the Pieterskerk in Leiden. Once again many artists' materials, together with lots of books, albums, greeting cards and handmade paper. With many margin printers and bookbinders selling very beautiful books. And always one or more nice workshops- also for children.
In 2011 ni9neLives / Oooom Piet took part once again in two very nice, small-scale, low-key markets in Warmond, the Exotische Markt and the Textielmarkt. Together with quite a few others, most non-profit as well, we enjoyed having so many nice people enjoying, and buying, our handmade items and crafts materials. All from our abundant stock- toys, pillows, jewelry, beads, scarves and handicrafts from Indonesia and Vietnam, cinnamon tree bark and wild silk cocoons and fleece from Indonesia.
We are hoping to also take part again in the Friends' Markets at the Leiden Botanical Gardens in fall and spring, at the Hortus Botanicus off the Rapenburg in Leiden.

School programs

In the old Oooom Piet days Lexa did a couple of pen pal projects linking Indonesian school kids with their peers in Dutch schools. But Oooom Piet grew too big for that- no time or energy.
During her last trip to Indonesia in February 2011, Lexa not only worked on Nusa Penida on the Pay4Play project, she also went to a 2nd grade in a public, Islamic, elementary school in Pekanbaru on Sumatra, where her cucu, (almost) grandson Gilles new class made wonderful drawings for the pupils of his former classmates in Rijswijk in the Netherlands. In the meantime Lexa visited that much smaller group of children in Rijswijk, with and without her little granddaughter in tow.
In Kota Gede on Java Lexa went to her hosts' little son Hashfi's first grade. The principal of the school suggested Lexa teach them English, so some wrote a letter in Bahasa Indonesia, which Lexa then translated for them, others made drawings which got the English names for the objects in the pictures or the colors. In Leiden a teacher friend's kindergartners drew great pictures of animals in return- which were given Indonesian and
This fall we are planning on spending slightly more time on Nusa Penida with our exciting Pay4Play project. We hope we can make a connection there too with Dutch children.

Workshops-
a Creative Mix of New from Old- Young Meet Old

ni9neLives works with the Stichting Creative Mix foundation on special events which make money for a Good Cause. The Creative Mix Fashion Event of 2011 has been successfully completed and the proceeds have gone to the Leiden Food Bank. We helped with some of the workshops, which are at the core of how Creative Mix approaches fundraising.
Students work for their CAS and MaS requirements and learn how to be creative and take on responsibility. For the Fashion Event they design, put together and show their own fashion items and help organise the event. To raise funds beyond just selling tickets to te show they also made jewelry, bookmarks and picnic blankets, to be sold during the interval, such as the silver necklace shown by its maker in the photo here.
In the ni9neLives spirit recycling was one of the themes- New from Old. Even more exciting perhaps was the way in which Young Meets Old. There was a jewelry workshop at a restaurant which the elderly frequent. The recycled paper beads at Lexa's table attracted interest and amazement.
At an extended workshop which lasted for a number of days ni9neLives helped high school students design and produce recycled garments and accessories. To learn the traditional knitting and crochet techniques they went to a Home for the elderly first. Some amazingly young-at-heart women taught them the basics and later came to see how the techniques were applied. They also came to see the show that was held at the special restaurant for the elderly and even were part of the jury that chose the best outfit.
This fall ni9neLives may do some recycling workshops with the elderly themselves. We look forward to working with them. Their great enthusiasm will once again inspire us when helping them make very special accessories and jewelry for the gift giving season.

For more information on the 2012 Fashion Event, go to www.stichtingCreativeMix.com