The Koetsier-Feliciano Family

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A California-raised blended family

(English - scroll down for Español & Nederlands)Marie was born in Puerto Rico, and Michael was born in the Netherlands. They met in college and became inseparable - everyone knows them as M&M. Somewhere along the way, they had two wonderful children, Tymen and Tayla, and so they became T&T. They have a knack for bringing things together, from their desire to teach their children English, Dutch and Spanish, to their unique Puerto Rican & Dutch cooking. They try to find a harmonic commonality in all things, even when things seem worlds apart. You could say that’s their thing.T&T like to joke that their mother is “café” and their father is “leche” (in spanish), so they came out “café-con-leche”. That started us thinking about how we could share our unique cultural heritage with the world, which is how Marie came up with the idea that the family is really “Nederican,” (from the words Nederland and Puerto Rico). Michael being a web designer, said: “We should reserve that domain name and make that into a web site!” and that is how nederican.com came to be.Marie speaks Spanish and Michael speaks Dutch, but English is the language in the middle, where we meet. Over the years, English has become the language in the middle for most people in the world, so that is the language we speak in common. Culturally, it is important to learn and speak our own languages so we do this with our children. T&T are fluent in all three languages and Marie speaks to them exclusively in Spanish while Michael speaks Dutch. Whenever others are around, we do things in English, to symbolize our unity.This website is about bringing all the things that make us unique together. It is primarily to communicate with our friends and family (like our yearly holiday newsletter), although we do plan to make more of it eventually. So don’t be surprised if you eventually see this becoming a meeting place or we may add a small shopping cart for unique things that represent our core message.Ultimately, unity is what we are all about.

(Español)Marie nació en Puerto Rico y Michael nació en Holanda. Se conocieron en la universidad y se volvieron inseparables: todos los conocen como M&M. En algún momento del camino, tuvieron dos hijos maravillosos, Tymen y Tayla, por lo que se convirtieron en T&T. Tienen una habilidad especial para unir las cosas, desde su deseo de enseñar a sus hijos inglés, holandés y español, hasta su cocina puertorriqueña y holandesa única. Intentan encontrar una armonía armónica en todas las cosas, incluso cuando las cosas parecen mundos separados. Se podría decir que eso es lo suyo. A T&T les gusta bromear que su madre es "café" y su padre es "leche" (en español), así que salieron "café-con-leche". Eso nos hizo pensar en cómo podríamos compartir nuestra herencia cultural única con el mundo, y así fue como a Marie se le ocurrió la idea de que la familia es realmente “Nederican” (de las palabras Nederland y Puerto Rico). Michael, como diseñador web, dijo: "¡Deberíamos reservar ese nombre de dominio y convertirlo en un sitio web!" y así nació nederican.com.Marie habla español y Michael habla holandés, pero el inglés es el idioma en el medio, donde nos encontramos. Con los años, el inglés se ha convertido en el idioma intermedio para la mayoría de las personas en el mundo, por lo que es el idioma que hablamos en común. Culturalmente, es importante aprender y hablar nuestros propios idiomas, por eso hacemos esto con nuestros hijos. T&T domina los tres idiomas y Marie les habla exclusivamente en español, mientras que Michael habla holandés. Siempre que hay otros alrededor, hacemos las cosas en inglés para simbolizar nuestra unidad.Este sitio web trata de reunir todas las cosas que nos hacen únicos. Es principalmente para comunicarnos con nuestros amigos y familiares (como nuestro boletín anual de vacaciones), aunque planeamos hacerlo más eventualmente. Así que no se sorprenda si finalmente ve que esto se convierte en un lugar de encuentro o si podemos agregar un pequeño carrito de compras para cosas únicas que representan nuestro mensaje principal.En última instancia, la unidad es de lo que se trata.M&M y T&T

Patras Ariba

(Nederlands)Marie is geboren in Puerto Rico en Michael is geboren in Nederland. Ze leerden elkaar kennen op de universiteit en werden onafscheidelijk - iedereen kent ze als M&M. Ergens onderweg hadden ze twee geweldige kinderen, Tymen en Tayla, en dus werden ze T&T. Ze hebben de gave om dingen bij elkaar te brengen, van hun verlangen om hun kinderen Engels, Nederlands en Spaans te leren, tot hun unieke Puerto Ricaanse en Nederlandse keuken. Ze proberen in alle dingen een harmonische gemeenschappelijkheid te vinden, zelfs als de dingen van elkaar gescheiden lijken. Je zou kunnen zeggen dat dat hun ding is.T&T maken er graag grapjes over dat hun moeder "café" is en hun vader "leche" (in het Spaans), dus kwamen zij uit "café-con-leche". Dat zette ons aan het denken over hoe we ons unieke culturele erfgoed met de wereld konden delen, en zo kwam Marie op het idee dat de familie echt 'Nederican' is (van de woorden Nederland en Puerto Rico). Michael zei als webdesigner: "We moeten die domeinnaam vlug reserveren en er een website van maken!" en zo is nederican.com ontstaan.Marie spreekt Spaans en Michael spreekt Nederlands, maar Engels is de taal in het midden, waar we elkaar ontmoeten. In de loop der jaren is Engels voor de meeste mensen in de wereld de taal in het midden geworden, dus dat is de taal die we gemeen hebben. Cultureel is het belangrijk om onze eigen talen te leren en te spreken, dus doen we dit met onze kinderen. T&T spreeken vloeiend alle drie de talen en Marie spreekt hen uitsluitend in het Spaans toe terwijl Michael Nederlands spreekt. Als er anderen in de buurt zijn, doen we dingen in het Engels om onze eenheid te symboliseren.Deze website gaat over het samenbrengen van alle dingen die ons uniek maken. Het is in de eerste plaats om te communiceren met onze vrienden en familie (zoals onze jaarlijkse kerst-nieuwsbrief), hoewel we van plan zijn er uiteindelijk meer van te maken. Wees dus niet verbaasd als u uiteindelijk ziet dat dit een ontmoetingsplaats wordt, of dat we een klein winkelwagentje toevoegen voor unieke dingen die onze kernboodschap vertegenwoordigen.Uiteindelijk is eenheid waar het allemaal om draait.M&M en T&T

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The Holiday Newsletter

You probably already received a holiday card from us - and if you didn't, we promise it's in the mail! Cards don't have much room for pics, so this is where we get to share some photos and some witty tidbits about what we've been up to._{P.S. There's a lot of pictures, so scroll slowly so that they have time to load.}

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Tayla

In April I went to an auto show with my friends Lalli and Camila.

Summer break at the beach with my friend Lalli. This is at Laguna Beach and the one above, with the title, is at Newport Beach.

I had applied for a grant program through the city of Irvine, so this is me and all the other students who were part of the program, after which we were recognized at the City Hall Meeting. Can you see me in the back? PS. The older gentleman in the gray suit on the far left, Larry Agran, was recently elected as the new mayor.

I had a great time at my friend Shaili’s birthday party. We all wore white dresses to match.

Right before the year started, our school organized an early morning hike to the top of a local hill to celebrate Senior Sunrise, a bit of a tradition at our school. Here I am with my friends in our PJs. I'm not a morning person, and it was very cold, but also a lot of fun.

In November, I went to see Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘Short ‘N Sweet’ tour in San Diego with my best friend Aisha. We bought lots of merchandise, and had a lot of fun.

By the way, in December I also completed my driving exam and got my driver's license. Because it took so long to get all that done, I am now taking full advantage of my newfound freedom. Yes, Tymen, this means we are now sharing the Honda 50/50!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

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Tymen

So here's a bit about what I've been up to this year...

On January 6th I traveled to Solvang, California with my girlfriend Silvi, her twin sister, and their best friend. We made it a day trip and had a lot of fun in the little quaint Danish town just up the freeway from Santa Barbara, California. We tried some traditional Danish pastries, took
some photos, and overall enjoyed the break before going back to school. Before heading home, we also stopped off at Ostrich Land, a large ostrich farm just outside of Solvang, to feed and pet some of those oversized demon chickens.

In March, as part of my competition in Speech and Debate, I was selected to represent my college at a tournament in Dublin, Ireland. Out of the whole team, my coaches selected 11 people to go to Dublin and I was one of them. We had 2 days of competition and another 3 days of sightseeing through Dublin. We toured the infamous Trinity College Dublin and visited Trinity College Library, one of the oldest libraries in Europe dating all the way back to 1592. We also toured many castles and cathedrals throughout the city and tried not to freeze in the neverending rain.

Speech and Debate also took me to Reno, Nevada for Speech and the National Championship where we competed against hundreds of other college students from all across the country. We road-tripped it from Irvine and spent a total of 7 days in Reno. 2 days of activities and practice before a full 5 days of competition (most tournaments are 2-3 days). It was a grueling tournament, but I came home with 2 bronze medals so that made the 5 days of 6 am wakeups kind of worth it. Overall it was a great experience and I had a lot of fun in the "lesser version of Las Vegas."

I went camping several times this year, but in August we had a little weekend getaway with our family friends at their cabin in the mountains. I enjoyed playing with the dogs and eating very good food with everyone. I went on some hikes with a couple of my friends on the first day too. On the second day, we all went to the lake to do some fishing. We unfortunately did not catch anything but when my friend Lucas found a rope swing, we all took turns jumping into the lake to wrap up a fun day at the lake.

My cousin Julian came to stay at Oma & Opa's this summer before he went off to college. It was fun hanging out. We even had a night out on the town with Arshan, my other cousin.

We celebrated my birthday at Oma & Opa's house so that they would not have to travel to meet us. Oma made Dutch stampot for dinner because that is one of my favorite dishes. Then we opened presents.

We spent our post-Thanksgiving at Ken and Diane's cabin in Wrightwood. This year Silvi came up with us and we had a great time. You can't tell here because everyone had not arrived yet, but later that night, the cabin was packed with people.

You could say that Speech & Debate was a huge part of my extracurricular life this year. Perhaps that's true but I had a great time at every tournament. If I hadn't joined the team, I don't think I would have had the confidence and determination to do this well in all of my classes. Since I want to become a history teacher, I need to be good in front of an audience, so I'm really glad I did it, even if it was a lot of work.This year I'm also applying to transfer to a four-year university so that I can continue with my bachelor's degree next fall. I'm super excited about what will come next. I've applied to some of the top history schools in the country, but my goal is to attend UC Berkeley. Of course, I'll be just as happy if I can squeeze into Michigan, Stanford, or Princeton too. Then there's also UC Santa Barbara which would be a great place to study as well, and I'm also applying to SCU Fullerton since my mom works there - we can carpool, lol.Anyhow, next year will be an eventful year for me, so wish me luck!I wish you all an amazing holiday break and an equally eventful New Year!

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Marie

Got my tech. Got my snacks. OK, Dr. Marie is ready to teach!

This is me presenting at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Conference in February. This was a wonderful opportunity to share my research and include some anecdotes from one of my favorite books that I use in all my classes.

Celebrating my sister, Angela's birthday. That's Charles in the middle, and Angela next to him. The other image is of my nephew Jonathan, Charles's youngest son, right before he went off to join the Marines.

In March we were invited by some good friends of ours to see a modern dance performance at Chapman University. Now, modern dance isn't exactly my cup of tea, but we had a great time and it was nice to be back at my alma mater with good friends.

This was a walking tour of Little Texas, the first Black community of Santa Ana, when red-lining kept Black people in zones. It was a fascinating trip into a history here in Orange County that we seldom hear of. The book, A Different State of Orange, is one of the few books written about it. The photo to the right is at the historical site of the first Black church.

This is a very special photo of me and my students who participated in the Elict & Amelia Plurilingual Project. This is at the final presentation at the end of the project. The smiling student, second from the left, is Tymen's girlfriend, Silvi, who is studying psychology at CSU Fullerton.

This is one of the most rewarding parts of my job: graduation day. Left photo is me with Professor Alejandro Gradilla, who has been a mentor and inspiration. In the middle is me with my student, Mykala, receiving her diploma, The right photo is me with my colleague Kristin Rowe, who also went to Ghana during the Summer.

My nephew Jonathan graduating from the Marines. We wanted to be there for him on this incredible occasion. We are so very proud of him!

One of the most exciting things I did this year was attend a conference in Ghana. The picture on the left is me and my colleagues Kristin and Anthony boarding the plane at LAX, then arriving in Accra and having a quick bite before heading to the hotel. The second day we were there, we visited the Kwame Nkruma library. Hmmm, do you recognize a repeating graphic element?

The photo on the left is Accra as seen from the plane. It is a very large metropolis. The photo in the middle is us having lunch with two former professors of mine who just happened to be attending the same conference, Vita Jones and Dawn Person. It was really nice meeting up with them on the other side of the world. The third photo is of the surprise birthday party that they threw for me while I was there.

We had some of the Buikema family come to visit Oma & Opa's after my trip to Ghana. On the left, Michael's cousin Leon and his wife Henriette came to visivisited after they dropped off their daughter to attend college in Mississippi.Later in the summer, Michael's sister from Dubai and her husband Shiv also came to visit and then drop off their son at UC Davis.

We are always busy attending events, it seems. Here I am attending the Friendly Center Gala with my good friend Kenia Cueto. The photo in the middle is of me at the NACOPRW Bloomingdale's Event. On the right, is me representing my company, The Colégas Group, at the Ethnic Studies Summit in Riverside.

In the fall we celebrated Halloween (of course), then Albert's birthday at one of his favorite restaurants, a hibachi grill. We also spent Thanksgiving with the Koetsiers and to make it easy on Oma, we brought all the food. We also wore our traditional Thanksgiving hats, mostly to embarrass the kids of course.

The photo on the left with fellow mothers who are part of the Irvine Unified School District Friends Committee. To the right, I am participating in the NACOPRW coquito making workshop. This is where we make each holiday season's batch of coquito.

Every year we celebrate our post-Thanksgiving with our good friends, the Bots, at their parent's cabin in Wrightwood. It's a tradition to then also attend the official parade, but it gets pretty chilly on the way, even when there is no snow. On the right, is me at the NACOPRW End of year holiday celebration. It's always a fun event, especially after the coquito is served and people start to sing.

I couldn't end this letter without showing off my Kamala Chucks and pearls. Democrats didn't win this year, but we'll be back for all the excitement of the blue wave in two years. On the right is a photo of me with my good friend Gloria Caballero, who is also an amazing artist. And in the middle, is me and my sweetheart at the Christmas concert at Chapman, something we enjoy attending every year.I wish everyone a wonderful holiday and a fantastic 2025!

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Michael

I know eveyone else already had plenty of pics to share. Don't worry, I'll keep my part short & sweet.

As you probably know by now, I'm an avid walker. I often take photos when something catches my eye. Here is one from the end of Jeffrey Trail that I took in January. I remember that when we first moved here, there were no trees here at all and you could see all the way to the ocean. How fast things change...

For valentine's day, Marie and I decided to keep it simple. We had a tapas traditional Spanish dinner at home, Marie made a cake, and then we went to a chamber performance.

Tymen keeps me on top of world soccer events and this summer we watched almost every game of the Euros and Copa America. I think Tymen even stayed up a whole night during the group phase so that he wouldn't miss a game.For my birthday, I had a hankering for The Habit, a local hamburger joint. They make a delicious burger, but it's not something you want to make a "habit" of. I usually eat pretty healthy, so this was "allowed."

In June I attended the 2024 Home Entertainment Show. I'm not as much into Hi-Fi as I used to be, and I hadn't been to an audio show since before Covid, so this was a lot of fun.In that first photo, I'm 6' (1.83m) tall, and those speakers still towered over me - they were incredibly loud too - and that's only the left side, there are two more on the other side.In the middle pic is one of the standout rooms that sounded exquisite. The speakers cost more than a sports car, but they are as beautiful as they sound.On the second day, my friend Jacco came to the show and we had heard some awesome gear. When we were buying records, Jacco got roped into a booth where a slick salesman claimed to have a revolutionary way to clean records, even brand-new ones (wink wink). And that fella could talk your ears off!...so an hour and a half later we finally got the record back and managed to break free.

At the end of June, it was time for Marie's trip to Ghana. It was tough surviving without her, but we managed OK - no one starved. Here we are picking her up from the airport when she returned and you can see how glad Tymen was that she was back.

Every summer, we try to spend time in the mountains - kind of a necessity when it gets so hot. Here I'm proudly wearing the Guinness shirt that Tymen got for me in Ireland.This year someone also crashed into my car when it was parked. Fortunately a friend caught the whole thing on camera so I was able to file a claim. It took months, but I did finally get my car fixed. While it was being repaired, I received this great rental - turbo charged with all the bells and whistles. Tayla was all too eager to take it for a spin. Of course, we also played a prank on our family by sharing this photo so that they would think we bought a new car for Tayla.And that third photo, well that's Tayla making a point about my fashion sense. Evidently, I have none, but it was way too hot this summer for me to care.

We have two big events in October: Tymen's birthday...

...and...

...and,

...and Halloween!As you all know, we take it very seriously. We sent out cards this year too, but to our surprise, USPS no longer has Halloween stamps! We made do with these Dungeon & Dragons stamps, but what is this world coming to?For decorations, I had carefully drawn out plans, and everyone in the family had a task... that I ended up doing... So much for carefully laid plans... most of the fun is in the prep, right?This year I decided to dress up as a pumpkin farmer - not my most outlandish costume (yeah, I surprised myself too). But for once, I was perfectly comfortable in my digs - no sewing, no makeup, no heavy props - it was great! The other upside was that I could have a beer as part of my costume.

Hanging out with Jacco and Theo in Wrightwood. Every year after Thanksgiving we head up for a potluck at Jacco's in-laws. With so many people coming it's always a surprise to see what new dishes people will bring. This year is was busy enough that we had to wear nametags, which consequently, also comes in handy when you've had a few too many beers.Speaking of which, this year Jacco brought that Speedway Stout that you see on the table. Now I like my beer heavy and malty, but that one really puts hair on your chest... Apparently, it doesn't seem to have that same effect on the top of your head!

Well, there it is. I hope we didn't bore you with too much detail... Oh, it looks like we did lose someone. Boy, that guy is really passed out!...Oh wait, that's me.Wishing everyone a restful and peaceful holiday!