Where am I from again?

Over the past few years I have done some research into my family tree. Finding out about anything from royalty and murder (Mum's side) and religious persecution and Japanese internment camps (Dad's side). 

At one point my Dad asked me whether I knew for certain that some person was our ancestor. Well, no! Then again, how do I know my father is my father? His word does not really prove that much! So, we decided to get a DNA test done through Ancestry. 

While my parents were here, we all spat in a tube and sent it off to Ireland to get it analyzed. And on Sunday the first results came in: my mother's!

The thing we 'knew' from my research (based on other people's research mostly) was that her ancestors came from a wide area in Europe. Starting with Charlemagne and then trickling down, slowly converging on the Netherlands. Would the DNA substantiate that research?

Well, it does! As you can see from the image above. There were two surprises: the first was about the England, Wales & Northwestern Europe bit. On closer inspection it showed that the main focus in that area is England! Where did that come from? I would have thought Northern France would be more likely. The second and biggest surprise for me however was the Scandinavian percentage though: 20% of my mother's DNA is from Norway and Sweden! Vikings!! 

I can't wait for my father's results now and then of course my own! Will my own correlate with my parents' or did the milkman or postman have anything to do with my conception and do I need a completely new research?

EU

Voting!

Well, I've voted for the European Parliament! I didn't think I would. Not because I don't feel it necessary, but because of work. However, my first job of the day was cancelled and I'm now home, drinking tea. It feels weird though to be voting on a Thursday, in the Netherlands we usually vote on Wednesday! The rest of Europe votes on Sunday, but that is never going to happen in the Netherlands. Religious concerns and so forth... So today the Netherlands (and the UK for that matter) goes to vote!

Colouring in red

The weirdest thing though was having to vote using a red pencil! I've never done that before I think. I've always been able to use the voting machines, but apparently they aren't trustworthy enough. So, I used a lovely big red pencil to colour in one of the little circles, folded the ballot paper again and put it in the ballot box!

The ballot box

I'm not sure about the EU though. On the one hand unification between nations is a good thing. Having the same driving laws all over the continent is good, even though the laws seems to have been written by a Latvian gal and a Spanish guy with no understanding between them and no knowledge of either the lorry or the bus business! On the other hand, rules and regulations of a certain country are sometimes snowed under by Brussels (as we call the EU usually), causing friction to the inhabitants of a certain country. So, mixed feelings...