TravelStream™ news feed for member natewybenga on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/natewybenga en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:57:47 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1218483660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1218483660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1218483660/tpod.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:57:47 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands

So, I did have time to write another entry!This past weekend Mike & I went to Amsterdam for his last weekend in the Netherlands. We stayed in Hilversum at Beth's (another calvin student) host parents house. And Becca, the friend who we visited in Middelburg a few weekends ago, was there as well. Mike flew back home on Monday, and Becca flew to Spain today, so we decided to spend the weekend there. Beth's family (from the states) was visiting, so just Becca, Mike, & I went around.I took Friday off of work so we had a long weekend in amsterdam. here's the run-down:Friday:-Arrived in Hilversum around noon-Got to Amsterdam around 2-Walked around the city; got familiar with its layout, and went to a theater performance in a park in the evening.Saturday:-Got to Amsterdam centraal at about noon-Did a tourist circuit: Van Gogh Museum, Rijks Museum, New Kirk Museum, Canal tour by Boat.-In the evening we went out to a nice dinner and just relaxed.Sunday:-Did some more touring: Rembrandt's House & Studio, Amsterdam Historisch Museum, and more walking around the city.-Traveled home to Doetinchem & Left Mike behind :(WelL I could go into many more details about this weekend, but I will just stop here and let the pictures talk for themselves!I have just 2 days of work left & then my dad is coming out on Friday. He & I are then taking a tour around the country. I am so excited!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1217795820/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1217795820/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1217795820/tpod.html Wed, 06 Aug 2008 17:33:37 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Well ladies and gentlemen, things are going to get pretty hectic from here on out, and I'm not sure how often I will be updating the blog. Just to give you an idea of what I have planned for my final days: Friday - Sunday: Go to Amsterdam, see the city, Mike leaves on MondayMonday - Thursday: WorkFriday - Friday: Tour around the Netherlands with my dadSaturday, August 23: Leave the NetherlandsAs a result of the crazy schedule I'm not sure if I will be able to update anymore or not... but here is what has been happening this past week... the pictures, by the way, are not in chronological order.Last Wednesday Mike & I took our roommate Peter and his girlfriend Hanneke out to dinner for one last evening together, and as a way for (in a very small way) thank them for taking us under their wing this summer. We went to the centrum of Doetinchem and had a delicious dinner.On Saturday morning Mike & I boarded the high speed train for Cologne, Germany. We were originally hoping to meet up with one of Mike's friends there, but it didn't work out to meet with him, but we still decided to go to the city on our own. It was great to see a little bit of the German culture and some of the differences between the Netherlands and Germany.Cologne has an amazing cathedral that took over 600 years to build (though, not consecutively) and towers over the entire city. When we first got off the train it was right next to the station and it just blew us away. We toured around the cathedral, walked up one of the towers (a long almost 600 ft. climb up a spiral stairway!) and at lunch on the square outside. There were some amazing "treasures" inside including the believed-to-be remains of the 3 wise men! But really there are no words to describe how amazing this chapel was, and certainly pictures do not do it justice. On Saturday, after seeing the cathedral, we took a tour of the city and saw some of the other churches there. The city was heavily bombed during WWII (~ 80% destroyed) so many of the buildings there are newer, but many of the historic churches and other historic structures have been rebuilt or preserved. In the afternoon we checked into our hotel; a modest space in the center of the city. In the late afternoon we took a tour to a large park area and saw an after party from a running race, and then took gondolas above the city to get a view. In the evening we decided to walk around the downtown area, and ended up running into a marching band performance with several different bands. There was so much energy in the performances & in the crowd, and we just had a great time in the evening listening to them.Sunday morning we got up and caught an early breakfast. The city was absolutely dead in the morning, it was amazing to see empty streets where they had been packed the night before. In the late morning we went to a museum describing the history of the city. Cologne has been around for a couple of thousand years, so there is a lot of history there and a lot of things have happened in its time. Including, of course, WWII. It was very surreal to be in such a city where 11,000 of the approx. 11,050 Jews in Cologne had been taken to concentration camps. The museum spoke openly and frankly about that shameful part of the German history.In the afternoon we took a tour to a more modern part of the city and saw some funky new buildings and more Medieval and Roman structures. We also stopped by an Olympic museum (fitting as Friday is the opening ceremonies) and learned some more about the history of the Olympics relating to Germany. In the late afternoon we hopped on the high speed train again & headed home.The experience in Cologne was amazing, and I could go on & on about it for a while I'm sure... but it is 11:30 pm & I've got work in the morning, so it is off to bed for me. I'll hopefully be able to update again next week about Amsterdam.... Until then,Nate
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1217158260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1217158260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1217158260/tpod.html Sun, 27 Jul 2008 12:30:12 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Doetinchem, Netherlands

This weekend was another one of those incredible experiences where I was just in awe of the hospitality shown to Mike & I. On Saturday we took a day trip with one of my co-workers, Johan Mandemakers. Johan is really the connection between Calvin college and Thomassen (where I work) because his wife is cousins with Elsa Prince, and visited West Michigan / Calvin College last summer. Well, Johan had mentioned to me the first day I was in the Netherlands (after he picked me up from Schiphol) that we should take a day trip sometime this summer; so we managed to find a weekend and plan a trip. We did a big loop through the middle & northern part of the Netherlands, driving about 300 miles, and stopping in 5 places as outlined on the travel map: Marken, Volendam, Enkhuizen, Afsluitdijk, and Kampen.Marken was at one time a small fishing community (an island, actually) just north of Amsterdam. After closing off the Afsluitdijk in ~1932 (and subsequently developing the body of water known as the Ijssel meer) the water in that area turned from salt to fresh, and the fishing industry was over for Marken. The city now exists as a tourist destination. And while we did have to deal with the many tourists visiting the city, it was really a nice place to see with so many old wooden buildings and people dressed in traditional dutch clothing. After having a cup of coffee in the harbor area we headed north for Volendam.Volendam was in a very similar situation as Marken with the closing of the Afsluitdijk, and now exists as a tourist destination as well. Here we walked the harbor area and had a bit to eat for lunch.Enkhuizen is a very old city. Many of the buildings are around 400 years old, which is really incredible to think about given that the entire history of America is much younger than that. As a result of its old age many of the buildings were leaning or crooked; adding to the historic feel of the town. It was a hot & humid day so we grabbed an ice cream while walking around the harbor area. It was a beautiful place to be.Next we stopped at the Afsluidijk. This dike is a 30 km (about 18.6 mile) barrier built in the 1930's to protect the area around Amsterdam and Noord Holland from flooding. It is really incredible to think of the efforts that must have taken place back then to build such a structure (without modern equipment) and to build it in a somewhat deep part of the ocean... and all in about 3 years! This is one of the places I visited last january when on the Dutch Landscapes interim through Calvin, but well it was much nicer weather this time around, and definitely worthwhile to see again.Well the weather didn't stay nice for long! As we traveled north into Friesland strong thunderstorms started to develop, with a lot of rain and even hail at times! We were going to stop in Sneek, a city with a lot of lakes for sailing, but at that point it was still raining hard so we headed south for home.We did make one final pit-stop, and that was to Kampen. This is one of Johan's most favorite cities in Holland. We sat down for dinner here at a Turkish restaurant and enjoyed a big meal, and then hit the road again. We got home at around 10 pm on Saturday evening.The trip was really amazing because the landscape of that area (Noord Holland & Friesland) is much different than over here in Doetinchem. That is an area where the land is so low that flooding seems almost always immanent (though, I'm told it is really under control). Canals are everywhere, and the water seems to be at the same height as the ground level. There are even areas with dikes where the water on the one side is higher than the houses/ ground level on the other side. The dutch really know what they're doing though in terms of flood control, and it is a high priority in that part of the country. Here in Doetinchem we are at a little higher elevation and inland, so water / flood control is not as much of a priority.Today, Sunday, we spent the day enjoying the beautiful warm weather (although, right now, I am sitting at our kitchen table and not taking advantage of the outdoors) and catching up on needed things. I am keeping busy at work and trying to work as hard as possible to finish my project since I just have about 2.5 weeks left of work! Hope everyone is well.Nate
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1216839480/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1216839480/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1216839480/tpod.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:30:29 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Doetinchem, Netherlands

It has been several days now since the last entry, so I suppose I am overdue for an update!This past weekend Mike & I were supposed to go on a day trip with one of my co-workers, but due to the bad weather forecast we decided to postpone it a weekend. This decision, however, didn't come until Friday, so we didn't have much time to make other weekend plans! But it really ended up being all right; it was nice to have the weekend to just slow down and catch my breath.On Saturday morning I slept in, and then Mike & I went to the market. This is only the 2nd time that I have been to the market; It's in town, and just on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and seeing as how we travel on the weekends I have not been around much to go to the market! But Saturday we were able to go & stock up on fruits, vegetables, bread, cheese, etc. Then in the afternoon I went on a bike ride through Doetinchem and the neighboring town Lag Keppel. I saw a couple of castles, and some other parts of the town that I hadn't been to before. On Saturday evening I just watched a movie.On Sunday Mike & I went to church in the morning, and in the afternoon went to Mike's co-worker's house. We spent the entire afternoon / evening at their house and didn't get home till around 10:30 pm. This co-worker is married to a women from Tennessee who has been living in Holland for about half her life, but still visits the states often. We had a really great conversation, and we encouraged to hear about God working in their lives. Our area of the country is not very religious and we have not had too many good conversations with others about Christianity, so it was really encouraging to hear about their faith.Tuesday morning the professor from Calvin College who arranged the internship for me, Professor Nielsen, came over to my work and spent some time meeting my supervisor & boss. I gave him a little presentation about my job, and he thanked Thomassen for taking me in for the summer. I really enjoyed seeing a familiar face from back home. Then in the evening Mike & I were really spoiled because Prof. Nielsen took us out to dinner! We do not go out so often because dining out here is really expensive (our dinner was about $100) and takes forever (people can sit 2-3 hours easily) so it was a real treat to go out. And it was also nice to get to sit down and get to know Prof. Nielsen better.Tonight, Wednesday night, we played some volleyball in the back yard after dinner, so I took some pictures of that as well. Enjoy!--Nate
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1216069020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1216069020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1216069020/tpod.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 15:06:06 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Middelburg, Zeeland, Netherlands

Wow! Thinking back on this past weekend I realize that this may be a very long post, so bear with me!On Friday evening Mike & I boarded the train to Middelburg, a city in the southwest side of the country. With connections it was nearly a 4 hour trip, so we didn't arrive in Middelburg until close to 1 am on Saturday morning. After arriving in Middelburg we were met by Becca and Heidi, 2 other Calvin engineering students staying in Europe for the summer. Becca lives & works in Middelburg, and Heidi is in Germany. After arriving at the station it was a short walk to Becca's host parents house. Becca's host family is gone for the next few weeks, which meant that we had our own rooms and bicycles for the whole weekend!On Saturday we woke up late in the morning and took a tour of Middelburg before lunch. After lunch we relaxed for a while & waited for Beth, another Calvin engineering student, to arrive. She is staying in Hillversum (near Amsterdam) for the summer. With all of us together it meant that 5 out of the 9 calvin engineering students spending the summer in Europe were there for the weekend; which is not a bad crowd! In the afternoon on Saturday we rode bikes to Veere, a town about 40 minutes by bicycle away. This weekend Veere was host to a traditional Dutch festival where many people dressed up in traditional costumes and they rode horse and buggy around. There were also games such as getting a small ring on a stick while riding past it on a horse (see pictures). We had a great time just walking around and seeing the nice scenery for the afternoon. In the evening we were all pretty tired so we just watched some tv then went to bed.On Sunday morning we walked around the corner and attended the church that meets in the school very near to Becca's house. The service was pretty contemporary, and there were some familiar tunes, but of course, no English. But it is nice to just be around people worshiping and to be in that kind of atmosphere. In the afternoon we traveled, again by bike, to Vlissingen, a city with a beach on the ocean. It was a beautiful day (actually, the entire weekend was beautiful; very rare in Holland) and so we just sat on the beach for a few hours and swam in the ocean a little bit. That evening back at home we just sat around and talked and shared stories of our experiences here so far.On Monday, yes, MONDAY Mike & I took the day off of work! So we stayed in Middelburg Sunday night. Monday morning we had an appointment at the Delta Works. To give some background information: The Delta works are a series of over 300 dikes and dams built after a large flood in 1953 to protect the country. For those interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Works. Specifically, we had a tour of the Oosterscheldekering (Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier), see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oosterscheldekering. This barrier is over 5 miles long (3 sections connected by small islands) and has movable gates. So typically the gates are in the "up" position allowing water to flow through, but when a storm comes through the gates are lowered to prevent flooding. The reason for this design as opposed to a standard dam is that since it is salt water everything would die & the environment would be dramatically changed (among other reasons) if they used a non-movable barrier. So Becca works for the Waterboard down in Zeeland, and they are part of the network of Waterboards that manages the Oosterscheldekering. They got us an exclusive tour of this barrier. It was really amazing because nothing was off limits (as we were being led by the head maintenance manager) and we were able to see some really neat things that the public never sees. We were even able to go in the room where the controls are to lower the 5 miles of gates, and we had lunch in the board room where the decision to lower the gates is made. It was a really great experience and I think the whole time we were all just amazed that we had that opportunity. We left the barrier at about 3 pm and started making our way back home since it was a 4 hour trip by train. On the way back we stopped in 2 cities: 's-Hertenbosch and Nijmegen. In these cities we just walked around for a little while to see what they were like. Nijmegen is world famous for its 4-day walking tour. Every summer for 4 days people walk on planned routes for several miles a day, and in the evening party. We happened to stop in the city on the first evening of partying, and so that was neat to see as there were a lot of people around, bands playing, etc. We didn't get back home until about 10:45 pm, though, so it was a long evening.... and an early morning on Tuesday for work.Mike and I had such a great time this weekend. It was wonderful to spend time with the other Calvin students and get to know them a little better. We are all having varied experiences here in the Netherlands (and Heidi in Germany) and it was a lot of fun just to tell stories. It was also such a great blessing to have a whole house to ourselves, and to have bicycles to use. The weekend couldn't have been better!And now I am slowly catching up w/ emails I received over the weekend, and this week already almost coming to a close. We have another fun weekend planned next weekend, so I'll be sure to update about that on Sunday or so!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1215352200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1215352200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1215352200/tpod.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:12:38 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Doetinchem, Netherlands

Alright, so, here we are again at another weekend!  Hope everyone back home had some nice 4th of July celebrations-- there weren't any fireworks here, of course.  On Friday Jason & Heidi from California came to stay with us for the weekend.  They go to the same church that my sister Ashley is working at for the summer, and are touring Europe in July.  We stayed in town this weekend and had a nice time showing them around Doetinchem a little bit.On Friday night Mike & I went downtown with Peter and his girlfriend Hanakuk (spelling?.. ) and went and had some drinks with their friends.  This weekend they were having an arts festival in Doetinchem (see pictures below) so on Friday night we went and saw a children's acrobatic act.  It was actually very impressive the level of skill of these kids for their age (my guess is they were all under 15 years old).  Then on Saturday we slept in then in the early afternoon Peter, Hanakuk, Jason, Heidi, and I went into the downtown again to do some shopping.  We stopped by the market first which I enjoyed because I had never been to the market in Doetinchem, then went to some stores.  In the afternoon Mike, Jason, Heidi, and I went over to Mike's boss' house (Phillip) to celebrate his Phillip's sons' high school graduation with their family and relatives.  It was very nice of them to invite us over, and we had a great time.  Because we only had 2 bikes & 4 people we had to practice the art of riding 2 people per bike.  The Dutch are really good at this and can even ride 3 (or more) people per bike, but it took quite a bit of practice for us with the balance and everything.  But hey, that was part of the fun of the trip too.In the evening on Saturday we went back downtown again to see some more of the festival taking place this weekend.  There were some neat, strange, and funny acts.  Some of the skits were in english, most were not, however, so we just had to guess what was going on.Then today Mike & I went to church in the morning and just relaxed the rest of the day.  Jason & Heidi left in the morning to spend the next couple of days in Amsterdam & Delft before heading off to England.  It was nice to have them over and spend the weekend here in Doetinchem.  Next weekend we are hitting the rail tracks again for an extended weekend (Mike & I are taking Monday off) to head down to Middleburg for the weekend.  Another Calvin student is staying there, and she offered to have us come for the weekend and see the area.  On Monday the Waterboard down there (where she works) is giving us a tour of the Delta Works. Well we had really nice weekend and now it is back to work on Monday.  I suppose I haven't said much about work so I'll say a few sentances here.  Work is going really well, and I am still enjoying it.  The project that I am working on is proving to be pretty difficult as I am making a manual for standards in regards to condition monitoring of the equipment, and some of these standards still need to be decided.  Well, I don't think I will finish the TPLZ 12 (the name of the manual) completely before the end of the summer, but at least I'll get a good head start.  This also means that I am busy, which is a good thing... I'd rather be busy than bored!  The people at work have been really great in regards to the challange of having to talk english with & around me.  I am really enjoying my job, but haven't written much about it, I suppose, because you all would probably think the subject is boring!Okay, I'm going to start getting ready for bed.  Hope everyone is doing well!--Nate
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214763000/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214763000/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214763000/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:47:43 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Zeddam, Gelderland, Netherlands

Sunday afternoon we decided to visit Zeddam to see a windmill there. This is about a 6 mile bike ride from our house, so it was a good little afternoon trip. This windmill is some 400 years old, but is still in operating condition. Now it is owned by a foundation and tours art giving through it frequently. It was pretty windy today so we had the privilege of seeing the blades turn & the gears work on the inside of the windmill. This particular windmill was used to make flour from grain, not to raise water from the low lying lands. We had a nice tour through the building by our guide who spoke english especially for us. The structure was so amazing in terms of the technology that was implemented for the time period in which it was created. I really enjoyed the engineering aspect of the windmill.Oh... we also had a first today... we caused our first car accident while in Holland. It happened to be at a roundabout (they're all over the place here) where a car yielded for us bikes crossing (as he was supposed to) and the car behind him wasn't paying attention and slammed right into the back of the car that yielded for us. Well, it was too bad because they were both nice vehicles. So that's about it for this weekend, I'll update when something else exciting happens!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214737320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214737320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214737320/tpod.html Sun, 29 Jun 2008 16:39:49 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

Wow, here I sit at the end of yet another weekend. It seems like such a short time ago I landed here in Holland, yet, here I sit at weekend number 5! On Saturday morning we boarded the train headed for Utrecht. We were told by Mike's co-workers that this was a pretty nice town to visit, so we decided to go for it-- it was about a 1.5 hour train ride from our home to Utrecht with a connection in Arnhem. Upon arrival in Utrecht it was not too nice weather with some rain and clouds-- we headed to the VVV (tourists info) to pick up a map & get advice on what to visit, and shortly after that stop it cleared up and the rest of the day was sunny. First we decided to take a canal tour by boat through Utrecht. The city has quite extensive canals, and we could take a tour by boat all through the city. The canals used to be used to transport goods to the city that were stored in cellars next to the canals (and beneath the roads). Now many of these cellars are restaurants or businesses with seating right next to the canal. It looked like it would be really nice to just sit and have some dinner next to the waterway. After the boat tour we decided to visit a few churches in the city. Dom church / tower is the most famous in the city, and all the architecture was quite beautiful. It is amazing to think of the work that went into building some of these magnificent churches so long ago. Many of the churches in the city allowed visitors to walk through and see the architecture of the church. We were planning on renting bicycles but ran out of time and money, so we just spent the evening walking around the city.We had a really nice time in Utrecht. The city was also very different from others that we had visited. It was a great place to visit!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214335140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214335140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1214335140/tpod.html Wed, 25 Jun 2008 16:24:51 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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The Hague, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands

Wow! So it has been several days since I have written in this blog. I have been meaning to catch up but so much stuff has been happening that I just haven't had the chance. But now I do, so here's a re-cap since last I wrote!Last Friday Mike & I finalized our plans to spend Saturday on the western side of the country in Rotterdam and Den Haag (The Hague). Rotterdam is the 2nd largest city in Holland, and the Hague is a nice place to be because it has a nice beach area called Scheveningen, so we decided to go there.Saturday we woke bright & early for our 2 hour train ride. When we got to the train station I tried to use my Rabobank (dutch bank acct.) ATM card, but the card wouldn't work! I had been using it for a week and then all of the sudden this weekend it stopped working. We were in quite a jam because we didn't really have any cash for the weekend (we were planning on using my bank card) and the bank was closed that early in the morning. So we decided to go to Peter's parents house and see if they could help us out. They loaned us enough money to cover the entire weekend which was so gracious of them, and thus we were able to still go on our trip!So after that short delay we were off to Den Haag. Once ariving at central station we headed over to the VVV which is the tourist center. On the way there we say a ceremony for students graduating from their army training. At the VVV we plotted our route for the day, taking a walk through the city and heading north to the beach at Scheveningen. We did the entire trip by foot which was quite a hike. On the way north to the beach we stopped by a museum which showcased an enormous (about 40 ft high) panoramic painting of Scheveningen back around the 1900's. It was really neat the way the piece was showcased because the way it was set up we entered the room from the center, and we were inside a gazebo-type structure. We couldn't see the top or bottom of the panoramic and it was 360 degrees all around us, so it really felt like reality since the painting was all we could see outside of the gazebo. It's kind of hard to explain, so I hope you got the idea... no pictures of it though; the museum didn't allow it. Once at Scheveningen we stopped first in the harbor area. They were supposed to be having some sort of sail boat event, and Mike is interested in sailing, but we didn't see any signs of the event when in the harbor. At Scheveningen there were tons of things to do. As you can tell by the pictures it was a very long beach area with tons of restaurants on the beach, soccer, bungy jumping, etc. It really was a nice place to be. It wasn't quite beach weather, but there were still a lot of people there because of all the attractions and shopping. This was a part of Holland I had never seen before since last time I was here it was January, and it was really fun to have that ocean/beach atmosphere that I personally do not associate with this country.So after all that walking we boarded the train and headed to Rotterdam to check in to our hostel. Rotterdam is, as I mentioned, the 2nd largest city in Holland (next to Amsterdam, of course) and is a complete modern city because of being bombed in WWII. It has such a different feel to it; something like a large city in America, because all the buildings are new and there are many sky-scrapers. The hostel experience was new to Mike & I, and it was a little different; but I'll go into the details later. When we arrived at the hostel we found out that the website we had made the reservations through hadn't confirmed with the hostel, and thus we weren't on their list to stay that night! Fortunately they did have places for us to stay, but not in the same room unfortunately. Mike was in a 10 person room and I was in a 6 person room. After dropping off our bags we headed into the city center for dinner and to watch the soccer game. It was hard to find a place where we could sit, eat, and still watch the game, but after maybe a half hour of searching we were able to do so. We had a tasty dinner at the bar and sat outside and watched Holland loose to Russia 3-1. It was very disappointing. The only redeeming fact about the whole situation was that the Russian coach is actually from Holland; from a town right next to mine, and he is quite a hero in this area so at least he won his game (but, of course, at the expense of the Dutch loosing). That even we arrived back at the hostel at about midnight to loud music playing in the bar. Good thing Mike brought ear plugs for us! The place we stayed was actually very nice for the price. The only thing that is strange about a hostel is that you have absolutely no privacy, so in your room or in the bathroom you always have people around. But it was a good learning experience because now if I stay in a hostel again I'll be able to be more prepared. In the morning we had a complimentary breakfast of bread with hagelslag, jam, cheese, etc. Mike downed 10 slices of bread as it was free (a fact I keep giving him a hard time for). After packing our bags we headed down the street to try & take a boat tour of Europoort. Europoort is the 2nd largest sea port in the world (one in Asia is larger) and the scale of everything there is so hard to comprehend. The port is literally around 20 miles long & just packed with containers, oil drums, ships, etc.! One of the pictures gives you a good sense of scale as there are 2 semi trucks on a ship and they are just so small compared to the ship & loading system. The boat tour was really awesome because we got to see the heart of the shipping operation. When we got off the boat we walked around the area for a little while and went to a road race event that was happening next door. That wasn't too interesting, though, so we headed over to Euromast to see a view of the city. One of the opportunities at Euromast is belaying down the side of it (controlled slide down a rope; climbers do this). Though we didn't do it, it was fun to watch some people go down. The view from the top of Euromast was great, and we were even able to take a rotating elevator to the very top & get a great view of the city. Part of the package that we bought at the Euromast included a trip to the Maritime Museum. Here we learned more about Europoort and saw many ship models. We ran out of time there, however, because they closed at 17:00 and so we were only there for about an hour.On our way back home we took a stop in Delft. Delft, of course, is home to the historic blue delftware. Since we were there on Sunday night there was not a lot open, but it was a great stop at the historic city. The city is much different than Rotterdam or Den Haag, so really all the cities we spent the weekend in were completely different from each other. In Delft we had a nice dinner of panekoken (spelling?) which are Dutch pancakes. They put very exotic things on their pancakes, and it is always a treat to have them. And that, finally, sums up the weekend! We rode the train home and crashed for the evening.On Monday after work an engineering professor, Professor Hoeksema, spent some time with Mike & I and took us out to dinner. He is in the country for a few weeks organizing the semester program at the Free University in Amsterdam, and was kind enough to drive across the country & say hi! He is the professor that I came to the Netherlands last time with, so it was good to catch up as I haven't had a class with him since that time. And now the past couple of days have just been busy trying to catch up. I have had such a nice time here, but have also had some good communication with people back home, and have enjoyed the messages that many of you have sent me. Hope you enjoyed reading this, it's a long update but a lot of things have happened. I don't know what this coming weekend holds, but I'm sure we do something fun!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1213527240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1213527240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/natewybenga/1/1213527240/tpod.html Sun, 15 Jun 2008 08:00:13 -0400 Motherland '08-A Summer in Holland

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Arnhem, Gelderland, Netherlands

As I write this now it is Sunday afternoon, and I am sitting out on our patio in the nice weather relaxing. It has been a pretty busy weekend, so now is a nice opportunity to reflect, relax, and convey my cultural experiences to you.On Friday right after work Mike, Me, and his boss (Philip) and Philip's wife went to a party hosted by the Waterschap Rijn & Issel (where Mike works) to watch the Dutch play in the Euro cup again. This was quite the experience! We went to a "Discotek" (I'm not sure of the spelling) which is basically like a big dance club. The place that we went was a huge building with many difference dance rooms... but it was not exclusively for dance-- they catered to groups as well. So first we had a buffet dinner. The dinner was great, and there were many different kinds of food. During the dinner a musician was playing. After dinner they had many different options of things to do-- we could watch the soccer game, play poker, even take some classes. Mike & I watched the soccer game, and that was fun to be with a couple hundred dutch people all dressed in orange cheering for their team. The dutch won the game, too, 4-1 against France! This means the Dutch will now advance to the quarter finals, and if they play as good as they have been, maybe even win the Euro Cup.After the game there was dancing. It was very different than what it is in America because the DJ's had people play games & doing Karaoke. It was also funny to hear what American music was played-- a lot of Grease (the musical), YMCA, etc. Well, we stayed for a while but by that time it was around 1 a.m., so we headed home.On Saturday the weather was not so nice, but I decided to head to the Veluwe. This is a forest area about 45 minutes away, where there are bicycles in the park that anyone can use, and you can just ride around and have fun. The problem was that I had to take a train to Arnhem (a city about 1/2 hour away), then a bus from Arnhem to the Veluwe. However, I neglected to remember that the bus drivers are on strike right now, so I got to Arnhem, and well, ended up spending the day sightseeing in Arnhem as the busses were not running. Arnhem had a pretty big downtown area, though, and so it was kind of fun to walk around and see the sights. There was a band playing drums in one area with people doing fake fighting to the drum beats (karate or some other martial arts). This was fun to watch for a while. I also went and saw the bridge from the movie "A Bridge Too Far", that bridge is in Arnhem. All in all it was pretty nice to just walk around and see the sights. Sunday morning Mike & I went to church with Peter's parents, and then to their house for coffee afterwards. Even though the service was in Dutch it was good to just be a part of that worship. I think we will probably continue to go to their church-- we'll see.So that brings me right up to this moment, and now you are updated on what I have been up to! Tonight Mike & I have been invited over to his colleague's house for dinner. Hope everyone is doing well, you all are on my mind often.--Nate
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