A few random things
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
35
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Sunday, February 1, 2004
If you are still reading these after the last couple 17+-page entries, I am very impressed. We have been very busy lately and in the process, we have put off sending some older t-pod entries. But while I work on our trips to the Ardennes region of Belgium for my b-day and to Antwerp for Julie's b-day, you guys can read this. I also want to tell you all about our pre-T-giving party, only 3 months late =) And then I suppose we could update you on what Julie and I are up to from Mon. through Fr. and some of the interesting things doing in A'dam recently. But here is a quick weekend trip from October...
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ENKHUIZEN AND OUDERKERK
Julie and I awoke one Saturday morning and decided we would go on a daytrip. We had no clue where we wanted to go but we knew we needed to see a bit more of the Netherlands. So we hopped on our bikes and rode to Central Station (see Pic 1).
We got on the train to Enkhuizen, about an hour north of A'dam. Enkhuizen is a port town of 17,000 on the IJsselmeer, a fresh water lake that was formed when the sea was walled in. We decided to venture to Enkhuizen because of the Zuiderzeemuseum, which is a museum that rebuilt 130+ homes and shops that were originally in villages throughout the area in the early 1900s. It is sort of a tourist look at old village life, however, it's not overly touristy. It sounds kinda strange but it is actually really cool. These are actual homes and businesses, many of which came with info on its previous owners and inhabitants.
01. You MUST remember where you parked your bike
We took the ferry over to the musuem (see Pics 3 and 4) and got a good look at what small town Holland was like in the early 1900s (see Pics 5 and 6).The homes were all very small. The Dutch were not traditionally a tall group of people which is good because the doorways were all pretty low (see Pic 7). The homes were simple with most of the rooms set up as multi-purpose (see Pic 10). Usually, people slept in pantry-type areas in the kitchen (see Pic 11). The beds were very small so people slept sitting upright as if they were sitting on a recliner with their legs out and their back straight, forming a 90-degree angle. All of the rooms were painted brown and had little light. I'm sure it was very uncomfortable. Add to this that many homes were for extended families, meaning often times married couples lived with the parents or in-laws (oh, how horrible that must be). One of the homes was actually owned by a Jewish family which was interesting to see. I kept joking with Julie that the early 20th-century neighborhood is exactly the type of place Julie's parents would want to live. It's kinda like the ultimate "small town".
The businesses were very interesting as well (see Pic 8). There was a huge barn-like building which was used as a laundry. It was pretty cool. There were huge steel containers attached to ropes which acted as pullies. Momentum and gravity were used to minimize the amount of manpower while still creating suds (see Pic 17). There was also a barber, a candy shop, a pharmacist, a broom maker, and a few other traditional businesses (see Pics 16, 18, and 19).
02. A typical boat coming back from the North Sea
Everything was made either by hand or by using very primitive techniques. Today, the people who worked in the 'village' spoke the traditional dialect and acted as if it was still 1900. So when I spoke to them in English, they looked at me as if I was an alien. I asked one person who was making a fish net if I could take a picture of him and he looked at me as if he didn't understand what a camera was. At first, it was a novel idea but eventually, he could tell I was getting frustrated and so he broke character and told me I could take a picture (see Pic 9). Another man was smoking herring which he then sold (see Pics 13-15). This was a huge process which included him gutting the fish, cutting off the head, sticking a huge spit through it, and then letting it sit in some sort of brick drying thing for a few hours. From there, the herring kabob is moved to a big bin that looks like a homeless person's trashcan fire. The fish hang over the fire and get smoked. I suppose it's tough to explain - hopefully the pics make sense. Anyways, Julie and I tried one but with the small bones, it ended up being a bigger hassle than it was worth. It was still interesting to see though.After spending about 5 hours at the museum, we left without finishing. We both really liked it but figure we'll probably be back when Julie's parents come to town next. From the Zuiderzeemuseum, we walked around town for a bit, looking at the magnificent boats that moved in and out of the harbor. I joked with Julie that most of the boats looked like 1-Eyed Willie's from "The Goonies" (see Pic 2).
03. Julie on the ferry to the Zuiderzeemuseum
As we wandered around town (see Pic 20), we finally headed to a local brown café where we had a nice dinner. I don't remember if I explained a brown café yet but they are typical bars that serve food, and they are everywhere. The food is usually very good and a bit more complex than just chicken breast sandwiches and nachos. That night, we had tomato soup and fish. Every brown café serves fries and a side salad with the meal. It's pretty good and this particular one was good as well.After dinner, we walked around a little bit more and finally, ended up back on the train. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful little trip.
The following morning, we continued our investigation of the country. We got on our bikes and headed out of town. We rode for about an hour along the Amstel River to a town called Ouderkerk. The weather was nice and the ride was relaxing. Other than passing a random windmill along the way, it was rather uneventful. Oh, except I almost killed a dog. I was riding my bike on a small country road in the middle of nowhere when I approached 2 men standing on the sidewalk between a parked car and the house. They were hangin' out, doing nothing, smoking and chatting, not having any care in the world when an ugly mutt-looking dog ran out in the street inches from my front tire. I slammed on the brakes and barely missed making a mess of the street. The man barely moved, said something to the dog and basically ignored me. I mean, why wouldn't the man look after his dog when he lives on a bike path.
04. A smoke house in the Zuiderzeemusuem
Fucking asshole. I wish he was crossing the path, I would've run him over but the poor dog...When we got to Ouderkerk, there was not much to do. This was our poor planning. We are still getting used to this whole "Sunday" thing. You see, most things are closed on Sundays, especially once you leave downtown A'dam. There was basically 1 restaurant open. It was a really nice place and actually, the closest we've found to an American restaurant so far, kinda. It was huge and looked like something we would see in the US. It had a nice wooden décor and a huge open fireplace in the center of the room. The 2 main differences were the handful of kids running laps around the open fireplace without any of the parents even noticing that the kid was away from the table and the dog which one of the patrons had brought into the restaurant with them. Some of the food cleanliness issues just aren't important here and while it is strange to see, we have begun to get used to it and at least we get to see really cute dogs while we enjoy our food.
After lunch, we rode around town a little bit, looking at the typical town church along the river. We headed back onto the bike path and made our way back home. Along the ride, we passed a couple who were probably in their 80s riding their bikes. They were really cute. As amazing as it sounds, everyone in the country rides bikes, regardless of how young or old they are. Seeing 80 year olds on bikes is not very strange here. But for me, it is still a new sight so I rode up to the windmill and waited for the older couple to approach so that I could pretend to be taking a pic of the windmill while I was really trying to take a pic of the oldies on their bikes.
05. Julie navigating the recreated village
I think she figured out what I was doing, but oh well (see Pic 21).CONCERTS
We went to see Herbie Hancock at the Paradiso, the same place I saw Janes Addiction. Roughly half of the floor was taken up by the stage which was set to accommodate a 50+-piece orchestra. It seemed like half of the people in the Paradiso were on the stage. It was awesome. The orchestra, called Metropole Orkest, was really amazing. They are Dutch and often play with a featured musician - this summer they are playing with Elvis Costello at the North Sea Jazz Festival...Julie and I are going to try to go to this as well. Herbie was awesome and we tried to hang with him backstage but apparently telling him that our friend bopped his niece was not the correct approach.
Julie and I went to see Ben Harper a while back at the Paradiso also (see Pics 22 to 25). It was a cool show. It's almost like any performance in this intimate theater is great. It is an old church so it has beautiful stained-glass windows behind the stage and very pretty and intricate details in the ceiling, balcony, etc. The other great venue in town is called the Melkweg. Although we haven't seen anyone there yet, we just bought tix to see Bonnie Raitt in June.
I also went to see a performance at the Concertgebouw, the A'dam Symphony, one Sunday morning. It was great. Julie was supposed to come with but wasn't feeling well so I went solo. The theater is beautiful. Our tix were arranged by Moos, a Jewish young person's group that we heard about through Julie's brief interest in Hadassah A'dam.
06. Julie with the North Sea in the background
Most of the people that participate in MOOS are college students so we have not participated in anything yet, since it's usually bars and clubs, but this sounded fun. The performance was Aaron Copeland, an American Jew. It was about an hour-long program. This was my first time at a symphony so a lot of my time was spent just noticing the small details - like the conductor walked through a door and down some steps lined in a red carpet to his podium while receiving a standing ovation, the audience was filled with very common-looking people in very casual clothes (which was surprising to me), there were a lot of children in the audience and most of them seemed to be very well-behaved and interested in the music, and people must be very familiar with the music because they knew exactly when the piece was over vs. when it was a break so that there applause didn't interrupt the flow of the music. It was really nice. One thing I noticed was the conductor seemed to get an awful lot of love from the audience but to me, he just stands there and waves his stick around at will - if you ask me, the real accomplishment is the musicians...sit down fatty and let the musicians get their respect. The show only costs EUR15 so considering the same tix at the Chicago Symphony would've cost $50, I'm sure we'll be back a few times over the next 2+ years. The last concert we've seen recently was Radiohead. They played at Gelderdome, a smallish soccer stadium (roughly 7,000 people) in Arnhem, a town 1 hour east of A'dam.
07. Stephen next to a typical IJsselmeer house
Julie met me after work at my office. We jumped on the train together and did the suburban commute thing. When we arrived in Arnhem, we followed the crowd onto buses that were organized to take the hordes from the train station to the stadium. The concert was awesome. Coincidentally, Holland was playing a qualifying match against Scotland for the Euro Cup soccer tournament which will take place in Portugal this June. One of the band members, Jonny, kept including the soccer radio coverage into their music. It was pretty cool. People in the audience kept getting SMS messages on their cell phones so every so often, you would hear some idiot yell out the score. Even the lead singer, Thom, started the encore by congratulating the audience on a big win that secured them a spot in the Euro Cup. It was a wonderful show. Following the show, again, we followed the crowd from the stadium to the bus to the train and back to A'dam. Once we got back to A'dam, there were tons of drunk Scots in kilts singing and running around...further proof that soccer is first about getting drunk and only secondly about winning.RUGBY AND AUSTRALIA DAY
We went to watch the finals of the Rugby World Cup. Since we had watched the whole tournament, we might as well watch the finally. Australia lost to England. Our friend Bruce was pretty broken up over the whole thing. It was a really great game though. I actually felt pretty cool because some of our other friends came to watch the game too. They had not watched previous matches so they were unfamiliar with the game so I got to act like an expert.
08. Collecting rainwater for drinking
I think I have a descent understanding of the game. I really like it. There was an Australian player who cut his lip in the first couple of minutes of the game. Somehow he stayed in the game despite his face looking like it was going to fall off by the end of the game. Another interesting thing I noticed was the TV coverage calculates what the scrum weight is. Each side is roughly 1800 lbs. So imagine you are in the front row of the scrum, pushing against 1800 lbs of pressure coming at your shoulder. Now, remember that you also have 1800 lbs of pressure behind you pushing you into the opponents. This can't be good for the neck.For being such a big Australian rugby fan, our friends Tom and Meeghan bought me an Australian Wallabies rugby hat. It's awesome and was a perfect thing to wear to their Australia Day party. Tom and Meeghan invited a bunch of friends over to celebrate Australia Day, which celebrates the day Australia was founded 200 years ago...despite having native Aboriginals for some 4,000 years (sound familiar?). The night was a lot of fun. They had a bunch of traditional food - I can say I have tried a vegemite sandwich...and it was disgusting! As seems to be the norm for an event with the Aussies, we drank quite a bit. I was fairly intoxicated as displayed by my solo rendition of Meatloaf's 'Paradise by the Dashboard Light' - luckily someone turned it off before the 'play at the plate' part. As we rode our bikes home at 3-something in the morning, I was taken by the number of people who were also riding bikes at 3-something in the morning.
09. Stephen with a man making a fish net
I suppose it's like all the drunks in cabs at 3-something in Chicago, only it seemed odd to be on bikes. Anyways, we made it home safely and had a very mellow Sunday.ST. MARTIN'S DAY AND SINTERKLAAS
Back in November, I was riding my bike home from work when I noticed a bunch of kids walking around looking like they were trick or treating. I was pretty confused since it was past Halloween. I ended up stopping and asking a woman who was riding her kids on her bike (of course, 1 was sitting on a seat in the back and the other was riding on the handlebars). I asked the woman what the deal was and she told me it was St. Martin's Day. I don't know who St. Martin was but traditionally, Dutch children make paper mache lanterns and go from door to door, singing songs and in return they are given candy. They don't dress in costume. It was rather interesting to see though.
But not nearly as interesting to see as this - Sinterklaas and his helper, Zwarte Piete. Sinterklaas is Santa Clause with some slight differences. From what I've been told, Sinterklaas was a real man who lived in the 300s. He was a wealthy man who gave gifts to needy children by dropping them down chimneys. When he died, he was made a saint and his birthday began to be celebrated as a holiday that involved gift giving. Somehow Hallmark figured out how to get this image to coincide with Jesus' b-day but that's a whole other story.
Anyways, Sinterklaas day is December 5. In mid-Novemeber, Sinterklaas arrives in Holland by boat from Spain (why by boat and why from Spain, I have no clue) on a white horse.
10. Julie in a IJsselmeer kitchen
He then spends the next 2 weeks riding his horse from rooftop to rooftop, listening down the chimney for good boys and girls who will get gifts. The bad children will be kidnapped and taken back to Spain to be slaves. Is this demented enough yet? Not even close.Because now I get to tell you about Zwarte Piete, Sinterklaas' helpers (see Pic 26). Zwarte Piete are white people who dress in very colorful and baggy clothes. They almost look like jesters. They wear curly black hair, gold earrings, and have big red lips. The most disturbing characteristic? They are white people who wear blackface. Can you believe this? It is fully acceptable and even encouraged for white people to paint their entire faces black and then call themselves Zwarte Piete - Black Pete. What is wrong with these people? And when you ask them about this and whether it might be a bit inappropriate and dare say, racist, they respond by saying that everyone loves Zwarte Piete.
I mean, what was it, the 1930s when Al Jolsen was blackface in "The Jazz Singer". This is something so taboo now, it's amazing to think that there is a place that allows it without a shred of embarrassment. Some of the Dutch will say that Zwarte Piete are white people who get their faces dirty by climbing up and down chimneys. But I remember the Chim-Chimney Chim-Chimney Chim-Chim-Charoo scene with Dick Van Dyke in "Mary Poppins" - he was a chimneysweeper who had a dirty face. He also had dirty clothes, unlike the perfectly clean and colorful clothes of Zwarte Piete.
11. Bed from the IJsselmeer 1900s
How did Zwarte Piete's face get so dirty but nothing else?It is truly amazing. I would expect that not only would some Dutchie tell me that this is not racist, but then they will tell me that Donovan McNabb is not that good a quarterback and that he is over hyped by the media. Cumon! Zwarte Piete is all over the place too, included in advertisements, dolls, and chocolate, everywhere. It's crazy.
Chris happened to have been in town when Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piete arrived in Holland. He was walking down the street where the parade was going to occur. He told me that the parade was running late and the young kids who were waiting anxiously for the parade and ultimately, for the treats that Zwarte Piete would be handing out, to begin. Just then, they all started cheering for Zwarte Piete, pointing and screaming. When Chris turned around, he saw a black man who was working as a janitor, cleaning up garbage off the street. These kids saw a black man and thought it was Zwarte Piete. Now, tell me this isn't racist and wrong. Or shall we just say, very Dutch!
FIRST TRIP TO THE US
Well, we have been back from our first trip back to the US for about a month now. I think I was expecting to feel weird being home but I think it felt really natural. It's tough to explain but I almost felt like nothing had changed despite it being 10 months since I had been in the country...except for some of the quality TV shows that we had missed like the Paris Hilton show and Average Joe 2 (I didn't even know there was an Average Joe 1 or an Average Joe Hawaii).
We spent a few days in Ft.
12. Another windmill
Myers relaxing in the sun with Julie's parents. Then we headed north to spend a few days with my parents in NY. As Julie and I were dodging pedestrian traffic on the busy sidewalks of Manhattan, we talked about how different the past few days had been (a very relaxing and slow-paced period with a handful of vacationing Midwesterners vs. the obnoxiously arrogant and self-importance of Manhattanites) and the ease at which Julie and I were able to adapt to the 2 very different scenes. We think that in a way, our past travels have primed us for this sort of change. We are a sort of chameleons that can adjust to the scenery. As a result, we had a great time in both places, despite the vast differences.Overall, being in the US was nice. It was easier managing those everyday things...like knowing exactly where and what everything was when we needed to pick up a few things at the convenience store. Like not having to struggle with language. Like getting fast service at restaurants. Like getting service period. Like being treated as if "the customer is always right" is maybe not something that is always practiced but at least it is a saying that has been heard. Like having TV options other than just the same 10 minutes of news on CNN repeated all day or some show on how elephants mate on National Geographic. In all, it was good to be back on the US.
However, once we returned to A'dam, I was very excited to get "home". We enjoyed our time in the US seeing our families but since we did not go to Chicago, we felt like we were never really at 'home'.
13. Smoking herring
I'm sure when we go to Chicago and see our friends, eat at our favorite places (Yuki Hanna - YUM!), and see our old life, we will be a lot sadder to be leaving. But as this was just another vacation, we were happy to be back in A'dam. I got right back to my A'dam ways while Julie had a bit more difficulty re-adjusting.I think the first time she flied to A'dam to move in June, she was excited to see what her life would be like in this new and exotic location. Now, however, she knows what her life is like and was not quite as excited to get here. She shed a few tears in Ft. Myers when her parents left us at the airport. Once we got back to A'dam and I got back into the wonderful thing that is work, I noticed that when I returned from work some nights Julie was not even dressed, basically moving from the bed to the couch where she assumed the fetal position and waited for the day to end. She had a tough time getting over the jet-lag because she slept all day, watched tv all night, and in general, was really just not too happy to be home. There were even a few days when I came home from work and could tell that she just didn't even brush her teeth.
It just took her a few days to get back into the swing of things and remember that this journey that we decided to go on will have some good days and some bad days. She has emerged from her funk and has some really exciting things that she is involved in now
which you will read about soon.
But before we go, here are a few things we noticed about the airport - a US airport version of T.
14. Julie eating smoked herring
T. M. M. G. Hmmm...*** I wonder how terrorists get into the US? After we cleared passport control at JFK, we asked where the bathroom was. It was on the other side of passport control. Did we miss our chance? No, just walk through the open and unguarded passport patrol station and when finished, just go right through again. Nobody asked a question.
*** It was pretty funny watching all the Europeans who had just gotten off our plane try to take one of those baggage carts at the baggage claim at JFK. All over Europe they are offered for free but cost money in the US for some reason. So it was fun watching every single passenger go over to the thing and pull at the cart trying to figure out how to get one. It's a good way to pass the time while waiting for your luggage.
*** It took about 30 seconds for me to hate that New York acsent!
*** I was happy to be home when we were walking in JFK and I saw a Krispy Kreme stand!
*** While waiting for our flight to Ft. Myers, I ordered a beer. And was happy to see Heineken served.
*** Julie began knitting recently - I know, pretty funny. Anyways, during the heightened Orange alert on the very informative US Homeland Security color scheme, Julie was allowed to bring her needles on the plane with her. Now why can you not bring nail clippers but can bring 12-inch metal knitting spears?
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As you can see, we have been holding onto these for a LONG time. While rereading them, I added a little bit and made them a bit more current but the bulk of the stuff is a few months old. Anyways, since the weather is not nice today, I hope to throw a bit more out later so stay tuned.
Talk to ya soon.
-Stephen
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