This has been a hectic week, the result of which is that on Friday, I was shocked that the week was coming to a close. Such is life. I've now been in Holland for almost three and a half weeks. I am so Dutch, I have wooden shoes flooding from my pores. That's actually an egregious lie. For one, the Dutch don't even wear wooden shoes anymore, and for another, I may live in Holland and strive valiantly to speak Dutch, but I am a far sight from actually being Dutch. Which I'm okay with. Being an American in Holland is a good thing too.
On Monday of this past week, as I was biking home, I realized I didn't have anything really pressing that I needed to get home for, and so I turned off the main road, and biked down this gorgeous tree-lined path:
Which turns, at the end, onto this sheep and pony-pasture lined path, which leads to a forest, where I took the video in my last post, and which ends at Theehuis Rijnauwen, the best place ever.
Tuesday I spent wandering around, buying my best friend Rachel a birthday present at the neatest store - I live, as I have mentioned, right around the corner from the Turkish/Moroccan neighborhood, where there are a bunch of little stores chock full of everything from colanders to hand-made clay bowls from Africa. The one I went to was called Bazaar Salaam, and it was stocked, floor to ceiling, with the most wonderful gifts and pieces of art, and, well, chochkes.
I bought Rachel some of the aforementioned gift-items, went to the post office (which I am apparently lucky to have - apparently post offices are a rare commodity in Holland nowadays...), figured out how to package the gift, and had a delightful conversation with the postman, in mixed Dutch and English, about sending the gift to the US. He told me my Dutch was quite good, actually, which was a nice compliment, and he told me that everyone he met in America told him he should play basketball, and when I asked why, he stood up, and it was insane. He must have been about seven feet tall. I would have told him he should play basketball too.
Wednesday was a VERY exciting day. Mary, Melissa (the other Fulbright girl who lives in my house now) and I all went to the train station (after I remembered that I had left my invitation at the house and had to go back and get it...) and took a train to Den Haag, the "political capitol" of Holland, to have a day filled with discussions of Dutch government, Dutch people, and delicious Dutch fried food. The Dutch love fried food. I think I've discussed this before. They all rides bikes everywhere. So they're all fit. Hell. I would probably love fried food too if I was super fit and could eat whatever I liked all the time. Oh, the Dutch.
In any case, the day started with us getting to talk to some people who work in the parliament of Holland, and some people who work for the US government in Holland. The first person, a woman, told us about how the Dutch political system works, and what the current political landscape is like...it would take a long time to explain it here, but I'm going to try and summarize what she said:
Basically, the Dutch have a constitutional monarchy, with a House of Representatives and a Senate, like ours, but instead of a bipartisan hot mess that fights for seats in the House and Senate, they have a giant, multi-party hot mess (their words) that fights for seats just in the House. Apparently all the Senate members are appointed, as are almost all local officials (judges, police chiefs, mayors, etc.). Also rather iffy is the role of the Queen in all policy and decision-making - she apparently has a lot of sway, but, being the queen, is never recorded, or broadcast, and everything that she discusses with, say, the head of the House, is completely confidential. So no one knows, really, what her exact political leanings are. Isn't that bizarre and fascinating? I want to be a Queen. Everyone loves her, apparently. And they think that over the years, she's become quite clever, and foxy with her political intrigues. Less highly praised are the members of the House. Basically, when voting happens here, all the votes for people count towards that candidate's party. Then, at the end of the day, the percentage that the party won overall in the election is the percentage of seats they get in the house. So, let's say ten parties win more than 1%. Party 1 wins 20% and gets 30 seats in the 150-seat House. Party 2 wins 30% and gets 45 seats, etc. Some parties (like the animal rights party - yes, it exists) only have like, two seats in the House.
So there's all these parties in the House. The biggest ones (the ones that won the most seats) get together and form what's called a "Coalition" which makes up a majority in the House (so, all told, enough parties join the Coalition to let the coalition have 76 members (more than half the 150-seat House). The Coalition then works together to put forth laws, yadda yadda.
So, there's this guy. His last name is Wilders. He's in the Coalition, as a member of one of these bigger parties. And he's totally. freaking. nuts. So we talked a lot about him, and how much trouble he's causing (I apologize to people who like Glenn Beck, but Wilders is kind of like Glenn Beck, in my opinion). Wilders is vehemently nationalistic, and as somewhat a result of that, vehemently anti-immigration, and anti-Muslim. For instance, Wilders insists that the Dutch, in establishing New York City (which, as we all know, used to be called "New Amsterdam," from that song, "Istanbul was Constantinople!") were intrinsic to the entire modern existence of America. Now, I mean, perhaps he has a point. But intrinsic? As in America wouldn't exist as it currently does if we weren't all infused with the Dutch mentality? I don't know that anyone has ever suggested that to me before.
Okay, so Wilders is a bit nuts. He wants to eject all the Muslims from this country, and "purify" the land - he uses a lot of Nazi-esque language. And he has a huge support base with people who are very afraid of the influx of Muslim immigrants. I mean, hey. I don't think anyone has a right to take over your country. But kicking them all out? Exiling them? I feel like we've tried to learn from past mistakes in that area...
Onto happier topics, perhaps. Wilders aside, we also talked a lot about the differences between Dutch culture and American culture. There were so many interesting points, I don't think I can discuss them all here. Let's leave it by saying we used the following words to sum up the Dutch:
- Egalitarian
- Tolerant
- Utilitarian
- Privacy-minded
After much hob-nobbing (a term I had to later explain to my Dutch friends) and being served caviar by nice men in tuxes, we departed, and walked to a very sweet little Irish pub, where we ate a real dinner (Sorry, Ambassador. Finger food is delicious, but not quite dinner). We then had a very painful (on my part, due to the heels) walk back to the central station in Den Haag, where we hopped on a train and came back to Utrecht. It was a long, long day. And there was this guy at dinner. And he introduced himself, and within three sentences, he was like, "Hi, my name is so-and-so, and *coughcoughhack* I've been like, really sick ever since I got here! Like, I literally stepped off the plane and had a UTI!" after which he proceeded to tell me about how he used to have a diagnosis of ADHD. Which, if you think about it, is perfect, and hilarious. Except for the part where I woke up on Thursday morning sick too, thanks to his lovely explosive introduction. Bless his heart. He was nice, despite his getting me sick.
Thursday was a perfectly normal day in every way, and on Friday, I hosted a dinner party! It was a wonderful dinner party. It included the following incredible food-things:
- Jool's Favorite Stew, by Jamie Oliver
- Brown Butter Vanilla Bean Rice Krispie Treats by Beyond the Box
Pretty! On the board is rosemary, garlic, and lemon zest, for the stew. It gave it a really interesting, tangy taste. It was..interesting. I liked the stew without the topping too, though.
In any case, the dinner was a huge hit! We wandered out after the dinner, and went downtown - there was a HUGE party going on around the Dom Cathedral tower (yes, around, on, and under the cathedral was a giant disco dance party). They had huge laser lights playing all over the cathedral (Mary got some excellent pics I'll put up later). It was totally bizarre, to see this 800+ year old cathedral get lit up like the inside of the hippest dance club in Europe, and to see thousands of people streaming, dancing, running, screaming, smoking and drinking around it, while really, really heavy techno music plays. It was a bit overstimulating, actually. Ha! They also have these things here that are basically outdoor urinals - they must cut down on public urination, which, actually, is good, but still. Dudes are just turned into these little plastic booths (with no doors) and, man. I do NOT want to see that. Mary agrees. We generally avoid these things, yet have a morbid fascination with their existence...
Today, I had a delightfully slow morning, full of toast with sprinkles (Oh, how the Dutch love their toast sprinkles) and Harry Potter. Around noon, I left the house, intending to visit the giant Saturday market we have here, and to go to a town-wide booksale I saw advertised for the nearby town of Zeist.
Instead, as soon as I left my door, I was immediately caught up in a giant street market.
They had candy.
And saw this disturbing sign:
Now, upon further inspection, these mats did not appear to be made of actual seal skin. I think that's just the brand name. But what a stupid freaking brand name!!
What I could not take a picture of (it was just way too awkward) but wanted to, were the swarms of Muslim women buying lingerie. All these completely covered women, with headscarves, holding up lacy underwear and bras, gabbing happily about which one they were going to get. It. was. so. weird.
Eventually, I extricated myself from the masses, and made my way towards the city center, where I did eventually go to the giant Saturday market.
They had olives. And apricots. And walnuts. It was so, so delicious-looking:
Next Saturday I won't eat lunch, and I'll just go to this thing and get olives, and sausage, and freshly baked bread, and have myself a picnic. Oh, yes.
Then, as aforementioned, I intended to go to the book sale in Zeist. Here is where I ended up instead:
Oh, yes. That's right. Today, I rented a kayak, and spent three wonderful hours paddling up and down the canals of Utrecht.
And finally, made it to Theehuis Rijnauwen!! That wonderful and magical place, that can be reached by bike or kayak. Well, now I've done both. And they were both on my life's bucket list. So, yeah. Feeling pretty accomplished today, let me tell you what.
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| Something you won't see in the US while kayaking - this is an outpost of a fortress (Fort Rijnauwen) from WWII, I believe. It's kind of hidden, but it's there!! |
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| At the end of my wonderful kayaking adventure. |
I biked back home (I've gotten the workout of my life today), and had a long, hilarious conversation with my nice neighbor (he just kept re-pouring my wine glass) about Dutch politics, and the nasty other neighbor (nice neighbor doesn't like mean neighbor, whose name, by the way, is Fokka (pronounced, you guessed it, like, "Fucka," which is hilarious, in a mean, hilarious way)) and after quite a few glasses of wine, he gave me several large books, and told me I had to read all of them (I'll try), and he told me it was a pleasure to live next to such a sweet young lady. He's married to a nice Irish woman, who loves to bake, and they have two sweet little red-headed girls. He said his wife could give me some baking lessons. I might try it out!
Alas, I'm paying for my day of working out, because the cold that started Thursday morning has been resurfacing all evening, and now I'm coughing and in a generally bad way. But I'm just chilling in my room, writing and reading Harry Potter. Hopefully I will be better once again in the morning. By the way, Harry Potter is just the gift that keeps on giving. I have been invited to go speak at almost ten schools now (the Fulbright center allows schools to read our bios and invite us to come speak to their English classes) and at least half of them have mentioned my love of Harry Potter as a motivating factor for their invitation. Some of my Dutch friends have started sending messages entitled, "To Miss Harry Potter" because whenever anybody asks what I'm doing, my first response (recently) is always, "Oh, reading Harry Potter!"
But next week, friends and family, Harry Potter will be put aside for one of the most momentous occasions ever - my favorite book, Abarat, will finally be getting a third installment (there's two now). I AM SO EXCITED. I have literally been waiting seven years for this book. I will tell you more next week once I've read it. :)
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