Final Trip Reflections

23 July 2012

We made it back safely and the return trip, although long, was uneventful. It's been a busy 10 days since we've been back, but I did want to have some final reflections on the trip or thoughts that didn't get included before I get immersed in work in California.

1. Education is very different in Europe. Homeschooling isn't an option in the Netherlands, for one. It was not very common in England. Uncle Nico has been in a 2 year process to open what we would call a charter school in his area. In England, it's called a "free" school. All education is "free" in cost, but this is an alternative to the main system. In England a "public" school is actually a "private" school in the US. In the Netherlands, you can start what we would call a public school that fits your beliefs and what you want to teach and the government will pay for it and provide a building, etc.

2. I've mentioned this before, but it is very comfortable for me to be in both the Netherlands and in England. They are both like "going home" with the great friends and relatives there. It was great to reconnect with aunts, uncles, and cousins and I really felt, for the most part, that I was going as an "adult" and not as the little kid that had been there before. When I took Dutch in college, one of my goals was to be able to have conversations with relatives. While there are limits to my vocabulary, I didn't feel as overwhelmed with the language as I have in the past. I'm glad I've spent the time on it that I have.

I also like the connecting with the cousins. I don't think we'll end up doing any sort of cousin's reunion, but it is always cool to see similarities and differences. Gestures, phrases, expressions, and humor can all be family traits. It's also interesting to see the various ideas and ways of life. It's good to connect with our history to have a clearer understanding of our future.

3. I'm feeling incredibly grateful and blessed to have been able to travel with my mother. She's a pretty amazing woman and I recognize some of my strengths from her, though I'm pretty sure she is a nice person, in general, than I am;-)

I'm constantly amazed at how "even-keeled" she is--very few things faze her or ruffle her feathers. She doesn't get frustated or upset when the plans change. She loves going out and meeting new people and she has an amazing memory for details. She can tell great stories with the best of them. She is gracious to others and kind. She is constantly thinking about others and always has a kind gesture for her friends and the people she cares about. I was amazed by her thinking about those back in MI and remembering to send postcards to people, just to let them know she was/is thinking about them. It was fun to go to church with her the past 2 Sundays and see how grateful people were that she had thought about them.

It was fun to hear stories as we went through towns about "When I was in high school..." or "When I was growing up..." or "When I was little we..." I'm also realizing how young she was when she left the Netherlands. She was 20 years old and then created a new life in a new country. She went to school, met my dad, got married, and shifted to a language she did not grow up with. There are now 50 more years of words and terminology that did not exsist when she left. How do you explain things that weren't there? Switching back and forth is probably the only way and Mom did a lot of that on this trip.

I'm hoping that Mom has many more trips back to the Netherlands and that other relatives come to visit here, but life is fragile and we can't count on things that haven't yet come to pass. I'm grateful for the opportunity to travel together and grateful that, for the most part, I acted like a grownup;-) It was fun to have a great travel companion that made the travel more fun. We do travel well together and I'm also grateful for that.

I'm also grateful to Aunt Alice who made 4 trips to Grand Rapids in the past 4 weeks, just to help with the transportation. It was wonderfully generous and very appreciated.

The past several trips I've been on have been an adventure in the way that Indiana Jones has adventures. This was an adventure that was part refreshment and connection and part preparing me with tools and energy for the journey ahead. The school and much work await, but I'm feeling recharged and ready for the tasks and adventures that are waiting back in Pasadena.

Family, Food, and Farewell

6 July 2012

Yesterday morning, John's friend Wim picked us up and kindly drove us near Uncle Ger and Aunt Gre's house where they picked us up. My mom spend the day with Uncle Jans and Aunt Henny in Westerbork, Orvelte, and at the largest hunebed in the Netherlands. A hunebed is like a mini Stonehenge and they are only in the northeast of the Netherlands. It's a large pile of large rocks that was a gravesite. My Uncle Ger has written many books on them.

I spent the day with my cousin Margreet. When I was in 4th grade, I had to choose someone to write a letter to. My mom suggested I write my cousin in the Netherlands. She is just over 2 years older than I am. We wrote letters back and forth that our parents translated for us for the next 4 years. When I was 13, I spent 4 weeks camping with her and her family in Switzerland on the border of Italy. It was a great experience as a kid. We were with other teens and I was the youngest of the bunch. There were 7 teenagers and 3 adults and we had a great time.

Margreet lives in Emmen. We spend the morning talking and catching up. It's much easier to do face-to-face than in letters. Her youngest child is 19, so they are mostly grown up. At noon, we were going to take the bus into town, but she had an extra bike, so we rode bikes. I love riding bikes, especially in the Netherlands. There is a completely separate "road" for the bikes that runs parallel to the regular road. You have your own set of traffic lights, etc. It just such a smart way to go. It makes it VERY bike-friendly! We biked into the city center and had lunch. I had a ciabatta sandwich with curry chicken salad. Of course, I had cassis to drink;-) After lunch we biked over to an Italian ice cream shop. When we were in Switzerland, we went every evening to the snack shop for gelato. That was the first time I had ever had it and I got pistachio every evening. Whenever I go to a gelato shop anywhere, I always order the pistachio. It's the flavor I compare all others to. Yesterday, I had both pistachio and white chocolate. Margreet had strawberry and milk chocolate.

When we got home, we took Margreet's dog for a walk. The dog's name is Monte, but the kids call him Max. There is a nice path and we went walking by the Oranjekanaal. It was really warm and Monte decided to just dive into the canal and chase some ducks. He was then a soggy doggy, but was almost smiling at his accomplishment.

At 5:30, Ger and Gre picked my up and we went to meet my mom and Jans and Henny at a Pancake house. It's in an old barn and the doorways are really low. There are lots of warning signs about not hitting your head. I'm short enough that I can/could just walk through without ducking...but just barely! We had Dutch pancakes, which are a lot like crepes. We each had one, but they were the size of the entire plate. You put a really thick syrup, called stroop, on them and then roll them up and eat. There are many different types of toppings, like apple, pineapple, ham, cheese, shwarma, bacon, raisins, etc. You can get either savory or sweet or a combination. I had apple and bacon ("spek')...second to the last thing on my "Things to eat in the Netherlands" List. It was absolutely delicious! I have been a very happy camper. I was also feeling great that I got in almost 10,000 steps yesterday--the pedometer read 9099 just after dinner...of course, later I realized it was upside down and was only 6606, but still better than nothing;-)

Today was our re-pack and travel back to England day. We had the opportunity to sleep in, eat a leisurely breakfast and then completely re-pack our bags. We had to do some creative rearranging with the gifts we purchased and the gifts that were given to us, but we got it all done! Ger and Gre took us for a car ride to historic buildings and barns in the surrounding area. One of the buildings we went to was for the cow-hearder. Apparently in the Netherlands there are these small houses that the cowherd would live in while he herded the cows. (Think shepherd with cows...) He would live there all year and then travel home to his family on Christmas day. There used to be 100's of these buildings, but now only 2 still exist in the country.

For lunch, we went to the McDonald's in Emmen. I don't know if I've ever been in a McDonald's in the Netherlands, and it was quite humorous. My mother ordered a McCroquet. Apparently, that is only available in the Netherlands and has been a "classic" since 1999. They have McFlurries here, which was not unique, but they had one with Stroopwaffle in it (Yes, the same stroop from the pancakes...) so I had to try it! Very fun to have on my "I've had that" list. It was a nice treat, but stroopwaffels are not my favorite anyway (thus the reason it wasn't on my "things to eat" list.)

We went back to the house to pick up our luggage and headed to the train station. We had figured out that, if we took the 4pm train, we could go directly to Rotterdam and then catch the train to the boat. One of the things about the trains in the Netherlands is that they connect and disconnect. One engine will pull 2 halves and then at certain stations they split. You can be on the "right" train and end up on the "wrong" train. We knew the train coming was the "right" train, but when it pulled in, the 1/2 we needed was way down the track...add a bit a cardio with REALLY heavy luggage and we were on the right train. On all our train travel so far, we have been sitting in the folding seats by the doors. The luggage is not easy to pull down the aisles and the racks above aren't big enough for full suitcases. We ended up sitting next to a nice young lady who was also traveling to Rotterdam. As the train went along, there were times when that entire doorway was jammed with people, but mostly it was a very comfortable ride. Another thing about Dutch trains is that they have an engine at both ends. In one of the towns about 1/2 way, we pulled in riding backwards, but pulled out riding forwards. That was nice for the 2nd half of the ride.

We arrived in Rotterdam station and, learning from past mistakes, we went to find the elevator to go under the tracks rather than lugging all the luggage OVER the tracks. Unfortunately, the elevator for our track was under construction, which meant we had to take the suitcases down the stairs (yeah, for gravity)! However, there was no more lugging since we easily found the elevator back up to our other track. We had some time before we had to get to the boat, so I took the opportunity to cross the last food off my "Things to eat in the Netherlands" List. There was a snack bar in the station and I ordered a "frikandel speciaal" with Cassis. A frikandel is the equivalent of craving a White Castle hamburger...there is nothing special or great about it, but you crave it when you can't have it. I associate it with cheap college food, since that is where I ate them (when I was here in college). It's a specially seasoned sausage/hot dog thing and the "speciaal" part is that it is served with curry ketchup, Dutch mayonnaise and onions. Good stuff and my goals (food-wise) have been accomplished.

We got on the train to the city that we needed for boarding the boat. When we got there, I realized I hadn't mailed my postcards with Dutch stamps on them...that won't work in England! I went to the counter to ask the woman where there was a mailbox. She said there wasn't one, but that she would be willing to take them home and mail them! What a sweet thing to do. Sounded like she does it more often, but I very much appreciated it!

Heading into a rain storm in England tomorrow, but so far the boat has been very smooth. Looking forward to a good night's sleep.

Utrecht day trip

Today we rode with Cousin John to Utrecht because he was heading into his new office for a meeting. Utrecht center is a very old town with a famous church tower called the Dom. We spent a couple hours walking around the canals, avoiding being hit by bikes, and having a morning coffee.

The canals serve as a transport and so one of the boats we saw was the delivery boat for all the beer, wine, and other drinks to the cafes along the river. It has a crane on it and hoists up the beverages to street level where they are delivered. This is apparently manditory so that there aren't any big trucks on the narrow streets.

I did have the best appel gebak I've had since I arrived and it was great fun to be back in an "old city" that had the canals and bikes.

After we met up with John to head back, we went to Spakenburg (another old, Dutch village) for lunch. Some of the people who live there still wear the traditional dress, so we saw the old harbor and then had lunch. I got to check off another thing from my food list: an uitsmijter. This is an open faced sandwich with egg and, today, it also had ham and cheese on it. We did see a couple women in the traditional dress, but I only managed to get a picture from the back as they biked by quickly.

The rest of the day was just a relaxing day at the house. Tomorrow we travel back to Uncle Gerrit and Aunt Gre.

The Floriade in Limburg

Today was the day at the Floriade. This is a Horticultural World Expo that occurs every 10 years. It is in the Netherlands and is a Dutch event, but hosts countries from all over the world. Cousin John drove my mom and I to the event that covered several acres. Lots of cool sustainable architecture and many beautiful flowers. Many of the buildings and structures are "temporary" and will be moved to new locations. The gondola cars will be moved to Austria, one of the buildings will be reconstructed as an office building in the town, the natural wood footpath will be shredded and used as mulch in the forest.

There was a sound installation in the forest path called, "Soundscape." As you walked through the forest path, the sound "followed" you through with the whispers of a story and sounds, natural and musical, to guide you through. It was a surreal and yet welcoming experience. I think I could have walked that path all day and not gotten tired of it.

There were booths and pavilions from all over the world. There was a booth from DPR Korea. They had a bunch of postcards, including lots of propaganda cards. The woman in the booth didn't speak at all. The section of the building from the Russian Federation was really big, however, they had packed up and it looked like an abandoned warehouse! My cousin said it was an example of (un)reliability!

There were pavilions from Yemen, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakastan, Bangladesh, India, Israel, the Netherlands, and more. Each was an example of the architecture, fabrics, furniture, jewelry, etc. from the country and the pavilions were little sales booths. There were some lovely batik fabrics in the Indonesian one and the Yemen one was like and outdoor bazaar.

My mom wouldn't ride the London Eye (a huge ferris wheel) because she said she was scared of heights, but we had no problem riding the gondola over the park...that one felt far less safe (not unsafe, just less safe). She said she had ridden the cable car in Switzerland at Interlochen in 1962, so this was fine. The Floriade is in the middle of a national forest so we went over the trees and had a really lovely view. The pylons for the gondola had to be placed by military helicopters from Switzerland because the trucks and cranes weren't allowed in the forest. This is the first gondola in the Netherlands and the department of transportation had to approve it because it had never been done before...new bureaucracy.

We came home in the evening and had a nice home-cooked meal. I got to cross another thing off my "things to eat in the Netherlands" List. We had chocolade vla for dessert. Vla is a cross between a really smooth/fresh custard and pudding. It's not hard like pudding, but is pourable out of a carton. They also have vanilla, which I like equally, but the chocolate feels particularly decidant on vacation. I had 2 bowls and finished off the carton. It was WONDERFUL!!!!

The weekend-as relaxing as every vacation day

1 July 2012

Sunday afternoon. Yesterday was a relaxing day and then the evening was filled with family.

In the morning Mom and I went into Emmen with Uncle Gerrit to do some shopping. I went to a bicycle shop. I love going to bike shops in other countries! I did find a couple cool accessories and some fun gifts. We then went into a shopping center and had our morning "coffee." There is a department store called Vroom & Dressman (V&D) and they have a small eatery there. I love the "gebak" (cakes and pasteries) in the Netherlands. Mom had a cake with cream filling covered with fresh strawberries, raspberries, and "red" berries. I had a pecan, apple, lemon tart/cake! Yummy...could have had tea, but chose to wash it down with Chocomel.

The great thing about being in the Netherlands is the easy familiarity of it. This is the 8th time I've been here (8 1/2, if you count in utero;-), including living here for a 1/2 year in college. I have favorite foods and places. The language and the pace are familiar. There are lots of relatives. There is such a familiarity, that I sometimes forget which things only exist here and which exist in America.

We had my other aunt and uncle (the "bicycle theif") over last night along with my 3 cousins and their kids. I had never met 2 of my cousin's kids and it had been 20 years since I'd seen my one cousin's wife. It has been a good 7-8 years since I'd seen everyone else in the Netherlands.

As far as the food familiarity, I just keep finding things that I love. We had Borrelnootjes ("beer nuts", but not like US beer nuts) and Kroepoek (Indonesian chips). I'm keeping a list of things I still want to eat while here.

The plans for the week are shaping up. A good balance of family time, visiting time, and just hanging out time!

This morning we went with Uncle Gerrit and Aunt Gre to church. I really like organ music...must be in my blood. 3 of my uncles are very musical and 2 play the organ. I also have a couple cousins who play and at least one of my cousin's kids. The church service has all organ playing. It's a "heavy" organ sound, but I really like it. My uncle sometimes plays, but wasn't playing today. There is a very distinct style to the music. I also got to hear Uncle Ger play at the house this morning, but it wasn't exactly the same style.

After lunch we went to Uelsem, Germany where my family has a vacation home. We met up with my cousin John and his wife Joke (pronounced "yoke ah") and rode with them back to their home in Amersfoort. We will be with them for the next 3 days. One of the highlights of the day was the delicious quiche for dinner. Yum and yum! Tomorrow we are heading to the Floriade, an international horticultural expo that only happens every 10 years.

Why you should never listen if someone says "Trust Me"

29 June 2012

It was a big travel day today and I also found many new "truths" today. The first is that it's a much bigger day of travel when you're lugging luggage (see how aptly that is named)! Another obvious "fact" in travel is that, the more you have to carry, the more stairs you have to climb...and you will inevitably find the elevator right AFTER you do climb the stairs with all the luggage! The last thing I learned (again) is that the words, "Trust me" should be followed with healthy skepticism.

We landed in Hoek van Holland this morning and the disembarking began at 7:45am. They do a ship-wide wake-up call at 6:30am. I slept really well on the boat and was deeply asleep when the phone rang at 2:30am. Mom and I both thought it was the wake up call, but it was a prank call...apparently drunk youth are obnoxious in any country. (Actually, I'm going with the fact that it was a mis-dial and not malicious;-) When we went back to sleep, it was a peaceful night. The actual wake-up call was over the ship's loudspeaker...I can't get it out of my head...using Bobby McFaren's "Don't Worry, Be Happy." I don't think I'll change my alarm to use it, but it is a "happy" tune to wake to:-)

When we disembarked, we took the train to Rotterdam. We've explored that town many years ago and today decided that we were just traveling on to Drenthe (a province in the Netherlands where my mom grew up). I read the train schedule and we realized we could get most of the way on one train. A big deal when lugging luggage. We found the elevator (yeah) and realized it didn't go up to the platform (boo), but then realized the stairs had an escalator (yeah!). We walked across the platform to the train track listed and realized there was no elevator/escalator down (boo!). With some gravity assistance, we got down to the platform. (This was not just a single flight, but about 3 floors worth to pass over the trains.) There we waited until the announcement came on that the train we wanted was leaving from a DIFFERENT track...one that required climbing back up the stairs and down another set of stairs with the luggage (boo) within 4 minutes (serious BOOOO!).

We did decide that, since we weren't competing for a spot on the Amazing Race (and that, if we were, we would have taken less luggage and trained for it), it wasn't worth risking cardiac arrest to make it. When we got to the top of the stairs, I left Mom there with the luggage and went to check in the main building for the whole route to Hoogeveen.

Great news! There was a direct train with only one change! Oh, and by the way, there was also an elevator if you went UNDER the tracks and there was no need to carry all that luggage up and down those stairs...ooops...guess I got the cardiac training today. I went back up to Mom and I carried the luggage DOWN for one last time. Dutch people are very nice and 3 different people offer to help carry the luggage, but we had time and I didn't want to inconvenience anyone, so I did decline (OK, it may have been pride, but I'll move on...)

We got on the train and found an open car with jump seats designed for people with bikes, but it worked great for people with lots of luggage. There was a couple speaking English across from us. At our first stop, they got up and got off...and then jumped right back on. The train started moving and they were talking to us and immediately realized that WAS where they wanted to get off! Just as they were realizing it, the conductor came through. He asked them were they were going and they said,"Assen." This was just one stop past where we were going. The conductor said that they didn't need to switch trains. That the one they were on went there. When they questioned him about the other information they had received, he said, "Don't listen to those other people. Trust me!" [Yes, this is the part I shouldn't have trusted.]

We realized that we were going in the same direction, but to a smaller town, so the express train we were on wouldn't stop there. We told the couple, who by this time had moved up to the top floor, that we would tell them when to get off. It would be a long ride. We settled in, knowing we had quite a ride ahead, until we got to Zwolle. In the past, you had to be careful which end of the train you were in. One half went your way, one went another. We were hoping the conductor would come back through to confirm that we could stay on.

When we were in train station in Zwolle, I poked my head out of the door and the sign saying were the train was going, said the other way! I mentioned this to Mom, but we settled back in, but then she asked the man getting on our train if this one stopped at the town we needed. He promptly said, "No, it's the other half." We quickly jumped up, walked out the door, walked up to the other half, and, as the train we needed pulled away without us, stood on the platform and realized we forgot to tell our buddy couple that THEY needed to get off too!!! I felt AWFUL!!! Yep, never listen to the words "Trust Me."

When we got on our train between Zwolle and Assen, where my aunt and uncle were picking us up, Mom was in a chatty mood. She told me about her high school and "finishing school." That program (including chemistry) was not one that worked for her. She stayed there for one semester and then decided it wasn't worth going back. After that she took a nurse's aid course and had a job at a hospital.

My Aunt Gre and Uncle Ger met us at the train station in Assen. Mobile phones make coordinating much easier than in "the old days." They took us through Westerbork on the way home. Westerbork is the town that my mom grew up in. We stopped by my grandparents old house. They had had it build when they retired. It has changed a lot. They've added a "sun room" and changed the yard layout. I'm going to have to pull out my old pictures to see the differences. We headed into the town center and had lunch. I ordered the Nasi Goreng lunch at a restaurant that was located between the house my mom was born in and the house she grew up in. It was very cool!

We also drove past my mom's elementary school on our way home to Oosterhesselen. We moved our stuff into the room and have been spending the afternoon hanging out. I also got some homework done for my graduate program that starts when we get back to the states. Lovely day...tomorrow we have a major family reunion for Uncle Ger's birthday. Looking forward to seeing many of my cousins and their kids. I'll also see my other Aunt and Uncle.