This past Thursday was Thanksgiving in the USA. Originally, this holiday was celebrated to give thanks for the fall harvest, dating back to the 1600's and the times of the Pilgrims in America. Now days, it is a day when people gather with their families and eat a large meal, usually with turkey, stuffing, potatoes, green beans, cranberries, squash, and pumpkin pie. Then the afternoon is spent trying to digest all this food...traditionally watching (American) football on tv. Ahh...the memories.
I enjoy this holiday, but this was not the first time I have not been with my family on this day. This was the 3rd time I was not home in my 26 years. But for some reason, I was particularly nostalgic and sad that I was not home, at least in US where the general feeling of a holiday gets everyone all excited. I think the holiday, in combination with my problems with work, and for the first time I missed home...I was really sad.
But when I got home at 630, I was expecting lasagna for dinner, as we had previously discussed. But, M apparently left work early at 2 to come home and make a Thanksgiving meal for me to make me feel better. That was so sweet of him! Of course I immediately started crying. He made an excellent dinner, with pumpkin soup with feta, butternut squash, potato casserole, and a piece of turkey for me. Also some pumpkin pie afterwards! Bonus points for him!! ;-) It was really very sweet of him, and it helped my feelings of sadness disappear. I am very thankful for such a wonderful man in my life.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Its that time of year again...
...Where all the discussions open up again about 'zwarte piet' (black pete) and racism. Its a tradition in Holland, that Sinterklaas comes around the middle of November. He arrives on a boat 'from Spain' with all his helpers, who are named 'zwarte piets'. Now, in reality, these are a bunch of white dutchies dressing up in sort of festival carnival outfits, with poofy pants, painted black faces, painted red lips, and gold hoop earrings. They have hats with feathers on them. Oh yeah, and big black afro wigs. They lead Sinterklaas (who dresses like a bishop) around on a white horse. Its a Dutch tradition, and the children love it.
But, every year, the Saturday around Nov 15th he arrives on a boat, and in Utrecht this takes place on the Oude Gracht. Sinterklaas is basically St. Nicholas...but delivers presents as Santa Claus does in the US. In the US, Santa has elves, here, Sint has zwarte pieten. So, Sinterklaas arrives, and the zwarte pieten deliver presents to children and help Sint out. If children are naughty, he and his black petes take them back to Spain with them. Now, I don't see this as too shabby of a deal. Maybe I should be a naughty kid--take me away to Spain!
But why are there white people painting their faces black year after year, in the name of tradition? Where's the political correctness? Year after year, this tradition stays the same. I doubt it will ever change, knowing how things work here in Dutch society. Originally, the theory is that the zwarte piet represented the devil. Other things that are more mainstream and given as sort of an excuse as to why they do this, is that the Piets are Sint's Moorish friends from North Africa. Other people give the reason that they are black because they went down the chimney to deliver presents. I don't buy this because most dutch homes do not have chimneys and fireplaces. And what's the reason for the large red lips and afro wigs? In any case, its open for debate every year, and in typical dutch fashion, all this discussing things never leads to much of anything. The polder model, their own form of consensus decision making. Discussion leads to ...more discussion. Perhaps Americans are a bit too overly concerned about everything being politically correct, which can bring problems of its own in trying to get through anything without offending someone else....but this form of Dutch un-PCness is almost a little beyond belief for me, every year.
But I thought that this was something very typically dutch that needed to be mentioned on this blog. Last Saturday I went to go see his arrival again, but after 15 minutes, I lost interest. I only got a glimpse of Sint, but later in the day I did see a lone zwarte piet walking the white horse home.
And the best thing about this time of year: the cookies! Chocolate covered ginger cookies are so delish, I could eat them the whole day long. There are other traditional cookies and sweets, but these are my favorite by far.
If you want to read more about this sinterklaas tradition, here is a starting place.
But, every year, the Saturday around Nov 15th he arrives on a boat, and in Utrecht this takes place on the Oude Gracht. Sinterklaas is basically St. Nicholas...but delivers presents as Santa Claus does in the US. In the US, Santa has elves, here, Sint has zwarte pieten. So, Sinterklaas arrives, and the zwarte pieten deliver presents to children and help Sint out. If children are naughty, he and his black petes take them back to Spain with them. Now, I don't see this as too shabby of a deal. Maybe I should be a naughty kid--take me away to Spain!
But why are there white people painting their faces black year after year, in the name of tradition? Where's the political correctness? Year after year, this tradition stays the same. I doubt it will ever change, knowing how things work here in Dutch society. Originally, the theory is that the zwarte piet represented the devil. Other things that are more mainstream and given as sort of an excuse as to why they do this, is that the Piets are Sint's Moorish friends from North Africa. Other people give the reason that they are black because they went down the chimney to deliver presents. I don't buy this because most dutch homes do not have chimneys and fireplaces. And what's the reason for the large red lips and afro wigs? In any case, its open for debate every year, and in typical dutch fashion, all this discussing things never leads to much of anything. The polder model, their own form of consensus decision making. Discussion leads to ...more discussion. Perhaps Americans are a bit too overly concerned about everything being politically correct, which can bring problems of its own in trying to get through anything without offending someone else....but this form of Dutch un-PCness is almost a little beyond belief for me, every year.
But I thought that this was something very typically dutch that needed to be mentioned on this blog. Last Saturday I went to go see his arrival again, but after 15 minutes, I lost interest. I only got a glimpse of Sint, but later in the day I did see a lone zwarte piet walking the white horse home.
And the best thing about this time of year: the cookies! Chocolate covered ginger cookies are so delish, I could eat them the whole day long. There are other traditional cookies and sweets, but these are my favorite by far.
If you want to read more about this sinterklaas tradition, here is a starting place.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Hmm...somehow this doesn't surprise me
File this in the "duh!" category!!!
Apparently I live in an even more democratic country than the one of my birth which is trying to spread democracy world wide. About 2 weeks ago, a judge in the city of Den Bosch was found to be unqualified, and therefore, 11 cases tried by this judge must be dismissed...and as a result, so far 6 criminals that were found to be guilty by this judge, had to be released back into society!!! One was found guilty of murder, one of rape, one of strangling HER boyfriend, and one of child molestation. Obviously not people that should be released into society!
The court had this to say about the "blunder":
"In a constitutional state like the Netherlands people can only be held if there is a legal basis for that. The fact that the suspects are thought to have been involved in serious crimes and that it is socially inadvisable for them to be released does not diminish this constitutional right."
Yikes! Apparently constitutional right comes before society safety!!
Sure, of course they were going to watch and monitor them until their next trial with a qualified judge, right? yes yes, of course.
oh wait, take a look at this headline:
Two released suspects missing
Doh! Yes, less than a week after they were released, 2 of the 6 are missing. That's not a very good success rate. And yeah, its the child molester and the abusive girlfriend that are missing. Remind me if I ever do something against the law, to be tried in Den Bosch so I can get released and have the chance to make my get-away.
Friday, November 9, 2007
I didn't see Al Gore predict this one
Another prominent feature of dutch society, besides bikes, is water. Water is everywhere here. Canals in cities, lakes all over the place, and ditches in farm fields. Its all planned of course though...all these waterways were man made. This is especially evident if you look at a satellite image of Holland - you'll see rural areas covered by long rectangles. These rectangles are not made evident by tree lines or big fences-- its by little canal drainage ditches.
Well, this weekend there is a big storm blowing through off the North Sea. There are worries of flooding, as a third of the Netherlands is below sea level. Besides the normal wind and rain of a 'typical fall storm', they are worried about the storm surge, and the rising sea level. For the first time since 1976 that the entire coast of the Netherlands is on alert. The water barrier in Rotterdam was closed for the first time ever since it was built over 10 years ago.
My first hand experiences of this storm that I can report to you: riding a bike without a rain jacket or hat in the dark with the wind blowing is really not my idea of a fun time. Rain + dark + glasses + steam = you can't see a damn thing. You get soaking wet before you go anywhere, and you can't go anywhere fast because the wind is blowing so dang hard. And in typical mocking manner: it stops raining momentarily at the moment you reach home.
And luckily for me, I live on the 5th floor of an apartment building, so hopefully I am above sea level by this point! :-)
I think the threat of attack by a big giant wave calls for an elevation to CODE RED in the FREAK EVERYONE OUT WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE table below (otherwise described as the "threat-based, color-coded system so that protective measures can be implemented to reduce the likelihood or impact of an attack" system).
Well, this weekend there is a big storm blowing through off the North Sea. There are worries of flooding, as a third of the Netherlands is below sea level. Besides the normal wind and rain of a 'typical fall storm', they are worried about the storm surge, and the rising sea level. For the first time since 1976 that the entire coast of the Netherlands is on alert. The water barrier in Rotterdam was closed for the first time ever since it was built over 10 years ago.
My first hand experiences of this storm that I can report to you: riding a bike without a rain jacket or hat in the dark with the wind blowing is really not my idea of a fun time. Rain + dark + glasses + steam = you can't see a damn thing. You get soaking wet before you go anywhere, and you can't go anywhere fast because the wind is blowing so dang hard. And in typical mocking manner: it stops raining momentarily at the moment you reach home.
And luckily for me, I live on the 5th floor of an apartment building, so hopefully I am above sea level by this point! :-)
I think the threat of attack by a big giant wave calls for an elevation to CODE RED in the FREAK EVERYONE OUT WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE table below (otherwise described as the "threat-based, color-coded system so that protective measures can be implemented to reduce the likelihood or impact of an attack" system).
Thursday, November 8, 2007
You can't catch them if you can't see them!
Along with the change to 'wintertime' two weeks ago (one week ahead of the USA), comes the darkness. Being at 52 degrees N latitude, you see much less of the sun during the winter time. The shortest day of the year in December, brings only 7 hours and 43 minutes of daylight. In comparison to Chicago, IL ( at 41.5N latitude), you see 9 hours and 7 minutes of daylight. Here are some interesting graphs I found with this sort of information about Utrecht. The timing information I found on www.timeanddate.com . Currently, my day is getting shorter by over 3 minutes each day! Amazing!
Well, I'm faced with this sad reality of 3 minutes less daylight every day, when I ride my bike to and from the train station in the morning and night. Especially in the evening, as I walk to my bike, past the junkies shooting up heroin in wide open plain view, and dodging the the other bikers racing by going home. You must have lights on your bike in order to be seen by everyone else, not only cars and buses, but other bikers too! And I mean working , functioning lights.
I'd say about 90% of the bikes here are old pieces of junk. The lights are no longer working, having seen their better days maybe 15 years ago. So, people must buy their lights, battery powered clip on lights, available at all bike stores, at the market, and at Hema (dept store). But, a large portion of people still do not do this!! Its dangerous for them AND for me!
Recently, in the past week, the police made it widely known that they would start ticketing bikers with lights clipped to their clothes or bags. Before, you'd get a fine if you didn't have lights at all (for example, me in 2004!). Now, if they aren't attached to your bike, you will get fined, even if you have lights on. But since this 'threat' from the politie, I have not noticed a change at all in how people wear their lights. I still see them attached to their messenger bags or front of their jackets. I also haven't seen the police out at check points trying to catch people. So what incentive is there to attach the lights to your bike?
I personally agree that it is safer to have the lights on the bike, and not just on the person/bag. You can't see lights as well when they're attached to a coat- as the person moves, the light moves and you can't see them very well at all. So , it is a hassle that you have to go dig up that old screwdriver to attach the lights to your bike...but I think some dutchies would rather be caught several times and pay the 20euro fine, before they actually do it. I think I read that some guy was already caught 3 times with lights on his bag, yet he still won't attach the lights to his bike. But after reading this article that the politie are giving less priority in giving fines...you get a mixed message, and even less compliance.
I guess the politie must accept that there are just too many bikers out there to catch and fine. Also, when you don't have lights on ...you're harder to catch! They can't see you!
Well, I'm faced with this sad reality of 3 minutes less daylight every day, when I ride my bike to and from the train station in the morning and night. Especially in the evening, as I walk to my bike, past the junkies shooting up heroin in wide open plain view, and dodging the the other bikers racing by going home. You must have lights on your bike in order to be seen by everyone else, not only cars and buses, but other bikers too! And I mean working , functioning lights.
I'd say about 90% of the bikes here are old pieces of junk. The lights are no longer working, having seen their better days maybe 15 years ago. So, people must buy their lights, battery powered clip on lights, available at all bike stores, at the market, and at Hema (dept store). But, a large portion of people still do not do this!! Its dangerous for them AND for me!
Recently, in the past week, the police made it widely known that they would start ticketing bikers with lights clipped to their clothes or bags. Before, you'd get a fine if you didn't have lights at all (for example, me in 2004!). Now, if they aren't attached to your bike, you will get fined, even if you have lights on. But since this 'threat' from the politie, I have not noticed a change at all in how people wear their lights. I still see them attached to their messenger bags or front of their jackets. I also haven't seen the police out at check points trying to catch people. So what incentive is there to attach the lights to your bike?
I personally agree that it is safer to have the lights on the bike, and not just on the person/bag. You can't see lights as well when they're attached to a coat- as the person moves, the light moves and you can't see them very well at all. So , it is a hassle that you have to go dig up that old screwdriver to attach the lights to your bike...but I think some dutchies would rather be caught several times and pay the 20euro fine, before they actually do it. I think I read that some guy was already caught 3 times with lights on his bag, yet he still won't attach the lights to his bike. But after reading this article that the politie are giving less priority in giving fines...you get a mixed message, and even less compliance.
I guess the politie must accept that there are just too many bikers out there to catch and fine. Also, when you don't have lights on ...you're harder to catch! They can't see you!
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