Dutch holidays

This past week the stars aligned perfectly, and ascension day happened to land the day after Queen's Day; thus last week Wednesday and Thursday everyone had off of work. For those lucky ones (me not included of course), they also had Friday off and yesterday as well, for Liberation Day. You know what this means in Holland? A wonderful excuse to drink, party, and go bargain hunting. There are crazy crowds of thousands at the flea markets on Queen's Day, the beer-induced drunk-dancing to lame dutch"umpah" music on Queen's Night, the mounds and mounds of trash left behind in the streets because no one seems to understand the concept of a trash can, and free open air all-day music concerts at several cities around the Netherlands on Liberation Day (where more trash can accumulate). I read that there was 300 tons of trash to pick up in AMSTERDAM ALONE after only queen's day!!! 100 more tons than last year. That's a lot of garbage. Good thing we're not living in Naples. Liberation Day is supposed to be a day to remember being liberated from the Nazi's in WWII...but apparently many Dutch Gen X-ers and Y-ers (and probably all generations) seem to find it a day to be liberated from their own responsibilities: whether that is putting trash in a garbage can (or even near one!), remembering to pee in a urinal, or even going to work. Ok, I'm just a bit passive aggressive...

I unfortunately have responsibilities, like contributing to the economy and putting food on the table. Apparently only 10 other people do as well....as I was on the train with these 10 people who had to work on Monday. Monday night, I did go to the outdoor concert for about 2 hours. Its at this time where you can see all the delightfully sun-burnt hippies and the ground littered with plastic cups and beer bottles and other trash. The interesting thing about Liberation Day is that there always seems to be a platform for debate...the Dutch love any opportunity to debate and have their opinion heard. Do children of today appreciate their freedom? Should we continue to celebrate something that has happened "long ago in the past"?, and the ever philosophical 'will there ever be a world without war?'. All good, thought provoking questions.

Well, I'd answer those questions, but I have to go drink some beer with my friends.

The stars also aligned to bring American morning tv host on the NBC's Today Show, Matt Lauer, here to Amsterdam on Queen's Day eve....he was here for a segment "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" I didn't get a chance to see him, as he was here and jetted off to Laos before I even got done with my work day. He was wearing orange pants, so he joined the ranks of northern european fashion for a day. But I am sure it was only to mark Queen's Day.

This coming Monday is the 2nd day of Pentecost. This is the last public holiday until Christmas time. This will put an end to the May holidays...and all the kiddies will have to go back to school (and foreigners back to their language classes!) and workers back to the job. But now that the weather this week is being dominated by a wonderful high pressure system, bringing us temps in the upper 60s/low 70s...it will be pretty tough to go back to work. Maybe sitting out on a terrace will have to do.