How can I let this wonderful day go by without writing something documenting it!? I can't! Today is one of the most exciting and enthralling days of my life! Obama is my new president! I finally can be proud of my country, and of what it stands for: for good, not bad. I left work early to make sure I was home to witness this amazing moment in history! The scenes of millions of people packing the National Mall, 2 miles long, to view this one moment in history, to be a part of it. Its even more exciting to me because Washington DC was my former home. I wish more than anything that I could have been there today. Its so wonderful to see all these buildings, corners and scenes that were, and still are, so familiar to me. I was only there just 2 months ago for a visit. I'm so happy that Obama is now the leader of my country. He is an intelligent, charismatic, young, handsome man with a beautiful family. I am so proud of his amazing accomplishments in such a short time, and I look forward to all the wonderful things he will accomplish in the next four years. The city is alive with a magical feeling and such happiness. I wish I could be there to take part. But instead, I will forever remember this day and where I was when he was sworn in. I was sitting on my couch at home with M, able to witness it live on tv. My body was physically here, but my heart and spririt were in DC. Despite all the pomp and circumstance, and all the cheesiness (you could say) of American life centered around this weekend, I miss it! I like it, and that will never change!
I think this was the first inauguaration that I've ever really watched. Not only is that because of age and interest, but also significance. Never before has an inauguration meant so much before. Its not just the historical significance, but also his message of change that brings hope to so many. It is a change in mentality for the government and the direction our country will move in in the future.
here in holland, several watch parties took place, all over the country. I was going to go to a democrats abroad watch party at the hard rock cafe in amsterdam, but i RSVP'ed too late and was not able to get in! Several dutch politicians were also just as ecstatic and emotional as us Americans today. the prince even came back from the middle east today and made sure he could watch the ceremony online. the ceremony was even carried live on 3 dutch channels. this new president is not only important to the US, but also to the whole world.
I dont have to preach on the significance of this day in American history. we all know how special this 44th president is to our history. but still, the magical feeling is alive in me and millions of others around the world. and i think it will stick with me for many days to come.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Monday, January 12, 2009
Ice crazy
Its been a very historical past few weeks here in Holland. Since around Christmas time, its been relatively cold, by Dutch standards. Its been below zero (celcius) several days in a row, and its been so cold that the canals are freezing over all over the Netherlands. This has not happened in twelve years! The Dutch are going crazy for skating! It is in their blood, in their culture, yet they have been unable to skate on natural ice in twelve whole years. This past weekend, over 200,000 Dutchies took to the ice. Of course there is a fair share in injuries and accidents, since they are not used to the ice, either falling down and breaking wrists or falling through thin ice. Surprisingly there has only been one death (of falling through the ice). It is definitely a special sight to see, kids playing on the iced over canals in the twilight hours of the evening, some for the first time in their lives.
The ice is so important for these dutchies, that even last week Friday, some government agencies gave their employees the option to leave work at 1pm without taking vacation time, to go ice skating!!! They call it "ijsvrij", or "ice free". Unbelievable!!! Way to go, Ministry of Foreign Affairs for setting the standards...
The only unfortunate thing is that the Dutch couldn't have their famed "11 city tour", which is a one day tour/race of ice skating on the canals to 11 cities in Friesland. They are only allowed to do it if the ice is at least 15cm thick.
I come from the land of cold, snow, and ice: the frozen tundra as we so endearingly call it. But I am not used to riding my bike in below 0 degree weather! I also have not ice skated in several years, nor gone sledding (which I would love to do at any time, but there are no hills here at all!). But there is definitely something special about enjoying something so simple (to me) as ice, and seeing the landscape transformed from being dotted with cows and sheep to being dotted by skaters with orange hats.
The ice is so important for these dutchies, that even last week Friday, some government agencies gave their employees the option to leave work at 1pm without taking vacation time, to go ice skating!!! They call it "ijsvrij", or "ice free". Unbelievable!!! Way to go, Ministry of Foreign Affairs for setting the standards...
The only unfortunate thing is that the Dutch couldn't have their famed "11 city tour", which is a one day tour/race of ice skating on the canals to 11 cities in Friesland. They are only allowed to do it if the ice is at least 15cm thick.
I come from the land of cold, snow, and ice: the frozen tundra as we so endearingly call it. But I am not used to riding my bike in below 0 degree weather! I also have not ice skated in several years, nor gone sledding (which I would love to do at any time, but there are no hills here at all!). But there is definitely something special about enjoying something so simple (to me) as ice, and seeing the landscape transformed from being dotted with cows and sheep to being dotted by skaters with orange hats.
Monday, December 22, 2008
parking problems of another sort...
One funny thing I came across in the news this past week that is so typically dutch: a parking problem for bikes, specifically bak-fiets. These bikes are mainly used by the hip/trendy dutchy parents in their 30's to cart their kids to and from school or around town in an extra long bike with a cart in the front that can fit 2-4 kids. And these trendy parents are found particularly in the the more upscale neighborhoods in Utrecht (not my neighborhood!). These bikes of course take up more space than the normal bike, and are actually causing parking problems at schools, at grocery stores, and other places around town. And in true Dutch spirit, this issue has found its way to the political agenda in some neighborhood organizations. They want to have special parking spots for these bikes, because it inconviences other 'regular' bikers. These political groups are thinking of having a special corner for bak-fieters.
Only in Holland.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
You can never go home again
Its been quite awhile since I've written. Part of that was due to a two week trip to the US in November. The main reason for going was to be at the wedding of a good college friend of mine in St. Louis. But I combined this with a trip back "home" to Washington D.C., my home from 2005-2007, and to my real home, Sheboygan. It was a busy two weeks, but I enjoyed myself. M didn't come with, mostly because of time and money, but also that I was in the wedding too, and he'd be bored most of the time, as we were doing girl things. It was good to go back and visit with some good friends, eat some good food (mostly unhealthy!), and see my family again. Having gone to the US right after the election, and only hearing pro-Obama things here in Holland, I was a bit taken aback at the reality of the situation is certain places of the country. But, I suppose it was good to get a reality check. As my dad said, "you've been in Europe too long" (in an effort to add some humor/cheer me up). Its only been 2 years, have I changed that much? No, I think I was already this way before: open to new things and ideas, concerned for people's civil rights and human rights, concerned for the environment, and concerned about the current reputation of the US around the world and our lack of international cooperation (and common sense). When I heard some of the things I did while in the US, I was both shocked and scared. Its quite sad there there are people so close-minded, and it was a good reminder to me of, despite my complaints about Holland, that people really are better off here. It may be "absolute anarchy" in Amsterdam, as Bill O'Reilly so kindly put it on FOX News this past week, on the culture problems the Dutch have (um, ok). So many coffee-shops (not really), the red-light district (its regulated and in a small area only), and everyone distrespects the 'baby Jesus'....Well, despite the often bad manners I see here, things aren't all that bad (I suppose). There may be a lot of rules, but the government is around to regulate and take care of its citizens. Taxes may be higher here, but there are programs and organizations to take care of everyone and everything. Whether you are sick, unemployed, homeless, poor....there are ways to help. I will pay higher taxes to help others. I may have no choice (except to leave), but I will do it. Transportation is loads better. I don't have ot own a car here at all. It not only helps the environment, it also saves me tons of money. I can afford to actually save money here, unlike my situation while living in DC. And while I can see that this probably would never work in such a big country as the US, its really disturbing how people react to ideas and ways of life that are different than their own. As much as I want to move back to the US, because of being closer to my family and friends, as well as the familiarity of it all, I really scared myself thinking of not coming back (right away).
Usually I go home for the holidays, and this time was different. It was not only an eye-opening visit. But it was also the last time that physically will be going "home" to my house that I grew up in. My parents are moving over the next few months to a house they built 30 miles outside of Sheboygan. While it is a nice house on a lake in the quiet countryside, its not 'home' to me. This was the last time I slept in my bedroom that I grew up in, where I played as a kid, listened to my parents read me bedtime stories, hid under my pillow so I wouldn't see the lightning in summer, or the bright glow of orange sneaking into my room from the reflection of the streetlights off the snow in winter, and the excitement of knowing when I would wake up the next day, it would be Christmas morning. Never again, will I have the possibility to go back to this room after coming home for a visit. Its very difficult for me to accept that I cannot go home again. Growing older is not easy: to do or to accept.
Since the US, I have been working and finishing off Dutch lessons. After 1.5 years, I've had enough. I do not want to come home at 1030pm anymore. I get the most stressed out when I do not have time for myself to do what I want to do (or do nothing at all). But working full time and going to school 6 hours a week is tough. And while I finished on the 2nd of December, the real apogee of my entire "life" in Holland arrived this week. How integrated am I really? I took the Dutch national language test, otherwise known as the staatsexam. It consists of 4 parts: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. If you pass them all, you get a diploma saying you are 'fluent' in Dutch, and you are allowed to follow courses/programs at the university level. Unfortunately they only offer it during the daytime (in typical Dutch unhelpful fashion), so I had to take 2 days off of work for this...when it could have been offered within one day ---or at night. Anyways, I will know in 5 weeks if I passed or not. And while the diploma may say I'm fluent, I really don't think I am. I can converse in simply constructed sentences, but I can follow a conversation if I'm actually paying attention. And I know how to take tests well. I was the only westerner at these exams, and there was an over-representation of women. Only 2 of 20 people at today's test were guys. And I recognized no one from my classes at the local ROC school. So, in 5 weeks, we'll see if I'm really integrated enough into Dutch society. But all I had to do was go back to my home country for 2 weeks to know that I might not belong there either anymore.
Usually I go home for the holidays, and this time was different. It was not only an eye-opening visit. But it was also the last time that physically will be going "home" to my house that I grew up in. My parents are moving over the next few months to a house they built 30 miles outside of Sheboygan. While it is a nice house on a lake in the quiet countryside, its not 'home' to me. This was the last time I slept in my bedroom that I grew up in, where I played as a kid, listened to my parents read me bedtime stories, hid under my pillow so I wouldn't see the lightning in summer, or the bright glow of orange sneaking into my room from the reflection of the streetlights off the snow in winter, and the excitement of knowing when I would wake up the next day, it would be Christmas morning. Never again, will I have the possibility to go back to this room after coming home for a visit. Its very difficult for me to accept that I cannot go home again. Growing older is not easy: to do or to accept.
Since the US, I have been working and finishing off Dutch lessons. After 1.5 years, I've had enough. I do not want to come home at 1030pm anymore. I get the most stressed out when I do not have time for myself to do what I want to do (or do nothing at all). But working full time and going to school 6 hours a week is tough. And while I finished on the 2nd of December, the real apogee of my entire "life" in Holland arrived this week. How integrated am I really? I took the Dutch national language test, otherwise known as the staatsexam. It consists of 4 parts: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. If you pass them all, you get a diploma saying you are 'fluent' in Dutch, and you are allowed to follow courses/programs at the university level. Unfortunately they only offer it during the daytime (in typical Dutch unhelpful fashion), so I had to take 2 days off of work for this...when it could have been offered within one day ---or at night. Anyways, I will know in 5 weeks if I passed or not. And while the diploma may say I'm fluent, I really don't think I am. I can converse in simply constructed sentences, but I can follow a conversation if I'm actually paying attention. And I know how to take tests well. I was the only westerner at these exams, and there was an over-representation of women. Only 2 of 20 people at today's test were guys. And I recognized no one from my classes at the local ROC school. So, in 5 weeks, we'll see if I'm really integrated enough into Dutch society. But all I had to do was go back to my home country for 2 weeks to know that I might not belong there either anymore.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The day after: verkiezingen in de VS (election in the US)
I haven't been able to write for awhile, due to an exhaustive schedule. Many things have happened in the last month. But the most important news in years and years, the presidential election, I cannot pass this historic day by without writing something!
In the last few weeks, I have gotten asked several times by people if I can vote. And I replied, yes of course! i already did! I sent my absentee ballot in about 3 weeks ago. I have to explain how that works of course. My only trouble with that was the fact that I needed an American citizen to sign the ballot as a witness. WI is the only state that requires a US citizen as a witness. Now, when you live in a foreign country, as is part of the point of an absentee ballot---where do you think I will come across an American? I was really worried I wouldn't get my vote in on time due to this little problem. But I asked the HR dept at my work if there were any other americans here. Luckily for me there was ONE other american, and I got her to sign it for me! problem solved.
I sent in my vote for Mr Obama with two stamps, just to make sure it got back to WI on time.
The coverage in the US is unrelenting, I'm sure. I know how it works there. The ads on tv, the phone calls, the flyers in your mailbox, the non-stop 24 hour coverage on cable news channels. But here, that kind of campagning and news coverage is unheard of. That is purely thought as of "american sensationalism". And its true, it is a bit over the top, but that's how it works in the US. But in the last few months, the news coverage here has also stepped up. Every news report in the evening had a piece over what was going on with McCain and Obama. And last night, there were several watch-parties around the country, specifically the bigger cities: Amsterdam, den Haag, Rotterdam, Leiden, and Utrecht, with programs and speakers, and in one case "an american breakfast" (they think here that's donuts and coffee). Several Dutch channels (there's only 3 main public ones!) had coverage from NY and DC. The Germans were there too, and of course in Miami, FL (if you know Germans, they love Florida). The free daily newspapers in the train- all have "full" coverage (that means more than one page) of what is going on in the election. There is even a special edition newspaper this afternoon over the election that will be distributed nation-wide. It is very interesting for me to see their coverage on an election that they cannot vote in, yet directly impacts them. There is always a feeling of hope here, that America will pull through and vote for the man that will bring a better future to the US and to the world. And, of course, I want to keep up with everything going on in my own country.
So, it was an unprecidented election- two candidates that would both have made history (first black president or the oldest man to take office), highest voter turnout in generations, and the most expensive campagnes ever. But it was also unprecidented coverage here in Holland as well. Over 80% of the Netherlands would have voted for Obama if they could have voted. Everyone wanted him to win. It was a no-brainer. But I think they were still hesitant here on how America would really vote- could they get past his "liberal" ways or the color of his skin? But even here in the NL, I've heard from many people, that they do not believe Holland would be ready for a black prime minister. Just in the past month, a Morrocan born Dutch citizen was voted as mayor of Rotterdam. Many many people still have a problem with this. But, if he can lead and govern properly and enough people have faith in him to do his job right, then where is the problem? Its letting go of their "dutchness" and of what has always been.
We all know we are at a critical turning point: in international relations, with the environment, and the future of this planet. So, will America continue the same path as always, or vote for change, was the big question.
When I woke up this morning at 630am to check the news, I see that finally my fellow Americans came through, and voted for change! I'm SOO happy and excited and proud that Obama won and will lead our country in a new direction. Now I do not have to be ashamed any more to say I'm an American...Bush will no longer be the image synonymous with the US to others around the world. It will be an inspirational, intelligent, honest, young, black man. The image that everything and anything is still possible in the United States.
In the last few weeks, I have gotten asked several times by people if I can vote. And I replied, yes of course! i already did! I sent my absentee ballot in about 3 weeks ago. I have to explain how that works of course. My only trouble with that was the fact that I needed an American citizen to sign the ballot as a witness. WI is the only state that requires a US citizen as a witness. Now, when you live in a foreign country, as is part of the point of an absentee ballot---where do you think I will come across an American? I was really worried I wouldn't get my vote in on time due to this little problem. But I asked the HR dept at my work if there were any other americans here. Luckily for me there was ONE other american, and I got her to sign it for me! problem solved.
I sent in my vote for Mr Obama with two stamps, just to make sure it got back to WI on time.
The coverage in the US is unrelenting, I'm sure. I know how it works there. The ads on tv, the phone calls, the flyers in your mailbox, the non-stop 24 hour coverage on cable news channels. But here, that kind of campagning and news coverage is unheard of. That is purely thought as of "american sensationalism". And its true, it is a bit over the top, but that's how it works in the US. But in the last few months, the news coverage here has also stepped up. Every news report in the evening had a piece over what was going on with McCain and Obama. And last night, there were several watch-parties around the country, specifically the bigger cities: Amsterdam, den Haag, Rotterdam, Leiden, and Utrecht, with programs and speakers, and in one case "an american breakfast" (they think here that's donuts and coffee). Several Dutch channels (there's only 3 main public ones!) had coverage from NY and DC. The Germans were there too, and of course in Miami, FL (if you know Germans, they love Florida). The free daily newspapers in the train- all have "full" coverage (that means more than one page) of what is going on in the election. There is even a special edition newspaper this afternoon over the election that will be distributed nation-wide. It is very interesting for me to see their coverage on an election that they cannot vote in, yet directly impacts them. There is always a feeling of hope here, that America will pull through and vote for the man that will bring a better future to the US and to the world. And, of course, I want to keep up with everything going on in my own country.
So, it was an unprecidented election- two candidates that would both have made history (first black president or the oldest man to take office), highest voter turnout in generations, and the most expensive campagnes ever. But it was also unprecidented coverage here in Holland as well. Over 80% of the Netherlands would have voted for Obama if they could have voted. Everyone wanted him to win. It was a no-brainer. But I think they were still hesitant here on how America would really vote- could they get past his "liberal" ways or the color of his skin? But even here in the NL, I've heard from many people, that they do not believe Holland would be ready for a black prime minister. Just in the past month, a Morrocan born Dutch citizen was voted as mayor of Rotterdam. Many many people still have a problem with this. But, if he can lead and govern properly and enough people have faith in him to do his job right, then where is the problem? Its letting go of their "dutchness" and of what has always been.
We all know we are at a critical turning point: in international relations, with the environment, and the future of this planet. So, will America continue the same path as always, or vote for change, was the big question.
When I woke up this morning at 630am to check the news, I see that finally my fellow Americans came through, and voted for change! I'm SOO happy and excited and proud that Obama won and will lead our country in a new direction. Now I do not have to be ashamed any more to say I'm an American...Bush will no longer be the image synonymous with the US to others around the world. It will be an inspirational, intelligent, honest, young, black man. The image that everything and anything is still possible in the United States.
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