there and back again, a traveling story

i'm back in oegstgeest once again. crazy to think that the in-between has held nijmegen, frankfurt, prague, brussels, aalst, ghent, brugges, and antwerp. but, the beauty of it all is that nothing has felt rushed or contrived, and it has been a joy to discover once again the natural rhythm that traveling is for me. the dynamic of arriving, discovery, and learning that manifests itself in the exponential growth in familiarity with the city streets, transportation, language, and people.

in brussels, oom ad, tante mareijke, oma, and myself met up in one of the central parking garages before filling our afternoon with the royal museum of art, the grote markt, and mannekin pis with a healthy dose of walking around and picture-taking sprinkled in. then it was off to our hotel in aalst, about a half hour drive away. we were treated to an elaborate dinner in the hotel restaurant as a part of our booking package, and while i enjoyed it, the late hour left much to be desired. one thing i really haven't adjusted to is the generally late hour of eating here in holland, and europe as a whole. five on the dot goverened so much of my life while on board ship, and while i recognize that's a bit too early, eating your main course at nine is just a bit too late. :)

still, we all survived (obviously), and were up and ready to take on brugges the next day. and take it on we did. parking near the center once again, we roamed through the streets despite the misty rain and managed to squeeze in the grote markt (there seems to be one in every belgian city), the belfry, nearly every chocolate or lace shop, the stadshuis, and the beguinage, which i learned is a place for elder, unmarried women to live in community in a consecrated life something like a step lower than full consecration as a nun. good to see there's hope for community living at every age :)

the next day was ghent and while the weather was much lovelier, the day itself seemed to drag on. maybe it was another heavy meal the evening before or the late hour of sleep, but i started the day somewhere hanging narrowly above exhausted. that plus the fact that over 70% of the historic city is covered in tarpaulins and under restoration kind of marred the fairytale like atmosphere the city normally has. still, we had a fine time walking about and spent quite a lot of time admiring the polyptych by hubert and jan van eyck that sits in st. bavo's church on the (surprise, surprise) grote markt.

the last morning, we parted ways at the hotel and birgit, merlijn, oma, and myself headed back to oegstgeest via a short stop in antwerp while oom ad and tante mareijke spent some time in aalst and also stopped over in leeuwen on their way back to nijmegen.

all in all, plenty of coffee drunk and cobblestones walked and history learned to satisfy even the hardest of history buffs, and for me it was quite, quite satisfactory. back in oegstgeest, though, i'm already missing oom ad's precise english and slow rhythm of speech that easily marks him for a teacher.

back in oegstgeest, we have a few more items on the agenda including a trip today in the car with birgit and merlijn as well as some last minute shopping for the essential dutch food groups: cheese and stroopwafels. tomorrow is oma's birthday and we will have a small get-together here at birgit's house for some of oma's friends and family before going out to dinner with the boys as a happy birthday/tot ziens treat. then thursday morning early will find oma and myself in schiphol, boarding a plane for the us-of-a.

definitely enough left to be done and experienced, but my traveling eyes are turning homeward once again...

dutch

kind of crazy to be blogging twice in one day, but seeing that i will definitely be away from the computer while we're in belgium, i figured i could load all of you family and friends up with an extra comment or two on my adventures thus far.

today - just to give a quick update - oom ad and tante mareijke returned from their friend's party around noon, and we hopped in the car around one, headed toward appeldorn (obviously something to do with apples at one point in history or another). there we met up with andor, monique, and their two children ivo and annika for some honest-to-goodness dutch pannekoeken. some people eat pannekoeken and say they are just like french crepes. it is the closest thing one might compare them to, but for the dutch it's a dish all its own (mine, if you're curious, was kaas, tomaaten, en ui and i'm still full full nearly six hours later).

which brings me to the theme of this particular entry: dutch.

every evening, around nine pm or so, i am absolutely exhausted. as i reflect on my days, there's no stupendous expenditure of energy that would warrant such tiredness, and a comment from marte, on our trip, made it all so clear to me. she asked if being around dutch all the time made me tired, and suddenly, i realized it did!

i find myself in a very unique situation. commonly, as most dutch people speak english, an english-speaker making painful attempts at dutch is quickly rescued by the gracious conversation partner(s), and english becomes the language of choice. it is not uncommon for expats to live years within the country and never learn a word of dutch beyond the basics of ''hello,'' ''goodbye,'' and ''thank you.'' i, on the other hand, find myself surrounded by family that have somehow come under the impression that i speak dutch. interesting. before leaving, oma swore up and down that it would be only english and that she herself would personally intervene in any and every conversation necessary to be sure that i was included. i'm not sure what is more surprising, her promise or that i believed her.

but, of course, that's not practical in the least, especially with shakier english-speakers like tante mareijke. so? so i have been spending a very quiet trip. :)

a friend once dared me that i could not be silent for ten minutes straight, and while that was many, many years ago, and i have since come to value the merits of quiet observation, these past weeks have taken it to a whole new level. i find myself appreciating, once again, the powerful communication inherent to body language, tone of voice, facial expressions, and gesticulations. also, i am amazed at the incredible language-learning potential in complete immersion. with dutch swirling around me almost constantly, i find myself noticing sentence patterns and commonly used words that then become intuitively understood by mere repetition.

like the word maar which is the conjunction ''but.'' from hearing time and time again that drawing out of the word and emphasis unique to the introduction of a contradiction in the voices of birgit and oma in the first days here, i taught it to myself (and confirmed it later on, of course). now oma and i have a pattern - i listen throughout the day and then mentally hold onto a few words i think i have figured out or some that completely mystify me and we go over them in the evening. as i write them all down in my moleskin journal, i realize how much my vocabulary has grown.

five year old annika still has me beat (she can count all the way to thirty!), but slowly but surely i'm getting a little closer every day. and here is the pinch - in view of my mental energy, i'm quite looking forward to englespraten but in light of the progress i've made in just a few weeks, i'm already missing those words i might have learned in the months to come. misschien een dag...

more on prague

oom ad and tante mareijke are off to a small birthday party for a friend in their athletic club, and oma is comfortably sorting through clothes for belgium with all of her hairs neatly dried and combed into place. here in the little garret office that has become my home, i have a few minutes to myself for some further writing on prague, as promised.

first, our host kate. always ready for a laugh and a huge conversationalist, both marte and myself felt right at home the moment we walked up to the looming mass of grey concrete and brick that is her apartment building and she popped her head out of her window to shout a ''hello'' to us down below. with convertible couches, a designated storage space, room in the refrigerator, and our own copy of the house key, it was challenging to not feel instantly at home, and of course we did. sheets, blankets, pillows - everything was provided, and with a cup of tea in hand we sat down for a long, get-to-know-you chat. she works for an it company, and had recently been to the us for a conference. we chatted about boston, new york, san diego, jon stewart, and stephen colbert for the large part of that first night.

in the following days, we say kate at least once or twice. usually she was just getting up when we were heading out the door (since her company is based in the us, she has a large amount of flexibility with her hours, usually working some from home and going into work after lunch) but we also often caught her in the evenings as well. she was always interested to hear how our days were turning out and quick to offer us advice and guidance as well as her wonderfully outspoken opinions!

we found her through the couchsurfing online community, and it was an awesome experience. everyone who doesn't yet know about it should check it out at www.couchsurfing.org

one of the biggest advantages was her insight into the culture of the county and the aftermath of communism, which i mentioned before. i realized, as kate was talking one morning, that the czech republic was the first post-communist country i had visited, and i was at times surprised and at other times not to see how prominent the fingerprints of that time still exist, exactly twenty years later. for one, there seemed to be very little nationalism, in terms of pride in the country's history and even awareness of the sort of stories we heard on walking tours and in the guide books. kate explained that soviet education was more about the greater soviet union with an emphasis on communist themes rather than the individualism of then czechoslovakia versus romania, ukraine, bulgaria, etc. similarly, people themselves rarely speak out in public, often avert their eyes on streets and in trams, and only the younger generation, born after the fall of communism really display that gregarious impudence characteristic of youth.

another thing quite shocking to hear is that, growing up, kate was taught in school that jews did not exist. under a completely areligious government policy, judaism and other faiths were taught as sort of relics of the past rather than active influences. she knew about franz kafka, the famous czech writer, but only recently learned he was jewish. when we made a point to visit the memorial of the czechoslovak jews who died in world war ii, she sort of regarded us with a look of quizzical bemusement.

no facet of life has been unaffected, it seems. while people got married very early under communism because having a family moved you higher on the housing list, now most people delay marriage until their late twenties or early thirties because there is greater access to other things like traveling, work, university, etc. the first mortgages are appearing and many people cannot afford to buy homes or flats because their salaries haven't changed that much but the prices set by private industry have. so many fascinating tidbits that cracked open a whole new aspect of czech life and culture.

i definitely didn't see everything - sometimes because of the weather, other times because we didn't want to pay the cost of admission, and in the end, because four days really isn't enough. still, as i said to both marte and kate, i think we both saw enough to know that we would very much like to come back...

op de fiets redux

just back from a looong (read: 2.5 hr) bicycle ride with my great uncle, Ad. i love that when dutch people talk about bicycles, it's always by the full name or just "cycle" - it kind of highlights the quaintness of dutch "cycling." bike somehow always brings to mind harleys and the like, and you have to sort out for yourself which one, based on the surrounding details in the story. but with cycling you kind of know right away there are no overweight men with doo-rags and leather jackets involved.

dutch bicycles are different from the general american ones, anyways. they are usually more relaxed but with narrow tires, sort of a cross between a beach cruiser and a road bike. my old red bicycle from my time at bc would fit in just perfectly on the dutch fietspad. i have yet to see a bicycle with more than three gears, and with 60% of the country reclaimed from the sea, you rarely need to shift at all.

in any case, it was an absolutely wonderful ride as we passed along the dike off the vaal river and in between the little family farms and country homes.

yesterday was quite lovely also. we went first to the museum in nijmegen and saw an exhibit of some illuminated manuscripts from the mid 15th century. they belonged to catherine of kleve who resided in nijmegen at that time. the various pages normally live in new york and london, but they were specially reunited on home turf for the celebration of the city's anniversary. i have read a few different novels recently that involved medieval manuscripts and their illuminators, but i realized i had never really seen one in person. the miniatures were absolutely incredible to behold in person, and i'm very glad we went. you do go a bit bug-eyed, however, after several rooms of squinting in the dim light used to preserve the pages.

after that we did a bit of shopping in nijmegen center before hopping on a bus to bring us back to the house. for dinner, we hopped in a car and went to ''oriental palace'' where there was a chinese buffet and a rijstafel especially for oma. she hit up one of the young men working there as an entertainer, hoping to brush up on her indonesian, but unfortunately he was from the philippines and happened to only speak english and dutch.

when we arrived back at the house, i was able to show off my pictures of prague via oom ad's computer cable. i already miss the city and our wonderful host.

today is already half done, and i have very little idea of anything else on the agenda, but the sun is shining and the high is 15 degrees celsius, which is a lovely jump up from the 2 degree weather in prague, so i'm as happy as can be! for the meantime, i believe lunch is calling my name.

praha

i'm sorry to have left everyone in the dark for the past week - my little routine of morning blogging was interrupted on wednesday with a rushed morning, a whirlwind of sightseeing (including nordvijk, an art program for physically and mentally disabled adults in leiden, the apple orchard where leon works, and lunch somewhere in between). then i hopped on an afternoon train to come to nijmegen, the first of many legs of travel on my prague adventures. here's a quick rundown:

thursday: early morning drive across the border to catch a german train, somehow manage a train transfer all in german, arrive in frankfurt and meet up with marte, a dear friend, kindred spirit, and erstwhile traveling companion. walk for a bit around frankfurt and do the necessary catching up before boarding a bus to the hahn airport, two hours outside of frankfurt. catch a plane, land in prague, catch a bus, metro, and tram. arrive at our host's flat, chit-chat until 1 am, and sleep.

friday: walking tour of prague. we hit up an awesome free walking tour/stand up comedy show hosted by the ever-entertaining isaac from (in his words) a small village north of mexico known to some people as los angeles. gotta love it. somehow manage to see all the major sights in the old town in the midst of freezing temperatures and drizzly rain. honestly, some parts were completely blurred out by the pressing realization that i could no longer feel my toes and the constant contemplation of the feasibility of buying a winter coat from h&m. still we survived and warmed up over a delicious meal in a quaint cellar restaurant serving up a delicious czech beer. funny story about that later.

saturday: the rain seemed to hold off, so in the morning we headed up to the castle complex on the east side of the vltava river that overlooks the old town. a recommendation from a local on the tram directed us to a little pocket park with an amazing view of both the castle and the old city. (look for pictures once i'm stateside). we wandered around the castle, heard the 27 loreto bells, and ate our sandwiches on a park bench while discussing the communion of saints. awesome. in the afternoon we trekked over to the old town again and decided to splurge on some ballet tickets for swan lake. when in prague, right? we ended the day at a really wonderful little cafe recommended to us by our ever-hospitable host, kate. soup, original pilsner, and a shared piece of seasonal pear cake was just what the doctor ordered to banish the autumn chill.

sunday: mass in st. james' church in the old town followed by a cup of hot chocolate at a nearby cafe. marte opted for mulled wine which was also delicious. then as the sun broke through the clouds, we chose to wander for a while and soak up the art nouveau architecture of the old town center. heading over to the jewish quarter, we spent some serious time of contemplation at the memorial to the czechoslovak jews who died in the concentration camps of wwii and the children of terezin ghetto whose drawings survive today. more about that later, too. we took a quick respite from the cold in a truly unique teahouse (also more to come), before heading off to the ballet!

monday: last day in prague. we hit up the vycherad cemetery and church, the john lennon graffiti wall, and the remaining synagogues in the jewish quarter before meeting up with kate for a drink at the same awesome cafe which was conveniently near her work. our last few hours were spent chatting about our various lives, hopes, dreams, and the laughter of strangers-cum-friends. picked up our bags from her office and then repeated traveling process in reverse to bring me to nijmegen at four minutes past 8 this morning.

so, so much more to say, but a museum here in nijmegen is calling (or maybe it's just Oom Ad's voice downstairs...)

delft

yesterday, we had a leisurely morning here in oegstgeest. birgit ran some errands, and i posted on the blog. (today is off to a similar start if you couldn't tell!). soon enough we bundled into birgit's car, hoping the sunshine would hold out as we drove off to delft. birgit has an old schoolmate there who runs a catering service and cooking school, so luckily we got an ideal parking space in the center of town but not before driving to the house where oma grew up - still looking, of course, the same as it always did. birgit knocked on the door, no one was at home, so we unfortunately did not get a good peek inside. we did, however, get to meet up with oma's old hairdresser, still in his shop, still cutting hair.

it was remarkable, in a way, to stand there and watch these old friends connecting with each other. perhaps they saw each other only two years ago when oma last visited, but the last time she really lived in holland, she was only 19. he maybe looked a little worse for the wear of life, but had a darling smile and that same impish glint in his eyes that my opa had. maybe there's something to dutch men... :)

another observation about the dutch: life is lived with no hesitation or reservation. two minutes after meeting this older man again, the conversation launched into obama, the nobel peace prize, american and dutch healthcare, and immigration. there seems to be, in everyone i have met, a universal interest in the opinion of others and, of course, strong opinions on the behalf of the asker who is not hesitant to share them, either. still, i so appreciate that sort of direct, blunt, and open way of talking. i don't know if i ever would have put it that way, and in many ways our family is much more american, but still, there is an honesty and openness unique to our extended family that i have always really valued but never was able to put my finger on exactly.

after coffee with birgit's friend marcel, we were off to delft, walking along the cobblestone streets through multitudes of exclamations and memories from oma. "this used to be the best music shop!"she told us in dutch as we passed what is now a fancy electronics store, and so forth. the museum birgit wanted to take us to was closed, since it was monday, but we found a nice alternative in a little tea shop and cafe that was serving some traditional dutch foods that were on oma's list of "things to eat." she had her flees kroketjes while birgit and i split the vegetable ones and a salad.

delft is a lovely place, much smaller than amsterdam, obviously, but twice as beautiful. for me, much more manageable!

birgit is back, and i have to dry oma's hair. today: den haag and the peace palace as well as some errands in the market at oegstgeest. tonight i have the opportunity to meet up with a friend from my time abroad, eva, who lives right now in delft. such fun!

amsterdam, etc.

After a later-than expected awakening, breakfast was a noisy but happy affair in the house yesterday morning. Dutch and English flew back and forth over bread, tea, cheese, jam, eggs, and leftover vegetables from the night before (in accordance with Birgit's new paleo diet). After we all had our fill - and the boys had a good laugh out of my eating vla for breakfast - we trundled off to the Leiden central station where we hopped on a train for Amsterdam.

I took to staring out the window while the younger boys regaled Frank with their boating adventures in scouts the day before. At least, I'm pretty sure that's what they were talking about. It was all in Dutch, so I can never be quite positive, but the handful of words I picked out and the wild gesturing were enough to piece the basics together.

We arrived in Amsterdam under ominously cloudy skies. Still, determined to see the city, we took off down one of many streets we would walk over the course of the next three hours. Later, when Merlijn would ask me what we had done and what I had seen, I didn't quite know what to tell her. Come to find out, we walked basically the entirity of downtown Amsterdam without my ever really realizing it!

Near noontime, we stopped at a cafe in Leidspleine. Funny story: we all ordered a different coffee. A large carmel latte for Frank, a medium Americano for me, and a medium "bambino" (a latte but with chocolate milk, so basically a mocha) for Koen. Leon said he didn't want anything. We get our drinks and sit outside. I asked Leon again if he was sure he didn't want anything, and he intimated he didn't want to spend his money on coffee. When Koen told him it was paid for with money Birgit had given Frank that morning, Leon nearly fell out of his chair. As the three of us nearly fell out of ours in laughter (especially Koen), Leon tramped inside to get himself his own "bambino."

Walking around, I recognized again the tall, narrow houses, rising above tha canals. The odd, outward slant of the buildings - for lifting furniture to the top floors - reminding me of a sort of surrealist painting. We saw the myriad of people who are drawn to Amsterdam, from the eccentric to the tourist, all traipsing about the same narrow streets. Amsterdam is unique in its diversity, and it was wonderful to be back in it.

In the afternoon, we met Merlijn, Birgit, and Oma back at Amsterdam Centraal before walking to a small museum. It's called Onze Lieve op de Solder, Our Lord of the Attic. Apparently, when Catholicism was banned in Holland during the 16th century, Catholic parishes moved into hiding. This one was the largest and best preserved, built in the attic space of three buildings. Walking through this narrow house, maintained in the style and furnishing of the 16th century, you climb up one last set of stairs and come up into a long, thin church obviously stretching back much further than the space of the house you were just in. Clever space-saving devices were built into the structure of the alter and the galleries, and the place has become a museum dedicated not only to this chapel but also of Catholic regalia specific to Holland. It was definitely impressive.

Following that, we made our way over to the newer part of Amsterdam and the modern construction that encamps the old city. A brand new concert hall has opened there, near the discovery science museum, and we sat in their lounge for a coffee (again). Then it was off to Merlijn's for dinner.

Definitely a fun, full day, and more to come. The boys are off to school and the sun is shining for the first time since we arrived. I think a visit to Delft is in the air...

Day 1 - An adventure with Oma

Goeiemorgen!

We arrived safely at Schiphol a bit late - our flight was delayed coming out of London, and while we made up a significant amount of time in the air, there was thick fog over Amsterdam. We landed close to 9:30, and Birgit, Leon, and Koen were there to greet us. Oh my word, those boys have shot up into the sky! Frank was waiting at the house and of course we all sat
down for a cup of coffee and a long chat. :)

Then I helped Oma unpack her things while the younger boys got ready for scouts. A quick lunch and they were on their way, then the four of us headed over to Leiden to the market to get vegetables and fish for dinner - Oma and Birgit in the car and Frank and I op de fiets! One problem that became very clear very soon is that my legs are strikingly shorter than those of my Dutch family! I took Birgit's bike, but could really only reach the pedals with my tip-toes. Once I was on, I managed all right, but let's just say getting on and off were a completely different problem in and of themselves. By the end of the day (45 ride each way), I had mastered my own technique leaving Frank close to speechless with laughter. Well, I don't mind being the butt of a joke or two - especially around here, between Dutch honesty and my family's humor, I guess I should get used to it. :)

Last night Birgit made a lovely dinner and then we basically were all in bed by 10. I'm told by Birgit this morning that Oma practically fell asleep sitting up on her bed, but that she and Frank kindly tucked her in. I'm glad because I was fast asleep upstairs!

Today we are headed into Amsterdam to meet up with Merlijn. The boys and I will take the train and have some time in the city by ourselves while Oma and Birgit have coffee at Merlijn's apartment. Then we will meet the three ladies in the city for a bit of a tour around before heading back to Merlijn's for dinner.

The rest of the time will have to sort itself out. I know Delft is definitely on the schedule before I head over to Nijmegen on Wednesday. One awesome piece of good news - our host in Prague confirmed that we could stay with her in her flat, so everything should be set in that regard. Awesome!

The love of Oma, Birgit, the boys, and myself to all of you!

Have a Happy Sunday!

Much love,
elle

further musings on community

i knew a month had gone by since i last wrote. i didn't realize it had been a month on top of a month!

fall has settled - somewhat - over east texas, and as temperatures have dropped, i find my defenses against missing boston, college life, and the community i had there falling as well. i miss it. i miss gearing up for the life is good pumpkin festival. i miss the row of maples on the opposite side of conte forum that are always the first to turn - a shocking red that almost seems to mock the gathering of gray cloudy skies.

i'm leaving for holland in a day or two, and as i pulled out fall clothes to pack for my time there, it was like revisiting old friends. my well-worn corduroys, jewel-tone sweaters, and huge scarves bring me that simple joy, like catching a glimpse of someone dear to you from across a crowded room or train station - the eagerness of anticipated reunion. moving to southern california doesn't afford many fall moments as far as i can surmise, and so this brief re-visiting of my fall wardrobe is a particular treat.

each item reminds me of boston. when i wore that sweater to that persons birthday party, or when i practically lived in those cords through finals week - connections to people and a place, neither of which are foreseeably in my future in the same, living-with, tangible way. i have spent a lot of time alone these past few months. it's almost been like a long, extended version of the silent retreat i attended at the beginning of the year. not as intensely focused or overtly spiritual, but an ongoing process of revisiting the vulnerability, timidity, and doubt of loneliness. nouwen talks about transforming, through grace, our loneliness into powerful solitude, recognizing god's infinite omnipresence and the reality that our connectedness with others, no matter how deep, can never bring about the full self-realization that comes from our connectedness with god.

as i have physically (although not necessarily mentally, spiritually, or emotionally) stepped out of my community at boston college, i have come to more fully realize how particularly special that gift was and is. it's going to take a heck of a lot of time, energy, emotion, and investment to build such a community again. as well as an equal amount of those things to maintain the community that will always be very dear to me. in some ways it's the both/and of liberation theology. i can maintain my connection to an extemporaneous community while investing myself in the community of my here and now.

at least i hope so :)