A Sporting Culture

With encouragement from a new friend, I recently joined a Dutch field hockey club in Rotterdam.  It's the biggest club in the Netherlands with over 2,000 members.  Men, women, teenagers, and children all play for HCR (Hockey Club Rotterdam) in green shorts or kilts, green socks, and white shirts.  The team I play for, Dames 12, is made up of roughly 15 women of about my age, give or take about five years.  I've been fascinated by the hockey culture.  We practice once a week and play games every Sunday from September to December and March to May.  There is a clubhouse with a bar, eight fields, and a stadium where the top teams play.  We play teams from around the Netherlands, while the top teams play international clubs as well.  Some of the women that I play with have been playing for 20 years!  I played in middle and high school and loved the sport, and it's coming back to me.  I'm not a star player, but I can hold my own these days.  It's interesting to be part of the club, especially since most people I know don't play sports competitively past high school or college.  Though kickball leagues have become pretty popular in Portland recently, adult sporting in Maine seemed a bit more limited.  Here in the Netherlands, there is an active adult sporting culture.  From soccer to horseback riding, many people belong to a sporting club and continue to play for their whole lives.  It's great to see people my parent's age still playing!

København and Malmö

Another late chronicle of an awesome trip we took in April.

Bob and I took an overnight train from Amsterdam to Copenhagen over my April break.  The sleeper car was kind of hilarious... six bunks in the tiniest compartment ever!  We lucked out and we were on our own for the first 4 or 5 hours of the trip.  Everyone else got on once we were already in our beds on the top bunks, and after a rather restless night we awoke in Denmark.  After checking into our hotel and washing away all the travel dirt, my cousin, Dustin, and his lovely fiance, Vicky, came and met us for an afternoon stroll around the city.  Vicky lives in Malmo, Sweden, which is a short train ride over a long bridge from Copenhagen.  My cousin lives in Connecticut, but happened to be visiting, so we were able to meet up after having been out of touch for a few years.  We walked around the city, had a few drinks, and caught up.

Later on in the trip we were able to go over to Sweden and spend an evening with Vicky, Dustin, and their friends.  We didn't see much of the city, but had a great time hanging out with some really interesting people.  We had a great dinner and then went for drinks at a nice bar, and then ventured to a club where we quickly realized we were the oldest people in the joint (we're between 24 and 28...)  but it was an experience!

Bob and I explored Copenhagen by bike, took a great boat tour, and then spent a day outside the city visiting Kronborg Castle, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet (Elsinore).  The castle and the surrounding sea was beautiful, and we were able to tour the castle casements, where the Danish soldiers would retreat during a siege or war.  At one point many soldiers lived there without leaving for years... it was amazing and creepy all at the same time.  The castle was really remarkable and we were glad we went.

Overall, we truly enjoyed our first trip to Scandinavia.  It was gorgeous, the people were great, and I can't wait to go back.

Back in time.... to Prague!

I'm a bit behind in updating this blog with my travel adventures, so I'm going to backtrack a little and write about a trip we took a two months ago.  In February, Bob and I spent five days in Prague.  We flew from Amsterdam and then took a bus into the center of the city.  Bob scored a great hotel and flight deal and we ended up staying right off of Wenceslas Square in the center of the city.  We had a great dinner our first night and then wandered around for an hour or two.

While we were in Prague we wandered around the old part of the city, also crossing over the Charles Bridge and walking up to Prague Castle.  We checked out the Astronomical Clock.  We marveled at the interesting architecture, a mix from many years.  We paid a fascinating visit to the Czech Museum of Music where we were able to see some amazing musical instruments.  I think my favorite was the quarter-tone piano.  I'd never even heard of such a thing!  Fascinating.  

When I was in Scotland a few years ago while studying abroad, I went on a ghost tour and it was a fascinating, though touristy, way to learn a bit about the history of the city.  Being a bit of a nerd, we took a ghost tour in Prague.  It was a bit silly, but we took the 9 pm tour and it was just Bob and I.  We had a fun time and the tour guide was really neat.  We learned about a few of the bloody events in Prague's history and got a neat little tour of the oldest area of the city.  We also learned that the majority of the towers and spires in Prague actually come in pairs, and one is slightly larger than the other, symbolizing the balance of male and female.  Not sure if it's true, but certainly interesting.  Also slightly gruesome, but the man who designed the Astronomical Clock in the 1400s had his eyes gouged out  by the city of Prague so he couldn't build a similar clock for any other city.  

The next day we took a hike up to the former site of a giant Stalin monument.  It was demolished in the 1960's, and the world's largest metronome was erected there in the 1990's.  It really was HUGE, up on top a hill that overlooked the city.  It was a beautiful and warm day, perfect for a nice walk.  As we approached the top, there were two teenage kids sitting next to the monument smoking right out in the open out of a big bong.  I'm certainly not uptight about this sort of thing, as I live in the Netherlands, but it was pretty funny to see them right out in daylight with a bong.  Drugs are technically illegal, but they seem to be tolerated in the Czech Republic in small amounts.

We also visited the Museum of Communism, which was a really interesting small museum that was assembled to examine communism in the Czech Republic.  The Museum of Communism, next to McDonald's and above a casino, I might add, covered the years when the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia began to take over the country in the late 1940's and the subsequent 50 years of history and government.  We also got to watch a really cool short film about the Velvet Revolution in 1989, a nonviolent revolution where Czechoslovakia overthrew their authoritarian government.  It was amazing to think that all happened within my conscious lifetime, and just down the street from where we were staying.

Overall, I liked Prague very much.  Cool architecture, interesting language, cheap beer, and fascinating history.  Prague is much different from any place I've been to.  Amazing, after living in Rotterdam for nearly 9 months now, to spend time in a city spared by Hitler in WW2 because he liked it.  We definitely hope to go back some day.

Driver's License

We are about to embark on a new adventure.  Driving in a foreign country.  This week, after a few different trips to the Deelgemeente Hillegersberg-Schiebroek, Bob and I traded our Maine licenses for a Dutch "rijbewijs."  Ok, step one completed.  Step two.... learn how to drive here.  Between the "shark's teeth" that signal right of way, and yielding to cars from the right, I believe we have our work cut out for us.  It will also be important that we don't hit any bikers or get creamed by any trams, since cars, bikes, and trams all use the same roads.  Bob and I were both pretty good drivers in the USA, but this seems like a bit of a different story.

We've decided we're going to get a car.  I know I was pretty excited not to have one, but for Bob to be able to really make some connections and hopefully play some gigs here, a car would make a HUGE difference.  Right now he either has to ride his bike with his telecaster in my bass gig bag, or he can take his other electric guitar on the tram.  The problem with our tram is that it only runs until midnight, and then you're stuck.  There was a night bus running on week nights for a while, but they've stopped that for now and it's only on the weekends.  We're going to look for a relatively cheap smaller car with low-ish mileage that we can also use to travel around Europe.  Road trips, here we come!

Have you ever been to Iceland? (Or Jet-Lagged Musings)

Technically, yes. Practically, no. I took Iceland Air to get back to Rotterdam at the end of this lovely break in Maine. It was quite interesting actually, because instead of flying through Zurich or Frankfurt as I have before, I was able to book a flight through Iceland that saved me some time. When we flew home in December, it took 1 hour to get to Zurich from Amsterdam and then 7 hours and 45 minutes to get from Zurich to Boston. This time I flew from Boston to Reykjavik... 4.5 hours, and then from Reykjavik to Amsterdam in 3 hours. Pretty sweet!

Two complaints. For the longer leg we were on a 737, which is one of the smaller planes with three seats on each side of a single aisle. I am used to flying on much larger aircrafts for the longer part of the trip, so it was rather claustrophobic for me. I am not usually afraid to fly, but I was pretty nervous before we took off. Once I settled in, though, it was fine. Second complaint- you have to pay for everything- food, headphones, booze. Swiss Air provided us with meals, snacks, and free drinks... not so much on Iceland Air. I didn't have any headphones so I bought some but skipped the food. I couldn't imagine paying extra for airplane food. For the price of my flight, though, I really can't complain about much. The flights were smooth and on time and I felt pretty safe flying into Iceland at 6:30 on a Saturday morning.

It's good to be back! One more day to relax and rest up before work on Monday. Next time I take Iceland Air I'm definitely going to take advantage of their stop-overs. You can book a stop over for a day or two there for no extra cost on your ticket, so I would really like to visit Iceland! Maybe in the summer when the weather is a bit nicer and there is more light. The name is deceptive, though. Iceland is really quite temperate and rather green. There was no snow there, and there was snow here in the Netherlands when we landed. Go figure.

Where is the music?

One of the best things about being home has been playing music. I left my upright bass with my parents, so I've been able to take it out and jam with a bunch of fine Portland musicians. It has been great! So, my question is, where is the music in the Netherlands? I find it very difficult to believe that no one plays. Just because there isn't a bar-music culture does not mean that there are no musicians. How can I get hooked up? I want to play!!!

We've been to a few clubs in Rotterdam, including Dizzy's and the Doelen Cafe to hear some music and for Bob to play in some jazz sessions, but I still feel like there is more going on than we know about. Ah, to network in a foreign country. Any ideas? I would love to figure it out. It's my New Year's resolution! Oh, that and join a choir. Working on that as well.

A few weeks in the USA

For my winter break, Bob and I decided to travel back to the US to be with our families for Christmas and in Portland with our friends for a few weeks. After a rather harrowing journey, we arrived in Boston. There was a snowstorm in the Netherlands that kind of paralyzed transportation, so our tram was delayed, our train was cancelled, and we got to run through two different airports to try to catch flights that turned out being delayed anyway. Ah, the holiday travel season. Upon arriving in the US, I must say I began to look at some things differently right away.

I did some grocery shopping to help my mother prepare for Christmas dinner. I walked into the Portland Hannaford and was immediately overwhelmed at the height of the ceilings, the size of the store, and the amount of people shopping with HUGE carts of food. In Rotterdam, I shop nearly every day at a small store toting a small, polka-dotted shopping basket that was given to me as a gift when I moved into my apartment. I buy food for a day or two and always have nice fresh produce, dairy products, bread, and cheese (plenty of Gouda). At the Hannaford, it looked like everyone was stocking up for some apocalypse that I had yet to hear of.

As I stood in line at the large deli counter to order some sliced pepper jack cheese, I turned around and noticed a giant disply of hummus. Why, I thought to myself, did we need to have 20 different kinds and brands of hummus? Isn't that overkill? Who needs that much choice? I marveled for a moment at all the different sizes, flavors, and producers of the chick pea based treat that I am actually quite fond of. As I continued to roam the store looking for vegatables for a salad and parchment paper for the Christmas cookies to be baked upon, my mind wandered back to when this was my shopping experience. I might shop once a week, loading up on food that I hoped to cook but often wouldn't be able to finish before it went bad. Super sized packaging and buy one get one free deals often lured me into buying much more than I needed. The more I thought about the Hannaford, the more I realized that some things about me have changed in the five months I've been away. I yearned for my polka-dotted shopping basket, the modest supermarket next door to my modest flat, and my Dutch bike.

Snow

I awoke to snow a few days ago. An inch, maybe two at the most, but it transformed Hillegersburg. One of the first things I always notice when it has snowed is the quiet. Our neighborhood is usually quiet anyway, but when there is a cover of snow it's different kind. Having spend my whole life in the northeast United States, snow is nothing new to me. I grew up praying for snow days, gambling from time to time by not doing my homework. For some reason, though, the first snow here was exciting and different. It was unexpected, and it was just sticky enough to really cover everything. I woke Bob up, despite the early hour and the darkness, so he could see our first Dutch snow as well. I'm not sure he was as excited as I was, but he didn't need to be up for a few more hours so I do understand his lack of enthusiasm.

I dressed for work in the silent darkness and enjoyed a hot cup of coffee and some breakfast looking out my big picture window onto the snowy wonderland below. The traffic was slow, drivers tentative. A few brave souls biked slowly down the road. I bundled up and stepped outside to walk to school. Though it was still dark at 7:45 (the sun doesn't rise until about 9 am right now) there were kids playing outside. Their joyful shouts in the neighborhood made me smile as they had snowball fights and built snowman in the pre-dawn light.

I expected the snow to be gone in a few hours. Everyone here said it snows from time to time but melts rather quickly.

Three days later. There is still snow on the ground and an occasional flurry in the air. And it's cold. Much colder than I expected. We're going home to Maine on Monday for a few weeks, so this is really just a dress rehearsal for the frigid temperatures and possible feet of snow we will likely face in the coming weeks. My first Dutch snow, though, was magic.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving didn't really feel like Thanksgiving this year. Not surprising, given it's a US holiday, but I thought I might feel a bit sad or disappointed at the lack of pumpkin pie and my father's awesome stuffing. While I did miss the family time and the food a little, the day kind of passed as any other day might. I was quite thankful for a few of the things that happened yesterday, though.

1. I had the day off from school! Very glad for the break. I actually slept later than Bob, for once!

2. Bob went to hang out with some of our friends from Rotterdam in Amsterdam. I am very thankful that he is finding his way here (not that I had any doubts) and is enjoying living here as much as I am.

3. I did some light shopping with one of my new friends. It's nice to have some girl time.

4. Got to come home, park it on the couch, drink coffee, and watch crappy US television online. In the middle of the day!

5. Had a lovely dinner with two great ladies. Plenty of wine and great conversation. Again, nice to have some girl time.

6. I'm very thankful that Bob and I have the chance to live here and meet all the wonderful people we've been fortunate enough to get to know so far.

7. Got to say a Thanksgiving hello to my family by Skype and phone. I am thankful for modern technology at times like these.

Our Big Purchase

As an overseas hire, my school applied for me to receive a tax benefit called the 30% Ruling here in the Netherlands. From my limited understanding, 30% of my income is untaxed, so I get to keep more of my money, especially since I will still have to pay some taxes in my home country. So, my 30% Ruling came through in October and my paycheck was a bit bigger... and I also received back pay for my first two months of work. What does one do with "extra" money like that? Well, spend it!

Our "was-droogcombinatie" is a thing of beauty. Part-washer and part-dryer, it does twice the work and takes up half the space of a regular appliance. We got a good deal and it was also delivered and installed. The model we picked, the least expensive one, was actually the evil machine that locked up my laundry (described in an earlier post). This time I have an English manual that tells me what I need to do to get the appliance to do my bidding. Really looking forward to doing laundry in my own apartment instead of sneaking it into school! In truth, the school was fine with it but I was slightly sheepish about it. I felt a bit like a bag lady carting my huge blue Ikea bag to school and skulking up the stairs into the Life Skills room to quickly toss in a load before my day started.