Amsterdam pics

Here are some of my favorite pics of Amsterdam!

This is Kam Yin, my marvelous hostess with our luscious Mediterranean dinner.And here's Kam Yin with her surprise out-of-town guests eating Surinamese food.
A canal...
Me standing in the midst of the 3D version of Rembrandt's Night Watch. And one of my favorite Rembrandt paintings from the Rijksmuseam....which along with the Van Gogh museum is truly outstanding. Here's the prophet Jeremiah lamenting...

Amsterdam take two

It's 1:15 am, and I need to get up at 5:30, but I just looked at my blog and I can't leave that as my only real time Amsterdam post. So here's another try...

Amsterdam has really been interesting. The Netherlands has some amazing museums. I went to the Rijsmuseum today and saw a lot of Rembrandts, Vermeers, Hals, Jan Steens etc. Interesting display on Dutch world expansion. Yesterday, I went to the Van Gogh museum which was also amazing. I really like Dutch painters.

Other than that, I've been wandering around, and I've spent most of my time being hosted by Kam Yin, a Regent alum and old roommate of my friend Betsy's. Kam Yin has been great, super hospitable, taking me to yummy places to eat Surinamese food (I've got a story about this one, but no brain cells), "Dutch" food....I've also been able to meet some folks from her church and another sister church in town. Kam Yin is Chinese but born in the Netherlands and pastors a bunch of people just like her. It's so interesting to meet second-generation Chinese, the Dutch counterpart to me! In general, they speak a lot more Chinese, hang out with more Chinese people and are way more relaxed. Spent the evening today at a BBQ (soooo yummy...not your average BBQ) and watching Kam Yin give a talk on John 21. We also played a Dutch version of Mafia---which they played in English expressly for my sake. Very interesting, very neat to see and meet another part of the body of Christ.

So sleepy. I am not doing Amsterdam justice...but this will be it for now. I'm flying to Geneva in...a few hours, and then I'll be installing myself at Caux. Perfect timing...I feel done traveling and done with the touristy thing...and my brain is all rested and all set to go...I hope. Good night!

In Amsterdam

Hi...I'm in Amsterdam today...and last night...and until early Saturday
morning. I just talked to a friend from youth group on the phone and
got some sobering news. Real life continues even while on holiday.
Lord have mercy.

(Sorry---I just re-read that: I don't mean to alarm you all. I am fine.
People in my immediate circles are fine---at least as far as I know.
But the ugliness of life continues on...)

More when I am in a better mood...and have time...

A surprisingly wonderful day...

After the yucky sadness of the morning, I decided to brave a tram. Befitting my mood, I decided to go and visit the war tribunal where Slobodan Milosevic was tried. I was in the Hague and that's the only think I know the Hague for...and it seemed to fit the what I would be studying in Switzerland, so why not. So I bought the appropriate ticket (this funky folding strip), figured out how to used it and hopped on...

When I got to the stop, I poked my head out and it just looked like a boring office building, so I just stayed on the tram...and ended up at this fabulous beach.
I really wasn't prepared for a beach, thus I wore no sunscreen. I ended up nastily solidifying every tan line I had, and my burned my arms too...but it was so wonderful. I must have been a strange sight...this Asian lady in pants walking along the beach filled with sun-reddened Dutch people in their bathing suits. It was where the locals relaxed, and I loved that I saw no other tacky tourists in sight. It was really nice, just walking along the beach barefoot, watching the tides come in and kids jump in little puddles. The beach didn't seem that big, but as I walked and walked to the tempo of the waves, it seemed to go on forever.

I also had a marvelous fresh raw herring sandwich at the beach. I saw a crowd of people gathering around a man on the boardwalk, queuing up for a sandwich. There was a tub of freshly caught live herring, and I watched him sink his hand in the tub, grab a little fishy, filet it and put it in between a soft roll. It was amazing. Definitely one of the best sandwiches I've had.

After the beach, I hopped back on the tram and worried about now hurting sunburned arms. I went to the main shopping district, and sunscreen was sold out in about 3 drugstores. I finally found some (12 euros! what the ????) and walked to the Maurithuis museum. It's this small, well-curated place with some Rembrandt's, Jan Steen's, Vermeer's. I really like Dutch painters. Here's one of my favorites:And, here's the Mona Lisa of the museum...I think you'll probably recognize this one:

sprinkles on toast

It feels a bit funny not to acknowledge a certain anniversary. I think part of me never wants to but it is as if my body knows every year, and sometimes at other parts of the year, but particularly like clockwork at this time of the year. I suppose this explains why I have never bothered to remember the actual date, though I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to look up. Also, there's also confusion about which date to remember...the date of the accident when he probably was brain dead, or the date of actual death, or the date of the funeral or the date of the memorial service. I suppose the actual death one makes the most sense, but I have never bothered to remember. It is funny how my body always seems to know.

When I was in Den Haag...my body knew. I say my body and not my brain or my heart because it feels like all of me knew...except my brain: it seemed to be somewhere else, rationalizing something else, trying its best to think about something else. My heart too, just felt numb or pained; it is as if there was too much jumbled up there to make any sense, but my body knew. My body knew and I could feel it in my tight chest, in my shaky shoulders, in my stiff neck, in my unsettled stomach, in my wobbly legs and in my feet that felt set in concrete. My body knew, I do not know how, but my body knew in Den Haag and even before, but in Den Haag my body knew when I looked at the three boxes of sprinkles generously laid out on each breakfast table in the hostel. My body knew. I fortunately had decided to come down for the last 5 minutes of breakfast, choosing this obscure corner of the room facing no one else, and my body knew. My shoulders hunched over, my stomach churned, my legs felt like rocks. Pools flooded from my eyes, and my brain tried to shut them off. I knew, it was today...or near today...six years ago.

My brain finally decided to give in, and tried to perform a little ritual, a commemoration. My brother once marveled at the Dutch custom of eating toast with sprinkles...so here I am in the Netherlands trying to do just that. Trying: I tried to stick the sprinkles on the toast but they just kept falling off. Shake, shake! And off they would go...they never quite stuck and my eyes were too full of tears for me to ask someone. My heart wanted to ask no one; I wanted to figure it out myself...but instead I made a mess all over my tray. Wasted chocolate sprinkles. Somehow my body knew and somehow my heart is awakening, ambivalent about being woken up...

To you, my dear brother in paradise. To you.

Den Haag

So I'm sitting at a normal American keyboard and merrily typing as fast
as I please in Den Haag (The Hague). I'm kind of in a slightly sketchy
bar near the hostel...everyone else in here is male, but there's still
tons of daylight left so oh well. I just got in, and my plan tonight is
to read, relax, sleep, sleep, sleep and journal a bit. I left Sara
earlier this afternoon in Brussels. It was really great to see her, and
we had a lot of fun. Brussels is a really beautiful city, the people
are really nice and the chocolate is amazing. We went to the European
Parliment and took a tour today. Lots of people in suits, but we got to
see a committee in session. Pretty interesting and pretty slow going,
even with simultaneous translations in 20+ languages. Both of us are
glad we're not Members of the European Parliment.

Anyway, I am doing well though I am tired. Tomorrow, I'll walk around
town a bit; I think there is a Vermeer museum I want to check out and
then I go to Amsterdam to meet up with Betsy's former Regent roommate.
I'll stay with her until Saturday morning.

Drinking and Eating in Brussels

So, what else did we do in Brussels? We ate, and we drank. Okay, this post make it seem that we did that predominantly, but that's not completely true. But, we did venture out and try the local specialities.

Apparently, Belgium beer is the best in the world....and it comes in lots of different forms and there's a particular glass for each beer. Here I am drinking---I forget. It's a dark beer from Liege---I don't remember. It just had this massive head (the foamy part), and it tastes quite different from a Guinness. It was a bit sweet.
Belgium is also known for its french fries----in fact, that's where french fries apparently come from, and Sara really wanted some. I couldn't find any fries in those cones like I saw in Dortmund with Corinna...I guess that was what I was picturing...cones of french fries with mayo and/or ketchup on every street corner. Nope. Anyway, we ended up going to this fry stand near a church (humorously, it really was called something like that too---Shack near the Church, or something to that effect). And Sara, ever tempted by a bargin was drawn in by the description of a sausage sandwich with fries. Little did she know that her fries would be in her sandwich. (Kind of like putting potato chips in your sandwich---which I think is yummy.) Here she is putting the huge thing in her mouth...

And the other thing that Belgium is known for (other than mussels which we didn't try) is waffles. Yum, yum, yum...is all I can say. I am just sorry I didn't get to eat more of these things. I thought I would, but it didn't happen. I'm really quite sad about that but it's probably better for my waistline. Anyway, these are Liege waffles....which you eat with sugar dusted on them, or chocolate or something like that. SO AWESOME. I loved these.

Random pictures of Brussels

So, in all honesty...there is not much to Brussels, and that proved to be a perfect for me at my stage of traveling. I was getting tired of seeing things. I was also tired thinking about and experiencing the tourist industry which makes my mind spin, my heart worried and my mouth sometimes gag. Brussels was perfect. It was largely residential, had a relatively low-degree of tourism, everything was close together and was very pretty. It was also a good base for us to travel: Sara from Bruges, both of us to Maastrict, and me to Den Haag.

Here are some random pictures from Brussels. This is Prince Albert staring at his beloved wife who I've forgotten the name of---and now, cannot seem to find (quickly) on google. Anyway, I have more detailed pics, but I'll spare you. Here is Albert at the peak of his youth, riding gallantly on a horse, looking ever-so-dashing. And here is Beatrice? (Let's call her Beatrice....sorry Brussel-ites, if I got her name wrong.) Here is Beatrice, across the street, staring at Albert seemingly eternally as she holds a bouquet of flowers and is sculpted to look like a prim, proper, though still quite pretty 60-year-old. These two crack me up.
This is the European Parliament. A sub-committee was literally in session. That was kind of neat.
Here's a church I forget the name of, but it's one where the royalty get married in. It has these neat little pictures of Jesus carrying the cross. I really like this church.
This is view of this wondefully little garden, Place du le Petit Sablon....surrounded by little statues of men representing all the trades.
And this is the Mannekin Pis. If there's anything touristy about Brussels---this little man is it. And he's really little, like maybe a foot tall and that's it. They dress him up in little outfits...think Elvis. I think because he's so little, because he's kind of naughty, he kind of charming in a weird way. Even I---prone to over-think-and-thus-wary-and-exhausted
-by-tourism---was tempted to buy this little guy's fashion portfolio as documented on 54 playing cards. Then I looked at the price and walked away. (5-6 euros.)

a jump in language ability?

I must say it was really nice to be in Brussels after being in Germany,
Italy and Zurich...just to be able to fake the language a bit. I'm in
the Netherlands now, and I'm really impressed by how everyone REALLY
does speak English (not so true in Germany and Italy). But still, I
feel sheepish not even knowing how to greet or thank people...it's the
least I can do...and I'm flying through countries too quickly to do it.
I'll work on the Dutch version of that stuff tonight....

Anyway, back to French...I haven't spoken French since 2003...when I was
in Paris and I would try to say something only for an impatient
Frenchperson to cut me off and tell me to "Please Speak English." Sigh.
That really was the last time I spoke French, but I've been surprised
how fast certain phrases and sentences come to me in the past few days
in French. I haven't had a major problem getting myself understood, but
of course the hardest thing I've asked for is for directions to the post
office. But still, I'm like strangely amazed with myself, with this
latent ability to put pronouns in the right place and to remember really
random verbs. Bizarre. Maybe Corinna is right. Corinna is my German
friend who I visited this weekend, who I found out was scared to speak
English only 5 years ago. She now speaks in super rapid English...so
fast that many mistake her for a native speaker. Anyway...Corinna says
that when you leave a country and return again, everyone she knows makes
a "language jump" that is, a leap in langauge ability. Maybe in my case
it's just that I don't care if I sound like an idiot anymore. Maybe
it's also a confidence thing?

Anyway, all that to say...my French is still pretty pathetic. 2 days in
Brussels...and a couple weeks in French Switz...are not going to do that
much, I do realize that. But, it's still fun.

Brussels with Sara!

While back in Vancouver and planning for this trip, I tried to entice Sara to come with me. She easily was enticed, however, her schedule wasn't quite firming up for her to plan travel. So, I told her that I was fine if we played it by ear, and that there was no pressure, and that my itinerary was on this blog, so if she wanted to come and join me for any part, she was quite welcome to do so. So while I was in Bochum, Germany, Sara calls me. She actually called me before I got to Bochum, and the joke in the house soon became that every phone call was for me. Anyway, she calls me Friday night and tells me she'll be joining me in Brussels on Sunday. Isn't that neat? And here we are in Brussels...well, here Sara is...This is beautiful Sara in the Grand Place, the most famous square in Brussels...

greetings from Liége, Bélique

hi...so now i am embarrassingly behind in my blogs....i thought i would
write min. once per city and then play catch up later, but now i have
moved two cities on...i am in Léige right now and this keyboard is worse
than the one in Italy. Even more letters are in different places,
throwing whatever touch typing skills i have out the window. i have to
permqnently look down or what i type will look like this:

i just hqd q picnic in liege; zith ,y friend sqrq zho decided to join ,e
qt the lqst ,o,ent for, Englqnd:

Translation: I just had a picnic in Liége with my friend Sara who
decided to join me at the last moment from England.

Yeah, so my friend Sara emails me on Thursday and calls me in Bochum,
Germany on Friday to tell me she is joining me in Belgium to come and
play. What delightful news! So, we have been in Brussels, Maastrict,
Liége <only to picnic>...we part company tomorrow...

Too much news for this frustrating keyboard...later! My own computer
awaits me on Saturday. I am looking forward to it.

Bochum, Germany

[It's August 17, and I'm going through blogging about things I meant to blog about...it's too hard to write in present tense...so forgive me...]

So, when I was planning my trip, I wasn't sure where to go post-Rome. I was thinking of going to the Benlux countries, and needed some help deciphering the cities that these cheap budget airline carriers fly into. Corinna was a great help, and when I told her that EasyJet flew into Dortmund, she insisted I come and visit her in the next town of Bochum, Germany. So, there I went for two nights and rested with my friend Corinna and her friends the Gawlick's. They were awesome and their kids were very cute. We taught them "London Bridge is Falling Down;" they seemed to get a good kick out of that.