Worldly Chatter

This is a serious question here; would you do a four day walk? You see, there are about 40,000 people who said yes to that very question and started their journey today in a town of Elst where they walk ten kilometers. From there they will walk Wijchen, Groesbeek and Cuijk where in total the distance is forty kilometers. It is called Internationale Vierdaagse Afstandsmarsen Nijmegen and it is tradition for the international community and Dutch alike walk to forty kilometers in four days!

Back in 1904 sergeants from the 6^th Infantry Regiment in Breda started a football club and this was such a hit that they created Field Army Sports Days. From there a Lieutenant proposed a four-day march, which makes sense since this is military, where there were 15 routes. Not all the routes were available for a variety of reasons and over the years, it turned into forty kilometers. It is the 91^st Nijmegen Four-Day walk and 40,000 people finished their first day!

I heard it on the news and Dutchie explained a bit of it to me. When she was a child she did something along those lines but on a much smaller, for children, scale. Dutchie found the site for me and in browsing the net found an old article on 350 US troops and how they were preparing for the walk back in 2003.

There is even a metal given out at the end of the event and it isn’t just any metal, this Vierdaagsekruis is a decoration that servicemen can wear on their uniforms. It is an official Dutch decoration! It is a show of marching ability and once owned it is a proud piece of the home and is shown off to friends and family. Wouldn’t you if you walked for four days? It is like running in a marathon, even though you didn’t come in first, you still finished it and hang it with pride.

I definitely find traditions fascinating. This one, I don’t know that I would do it but who knows right.

vierdaagse, Four-day walk in Neimegen, Dutch tradition, Worldly Chatter, Holland

This weekend in Almere-Buiten was Western Experience and since I had never been, Dutchie thought it best if I finally experience what she had been telling me about for years now. I admit, I was picturing cowboy hats, wranglers and lots of country music with line dancing and I wasn’t disappointed, I saw plenty of that but I got a bit more than I had originally thought. The definition of western experience as defined by the average Dutch person today: The American country and Midwestern lifestyle. Cowboys and Indians, Dr. Quinn medicine woman, country music, country line dancing and just line dancing. There are cowboy hats, chaps, raccoon tails, Native American garb and American beer! Dutchie is a lover of country music, she also used to line dance as well, competing and even taking home a metal, Benelux ‘99 2^nd Place Country Walkin’ Female Open Newcomer! Go Dutchie! Yet Dutchie doesn’t do this anymore and there is a really good reason as I saw yesterday.
She danced to country, she line danced because she loves country music and wanted a place to go and have fun; meet other people who share the same passion as she does in a country not very big on country music. Yet something changed along the way; younger people wanted in and the music changed. J-Lo, Will Smith, Pussy Cat Dolls; see where I am going with this. If you do it for the music and the music goes, what do you do it for then? In Holland, very few Line Dancing groups line dance to country now a day. It has also become more of a lifestyle for many of these people; a place to where the chaps, cowboy hats and dress up like the sheriff, Dr Quinn and have the Native American feel.
This is what many people, who have never been to America, think America is. Yet who are we as American to complain, we think of Holland and think windmills wooden shoes and the girls from the Rembrandt paintings. This was quite the experience! In one line dance group they wore shirts that Garth Brooks would have worn yet weren’t very good at what they were doing. Further still was another group of people line dancing to Rihanna and other pop music! Dutchies were getting on the dance floor and line dancing to music that you find in dance clubs, not country! There was however one group that made Dutchie proud! A group who really did country line dance and did it very well! They had fun, they danced great and it was country! Yvonne & Starlines! Now they had fun and they were great to watch! You see the hat there, that’s the tails I was telling you about. Can anyone remember the last time cowboys wore those things? But really, not all Dutchies think these things are the way of the American Midwest or country music for that matter. Dutchie likes to tell me that those who believe this give the rest a bad name who know what country is and know that America doesn’t live in the cowboys and Indian phase any more. I tend to agree. Yet even with all the funny clothes and hats some of the music was good and the Starlines really shined with their good old country line dancing! I had a lot of fun though I admit it is strange to see how some view my country. There are some who see it for what it is today but there are some out there who have fun dressing as though we are in Tombstone!

Western Experience, Cowboys and Indians, Dutch Line Dancing, Country Music, Line Dancing, Yvonne & Starlines

Here in the Netherlands is Remembrance of the Dead today. It is a day where they remember those who died in World War 2. After 1961, it became a day to remember all who have died in peacekeeping missions as well as World War 2. On the Dam Square in Amsterdam Queen Beatrix, Prince Willem Alexander and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende will place wreaths on the war memorial and tonight at 8pm there will be a two-minute moment of silence all over the country. Waalsdorpervlakte, near Den Haag will have their own ceremony as well to remember the resistance fighters executed during the war. Tomorrow is bevrijdingsdag where they celebrate the liberation from Nazi occupation largely due to Canadian troops. A holiday celebrated every five years until 1990 where they made it an annual national holiday.

I have made some observations that are interesting to me on the topic of World War 2. For one thing, the feel is different here when such holidays are recognized. America has its Veterans Day and Memorial Day but I always remember it as a day to have a barbeque and have a day off from work. While as the years go on and the people who do remember the horrors of World War 2 pass on leaving us with little fresh memory the holiday here does have its barbeque feel but there is also a certain amount of respect for what the day is that isn’t just carried by veterans but also by the regular people. The laws are different here than in America and in talking with Dutchie and reading the news, I have learned a great deal about what is acceptable and what is not on the subject.
Here in Europe the war was in your face and affected everyone because it was their neighbors taken to camps, it was themselves struggling to deal with the Germans all around and had to deal with food shortages, looting and death on an everyday basis on their own streets. Talk of denouncing or downplaying the holocaust is illegal in most European nations and material Nazism will land you in jail for a minimum of two years. In Germany, five men convicted of burning the Anne Frank diary during Solstice and glorifying Nazi rule received fines and probation.
Americans saw another side of the war and the feelings of its average citizen is different. In America I could read whatever I pleased on the topic, materials were readily available on Nazi rule and Hitler. Here it is not the case. While my father has read Mein Kampf I cannot do the same. While many people hate the Holocaust denial enthusiasts or people who attempt to downplay it, it is legal to do in America. America states they have a right to their speech no matter how wrong or distasteful it might be.
There are many people just as Dutchie whose family drastically affected by the war and take it to heart when holidays like Dodenherdenking or Bevrijdingsdag come around. Family members who never returned home, while other members denied their citizenship and imprisoned because the Germans forced them to work or shot upon refusal. Dutchie and many like her were not in the war but their family carries the memories in their minds and passes them down in a hope that people will remember.
My first time here for May 4^th Dutchie explained to me what was going on in Amsterdam and informed me of the two-minute silence during the ceremony. We were living with a Dutchman, his American wife and children at the time. Our American friend was already accustomed to it and had her children quiet and all activity stopped in the home for those two minutes. Longest two minutes I had experienced, or at least it felt that way. It was important to Dutchman and Dutchie that we respect that moment, I could ask questions after and believe me I did. I wanted to know everything Dutchie had to tell me on it.
While Dutchie and her generation have fresh in their minds the stories of their parents and grandparents one can wonder if the later generations will take today and tomorrow as seriously. Will the stories go on? I remember learning about WW2 and I hear and see around me in Europe the different tone that is taken on the subject. To me, being an American and have lived there long enough to know that most Americans do not take those days as serious as those who serve and have served before them. I can recall the barbeques and sales at the mall on such holidays. You will find parties, sales and barbeques here too, do not get me wrong, but the atmosphere as a feel that changes from the generation of Dutchman and Dutchie to their offspring. It feels as though there is a barrier between the two, those who still hold it sacred and remember and those that find it a day to take to the streets with bands and food. The laws will not change as we can see in the papers people still held accountable for the speech and riots they incite. Queen Beatrix with pass on her stories of her grandmother and the family hiding in Canada to her son Willem and just as Dutchie will pass on her stories. Will the atmosphere take on an air like that of America where only the veterans and the troop’s families take their Veterans Day and Memorial Day serious?

bevrijdingsdag, dodenherdenking, Liberation Day, May 5th 1945, Rememberance of the Dead, Netherlands, World War 2, Holocaust, Nazi occupation of Holland

It was gorgeous weather for the Netherlands Koninginnedag and everyone came out to celebrate the Queen’s birthday! It is the day where the Dutch let all their hair down, dance to live music and paint everything orange. Heineken flows while the masses shop around the streets filled with people on blankets selling everything they can find in their attics and cupboards during the free market hours. Carnival rides and games, children playing their instruments to the crowds and an old traditional market shows everyone how Holland used to do things and sells their handmade crafts. It really is an odd way to celebrate a royal birthday for I would have pictured a formal banquette with all the celebrity and royalty attending in their best and the people of the nation would have virtually nothing to do with the affair but it is so far from that! This year Queen Beatrix and her family were in Den Bosch for the celebration. Carnival games, old traditions were on display and the royal family interacted with the towns folk playing games, watching demonstrations and even attending a farmers wedding! The affair started around nine in the morning and went until the royals made their leave around one.
Dutchie and I were no exception and left the house around noon ready to take on Hilversum and all the festivities. I have to tell you I was overwhelmed! Along the street people sat on their blankets covered with stuff and people walking in two lines to view it all. It moved rather slowly but I did find a VHS copy of Hamburger Hill for 20 cents. We walked on passed the carnival and into another market where you could find an older generation showing off their wares and how they used to do things. A man with his wooden shoes showed people how to make them, another with his milk and how they used to get it from the cows and store it and another man showing how they sharpened tools and knives on a machine that looked like it was from the 19^th century. There were food stands everywhere we turned with all kinds of Dutch goodies. One in particular caught our attention, Dutchie because she thought it was yummy and me because the sight made me a little nauseous. Brootje paling, pronounced palling, or eel! You could get a brootje paling for 3.50 or a pound of smoked eel for 16 euro. I remember the haring experience and found myself a tad hesitant but the man offered pieces for people to try so an inch-sized piece went into my mouth! I have to tell you, it was surprisingly good so Dutchie ordered a sandwich and shared it with me. Not all Dutch food that comes from the sea is scary!
Of course, we had DJs spinning their stuff but a walk further away from the center we found music Dutchie liked! A band was doing rock covers and Dutchie was finally happy in her surroundings! We grabbed a Heineken, listened to the music and watched people painted orange rock it in front of the stage. This was not the teenyboppers we had encountered with the DJs this was people our age partying hard and having a great time. My, we fit right in and had a great time!
Around four hours after we hit the town center we started to head back to the carnival where we got another bumper car ride in and headed for the stage where the DJs were playing but found something else Dutchie could get into! Dutch music, Marco Borsato, Jan Smit and others played loud through the speakers getting people into a frenzy! Dutchie got right in there, singing her heart out and dancing to the beat! The Dutch love their music no matter how poppy it sounds!
Really, the Dutch have an unusual way of celebrating a royal birthday but it is a lot more fun than I ever pictured!

koninginnedag, Queen’s Day, The Netherlands, Queen Beatrix, Den Bosch, Hilversum, American expat, Nederland

Koninginnedag has been a Dutch tradition for years. It started with Queen Wilhelmina on her birthday on August 31^st but when Queen Julliana took the throne it was changed to her birthday on April 30^th. When Queen Beatrix took the throne she left Queen’s Day on April 30^th partly in honor of her mother and partly because her birthday was in January. It is mainly an outdoor even so it wouldn’t really work out well in January. The Queen and her royal family pick a town and go about the people while the people pay homage to their old traditions and show off their town. It is quite a sight let me assure you! But the festivities don’t start on konninnedag; they begin the week prior and will go on until May 5^th, bevrijdingsdag, liberation day here in Holland. On the Monday before town set up their carnival rides and slot machines. All the carnival games and rides that can be squeezed into the town center along with beer stands, food stands and all sorts of fun stuff! People and store windows wear orange in honor of the Royal House of Orange and the Dutch flag is hung all over the country. In a nutshell it is tradition and pary time!
All week they had the carnival here in Hilversum but last night, Konginnenacht or Queen’s Day Eve, the party started with DJ Jean! Wow, the dancing and music that went on until one in the morning! Hilversum was packed with people of all ages; food, drinks, dancing and even the weed was present! Dutchie and I went grabbed a beer and listened to some music for a while, dancing and watching the girls dance on stage with their poles. After went further down the street where we went on the bumper cars! Now that was fun! After we walked around and got some more beer and hamburgers and slowly made our way back to the music. Along the way Dutchie tried to win me something at the claw machines. You know the ones where you put gobs of money in to watch the claw go down and attempt to grab a prize. Dutchie was unsuccessful but had a ball trying! People came up to us out of nowhere, asking if we were together, zijn jullie een setje? First time it happened a not so sober man waiting in line for the ATM machine like us just asked us out of the blue. Then while we were sitting with our beer another not so sober man and his friend came and asked us and also wanted to know why we weren’t with the music. Dutchie explained we were, we went to the bumper cars and was making our way back. The whole conversation was hilarious! I suppose it was one of those things you had to be there for!
We finally made our way back to the DJ and danced some more! The lights, music and smoke mixed with sweaty drunk and stoned people was crazy fun! Dutchie, who is into country, needed three beers in her before she could dance to techno DJ music but she finally danced with me, for a moment anyway.

Can’t fault a country girl who gets lost in the lights now can I? We finally made our way back to our house around one where we had a cup of coffee and crashed for the night. We have Koninginnedag today! Need the rest to take on Hilversum again! Today though will be the traditional markets of old crafts and the free market. Tonight will be more music and fun! I am off to enjoy the day!

koninginnedag, koninginnenacht, Queen’s Day, House of Orange, Huis van Oranje, Hilversum, Netherlands, Nederland

In Holland we have Easter just as everyone else does right? There is Goede Vrijdag (Good Friday) and 1e Paasdag and 2e Paasdag (1^st and 2^nd Easter); they do the same with Christmas, 1e Kerstdag and 2e Kerstdag. Well since neither Dutchie nor I are religious in any way we opted to go for a walk on Sunday through a meadow, Hoorneboegse Heide, a ten minute walk from our home. We packed a bottle of water and a couple of sandwiches and off we went. People with their dogs, people on horses, cows grazing the area and paths you can walk or bike ride through at the back of the meadow. A splendid day for a good walk and we weren’t the only ones who thought so.
It started well, me and Dutchie chatting up a storm and walking a nice while. I had never been so close to a cow aside from a fair where they were in their little boxes eating hay while we walked around so I was marveling over how close I was! I am a New Yorker who didn’t take to nature too well ok. Just a few feet away were cows sitting, cows eating and completely white. My ignorance surprises me sometimes. I had never seen an all white cow before. The wonder of it all! Took some pictures and walked on.
We had already stopped for some of our sandwiches and Dutchie got a chance to watch me climb a tree. Since I lost all my weight I have been able to do things I wasn’t able to before, climbing trees being one of them. We came across another tree I thought would be good to climb, I was being a big kid what can I say. With my bag on the ground next to Dutchie and my sweat shirt tied around my waist I was up the tree! I sat on a branch for a moment looking at the view around me before I decided to climb some more as there was another branch was on the other side that would give me a better view. That’s when things got a tad tricky. You see I was able to swing my leg around a fairly wide branch in hopes of going up it a bit to sit on it. That’s when problems started to arise. This big kid realized that she had to go about this differently. I would have to bring my leg back around and go up another branch before I could get to the one I wanted. Alright I thought, just swing it back around and off we go! No. It wasn’t that simple. I was officially stuck up in the tree. Dutchie in the mean time, still on the ground, had her phone in hand and was videotaping this whole fiasco!
Why couldn’t I get my leg around you ask since I had done it before? I was asking myself the very same thing while I squirmed in the tree in some desperate attempt to get out of this. Dutchie felt she was aiding in my rescue by taping this and asking me if I needed a fireman to come and get me. I am not a cat stuck up in a tree thank you. It was a full ten minutes when it dawned on me! Thanks to my lovely yoga I had been stretching out my back and learning to bend in ways that a back shouldn’t do! All I had to do was move slightly to the right where I had space and bent my back so my head was dipping towards the ground and swing my leg over! Ah ha! I was free! Now there are two short videos of me stuck up in a tree. Dutchie was of no help as she only laughed and taped it! Thanks Dutchie!
I did not go up any more trees after that. We stopped for some more lunch and finished our walk around the meadow. A beautiful day and a funny video to finish off our first day of Easter!
2e Paasdag in Holland is typically a day for car and furniture shopping. Only car dealerships, furniture stores and a few gas stations and restaurants are open on this day. Most people are found roaming about the department stores, stopping for coffee and roam some more. Why are these stores the only stores open? I wanted to know but Dutchie didn’t have the answer, it just is I was told so I will find out and get back to you. It’s the same thing on 2e Kerstdag, only the department stores and car dealerships are open for people to roam aimlessly about and hopefully buy something.
We were of no exception; we drove to IKEA in Amersfoort for a couch. We only had three chairs in our living room as we haven’t been able to afford a new couch for our apartment. Another thing deterring us from getting a couch is the size in which we were limited with. Dutch doorways can get quite narrow. Our front door to the house is of normal size but you get to the door that leads to our particular apartment it gets quite narrow as are the stairs which lead to our place on the second floor. Can’t get a wide couch through either, we had a tough time with one chair that had been quite a challenge to get through the doorway.
It wasn’t until we saw the perfect couch at IKEA we finally thought to buy one. A small modern looking couch that had to be put together; just perfect! Buy some extra pillows and you have a cushiony couch for two! They had a few like that but we saw this one in a catalog we received and knew it was for us. We stopped for lunch and coffee during our time at IKEA before we left with our purchases. It is what you do here in Holland. Coffee or maybe even lunch during many of your shopping trips!
Once home we put the arms and back together along with the bottom; placed the cushions accordingly and threw on our four new comfy pillows and enjoyed our new couch for the rest of the evening! 2e Paasdag was almost as fun as 1e Paasdag, just a little more cozy!

Hoorneboegse Heide, IKEA Amersfoort, nature walks, tree climbing

I was on the computer this morning with a dear friend from America I asked her what she was doing up so late and she mentioned it was nearly three when in my mind I thought it was nearly two over there. What? She stated the law had changed and therefore it starts four weeks earlier than it did in years past. So I went to my calendar to see when I was supposed to turn my clock back. Zomertijd as it states on my calendar doesn’t happen until the 25^th of this month.

Now I remember being on the other side of the pond and Dutchie would tell me the time and then we would change mine a week later. I rarely thought on it after that first week. Of course that whole week Dutchie would ask me to be on line at a certain time or I would ask her and we would botch it all up because instead of having a six hour difference there was now a five hour difference. I’d be late or Dutchie would be early and we would miss each other. If there was a planned phone call chances might be I would be at the store when Dutchie called because I thought it was an hour earlier or later. Now really, 50 weeks of the year it’s six and I am going to remember for the one week in spring and a week in the fall? Spring forward, fall back is about the only thing I remember on the concept and I have to say it to myself twice a year to change the clocks in the appropriate direction.

I mentioned Day Light Savings to Dutchie the other day and because of that she jumped out of bed thinking the clocks were wrong. Dutchie ran to the calendar and noticed the 25^th and crawled back into bed as there was no cause for alarm, no one was an hour late for work. Though when we put the clocks back there were a few who were an hour early to work, Dutchie included and I thought the clock on the computer was wrong and changed it. It was early in the morning I tell myself as Dutchie and my mother love to laugh about the moment I told the computer that it was telling me the wrong time and changed it. Automatic changes are nice except for first thing in the morning!

So I was curious about the new change and found an article from October to explain it to me. Energy policy act of 2005 is the cause for change and I am not going to remember next year any more than I’ve remembered in years past! My temporary blonde moments are going to cause me to call my friends and parents in America an hour later than I intend!

zomertijd, summertime, daylight savings, Energy policy act of 2005

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who is a Dutchman living in Canada. He, better than most, understands the challenges and joys I experience as well as the changes that I go through on a regular basis. My partner’s birthday came up and as is customary for the Dutch, cakes were brought to work to celebrate this day. Now as I know birthdays from being American, people will celebrate your day, bring you gifts, cards and will even through you a party or small get together. While at work in the US my co workers brought in a cake and doughnuts to work to wish me a happy birthday. I thought it was immensely sweet but as I do this for other co workers I never thought much on it after that.
Here it was different. The individual whose birthday it was brought in the deserts to announce their birthday and celebrate it with their co workers. My partner couldn’t tell me why, only that it’s all they could remember doing on such an occasion. Ok I thought. I shall ask my Dutch friend, he might know! So grateful was I when he had the answer I had been seeking for nearly two years! The Dutch do the things they do out of habit, when it comes to birthdays and such, rarely do they ponder why. Really, in all our day to day lives most of us don’t ponder over trivial things like who brings in the deserts. I may be too quizzical about things but I wanted to know!
When an individual brings in deserts for their birthday they are in fact celebrating the fact that these people are in their lives. Co workers, friends and family who are in their lives receive these deserts in a token of thanks for being in their lives as they don’t have to be. I thought about this and talked it over with my friend. What a concept! No, our friends don’t have to be in our lives, they don’t have to kiss butt and plead to be in our lives. They chose to be and we should be grateful for that. So that’s what the Dutch do. It made sense all of a sudden. We continued on our chat about birthdays and here I will inform you of a typical get together in a Dutch home on a birthday.
A lot of expats call a certain part of the birthday festivities “The circle of hell”. What this they reference is when the Dutch get together for just about anything in someone’s home they literally sit around in a circle. For example: I went to a get together for someone’s birthday, that person opens the door, we wish them a happy birthday and hand them the gift(s) we have brought for their day. They open it while I get my coat off and say thank you and I sit down. The furniture is usually so that if someone is sitting on the couch there will be a chair opposite that couch where another sits so that they might engage in conversation and actually see each other. This goes on around the room. You look at everyone you talk to. Coffee and treats are offered and conversation runs in any and every direction! Quite an intimate and cozy feel to me because everyone joining in over coffee talking about their lives, the news and whatever else fancies them. There are expats however who feel that this is confining, suffocating and simply too much to bare.
As an American when I went to a party or get together there were usually people everywhere. Little clusters of people chatting about this and that. To talk to everyone you literally have to go from cluster to cluster. Intimacy wasn’t a priority, either was a cozy feel where the family and friends we love are together. It was quite a difference to me and I thoroughly enjoyed the moment.
I mention this because each culture has different way to do things; holidays and birthdays with their own touch and tradition. I have been learning that just because it is different doesn’t mean it is wrong or too strange for words. The Circle is different than a handful of groups chatting it up separately but it isn’t by any means a circle of hell. Sometimes as expats we want to hang on to the traditions we left behind and are a little too reluctant to embrace something new. Something the dutch call ‘gezelligheid’.

birthdays, Dutch birthdays, american birthdays, living abroad, expats, Dutch traditions

birthdays, Dutch birthdays, american birthdays, living abroad, expats, Dutch traditions