Christmas, markets, friends and politics

I know there is still the better part of a month left in this year, but looking back at 2008… it’s been interesting to say the least. I started this year with Nina, her sister and her sister’s family in Mallorca, Spain. It was on that 3 week Christmas trip that I decided I was going to make my move. I quickly finished my requirements for graduation from BCIT and packed up my life into a 336 cubic foot locker. Nemo, of course, was spared from the locker and went to live with Paul.

I embarked on a 9 month adventure to seek out a home and job in Holland. Both came fairly quickly, but I was anchored by the knowledge that this was very much a temporary move as Nina and I were going to come back to Vancouver so she could study at UBC. By the end of the summer that bubble popped as the professor Nina needed was not going to be accepting any new students in 2009. I wasn’t going to be going home and I felt trapped. To make matters worse, we didn’t know where we would be going, leaving my future as one big question mark.

Shawn came for a visit and that afforded me the chance to get away for a few weeks. Spending time with Shawn and Mom helped me come to grips with the fact that I didn’t want to go back.

And that brings me to now… a time when I would have been preparing to pack up my Dutch life to return “home”. But in stark contrast, I have been working quite hard over the past 2 weeks to carve out a life for myself here. I mastered the easy things; knowledge of the city, home, job and transportation. Now I am working on one of the most fundamental elements of life; relationships and friends. It just strikes me as ironic that it has taken me this long to come around to the point where I have the urge to make the effort. For the longest time I didn’t know if I was coming or going, and to some degree, I still don’t. But now I am truly making the best of my situation.

I have been quite active within the expat group, which has been a great resource. In late October I was at an event where I met Kent; a mid-twenties American who was here to ‘escape’ America. He is a computer programmer whose life-long dream was to work for Nasa. He achieved that dream and was so disillusioned with it; he decided to travel in order to discover what he wanted next. We have been hanging out a fair bit together.

Last week I took Marc with me to a bowling night. Bowling is very North American and most Europeans have little experience with it. On my team of five, I won both games… and I am not a good bowler. But, we all had a good time. Afterwards we all went to a Japanese BBQ restaurant which was wonderful. There isn’t a large Japanese community here so the restaurants are scarce. I was glad to discover another one. By chance I was sitting with a few Americans and a German at my end of the table. I felt quite comfortable with both, so the conversation flowed easily. It helped me realize how much I wanted to get out more and meet new people.

This past weekend Nina and spent it apart as she had a lot on her plate. As it happened, there was something going on just outside of Amsterdam that I was very eager to take part in over the weekend, so I didn’t mind.

Unbeknownst to me, there are a few castles in Holland. Kasteel de Haar is just outside of Utrecht (4th largest city in Holland), 30 minutes from Amsterdam by train. Dating from the 14th century, it was restored in 1890 and is now undergoing another minor restoration. The result is a beautiful castle in perfect condition including a cathedral and gardens. This past weekend the castle was hosting a Christmas market in the gardens and on the grounds.

Mark, Kent and I decided we would go for the day on Sunday. We soon discovered getting there (and back again) would be the real adventure. The castle’s website had clear instructions: “From Utrecht Centraal Station take bus 127 until the 'Brink' stop. From here, it is a 15 minutes walk to the castle.”

We arrived in Utrecht as the snow started to fall. Kent was ecstatic, he thought snow was the one missing element from his vision of a Christmas market at a castle. Of course, being from Idaho, he isn’t a stranger to the white stuff.

We got on bus #127 and it was standing room only. Practically the whole bus was going to this market (we soon found out). About 15 minutes later the bus stopped and the driver announced that everyone going to the market had to get out and transfer to a shuttle bus. We found this strange as this was not mentioned on the castle’s website. We were in a small farming town. Being Sunday, everything was closed and apart from the 20 of us who had just gotten off the bus, the town was deserted. There was a blanket of snow forming on the ground now and the 20 of us could barely fit in the bus shelter as an elongated van pulled up. It was the shuttle bus! The driver informed us he could only take 8 people and no one was allowed to get on and stand, even though there was ample room. We allowed the elderly to get on and the remaining 12 of us stood there in the snow in utter disbelief as the driver told us he would be back in 2 hours! He was kind enough to point us in the right direction though.

So, we started the 45 minute walk to the castle. We walked with a South African couple from the bus. He was in Holland working for 3 months and she had come for a few weeks to visit. They were very pleasant and made the walk much more interesting. Along the way I took some pictures of the town and countryside.

As we arrived at the castle, the snow turned to rain. While waiting in line I discovered my ball cap, jacket and shoes were not waterproof. In fact, they seemed quite absorbent! Kent’s shoes were taking on water like the Titanic and Marc, not prepared for winter weather, was freezing. So the €15 entrance fee was hard to swallow for the privilege to peruse 200 over-priced stalls in the pouring rain. Somewhere in the payment lines we lost the South Africans, so the three of us walked around the market for an hour or so then retired to the food tent for a hearty lunch. Afterward we were apprehensive about venturing back into the rain. So we mostly stayed in the larger tents with multiple stalls, opposed to the smaller tents where you have little shelter from the elements. We investigated going for a tour of the castle, but the lines were long and it wasn’t included in the entrance fee. Finally, we admitted defeat and left. The idea of walking all the way back to the town with the bus stop was daunting.

As we emerged from the castle there was a tractor pulling an enclosed trailer waiting out front. We saw the South Africans onboard so we joined them hoping it might take us to the bus. It was actually colder on the wooden benches inside the trailer than outside. We waited for 10 minutes as more people got on before the tractor slowly started to chug along the long driveway. At the end of the driveway he stopped. That was it! We were in such disbelief, we burst into laugher. We could have walked it in the time it took to wait for the short ride. We watched as everyone retired to their warm cars in the parking lot. The five of us walked across the street to a small bus stop. This is where the shuttle bus would have dropped us off and according to the schedule it wouldn’t be back again for another 40 minutes. The South Africans decided to walk, and the 3 of us headed into the pub around the corner for a drink to warm up. We went back to the bus stop in time to catch the shuttle, but 7 people were already there. This time we wouldn’t take no for an answer and convinced the shuttle driver to allow us to stand.

We couldn’t believe the poor transportation system! Granted, it was a Sunday in a farm community, but we would have though the market organisers would have thought about this. Apparently not. On bus 127 we met two girls from the expat group that Kent knew. The 5 of us were all going back to Amsterdam and had a lot of laughs while warming up on the train. It made the ride home a little more interesting.

On Monday night Kent organised a poker night at his new apartment. I have started to enjoy poker over the last year or so, so I was eager to join. We had a good mix of people and I brought one of the guys I work with. We ended up with 2 Americans, 2 Australians, 2 Canadians and a Romanian. Out of the 7 people I came in 3rd and made back my money, which was a bonus.

Yesterday being Wednesday, I left with more than enough time to get to the Concertgebouw (concert hall) for the weekly free lunchtime concert. This time it was being held in the large hall and there was ample seating. I headed for the stairs as I wanted to sit in the balcony, affording me a better view of the concert and hall. I walked into the impressive room and saw what everyone had been talking about. I was told it was worth going just to see the room. The church organ made for a beautiful centrepiece, although it wasn’t being used in the music we were going to hear. The woman seated next to me was an English expat who told me I was in for quite a treat. She claimed the Amsterdam symphony orchestra is one of the best in the world. They played 2 movements from a symphony and it was quite enjoyable. The first piece was powerful and gripping, the 2nd piece a little quieter and sleepy.

On my way out I grabbed the 2009 schedule and definitely plan to go back. Why not, it’s free and a fantastic way to get exposure to some new music. The next time I plan to sit in the seats behind the orchestra. That struck me as unique, the ability to sit in a position where you can look down at the orchestra and face the conductor. I think that would be a great vantage point.

Kent works outside of Amsterdam and met a Dutch guy on the train. I guess Kent had complained how hard it was to meet Dutch people, so the guy invited him to join a poker night he plays in. The invitation was open, so I joined as well. Last night the two of us arrived at a nondescript apartment just outside of Centraal Amsterdam. We climbed the 3 levels of stair (so steep they were almost like a ladder) to the top floor. Leo lived in a small 2 room apartment, half the size of my previous 2 places in Vancouver. He had 6 friends over, so the 9 of us were huddled around the table in the middle of the room. Of course, Kent and I were the only foreigners, but the 7 guys made us feel so welcome. They were around my age and were all young professionals (doctor, accountant, web developer). They made the effort to speak in English and although I lost a little bit of money, it felt like it was money well spent. It was my first experience being in a Dutch person’s home and hanging out with a group of them. They invited us back any time and I left feeling like I had finally broken through the difficult barrier of permeating into a Dutch group of friends.

As I have been going out a fair bit in the evenings as of late, I have seen all the Christmas lights hanging across the streets. I have to say, they have done a beautiful job of making the city come alive with an immense display of lights. It adds a real ambiance to the city.

In between my busy social life and working, I have been consuming 3-4 hours a day of CKNW over the past week as the country’s government unravels. The way Harper went on the offensive last week, bullying and playing partisan politics and overstating the country's financial projections, was political suicide. I don’t have any faith in his ability to lead, as is the sentiment of many Canadians and certainly the feelings of the opposition parties. Then again, the coalition could be a recipe for disaster. It seems to be a brutal situation where there isn’t a clear-cut course of action that will satisfy the country. There is one option that might possibly be the least damaging and revolting solution in the eyes of most Canadians; keep the minority Conservatives in power, but with a different leader/Prime Minister. Harper isn’t showing any leadership and after hearing his speech yesterday, he also isn’t taking the blame for his actions. The ads the Conservatives have placed on CKNW to smear the reputation of Dion show how desperate they have become. I am eagerly listening, waiting to see what the outcome of all this is. The one thing that is categorically undeniable is that Harper started something here that will go down in the history books. Congratulations Stephen, you got the fame you were looking for.