It's Spring!

It's beautiful weather now in Holland. There are lambs, calves, (goat) kids, baby birds of all types, and even tiny snails and miniature grasshoppers. The sky has filled with sunshine and turned from winter grey to a rich blue with cotton-puff clouds. Trees have leaves in all shades of green, and the tulips are in full rainbow bloom.

Field after field of flowers perfume the roads and villages - and riding the motorcycle around the country is pure pleasure. The biking season has begun, and every weekend there is an event planned.

I've made some observations about the Netherlands, although my experience of the culture and people has been somewhat limited to the area where I live. Amsterdam reminds me a lot of New York City - not just in the architecture, but in the friendliness there. Strangers talk to you, and in Amsterdam at least, English is common.

But there's so much more here outside of the city too - tolerance, generosity, openess, and charity that is more than what I've experienced back in Los Angeles.

I now have health coverage - good health coverage. I'm not even eligable to apply for health insurance in the US unless there's an open enrollment for those with pre-exisiting conditions - and the few times there were, I could not have afforded it anyhow, or at least wouldn't have paid the hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars each month for crap care back there.

Pot is legal here. Not a big deal, just that it is. I haven't observed anyone abusing it, dependant upon it, nor is it a big thing with the kids. The drinking age is 16 for beer, 18 for hard liquor, and yet compared to the US, drunk driving is rare.

I've been here eight months, and not heard about one fatality involving alcohol. I'm sure it must happen, but it's not a daily occurance like it was in LA. Nor have I heard of anyone being an alcoholic, binge drinking, or even seen public drunkeness outside of an adult party - never on the street or driving.

Guns are illegal, so a gun being used in connection with anything is also rare, again not a daily event as it was back in LA. Yes, crime does happen, but far less than what I'm used to experiencing.

The air is clean, and one can breathe deeply here.

They have a good educational system, and children graduate. While they are still in school many kids have jobs as well. Most families eat dinner together, and kids more often than not grow up with two parents. There's far less in the way of junk food and processed food, so people are generally healthier, and certainly thinner than most Americans. Just thinking about soda - yeah they have that, but when you go to someone's home you are offered coffee. I still haven't been to a fast food restaurant as yet, and I don't miss it.

I haven't seen any homeless people, or panhandlers, as that is also not common here. There seems to be programs for everything so that one is never left without support of some kind, education, training, work, benefits, therapy, what ever they can think of to make things better, they try and do it.

You can tell the minute you leave the Netherlands and cross into Belgium, as suddenly the quality of the roads and houses deteriorates. I've been looking for the "ghetto" or poor people section of the various places we drive through here, and so far, I haven't found one. I have been warned not to walk alone at night in certain areas, (not that I would, of course) but usually it comes with a lecture about pickpocketers - which when you explain that as a danger to someone who has lived in LA, Miami, Philadelphia and NYC, it seems like this is a much safer place.

But on to the photos! I've been ill, as always, so I have a bit of catching up to do, but I'll try to put a description with each image.


On our way to the last bike bash before spring started. 40% chance of rain, and it did.


The rain didn't stop us, and we managed to get set up before it was really bad.


Our friend Manuela, who is a good person, a good wife, and a good cook.


Our friend Bob. Also a great guy, whose expression usually doesn't let on how sweet he really is.


Who knew I liked winter camping in the rain?


Queen's Day is a holiday everyone celebrates. It's the birthday of the mother of the current queen.


Amsterdam was probably much more crowded during the day - we didn't get there until the late afternoon.


At least one of us was wearing orange, the color of the Netherlands.


So neat to feel right at home here in the city.


It was raining slightly towards the end, but we took a bike tour around the neighborhood to see the tulips.


Trust me, the colors are brighter and more breathtaking in person.


And the scent! Delicious, sweet and heaven to the nose.


There's a tulip route you can follow, that guides you through acres of colors.


A picture really doesn't capture the experience.


A picture of me taking a picture of flowers.


These are my favorite, the multi-colored tulips.


Lots of bikers enjoying the sights and smells along with us.


It's not a postcard, but it sure looks typically Dutch!


Three days of bike bash and good friends.


New friends too. Hi Dirk!


The first time it's been warm out with the bike.


Another new friend's cool bike.


The next day we went to Germany, since it was close by the bike bash.


And it took a long time AGAIN to try and find a single place that served sauerkraut!
And I always thought that was German food...


I love German food.


But then again, what food don't I love?


And back across the border!


Senior Fuego

Jeroen

The gang of good people


Our tents


Senior Fuego on the ride home


I'm not sure why this is here, but the Dutch were pirates...


Now that's a typical Dutch roof


Most places here look like this little village. This is downtown.


In the back garden - I helped plant these!


Gorgeous!


There's a Dutch kabouter watching over everything


When they get this big, you have to respect them


Other things I found in the garden


Pretty


Cool


Creepy



Just the coolest! Hopefully, I'll have more to add soon.
Tot ziens!

Easter Miracle

Holland: beautiful and peaceful



This is so cool! Looks like a little blanket on the car.



I'm up and about again! Such a blessing to be out of bed.


After a long illness and operation, I have returned! It's Easter today, and I went out for a walk. It's snowing! Only the second time this winter, and absolutely amazing to see. I've spent a good portion of my life in places where snow just doesn't happen - so I feel the excitement in the air as if I was a child again when I get to experience this.





And yes, Mom, I am wearing, like, forty layers of warm clothing. I'm drinking lots of juice, and not overexerting myself.





The operation I had was to remove pre-cancerous cells from my cervix. I had the operation here in Holland, on Valentine's Day (which the Dutch do not celebrate) and it was... interesting. I learned there are many differences between American and Holland medicine and practices.





I'll write more about that later, after I've had a rest. For now, after over a month, the bleeding has almost completely stopped - and I'm feeling much more myself again. Just tired. It's been a difficult time, but who doesn't have that once in a while? A beautiful Easter to all.

New Years in Holland

They don't have exactly the New Year's Eve we know from America, but celebrate Old Year's Eve. There's no mistletoe, no party hats, no noisemakers, confetti and few countdowns. Instead, there are fireworks. And not that you go somewhere and watch them, every Dutch person gets fireworks and sets them off. Little children have sparklers, teens have what sounds like bombs (to me) and adults get the spectacular variety of lights and sounds that man can ignite with a match. The entire country is filled with thick smoke, and everyone is outside. After midnight, at some point, they walk around and say the Dutch equivalent of Happy New year.

Fire in the sky.

The smoke makes it difficult to get a good photo.

Another Dutch tradition - for New Year's they make appelflappen, which I am helping with in the shed, since it's quite messy to cook, and the smell of cooking oil gets in everything. My favorite for New Year's is oliebollen (the grandfather of our American doughnuts).

Okay - here it is. Finally the pictures of the furniture I PUT TOGETHER ALL BY MYSELF. Not really New Year's, but this was my first time EVER, that I did something like this without anyone else's assistance. A big thing for me, what with the brain injury and vision problems.

Sweet! I put together this one too. Luckily, I can follow picture directions pretty well, and it came out rather nice, I think.

Holland Holiday Season

Den Ilp is a village here in the Netherlands where everyone decorates their home with Christmas-themed lights and decorations (other than the religious). There's one main street where everyone drives through very slowly to view. Santa on a bicycle is more common than a sleigh, although occasionally he also turns up on a train or a motorbike.




I learned that Dutch is one of the most difficult languages in the world to master, so I'm lucky there's English everywhere.




Christmas dinner was fondue, not a goose or ham, or even turkey. Suits me just fine. Normally they use every excuse possible to have a party here, but as you might have noticed from the gap in my blog posts, I was ill for a while. So this was just a quiet Christmas dinner with Jeroen's parents.




I followed Santa's path on NORAD as he made his journey around the world. He didn't stop in either the Netherlands or Belgium, so we had to improvise gift giving with some help from Kabouters. In the US, we know them as Gnomes, but incorrectly so. They are completely different mythological creatures, and dang blast that Travelocity.com travelling gnome for confusing the two.




Santa on a fiets.

A present for me! How nice!

My very own pair of klompen. I'm doing a clog dance.

Comfy shoes made of wood. A Dutch tradition.

I made Jeroen get a live Christmas tree, and added American candy canes to confuse everyone else. We planted it in the garden next to the tulip bulbs after Christmas.

A real German Christmas tree, from Dusseldorf.

Winter Travel

Most of the motorbike events are over for the cold season, but since I just got here, I'm happy to travel by car or train even though with the wind chill it's often below freezing. I'm really enjoying finally seeing the change of seasons, which I haven't been through in the desert climate of Los Angeles or the tropical Florida for the past, well, it's been many years.


I'm standing in Belgium, almost to Luxembourg




Now I'm leaving Luxembourg, returning to Belgium




Even the churches (this one in Belgium) decorate for the holidays. There are stars everywhere, but no Jesus-in-the manger, wise men, or the like.




A Dutch cat that lives and works (catching moles and mice) in Belgium.

A German bakery in Dusseldorf

Even in Germany one can find American food. Look carefully and you'll see the Starbucks too. No, I didn't go to either.

Funny thing is, in Dusseldorf it's nearly impossible to find worst with sauerkraut. Most of the shops/food and merchandise is Dutch. Three and a half hours drive from Alkmaar to Dusseldorf (a while of which was on the autobahn), and it took nearly an hour in sub-freezing temperatures to find ONE place that had sauerkraut. And yes - I am wearing my stupid glasses.

Delicious! I am part German, and I love this food!

I heard this Christmas Market (for which Germany is famous, they have tons) was slow this year. Too bad, I was looking forward to pandemonium, and there wasn't any.

Holland Weather

It's the new year, and I'm finally updating my blog with photos from last year. The season changed suddenly, and it got cold. There was no Indian Summer here - I don't believe they even have that term.

Sinterklaas arrived from Spain to visit all the kids in the Netherlands, and a holiday vaguely similar to our Christmas ended on the 5th of December. After that, the Christmas season more like what we know in America began. Yes, there are differences - they don't know what candy canes are (they call them party sticks) and they celebrate two days of Christmas, not one.

But, like everything else in Dutch culture, there's always tons of food. They eat constantly, and drink coffee like we might do with water. In spite of this, I just got a pair of jeans from the US, size 2, and they're baggy. Go figure. Perhaps I mentioned in another post that I'm following a Dutch diet plan - it's really cool, and apparently works better than anything I have ever tried.

But enough about that - on to the photos!



This was the view from my window in the morning.

Looking down from the dunes - that's the local village church.

The dunes near Alkmaar are covered in forest.

This is a two-way road, where you can just barely make out a well-know architect's design/house. I believe they also use it in commercials here.

You can laugh - but I was the only warm person in Holland. And my mom made me this scarf, I think it's cute. I don't even know how many layers I'm wearing, but a lot, trust me.

Hiking in the dunes.

That was just green a day ago!