World championship wood cutting?

Holland REALLY does not have “Must See TV” on Friday Nights! I am sitting here at 10:00 trying to find anything to watch on TV.

We have:

1. Soccer (there is always soccer on somewhere)
2. Sinter Klaus (Dutch Santa show)
3. A Dutch version of American Idol – “Tarzan”. Audition really pale, skinny guys to be the “lord of the jungle” in a musical. Desperate enough….maaaaybe, NO, not that desperate.

Moving on…
4. News in Dutch or English(5 stations of it) – read it on internet, don’t need recap.
5. entire show devoted to weather….WHY? You can sum it up in 1 word: rain.
6. Discovery Channel – this is really should be named Discover the Manly Man Channel. They find 24 hours a day on car shows. I did not know they made that many car shows

7. Animal Channel – OK, sometimes good shows here. Now is “Meercat Manor”. Watching the little fellows dig in the dirt gets a little old after a minute, even with the cool sound track.

8.Our local porn station – no, we did not ask for, or pay for it, dutch cable just gives it to you. What can I say, its Europe.

9. Sport Channel – World Wood Chopping Championships.
No, I DID NOT make this up, serious, google it!

After 2 edge-of-seat excitement minutes watching the Australian guy beat the German wood-cutter I decided I really cant be this desperate. I tuned off the TV and wrote this blog instead. Since you’re reading this, guess nothing good on TV there either.

Cubist homes, Sinter Klaus, and a very boring train station

Today I went on a day trip to Rotterdam with 2 of my class mates from Dutch class. I went with Paula from Spain and Delilah from England.

See the entire exciting photo collection!

The trip there went a bit of plan. I was supposed to meet them at “Rotterdam Blaak”. I forgot there are 5 Rotterdam XXX stations, and got off 1 to soon at “Rotterdam Zuid”. If you want the most boring train station in Holland, maybe in all Europe, this is it! As the train pulled out, 2 things: a. wrong station, b. next train in 30 minutes. Well, I put the time to very good use, I discovered I have solitaire on my cell phone!



30 minutes later, I joined Delilah and Paula. They were not as fortunate as I to have experienced the life altering wait at Rotterdam Zuid, so they waited for 30 minutes at the correct station.



We went to visit one of the architectural points of interest in Holland, the “Cubist Houses”. Rotterdam was almost totally destroyed by bombing in WW2. After the war, many of the buildings were rebuilt in experimental style. A perfect example are the cubist houses, built in the 1980’s at a 45 degree angle. Going inside the museum house was like walking into a Picasso painting. The walls slope, and windows look out at all sorts of odd angles. The 3rd floor, a sort of “sun room”, had an entire skewed ceiling and walls of little glass windows. And they even had an entire wall of “Lord of the Rings” memorabilia on display (Oh, I AM in heaven!). Interested in living in a cube? Well, for the bargain price of $260,000, you too can live here.



On the way home, I say Holland’s answer to sitting on Santa’s knee. The Dutch have “Sinter Klaus” instead of old St. Nick. Instead of elves, he has “Swarte Petes”, or “Black Petes”….more on Sinter Klaus in another blog…. Kids still line up to sit on his knee just like a US mall-Santa.

Dutch Ship Museum & St. Martins Day

Last Saturday, Rob and I visited the Dutch Ship Museum in Amsterdam. Yes, this was Rob’s turn to choose a museum to visit, but next time we are going to the “Costume History Museum” in Antwerp!

Clickhere to set sail and see all the pics

This was actually a very interesting museum. This is an actual life-sized replica ship built in the same style as the 17th century Dutch trade ships. It took 400 volunteers over 15 years to build. You get a real feel for what ship life was like on board. As a sailor, you slept below decks with 200 other sailors. Your dinner was something like porridge, moldy bacon and beer.

Crew Member Laurie slacking off at work


Is this all I get for dinner? I'm striking!

The captain’s life was much better. He had a huge cabin, and a roomy office below decks. He ate meals such as broiled chicken, wine and veggies. Passengers had they’re own cabins, but they were not exactly first class by today’s standards. There was barely room for a bunk bed, and this is where you lived for the 8 month journey. Better not be too tall, the bunk beds are only about 5 feet 8” long!

Its good to be the Captain, says Rob


Later that evening, we had dinner at Femke’s and I experienced Holland’s answer to Halloween. It is “St. Martins Day”, where little kids with lanterns come to your door. They don’t wear costumes, but they sing you a little song, and you give them a treat. At least in Holland they have to work a little for the treat!

St. Martin's kids singing for a treat

My first driving lesson

1. 
   On Monday I had my first driving lesson. No, you don’t need new glasses, you did read this correctly. My US license is only valid 6 for six months. Then I need to take a theory and road exam (luckily both offered in English). Since 99.9998% cars in Holland are stick shift, and when in Rome…., thus I’m learning stick shift. Also, Dutch exams are notoriously difficult, so I’m taking some driving lessons first.
   
   A school Rob know promised an English speaking teacher. Well, they did not totally lie, she did know enough English to say “I have not spoken English in 5 years” as soon as I got in the car. So, it was an interesting experience. In fact, it reminded me in a lot of ways of high school exams.
   
   We had multiple choice questions:
   Teacher says “Push him in”. Does “him” refer to
   a. stick
   b. clutch
   c. break
   d. gas
   I must not have done very well on this part, because the teacher repeatedly asked me this question at various times as the car good imitation of a bucking bronco, or coming to a dead halt.
   
   True/False
   Teacher says “Go left”
   True: Left is in fact a bike path
   False: Right is a street
   Well, rebellious American that I am, I answered False, and went right onto the street
   
   And for the bonus round, a short essay question:
   “Turn left on the roundabout”….
   In 200 words or less, please explain this sentence
   “Turn right on the roundabout, go ¾ way around, put on left blinker and turn onto street”
   OK, I must admit, I had the True/False section down, was batting about 50/50 on the multiple choice , but I missed the short essay. I tried to turn left on the round about before aforementioned teacher went into conniptions and corrected me. Geesh, some people are really perfectionists!