Fun and Games

Last week was fantastic. Even though I had eight hours of classes each day, I was blessed with a course that has only lab reports and an individual assignment as opposed to a group presentation. That meant that drinks for Giorgia's birthday last Tuesday was followed by beer at De Ruif on Wednesday night, aquadiente in front of IHE on Thursday, and Stefania's birthday on Friday (I have posted the April photos, along with March and Italy, finally, these are not as well captioned as I would have liked, but I've been taking lots of pictures). Then a day in Amsterdam on Saturday. Last Sunday was our final formal futbol match of the season. The first years lost to the graduating students 3-2 in the last minute, but the match was followed by a nice picnic at the lake. I hope that I don't give the impression of being a lush, but since spring is here it has been easy to relax.

In two days I go to Chicago. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family and friends, but at the same time, I'm a bit nervous about going back to the US after spending the past six months living in Europe with the international crowd. The last time I left the states for a significant period of time (10 months) my sister picked me up from the airport. When I asked her what had changed while I was away here first response was, "Everything is now low-carb, even the beer." I shudder at the thought of another epiphany like that. I'm afraid that I will find everything in the States to be too big, too loud, too fast, too ostentatious. I mean, Mom and Dad live two blocks from the corner store and we would occasionally drive there. But I'm sure after 24 hours it will be business as usual.

Summertime?

The weather has been excellent this weekend, high 70's to high 80's. Apparently that barely happens in The Netherlands in July, much less April. So how could we not take advantage of it? Saturday I spent the morning in Leiden. I went to the Museum of Ethnology, since all the museums in Holland were free this weekend. They had an exhibit on food and drink in different cultures, really cool, but mostly in Dutch. I had a great lunch in one of the squares, then took the train to Den Haag, then the tram to Scheveningen (I figured out how to spell it but still can't pronounce it). Scheveningen is the beach, sort of like Myrtle Beach. There is a boardwalk and restaurants and bars and casinos. I had been there once before, at night in January. It was cold, windy, and empty. Saturday was different. It was alive, people lounging, tanning, swimming, flying kites, playing volleyball, having picnics. I met friends, who all brought friends, until we had a group of about 20 of us, most from IHE, some of the regular MSc group, but also some short course participants, and some guys from TU-Delft. It was really nice to meet some people from outside IHE, but there was not one Dutch among us. We confused one waitress with our mini United Nations. It got a bit overcast in the evening, but it was nice to spend the day outside.

The weather was even better on Sunday. I started the morning at church. Yep, church. I was invited to a memorial for the Rwandan genocide. I believe I was invited because I'm a Jew, and happened to coincide with Holocaust Memorial Day. It was a nice service. The Rwandan ambassador spoke, but it was the same speech as he gave on Friday night at IHE. The program on Friday night at IHE was much better. At church it was just a service and a speech, but at school we heard a survivor talk as well and saw a movie and had more discussions. Surprisingly, though the theme was "Never Again", nothing was mentioned about what is currently happening in Darfur, though there was some criticism that the West had ignored Rwanda when the genocide occurred. As with any event at IHE, the program ended with drinks at the bar. In church as well we had some beers in church at 11AM just behind the altar. Maybe it's a Dutch thing.

Sunday afternoon was more uplifting, Julia, Lobo, Elena and I went to the lake. We lounged in the sun, took a walk, got some ice cream, and did lots of people watching (though the nude beach was not much to look at) and saw some baby ducks. Then Julia, Elena, and I got some apple tart and iced tea at a little restaurant nearby. It was fantastic. Apparently the pear tart was better, but they were out. Then there I went to a BBQ. No mosquito bites, I think our disposable grill smoked them away. Eventually I made it home at around 10:30PM, about 8 hours after I started my leisurely Sunday afternoon. So what is the plan for next weekend?

Photos

So, it may be a while before I write more because somehow I have managed to change this blogger into Dutch. I will try change it back tomorrow. I won't even attempt to write much since I can't use the spell check. It's not that cumbersome, but it's annoying. But I have posted some photos, of both Madrid and the visit from my Women. I miss the women already. We had such a nice time here, I mean, I did and I assume that they did. It was great exploring Delft. I really should hang out in my cute little small town more often...

The Women

It's been a really long time since I posted anything, but I will have lots to say in the next week about the past month. So much has been going on that I haven't had time to sit at my computer and sort through stories and photos. McHale and Genny are currently visiting. Molly left on Friday. The four of us are an effective gang, a clique from Duke who meet up once a year in a different city. This year I played host in Delft.

It has been so nice to see my friends and we have had lots of fun exploring The Netherlands together. I've been living here for almost six months and this week was the first time I've been a tourist in Delft. We climbed the New Church (which is only about 600 years old) to get some amazing views of the city. We visited a Delftware factory and saw how porcelain is made. We explored the small streets and pubs that I had never managed to see. Then we did the same in Den Haag and Amsterdam. I even made it past the train station in Rotterdam.

On Thursday we went Keukenhof gardens. I have never seen so many flowers in one place. Well, maybe I did at the flower auction in Aalsmeer, but those were all cut. These were planted. There were so many in bloom, but I have been told that it's early in the season and that they will be even better in about a month. A month? But they are perfect now. We wandered through the tulips for hours and were fortunate enough to not only have no rain, but even sun.

Yesterday while Genny went to Brussels, McHale and I went to Maastricht. We eat our way through the city. Most people will eat their way through Spain, France, or Italy, countries known for their diverse and distinct regional flavors. Holland is a bit different. I would describe the cuisine as boring, which is perfect for me because I am a picky eater. The country is so small that it is in effect a region, so in the southernmost part Mc and I feasted on bread and cheese, waffles, chocolate, coffee, (we skipped the raw herring), beer, and fries. I know that some (most) of those foods are usually associated with Belgium, but we were right on the border and were not about to spend the whole day eating bread and cheese.

Leiden today?