It’s another Monday morning
feeling – the airport run and sad goodbyes. The downside to all this globe-trotting is
always being apart from family and friends. Yes being an ex-pat can sound
rather glamorous, and yes it is
mind-broadening and eye-opening to have the opportunity to explore exotic
places and experience a difference culture, but it can also be rather isolated and
lonely…so after kissing the student off at the airport again, there was only one antidote,
to get back on the bike.
The weather has turned pretty
cold here in Holland but that doesn’t deter the Dutch. They just wrap on
another layer and continue their battle with the elements. Armed with hat, scarf and gloves I cycled up to
the pool for a swim, where I was actually approached for the first time for
some small talk.
I immediately apologised, in
English, for my lack of Dutch. The dear old Dutch lady then apologised to me in
English, for speaking Dutch in the first place! No, I insisted, still in
English, I was the one who was sorry. So ashamed I hurried home and Googled the translation for Sorry, I don’t speak Dutch
, which is (according to Google) Sorry, Ik sprek geen Nederlands. How difficult
is that? Very, apparently because later
that afternoon when faced with a shop assistant who appeared to be telling me more
than the norm of how much I owed, I found myself saying in English yet again, sorry, I don’t speak Dutch….
Anyway, the student had a very
happy few days hobbling around Haarlem on a suspected ‘OMG I’ve broken my’
ankle which fortunately turned out just to be a serious sprain, although she
was rather appalled at our acceptance of certain dubious aspects of Dutch culture.
So accustomed have we now become to Zwarte Piet that I failed to even notice
the man on the fish stall in the market in total costume complete with curly
wig and blackened face. Black Pete is everywhere in Haarlem, in shop window
displays, on posters, and even available as an edible sweet. I suspect our little political activist would
have quite liked us to boycott the fish stall with placards.
Visitors are always a good excuse
to get out and about, and consume far too much apple pie. The
week before we’d played host to the in-laws. We’d spent a happy day wondering
around the Hague which is home to several grand old buildings (and where incidentally Black Pete is noticeably absent) as well as heading out to the beach on the tram to view some pretty wacky modern art.
Amsterdam just seems to get busier, and colder, every time we go, but we also ventured up to
Edam, which is a surprisingly small place, for something so big in cheese, and as
for Volendam, that’s always good for tourists in need of retail therapy. If you are looking for slipper
clogs and tulip shaped umbrellas this is the place to go. All I need now is couple of rolls of Zwarte Piet wrapping paper and I've got the Christmas shopping sorted.
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