Not the Cheese, But the City

In March, I took a trip to Germany.

Germany is not far - it's less than two hours to the border by train (you must remember that The Netherlands is only about twice the size of the state of New Jersey). You roll across flat, green farmland bisected by muddy ditches. The occasional trees cluster around the occasional farmhouse. Everything is compact, including the tiny, shaggy ponies which one occasionally sees grazing.

Slowly, the landscape changes. The land rises, and it's not all in use. The houses get a bit larger and more assertive. Trees range freely over the hillsides. Now we're in Deutschland.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The way to travel cheaply in Europe if you're a poor student or a poorer volunteer, is to have friends in places you want to visit. I have a friend named Shu Yi who teaches at a university in Muenster. Her flat was unused while she was away in America for a few weeks. I have another friend, Deasy. She speaks fluent German, and wanted to visit Muenster. So Deasy and I planned a trip there to visit our friend who would not actually be in attendance.

We had to change trains twice, but we made it to Muenster in good time. The light was failing, but there was still plenty of time to walk around the city.



Muenster is a small city, as cities go. Small, but centered around a huge church, with a second, nearly-as-amazing one close by. I've noticed there seems to be some sort of inverse proportion law at work in Europe between city and cathedral size.

The inner ring of the city is quite old and reflects what it must have looked like in medieval times. That's it pictured above, at night. Below is the same street leading up to the smaller but more modern of the two cathedrals.

When we ventured inside this church we had an amusing encounter that would prove typical of our interactions in Muenster. The older woman who showed us around kept attempting to speak to me in German, even though I don't speak a word. Meanwhile Deasy, who is fluent (but, admittedly, looks Indonesian - because she is) was generally left out.

Doesn't she look German to you?!?



Anyway, Deasy's knowledge of all things Germanic included knowing the whereabouts of a lovely 'gasthuis', a really old-world style restaurant. It was such an amazing old place that you'd expect it to be swarmed by tourists and run by the state preservation agency. But no, it was just a typical German restaurant with antlers on the walls.





I apologize for being in all these photos, but Deasy was hogging the camera.

The other thing to see in Muenster, besides the churches, is the Rathuis.



Despite it's unfortunate pronunciation, this is actually German for 'town hall'. And this town hall happened to hold special significance - the Treaty of Westfalia was negotiated there. This treaty, among other things, made The Netherlands an independent nation!



Deasy and I make some noise in the Hall of Peace. The hall is lined with portraits of the original delegates and their represented lords.

On our second day in the city we finally ventured into the Dom, the huge cathedral in the center of town. This is a building that is actually too big to be captured fully on camera, by a tourist, standing on the ground. It is truly massive, though, and really old.




It was a gray, chilly day, so there weren't many tourists. Lucky for us. The interior of the Dom holds a secret, which we got to explore all by ourselves: a beautiful, quiet graveyard in a courtyard at the center.





I like the way German's think about food. They are pro-meat, which is a stance I can get behind. And they eat jelly donuts for breakfast. Everything is cheap to boot!

Also? This is a small beer in Germany:



Everyone we saw in Muenster was either old or young. Must be because it's a college town. How would you like your university to look like this?



With such a perfect backdrop, Deasy and I couldn't resist hamming it up a bit.




Finally, some more scenes from the streets of Muenster (which doesn't lack for churches - I guess Muenster actually means 'church'?):








This last is me heading for the exit, or possibly the underground WC. Cheers!

Pasen

Easter weekend - a busy time here in the community. Every other year the community celebrates Easter (Pasen, in Dutch) internally. The off years people do things with their own churches.

Preparations really began way back in late February, at the beginning of Lent. As a community we observed Lent by not eating meat together six days of the week. We also skipped desert and ate in silence (well, at least an Oudezijds Silence, which is like a normal silence but with more crying children), although classical music was played during the meal. On Sundays we had normal, meat-intensive dinners with talking.

Last week, Pasen started in earnest. To the normal morning and evening prayers we added a midday prayer and I guess what you would refer to as vespers compline. There were also other special services.

Thursday was Passover, and that was a big event. The entire community came together for a huge meal/service that included scripture readings and foot washing. The prohibition on meat was lifted for that meal, and I have to say that the food was surprisingly delicious! Even though the meal contained all the traditional passover ingredients, like matza.

Friday was of course Good Friday. Among other events and special prayers, an art teacher visited us and helped people draw the stations of the cross. I didn't participate, but the resulting art (charcoal sketches arranged on the chapel floor) looked cool.

Oh, did I mention that I was on Weekend Team? Usually this duty is a two-and-a-half day affair, but this time it went from Thursday night to Monday night! Fortunately we had six people to cover things, so it wasn't too crazy.

Saturday night something very special began - an all night prayer vigil, "Paaswake". From 8 PM to 8 AM there were hourly readings. The chapel was kept darkened except for a light on the spot that was designated our 'tomb' - a gate against the wall, adorned with flowers. I didn't go for the whole night, since I had duties that required being awake the following day, but I did get up early Sunday morning so I could sit for a couple of hours.

At 8:30 the wake ended and the Easter Service began. The chapel was (quickly) converted from a place of dark solitude to a place of light, filled with candles and draped in white. Once we had stuffed the entire community in there it seemed like a real fire hazard, but fortunately nothing inappropriate caught fire. The service was long and elaborate, but very nice, with a lot of singing and liturgy. I liked the way that it followed on from the wake, with a general theme of light into darkness. At the end, we all trouped out onto the main street of the red light district and sang a hymn. There weren't many souls stirring out there at that hour, but for those that were I bet that that's something they don't hear everyday.

And then, it was time to celebrate. Breakfast was a huge buffet, with enough that everyone could stuff themselves on whatever they wanted. Eggs, pannekoeken, bacon, you name it. There were chocolates and confections and half a dozen children under foot. It was glorious. Brenda commented, "I love Easter!" And I know what she meant. It really felt like we'd done something, that we'd been on a journey and arrived. That's a feeling you don't get if you just celebrate Easter Sunday by dressing up and going to church that morning.

Sunday evening was a very big dinner which was amazing and which I blame for my subsequent convalescence today.

Oh by the way, Monday is a national holiday here. Yep, everyone gets the day after Easter off. It was very nice weather and I'm sure everyone who wasn't feeling bloated to twice their normal size enjoyed it. Ah well!

Anyway, that was Easter in the community. Some semblance of normalcy now returns. It's really truly spring here now, too, so I anticipate that the next few weeks should be pleasant.

Rites of Spring, Part II

A short follow-up to yesterday's birthday post. I just was really surprised and touched that so many people around the community knew it was my birthday. I was quite ready to let it sail under the radar, but I can see that that is not an option around here!

I had no 'plans' for festivities. Quite the opposite, actually, I had several real life things to get done. But at Annalijn's prompting I decided that seeing a movie after dinner wouldn't interfere with anything. Besides there's a cool little theater along the Haarlemdijk that I'd seen Benjamin Button at and which I wanted to return to. It's called The Movies and it is one of the oldest movie theaters still operating (Have I written about it before? I can't remember). It's quite small, with only six screens that aren't much bigger than what you can do with a projector at home. But it's cozy and the atmosphere is great.

Anyway I hadn't seen Slumdog Millionaire yet, nor had Annalijn, Matthias, Rose-Anne or Elizabeth. Now, these are all Dutch people, more or less. They've all spent way more time in Amsterdam than I have, at any rate. But none of them knew where The Movies was! So I had great fun leading them through the streets of the Jordaan on bikes (Rose-Anne perched precariously on the back of Matthias' cycle since she didn't have her own) and teasting them about the fact that an American was giving them directions.

I promised them I'd blog it too, so here it is.

The movie was decent (I wasn't floored or anything but I was pleased that I could parse out most of the subtitled parts - which were in Dutch, natuurlijk). On the way back I got french fries from "Chipsy King". It was a nice way to wrap up a fine spring day.

Rites of Spring

Today is my birthday.

It started slow, because I slept in. A motion to get up and go down to breakfast did not pass parliament, and it was tabled until after Chapel. Eventually I did escape from under the covers, took a shower, and got dressed.

While I was dressing I heard a great deal of movement in the corridor outside my room. These kinds of noises usually precede chapel or a meal as everyone rushes down at once, but I was baffled because it wasn't chapel and it wasn't mealtime. I opened the door to see what was going on, and found myself being serenaded with "Lang zal hij leven" by about half the community!

If you've never heard the Dutch birthday song, this should give you a pretty good idea of it.

Other fun things: Malte dropped by from The Mission House, bringing me a nice gift signed by everyone there, and a birthday card from my mother arrived - exactly on time!

Meanwhile, spring (or 'lente') has officially come to The Netherlands. It's been deliciously warm, with at least one shirt-sleeved day and many more that require not even a light jacket. Buds appeared on the trees along the canals on Friday and they are well on their way to a leafy canopy by now. Occasionally you even find tulips in unexpected places.

This week is the most important one in spring for the OZ100 Community: Easter Week. Every other year the community celebrates Easter in a big way (the off years people celebrate with their own churches). This week will have multiple chapel services every day, a number of special meals and events and an all night prayer service on Saturday. And I'm on Weekend Team duty for it, so things will be busy for me personally. It should be pretty interesting though!

I have been amazingly busy this past month, which explains the dearth of posting. My intent is to try and make it up to you guys in my spare time this week. I have pictures galore! I just need to get them uploaded.

I hope this post finds you surrounded by caring people of your own!

The Back of a Bike

I think that slowly, insensibly, Amsterdam is attempting to turn me Dutch.

A good Amsterdammer, you know, does everything whilst pedaling away atop their fiets: carrying the grocery shopping, talking on their mobile, TEXTING on their mobile, moving furniture to a new house...

Meanwhile, I find myself doing more and more ridiculous things on the back of MY bike. First, you know, I found myself riding one handed through the city every Friday evening carrying a big bag of bread. When I was sufficiently acclimated to that, the bakery gave me TWO bags of bread. I don't have three hands, but somehow I managed.

Then came Saturday. Let me tell you about Saturday!

We had a rare day of sunshine. So it was agreed that some of us would ride up to Amsterdam Noord. 'Noord' is basically the part of Amsterdam that is north of the River Ij (pronounced 'eye'), which runs E-W through the center of the city. It's newer and a bit less developed. I had never been.

You take a ferry to get across the river. In typical Dutch fashion, it's packed with bikes.





Dad?!?



Yours truly.



Across the Ij.



Anya being chill.



From left to right: Anne, Carlo, Larissa.



Russians are cool.

Anyway, across the river it was a short but scenic ride to our destination: a second-hand furniture store. Larissa is finally getting a place of her own at #95. She's all grown up! But she needs furniture.



Furniture!



This piano was only 200 euro. But I didn't think it would fit on my bike.



I finally find a decent hamburger in Amsterdam.

So Larissa picked out a nice mattress and a big brass floor lamp. "So," I said, "how are we getting this stuff home?"

I was sorry I asked.



Carlo has the mattress, Anya the lampshade, and I've got the lamp. Larissa... lends moral support?



Keep your comments to yourself - it doubles as a weapon.


Turns out you can absolutely carry a lamp on your bike if you put your mind to it. Undeterred by a few bemused looks from passerby and/or Carlo's needling ("You should ride in front so we can follow the light.") we hauled our haul safely back to its new home at #95.

Another milestone down on my passage from American to Dutch. I shudder to think what I'll have to carry on my bike next...

Pics snapped with Anne's camera, since I am not so conscientious as to remember mine. If I'm in the picture you can assume she took it.

Good Heavens! Water From the Sky!

Growing up a Florida boy, I admit that snow is a bit of an alien phenomenon to me. Sometimes it takes me a moment or two to realize when it's happening. My brain is geared to automatically chalk any precipitation up to the warm, heavy tropical rains I grew up with. So it takes me a moment or two sometimes to categorize the slower, denser, fluffier stuff coming from the sky as 'snow'.

The Amsterdam winter makes this categorization harder still.

I have heard a joke that in Amsterdam they get all four seasons in one day. In fact it's worse than that. This morning I went out in the rain, returned to find the rain frozen, which then turned to snow as I biked home. This grim meteorological behavior does not preclude the sun coming out later, either, and shining for all its worth amid blue skies. Such is winter in Amsterdam.

It does make planning outings slightly difficult.

---

In other news, Br. Luc and I have been working on updating the Oudezijds 100 website and he has uploaded several videos. For the most part it won't do you much good, since it's all in Dutch, but I thought I'd this news report about the children of Oudezijds 100 with you. It's a few years old, and it is of course in Dutch, but it should give you some nice visual ideas of what life is like here.

It should be pointed out that most of the children depicted are now considerably older. But there are new children now, and things are much the same.

A Hard Day's Night

A question I often get when I explain that I'm working as a volunteer at Oudezijds 100 is "So what exactly do you DO there?" I can generally tell from their wry expressions that my response - "Everything!" - fails to satisfy.

But it's true! By way of example, here's what I did yesterday:

• Woke up, showered, got dress.


• Went down to breakfast. Helped clean up afterward.


• Studied Dutch in my room.


• Went to chapel.


• Was supposed to work on website, but found that only one person had showed up to clean the kitchen. So instead I scoured the house for additional help, then pitched in myself.


• Finally got a chance to work on website.


• Ate lunch. Helped clean up afterward.


• More website work. Finished early, so...


• Went over to the front office and fixed someone's email as requested.


• Met up with Hans, who needed a hand moving furniture to his new flat.


• Spent an hour and a half hauling furniture across the RLD and up two very narrow flights of stairs.


• Somewhat exhausted, took a brief nap before dinner.


• Ate dinner with the community.


• Left a little early to work in reception at the KruisPost.


• Spent two hours filling out forms, filing things, and trying to communicate with uninsured foreigners in my broken Dutch.


• Finally free at 9:30, I snuck out for a brief snack before calling it a night.

A full day's work! Fortunately, not every day is so busy. But I've singled out this one in particular because I think it gives an idea of the variety of activities I might participate in on any given day.

It seems like a good many of the things I wind up doing aren't on a schedule anywhere. They simply involve helping out where I am needed. For me this is a good thing because that's something I came here hoping to develop in myself: a greater willingness to serve other people. And most of the time I enjoy it!

In 2009 I've definitely feel as though I've started to gain some familiarity with the community, which enables me to be more useful to them. I think that this is part of the reason why I now feel so much more at home in the community as well. Community living depends on the members helping each other out.

When people first come into our community (and this certainly includes me, circa October 2008!) they need a lot of help and guidance. Even when they are doing helpful tasks they must be helped, because they don't know how to do them! It's sort of like childhood.

But hopefully we progress out of childhood and into an 'adulthood' (or at least an 'adolescence'!) where we are able to stand on our own and even give back. For me at least, this is a very satisfying state.