Orange Crush

NEWS FLASH! Holland is no longer in the EuroCup. I am sure those of you who care about soccer knew that already. For me, just typing the words still stings, so that's why it took me so long to post this entry.

Just for some backstory before getting into the details of the big L -- the crew and I (Anne, Anouk, Carolijn and Klaas) watched Holland defeat Romania on Tuesday, June 17 at Barcelona in da Pijp. The victory seemed to come handily, but we all knew that Saturday's game -- against Russia -- would be the next big test for our Lions.

Saturday arrived and I was pretty pumped to bust out the Blokker shirt yet again. (Surprisingly, I've come to really enjoy wearing orange...who says a redhead can't?) After a day of touring around town, Whit and I met Anne and Nienke at a cafe called De Fountein in De Nieuwmarkt ("new market" – contrary to the name, it’s one of the oldest parts of Amsterdam). Thomas and his friend Scott also took a train in from Den Haag to watch the game with us.

Our view of the TV

Things started off relatively good. We weren't playing the best soccer there is (says the American girl), but I had high hopes that we could pull it out regardless. But nothing I could do -- not even the mighty roar of my Blokker shirt -- could save the Leeuw. To borrow a real phrase from the Dutch (nope - I'm not making this up): that night, by losing to Russia like we did --
we left the Lion standing in his underpants.

Despite the Holland football players leaving the King of the Jungle decked out in nothing but his skivvies, the gang and I still went on with our night. Karaoke abounded at one of the most crowded places I've ever been in (Casablanca), as did late night Febo and Flemish-style fries (mayo and all).

"Little Bro T"and me

It was at this moment in my karaoke rendition of "One Fine Day" that I realized, "Why am I doing this?" Thomas and Whit must have realized that, too, because moments later they came to rescue me on the stage.


Anne and Whit


Even though Holland lost, it ended up being a great night in Amsterdam!

Corrie ten Boom Museum

On Friday, Whit came to visit me in Holland. The beauty of his visit was the near-impossibility for anyone here to correctly spell or say his name. "With" and I had a lot of fun!

After eating brunch and having an amazing cappuchino at Palais du Pain Lunchroom and Croissanterie, we spent most of the day exploring Haarlem, the quaint city where Van Luyken is located. On the recommendation of Glen Jackson and Caroline Duffy, we made our first stop the Corrie ten Boom Museum, just one block from the Grote Markt (market square).

The Ten Booms were a family of Dutch clock and watchmakers who hid Jews in their home during World War II.

They constructed a hiding place for the Jews in the upstairs of their home. Most people in Haarlem knew of their activities, but because they were such kind people, everyone turned a blind eye.

As you may be able to tell from the picture, the hiding place itself is very tiny. Every day, Corrie ten Boom would drill the Jews to make sure they could quickly get to the hiding place from wherever they were in the house, should the Nazis raid the home. The Jews went from several minutes to under 70 seconds! Corrie and her sister also practiced being interrogated, just so they could withstand any Nazi efforts if the house was raided.

A pulley system in the closet is how the Jews accessed the hiding place.

Now, you may think it's cute to see little boys going in and out of the hiding place. Let me assure you - it was not. Whit and I were having a really hard time dealing with the fact that the only other people accompanying us on the museum tour were inconsiderate, rude AMERICANS who did not encourage their children to behave in any way.

Here I am, emerging from the hiding place.

Here Whit musters a smile for me even though we are both secretly wanting to clock those American kids (and their unbelievably lame mother) and leave them shut up in the hiding place.
On Feb. 28, 1944, the family was betrayed and the Gestapo raided the house. Six family members were arrested; however, the Nazis did not discover the four Jews and two members of the Resistance -- even after staying there for several days. They finally left, convinced no Jews were hiding there. As practiced, the Jews hiding in the small space in the ten Boom's wall were then able to escape out of this balcony and flee through the rooftops of Haarlem.

Whit fleeing (from the Americans inside).

Corrie ten Boom was taken to - and survived - Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. After the war ended, she spent the rest of her life spreading Christian gospel around the world. On April 15, 1983 (her 91st birthday), Corrie passed away. She was buried in Santa Ana, California.

Aside from the other Americans, visiting the museum was a lovely and uplifting experience.

After the museum, I took Whit into the square so he could try some poffertjes (and so I could have some more).

Another great day in Holland!

PARADE!

Thursday, the girls of Van Luyken (Anouk, Anne, Carolijn and me) headed to Rotterdam for Holland's annual PARADE.

De Parade is a travelling festival which moves from city to city in the Netherlands each summer. There are tents featuring yummy food and beer, performances of various plays, films and dance, rides, fortune tellers, etc. It's kind of like the South Carolina or Georgia State Fair, only MUCH higher up on the cultural spectrum.

We had a fantastic time... the pictures should speak for themselves!

Me, scoping out the different performances we could go see (didn't understand a word).

However it appears - it was delicious!

If you look closely you can see a sign behind Anne's head that says "Ja Ja De Bar is Hoog." That means, "yeah, yeah, we know the bar is high.":) I guess they don't want any complaints!

After dinner we moved on to my next favorite Dutch food: poffertjes (pronounced poffert-chures from what I can tell). But who cares about pronouncing them? All I wanted to do was eat them! At the Parade you get to make your own, so all four of us went after a batch!

I'm a master flipper!

Each of us got 12.

Anouk and Anne - ready to chow down!

Carolijn showed me the proper way to 'dress' my poffertjes - with lots of butter and powdered sugar! YUM.

After all that food, we thought it would be a great idea to go on a fair ride.

Anne bribed the Carnie-guy to swing me up as high in the air as I could go. Yep. I screamed... a lot...

Still, it was lots of fun.

Then we went to the Silent Disco. Everyone is given headphones to listen to, so as you jive around, no one knows what in the world you're doing or what beat you're hearing. It's a pretty fantastic sensation!

Anna jammin' to the slient tunes.

Anouk and me groovin'.

We missed our play because Anouk told us the play started at "quarter past 10" when it really started at "quarter of 10." We walked into the play with about two minutes to spare. However, other freaks present at the PARADE somehow made us feel okay about it all (see photo immediately above).

It was a great night in Rotterdam!