Sinterklaas

How to describe Sinterklaas... I suppose the only comparison that makes sense is to Santa Clause. There are marked differences, however. Sinterklaas doesn’t live in the North Pole, he lives in Spain. He doesn’t have a sleigh pulled by reindeer, he rides a white horse named Amerigo. He doesn’t have elves or brownies that help him, he has helpers, all of whom are named Pieter (Peter). These helpers are called Zwarte Piet, or Black Piet, because they are all black, descendents of Spanish Moors. The Pieters are all very silly, and sometimes very stupid. Every night between November 20 and December 5 children leave out a shoe, a bowl of water and lump of sugar for Amerigo, and then they sing songs about Sinterklaas before they go to bed. Sinterklaas and the Pieters come every night to leave gifts and peppernoten (ginger-snap type cookies) in the children’s shoes.

During this time parents often leave notes purportedly from Sinterklaas in the children’s shoes, citing instances of disobedience or misbehavior, and encouraging good behavior. Any unwanted behavior during the day is quickly checked with the threat of Sinterklaas finding out and not visiting that night.

Today Sinterklaas visited the town where the girls go to school. He started at one end of town and ended up at the large meeting hall near the school. As he rode his (wooden) horse through the town, people joined in and walked behind, making a parade. Accompanying Sinterklaas were about forty Zwarte Piets, about twenty of whom made up a small marching band playing traditional Sinterklaas songs. The rest of the Piets ran around the crowd acting silly and passing out peppernoten and candy to everyone. They would knock on the doors of some of the houses and give peppernoten to the people inside. By the end some of the Piets didn’t even knock, they just shoved peppernoten and candy through the mail slot into the house and moved on! When the parade arrived at the meeting hall everyone went in and sang Sinterklaas songs.

It was so much fun. The girls loved it, even the Eldest, who doesn’t believe any more that Sinterklaas is real. It was a tad grating on my politically correct American sensibilities at first, being surrounded by white people in black-face, but I got over that quickly enough, and had a marvelous time.

This is a picture I found on Google of Sinterklaas and two of his Zwarte Piets:

Ruts

It's funny how even living in "exotic" places one can get into ruts consisting of daily routine. Not that this is a bad thing, but it takes a concentrated effort to shake off the rut and remember "I'm living in Europe!" long enough to go out and SEE this place. The countdown to my final departure has begun in the back of my head and I've only been to two countries other than the one in which I'm living. Conversely I've seen a lot of the Netherlands. Off the top of my head I've explored at least five different towns/villages/cities, including Amsterdam. I've been to loads of museums, figured out (sort of) how the trains work, and I vaguely understand the road signs. We'll see if I can cross any other places off my list before I finish this job.

Tip #1 for international train travel: Make sure you're on the correct train. This may sound obvious, but quite often two trains are attached for the beginning of a trip, then break off at some point during the journey and go separate directions. For instance: On my way back to the Netherlands from Salzburg this summer, my train from Munich to Utrecht was coupled with a train going to Paris. Since I had about ten seconds to make my connection I dove in the nearest open door and started through the train to find my seat. I went the wrong way (how do you get lost on a train...) and ended up on the portion of the train going to Paris. I (hastily) turned around and headed back the other direction, eventually arriving at my seat. So make sure you're on the correct train!

I love bridges, and this country has them absolutely everywhere!

Autumn Days

I really shouldn't post about what I'm going to post about in the future, it makes it easier to put it off. Nevertheless, I am compiling a list of advice for traveling by train through Europe and will hopefully post it soon, if I have any energy at the end of any day this week to do so.

Until then, some quotes from a couple of the books I've been reading lately:
"Aye, even if a deadly sin should occur... yet faith rises again and does not doubt that its sin is already gone." ~Martin Luther, A Treatise on Good Works

"'Contrast,' philosophised Lord Peter sleepily, 'is life.'"

"What luck! Here's a deep, damp ditch on the other side, which I shall now proceed to fall into."

"...to Lord Peter the world presented itself as an entertaining labyrinth of side-issues."

"'You know,' said Wimsey, 'I think there's often a great deal in what one's mother says.'"

"It's so much better to do things neatly and thoroughly--even stupid things." ~Dorothy Sayers, Clouds of Witness (a Lord Peter Wimsey novel)

Journal Entry September 22

Today I played tourist and went to Dordrecht for the afternoon. It’s a beautiful city, the oldest in Holland. It was also the first city to back William the Orange against the Spanish in 1572. I saw the Great Church, the house of Simon van Gijn (a wealthy collector whose house was turned into a museum after his death in 1922), a WWII museum, the Augustine Church and the Hof complex, in which is the States Hall where the First Assembly of the Free States convened in 1572.

 In addition to the sights to see, there was a classical music festival going on in Dordrecht. In both of the churches I visited there were free concerts going on, as well as different music groups performing on street corners and market squares.

The WWII museum was my absolute favorite. It consisted of an upstairs and downstairs of a narrow old house, completely filled with WWII memorabilia. The museum attendants were three old men, all volunteers, and they showed people around the museum telling them all about the different pieces. I got to hold the boots of a Nazi soldier, touch a POW uniform, and hear my guide’s memories of the war. One of the things I’ve wanted to do since I got to this country is talk to someone who was alive during the war. Unfortunately most of the Dutch people that old don’t speak English. My guide spoke excellent English and was about four years old when the war ended, so he still has memories of those days. People are amazing. They did without so many basic necessities and still had the courage to fight against the Nazis who occupied their country. Many of the Dutch people who escaped during the war were trained in espionage and returned of their own free will to Holland to be a part of the resistance movement.

                                View of Dordrecht from the tower of the Great Church.

Preview

I'm working on recording my latest adventure, a day-trip to the town of Dordrecht. Until then, here's a lovely picture of one of the beautiful old gateways into the city:

Routine

Not a lot has gone on since I returned from my holiday, just the normal routine of school and extra-curricular activities. We have our good days and our rough ones, but all-in-all life is going along smoothly. I'm starting to look toward the future, which is scary.

The sky here continues to amaze me. A lot of days I feel like there are massive, silent, eco-friendly airships filling the sky above me. I'm still trying to figure out how to do a good panorama with my camera and basic photo-shop tools. Here's my latest effort:

Exercise and Veggiemite

Do you ever meet those people you wish you could carry with you for the rest of your life, pulling them out whenever you feel the need for just a certain type of conversation? I met quite a few people on my vacation last week. My expectation going in was of solitude and relaxation, but the reality was almost the exact opposite. Where I had expected a few solitary travelers, there turned out to be busloads of loud, obnoxious, fun, dear Australians, New Zealanders, a Norwegian, and a Spaniard. Where I had expected little to no conversation, I got deep conversations of future plans, religion, philosophy, service, geography, astronomy, Norse mythology, and politics. I came back probably more tired than I left, but it was a peaceful, happy tired, rather than frazzled and stressed.

For a first lone adventure it was a huge success. I started out my journey feeling incredibly nervous about language barriers and whether or not I would be able to find my trains along the way. By the end I knew that every train connection would work out somehow, and if it didn’t there was nearly always another way. I also knew that a humble attitude and a pleasant smile is the best way to communicate with anybody, no matter where they come from. Before I left on my trip I had a conversation with one of my sisters in which we decided that the best motto for international travel is “No arrogance and no fear.” I think it worked out for me and now I’m excited to plan my next adventure, hopefully a weekend trip to the UK.

                                          I climbed to the top of a Mountain!

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