King’s Day Anyway
The Dutch sky hadn’t decided if it was going to rain or not when I snuck out of the hotel around six in the morning. The student staff of the best hotel in… Continue reading
Category Archive: The Netherlands
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Two days away
My next tour starts in two days, and I know what the hardest part will be. A tour is an odd blend of likelihood and happenstance, earned probability and inevitable surprises. Will we… Continue reading
The tongue caught me by surprise
The man in the van didn’t seem to like what I was telling him. Then again, I didn’t like having to say it. “Ja, zeker dat ik graag naar de hotel zou gaan,… Continue reading
The Dutch oven of modern politics
It’s disappointingly easy to convince people that The Outsiders, the They, are responsible for all your troubles and are a threat to your safety. Terrifyingly reliable, century by century. So I watched this… Continue reading
Back in Holland, and gelukkig about it
I had to take a moment when I walked out of Amsterdam Centraal Station. All around me Italians were burbling, Spaniards were lisping, and the Dutch were clearing their throats with the somehow… Continue reading
There are worse things than having been racist
The contractor was measuring the ceiling in my lady’s house when he noticed he’d tracked dog poo all over the kitchen floor. It was awkward, but he helped clean it up, cleaned his… Continue reading
Walking in the world, Brussels, Belgium.
They spoke Dutch when I got on the train and French when I got off, though the ads were always English. Brussels North Station is next to the Red Light District and… Continue reading
Anticipation, back hair, and falafel in Amsterdam
It was a few degrees below zero in Toronto but I felt fine, and as long as I didn’t spend too much time in the shade I enjoyed my walks. It was a… Continue reading
Our secret language is almost back.
Somehow, inexplicably but terribly predictably, our time in Curacao has flown by. But we haven’t been to that Surinamese restaurant, the aloe plantation, or on an organized snorkeling trip! But in less than… Continue reading
Bits and pieces
So I went back to work at the researcher place, and it is going well, though I can clearly see the cloud hanging over the project, since they didn’t schedule enough time to… Continue reading
