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The Netherlands - More Than Windmills!,
My wife Cay and I led the 24-member Friendship Force contingent from Nebraska. We spent our first week in the beautiful Holland city of Arnhem on the Rhine river in the area called the Gelderland. As the exchange director, one of my duties was to act as an official spokesman from the city of Lincoln. I delivered certificates from Mayor Mike Johanns and from Secretary of State Scott Moore to the Lord Mayor of Arnhem, Mr. Scholte. I also gave him an unofficial gift from Nebraska, a Husker Hat. One of Holland's main exports is flowers and we were fortunate to be in the Keukenhof (the national display gardens of the growers) when everything was in bloom. Even the locals commented how unusual it was for the flowering trees, daffodils, tulips, narcissus, and hyacinths to all be in full color at the same time. The colors were so intense that five rolls of film could not begin to capture it. Arnhem arranged several group activities for us and our hosts planned the other days. We each saw different things and had different experiences. Cay and I traveled with our hosts to the polderlands north of Amsterdam. We visited the fishing village of Lelystad and partook in the tradition of eating the local delicacy, lightly smoked (raw) herring from the area. It made the smoked eel sandwiches taste good. One of my favorite Dutch foods was frites or French fries that you buy from street vendors. The frites are usually smothered with mayonnaise rather than American catsup and are very tasty. By the time of the farewell dinner, it was hard to tell the Dutch from the Americans. All too soon our first week had come to an end and it was time for the group to board the bus for the four-hour trip to the Pajotteland area of Belgium near Brussels. The Pajotteland was a beautiful rural area of rolling hills and small villages. The tree-covered horizon was dotted with cathedral spires of 14th-century villages. Belgium did not suffer the degree of devastation from the war that the Netherlands endured, and the cathedrals and stained glass remained relatively intact. Our group visited the medieval city of Brugges and toured buildings that date back to the 1100's! The Gothic structures are engineering and architectural masterpieces and have changed very little since the crusades. Many of the fronts of the structures were covered with ornate statuary. Michelangelo was commissioned to do a sculpture for one of the cathedrals there. I was awestruck in thinking how those one-ton stone blocks were hoisted 90 feet in the air to build the structure over 800 years ago! Although "seeing the sites" is an excellent side benefit of traveling with the Friendship Force, the real mission is to make friends and learn about their daily lives. Many of our hosting families lived in the small villages, but commuted to Brussels for work. Several of our hosts had businesses in their homes. Doctors would often have their offices in a separate wing of their homes, and about half of their time is spent making house calls! The food of Belgium is greatly influenced by French cooking. It was not uncommon for us to have seven-course dinners with three different French wines. Cream and cheese sauces were the norm and any talk of low-fat or low-cholesterol dining was strictly prohibited. The Belgian chocolate is considered by the Europeans to be the best in the world. One taste will convince any skeptic, it is full of calories and flavor and will spoil you for life! The Dutch also told us the Belgium beer is superior to theirs. Almost every village has a brewery, many of which date back to medieval times. The various brews are called singles, doubles, or triples depending on alcohol content. The triples had as much as 13% alcohol, very strong compared to our 4% limit in Nebraska. They also brew beer with fruit in it. Raspberry and cherry beer were very common and quite refreshing after a long day of site seeing. Again, much too soon it was time to say "Tot Seins" (good-bye) to our new-found Belgian friends and return to reality. |
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oming from a land as vast as the United States, a visit to the Netherlands is an education in perseverance and determination. The Dutch people have reclaimed nearly one third of the current land area from the sea since the 1600's. Maintaining and preserving the "polders" (reclaimed land) from the constant threat of the North Sea is a daily battle. The polders are actually below the level of the sea, which is quite evident when you stand on the dikes. Fifteen million people live in an area about one fourth the size of Nebraska and there is constant need for more farmland and settlement land. Strategies for reclaiming more seabeds are planned for well into the next century. No longer are the familiar 
