Okay, so I’m WAY behind. It’s been a challenge to find time
to read, write and do a lot of things I enjoy. It’s typical of this time of
year and it’s not likely to subside much until the holidays. Nonetheless, I
need to keep pushing forward with record these life events. In addition to a
blog, this is a bit of an archive that I (thankfully) began back in 2005. It
seems sometimes that things come at me so hard and fast that many events would
disappear into the ether were they not recorded here. As such, don’t expect
anything too exciting – just a recounting of what happens.
“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair
for the future of the human race.”
-H.G. Wells, writer (1866-1946)
The last leg of our trip was a stopover for a few days in
Holland. If you’ve been a follower of this blog for a while you will notice
that it’s been a frequent destination for us. We have good friends there that
we met while living in Burundi. I’ve grown quite attached to the place over the
years since I first visited back in 1991. Since then I’ve returned well over a
dozen times – sometimes visiting friends and other times just touring about the
country. I love the food. Love the ubiquitous bicycles. Love the people (at
least most of the ones I’ve met). It’s clean. It’s pretty idyllic, in fact. Or
maybe that’s just the perception of someone who’s lived the last dozen years in
East Africa.
We began by heading to Veenendaal, a city of about 63,000
near the center of the country. The town dates back to the 16th
century and is, interestingly part of the Dutch “Bible belt”. Though the
Netherlands is generally not much into religion (nearly 70% consider themselves
“irreligious”), this particular area does maintain a relatively high percentage
of more conservative Protestants.
Our friends, Marieke and Boudy settled there upon their
return to the Netherlands from Burundi. It’s quite a change from their
wonderful and large residence on the hillside overlooking the city of
Bujumbura. Nonetheless, they found a very nice house in a quiet area near loads
of green spaces. We only spent a night there but we ended up getting together
with a total of three families that we knew from our time in Burundi. All have
children so you can more or less guess how it went down: adults trying to have
adult conversations with intermittent interruptions of kids being injured
and/or fighting over toys. Good fun.
From there it was back to The Hague to see our friends Jan
and Anne and their three boys. Most of the time when we have visited the
Netherlands in recent years it has been to stay with them. It’s always a great
time and Jan, in addition to being a great guy, is a fantastic cook. We’re
always happen to allow him to indulge in his hobby on our behalf.
While there we did a bit of a park tour. It was basically a
trek around the city from one play area to the next. It’s quite amazing how
kid-friendly the place is – something that I care about at this stage in my
life. And all the spaces are wonderfully safe and modern. I’m telling you, the
Dutch are pretty spoiled. I confess that I do look forward to the day when my
trek across the city will be from one cheese shop to the next rather than one
playground to the next.
Time always feels short when we’re there. It’s wonderful to
catch up and visit various parts of the relatively small country. But adding
time there is inherently taking time away from family and it’s always a tough
call. In any case,we're not complaining.
"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." -James Baldwin, writer (1924-1987)
"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." -James Baldwin, writer (1924-1987)
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