I had my best experience with snow, in The Netherlands, last night.
The AIESECers had planned for us to go ten-pin bowling, starting at 9pm. I left home at about 8:40pm, giving me plenty of time to walk to the venue. It had been snowing lightly as I walked home from the train station, earlier, but I wasn’t expecting to see so much snow. "So much snow" is definitely the wrong phrase, as it was only a centimetre deep at best. But, it was more impressive than when it snowed last time – in the first week of January. Snow covered everything – even the road and the footpath. It hadn’t melted as soon as it hit the ground. I was immediately excited.
I had to be more careful when walking, as the layer of snow made the footpath slippery. My steps were more deliberate. I like the "soft crunching" sound the snow makes as it collapses under the weight of my feet.
The ground was white, yet the layer of snow was thin enough for it to melt completely wherever I walked. Therefore, it was easy to see exactly where people had been walking. I noticed a pair of tracks going the same way I was walking – the footprints clearly indicated that they were made by a man and a woman. My analysis was confirmed when I passed the couple further on.
There were a few kids outside, having snow fights. The scene was set, perfectly. So many parked cars line the road, each with a fresh pile of snow, ready for harvest.
All the while, it was still snowing fairly big snowflakes. It is a cool experience to walk about while it is snowing. Any wind effect is easy to see, as the snowflakes get caught up in the turbulance and blown away. The effect is best when the wind is blowing from behind you and the snowflakes are rushing past your face.
I arrived at the ten-pin bowling venue just before 9pm. I waited inside for a while and bought myself a cola. After ten minutes, I suspected that something was amiss, so I checked my phone which had been in my bag. Sure enough, I had missed two calls from Lia. I called her back and learnt that the bowling had been cancelled. Apparently, the snow had made it too risky to catch the bus – as many AIESECers would do to reach the venue.
I wasn't upset at all. I had fun walking to the bowling, in the snow, and now I got to walk back home in the snow.
It was no longer snowing, but there was plenty of fun to be had with the snow on the ground. I walked along the bike lane which had been cleared by a snow sweeper earlier. The snow had been pushed to the sides. At an intersection, I stopped by one of the snow piles and crafted snowballs. The snow was cohesive enough for me to craft it easily into cricket ball sized projectiles. I practised my aim by throwing the snowballs at a road sign about ten metres away. I was terrible at first – connecting with nothing but the ground beyond the sign. But, my aim improved and I hit the centre of the sign with my last five throws.
Other times, I would take a huge kick at the pile of snow – sending it spraying all over the place.
By this time, my gloves were completely soaked through and I could feel the water seeping through my shoes and socks. The footpath was also becoming covered in a messy grey slush – not nearly as cool and exciting as freshly fallen snow.
I got home just after 9:30pm, feeling happy with my recent snow experience.
It must have snowed during the night, because when I walked to the train station, this morning, the ground was recoated with the white dust. It looks like it had snowed throughout most of Noord Brabant – looking from the train, the landscape was a stark contrast of white land and dark trees and canals.
posted by James 9:25 am
Natasha sent me an e-mail where she wrote about what she did in the weekend with two friends and this person named Galya. I'm not sure who Galya is, so in my reply I asked her if this person is her boyfriend. When I got her reply with the subject header "My sister's name :)", I was so embarrassed!
I am the sort of person who proofreads his diary entry twice before publishing it. I really value accuracy. So, to make such a fundamental mistake as confusing someone's gender makes me laugh, feel very embarrassed and angry at myself at the same time. Shame!
posted by James 6:27 pm
In the weekend, I went to Nijmegen for a reception weekend organised by the local AIESEC committee. This was my last reception weekend. I will miss the next one in Maastricht because it clashes with when I leave to visit St. Petersburg.
Nijmegen is a beautiful town. It is in Gelderland and sits on the southern bank of the Waal River. In Dutch terms, it has a fairly hilly terrain and this has made it a strategically important location for centuries. People have lived there for around 2,000 years – it has a rivalry with Maastricht over the claim to be the oldest city in The Netherlands.
Agnieszka and I went, along with Jasper, Marian and Manon from AIESEC Tilburg. The programme started late on Saturday afternoon – we didn’t need to be in Nijmegen until 3pm.
The first thing we did was drop our bags off at Lia’s place (an AIESECer from Nijmegen). She lives in building which is literally a minutes walk from the town centre – her room is above a store on one of the shopping streets. I am always amazed at how many student flats there are in great locations like this. From Lia’s bedroom window, we could see right up the road which leads to where the Saturday market was set out.
At around 5pm, we were all split into groups for a walking tour of Nijmegen, with AIESECers as guides. It was well done. Agnieszka and I were lucky because we seemed to be in the group with the most enthusiastic guides. They gave excellent explanations of what we walked past. Our tour lasted for almost two hours – the longest of all of the groups.
Looking down from one of Nijmegen’s hills, across the Waal, it is easy to understand why the town was built where it was. The surrounding land is “typically Dutch” flat, so you can see for miles in any direction. Any army preparing to attack from the other side of the Waal could be seen with plenty of time to organise ones defence.
However, during the Spanish war (1568 – 1648), a vulnerability was discovered. Maurits (a Dutch revolutionary) forced the town’s surrender by building a tower on the other side of the Waal, mounting a cannon atop, and firing across the river. After a few buildings were demolished by cannon balls, the city capitulated. The French used the very same tower during their invasion 150 years later. Only that time, Nijmegen surrendered without a shot being fired. Of course, after the French were expelled, the tower was demolished.
The river often floods. So, the walls close to its banks have special slots where boards may be inserted, if it looks like there will be a flood. There is a statue of a mermaid, in a lying down pose, attached to one of the walls. Where the water reaches on her body indicates how serious the water level is. If you are next to the mermaid statue while it is underwater, then it is probably wise for you to start swimming.
Nijmegen was bombed during WWII by both the Germans and the Allies. The Allies accidentally bombed it in 1944 when they mistook it for a similar-looking German city nearby. There is a “monument” in the city centre of two trees which survived the devastation. An impressive shopping street has recently been built in the area, but the walls of the shops have been placed so as not to disturb the trees and their root systems.
We had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant where the prices were low and everyone who worked there was a volunteer. Even though we were often making fun of the food, the dinner was tasty and filling. We learnt that the restaurant is something of a political institution in Nijmegen. It donates any surplus it makes to groups and organisations that find it difficult to get funding through other means.
Later, we went to a concert by “Wipneus en Pim” – every Dutch person I spoke to has heard of them. It was in a building similar to Auckland’s town hall and there was lots of space to dance in. Wipneus and Pim are DJs who play a lot of retro music from the 70s and 80s (usually the kind with actions, say, YMCA) while dancing and generally acting silly on stage. There were competitions where people could sing or dance on stage to win bad prizes. They regularly threw things like balloons, whistles and lollypops into the audience. It was crazy fun and I enjoyed myself.
The Wipneus en Pim concert finished at 1am, but we just moved on to another party exclusively for those attending the reception weekend. Everyone there was so tired and struggled to stay awake. At about 3am, we decided to head back to Lia’s place to crash into our respective sleeping bags.
Despite having no mattress, I slept very soundly. I think that was a reflection about how tired I really was.
On Sunday morning, before we left for breakfast, I walked about outside, taking photos of some of the things we had been shown during the previous evening’s city tour.
At a typical reception weekend, you get a simple selection of fruit and bread rolls for breakfast. But this time, we went on a “Pannenkoekenboot” ride. That is, we went on a boat ride around the Waal, while eating pancakes. Why was this so exciting for me? I could eat as many pancakes as I liked.
The system was well designed. Whenever you wanted a pancake, you walked to the front of the boat where there were three columns of open shelves. On each shelf sat a plate with a fresh pancake – either regular, with apple or with bacon. You simply chose a plate, chose your toppings (cinnamon, apple, ginger, etc) and went back to your table. Each table had its own containers of icing sugar and stroop syrup.
I like to make illustrations, or sign my name, on my pancake using stroop syrup.
About 30 minutes into the trip, we were almost back at the place where the boat had left from, so I mistakenly thought that the trip was almost over. I hurriedly wolfed down two pancakes, only to learn that we were just going down the other direction of the river, for a while. I calmed down, and returned to normal eating speed.
By the end, I had eaten five pancakes and felt replete. I didn’t think that there was anything impressive about that, but when I told people afterwards, it created somewhat of a stir. Apparently, I had set the pancake consumption record for the day.
Agnieszka and I remained in Nijmegen for an hour after the official activities ended, just to have a last look around the city. Lia came with us and I finished off my film.
posted by James 7:39 am