Volendam and Egmond aan Zee

Upon hearing about our hasty departure, some of the people in the hall are trying to help us cram as much Netherlands culture in as we can in the short time left to us. Sunday after the meeting five friends from the congregation tried to take our minds off of our upcoming departure by taking us to see some of Holland's beauty. Even though we were both feeling despondent about our time here being cut so short, we (with the encouragement of our friends) determined to press on and pretend we're just out for a nice afternoon instead of dwelling on the depressing fact that it will be one of the last with these dear friends. The sun came out and tricked us into thinking it really is spring. By tricked I mean that later on we nearly froze to death walking back to the car :) Yup, still in Holland...

We first stopped in a fishing village called Volendam about half an hour east of us on what used to be part of the Zuiderzee, but is now the Markermeer. Basically, the natural inlet here has been closed off, and is classified as a huge salt water lake, instead of being the sea. We were told that the people born and raised here generally stay here all of their lives. It is only in recent times that people not born here have been allowed to buy houses and own property. Basically, they to view themselves as a separate culture to the rest of the Netherlands. They even speak a strongly accented dialect of Dutch unique to Volendam. When referring to the rivers of tourists that pour through every year, they include the Dutch inn general as foreigners.

Volendam is famous for it's fishing, and it's costumes. The clothing native to Volendam is what most of us outsiders consider to be typical Dutch, when in reality, the style wasn't really found outside of this town. We did our obligatory dress up picture with the Ploeger's, Sumiyo, Kuperus all dressed to match. We were trying to get an even more multi-cultural costume picture, but a lot of people from the congregation already had other obligations and couldn't make the trip with us. Regardless, I love this silly picture. I took a picture of our picture...The place has a stream lined dressing station set up. The hardest part is finding clogs (klompen, that is) that fit well enough that you don't fall over walking to the set. That and my dress had some serious B.O. issues. Naomi acquired a baby, and Matt had a pipe and a bottle of Bols gin thrust in his hand. Out of everyone I think only Rene and Robert look like they'd be comfortable doing a days work in this cumbersome getup. Yukiko, Sumiyo, and I look like tourists and Naomi's frames give away our modern era...I got a so-so picture of a really funny giant department store add of a modern woman in the same kind of outfit. Only, she had sexy makeup and her hair all done up tall on her head with one of these hats we're wearing in the picture but more curvy and back farther on her head, accented by a modern interpretation of the traditional coral necklace that signified the wealth of the wearer. I couldn't get a pic without a big reflection. It's funny how tightly people cling to traditions. I guess I do too...I traditionally can't stay put and have to keep moving countries.

While we were waiting for the photos to develop, we took a walk back along the water front to get a taste of Holland. We went to a cafe that had one side completely open to the sea. It's warm enough that people are sitting outside filling up the sidewalk tables. Only problem for me is that most of the outdoors people also smoke. I can't taste my food if I have to inhale their leftovers. So inside, we ordered beverages, and perused the menu. The didn't' seem to have traditional enough food to satisfy our tour guides, so we went back out to the street after our drinks, to find: Herring. Raw. With onions. I took a video of Matt tasting it first... he was all prepared to make a face, but it was actually really tasty. I'm never a fan of bones in my fish, but the old guy stationed at the end of the stand with his fast action boning knife was barely keeping up with the demand, so I didn't complain :) Sumiyo had a little more trouble with hers. She ordered kibbling which is a lot like fish and chips minus the chips. We were swapping bites of everything, and she looked like she wanted to spit out the bite of herring she tried from Matt. Naomi says you either love it or hate it. We were safely in the like it category, although, I won't put it on the list of things I can't wait to have again. On that list I have fresh mustard soup with smoked salmon in it, and stropwafles. And poffertijes. Can't spell it. Delicious, and uniquely Dutch.

Next up, Ploeger's and Sumiyo left us at Volendam, and Matt and I rode on with Kuperus to the "sea". We kind of thought we were already at the sea, but this time we were driving to the other side of Holland, and hitting the North Sea, as seen from a town called Egmond aan Zee, about another hour away. Matt was ready to go zombie, but the drive was kind of soothing. We drove through farmland and flower fields passing more typical Dutch windmills, extra furry little Shetland ponies, sheep with spring lambs in tow, and more birds than I could ever name, all framed in by canals.

You could see the town trying to break out of winter like a butterfly reaching to crack the cocoon. By the time we got there, the sun was starting to hid and the wind had kicked up, but it was still refreshing to have sand beneath our feet along the side of the main drag. We meandered through a few knick knack shops and perused the local landmarks, like the statue of old seaman Jacob Glas. We didn't walk out to the lighthouse, but it is a definite icon for this little town. We shared a "huh" moment with Kuperus when we showed them an Oregon brew in the towns liqueur purveyor: "dead guy ale" by Rogue Ales. Long way from home, Rogue.

We walked along the brick pathway, designed to look like waves underneath our feet, until bricks turned to sand, and sand turned to sea. By then the weather had really turned, and we spent mere minutes on the actual beach looking at the North Sea and picturing what this sleepy town would look like in summer time, full of tourists and noise. In a way, I like being here in it's down time better. I picked myself up an actual beach sea shell, as opposed to the kind you find laying around on any street in Amsterdam. We walked back towards the car, played some cross between rock-paper-scissors and heads or tails, and ended up stopping in to an Italian restaurant on the main drag for dinner. The did a great risotto, and we ended a long low key afternoon with a scoop of gelato and watched the wind whip things around out their big picture window until the check came.