Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2008 08:15:55 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Linda Whittaker"
Subject: shabbat shalom 25.04.08
To: "Linda Olsvig-Whittaker"
Hi everyone,
I am writing from Zutphen, in the Netherlands. It is great to be back here again, and even the weather is cooperating. Most of the time, the sky is the china blue of van Gogh's eyes. The tulips are still blooming, and later I will make a trip to see the famous tulip fiels of Keukehof, over near Leiden.
There are tourist regions in Europe, but mostly Holland is not one of them, except perhaps for Amsterdam. It has the cozy, comfortable feel of an old shoe. The local food is plain and filling (the national dish is "frites"--crisp french fries served with a dollop of mayonaise--hearty and cheap, true to the Dutch character). The coffee is excellent, and I remember the beer is likewise, served with an assortment of spicy cakes and cookies.
The Dutch made their fortune in the Far East, trading coffee, tea, spices, and slaves back in the 1600's, the "Golden Age" painted by Rembrant and other Dutch Masters. Zutphen is a relict of that age, still a walled town with a brick-paved town center, looming black church, and neat little houses all around it. I finally got on a bicycle again today, and made my rounds of old friends.
Lunch with Dr. Piet Schipper, who lives here and works in forestry. We have been friends for years, published a couple papers together, and I had brought him to Israel at a time when he was depressed and ill several years ago. I was pleased to see him looking like a proper plump blonde Dutchman now, with a proper Dutch stomach. An old house and a new family have done wonders for him. (However wild the Dutch may be in their youth, eventually they tend to settle down to the national traditional life of a solid burgher, feet planted solidly on the ground, house neat and trim, a well supplied kitchen, and a peaceful outlook on life. By nature the people are as domestic as a sea captain.)
Piet and I had a blissful three hours telegraphing conservation ideas at each other (probably few people could keep up with these yearly sessions we have) and he gave me some ideas, I gave him some. We ended in an old coffeeshop in the town centre (the kind that serves coffee, not pot). Like I wrote earlier, one form of heaven for me is sitting in an old Dutch cafe with a friend, shooting the breeze over coffee while the rain and wind blow outside.
I had to see another old acquaintance as welll today, the proprietor of the fanciest tobacco shop in the Netherlands. Mr. Schamminee has a shop that probably goes back to the 1600's, with tiny rooms on several floors, a display of pipes like an optician displays glasses, and just about anything you want in the way of pipes, pipe tobacco and cigars. He really favors cigars but I smoke a pipe now, so he poured me some coffee and brought me a dozen varieties of pipe tobacco to sample. I've been visiting this shop once a year for almost a decade, and he is pleased to get a regular customer from Israel, not least a lady academic who smokes cigars and pipes.
My stay in Wageningen was great as well, and I am not quite done with Wageningen yet. I had dinner on my arrival with Quaker friends and will go back again on Sunday for Meeting for Worship with the fellowship assembled from the southern half of the country. I brought a DVD made by students at the Quaker school in Ramallah, a Palestinian version "Romeo and Juliet", and we will watch it together after the service.
The EBONE project is off to a reasonably good start; at least we have a better idea of what we have to do. Most of the people have worked together before so we are the new kids in town. My colleague Shkedy has gotten caught up in it as well now and seems to really enjoy the international exchanges with people from Scotland, France, Italy and the other partners. I had hoped this would happen; it will make the work go better back at home in Israel. We have quite a lot to digest now. Israel is not the least of the partners and we have some challenging work to do in the next four years.
So for now I am on vacation until I go home on Wednesday night, but then I will have to buckle down and get to work. Good to get a rest for a few days.
shabbat shalom,
Linda
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