Last Tuesday I went to the Dutch Cafe again. It turned out to be kind of interesting (but the trips to and from the Cafe were tedious and involved no amorous drunk guys, so I guess you can't have everything). I was the only student that showed up which meant that for an hour and a half I essentially got private Dutch classes from one of the other Dutch teachers (not mine) and two of the ladies from the Language Institute.
One of the ladies had studied Arabic and had lived in Egypt for a while (perhaps two years?) while she worked on languages. So it was fun to talk about that. Also, it is fun to say "Egypt" in Dutch. It sounds kind of like e-KGi-ptu.
It did mean that I had to work really, really hard, though. It is tiring work to think that hard about what one is saying as well as listening that hard to figure out what everyone else is saying. I think that it was good for my Dutch but it was also quite difficult. It is also hard to always have to think of super simple ways to say everything because you don't have much of a vocabulary. I think I definitely take vocabulary for granted in English.
I had a cappaccino, which probably wasn't the wisest move at 8 o'clock at night, but it was pretty tasty. It came with a little candy. At the end of the evening, when they brought the bill, they also brought mints, so I had one of those, and it turned out to be banana-mint flavored. I guess it tasted fine, actually, but that is not really a flavor combination that I would have thought of.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Ik schrijf het straks direct in mijn agenda.
The title means "I'll write that in my agenda right away."
When Pastor Bogue was in Lynchburg, we asked him what he remembered about living in the Netherlands. One of the things he seemed to remember most vividly was that everyone had an agenda (that is to say, a little appointment book). If you said "Hey, we should get some coffee sometime", they would whip out their agenda and start looking for a date. Pastor Bogue said everybody, down to the street cleaner, always had their little agenda ready at hand. I thought that this was a funny story.
Then, the fourth lesson in the text book we used in Dutch class turned out to be all about making appointments: "Zullen we een afspraak maken?" we learned to say. (Shall we make an appointment?) The next line of the dialogue is what I used for the title of this post--"I'll write that in my agenda right away." In a later dialogue, one of the protagonists mourns that he doesn't have his agenda with him, he will have to call back later to make an appointment. I thought it was pretty coincidental.
But, a couple of days ago, just to top it off, I got a link to a blog called "Stuff Dutch People Like." And the second post on the blog was "Scheduling-Agenda-Appointments." I guess if two or three witnesses prove a thing, then Dutch people really, really like their schedules.
I feel a little left out--I think I need to go find an agenda of my own.
http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/2011/07/29/scheduling-agenda-appointments/
This is a link to the "Stuff Dutch People Like" blog, particularly to the section on Agendas. It is pretty entertaining and a lot of it seems pretty true. A word of warning, though. Although this particular entry is clean, several of the other entries (and a majority of the comments, probably) contain swearing and/or impolite jokes, so read with caution.
When Pastor Bogue was in Lynchburg, we asked him what he remembered about living in the Netherlands. One of the things he seemed to remember most vividly was that everyone had an agenda (that is to say, a little appointment book). If you said "Hey, we should get some coffee sometime", they would whip out their agenda and start looking for a date. Pastor Bogue said everybody, down to the street cleaner, always had their little agenda ready at hand. I thought that this was a funny story.
Then, the fourth lesson in the text book we used in Dutch class turned out to be all about making appointments: "Zullen we een afspraak maken?" we learned to say. (Shall we make an appointment?) The next line of the dialogue is what I used for the title of this post--"I'll write that in my agenda right away." In a later dialogue, one of the protagonists mourns that he doesn't have his agenda with him, he will have to call back later to make an appointment. I thought it was pretty coincidental.
But, a couple of days ago, just to top it off, I got a link to a blog called "Stuff Dutch People Like." And the second post on the blog was "Scheduling-Agenda-Appointments." I guess if two or three witnesses prove a thing, then Dutch people really, really like their schedules.
I feel a little left out--I think I need to go find an agenda of my own.
http://stuffdutchpeoplelike.com/2011/07/29/scheduling-agenda-appointments/
This is a link to the "Stuff Dutch People Like" blog, particularly to the section on Agendas. It is pretty entertaining and a lot of it seems pretty true. A word of warning, though. Although this particular entry is clean, several of the other entries (and a majority of the comments, probably) contain swearing and/or impolite jokes, so read with caution.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Pelgrimvaderskerk (28 augustus 2011)
This Sunday I went to Pelgrimvaderskerk again. I like the church pretty well, partly, I think, because it feels kind of familiar. A lot of the song tunes are different but they are still similar in style, in meter, etc., which makes them seem familiar.
One of the songs this week was to a tune from the Psalter. It was in a minor key and it is one that I always like when we sing it but I never remember to remember what it is. And the name of the tune wasn't listed in the song book, at least that I could see. The song books they use in church are the old fashioned kind where the first verse is written next to the tune and then all of the other verses are written below and sometimes even on the other side of the page. It can make singing a little more challenging if you are trying to read and hear the words (to try to make sure you are pronouncing them right) and also trying to read and hear the notes, which are written in a different place (to make sure you are singing it right).
The sermon this week was on I Kings 18:3 (Obadiah would be a pretty good name for a baby, by the way--it means "servant of God"--and not a "J" in sight), Colossians 3:18-4:1, and Psalms 111:6. The main point, I am fairly certain, was that, even in the face of adversity you ought to serve God because you ought to fear Him more than you are afraid of other things.
I did discover that I really do need to get the same kind of Bible that they use in church. I wrote down the main verses that were going to be used and took them with me (I also wrote out the Lord's Prayer and took it along as well, to help with the memorization). Unfortunately, I used the Statenvertaling Bijbel (SBV), since that is what I have on my computer. This turned out to be quite different from the Nieuwe Bijbel Vertaling (NBV) that they use in church. While I am sure that the difference wouldn't throw me that much if it were in English, it was sufficiently different that I wasn't really able to follow along at all in Dutch.
For example, the main verse for the sermon was I Kings 18:3 ("And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly).")
In the SVB the verse goes:
"En Achab had Obadja, den hofmeester, geroepen; en Obadja was den Heere zeer vrezende."
"Dat Achab zijn hofmeester Obadja ontboden had. Deze Obadja had groot ontzag voor de Heer"
The second line is from the NBV and really doesn't match that well at all.
But the Psalm was even worse: Psalm 111:6 ("He hath shewed His people the power of His works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen,")
One of the songs this week was to a tune from the Psalter. It was in a minor key and it is one that I always like when we sing it but I never remember to remember what it is. And the name of the tune wasn't listed in the song book, at least that I could see. The song books they use in church are the old fashioned kind where the first verse is written next to the tune and then all of the other verses are written below and sometimes even on the other side of the page. It can make singing a little more challenging if you are trying to read and hear the words (to try to make sure you are pronouncing them right) and also trying to read and hear the notes, which are written in a different place (to make sure you are singing it right).
The sermon this week was on I Kings 18:3 (Obadiah would be a pretty good name for a baby, by the way--it means "servant of God"--and not a "J" in sight), Colossians 3:18-4:1, and Psalms 111:6. The main point, I am fairly certain, was that, even in the face of adversity you ought to serve God because you ought to fear Him more than you are afraid of other things.
I did discover that I really do need to get the same kind of Bible that they use in church. I wrote down the main verses that were going to be used and took them with me (I also wrote out the Lord's Prayer and took it along as well, to help with the memorization). Unfortunately, I used the Statenvertaling Bijbel (SBV), since that is what I have on my computer. This turned out to be quite different from the Nieuwe Bijbel Vertaling (NBV) that they use in church. While I am sure that the difference wouldn't throw me that much if it were in English, it was sufficiently different that I wasn't really able to follow along at all in Dutch.
For example, the main verse for the sermon was I Kings 18:3 ("And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly).")
In the SVB the verse goes:
"En Achab had Obadja, den hofmeester, geroepen; en Obadja was den Heere zeer vrezende."
"Dat Achab zijn hofmeester Obadja ontboden had. Deze Obadja had groot ontzag voor de Heer"
The second line is from the NBV and really doesn't match that well at all.
But the Psalm was even worse: Psalm 111:6 ("He hath shewed His people the power of His works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen,")
SBV Hij heeft de dracht Zijner werken Zijn volke bekend gemaakt Hun gevende de erve der heidene. | NBV Hij toonde zijn volk de kracht van zijn daden En gaf hun het land van andere volken. |
The one good thing was that they kept the old SBV version of the Lord's Prayer, with one tiny change (that kind of made sense) because that is the version that I have been practicing and the NBV version is really, really different.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Fietsen
"Fietsen" is Dutch for "bikes." Dutch people ride bikes all over the place. A lot of people have two or more bikes. If they commute by train they will have one bike that they ride from home to the train station and another that they ride from the train station to work (this is economical because you have to pay to take your bike on the train). Other people have their regular bike that they use around town--and that is old so no one will want to steal it--and then they have their good bike for riding distances. There are actually more bikes than people in the Netherlands.
Not that having a bike is without its dangers. In Amsterdam alone, 80,000 bikes per year are stolen. Even having a lock doesn't keep you safe--They just leave the front tire and take the bike.
You can buy bikes very cheaply at the train station. But apparently these are usually stolen. My Dutch teacher said that, if you bought a bike at the train station, you ought to watch out carefully and, if you saw a police officer, you ought to come back later or you could get in trouble for receipt of stolen property.
People have all kinds of ways for getting the kids and groceries home. There are little pull-behind carts and fancy, big carts for the front, plus all kinds of baskets.
You can also put a kid seat on the front of your bike along with a little wind screen to keep the bugs off.
My Dutch teacher told us a story (all in Dutch) about how, when her two daughters were little, she used to carry one on the back of her bike and one on the front, and how one time she turned too quickly and, with the wonky center of gravity, ended up crashing. She said that everybody was fine but pretty unhappy.
Dutch infrastructure is made to make getting around with a bike easy. They have special ridges on the sides of almost all of the stairs around town so that you can easily take your bike up and down the stairs.
You can usually take your bike on public transportation as well, although sometimes they charge extra and sometimes they restrict the number of bikes during rush hour.
They make special folding bikes, too, and those fold up to the size of a briefcase. You can take those onto the bus or the train any time and for free.
It seems like you have to pay for that convenience though. Pedaling those tiny little wheels can't be that energy efficient.
They have special dedicated bike lanes on almost every road, which makes driving (or even crossing the street) quite complicated. Bicyclists have the right of way wherever they go. I think that this is more a result of attitude than of the actual traffic law, but they are kind of dangerous and they beep their little bike horns at you if you get in the way.
They even have special little bike signal lights with little bikes on them so everyone knows who they are for. They also have little tram lights like this, but I don't have a picture of one of those.
There are also lots of parks and national recreation areas where you can borrow their white bikes for free, just to ride around on. I haven't been to one of those yet, so this is a picture from Wikipedia.
I keep vacillating on whether or not I ought to buy a bike. On the one hand, it could be a lot of fun, as well as being quite cheap. On the other hand, and it is a very convincing hand, it would be difficult to ride over the top of the Erasmusbrug in the winter when the wind is going.
If I did get a bike, though, I would get an "omafiets". "Omafiets" means, literally, "grandma bike". It is the old -fashioned kind of bike, on which you sit up really straight to ride.
But, what I am really holding out for is one of these:
Isn't it cute? It has a little wind-screen and a little roof and a little wind-shield wiper. I think that this would be really, really fun to ride around on. This is a Wikipedia picture but one of the shops on my way to school has got a one that is just like this but with a kind of retro pale pink, cream, and tan color scheme.
And all for only 999 euros.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Dutch Language Class Happenings
I am pleased to report that today I got the official information that I had passed my Dutch Intensive Class and have been officially declared "sufficient" at speaking, understanding, reading, and writing Dutch to have an Exam Level of A2.1 which means that I am approximately an advanced beginner. So now I am very cheerful. =-)
Our teacher, Marjolein Vierhout, was definitely the best teacher. I thought that she was very good and, from what I heard, other teachers this year were using more "progressive" teaching methods. For instance, prepositions are difficult. They are very difficult in Dutch and they don't really translate directly from English. In at least one of the other classes, the teacher had the students acting out the prepositions. So you would say "op de tafel" and climb onto the table, "onder de tafel" and crawl under it, "aan de tafel" and sit at the table. While I don't doubt the efficacy of this approach (if "School House Rock" has taught us anything it's that these kinds of things work), I do think that 30 years old is far too old an age to have to be jumping around and climbing on the furniture in class.
One of the other complicated things about Dutch is that while English uses loads and loads of simple pasts ("I went to the library") Dutch almost always uses past perfects ("I have gone to the library"). Possibly because it sounds cooler. But it does make sentence structure more complicated. Simple past: ("I went to the library") "Ik ging naar de bibliotheek"; past perfect ("I have gone to the library") "Ik ben naar de bibliotheek geweest." There are very specific rules about when you are allowed to use the simple past and I still haven't quite figured them out--they are the kind of rules where you just kind of have to know how to use them and it is hard to learn them.
Dutch also doesn't really use the future tense (or at least it doesn't at the "advanced beginner's" level). You just use the present tense and rely on context: "I go to the library tomorrow." This sort of makes it easier, because you don't have to remember extra conjugation, but, for me at least, there is always a second's catch where I am trying to remember how to make things future before I remember that I don't have to.
One thing I have learned, though, is that, at least in the Netherlands, language teachers do not think very highly of the Rosetta Stone language programs. In the Dutch program that I did, there were a couple of places were there were actual errors in the program and I learned something wrong (that would have to have been when I was paying attention) and there were other places where they used archaic or regional words or phrases which aren't generally used in most places.
Before we took the exam, our teacher gave everybody these little lady-bug candies "for luck". I think that they look a little too bug-like for candy but I suppose that chocolate is chocolate.
Also, after the final exam, I went and picked up my student ID and I also got a welcome pack that included a map of Rotterdam (it still wasn't one that included Zuid-Rotterdam), some informational things, some VVV (tourist bureau) things, and these little things:
Little wooden clog key-chains! Aren't they cute?
One of the other students (who is going to the law school) picked up her bag as well and she only had one pair. She was very sad. It turns out that the little orange ones were given out by the University.
These little blue ones were given out by the School of History, Society, and Culture, which is the faculty with which I am studying, so score!
Our teacher, Marjolein Vierhout, was definitely the best teacher. I thought that she was very good and, from what I heard, other teachers this year were using more "progressive" teaching methods. For instance, prepositions are difficult. They are very difficult in Dutch and they don't really translate directly from English. In at least one of the other classes, the teacher had the students acting out the prepositions. So you would say "op de tafel" and climb onto the table, "onder de tafel" and crawl under it, "aan de tafel" and sit at the table. While I don't doubt the efficacy of this approach (if "School House Rock" has taught us anything it's that these kinds of things work), I do think that 30 years old is far too old an age to have to be jumping around and climbing on the furniture in class.
One of the other complicated things about Dutch is that while English uses loads and loads of simple pasts ("I went to the library") Dutch almost always uses past perfects ("I have gone to the library"). Possibly because it sounds cooler. But it does make sentence structure more complicated. Simple past: ("I went to the library") "Ik ging naar de bibliotheek"; past perfect ("I have gone to the library") "Ik ben naar de bibliotheek geweest." There are very specific rules about when you are allowed to use the simple past and I still haven't quite figured them out--they are the kind of rules where you just kind of have to know how to use them and it is hard to learn them.
Dutch also doesn't really use the future tense (or at least it doesn't at the "advanced beginner's" level). You just use the present tense and rely on context: "I go to the library tomorrow." This sort of makes it easier, because you don't have to remember extra conjugation, but, for me at least, there is always a second's catch where I am trying to remember how to make things future before I remember that I don't have to.
One thing I have learned, though, is that, at least in the Netherlands, language teachers do not think very highly of the Rosetta Stone language programs. In the Dutch program that I did, there were a couple of places were there were actual errors in the program and I learned something wrong (that would have to have been when I was paying attention) and there were other places where they used archaic or regional words or phrases which aren't generally used in most places.
Before we took the exam, our teacher gave everybody these little lady-bug candies "for luck". I think that they look a little too bug-like for candy but I suppose that chocolate is chocolate.
Also, after the final exam, I went and picked up my student ID and I also got a welcome pack that included a map of Rotterdam (it still wasn't one that included Zuid-Rotterdam), some informational things, some VVV (tourist bureau) things, and these little things:
Little wooden clog key-chains! Aren't they cute?
One of the other students (who is going to the law school) picked up her bag as well and she only had one pair. She was very sad. It turns out that the little orange ones were given out by the University.
These little blue ones were given out by the School of History, Society, and Culture, which is the faculty with which I am studying, so score!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
"Wat Weer!"--A Dutch Weather Cartoon
This is a Dutch weather cartoon that our teacher handed out in class one day. The weather hasn't been quite this bad, but I must admit that the times when the sun has appeared have been more of a welcome surprise than a constant condition.
I will say, though, that there is nothing like a torrential downpour to remind you that you are essentially living on the bottom of the ocean and nothing but a little bit of Dutch ingenuity stands between you and and a pretty convincing Jonah impersonation.
Actually, though, in my devotions the other day I read this, and I figure that I ought to design some kind of Dutch-themed embroidery project around it:
What a storm, what weather!
Look at that, it's the sun!
Is that hail?
At least it's dry now!
Although . . .
I can't see a thing.
I might as well just look at the wall.
Finally, summer!
I will say, though, that there is nothing like a torrential downpour to remind you that you are essentially living on the bottom of the ocean and nothing but a little bit of Dutch ingenuity stands between you and and a pretty convincing Jonah impersonation.
Actually, though, in my devotions the other day I read this, and I figure that I ought to design some kind of Dutch-themed embroidery project around it:
"He turned the sea into dry land;
they went through the flood on foot;
there did we rejoice in Him."
Psalm 66:6
Random Things about Dutch Food
- Chicken Curry Cup-a-Soup is surprisingly delicious. Asparagus Cup-a-Soup, not so much. Though, to be fair, it does really, really smell very asparagussy.
- In the Netherlands, Ramen soup is really expensive. It is about 85 (US) cents per package. That just seems wrong in so many ways.
- You can get lots of things really cheaply at the market. And, lots of times, when the farmers have an over-abundance of certain fruits, they will just stick them in grocery bags and sell them as-is, for a set price. That is how I got about 8lbs of Granny Smith apples for 1 euro, about 10lbs of oranges for 1 euro, and then about 10 lbs of unidentified apples that kind of reminded me of a cross between a Gala and a Fuji, also for 1 euro (not all three at once of course). They also had bags of 8 avocados for 1 euro. They looked really good--I spent a little while trying to decide if I knew what to do with an avocado if I got it, but other than eating them raw, I couldn't think of anything and I didn't think that I would eat that many of them. Another thing they have a lot is large bags of maybe 10-12 bell peppers. They are all really pretty and they shade from green to red. I keep trying to decide if I can eat that many peppers all by myself but so far I haven't worked myself up to buy a bag yet. I will have to see if I can find good stove-top recipes for peppers, in case I start running out of time.
- For some reason, in the Netherlands, they sell eggs by the half-dozen or by the ten, not by the dozen. Perhaps it is that terrible old metric, base-10 thing coming up, but it seems funny to buy eggs in boxes of 10. These are brown "barn" chicken eggs that I got at the market. All of the writing on the inside of the carton is a series of egg descriptors and what they indicate: free-range, organic, barn, caged, etc.
- The Dutch make very good cheese--things like Edam and Gouda and stuff like that. However, if you live in the Netherlands, you get decidedly boring cheese. Apparently, this is because the Dutch export all of their good cheese and just keep the boring stuff for themselves, whatever nobody else will buy. I was thinking about this compared to the French who apparently keep all of the good wine for themselves and ship only the stuff that they don't want to drink. I think that this must say something about the Dutch and the French, generally.
- Dutch food seems to have way fewer preservatives than the food that you buy in the US. And, while I am in favor of no preservatives, I guess, on the other hand, preservatives are kind of nice for, say, keeping a loaf of bread good for more than three days, especially since Dutch loaves of bread are gigantic and, no matter how many peanut butter sandwiches you eat, there is only so much one person can do.
- On the topic of peanut butter: perhaps I judged the Dutch too harshly (either that or I have just become inured to tasteless, weird, healthy peanut butter). Whatever the cause, I got a different brand of peanut butter and it tastes way better than the first brand I got. It does have a really weird texture though--it is "creamy" peanut butter but still has little bits of gritty pieces of peanut chunks throughout.
- Dutch yogurt is really, really good. Or at least I assume that it is so, generally. I buy the cheapest brand and it is really, really good, at least. I have gotten peach (my favorite) and peach-passion fruit. It is way less sweet than what you get in the store in the U.S. and, in texture and taste, it is a lot closer to homemade yogurt--kind of runny and kind of tangy. It is pretty tasty.
- My apartment building is on top of a restaurant. The restaurant's dumpster is right beside the main entrance to the apartments upstairs and our entrance hall is right next to what I assume is the kitchen/washing-up area of the restaurant. So a lot of the time, the whole downstairs smells like trash that has been out to long, old, moldy dish-water, and cooking cabbage. Not the bests smells ever. The other day, though, they must have gotten things cleaned up inside and were doing some kind of cooking when I went by because I turned the corner and it smelled just lovely. It smelled just like Aunt Marlyss's baked chicken. So then I was all home-sick and wanted some baked chicken but since I have neither an oven nor a slow-cooker I had to settle for a peanut butter sandwich. For the record though, stopping by Milaca is on my "list of things to do" in ten or eleven months. =-)
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Pilgrimvaderskerk (21 augustus 2011)
On Sunday, I went back to the Pilgrimvaderskerk. It wasn't quite as full as it was last week, so perhaps last week was special for some reason, but it was still pretty full.
I ended up sitting next to a very nice couple with a very beautiful baby and we had a nice chat. They told me which version of the Bible the church used and offered to explain things if I couldn't keep up.
The PKN (the denomination to which the Pilgrimvaderskerk belongs) has officially adopted the Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling as the translation which they encourage the churches to use in worship. The Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling is a newer translation (it came out in 2004). It has a reputation as being kind of a "fluffy" read and not that useful for study. One of the guys on the minority side of the PKN committee which ended up approving the use of the NBV said that the choice to use the NBV was an "irresponsible decision unworthy of the church." (http://www.pkn.nl/5/info.aspx?page=14820) The reason that the PKN decided to use it was because it was popular with the "ordinary" reader.
On the other hand, whatever people say about the NBV version, as far as I know, no one has called it a "trick of the devil" which is what at least one pastor called the Herziene Statenvertaling Bijbel, the 2010 redo of the old Statenvertaling Bijbel. (http://www.cip.nl/nieuwsbericht_detail.asp?id=19390)
In any case, I definitely need to get a Dutch bible of my own (it turns out that they don't have pew-Bibles available at the church, it is just that a lot of the Bibles people bring with them look like the song books). I have my English Bible and, once I get to the correct place, I at least know what the pastor's text is about but it is very difficult to listen to the Dutch and read the English at the same time and still have an idea what is going on. I just have to decide if I want to go for the "fluff" Bible that will be easy to follow along with or if I want to go with a real Bible that will not match what the pastor is reading.
One good thing about church services is that there a lot of things that are the same no matter what the language, so there are things that you can recognize and it helps you feel like you know what is going on. One such thing is the reading of the 10 commandments. One thing I noticed this week, though, is that there is a little difference between the Dutch and the English commandments. In the 9th and 10th commandments one is forbidden to bear false witness against a neighbor or to covet any of one's neighbor's things. In Dutch, the typical word for neighbor (which you use in everyday conversations) is "buurman". However, the Bible translation doesn't use that word either in the Nieuwe Bijbel or in the Statenvertaling Bijbel (I looked it up). Instead it uses the word "naaste". Usually you use this to mean something that is next to you. Google Translate also gives an alternate translation of "fellow creature" which may be why it is used instead of "buurman"--it just gives a broader and more inclusive meaning. (It could just be to avoid all of those jokes about being allowed to lie about the guy who lives across town.) In any case, I don't suppose it matters that much; mostly I was just impressed with myself that I was understanding enough of what was going on that I could tell the difference.
My next big project (having, I feel, conquered the "trekken" and "duwen" (push/pull) challenge) is to memorize the Lord's Prayer in Dutch. It is something that you learn almost without thinking about in church when you are little and I feel kind of silly not being able to follow along with the congregation when they pray it in Dutch. This is the Lord's Prayer in Dutch:
If you want to hear what it sounds like, you can listen to it (in a variety of versions) at this website: http://web.me.com/schuffelen/Site/du3ourfathers.html. The version I will practice is the Protestant version but I am going to have to make sure this is the one the church actually uses before I go and learn the whole thing wrong.
The sermon was on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. From what I could tell, the pastor said that the parable was analogy of the relationship between God and the Church. He also said (I think) that the church ought to work at having better internal relations between Christian brothers than the two brothers in the parable did. It wasn't ground-breaking stuff but, to be perfectly fair, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what he was talking about most of the time, for some reason, and he could have had the best sermon ever and I would have been none the wiser. I definitely do not think that I understood as much this week as I did last week.
Altogether, though, the most memorable thing about Sunday was probably that, as I came up out of the Metro station, there was a drag queen with a heavy five o'clock shadow, wearing a little, bitty evening dress and flip flops, walking down the road.
I ended up sitting next to a very nice couple with a very beautiful baby and we had a nice chat. They told me which version of the Bible the church used and offered to explain things if I couldn't keep up.
The PKN (the denomination to which the Pilgrimvaderskerk belongs) has officially adopted the Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling as the translation which they encourage the churches to use in worship. The Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling is a newer translation (it came out in 2004). It has a reputation as being kind of a "fluffy" read and not that useful for study. One of the guys on the minority side of the PKN committee which ended up approving the use of the NBV said that the choice to use the NBV was an "irresponsible decision unworthy of the church." (http://www.pkn.nl/5/info.aspx?page=14820) The reason that the PKN decided to use it was because it was popular with the "ordinary" reader.
On the other hand, whatever people say about the NBV version, as far as I know, no one has called it a "trick of the devil" which is what at least one pastor called the Herziene Statenvertaling Bijbel, the 2010 redo of the old Statenvertaling Bijbel. (http://www.cip.nl/nieuwsbericht_detail.asp?id=19390)
In any case, I definitely need to get a Dutch bible of my own (it turns out that they don't have pew-Bibles available at the church, it is just that a lot of the Bibles people bring with them look like the song books). I have my English Bible and, once I get to the correct place, I at least know what the pastor's text is about but it is very difficult to listen to the Dutch and read the English at the same time and still have an idea what is going on. I just have to decide if I want to go for the "fluff" Bible that will be easy to follow along with or if I want to go with a real Bible that will not match what the pastor is reading.
One good thing about church services is that there a lot of things that are the same no matter what the language, so there are things that you can recognize and it helps you feel like you know what is going on. One such thing is the reading of the 10 commandments. One thing I noticed this week, though, is that there is a little difference between the Dutch and the English commandments. In the 9th and 10th commandments one is forbidden to bear false witness against a neighbor or to covet any of one's neighbor's things. In Dutch, the typical word for neighbor (which you use in everyday conversations) is "buurman". However, the Bible translation doesn't use that word either in the Nieuwe Bijbel or in the Statenvertaling Bijbel (I looked it up). Instead it uses the word "naaste". Usually you use this to mean something that is next to you. Google Translate also gives an alternate translation of "fellow creature" which may be why it is used instead of "buurman"--it just gives a broader and more inclusive meaning. (It could just be to avoid all of those jokes about being allowed to lie about the guy who lives across town.) In any case, I don't suppose it matters that much; mostly I was just impressed with myself that I was understanding enough of what was going on that I could tell the difference.
My next big project (having, I feel, conquered the "trekken" and "duwen" (push/pull) challenge) is to memorize the Lord's Prayer in Dutch. It is something that you learn almost without thinking about in church when you are little and I feel kind of silly not being able to follow along with the congregation when they pray it in Dutch. This is the Lord's Prayer in Dutch:
Onze Vader die in de hemelen zijt,
Uw naam worde geheiligd
Uw Koninkrijk kome;
Uw wil geschiede,
Gelijk in de hemel alzo ook op de aarde.
Geef ons heden ons dagelijks brood;
En vergeef ons onze schulden,
Gelijk ook wij vergeven onze schuldenaren;
En leid ons niet in verzoeking,
Maar verlos ons van de boze.
Want uwer is het koninkrijk
En de kracht
En de heerlijkheid
In de eeuwigheid. Amen.
If you want to hear what it sounds like, you can listen to it (in a variety of versions) at this website: http://web.me.com/schuffelen/Site/du3ourfathers.html. The version I will practice is the Protestant version but I am going to have to make sure this is the one the church actually uses before I go and learn the whole thing wrong.
The sermon was on the Parable of the Prodigal Son. From what I could tell, the pastor said that the parable was analogy of the relationship between God and the Church. He also said (I think) that the church ought to work at having better internal relations between Christian brothers than the two brothers in the parable did. It wasn't ground-breaking stuff but, to be perfectly fair, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what he was talking about most of the time, for some reason, and he could have had the best sermon ever and I would have been none the wiser. I definitely do not think that I understood as much this week as I did last week.
Altogether, though, the most memorable thing about Sunday was probably that, as I came up out of the Metro station, there was a drag queen with a heavy five o'clock shadow, wearing a little, bitty evening dress and flip flops, walking down the road.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
De Bibliotheek (the Library)
Since I don't have any more classes right now, I went in to the library which is about 100 yards from my building. It is a branch of the Rotterdam public library system.
It is a little, bitty library on only one floor in the corner of a triangular building. I think that I would like to be living in one of the apartments above the library. Those are neat balconies and you would have a view down two different streets.
During the summer, the library was only open 5 or 6 hours per week so I hadn't really had a chance to check it out, but they are on to their regular schedule now, so I was able to go check it out. It looks like it should be fun to go in there occasionally to look at books and to practice my Dutch.
When I first went into the library, I thought that there were an awfully lot of romance books, in fact, it looked like the only adult books they had were romance books. But, when I went and looked it up, it turns out that "Romans" just means "fiction", not just "romance."
They also have a fairly large, proportionally speaking at least, travel section that should be fun to look through. They have a small periodicals section, a bunch of books on tape, and a fair collection of kids books. Since my vocabulary is fairly limited, and since flipping through a dictionary real cuts into the narrative stream, I focused on the kids books section.
Besides the one delightful book I already mentioned, I also read part of an "Asterix and Obelix" book. This one is called "De Intrigant"--"The Spy" or "The Schemer", something like that. This is one with Julius Caesar in it but it also has Brutus in it (who is always in a bad mood) and Julius Caesar keeps saying "Ook gij, Brutus." Which means "Et tu, Btutus." So it is a little historical joke. Actually though, "gij" is a really old fashioned form of "you"; we didn't even learn it in class at all and I only know about it because I ran across it in one of the old things that I was looking at one time. I believe that it is still used in Friesland, however, where they have a pretty distinct dialect.
Asterix and Obelix are always a good read, though. And that little Idifix is just so cute!
It is a little, bitty library on only one floor in the corner of a triangular building. I think that I would like to be living in one of the apartments above the library. Those are neat balconies and you would have a view down two different streets.
During the summer, the library was only open 5 or 6 hours per week so I hadn't really had a chance to check it out, but they are on to their regular schedule now, so I was able to go check it out. It looks like it should be fun to go in there occasionally to look at books and to practice my Dutch.
When I first went into the library, I thought that there were an awfully lot of romance books, in fact, it looked like the only adult books they had were romance books. But, when I went and looked it up, it turns out that "Romans" just means "fiction", not just "romance."
They also have a fairly large, proportionally speaking at least, travel section that should be fun to look through. They have a small periodicals section, a bunch of books on tape, and a fair collection of kids books. Since my vocabulary is fairly limited, and since flipping through a dictionary real cuts into the narrative stream, I focused on the kids books section.
Besides the one delightful book I already mentioned, I also read part of an "Asterix and Obelix" book. This one is called "De Intrigant"--"The Spy" or "The Schemer", something like that. This is one with Julius Caesar in it but it also has Brutus in it (who is always in a bad mood) and Julius Caesar keeps saying "Ook gij, Brutus." Which means "Et tu, Btutus." So it is a little historical joke. Actually though, "gij" is a really old fashioned form of "you"; we didn't even learn it in class at all and I only know about it because I ran across it in one of the old things that I was looking at one time. I believe that it is still used in Friesland, however, where they have a pretty distinct dialect.
Asterix and Obelix are always a good read, though. And that little Idifix is just so cute!
My Dutch Improves
I read my first book in Dutch today. I read the whole thing, front to back, without even a dictionary.
I am VERY proud of myself and feel as if I have accomplished something.
The book was called "Een Sneeuwman met een Plan." Or, in English, "A Snowman with a Plan."
It is written and illustrated by Gunter Segers.
It looked like this:
In this story, some animals see their snowman friend doing stuff in the snow and they can't figure out what he's up to. More and more animals come to watch the snowman as he rolls snowballs. Sometimes they are too big. Sometimes they are too small. Sometimes they roll down the hill and splatter. Finally, though, the snowman has a stack of snow balls. Then he leaves and comes running back with a carrot. He sticks the carrot into the top snowball and. . .
"He's made himself a vriendje (a little friend)!" Say all of his animal friends.
"No!" says another animal "He's made himself a vriendinje (a girl friend)!"
And then all of the animals cheered.
It was a feel-good story if I ever read one.
And it was all in Dutch.
I am VERY proud of myself and feel as if I have accomplished something.
The book was called "Een Sneeuwman met een Plan." Or, in English, "A Snowman with a Plan."
It is written and illustrated by Gunter Segers.
It looked like this:
"He's made himself a vriendje (a little friend)!" Say all of his animal friends.
"No!" says another animal "He's made himself a vriendinje (a girl friend)!"
And then all of the animals cheered.
It was a feel-good story if I ever read one.
And it was all in Dutch.
Monday, August 22, 2011
The Stadhuis (City Hall)
I am now an official, temporary resident of the Netherlands, registered with the city-hall and everything.
In the instructions on how to get to the correct part of the Stadhuis, we were told to go in the side entrance opposite the police station.
This is the police station.
It strikes me as kind of a girly color (and kind of a girly font choice as well) for a police station, but I guess it is certainly noticeable.
This is the Rotterdam Stadhuis. Although it isn't really that old, it is built in a pretty classically stadhuis style--vaugely gothic and really, really big. It is however, one of the oldest buildings in Rotterdam as it wasn't destroyed during the war. It is not quite a hundred years old.
It has a pretty clock-tower and loads and loads of gilding. There are
also lots of statutes and figures on the facade which appear to have meaning or which have writing around them.
The gilded banners are the symbols for Rotterdam and for annexed municipalities. For instance, the coat of arms of Delfshaven (where I go to church and which was incorporated a couple of hundred years ago) is second from the left on the top row. (It has green vertical stripes on it with a fish on one side and wheat on the other.)
The four statutes over the entrance (standing above the balcony with the red flowers) are supposed to represent the four virtues: entrepreneurship, management, reliability, and perseverance, which strike me as a particularly Dutch set of virtues.
There are also two free standing statues at the front of the Stadhuis.
One of the statues is of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. I had never heard of him before, so I had to go look him up and he was quite the guy.
He served with William the Silent during the Eighty-Years War and was somehow involved in the flooding and release of Leiden (which is a really terrific story that I will tell you about some other time) which made him a national hero. He was involved in the government after independence and was also a friend of Hugo Grotius. He was Pensionaris van Rotterdam and also Landsadvocaat.
Apparently, a Pensionaris is something like a City Attorney and Landsadvocaat is something like an Attorney General. So he was quite well connected and influential. Unfortunately, for him, though, he became well connected with the wrong sorts of people, including Jacobus Arminius. In the middle of the huge national turmoil over theology, Oldenbarnevelt aligned himself with the Remonstrants and, along with several folks, (and possibly because of some intra-governmental intrigue) he was beheaded in 1619.
Does anyone else think that clothing and portraiture styles of the era make this picture look strangely prescient?
The other statue is of Hugo Grotius, the great Dutch Statesman and political theorist. This statue stands out from the wall because there are inscriptions all around the base of the statue (really hard to read inscriptions, I might add).
This is from the front of the statue.
This inscription is:
Hugo Grotius
MDLXXXIII-MDCXLV (1583-1645)
This is from right side of the statue, as you are facing it. It is in Latin and says:
omnia fert batavis coelum aut mare: quicquid in orbe est huc venit, hollandum nomen ubique patet
Which may or may not be translated something like:
"The Dutch bear everything from heaven or from the sea: whatever the world offers. It is self-evident that he (Grotius, one presumes) came out of Holland."
This is from the rear of the statue and is in Dutch. It says:
het gemeenterestuur van
rotterdam liet op voorstel
van historisch genootschap
rotterdamum dit beeld
oprichten om te gedenken
dat in 1613 tot pensionaris
van deze stad werd benoemd
hugo de groot
het wonder van holland
geleerde staatsman dichter
This is translated (more accurately than the Latin, I trust) as:
"The city has, on the suggestion of the Rotterdam historical society, erected this statue to remember Hugo Grotius, appointed Pensionaris of Rotterdam in 1613, the Miracle of Holland, Scholar, Statesman, Poet."
This is from the left side of the statue and says:
datmen voor al de waerheyd hebbe
ende behoude: want sonder de
waerheyd en is het geen vrede
en is het geen liefde
This is a quote from Grotius (I think) and it took me a really long time to figure out what it said because the spelling and idiom are very old-fashioned and fairly different from modern Dutch, and my grasp of that is fairly shaky in any case. This says:
"In order that the truth may be preserved: for without truth there is neither peace nor love."
In the instructions on how to get to the correct part of the Stadhuis, we were told to go in the side entrance opposite the police station.
This is the police station.
It strikes me as kind of a girly color (and kind of a girly font choice as well) for a police station, but I guess it is certainly noticeable.
This is the Rotterdam Stadhuis. Although it isn't really that old, it is built in a pretty classically stadhuis style--vaugely gothic and really, really big. It is however, one of the oldest buildings in Rotterdam as it wasn't destroyed during the war. It is not quite a hundred years old.
It has a pretty clock-tower and loads and loads of gilding. There are
also lots of statutes and figures on the facade which appear to have meaning or which have writing around them.
The gilded banners are the symbols for Rotterdam and for annexed municipalities. For instance, the coat of arms of Delfshaven (where I go to church and which was incorporated a couple of hundred years ago) is second from the left on the top row. (It has green vertical stripes on it with a fish on one side and wheat on the other.)
The four statutes over the entrance (standing above the balcony with the red flowers) are supposed to represent the four virtues: entrepreneurship, management, reliability, and perseverance, which strike me as a particularly Dutch set of virtues.
There are also two free standing statues at the front of the Stadhuis.
One of the statues is of Johan van Oldenbarnevelt. I had never heard of him before, so I had to go look him up and he was quite the guy.
He served with William the Silent during the Eighty-Years War and was somehow involved in the flooding and release of Leiden (which is a really terrific story that I will tell you about some other time) which made him a national hero. He was involved in the government after independence and was also a friend of Hugo Grotius. He was Pensionaris van Rotterdam and also Landsadvocaat.
Apparently, a Pensionaris is something like a City Attorney and Landsadvocaat is something like an Attorney General. So he was quite well connected and influential. Unfortunately, for him, though, he became well connected with the wrong sorts of people, including Jacobus Arminius. In the middle of the huge national turmoil over theology, Oldenbarnevelt aligned himself with the Remonstrants and, along with several folks, (and possibly because of some intra-governmental intrigue) he was beheaded in 1619.
Does anyone else think that clothing and portraiture styles of the era make this picture look strangely prescient?
The other statue is of Hugo Grotius, the great Dutch Statesman and political theorist. This statue stands out from the wall because there are inscriptions all around the base of the statue (really hard to read inscriptions, I might add).
This is from the front of the statue.
This inscription is:
Hugo Grotius
MDLXXXIII-MDCXLV (1583-1645)
This is from right side of the statue, as you are facing it. It is in Latin and says:
omnia fert batavis coelum aut mare: quicquid in orbe est huc venit, hollandum nomen ubique patet
Which may or may not be translated something like:
"The Dutch bear everything from heaven or from the sea: whatever the world offers. It is self-evident that he (Grotius, one presumes) came out of Holland."
This is from the rear of the statue and is in Dutch. It says:het gemeenterestuur van
rotterdam liet op voorstel
van historisch genootschap
rotterdamum dit beeld
oprichten om te gedenken
dat in 1613 tot pensionaris
van deze stad werd benoemd
hugo de groot
het wonder van holland
geleerde staatsman dichter
This is translated (more accurately than the Latin, I trust) as:
"The city has, on the suggestion of the Rotterdam historical society, erected this statue to remember Hugo Grotius, appointed Pensionaris of Rotterdam in 1613, the Miracle of Holland, Scholar, Statesman, Poet."
This is from the left side of the statue and says:datmen voor al de waerheyd hebbe
ende behoude: want sonder de
waerheyd en is het geen vrede
en is het geen liefde
This is a quote from Grotius (I think) and it took me a really long time to figure out what it said because the spelling and idiom are very old-fashioned and fairly different from modern Dutch, and my grasp of that is fairly shaky in any case. This says:
"In order that the truth may be preserved: for without truth there is neither peace nor love."
Saturday, August 20, 2011
The Dutch Class BBQ
On Friday we had the final exam for our Summer Dutch Course and to celebrate, everyone got together to have a barbecue. This is another word that Dutch has adopted and adapted. In Dutch, to "barbecue" is "barbecuen" or possibly "barbequen". Our teacher wasn't exactly sure how it ought to be spelled. In any case, for Dutch folk, barbecue just means anything that is grilled.
One of the girls from class lives on the very top floor of one of Stadswonen's other student apartment buildings. There is a large balcony that circles the top floor (once you ride up in the elevator you actually have to go back outside to get to her apartment) and she has a really magnificent view. Sitting at her kitchen table, she can look out, through her french doors, and see the entire Rotterdam skyline. I am a little jealous, even if she does have to share with three other people.
If you squint a little, and click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see Erasmusbrug, Williamsbrug (which is the pinkish-red bridge in front of the larger, white Erasmusbrug), the Euromast (which at one point was the tallest structure in the Netherlands), the Unilever building (as in the soap people), which is the one that looks really out of balance and which have I pointed out before, and a whole lot of other buildings. You can probably also almost make out that part of the land across the Maas (the river that you can see) is an island.
Friday was the most beautiful day that we have had since I got to the Netherlands. It was lovely just to sit out on the balcony and look out over the city and just chat. I got more sun than I have had in three weeks and my nose even got a little pink.
Since it was so nice, I decided to walk home, and I am glad that I did, because it was lovely and I got to see bits of Rotterdam that I hadn't known existed before but, on the other hand, I estimate that, what with one thing and another, I walked about 10 miles on Friday, so I was a little tired out.
I have attached a picture of a map, with part of my route marked out in green, to give an idea of part of the way that I went. You can see the Erasmusbrug on the left, the Williamsbrug on the right, and the little island in the middle. The little island is called Noordereiland. My place is more or less south-ish and it isn't included on this map because this map just covers central Rotterdam. The Erasmus Woudestein Campus is off to the right/east a ways and is also not included on this map.
One thing that I saw that I thought was interesting was this pretty, tall church. If you notice the blue banner hanging on the wall, I think that this must be the Dutch version of VBS.
I think that I have mentioned before that the Netherlands are full of canals. This means that it is also full of bridges, many of which are the kind that lift up to allow larger boats through. This bridge is the Admeraltiesbrug and those are some kind of neat boats that were in the canal next to it. The yellow crane thingy is how they raise and lower the bridge and there is one on each side of the road, even though I only got one in the shot.
This is "De Majesteit" which appears to be some kind of cruise boat. What is interesting about it though, is that it appears to be a steam-powered paddle boat, which I think of mostly in connection with the Mississippi and Tom Sawyer.
This is the Williamsbrug Bridge which I walked over on my way home. It is definitely not as fantastical and bizarre as the Erasmusbrug but I kind of like it. One huge plus is that it is shorter and lower so it is a lot less work to cross and it doesn't wobble as much when cars cross it. It is also a fair bit shorter than Erasmusbrug because it just crosses to that little island in the middle of the Maas.
The little island is different from a lot of the rest of Rotterdam. There are little parks and lots and lots of trees, so it is a lot greener than the area where I live. I think it is also quite a bit more expensive than were I live as well. A lot of people had lots and lots of plants in their apartments and balconies. It made a really nice view. This is a bunch of apartments right on the north side of the island. I actually stood on the bridge to take these pictures. It was warm enough that it was nice to walk in the shade of all of the trees on the island. It was very peaceful.
This is a bridge that you can use to get off of the island sometimes, but not today. I have never seen a bridge that was raised quite like this but it is pretty interesting looking. I also don't know what it is used for. There aren't any tracks leading up to it so I don't think it can be trains or trams, and the other bridge seems to handle pedestrian and road traffic well so I wouldn't think it would be needed for that either. But in any case, it wasn't being used when I went by.
This is a view of the bridge I actually crossed over on, taken while standing under the bridge above. I don't know what those green turrets are made of (I assume copper), or why they were put there, but it looked like you could just go inside and sit on benches inside them and watch the river if you wanted. I didn't though, because I was sure you were allowed to, and I didn't want to get yelled at by the often-times scary looking politie (police).
This is a cafe, just the other side of the bridge, back on the mainland. Since I don't think the Mayflower ever docked here, I think that we have to classify this as shameless self-promotionalism.
This place was called the "Zebra Zone." I do not think that the sculptor ever saw a zebra. He may have once seen a giraffe, or a dinosaur, and thought it was a zebra, but I don't think he ever saw a real zebra. I photographed this while I was waiting to cross a bridge that had been raised to let a boat through. I couldn't get a good picture of it raised, though, because I was at a bad angle--it kept just looking like a hill.
This crowd of people approaching from the direction of the bridge gate-house is the back-up of traffic that occurred while the bridge was raised. The bridge building itself (I do not know its original purpose) looks like it has apartments in it now. I think that it could be pretty neat to live in there, and I bet you have a pretty good view, but I bet that that bridge can be pretty noisy and I don't think I would like the traffic going right under my room.
While I was walking along, I found the really nice part of Rotterdam. There are lots of little park areas and little bits of grass and things. You don't really notice that you are surrounded by concrete and paving stones until you see some grass and realize that you haven't seen it for a while. It was nice to walk around areas that I hadn't seen before. It was a beautiful day, and it was a really pleasant and picturesque walk around the city.
One of the girls from class lives on the very top floor of one of Stadswonen's other student apartment buildings. There is a large balcony that circles the top floor (once you ride up in the elevator you actually have to go back outside to get to her apartment) and she has a really magnificent view. Sitting at her kitchen table, she can look out, through her french doors, and see the entire Rotterdam skyline. I am a little jealous, even if she does have to share with three other people.
If you squint a little, and click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see Erasmusbrug, Williamsbrug (which is the pinkish-red bridge in front of the larger, white Erasmusbrug), the Euromast (which at one point was the tallest structure in the Netherlands), the Unilever building (as in the soap people), which is the one that looks really out of balance and which have I pointed out before, and a whole lot of other buildings. You can probably also almost make out that part of the land across the Maas (the river that you can see) is an island.
Friday was the most beautiful day that we have had since I got to the Netherlands. It was lovely just to sit out on the balcony and look out over the city and just chat. I got more sun than I have had in three weeks and my nose even got a little pink.
Since it was so nice, I decided to walk home, and I am glad that I did, because it was lovely and I got to see bits of Rotterdam that I hadn't known existed before but, on the other hand, I estimate that, what with one thing and another, I walked about 10 miles on Friday, so I was a little tired out.
I have attached a picture of a map, with part of my route marked out in green, to give an idea of part of the way that I went. You can see the Erasmusbrug on the left, the Williamsbrug on the right, and the little island in the middle. The little island is called Noordereiland. My place is more or less south-ish and it isn't included on this map because this map just covers central Rotterdam. The Erasmus Woudestein Campus is off to the right/east a ways and is also not included on this map.
One thing that I saw that I thought was interesting was this pretty, tall church. If you notice the blue banner hanging on the wall, I think that this must be the Dutch version of VBS.
I think that I have mentioned before that the Netherlands are full of canals. This means that it is also full of bridges, many of which are the kind that lift up to allow larger boats through. This bridge is the Admeraltiesbrug and those are some kind of neat boats that were in the canal next to it. The yellow crane thingy is how they raise and lower the bridge and there is one on each side of the road, even though I only got one in the shot.
This is "De Majesteit" which appears to be some kind of cruise boat. What is interesting about it though, is that it appears to be a steam-powered paddle boat, which I think of mostly in connection with the Mississippi and Tom Sawyer.
This is the Williamsbrug Bridge which I walked over on my way home. It is definitely not as fantastical and bizarre as the Erasmusbrug but I kind of like it. One huge plus is that it is shorter and lower so it is a lot less work to cross and it doesn't wobble as much when cars cross it. It is also a fair bit shorter than Erasmusbrug because it just crosses to that little island in the middle of the Maas.
The little island is different from a lot of the rest of Rotterdam. There are little parks and lots and lots of trees, so it is a lot greener than the area where I live. I think it is also quite a bit more expensive than were I live as well. A lot of people had lots and lots of plants in their apartments and balconies. It made a really nice view. This is a bunch of apartments right on the north side of the island. I actually stood on the bridge to take these pictures. It was warm enough that it was nice to walk in the shade of all of the trees on the island. It was very peaceful.
This is a bridge that you can use to get off of the island sometimes, but not today. I have never seen a bridge that was raised quite like this but it is pretty interesting looking. I also don't know what it is used for. There aren't any tracks leading up to it so I don't think it can be trains or trams, and the other bridge seems to handle pedestrian and road traffic well so I wouldn't think it would be needed for that either. But in any case, it wasn't being used when I went by.
This is a view of the bridge I actually crossed over on, taken while standing under the bridge above. I don't know what those green turrets are made of (I assume copper), or why they were put there, but it looked like you could just go inside and sit on benches inside them and watch the river if you wanted. I didn't though, because I was sure you were allowed to, and I didn't want to get yelled at by the often-times scary looking politie (police).
This is a cafe, just the other side of the bridge, back on the mainland. Since I don't think the Mayflower ever docked here, I think that we have to classify this as shameless self-promotionalism.
This place was called the "Zebra Zone." I do not think that the sculptor ever saw a zebra. He may have once seen a giraffe, or a dinosaur, and thought it was a zebra, but I don't think he ever saw a real zebra. I photographed this while I was waiting to cross a bridge that had been raised to let a boat through. I couldn't get a good picture of it raised, though, because I was at a bad angle--it kept just looking like a hill.
This crowd of people approaching from the direction of the bridge gate-house is the back-up of traffic that occurred while the bridge was raised. The bridge building itself (I do not know its original purpose) looks like it has apartments in it now. I think that it could be pretty neat to live in there, and I bet you have a pretty good view, but I bet that that bridge can be pretty noisy and I don't think I would like the traffic going right under my room.
While I was walking along, I found the really nice part of Rotterdam. There are lots of little park areas and little bits of grass and things. You don't really notice that you are surrounded by concrete and paving stones until you see some grass and realize that you haven't seen it for a while. It was nice to walk around areas that I hadn't seen before. It was a beautiful day, and it was a really pleasant and picturesque walk around the city.
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