A slide show of the last three days
Today was
Pentecostal Monday. So I've been in Holland 8 days and they've had three holidays. Everything was closed--grocery stores, offices, etc. it is the day that the holy spirit came done with tongues on its head to reveal the
resurrection to the apostles in the languages of the world so that they could go out into the world and spread the story of Jesus. The Dutch were mainly Protestant-the Dutch Reform Church in Brooklyn on
Flatbush Avenue followed the tenets of Luther and embodied the Protestant work ethic. A gentleman explained to me that during the 80 Years War (maybe the 1600?) many Catholics ended up in Southern Holland. The Dutch have always been a tolerant people and somehow the celebration of
Pentecostal Monday worked its way into the fabric of the Dutch Reformed Protestants and became a national holiday.
I decided to celebrate the resurrection with a sacrocranial aroma therapy massage. This is my second treatment from Yogatha, an amazing yoga teacher and healer who left Italy when she fell in love with a Dutch man and settled here. In the short time I have known her, she has helped me with my practice of yoga and with relaxation. her studio is around the corner from Steven's apartment.
All the traffic pictures in the slide show are from her corner.
When I left her studio, I wandered into a new nail salon still under construction. Certainly before I leave for Cannes, I should indulge in a manicure/pedicure. A handsome, young Asian man greeted me. Two men were working on the facade of the building-one turned out to be his father. The quiet woman inside was his mother. He showed me his state-of-the-art pedicure chair and proceeded to tell me how he would transform my feet. We chatted a bit more and struck a deal for tomorrow morning. His mom is Vietnamese--his dad Chinese. His mom left Vietnam after the war and went to Hong Kong where she met his father. They fell in love and came to Amsterdam to raise their family. I can't wait to have my nails done and hear some more of the story.
I came home for lunch since I was only around the corner. I made a salad with avocado, mango, pepper, walnuts, apples. I took my lemonade, some bread and cheese and some corriander olives and went to the park for a picnic. I decided to have my picnic in the shade so I went up to the terrace of the film museum's cafe. The service isn't very good in most places. Maybe there's no incentive to hurry up and get to the next customer since tipping is very hit or miss. At the cafe, it's best to stand in line and get your own coffee then find a seat. Your table has a number and a waiter can bring that coffee to you, but it takes forever. I have bussed my own table there on more than one occassion. Today the only seat in the shade at an occupied table. I asked if I could sit and the guy looked up and said yes. I logged onto my computer and began to work. Before long, we were talking and some three hours later when I left to meet Steven for the movies, we had covered global warming, the joys of travel, politics in America, Holland, love, meditation, music. He showed me his videos on Youtube-he's a musician who plays the digito
I showed him Josh's videos and Julie's imdb page which posts RestStop2-now out on dvd. The girl can scream. I'm going to order it later.
Steven and I went to see Navario a Luis Bunuel film that won in Cannes in 1959. I have to admit before I got here and read about the Bunuel retrospective, I had only seen his later films-Belle Jour, etc I didn't even know he was Spanish. His ironic element of comedy find a way into this unrelenting Jesus story--the film is quite amazing.
After the movie, Steven and I walked over to Leidensplein-a canal away from where we are and had dinner at the Palladin-a very elegant restaurant with wonderful food and service. I do like service-excellent service. I had a traditional Dutch meal-white asparagus, smoked salmon and a hard boiled egg with a rich dressing on the side. Coffee ver krig which means wrong coffee--coffee with milk since the Dutch drink it black.
We talked about many things and finally focused on articles of impeachment for bush and prsecution of some nature for his cronies. Hey the world court-war crimes, class action. When we got home, Steven said we should call Nancy Pelosi's office. He called DC but it was after 5 so he was undaunted. he called her California office. The link below is a letter he wrote the following morning and posted on his website mostlyoped. It's a good read.
Pelosi's Choice and Legacy : ----By Steven P. Delco, May 13, 2008
This is the BeurB, the stock exchange of Amsterdam- if you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see the ticker tape is running across the top of the middle window. At then end of the day, men in suits and women in wildly inappropriate shoes ride home from their day at the office, talking and texting on their phones. Their bikes are practical because after all, they park on the street. There's a pedestrian lane, a bike lane, a trolley lane and a car lane with traffic signals for all.
