Happy Independence Day all the way from the Netherlands!
Today we went to Den Haag (The Hague), which is the capital of South Holland.
The weather was absolutely gorgeous in spite of the rain predicted in the
forecast, so we stayed on the beach where the North Sea touches the coast. The
water was cold but so impeccably clear that you could hunt for seashells
through the water. We wandered up and down the boardwalk, ate seafood, jumped
on trampolines, and grabbed ice cream cones on the pier. I don't think we could
have spent the 4th of July in a more perfect way.
After a long work day of playing with kids and learning
Dutch, we went and toured the Amsterdam Arena which is home to the AFC AJAX
soccer team. The team is sponsored by Mercedes-Benz so each member of the tem
has a car parked there and we found out that they are not allowed to drive
anything else or it is a breach of contract! Another thing that was crazy was
the difference between the visitor and home locker rooms. The visitor room was
nice but completely bare. We were told that it only has 10 showers when there
are 11 people that play, so was it done on purpose or was it actually an
accident? No one will ever know!
When in Amsterdam and the surrounding cities, the one thing you'll notice is that there are bikes everywhere you look. Bicycles are the most common mode of transportation here; there are even lanes on the streets dedicated just for bikes. The bikes always have the right of way, and, as many of our tour guides have said, "Hear a bell, run like h***!" You'll see all sorts of bikes here, from tandem bikes, bikes with baskets, and even bikes with baby seats. Seeing how huge the bicycle culture is here makes me feel like we should utilize this system more often back home.
Tomorrow we begin our volunteer training and finding our
locations, so hopefully our first few days using the local transit system have
prepared us well! I can't believe we only have a week left here, and I hope it
lasts as long as possible!
Afscheid,
Emily Rabalais
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