Christmas lights in Deurne

One thing we love about Deurne is that it’s surrounded by agriculture. We only have to bike five minutes to get to farmland, and in the cool evening or morning air we can smell the pig farms. It’s a lot like Iowa!

A group of farmers in and near Deurne celebrate Christmas by putting up lights on their farms, and they publish a driving route that can be taken to view their masterpieces. The light tour made a nice after-dinner drive for us last night.

The tour starts outside of town with a traffic sign warning motorists to watch out for babies in mangers.
Then there is a “kerststal” (nativity scene) in a shed.
Along the route there were plenty of predictable tractors lined with lights
And an illuminated truck that says “happy holidays”
A neat European double-bladed plow done up in lights
And nothing’s puts you in the Christmas spirit like a manure spreader decked out with lights.
Several dairies featured illuminated cows
A horse farm had a horse and sleigh made out of lights
There was corn
A turkey farm
And one farm had both chickens and vegetables.
With all these pretty lights, how could we choose a favorite? Since I’m a mycologist, I was naturally drawn to the mushroom farm, with an illuminated smiley mushroom surrounded by a congregation of overgrown wooden mushrooms.
But it’s hard to beat a farrowing operation with anatomically correct girl and boy pigs in love.

A day trip to Amsterdam

On Saturday, Dec 13, we took the train into Amsterdam for a day on the town. Amsterdam is only an hour and 40 minutes away by train, so it makes a nice uitstapje (little trip).
We started our tour with a visit to a half-size replica of Noah’s Ark. A Dutch builder felt compelled to build Noah’s Ark as an evangelistic tool, and after finishing the construction he has sailed the boat to several ports in the Netherlands. It is currently docked in Amsterdam.
Inside the ark are several displays about various stories from the Bible, as well as fake animals. After the ark, we visited the Rijksmuseum, the most famous art museum in Holland. It contains a large collection of masterpieces by Dutch artists such as Rembrant and Vermeer, including Rembrant’s famous “Night Watch” (this picture is from the Rijksmuseum website).
We also got to see a piece of modern art called “For the Love of God” by Damien Hirst, on display for only a limited time. This piece is a casting of a human skull, covered with 8601 diamonds. It is said to be the most expensive piece of art ever made. We were not impressed. It got its name from what the artist's mother exclaimed when he told her he was going to cover a skull with diamonds. This picture is from Wikipedia.
Next we went to the Van Gogh Museum. I enjoyed seeing how his artistic style developed through the course of his career.
Night comes early at this time of year, so we enjoyed the many Christmas lights before heading back to the train station for our ride home.

Christmas Market in Cologne, Germany

On Saturday, December 6 we visited Cologne, Germany. Many European cities have Christmas Markets in the weeks leading up to Christmas. The tradition started in Germany, and Cologne is a hotbed of Christmas Market excitement, with not one but six overcrowded Markets running simultaneously.

Christmas Markets contain dozens of small booths selling handicrafts, adorable overpriced gifts, and food. You can shop all day long, sipping gluwein (warm spiced wine) as you go.

We started at the large market below the Cologne Cathedral. The huge cathedral is my favorite thing in Germany, and worth a trip itself.
The market by the cathedral had round booths.
This market had more food than any of the others, so we indulged in traditional German fare, such as pretzels and bratworst. For some reason, the concept of long buns to accompany long sausages has not made it to Germany, so brats are usually served on round rolls, with the sausage sticking out both ends.
I liked the cute bread people being sold at a bakery.
Our second market, a few blocks away, featured an ice rink and lots of greenery and wooden statues for decoration.
The restrooms were marked with uncomfortable-looking elves.
We went to four of the markets in total, and we enjoyed browsing through the wooden toys and handblown glass. Mostly we enjoyed eating (the quantity of food stands reminded me of the Iowa State Fair). My favorite treat was a big delicious dumpling-like thing drowning in warm vanilla and cherry sauces. It had an unpronounceable German name, and unfortunately we devoured it before we thought to take a photo. Ah well, the markets run all month, so perhaps we’ll have reason to go back soon.

Josh becomes Zwarte Piet!

Last night the John Deere factory in Horst (where Josh currently works) held their annual Sinterklaas party for all employees and their families. Of course Sinterklaas (the Dutch version of Santa Claus) had to make an appearance. Sinterklaas is always accompanied by one or several assistants called “Zwarte Piet” (Black Pete) (see the last blog for an explanation). Josh had the honor of being a Zwarte Piet!

In the late afternoon, the engineering office at John Deere is transformed into a dressing room, as two men and three women metamorphose into Sinterklaas and four Zwarte Piets. Some engineers still attempt to work on their computers, but that’s hard to do when colleagues are wearing ridiculous costumes. Zwarte Piet requires a lot of makeup and costume parts, so several women flit around getting all the Piets ready.

Makeup, leggings, pants, shirt, gloves, collar, wig, hat, more makeup to touch up the smudges…Finally, Josh has been transformed into Zwarte Piet and he’s ready to go! He looks a bit nervous, I think.
At this point he asks, “So, what is Zwarte Piet supposed to do, anyway?” Kind of late to ask that! Turns out it’s a big job! No wonder he’s nervous.

Downstairs in the cafeteria, all the party-goers have assembled. The adults snack on coffee and speculaas (a gingerbread-like cookie) while the Master of Ceremonies and two Zwarte Piets get the kids riled up with games and songs. Everyone can’t wait to see Sinterklaas.
Finally, there he is! Sinterklaas makes his grand appearance, accompanied by the other two Zwarte Piets! There’s my favorite Tall Zwarte Piet. Cheering fills the air.
Our Tall Zwarte Piet is very busy. First, he has to help lead the children in a song and dance. It was in Dutch so I only caught a few words, but it was something about a rabbit with a flea on its nose and it involved hopping around like a bunny.
Then, after wheeling the big cart of presents over to Sinterklaas, Tall Zwarte Piet makes the rounds handing out pepernoten, tiny gingersnap-like cookies.
Robert’s daughter Lauren, whose is also American, commented to me, “Doesn’t the tall Piet in red look kind of like Josh?” I thought she had him figured out, but she was still quite hesitant to accept cookies from him.
Of course, even though I’m enamored with the Tall Zwarte Piet, the star of the show is really Sinterklaas. He hands out gifts to all the children and shakes their hands before leaving.
What a fun experience! I had never imagined that moving to the Netherlands would involve seeing my husband become Zwarte Piet.

Sinterklaas is here!

After a two-week trip back to Iowa to visit family (and work in Ankeny), we returned to the Netherlands on Saturday, November 15. This happened to be the same date that Sinterklaas arrived in the Netherlands from his home in Spain. Sinterklaas is the Dutch tradition from which our American Santa Claus developed. His arrival in the Netherlands starts the Sinterklaas season, which ends on December 5, the eve of his name day.

Sinterklaas (“Sint” for short) is another name for Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children. He wears the clothes of a bishop and carries a bishop’s staff. He lives in the south of Spain most of the year, but in mid-November each year he sails his boat to the coast of the Netherlands. This year (on Saturday) he landed in Alkmere amid great fanfare. After his initial landing in the country, he quickly makes the rounds to all the towns, riding on his white horse.

Sinterklaas is always accompanied by helpers that are each called “Zwarte Piet” (Black Pete). Zwarte Piets are Dutchmen (or women) dressed up in colorful Spanish garb and wearing blackface makeup and curly black wigs. Some sources say that originally these helpers were supposed to be dark-skinned Moors from Spain; other sources say that the Piets were from Africa; some say that the Piets were devils who had been converted to good by Sinterklaas but they retained their “evil” dark coloring. As you can imagine, many people (primarily outside the Netherlands) consider the Zwarte Piet character to be racist. Some modern parents explain that Zwarte Piet is dark from going down chimneys and getting covered with soot.

We were fortunate to see Sinterklaas and his entourage arrive in downtown Helmond on Sunday on our way home from church. The whole town turned out for the event! First, there was music, including a chorus of children wearing Zwarte Piet clothes:

Then, a group of Zwarte Piets showed up, shaking hands and handing out oranges:
There was a ragtag marching band of Zwarte Piets:
And some Zwarte Piets on Segways, accompanied by police:
Finally, Sinterklaas came down the road! He's a lot thinner than the American Santa Claus.
After arriving amid great cheering, Sint got off his horse, climbed up on stage, and addressed the crowd, with the help of some local radio celebrities. Then children could line up to go on stage and shake his hand.

That was about as much excitement as my jet-lagged brain could handle.

Sinterklaas will continue to make the rounds at holiday parties and department stores until December 5. In the weeks before then, children can put their shoes out by the fireplace (or heater) with a carrot or hay for the horse, and Sint may visit and leave them a treat, such as chocolate coins or marzipan shaped like little fruits. Naughty children receive salt, or if they’re really bad, Piet takes them back to Spain in a gunnysack.

December 5 is the big gift-giving day here in Holland. On that evening, families gather together and Sint leaves a bag of presents on the doorstep, each accompanied by a poem about the recipient.

Christmas (December 25) is more of a religious holiday here, with less commercialism and hype, although that has been changing in recent years. It will be interesting to see how a Dutch Kerstmas compares to the American Christmas we’re used to.

Autumn in Holland

Fall is in full swing and we’ve been enjoying the changing colors and cool weather. Although it has rained a lot some weeks, when the sun is shining it is very pretty here.

Our garden includes a bright yellow maple and a red smoke tree:

On Sunday October 12 we went out to lunch in Belgium with some friends from church. Cuisine in the northern part of Belgium features meat and vegetables, covered with a big pile of thin fries.
Here I am relaxing with Jonathan, Nora and Dirkjan’s baby. My friend Evelyn is holding Emily, who belongs to Elly and Anthonius.
Afterwards, we took a walk along a canal through some nearby woods. The weather was perfect, and the leaves were in their prime.
On Saturday, October 18, we made an outing to the Eifel National Park in Germany.
The park includes lovely hiking trails up and down small mountains and along streams.
Here we are after climbing to the top of an observation tower. There was a nice view of trees, a village, and horse farms.
It must be fall if the local farmers are harvesting crops. Josh noticed sugar beets being harvested recently on the way home from work. It’s interesting to see crops other than corn and soybeans.
We hope everyone is having a pleasant autumn!