Going Dutch Blog

After 22 hours without sleep or showers, we are finally here at 5 Zandpad clean and content, Facebooking away in the hostel lounge with euro dance tunes playing in the background. Jet lag is no joke though, and we all need some sleep.

Our flight went smoothly, with great weather, good service, in-flight movies and food. just no sleep. We had some adventures getting from the airport, first when none of my credit/debit cards worked in the train ticket machine, second when two of our group week caught by the closing tram doors, and third when my international cell phone disappeared.

All’s well that ends well though. I used my personal euro cash to get train tickets, Teela and Jamie found their way back dragging their luggage, and the cell phone—well, I’m trying to be philosophical about that. At least we have other phones for emergency use.

Our hostel rooms are orderly and clean, in a quiet neighborhood near a beautiful park. We had dinner at the hostel—baked chicken, cream of asparagus soup, salad, frites (Google it), and peach mousse (yum!). Oh, and there’s 16th century canal houses everywhere. Tonight we sleep. Tomorrow we start classes.

I’ve been planning this trip for about a year, and now it’s finally happening. Tomorrow morning ten other people and I will converge on the Nashville airport to begin our adventure together in the Netherlands. Today I handed off a freelance project, picked up some great-looking Euro bills from the bank, got a haircut, worried over flight times and cell phones, packed and re-packed, and—this is the best part—went to see the latest Pixar flick with Karen and our girls, and out for sushi afterward.

The film is Up, about a bitter old man who ties balloons to his house to get out of his bulldozed neighborhood and fulfill his life-long travel dreams. I’m going to miss being away from the girls for a month, but I’m thrilled to be going to Europe. This has been a life-long dream of mine, and since Karen will be joining me on Thursday, we can enjoy Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, and Breda together, instead of deferring our dreams the way Carl and Ellie do in the film. I’m also looking forward to teaching and learning from our nine students. Some of them I know quite well, while others I just met in March, but I have feeling that we’re going to get along well.

Of course I know about Amsterdram’s reputation for college students, and I worry about that. But, like Karl, I’m learning to leave predictability behind, let go of the ground, and fly.

As we get ready for the trip, here some of the movies art and design fans will enjoy with Dutch connections. The check marks show my ratings.

Black Book: A beautiful Jewish woman joins the Dutch resistance during WWII. This gripping Hollywood-style flick told in English, but with a Dutch director, star, and story line. √√√√

Helvetica: This documentary about the most ubiquitous typeface of the late 20th century includes shots in Amsterdam and and interview with Dutch modernist designer Wim Crouwel.√√√

Girl with a Pearl Earring: A beautiful young woman becomes Vermeer’s secret muse. Great view of Dutch life in the 17th Century. √√√

Operation Amsterdam: This 1959 spy film based in fact that shows how British agents worked to keep diamonds from the Nazis. Diamonds are a big Dutch industry, and this flick is pretty exciting. √√√

Dutch Light: This 2003 Dutch documentary explores the mythical Dutch light, and it’s role in the work of Rembrandt and other 17th century masters. Made by the de Kroon brothers, two Dutch filmmakers. √√√

Amsterdam fact: Forty years ago in March of 1969, Beatle John Lennon and conceptual artist Yoko Ono spent part of their honey moon in bed at the Amsterdam Hilton hotel. That wouldn’t have been very interesting itself, except that they invited the press in daily and gave interviews in their jammies, sitting in bed and talking about ending the Vietnam War. This year the Amsterdam Hilton let the public visit their room, as covered in this news story and detailed in the lyrics of the Beatles’ single “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”

“Drove from Paris to the Amsterdam Hilton / Talking in our beds for a week / The news people said, say what’re you doing in bed? / I said we’re only trying to get us some peace”

Wikipedia says: “Knowing their March 20, 1969 marriage would be a huge press event, John and Yoko decided to use the publicity to promote world peace. After their other stunts, such as the nude cover of the Two Virgins album, the press were expecting them to be having sex, but instead the couple were sitting in bed—in John’s words “like Angels”—talking about peace with signs over their bed reading ‘Hair Peace’ and ‘Bed Peace’.”

In 1989 got to meet Yoko Ono when had an exhibit of her conceptual art work at Cranbrook Academy of Art, where I helped screen print her works onto the walls of the museum gallery. Later she talked to us about being artists, and she taught us “how to fly” by hopping off a stepladder.