Finally, a day off...

After four days in Geneva, Switzerland, sight seeing, eating out, meeting with our European Director and, on one evening, sneaking across the border into France, fellow BVSer Solomon and I are finally here in Alkmaar. The town is like a fairytale land, and living in-town has made it easier to learn my way around. The Dutch are kind people, and I seem to fit in... as some start right-off speaking Dutch when I meet them, ha!

I finally have a day off after 9 days of much activity and discussion here at the office. Along with the high-spirited, daily work in the office the Gender Working Group and the Representative Consultative Committee, including IFOR's President, have both been meeting here in separate sessions over the last four days. I have been interacting often with both groups since they arrived and have made some more new friends.

The people on these committees and I are all from different countries: Italy, India, Wales, Columbia, Madagascar, Austria, Canada and, of course, the Netherlands. Everyone seems to be having a lot of fun getting to know each other and I'm especially enjoying the good feelings and laughter coming from the mix. Marion, RCC member from Austria, and I are planning a bike ride to the ocean tomorrow and Sashila, a Doctor of Medicine, invited me to visit her home in India. I was also able to get my first publication out on schedule while this all happened.

Naomi, the previous Communications Officer, showed me around town last Friday; we saw the world famous Cheese Market, hundreds of restaurants and shops and checked out some very nearby grocery stores. I also have a lot of publication deadlines and meetings coming up, but there's only a 37.5 hrs./wk for everyone.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Peace Soup

Image
On July 30, 2006, after more than a year of preparation, Stan Morris left behind his home in Sacramento, California and committed himself to full-time volunteer assignments. This decision would lead him to small towns and cities on the East Coast of the United States and of Western Europe, living for nearly five years in New York, Germany, and The Netherlands... Both the musicians of  Musicians Without Borders and our own IFOR staff have been asking me about us having a going-away 'borrel' (cocktail party) in my honor. I continued to tell them for weeks "absolutely not," as I dislike that sort of thing and that I would rather "just walk out the door like on any-other day." Since it's now also Easter week, my dear friends (more likely Arjan and Lilian) decided to have a Pasen luncheon, instead. This then, of course, soon turned into the inevitable going-away borrel: Merle had prepared a large pot of "peace soup," in reference to a joke
Read more

Wijkfeest Spoorbuurt

Several weeks ago I found a bright-green flyer in our mailbox, obviously hand delivered and stating that there would be another Wijkfeest Spoorbuurt this year on Saturday, June 14. The flyer was packed with information about the 12 hour event -- in Dutch, of course, so it took days for me to figure out just what was happening and where. Turns out it was our annual neighborhood ( Spoorbuurt ) get-together, held at a primary school called Bello a few blocks away on Snaarmanslaan. The activities included: the Opzoomeren, including the passing of the Vergulde Tuinkabouter (golden garden gnome), a BBQ, snuffelmarkt (flea market), stratenvolleybaltoernooi and in the evening an open-air concert called Single Tunes (local musicians, singers, dancers and actors). My neighbors Mereik, Irene, Rus, Jong, Jon and Annaliese talked me into joining the volleyball tournament (6 games in all). Later, the "wisselbeker" (trophy) was awarded, Spoorstraat had won the tournament last year but
Read more

It's back to New York

Now it appears that I'll be coming back "across the pond," as they often say here, on 7 April. It's difficult to maintain a visa for long in Europe in my capacity, and I've already been here for 2 1/2 years. As such, IFOR is sending me to our US branch in Upper Nyack, NY ( FOR USA ) for at least 3 months, time enough to renew my visa. I'll be living at and working from  Shadowcliff , a 42 room mansion and FOR USA's headquarters / conference center. I've already ordered a high-end DELL laptop to take along, with all my publication software included, so I can continue working without interruption. I also have a new assistant, Kim (originally from Phoenix, residing in North Holland), who will handle from the office what I won't be able execute online. Since returning from Norway in December I've been exploring more of Holland's cities, like Maastricht (one of the oldest) and Rotterdam (one of the newest), and visited the Rijksmuseum in Ams
Read more