Day 6: Your world..Twisted

Today was the big Rotterdam day. Unfortunately, I had a minor crisis when my hearing aid would not power up when I woke up for the day. As I need adequate hearing levels in order to truly function in the hearing world, I had to forego the morning train to Rotterdam and the bike ride so that I could look into getting my hearing aid problem diagnosed and hopefully fixed. As it turns out, we were able to eliminate 2 possible reasons for failure, but were still left with a dead hearing aid. The only possible solution the hearing center was able to offer was dehydration tablets in case moisture had gotten inside the case and that was what was affecting its performance. However, 12 hours after putting the aid to dry, I was still left with no success.

While trying to figure out what was left that I could salvage by way of class trip experiences, I went down to the Chocolaterie and cheese shop to explore these Dutch specialities. It was such an amazing sensory experience in both places, and even more so going almost directly from the chocolaterie into the cheese shop. I ended up leaving with some selections from both places, both to savor on the remainder of the trip, and also to take back with me to the states. Before the chocolaterie, I also stopped by the nearby bakery to pick up some highly recommended cookies. I felt a little more confident in my ability to interact doing all of these exchanges without my hearing aid, but I definitely have to thank Jessica for helping me sort through this maze of half hearing. We both decided to make The Hague or bust, and so began my first experience catching a train at Amsterdam Centraal Station. We weren’t able to get the intercity train, so the sneltrain that was hitting more of the stops offered a chance to see some other areas of Holland, and we both loved seeing the tulip gardens, as well as the canal structure and green spaces as we made our way south to de Hauge. The gentleman that shared the compartment with us lived in de Hauge, and was also taking the same bus to get home that we would need to reach Hanneke’s home. He provided some insights about the architecture and buildings we passed on the bus, for example the Dutch Parliament building, as De Haauge is the political and legal capital of the Netherlands. After learning this and being aware of Hanneke’s involvement with governmental affairs, it helped to explain why she and Hans settled here.

Because of the hearing loss mentioned earlier, I am having a harder time recounting the verbal exchanges that occurred during our visit, but it was still very enjoyable nonetheless. We had a second shot at herring tastings, and I was able to enjoy the experience much more in this setting, with the proper seasonal accessories and a strong Dutch Bols to watch down the fish and tomato afterwards. Of course, I have a very large weak spot in my belly for cheese and wine, and we were definitely not disappointed with the Gouda and Cumin/pepper cheeses that were paired with a very mellow but smooth red wine - a very tasteful and well thought out combination. It may not have appeared to be much food, but none of us were really even thinking about dinner once we were back in Amsterdam, thanks to the excellent hospitality of our guests. I am really glad we brought the extra bat to give to them, because it was obvious to see that Hanneke really shared the mutual enjoyment of our visit, and she was very well informed on a variety of issues. Having these interactions in both formal and informal settings (ie her home and also the Zuiderkerk with Frans Dubbeldam) really help to make the conceptual beliefs and especially their differences very evident, but not in a way that leaves no room to learn from them and explore the ways these differences might offer solutions to one or the other. It was good to see that while the Dutch have good idealism, Hanneke did mention that there is still a tension between the ideals and the reality - as she mentioned in the right to freedom of speech and freedom of religion, but that bringing harm to another person was prohibited. This is a classic example that the United States sees also, especially reviewed and considered by those in the Libertarian party who focus their party goals and values around such a scenario, and offer policy solutions similar to those of the Dutch government, but more conservative, despite being an extreme party in the United States.


I started a dialog in class after we watched the movie on Amsterdam’s policy on sex and drugs, Sex, Drugs, and Democracy. Part of the comments were being raised from the effect of the Nazi occupation roughly 60 years ago on the embrace of tolerance in the Dutch population. I raised the question of whether it could be argued that the U.S. went through this same embrace of tolerance back when we had our Revolution after being occupied by the British, and in a way we saw this tolerance later by the African American population being non enslaved in Northeastern United States. There is definitely a huge gap in historical age between the countries though, and that is where I start to wonder what could be concluded. I would hesitate to say that the Dutch have ALWAYS been as tolerant as they are viewed today to be. They have been around for hundreds of years, and also went through the Protestant Reformations that swept Europe during the Enlightment and other previous time periods.