It all started in November when we were told they would change the carpets in the corridors of our student house. Each floor even got a chance to pick the colour for their corridor and of course, we didn't want to miss this extraordinary gift of democracy. We could choose between black, dark blue, light blue and red. There were only a couple of us that represented our floor but we all agreed it shouldn't be too dark – as it would make the corridor too depressive - or too light – as you would have to pay too much attention not to destroy it too quickly (highly important in student life) -, so black and light blue didn't even stand a chance. It then became a problem, because the three guys were for dark blue and the three girls for red. Luckily, Vincent showed at the right moment and voted with the female part of the house, so red it was. The guys were still complaining a bit, but eventually they melted or simply gave up.

Those couple of days that there was no carpet, after they'd ripped of the old one and before placing the new one, it was really weird to walk around. The corridor echoed as if you walked in a huge empty warehouse.


When the shiny new carpet finally arrived, the old doubt rose again. The guys found it way too bright, but they came around pretty quickly when they realized it was really soft and great for playing corridor-soccer on it.






Discussing our new red carpet, we came up with an idea we should throw a party in evening dresses walking up and down and posing at the red carpet. By the time we finally picked a date, it was already December, so we wanted to join the party with celebrating Santa Claus (Sinterklaas - 6th December). Although seven people signed in, which was already quite a lot given there's ten of us, we wanted everything or nothing. So we gave it another go and eventually agreed upon a date when everybody, and then really all ten of us, could make it. The D-day was December 22nd. So yeah, what it eventually came down to was a Merry-December-with-all-its-holidays-and-gifts house party.


Maaike was the driving spirit of it all. She sent out invitations, in which she informed us on the dress code, how much everyone should contribute and that everyone was supposed to buy a present. Besides, she put together a dinner menu, bought decoration and was the chef on the D-day itself.





As exciting and wonderful as it was, for me it was also stressful. Because I don't really own a fancy party outfit. So, beside buying a gift, I also needed to get myself a dress and shoes and whatever it was necessary to come across as festive as possible. As you know, this is not really my thing, that's why all the stress. I don't like shopping, definitely not if I have to do it without my fashion-oriented sister, let alone, shopping for dresses and high-heeled shoes. Actually, I needn't have bought high-heeled shoes, but well ... I did. Hahaha.



But first thing first. We started the preparation already around 1 pm when we did the groceries. Then we started cooking and put up the decoration.












By the time everything was done, we (but especially Maaike) were already exhausted. But once we put on our festive garments, we came back to life. The whole thing was simply remarkable. It was most mesmerising to see men in suits and women in dresses, especially Mojca with violet nails in a black dress and extraordinary high heels. We were ravishing!


Unfortunately, the photos aren't that good because the light was dimmed and my camera is really not up to such challenge and if I used flash it wasn't all that nice either, so … my apologies. So, I guess it's on me to tell you (and on you to believe me) what great food we munched on: tortilla rolls with different spreads and a very tasty shrimp cocktail for appetizer, pork rolled meat with mashed potatoes for main course, and a yummy cheese cake with cranberry sauce for dessert. And yep, we made this all by ourselves under the command of Maaike. It was absolutely delicious!







After dinner we threw dice for gifts. We were each supposed to give out ten euro per gift but you could of course buy more gifts, which most of us did. So we had lots of gifts to choose from. However, the trick was that once you got a certain amount of gifts, they were automatically yours. Once all the gifts were gone, each of us took a paper with a task, for example: change place with the youngest or give your biggest gift to the one that has the fewest gifts and so on. One of the tasks was also to arrange the housemates according to age, where the only thing they didn't have second thoughts about was me being the oldest - at this point, I'm not sure whether to put down a smiley or a sad face, hahaha.
I don't recall what I was so upset about. Was it that at some point I only had one gift or was it all these age-related tasks all night long that I found so frustrating?!



Well, at the end, some ended up with no gifts at all, but then we shared some so there were no hard feelings. On the contrary, we had sooooo much fun. Especially with the gift that Ron got – an inflatable sumo wrestler suit. If I tell you Ron is the smallest and thinnest of them all, you can imagine it was all the more hilarious. That also gave the best photos. And the photo session just went on and on and on.






In the meantime, the housemates that hadn't helped with the preparations, did the washing up. Seriously, everything was arranged so well I couldn't believe it. Neither could Maaike. She must have thanked us like a hundred times for having helped her – which I personally found the only normal thing to do (not the thanking part, I mean us helping her) – and explained she hadn't expected us to be so helpful. Anyways, it turned out to be the best party we've had so far! Wait for my farewell party though!

(Vincent, Bas, Sven, Jos, Ron)


(Irene, Erica, Maaike, Janneke, Mojca)


Some of us stayed up and talked the night away. It felt so nice and I felt so at home that I had to take the opportunity to tell them how wonderful people they were and how I wished they would also find such great people were they ever to go live abroad. Of course, my quasi-speech was followed by sighs and laughter and comments that they liked me too. As you can see, I'm in good hands.

I haven't made anything out of clay or any other material for a long, way too long, time. I used to make my own jewellery, gifts for my friends and family and back home I have a whole closet with quasi-artistic material - 'quasi' because it's not artistic in its traditional meaning but can be used as such, that is shells, splinters of broken mirror, pieces of used wax ... you name it.




But then I thought, since I wasn't going to be at home for Christmas and New Year's Eve and all other holidays, I might as well make my own Christmas crib this year. So I went to buy some clay - I hoped I would get the orange one but there was only white available - put on some Christmas songs in the background for the sphere and got myself going. A roommate dropped by from time to time to check on my progress and each time I had something different under my hands. I kept smashing what I'd done waiting for an inspiration, hahaha. I had some kind of idea, it just wasn't ripe yet, hahaha. I needed to knead some more.

This is what it came out.
Though it may strike you as obvious, I'd still like to elaborate on the idea behind the visual representation. It's not that original - overwhelmed by all kinds of Christmas scenes, you get the feeling you've seen everything already - but anyway ...


I imagined the whole scene as God's hand: the figures are not IN his hand but are/make up his hand. The index finger representing Mary and the middle finger representing Joseph together form a victory sign, the same sign as Christ 'uses' in the representations of the Resurrection. My idea behind it, however, was that it is the family that two people create that is the victory for this troubled world when we all search for shelter and safety.
The other three fingers are the worshippers, either the three wise men, the shephers, the angels or simply we, believers, that came to the crib in Bethlehem or/and that keep coming to church.
They all bow to the new-born Jesus child. Jesus lies on God's palm with his arms stretched out in the sign of openness: openness to give and openness to receive. His chest holds a big heart.

May all that is good, warm, peaceful, friendly and loving pour out of his heart into your lives in 2011. May joy & compassion & forgiveness take you over. Knead your own 2011 in the way that it will give you strength, peace and faith.

Much love,
Mojca

Let me tell you something more about the task filling the first position according to its importance, difficulty but also challenge.

One of the best but also the most difficult tasks at the embassy is interpreting, i.e. translating live. I like the challenge and obviously also the torture of putting myself in stressful situations, since being stress-resistant is really not part of my resume skills.

Once in a while I have to go the Dutch parlament to interpret a parliamentary debate about something the embassy is interested in. After all, their job is to provide the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at home with information on Dutch position and point of view in certain matters. For example, the thing they have been most interested in lately is the EU-enlargement: what the status of the candidate states (Turkey, Iceland, but especially Balkan states) is, what the Dutch government thinks about this and what they will consequently support in the EU parliament.

The Dutch board for European issues - representatives of parties and the Minister of Foreign Affairs - comes together once in a while. Their debates are public so this is where I go with the consul to intepret the debate for her and write a report on what each separate party thinks about the issue and what it is that the Foreign Minister thinks. At these meetings it is almost as coming home since there are representatives (ambassadors, consuls and small fish like me, hahaaha) of the embassies of all Balkan states. So, we talk simply our own languages and at the end, we walk up to each other to check whether we got the main points right, hahaha.

At the end of the last meeting, the Serbian ambassador walked up to me, because he knew I was there to translate for the Slovenian embassy, and asked me how I understood the main issue concerning Serbia, that was whether the Dutch government would support the stability and accession agreement of EU with Serbia or not, because he and his interpretor didn't quite catch it. I answered they would and tried to sound as persuaded as possible. I have to admit it felt pretty good, darn good actually. Later, our consul told me I was one of the few that got it right. I really doubt myself too much sometimes. But seriously, if I've always admired interpretors, now I do so even more. Such debates usually last for two hours (and luckily they stick to the schedule) and you have to be completely concentrated the whole time because you never know when somebody will say something important. And there is no break! Besides, the conclusions come at the end, right? And that's the part that once again sums up every viewpoint and makes up the final decision of the government.

I assume you all know politicians well enough to know they talk a lot but don't say much and this is the catch. It is not just that you have to understand the words, you also need to understand what they say implicitly. I guess that was also the problem why there was such a confusion about that Serbian issue, so I was in fact very proud I got it right. And so was the consul. She kept repeating how well I did. Still, I felt so confused. And exhausted. I don't know. It's just so difficult but so darn challenging and interesting.

It is very important though that you know the subject of the debate in advance, that you read whatever there is about the subject, to know the vocabulary and to anticipate a bit what the disscussion will focus on or try to achieve. Luckily, the consul provided me with the reading material, which I spent translating the day before. Needless to say, at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Luckily, there was dinner waiting for me, so I took the rest of the evening off. Let's say I deserved my desert today, hahaha.

When I was busy typing the report of the debate the following day, I made a typing mistake that actually turned out to be quite appropriate for the context, hahaha. I wrote: Medtem se bodo pohajanja nadaljevala. (In the meantime, the wanderings will continue.) Instead of 'pogajanja' (negotiations) I wrote 'pohajanja' (go travelling or just wandering about with no destination. :)

Let me tell you one embarrassing part of my going to the parliament last week, hahahaha. I agreed to meet the consul in front of the parliament instead of going to the embassay first. What I forgot was that before entering the building you need to go through the scan control like at the airport. That wouldn't have been a problem at all, if I hadn't had a huge rucksack with me becauseI was going to Rotterdam after work. I really didn't think about the things I had inside when I put it on that conveyor belt. But I wasn't paying attention to that thing while on its way through the scan, because I was busy taking off first my boots (with metal parts) and then my jacket (with metal parts) – I have to remember what I wore back then not to wear the same clothes next time, hahaha. When that scan thing was finally happy with me - the consul gave up on me a while ago and went to fetch the sticker for the entrance – I wanted to grab the things and just go but the officer asked me to open the rucksack because they detected a small knife (mesje) in it. He spoke English to me and I really couldn't think of a small knife in my bag, so I said it was most unlikely there was a knife in there. Then he asked a colleague to check the scan again and mentioned mesje in Dutch. At that moment it hit me because what I had in there was a razor (scheermesje). It was so embarrassing to have to take it out there in front of all those police officers.

Ok, things taken care of, I proceeded to the gate where they stuck a red sticker on my jacket. Then we dumped the bags in the lockers and went to the room where the meeting was to be held. While looking for some space, the consul shook hands with all the ambasadors and other important people. :) After the debate, we exchanged information, as said, and went home.


After fetching my luggage, I still needed to collect that notorious razor of mine. Of all things, this was even more embarrassing. I mean, there was my name on the sack. And I gave the man the number of that sack. They matched. Ok, can't you just give the sack to me ... just hand it over, mister, just … ok. Whatever. No, he had to open it, lift the razor up for me to recognize it and for all other people to see, and then he finally gave it to me. Em-bar-ras-sing!
I might have as well let it be thrown away in the first place. Argh!
Yep, going to the parliament doesn't always mean being bored after all. hahaha

Come and take a walk with me. Today, I'm taking you on a tour around the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia. My internship hot spot. :)


I've never given much thought to what my dream job would be like. I still don't, but working at the embassy seems to fulfil most of my pseudo-criteria: the work is varied and challenging and I get to learn so many things, from politics and economics to culture and protocol. I might not know what my dream job would be, but this experience will definitely make my list of top ten favourite jobs. OK, let's just say it's pretty decent. Before I get carried away too much. :)


What I like most is the fact that my tasks are very diverse and I have, so far, never been bored at work. I especially like coordinating events and trying to make things fit into a schedule. Of course, I most definitely like translation tasks. That's where I really feel at home.


For you to get an idea of my work, let me make a brief overview of what my tasks involve.

When there's nothing else more important to do, I read Dutch newspapers and magazines and pay attention to anything that might be interesting for the embassy, for example, the EU-expansion, the Balkans, foreign affairs interesting for Slovenia, current Dutch political situation. Of course, if there is a direct mention of Slovenia, all your lights should started to blink, the ambassador said. :) Not that it happens often, of course. But a couple of days ago, when all newspapers around the globe wrote about the notorious WikiLeaks, there was also a direct mention of Slovenia among those pieces of information that leaked. On the fornt page of the Volkskrant, it said that Slovenia might greet president Obama if the country decides to take one Guantanamo Bay prisoner. (Those of you who are Slovenian. This news has probably hit the front pages of all newspapers, hasn't it?!). Another time, there was a long article on SLovenia in a camping magazine and another one in a wine magazine. In both cases, they highly praised Slovenia for its secret charms.


As easy and relaxed this task might seem - true, I only need to sit and go through newspapers, how hard can that be?! - it can get pretty difficult in terms of choosing. I always wonder what it is that the ambassador and the consul would find interesting and important. In fact, they usually ask me to translate or make a summary of an article that I myself would never have chosen. Luckily, the ambassador speaks German so he gets the main points from the newspapers headlines. Besides, the embassy gets news monitor in English every day, so if there is something they are interested in, they point it out and I find the whole article that I translate.


When the secretary is absent, I take over. I pick up phones, note down the incoming post, send confirmation e-mails, arrange the ambassador's and the consul's schedules, and arrange meetings. Besides, I try to solve problems that Slovenian people have in the Netherlands - Why don't all of my employees get a social security number? Hm, are all your employees EU-members? No? Well, then you have to go here and there and yes, a huh, right... Of I listen to the problems the Dutch have encountered in Slovenia - Why did they fine me for not having a vignette? No idea, madam, maybe because you should have bought it but you didn't. No comment.


Another task that I often get is to help Slovenian companies find Dutch companies with certain products so they could send them their offer and start business with them. For example, a couple of weeks ago, I was helping a lady from the Alpina shoe factory. She wanted to present their offer of women fashion shoes to major Dutch
shoe shops.


Or the other day, I was approached by a lady (well, she wrote to the embassy in general and I am the person that then gets such tasks, haha) that was working on her MA thesis on the rights for adoption for partners of equal sex. She said that her mentor didn't want her to just name the law but provide the original name, the place where it was published and when, so I browsed the web for that information.


Let it be enough for today. It is Sunday tomorrow, but I have to work because Slovenia's having (yet another!) referendum. So I guess I'll spend my Sunday working on my thesis while waiting for those 5 people that will show up to vote. Exciting!

You know what I like most about public transport? That I get to the station and only wait for a minute and the bus arrives that then takes me to the train station where the train I need only just comes in for me to take it and takes me wherever I need to be and once there I need to take the bus that comes to the bus stop at the very moment I reach it. All in one breath! Luv it! :)


Some more stories about the Dutch public transport? Ok. :)


Sunny sides: There was this tram driver that was obviously in a very good mood cos he kept talking and giving compliments to all the women that stepped in. And there was this bus driver that made jokes with his co-drivers in other buses via walkie-talkie.


Dark sides: This morning, the bus driver drove away right in front of my nose. I would've almost made it but an icy sidewalk, a rucksack and a handbag made running quite a challenge. The next bus arrived only half an hour later. Cooooold! And when it did arrive, the bus driver drove insanely fast. Not safe, dude.


I've really got myself started on this subject, haven't I?! Hahaha. Amazing how public transport can make or ruin your day. If you let it, that is ...

The NS obviously wanted to make up for my being stranded on Saturday. Yesterday (Monday), all trains and trams arrived on time and I was at work unusually early this time.
But then again, something else had to happen, obviously, since otherwise, there would be no story to tell. :)

I got some major translation work to do so I didn't leave the embassy until 5 pm. I didn't realize that was the time most people finish working because I normally always left around 3 pm. I didn't notice the unusual flow of rushing people until I got to the Central station (because I decided to take a walk there and didn't take a tram). So, I almost had to queue to get to the train I wanted. And when I did reach it, all carriages seemed to be full.

I decided to walk further down the middle of the train, thinking nobody bothered walking that far, but I was wrong. Even the last carriage was packed. Then it hit me - it's 5.30. Hard-working people are on their way home, you lazybones that finishes at 3 pm, hahaha.

Well, at first, I could at least stand normally, but by the time the train departed, I had been pushed against the glass wall, so I clung to the handrail not to crash into other people when the train would jerk (to a halt or to change rails).

It was the Queen's Day (or the World Cup Finals) all over again. I could hardly breathe. It was one long way to Leiden this time. I was really starting to feel sick. The windows on the inside of the carriage misted up. At Leiden station, we literally spilt out. Ah, fresh air!




Remember how highly I've always praised Dutch public transport, or at least trains? Well, I still like trains. They are tidy and quite comfortable, they are fast and as far as I'm concerned until a month ago they were also punctual. My opinion has changed though since I have to use them almost every day to get to work at the embassy in the Hague.

If you'd asked me what I thought about the NS (Dutch train company) about a month or two ago, I would've probably been quite happy about it. I never really complained about the trains here like so many other people, I had never had problems with them like so many other people seemed to have, I simply loved them. I still do, mind you, because I really think they make a great means of public transport. In the past couple of weeks, I had to change my opinion in certain extent though.

You know those free newspapers that you get at train stations … well, in one of the newspapers from a month ago, there was an article about three Dutch students who went travelling around the Netherlands to prove to grumpy people that train connections were just fine and that there was simply nothing to complain about. Having travelled around the Netherlands for a day, they reported it happened just once that a train had delay but that they were still able to catch the next connection they needed in order to travel continuously. Though the experiment was probably not 'correct' or appropriate from a statistical point of view, I thought it was interesting to read about it. Even more so, at the time I even agreed that some people in fact complained way too much. Funny. It was the following day that things started to go wrong. Just one day after having read that and having agreed with those three yahoos. Since that day most of the trains I wanted to take were delayed or cancelled. Needless to say, the newspapers of the following couple of days featured a chain of reaction letters to the article of many outrageous commuters. So I had to reconsider everything: When you have to use public transport every day to get to work, it does start to get on your nerves. Book or no book.

So, it was the following day that my train from the Lammenschans station was delayed which made me miss my connection.
Then the other day, there were no trains around Utrecht because the control tower burned down.
Then one day, there were major delays due to aanrijding. In most cases, so I've been told, an 'aanrijding' (collision/crash) means a collision with a person, which means somebody committed suicide by throwing themselves in front of a train. Of course, it can also be some other kind of collision. Usually you get to know what it actually was from the news the following day. Anyway, we discussed this way of commiting suicide with housemates and - I mean no disrespect but - we all agreed it's pretty selfish. I mean, do you know how many people you put in an awkward position if you do that? Come on, seriously. Ok, I get it, you want some attention, but this way you only cause annoyance, and that is a negative kind of attention, if you ask me.
And then the other day, there was another aanrijding, but this time an incoming train hit the train that stood at the station, so there were again no trains in my direction. I still remember very well what a chaos there was at the station. I arrived at the Leiden central station and ran to get the connecting train but the whole area around that platform was closed off with that police tape and there were paramedics, firemen and policemen and the whole square in front of the station was closed off so we had to walk all around to get to the centre.

I could write novels on train travelling just in and around Leiden, let alone the whole country of even Europe. :)

But let me share yet another train experience. After reading this, you'll wish you never had to use public transport in winter Holland. :) Despite its geographical position in Europe, the Netherlands seem not to be able to cope with too much snow. At least not in the province of Holland, obviously. It's been snowing for a week now and most of the country has to deal with traffic jams, delayed flights and trains or no flights and trains whatsoever. Although I was quite aware of the situation, I really wanted to go to the Slovenian mass in the Hague today. Keeping in mind all potential problems I could come across, I decided to leave home early, and with early I mean really early. For the record, the mass was at 5 pm and the Hague is 15 minutes by train (you do have to get to and from the station, so all in all ...). Yep, I left home at 3.30. And don't you laugh at me. Hahaha.
Anyhow, I walked through the snow-covered streets to the Lammenschans station only to find out there weren't any trains (the website didn't say anything about there being no trains today). After having realised that, I went to catch a bus to the central station. Once at the central station, I was right in time to catch a train to the Hague Hollands Spoor from 3.04. Yep, the train had 50 minutes delay and it came in right when I reached the platform. So, that went smooth. Upon arriving at the Hollands Spoor station, I was told there were no trams or at least not in the direction I wanted to go, so a very kind man advised me to take another tram that I could find just around the corner. Great! Well, there was a tram stop right around the corner and there were already crowds of people waiting but after half an hour of waiting, there was still no tram. Since I've gotten used to waiting on buses, trams and trains, I never leave home without a book or something to read. Still, after having read quite some chapters, I couldn't stand still any longer. I'm not a very patient person. Besides, it was really cold, so I started looking for another solution. At that point, I saw a bus coming in. I had no idea which bus I would have to take since I always knew it was tram number 17 that I needed, but it said Rijswijk on the bus and that was the place I needed, so on I jumped and hoped I was heading the right direction. The bus was so packed I couldn't see the signs, but at some point, the majority had left the bus so I could catch a glimpse of the map only to figure out just in time that it was at that very stop that I needed to get out. Smooth! Thanks to the city map that stood close to the stop, I could tell I was in fact in the right area and that I'd still have to walk a bit. And look at the time, I still had 10 minutes. Yay! Plenty of time, hahahaha. So off I went.

Flanked with little houses on the left and huge trees of a park on the right, the street I needed to take was as from a fairytale. By that time, it had already gotten dark and the lights from the warm houses where families were busy making dinner were the only signs of life. It could have been a very romantic stroll, had I not had to hurry.

To wrap up this dramatic story and let the Aristotelian catharsis do its job, let me tell you that I did make it to the church in time. The church bell chimed the fifth time as I rang the bell of the house where the mass took place. My feet had melted down by the time I arrived because they almost froze when I stood waiting for that no-show tram. A lot of people simply didn't come and frankly speaking, who would blame them?! But there were a couple of us, diehards, hahaha.
I then spoke to a friend who didn't make it. I said: Would you believe me if I told you that it took me almost two hours to get here? Whereupon he reacted: From Leiden? Are you being serious? You might as well have walked. Or biked, I added. Of course, I couldn't agree more.

The way home was a piece of cake, hahaha. I asked some people if they could at least give me a ride to the station. The train came on time, took me to Leiden where I got the connection to Lammenschans. I was home in less than an hour. As I walked along the white streets, everything was so quiet and peaceful and I couldn't but smile at yet another crazy public transport adventure.


One early November morning I set out to the south of the country, to the province of Noord-Brabant (North Brabant), to a small place called Best. Though I believe the west is the best, this time the best place was in the south. :)
The reason why I decided to venture on such a long journey - the distance was also THE reason why none of the housemates joind me, next to the reason that some of them had to work - anyway, the reason was the open day at an archeological site where my housemate Ron has been working for the past three months.
It's not that I'm suddenly all into history and archeology. Not at all. I just thought a day away would do me good. Besides, I wanted to make a full report of the site for my archeological sister.



My housemates warned me that the trip there takes rather long. Also, I checked the train website and it was in fact supposed to take me more than two hours. But also that didn't sound that long to me. I simply stocked myself with books and had huge plans how I was going to study on the train. In the end, the trip passed so quickly I was only able to read a couple of pages. You have to keep in mind that you have to change trains, read free train newspapers to keep updated and look out the window to observe how and if the south differs from our Randstad (a horseshoe-shaped conurbation of big cities - Rotterdam, Den Haag, Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht).

So the trip went well. I was there in no time.

Then I expected bad weather. According to weather forecast and my housemate it was supposed to be pouring rain. Besides, Ron sent me a message the night before suggesting I should take some spare shoes or even boots with me because the site was very muddy. That was a very smart gesture! I would have never thought of that myself. So I packed spare trainers - I have no boots or sturdy walking shoes here and to be honest I was to lazy to go buy some rubber boots the next day - and even some spare clothes. You never know with them archeologists, hahaha.

But again, the weather turned out just fine. Even more so. When I finally arrived to the site, it was sunny and warm and I so much enjoyed being outside in the fresh air all afternoon long.
Still, the site was in fact very muddy so extra shoes came in very handy. I think I was the only one not wearing boots or any kind of other rubber shoes. That was one of the first things I noticed when I arrived at the site.






When I arrived at the site, I called Ron to meet him but he seemed to be working at some other location so he suggested I joined the 'official' guided tour of the site. Every hour another tour started. I arrived just in time for the next one.













We gathered in one of those temporary sheds and first listened to the 'boss' of the excavation site how he explained a bit about the site as a whole and gave some general information.
Then, still in the shed, an archeologist-botanist explained how she found burnt barley seeds, which helped her define what people ate at that time. She also said that she had never before found such a big amount of seeds. Then she added that luckily the people in the past also burnt their food once in a while, so the seeds did not decay but kept their shape instead, which is great for us to be able to recognize them. Good that she explained that because I thought that everything organic simply rotted away and became a part of the soil, but apparently it didn't.















We were then 'handed over' to another archeologist who took us around and showed us actual finds on the site. He was a very funny and charming guy and I liked the way he explained things because I could actually understand what he was saying. And with that I don't mean I didn't understand his Dutch but that the archeological stuff actually made sense they why he said it. Anyway ...

This first thing he showed us was a huge pit that probably was a water pit since even now, when they left if open for a while, water had gathered and stayed there. By the way, this was also the place where they had found most of pottery on the site.
How did they define that it was man-made and not natural, you will probably ask. I did too. As I always do. Well, they look at the shape - that in this case was not natural at all - and how the colours of the layers differ. Later, Ron explained to me once again, well yeah, mostly we just look for colours, hahaha.



So, in the photo you can see how the layers decline from the outside to the inside. Now, you shouldn't mistake that small quadrant for the pit. No, no, no. That's just how archeologists work. They hadn't dug up everything, just three quadrants so you can get a three-dimensional image of the pit. The pit was much bigger.








The next stop was at the site where they found traces of two farmhouses. Again, they looked for difference in colour. Where there once was a hole for a pole, the colour was different. You have to imagine: first there was a hole and a pole, then the pole rotted away and the soil/sand filled that hole. And so they marked down where the soil differed from the rest of the soil (that is, where the holes were) and when they collected and connected all those points, they could come up with this reconstruction - this is how the farmhouse probably looked like.









However, I said there were two of them. Actually, there were three but they had already filled up the third one by the time of the open day.
Anyway, the second farmhouse (in the photo behind the first one, the one with small poles to indicate where the original poles must have been) probably came around 200 years after the first one but - the funniest thing - was situated next to the first one and exactly in the same direction (west-east) as the first one. Pretty cool, huh? :)
That would mean that the people back then knew there once had existed a farmhouse in that place. Or was this just sheer coincidence? Hm ... Besides, both farmhouses showed some similarities in the style of building, our witty tour guy explained.






After about an hour, we were done with the official tour. Then Ron took over. :) He took me to the parts of the site where he worked and showed me the latest finds that he and his team had found - another farmhouse and some kind of storage space/building where grain was probably kept. Go, Ronnie!


(By the way, it was exactly at this very hole that he said that his job was to look for colours, hahaha.)














The open day activities were well-organized and it was an interesting experience. I really enjoyed myself. And as I've said before, it was a lovely day.

This still-life with a wheelbarrow witnesses of the calming effect this site had on me. Hahahaha! I've been reading to many books on landscape painting. Oh no, wait, I should be doing that. I'm supposed to write my thesis on it. :)

Besides, a wheelbarrow is yet another word that Ron asked me to teach him in Slovene. This time it wasn't at an abnormal hour. If you haven't heard about this before: It was already a while ago. One morning at 8 am when I came to the kitchen after having just got up - and not yet woken up - that Ron asked me how we say a mole in Slovenian. Go figure! This story always makes me laugh.


This is how our Slovenian lessons began. Samokolnica (wheelbarrow) is just one of most random words he wants me to teach him. Štiharica (spade) is one of them particular words, hahaha.



So, for the end, a still-life with a samokolnica and my one and only personal tour guide with a štiharica. Lovely!




As windmills are in fact the sightseeing thing of the Netherlands, I took Irena to see the other place in Holland that is rich with them - Kinderdijk.








The place is quite close to Rotterdam. You can even take a watertaxi to Rotterdam from here. In fact, I remember I once did take one with a friend that visited me that distant year of 2007.











Many people have problems understanding how certain Dutch areas can lie under sea level and not get flooded and how water is directed into higher-lying canals.
Well, Kinderdijk is a perfect place to see it in real.
From the dyke where the road is you can see the big river Rhine on the one side and the lower-lying area of Kinderdijk mills on the other side. As you walk down the dyke towards the mills, you pass these two turbines that take the water up to the Rhine River. In the past, that was the job of the windmills and such turbines where inside the mills.










The day was amazing so a photo session was inevitable.
















The reason I'm opening this post with a photo of a factory is the aroma of cacao that wafts towards you the moment you step out of the train at Zaandam Koog in order to go sightseeing around the famous windmills at Zaanse Schans.
Mmmmmmm ... The air was filled with a delicious smell of cacao and I got completely overwhelmed. I kept sniffing it in, not seeming to get enough of it. That scent, it was like a drug to me. Wonderful addiction!




The aroma of cacao accompanied us all the way to the mills on the other side of the river. On the way I noticed a great bar. Exactly like the one I'm going to open myself one day. I can imagine they make profit just from people stopping in their bar to sit down and enjoy the scent of yummy chocolate.



































The area of Zaanse Schans is almost that of a fairy tale. You can take a stroll along the canal flanked by small green houses with green backyards with flowers. One of them used to house the first Albert Heijn shop (Albert Heijn is nowadays one of the biggest supermarket chain in the Netherlands. Besides, the guy is said to have invented the bar code.)


























The sight of the windmills along the river is charming.

























I once again performed my tour guide skills quite well as you can see on my explaining expression. :)

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