Monday morning I brought some chocolate for my colleagues to work and they liked it a lot. I placed a box of Dutch chocolate tulips in the kitchen and the chocolate was gone quickly.
Much more successful than the drop I brought to my work last year.
A week is such a short time to meet so many people, so I decided to throw a party. I organized it in a cafe in Haarlem that I knew well, In Den Uiver. We have had some good times before there, and, importantly, they have a large selection of good beers and nice Dutch snacks.
The party was great. There were so many guests and I regret there wasn't enough time to really speak with each of you -- thank you very much for coming by, it was great to see you all!
Ettie, Gerben, my parents and I spent a few hours in Haarlem during the day. We arrived at In Den Uiver at 7.00 pm, and Ankie, Joost, Tibor and Wim were already there. We stayed at the front of the bar for a while, but then the backroom became available and we relocated to there. Other guests later on the evening were Aida, Arjan, Astrid, Jean-Paul, Jerry, Joris, Kirsten, Len, Liesbeth, Manuel, Marjolein, Max, Nophie, Pascal, Petra, Raoul, Richard, Rob, Rolf and Steven.
Many relatives were there too: Christianne and Peter with their children Arne and Eva, my grandmother Bosman and as a nice surprise Roel and Ria who live all the way south in Limburg. I received presents, including tulip bulbs and Dutch specialties, and a lot of books.
The owner of the bar, Paul, was very helpful in arranging matters and printed nice coupons for the guests to use. With a nice touch he made them of yellow paper.
Ettie and Gerben brought me home after the party, we left the bar around 2 am. Of course I have some pictures online.
My mother woke me up at 8.00 o'clock, and waking up took a few minutes because of the party the night before. A traditional Sunday morning sandwich and good coffee made all the difference. It was sad to realize this was the last morning in Middenmeer, but mainly I was happy with the great memories of this week -- it was a great vacation and was very, very nice to see everybody again. I really should visit more often.
I packed my second suitcase in the morning and we left around 9.45 -- a bit later than scheduled but still well on time.
At Schiphol airport we parked in the "Wooden Shoe" section of the garage. After the check-in we had a last cup of coffee together and around noon we said goodbye and I went through security.
In the taxfree zone I bought some more Dutch chocolate. I was tempted by many other souvenirs but decided I had brought plenty of these.
I bought a 0.75 liter bottle of water just before entering the gate. This was a mistake. Because bottles with water are not allowed on flights to the U.S. I had to drink everything before I was allowed to enter the waiting area. Some cool fresh water was just what my body needed, although I didn't expect to drink it all at once.
I like flying during the day when I don't have to force myself to get some sleep. There were Dutch newspapers in the plane so I read Saturday edition of the De Volkskrant. The flight wasn't very full and the seat next to me was empty so I had plenty of space.
This row in the parking lot was identified by a Wooden Shoe sign.
After my work I took a train back north, to Utrecht, where I took an intercity to Amsterdam. I am traveling quite a lot this week. Today I saw Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam in one day.
I met Jelly in Amsterdam! It was so nice to see her. We had a few drinks in a bar at the train station (a nice Dutch brown cafe called "1st class"). Of course we stayed in contact by e-mail etc but meeting in person is always better.
I took the train from 7.00 pm to Hoorn, where I waited a bit and then took the the bus to Middenmeer.
In Amsterdam I bought a few books, of most interest Ayaan Hirshi Ali's autobiography. Even though I do not always agree with her, I find her a very courageous woman and admire her for the way she has dealt with what came her way after the murder of Van Gogh. As I discussed with my father, there is surprisingly little literature on "current affairs" in the Netherlands. After everything that has happened in the last few years (Fortuyn, Van Gogh, Ali's story) you would expect at least a few books on Dutch politics but the bookstore on the station in Amsterdam only had Ali's autobiography. The book was 19,99 euro for a paperback -- very expensive if you ask me.
So it's been nearly two years since I was in a Dutch train, and it's a nice experience to travel from Hoorn to Rotterdam today.
Traveling in this train is a real Dutch experience -- the moment I'm writing this the train is moving through farm fields and there are cows just a few meters from the train, staring and chewing while the train moves by. A few years ago some of our foreign guests enjoyed it a lot to take a train through the flower fields in spring. I understand now why.
I'm traveling on a 1st class ticket, and that is a good thing. It's so crowded! Even in 1st class there are too few seats and a couple of people didn't find a place to sit from Hoorn to Amsterdam. There is no reserved seating so when the doors opened there was a mad rush to get inside and get a good place to sit. The train itself is amazing -- better than any American public transport. Smooth, quiet, very clean and fast.
I briefly saw Amsterdam Central Station, a beautiful trainstation but I had only a few minutes to transfer to the train to Rotterdam. It's an all-service train, so it stops in small places like Abcoude and Woerden. My end point is in a suburb of Rotterdam where I have a couple of meetings for work today.
The train also drove through Duivendrecht and Amsterdam Bijlmer, where I used to live. I heard the familiar sound of the metro doors closing on Duivendrecht. The Bijlmer station has changed incredibly. From being a small, greasy train station it is now being transformed into something like Duivendrecht: huge, open platforms that are long enough to load and unload the large intercity trains.
Yesterday evening I had dinner with Ettie and my parents. I really enjoy being around them, after such a long time! It's especially nice to see Ettie and I hadn't seen her for so long. Gerben is back in Leeuwarden since Sunday evening for his work. We had stamppot andijvie for dinner, which was delicious. When I was little I used to dislike it but not anymore.
Today I had a schedule with a lot of miles, and it started early when we were quite on time at the consulate. It took a while (lots of waiting), but around 10.30 am after a short interview I was officially granted my renewal. Not surprising, but I'm still glad this is over. I'll get my passport with the visa stamp by mail.
We had lunch in Heerenveen. It was great to see my grandmother again. On the way back we went over the Afsluitdijk, so on my first day in the Netherlands I made a circle around the IJsselmeer already. The weather was pretty awful all day (rain, rain, rain).
Tomorrow I'll get up early again to go to Rotterdam.
My father and I are leaving for the Dutch consulate in a few minutes. I woke up at 5.30 am.
I went to bed at 8.00 pm Dutch time, and I although I briefly woke up at 11.00 pm and 2.00 am, I had a good night of sleep. Pretty cool, waking up at 5.30 and still having slept 9 full hours.
Monday morning I brought some chocolate for my colleagues to work and they liked it a lot. I placed a box of Dutch chocolate tulips in the kitchen and the chocolate was gone quickly.
A week is such a short time to meet so many people, so I decided to throw a party. I organized it in a cafe in Haarlem that I knew well, In Den Uiver. We have had some good times before there, and, importantly, they have a large selection of good beers and nice Dutch snacks. 
My mother woke me up at 8.00 o'clock, and waking up took a few minutes because of the party the night before. A traditional Sunday morning sandwich and good coffee made all the difference. It was sad to realize this was the last morning in Middenmeer, but mainly I was happy with the great memories of this week -- it was a great vacation and was very, very nice to see everybody again. I really should visit more often.
After my work I took a train back north, to Utrecht, where I took an intercity to Amsterdam. I am traveling quite a lot this week. Today I saw Rotterdam, Utrecht and Amsterdam in one day.
A parrot in the cafe.
Today I visited our office in the Netherlands. My company's European headquarters are based near Rotterdam, and I went there this morning 
So it's been nearly two years since I was in a Dutch train, and it's a nice experience to travel from Hoorn to Rotterdam today.
An early morning again! I woke up, without an alarm, at 5.45 am, ready for a new day in the Netherlands and it's not raining.
Today I had a schedule with a lot of miles, and it started early when we were quite on time at the consulate. It took a while (lots of waiting), but around 10.30 am after a short interview I was officially granted my renewal. Not surprising, but I'm still glad this is over. I'll get my passport with the visa stamp by mail.