Carnaval

My first experience in Holland was pretty memorable. I successfully navigated the trains to Venlo, a little town near the German border where Carolien's family was from. The first thing I noticed was the bicycles - there are something like 10 per person in the country. Everywhere we would go during the weekend, most people were cruising around on two wheels despite the bad weather. Carolien met me at the station with one of her friends and we walked through the snow to get to her grandmother's house. Like a typical grandmother, the first thing she did was feed us (or me, at least - the girls had already eaten). 'Uma' as Carolien called her, kept talking to me in Dutch. When Carolien explained that I didn't understand, she didn't seem to mind. She would speak to me and point to my bowl. I got the message and nodded, so she would bring me another bowl of soup.

We went out that night to downtown Venlo, which was gearing up for Carnaval. It's similar to the celebrations in Brazil and New Orleans, except the cold weather doesn't tend itself to the kind of outfits you see in those warmer places. The southern part of Holland celebrates the holiday (really 5 or 6 days of partying) because it is traditionally Catholic, while the rest of the country and most places in neighboring countries do nothing. So we met up with Carolien's cousin and made our way to the packed pubs. It was a good time, minus the smoke and the fact that every bar was jam packed full of people. We didn't stay out too late because we knew we had a big day ahead of us.

Surprisingly, Uma was awake when we got home and had a glass of wine with us before bed. She told me (through Carolien) about the German occupation during WWII. The US Army came and liberated the town of Venlo. William Knowlton, I think he was a lieutenant at that time, stayed in their house. He eventually became a general. They kept in touch through letters ever since then, and his daughter ended up marrying David Patraeus (whose father was Dutch, she was quick to point out). She had pictures and notes from their wedding, with updates about the Patraeus kids (his grandkids) and everything until he died a few years ago. If you don't know, General Patraeus is now a 4 star general with major duties in America's conflicts. It's interesting how people cross paths.

The next morning Carolien's mom, dad and brother met us at Uma's house. We got dressed up in our outfits and got bundled up since it was hovering around the freezing mark and not expected to warm up. My "costume" was just a hodgepodge of things they had used before... I was originally going to go as an Arab with a cloak-shirt thing and turban, but the cloak was too small. I wore a farmer's shirt which was pointless since I had a jacket on, a green wig, and a sign that said 'Will you buy me a beer, please?' in Dutch. Carolien wore scrubs, her brother had a funky hairdo, her dad had white coveralls and a funny hat, and her mom just had some odd clothes on from what I could tell.

We got there at 11 am and spent the entire day freezing out in the cold with the Hogenhuis family plus a few of Carolien's friends, cousins, aunts and uncles. Bands played traditional songs and everyone was dressed up a lot more than us. Every now and then we would go into a bar, but for the most part we stayed outside. I made a random friend from the US named 'Mo', who was traveling through Europe and happened upon Venlo by chance. He was a veteran and now worked as a comedian - interesting guy. We hung out for most of the afternoon and I could tell he would be a good asset as a wingman. He would go up to any girl and start a conversation.

Mo and I got separated, so we didn't see him that evening when we left the festival. The party was still going strong but we were cold, tired and hungry so we headed back to Uma's house. We stayed for a bit to eat and I took a family photo before we left to go to Oosterhout, just outside of Breda (Carolien's hometown).

We changed into new costumes when we got to Carolien's house and went out again. This time I wore an orange toga and blue turban - I didn't ask questions, I just put it on. We met up with a bunch of Carolien's friends from high school and had a great night out. It was a bit weird to see teenagers out at the bar - 16 is the legal drinking age. There are pubs where younger and older people hang out, but every now and then I would do a double take when I saw an obvious kid walking around with a beer. It was definitely something to get used to. Also, I must say... Dutch girls are way hotter than Belgian girls. Everyone has been really nice and willing to talk to me if I walk up and start a conversation, but the Dutch are better in my book. That's just one man's opinion.

Anyway, a few of Carolien's friends were participating in the next day's Carnaval parade and needed an extra person (so they said). I couldn't tell if they were serious, but I said to call Carolien in the morning if they needed me. Old and young people alike were out until 2 or 3 am. Martin, one of Carolien's friends, invited us all back to his parents' house for a little after-party (his parents were with us at the pub). They fixed us these deep fried meat-paste sticks called croquettes that weren't all that good, but it was late and they were deep fried.

We slept late and were thankful that I wasn't summoned at an early hour for the parade. We made our way downtown and got there in time to see the first of about 40 floats go by. We walked opposite of the parade direction so that we could see everything and still stay warm - it was still freezing. Another oddity about the Dutch is the political incorrectness. There were white people with their faces painted to be black, Mexican, Asian... you would never get away with that in a US parade.

Finally, I bid Carolien and her parents goodbye and headed back on the train to Brussels. I only have one weekend left in Europe, so I probably won't get to see Carolien for a long time. We've already had more than one goodbye like that, and it seems to work out that we meet back up sooner than expected. Here's to that!

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This might be one of the greatest experiences I can hope to have in another country... a lot of people can say they've been to Holland which really means they've partied in Amsterdam. How many can say they spent an entire weekend with a Dutch family, having traditional food, celebrating their festivals, and REALLY experiencing the Dutch culture? If I can top this in the next few weeks, I will be surprised.