Saturday and Sunday ...

This blog entry is going to cover the weekend, both Saturday and Sunday, and boy howdy, what a weekend it was ...

We met up with a few of the other visiting colleagues and their hosts for a short drive to Bourtange, which is a very old village that started out as a fort.  Complete with a moat and drawbridges, except for modern things such as electricity, running water and nice toilettes, it's like a picture from a history book.  You can read some details about its history at Fort Bourtange .



We arrived and did a little walking around and then had coffee.  Then we did some shopping and more looking around.  The weather was amazing, and it has been mostly very good so far anyway, but it was sunny and cool.  This is a historic village, but it is also a real village where people live.  There was an old lady working in her garden, probably 85+ years old, and I just had to say hello.  With Liesbeth's help I introduced myself to her and the first thing she asked was, "How about that crazy Trump?!"  Anyway, she was spunky to say the least.  She allowed me to take a picture with her and was very cute to talk to.


After the exploring we all sat down to have lunch.  I had kroketten again and it was amazing.  I'm going to try to recreate them when I get home .... I hope I can come close.  During lunch three horse drawn carriages entered the "town square" and just parked there.  I was sure they were part of the village and I decided to go over to take a picture with one of them.  Come to find out they were visitors themselves.  They were Germans out on a Saturday afternoon drive with their families (the German border is just two miles from the village).  I asked to take a picture sitting with one of them.  We chatted a while in broken English and I found out he was a farmer.  I told him my family were farmers and we instantly hit it off.  He offered to talk me for a spin and we were off.  It was the highlight of my day and maybe trip.  I love talking with and meeting real people.


After Bourtange, we took the short drive to Leer, Germany.  Leer is a nice city with a touristy old downtown.  We just explored a little and looked at the architecture.  The second highlight of my day was finding a Konditeri, which is German for bakery.  German cake and pie just may be my favorite.  I had blueberry cheesecake AND then I had a piece of this amazing cake with cream and pastry ... hey, I'm not going to squander the few hours in Germany for the first time.  I loaded up.  We all had tea or coffee at this bakery and it was "heel gezellig" ... that's Dutch for a "fantastic time", loosely translated.




After the historic downtown we went to a mall and did some shopping at a Super Walmart type store.  They had everything, including "American style hotdogs" ... which were in a glass jar ... weird.

We caught up on some sleep Sunday morning and then Liesbeth, her friend Marian and I went to mass at the Cathedral in Groningen.  We went there by bike and then took a leisurely ride back home after that.  Liesbeth made Dutch pancakes for me for lunch and then I took a nap.  The pancakes were "heel lekker"!


I took a nap after lunch ... much needed.  Later Liesbeth took me on a drive through the country side and we ended up at a wind mill.  We were able to climb up into it and see the workings and where the wheat is ground.  It was a great find.




After a week I am really picking up on quite a bit of vocabulary.  No, I'm not having conversations in Dutch ... but my vocabulary is such that I can say hello, goodbye, thank you and other chit chat.  I can alway make someone laugh with my attempts at speaking Dutch.  Hey, you don't learn unless you try, right!


This is the first time I've really spent time in another country with the people of that country.  It's quite the experience.  I feel like I am really experiencing Dutch life and culture.  It's heel gezellig!

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