Early Saturday

Another 7:15 early morning, despite it being Saturday, thanks to neighbors making (slight) noise and my hips/knees waking up sore again. I imagine in about three months, the idea of being able to even get 8 hours of sleep a night will be astronomically farfetched.... At least at the moment I have beautiful early sunshine, and a cup of decaf coffee with extra cream. It was the last bit of decaf in the tin, and I've debated not replacing it, having heard rumours of the nasty things they do to coffee to make it decaf. 

Then again, it makes my life so much better. Tea is still good, but there's something about padding out to the kitchen and making a steaming cup of fresh French press coffee that makes me feel special. Even if it is just decaf, and a generic store brand. A far cry from the Blue Mountain or Ethiopian blends that we bought last year in little paper bags, then ground by hand and carefully tasted, wondering if we'd ever become coffee connoisseurs.... We did not, for the record, but we did learn to tell the difference between some of the blends. When I make coffee for myself, I still use the French press; when I make D's, I tend to put it in the coffee machine and flip the switch - it's still warm, then, by the time he gets around to it. And the big machine is more practical when three or more guests want coffee. For me, though, one medium cup of decaf, in the sunshine, with extra creamer and sugar... it's hard to beat. 

Tram Diversion

After a year or so of living here in Rdam, I have no idea where I am. Due to some problem, they rerouted our tram....

Ah. A corner snack shop. We're in the west side of the city, headed south towards the river. I'm not sure I've ever taken this route before. Now, 15 or so min after the diversion, we're rejoining our original route.

A young mother with a stroller (Turkish?) spoke up worriedly, asking for translation of the announcement as she hovered next to the door. A tall Dutch gentleman explained, and even told her that if she stepped out at the next halt, she could transfer to the metro and end up closer to the hospital. "I'm going that way," he added politely, "I'll show you which stop."

A dozen seats ahead, two giggly young women (Surinamese?) stopped their conversation long enough to translate the announcement for a foreign young man (American?). A few minutes later, they got his attention and made sure that he knew we were back to the original route. 

These moments of unexpected community are refreshing, when the common attitude tends to be indifference/annoyance with other cultures. "Those Moroccans, they're always so..." "Americans, well, not to be rude, but..." "Dutch people are so...." 

Today, though, a simple tram rerouting made people considerate instead of judgemental. It became okay to talk to a total stranger and ask for help; it became okay to go the extra mile and give more than just information. It almost made me wish the trams would get rerouted more often. 

English newspaper, anyone?

This is annoying.

In Den Haag, there are English newspapers like The Underground that I can write for, but apparently there's no equivalent in Rotterdam. Rotterdam has so much happening, and it's a shame there doesn't seem to be any representative base for it.

A few weeks ago there was hype and hubbub with the arrival of Sinterklaas in Delfshaven - some of those who couldn't make it to the harbour were lucky enough to see him riding down the street in their neighborhoods! This coming Saturday there's a 'Rue des Crêpes Noël' (Christmas Crepes Street) in the city, on the appropriately named 'Pancake Street.' Apparently Rotterdam has been dubbed the 'Festival City of the World' - if that's true, where are all the English media/journalism offices and are there any jobs covering these fascinating happenings?

This week I'm busy networking with various organisations - Mercy Ships and VluchtelingenWerk (RefugeeWork), among others. Both are doing excellent work in the nonprofit sphere, but they don't get a lot of media attention. This afternoon, I'm off to 'Spirit of the City,' an event hosted by Platform L&R here in Rotterdam. There are music, workshops and a borreltje planned, and talks by leaders from the platform, promoting city networking and cooperation between religions. I found out about the CDA event through my fellow networkers at RoSA! (Rotterdamse Sociale Alliantie). Hans Goosen and the others at RoSA! have hosted several events over the last few months that I've been privileged to film. While my passion is photojournalism, a liking for all the networking and social circles has crept up on me too. There's something very cool about being in contact with the movers and shakers in this region, and then being able to provide something useful like photos or videos for the events instead of just attend.

I'm off to tuck my camera in my bag and watch the news as it happens!

Haiti 2010 Disaster Response, Mercy Ships

Haiti 2010 Disaster Response, Mercy Ships
  (Slideshow)

The Netherlands in a Snapshot

New favourite book.

 "Messy" by A.J. Swoboda

The kind of book that I instantly put on twitter, quote on skype, and tell my friends about on facebook. Edgy, "normal" and coffee-flavoured theology that leaves questions in the back of your mind while you're brushing your teeth and looking in the mirror. "Could God actually enjoy making something special out of the mess of my life?"

"Messy" is full of humorous, casual comments that tickle you. ("What troubled me was how little time Jesus devoted to explaining to his devoted disciples how to run church services and come up with vision statements. None at all, in fact.")

Being an editor/writer myself, I was pleasantly surprised to not find typos all through the chapters, something that can happen easily in a book this simple. Another surprise was a section on the Holy Spirit - complete with Hebrew and Greek origins. It was still written in a tone of "So, I'm learning this cool stuff about God, and I thought you might be interested," as opposed to, "Let me stun you with my educated background and grasp of etymology."

A must-read for postmodernists (the kind who wear "dark-rimmed glasses that make them look crazy smart,") college kids, grown-ups, and ordinary people wondering why the modern church sounds like one thing and Jesus like something else completely.

"He's out there. Just waiting for you to chase him. Because your chaos is his joy."

Weekly Photo Challenge: Regret