Y’all… August was jam packed full of activity for me. It was ridiculous, but worth it. Anyway, since there was SO MUCH going on, this month may take up 3 blog entries. Bear with me.
The 1st major event of the month was the International Convention of Jehovah’s Witnesses that took place in Utrecht, The Netherlands. SO MANY pictures to share… it is going to be difficult to narrow them down.
July 30th – Arrival
The welcome that we, the delegates, received was outstanding! The local branch made a deal with the Hilton that is connected to the airport to use the conference rooms for checking in the arriving delegates. There were refreshments and fun accessories to use for photos. There are brothers and sisters welcoming us just outside baggage claim & they helped us with our bags to the hotel lobby. There was another welcoming committee at the hotel. The check-in process was all so organized. We got our delegate badge lanyards with our name & group number & hotel code. The different regions where the hotels were located were assigned different colors so you could get on the correct shuttle. The delegate badge had my groups schedule on the back too. I LOVE being organized so this was SUPER exciting for me lol. I got to see an old friend, Jennifer, from my old Spanish circuit in Ohio! She married a Dutch brother and lives in the Netherlands now. She was at the hotel helping people check in. Then I met a sister from the Los Angeles area that is in the same congregation as my Aunt Lydia! Then I met up with a friend from Ohio, Leila. I knew she was coming to this convention but I didn’t know we’d be arriving at the airport at the same time. That was a treat! Once we got to the hotel, we got our delegate “swag bag” haha. We got invitations to the convention to give out while we were out and about (or if your group had a ministry day before the convention, which we did not), and a water bottle with the convention logo on it.
From our group, Tiffany arrived first and went to the hotel ASAP so I didn’t meet her until we got to the hotel. I arrive 2nd and then Pam. Mari and Cherry’s flight leaving the US was canceled. They were re-booked and then I think they had a delay on a connecting flight too. Pam and I waited in the hotel lobby for them for HOURS!!! A lovely volunteer brother shared his provisions with me… He made me a peanut butter sandwich. It was greatly appreciated.
July 31st – Bethel – Dutch Branch Office of Jehovah’s Witnesses
The next day we went on the 2ish hour bus ride to Bethel. It was raining so the brothers in the welcoming line had umbrellas to cover us 🙂 As we were getting off the bus, I saw a friend of mine form Washington state, Breanna, getting off the bus in front of me. She is the cousin of my my BFF. We had discussed trying to meet up but it was nice not having to track her down. Various departments had little displays set up. It stopped raining and we went out to the gardens. There was a family playing kingdom songs on their violins. The cleaning department had an exhibit that was a window to the paradise. It was dirty so you had to clean it to see the new system. It was good fun! There was a stand offering traditional pickled herring. I passed but my cousin, Mari, tried it. She said there was a weird texture… and I don’t do well with weird textures so I was right not to try it. There was SO MUCH good food! Oh and the cheese! It was magnificent! Poffertjes… tiny pancakes with butter and powdered sugar… DIVINE. I was rushing back to the bus and was able to snag another helping of poffertjes for the bus ride home. Yay! I believe I mentioned in a past blog entry that there 2 brothers in the Spanish congregation with me in Edinburgh that are originally from The Netherlands… Jim and Ryan. Anyway, their aunt and uncle work and live at Bethel. So I spent a good portion of my time there trying to track them down. I had their picture and I knew they were assigned to give out poffertjes… but there were several poffertjes stands all over the Bethel facility. I finally found Jeffrey and Vanessa in the basement, in the shipping area. We got a picture and I got some dessert lol. They were so lovely! I’m glad I tracked them down. And in the basement we found more exhibits. Pam and I took pictures with Caleb and Sofia, we painted tulips and our names on the mural… it was good times.
August 1st – Netherlands Open Air Museum
This place was adorable! It has antique houses, farms, and factories and historic trams from different parts of the Netherlands. They have re-enactors demonstrating the old way of life. I got to go inside of a windmill! Our tour guide, Tirza, was so sweet! The branch rented out one of the buildings for a reception, of sorts. There was a video made by local congregations that were volunteering and snacks were offered. I got to eat more poffertjes!!!!! Then on our way out, we were given lunch bags so that we would not be hungry on our long bus ride back to our hotel. Our hotel wasn’t really in a big city so we didn’t go out to cool restaurants for dinner. We ordered Domino’s pizza online… delivery. I still sometimes get Domino’s emails in Dutch lol.
August 2nd – Day 1 of the convention
For the Friday session of the convention, I wore my red Puerto Rican dress (borrowed from my Aunt Donna). It was raining pretty hard when we arrived at the convention center so walking in was an adventure. At the front entrance, there was a giant music box organ thing playing kingdom songs. There were so many welcome banners! I got separated from my group but it’s fine because we had planned to go to different languages. Cherry and Mari decided to try out Dutch Sign Language and see how different it is from American Sign Language. Apparently, VERY different haha. Tiffany went to Spanish, Pam went to Portuguese, and I went to English. The English hall was PACKED! A good hour into the morning session, people were still trying to find seats. Dutch brothers and sisters who came into the English hall to be with delegates were giving up their seats. And then during the intermission, there were lunch boxes for the delegates. With our delegates “swag bags”, we got little cards to give to teh volunteers in exchange for our lunch, 1 for each day. The day was written on it and there was a little cartoon person in Dutch traditional attire and a windmill. SO CUTE that I asked to keep mine. At the end of the day, an announcement was made in the English hall asking those to who are not dependent on English to go to another language. So… I guess I’m going to Spanish on Saturday haha. I would prefer English but since I already heard Saturday in English in Glasgow. Anyway, the sister that I ended up sitting next to on Friday is from the area of Massachusetts where by BFF’s family is from. So I asked and it turns out that this sister used to babysit my BFF’s cousins! Small world! Brother Herman Van Selm, a helper to the Governing Body, gave a talk in the morning. He is originally from The Netherlands but he hasn’t given a talk in Dutch since the 1970s so he apologized if his Dutch sounded old school haha. He gave the talk in the main Dutch hall and the video was transmitted to the English hall while a brother on the stage here translated it for us. Brother Jackson of the governing body delivered the closing talk in the main Dutch hall so it was translated into Dutch…so we got to hear it in both languages. After a long day at the convention, we were exhausted! But we needed food so we walked 20 minutes towards the Sassenheim train station because there is a McDonald’s nearby. Yup… fast food. We’re so glamorous! Then we sorted through our gifts. Exchanging gifts at all of these convention events is so much fun. Sure we got some at the previous days events but at the actual convention there are SO MANY more people. I got SO MUCH stroopwafel… and it was delicious!
August 3rd – Day 2 of the convention
So for Saturday’s session, I decided to switch it up. I attended the morning session in Spanish. At lunch, I met up with Alisha (who visited my in Scotland the week before). We ate outside and it was fabulous! Then I saw Leila again! Yay! For the afternoon session, Alisha and I decided to try going to one of the Dutch halls. We sang the songs in Dutch. I’m sure we butchered the language. I apologize to all Dutch people. The video presentation giving reports from branch offices from around the world was played in English (Yay!) with Dutch subtitles. So I didn’t have to try to decipher as much Dutch as I thought I’d have to. But it was really nice to not be in the English hall because I got to meet more local brothers and sisters. Then again, when we got back to the hotel, we ordered Domino’s and sorted through our gifts. I noticed that I got more gifts when I was wearing my Puerto Rican dress. People love traditional garb haha.
August 4th – Day 3 of the convention
Sunday I was sporting another Puerto Rican dress that I borrowed form my Aunt Donna. Even though I listened to the session all day in English, I tried to spend time before and after the convention in the Dutch halls so that I could meet more locals. A lot of the locals were volunteering helping the local elderly brothers and sisters so they really didn’t get to leave their area and meet the delegates. For lunch, I met up with my friend, Rachel, from Ohio. We had lunch outside. We saw members of the official Bethel photography crew taking pictures and video. At the end of the session, I found my other friends from Ohio, The Lewises. There was a sort of conga line leaving the Portuguese hall of brothers singing the new song “Unfailing Love”. When we got back to the hotel, we made sure to get a photo of our bus group. Such great people!!!
Since Sunday ends earlier than the other days, we weren’t so tired when we got back to the hotel. So we changed, walked to the Sassenheim train station and hopped over to Leiden. I took the advice of my Dutch friend, Jim, and found some Chocomel. It was fan-freakin-tastic! Then we met some other delegates from Covington, Kentucky. It turns out, the sister, Misty, was in my friend Jenna’s wedding! How crazy is that!?
August 5th – Ministry with a local congregation and Evening Gathering
On Monday, we had 2 events. First was field service and lunch with a locan congregation. At the meeting or field service, we were taught a presentation in Dutch. Look at the word for “invitation”…uitnodiging. I gave my presentation twice and I’m sure it was awful! But my partner was very helpful. The congregation that we were assigned to actual is host for a Spanish group. The family to whose home I went for lunch was actually a Spanish speaking family. Brother Serrano was from Spain and his wife, Nubia, was from Colombia (I think… oh man I feel terrible that I can’t remember!) She cooked a fabulous meal for us. And their children were just so sweet… and gorgeous! Look at that fabulous red hair on their boys!
After a short rest at the hotel and some times to change… get all dolled up… we went to the Swifterbant Assembly Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the Evening Gathering. Outside, there were friends with banners welcoming the delegates. There were tables and booths with food and snacks and beverages. There was a stage and the local friends were singing kingdom songs and some of the original songs from the broadcasts. Then, once we got inside, the local friends put on a show telling us the history of Jehovah’s organization in the Netherlands. They asked us not to post pictures of that so that is why I haven’t included any but, let me tel you, it was a lovely show. I cried! And then it turns out that the sisters I was sitting next to are from Pennsylvania and my friend Sanoma is one if these sister’s hair dresser! Wild!
August 6th – 8th – Amsterdam
For our final 3 days, we stayed in Amsterdam. I found a boat for us to stay on but apparently there was a miscommunication and no one was there to meet us when we arrived on Tuesday. We couldn’t figure out which boat it was that we had booked. I tried calling the number on the booking and I got nothing! Some people staying on a nearby boat knew the owner and had the phone number for the maintenance guy he used. We called him. Apparently he was in Belgium but was able to give us the code to open the pad lock that was keeping the door to the boat locked. Once we got our stuff in the boat (no easy feat, mind you), we headed into the city center. First stop… FEBO! Jim & Ryan’s mum told us it was a must-do. It’s a fast food place and they put the food into little compartments. Then the customers put in coins (or use their cards in some newer locations) and pick the food items they want, like a vending machine. Then you open the door that you paid for and get your krokets or frikandellen or hamburger. Then we ordered fries from the counter. Fries are the only thing that you can’t get from the vending compartments. And it was fabulous!!! That afternoon and evening we just explored the city a little bit. We ran into an American sister that had been living in Holland for several years now. She suggested visiting a little tourist attraction called Zaanse Schans. More on that later. We went to the Bloemenmarkt and then ran into some local friends that were showing some other American delegates around town.
BTW the pictures below are not in chronological order. I know… so unlike me! But I did dedicate 1 collage to food so there is a theme.
So on Wednesday we had booked entry into the Van Gogh museum for the morning. Then in the afternoon we went on a canal cruise. On the way, we saw more delegates from the convention sightseeing. We had SERIOUS trouble finding the boat! It turns out, we initially went to the correct location but the boat wasn’t there because it was delayed. Engine trouble. They called to tell me but when I’m out of the country, I have my phone go right to voicemail so I don’t accidentally get a phone call and get charged outrageous fees. I didn’t get the notifications for the voicemails. It was a mess. But we finally got on the boat tour and it was lovely. The boat was 100 years old! Then engine wasn’t though. I think the issues were that the engine sucked up some rubbish that was in the canal water lol. Anyway, for dinner, we met up with a sister name Ingracia & her friend Ulyssa. Ingracia was a delegate at the International Convention in Monterrey, Mexico. While there, she met my aunt and uncle, Carmen and Raul… my cousin Mari’s parents. So Mari tracked her down at the convention on Saturday (I think) and we arranged dinner for Wednesday. We went for dim sum and had a blast! We walked around Amsterdam at night. Tiffany discovered Matcha KitKat bars and fell in love. Then one of them fell on the ground and was stepped on. She cried. It was tragic.
On Thursday, we went to the Anne Frank House museum in the morning. It was a great but sad experience. In the afternoon, we went to Zaanse Schans. The “tourist trap”, as Jim calls it, was worth being trapped because the air legit smelled like chocolate! There is a chocolate factory right by the train station. It is a bit of a walk from the train station, over a bridge, to the little village. There was a cheese shop, a chocolate shop, a little musuem of baking… so many intricate cookie molds! We had waffles covered in melted chocolate, stroopwafel, speculaas cookies. I had a snow cone. I saw wooden shoes (klompen) being made! We met a group of delegate from Brasil (3 Bethelite brothers), from Korea, and from Australia. And we ran into a local couple that I met at the convention. it was so much fun!
Friday the 9th we got up CRAZY early to share an Uber to the airport, even though we all left at different times. While Mari and I waited for our flight’s, we re-watched the Van Gogh episode of “Doctor Who”. Fitting. We cried a bit, as we usually do during that episode.
Well, that is the end of this entry… That was a lot and I’ve only covered the 1st 9 days of August! It’s gonna take forever to cover all that happened in August!
Memoirs of a Single Geeky Chick 