I've been getting hassled (yes, I mean you, Chris!) to start posting again, and I suppose there is quite a lot to catch up on. I've become increasingly slack about writing, both email and blog entries, mostly out of laziness, I suppose. But I shall quell the laziness for a time and attempt to catch up on a few news items:
1) Rhys and Carmen's visit: Rem's little brother and his girlfriend skipped the first two weeks of university classes and came to visit us instead. We dragged them around to various attractions in the area, including Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Den Haag, the other cities of the Randstad. I took them biking (and didn't even get lost) up through the Plassen near A'dam - it's an area of man-made lakes constructed as a result of all the damming and water management projects the Dutch are so good at. One of the roads we took actually goes through the middle of a lake - there's a few feet of grass, trees and brush on either side of the road and bike path, and then lots of water. At one point, the land widens so there's actually a town along the street - a rather narrow town as there's only enough space for one building between the side of the road and the water. All told, we think the route we took is about 60km long. Rem and I did it in the summertime, too. I'm still amazed that I can bike 60km (or more, actually) in a day. Who knew?
At any rate, the visit was great fun and it was really nice having a chance to get to know my brother in law a little better.
2) Visit to my Great-Uncle's Grave: When I was first moving here, my grandmother gave me the address of some people who have been taking care of her brother's grave. My Great Uncle Sam died in WWII when he was only 20 and is buried in one of the large military cemetaries. I finally (bad me for procrastinating!) got around to contacting the caretakers in September and Carmen made the pilgrimage with me to visit Bill and Mary and Sam's grave. Bill and Mary turned out to be lovely, friendly people who plied us with cake and tea and stories about their nine visits to Canada and then graciously drove us to the Canadian Military Cemetary in Holton. It's a strangely beautiful place, tucked into some relatively peaceful woodlands but surprisingly full of visitors. Bill and Mary told us that whenever they go, there are always a fair number of people there. I think I'd expected grassy but blank fields filled with white crosses but instead there were a good number of trees, identical grey headstones and lots of plants and shrubs around each stone. The place is perfectly manicured but not unwelcoming. It's maintained by the Dutch state, I believe, and they do a lovely job. I was more affected by the sight of Sam's gravestone than I expected to be, given that he died 35 years before I was born. Seeing the stone among the rows and reading the inscription, I did feel connected to this man, and to this loss. Each inscription was individually chosen by the families and Sam's read: "A silent thought, a secret tear, keep his memory ever dear. Remembered by family." There I was, part of the family, remembering the idea but not the person. My loss was not the same as my grandmother's, or of the contemporaries of the many soldiers laid out in rows around us, but it was a loss nontheless. I lost the opportunity of knowing this man and I didn't even realize it until I stood at his grave.
I had more to update on September, but it seems frivolous just now, so I'll leave it for some little while.
