Rotterdam City Safari

Every EVS volunteer in the Netherlands, and I assume in other countries as well, has to participate in two trainings organized by the Dutch National agency. The first one is called the on-arrival training and the second one the mid-term training. Noel, Marketa and I had our mid-term training last week in The Hague.

On the first day of training we got to meet our EVS friends again, see how they’re doing and how their projects are developing.

The second day of the training was reserved for something called City Safari. The only thing we knew about this safari was that it was going to take place in Rotterdam. Our trainer was very mysterious and refused to give any additional information. So, the eight of us and the trainer left for Rotterdam to meet two people who were supposed to tell us all about it.

The meeting happened in one of many Rotterdam restaurants.

The concept of City Safari was created some 15 years ago. The idea was to get the tourists away from the usual sightseeing places and to offer them the opportunity to meet local people, hear their interesting life stories and feel the cultural, ethnic and religious diversity of this beautiful city.

They split us into two teams, and gave each team detailed instructions what do to and where to go. As soon as we read the names of the places we were supposed to visit, we knew that this would turn out to be one very interesting day.

Radio Stanvatse

The first place we visited was Radio Stanvaste. This radio station started off as a pirate radio station some 20 years ago. Its founder was a Surinamese man living in the Netherlands who wanted to create some sort of media meeting point for other Surinamese immigrants. The word about the radio soon spread out and as its audience increased, the radio went legal and nowadays has more than 80 employees. Well, calling them employees is not really correct because none of them gets paid for their work.

Assistant to the director took us around, showed us the offices and finally the studio. A children show was going live at that moment, and they asked us if we want to say anything or talk to the children. EVS-er Maria from Austria talked to the children in Dutch about Queen’s day and the monarchy, and afterwards the rest of us also spoke to children in our very limited Dutch.

It was time to leave and find our next destination.

Noel the Craftsman

The second stop was Remi Glass Studio. The Studio is run by Dutch brother and sister, both of them in their seventies. The brother told us how he started the business many years ago, showed us all the different machines and explained what they’re used for. They gave each of us a glass with a paper sticker on it. Our job was to carve out the pattern on the sticker. After that, the man took the glass, put it in one of the machines and each of us left with our own hand decorated glass. 

The third and final place to visit was the Mevalana Mosque. Two guys were already waiting for us to show us around. Everything started with the well known Turkish hospitality – a warm cup of tea. After that, they took us around the mosque explaining what each of the rooms is used for. Then we went to the most sacred part of the building - the prayer room. Beautifully decorated in Arabic calligraphy, this room was simply breathtaking. The guys told us about all the ceremonies and prayers that are obligatory for all the adherents, but also about the optional ones. They were really nice and tried their best to explain the main concepts of Islam to us.

So many questions, so little time.

I wanted to stay longer because there were still so many questions I wanted to ask, but it was late and the others were already waiting for us at the restaurant.

Prayer room wall decoration at the mosque

During the dinner we exchanged our experiences with the other group.  They visited different places and met different people, but were just as impressed with the City safari as we were.

We spent the next day back in The Hague at an event organized by Platform Spartak. There were some interesting performances, but I spent most of the time in the art-workshop, painting and pretending I know what I’m doing. 

My work of ''art''

Klara, Croatia

Bevrijdingsdag in Vlissingen

Last Sunday it was Liberation Day in the Netherlands. Dutch people celebrate every year on 5^th of May the end of the occupation by the Nazi Germany during World War II. We planned to go to Vlissingen, where the “Liberation Day Festival” took place.

But our day started in different churches in Walcheren, the region where Middelburg and Vlissingen are located.

Klara went to a church in Middelburg, Maros went to one in Veere and Markéta and Noel went to one in Vlissingen. I went with Klara to Middelburg, where Wim, his wife and their three children picked me up. They brought me to Vlissingen-Souburg, where their church lies.

Before it started, Wim warned me about a service, which lasts two hours. In Dutch...of course.
But the service started with very nice songs, the atmosphere was warm and many people danced and clapped.

After the preaching (I noticed later that it was the piano player who preached), I participated for the first time in the communion.

When the service was finished, we had coffee, tea and lemonade. A lot of children were running around and Wim told me proudly, that a lot of families attend this church and the number of church members is increasing instead of decreasing.

Then we went to their house to have lunch. While the parents prepared lunch, I played with the kids. They taught me a game and we had a lot of fun. Of course everything in Dutch, because only the oldest one could speak a few words in English.

The lunch was... guess what? Surprisingly bread and soup. But it was very tasty and we ate in the garden, because it was beautiful weather.

After lunch we went to Vlissingen. The Festival already started and the other EVSers waited for me.

I said goodbye to the family and hoped that I will see them again. Especially the time with the children I enjoyed a lot.
After I left them, we saw some bands, ate fries, went to the sea and enjoyed the sun.

Wietje, Germany

Queen's Day in Amsterdam

“Are you seriously going to Amsterdam on Queen's Day??? Good luck surviving it.”
This was the general response we got whenever we told people that we're going to go to Amsterdam on Queen's Day. But, nothing could discourage us from spending this historical day in the capital.

We left Kruiningen VERY VERY early in the morning because someone (read: our fellow Dutch volunteer Marc) told us that if we don’t take the first train, we won’t be able to get into Amsterdam.  However, the train was almost empty and, of course, Marc had to take jokes about this the whole day. 

Article in PZC (center picture)

A journalist from PZC was also on the train looking for people who were going to Amsterdam to find out why they decided to spend this day there, what they think about the royal family, how important the Queen’s day is for them and so on.  Since there weren’t that many people in the train, eventually she found us, and the next day – we were in the newspaper! 

After arriving in Amsterdam, we immediately went to Dam Square. A big crowd was already there. After less than an hour, the abdication was broadcasted on two big video walls. After that, the royal family came out on the balcony to greet their loyal subjects. After some ten minutes of royal hand waving they went back inside to continue with the formal ceremonies and Amsterdam turned into one huge party. We decided to visit the flea market in Vondel Park first. 

Now, that was one unique experience. Seems like this was the best day to sell any kind of junk you had stored in your house; most of it was just old clothes and shoes, but also jewelry, video games, DVDs… But, there were also some less conventional attempts to make money. There were people to whom you paid certain amount of money; they would give you a box of eggs, put safety goggles on and it was up to you to aim and throw. Also, parents whose children had any kind of talent brought them there to sing, dance, paint…you name it.

After that, we walked to the Museumsplein, and then back to the center, trying to find a party with the kind of music we like.

It’s really difficult to explain the atmosphere of this day. I have never experienced something like this in Croatia, except maybe only after we win during some football championships.

Klara, Croatia