Week 11 June to 16 June
It is not until you go to Holland that you realise just how flat it is. Also surprising was how wet the soils were. I guess that it is because the land is so flat and so close to sea level. This flatness lends itself to having the bicycle as the main mode of transport around the urban areas. Someone told us that there are more bikes in Holland than people! In the cities, they not only have their own roadway (cycle track), they seem to have their own sets of lights at intersections!
There has been a growing challenge as time has gone on to grapple with the day to day necessities. Whilst in North America and the UK, getting instructions, directions, and reading labels and signs was not an issue. The only difficulty was trying to find the stuff that we wanted, as packaging and some items were completely different. In the UK, we felt more at home in relation to this, but when we got to Germany, our lack of ability to speak German had its challenges. However, in Germany, not only has the communication with people been a problem, being able to read signs and reading the packaging on goods in shops has almost been impossible. Upon arriving at the Amsterdam airport we were pleasantly surprised to find all the signs and directions in English. We were soon to find that this was not the case outside of the airport, although their signage often had English on them as well. Although we did not have much need or opportunity to buy things, having Jetty’s help was great.
This week has seen us spending most of the time at a Conference in southern Holland. We were personally chauffeured by Jetty to the conference centre close to Zelhem. This place was beautifully set up, with not only the conference hall, but many other subsidiary buildings, rooms, a restaurant, shop and swimming pool. It clearly was a holiday park, with caravan sites and many chalets, which appeared to be privately owned.
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| Inside the Chalet |
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| Another View |
We, with one other person (Judi Middleton), had the run of one of these, and we were able to enjoy the space of this place – it had beds for 7 people. We had earlier met Judi in the UK at two different conferences, so spending time with her having her in the chalet was a real blessing.
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| Judi |
This Conference was extra special. We had heard about it whilst in the States, and our hearts leapt, so we strongly wanted to come. God opened the doors and made it a reality for us. There were around 300 people there from at least 20 different nations. Most of them were either Iranian, Armenian or Afghan. Although the schedule was intense, (up to 6 meetings a day), and the conference went for 5 ½ days, we had wonderful fellowship with many different people. We kept saying to ourselves that it was a real privilege to be blessed with the opportunity to be there.
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| With Gernot, from Germany |
It was sad saying our goodbyes on the Sunday morning as we headed back to Amsterdam to spend the night there. Our plane was to fly out on Monday morning for Athens.
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| In Central Amsterdam |
In both Germany and Holland, we were pleasantly surprised to find that most shops don’t open on Sunday, which is in complete contrast with the States where often shops never shut. Fortunately we found a Turkish food outlet close to our motel and treated ourselves to a great Turkish Pizza, which was very much like a large wrap.
