Department store culture shock

There's a rumor that Americans are much more prudish than Europeans. That we seem much more uncomfortable with all things sexual. We try to protect ourselves and others from exposure to these things and we make everything even remotely sexual sound like it's wrong, evil, or immoral.

Quite some time ago, if you lived in the Washington, DC metro area, you probably heard about the Victoria's Secret display at Tysons Corner shopping center. In their front displays, they depicted female mannequins in lingerie in suggestive (well, I guess that's sort of subjective too!) positions, either by themselves or together with another mannequin on a couch/bed sort of structure. The local news stations were all over it. Passersby in the mall were asked their opinions, morally upstanding citizens called for boycotts of the store, and in general everyone seriously got their panties in a bunch over the display. I can't remember exactly what happened in the end, but I think the warring parties arrived at some sort of consensus and some of the advertisement was removed or changed.

I was remembering this today as I was browsing through a department store in Tilburg. It's a chain-store, much like, let's say Macy's or Hecht's in the US. First floor - shoes, accessories, greeting cards, third floor - bed linens, kitchen supplies, second floor - clothing and lingerie. As you come up the stairs to the second floor, you are met off the escalator by two female mannequins, each one in bra and panties, one sitting on a bed, and one draped across the bed next to her.

Do you think anyone batted an eye? It didn't look like it. I'll have to ask Norma and Rick to be sure, but it seemed like business as usual, with many shoppers out today, since I think a lot of people have the day off from work to celebrate the last day of Carnival. Kind of funny though. I thought for a moment about taking a picture, just so that I could really illustrate the point. If someone had done that at Victoria's Secret, onlookers would have thought that the photographer was just as intrigued or shocked by the display as they were. But it occurred to me that if I had taken a picture of the Dutch lingerie manneqins, it would look just as strange as if someone took a picture of the Macy's shower curtain display. So I didn't take it. I already stand out enough as it is here, seeing as I am several inches shorter than most everyone else and a few pounds heavier. No need to exaggerate the differences.

Learning from our mistakes - or not

Today we took advantage of having a car and drove to two spots. Kinderdijk is a beautiful area with lots of windmills which were built, like most of the windmills here, so that people could build homes where water was previously - aka "land reclamation." The picture here is of the windmills at Kinderdijk.

After Kinderdijk, we spent the afternoon in Zeeland touring the Delta Works Project, another huge land reclamation project (and impressive display of engineering) on the west coast of the country. The Delta Works began construction after a huge flood in 1953. The quotes taken below are from the museum display:

"In 1953, the dikes were too low - too steep - too weak...All the experts issued warnings. But no action was taken! This was a consequence of the Second World War and the Cold War (in the 1950s). The government spent a great deal on defense in those days and not much on the dikes."

In February, an abnormally strong northwesterly storm blew in from the North Sea. Winds reached 110 km/h out at sea but gusted upwards of 180 km/h. Evacuation began, as water rose to levels previously unseen. By March 1, over 72,000 people had been evacuated from their homes, mostly to control disease spread. Coordination, however, was not smooth. "Those at the top were often unaware of what the rescuers were facing...There were misunderstandings in the armed forces. No one knew exactly who was in command and thee pilots were not allowed to act without orders... After a phase of incompetent maneuvering, coordination of the work carried out by various organizations improved."

The finalization of the Delta Works Project completed a series of storm surge barriers and reinforced dikes that should provide people with protection from the sea for years to come.

Sounds like a familiar story. And it seems fitting considering that now it is midnight here, which means Mardi Gras is well underway in New Orleans, which suffered a similar situation over 50 years after the Zeelanders lost close to 2000 people who died in the flood of 1953. We should learn to pay closer attention to history. It might help us to avoid a lot of heartache and devastation in the future.

Chocolate, beer, and lace

Yesterday we rented a car and drove all the way to Belgium. Which is actually very close. It was the most anticlimactic border crossing I have ever experienced. We were driving, and Norma or Rick (I can't remember because I was asleep) said "hey - we're in Belgium now." Just like when you pass to another state on the highway and there's just a sign that says "Welcome to..." No passport stamp or anything. We spent the day in Bruges, which is a very cool little town. It's very medival-looking, with some of the travel guides saying the town just sort of ground to a halt in the middle ages, while the more cynical ones point out that a lot of it has been recreated, just for us tourists. Either way, it is pretty, which hopfully you can tell from the picture, which I took from the top of the bell tower in the center of town.

As you can tell from my Title line, the main three products of the area appear to be chocolate, beer, and lace. There were more chocolatiers per capita than probably necessary (I have, indeed, found what my mom would call "heaven"), and many restuarants bragging hundreds of types of beer. Lace is another product that I did not purchase, but it is a local product of which the people are very proud.

Then we went to Ghent for dinner. Norma's Belgian colleagues told her that Ghent is where the nightlife is, but we couldn't find any. We may not have been looking in the right place. But Ghent also had many interesting old buildings, including a castle in the town center.

Today (Sunday) Norma and Rick hosted a Carnival party. It started at 1pm. I was wasted by 5pm. I was sobered up by 9pm. What a party! There were only a few Dutch people there, but we all enjoyed ourselves partaking in tradition. We had a great view of a parade that took place in town, and we dutifully threw confetti everywhere and wore silly hats, which was the minimum required to participate in Carnival.

We were going to go out tonight, but considering we were all feeling a bit hung over by about 9:30, we decided that we would throw in the towel. We got to experience the drunken reverie that is Carnival on Friday night anyway, so I certainly didn't miss out on anything. It's 10:30pm, and it has been a busy few days, so I am going to call it a night and head to the warmth of my bed.

Everything's coming up tulips

It may still be February, and it may be freezing cold here, but that won't stop the Dutch from showing off their blooms. Norma, her friend Aundrea, and I went to Hoorn today for the Holland Flower Festival. It was inside (thank GOD!) a large convention center sort of place north of Amsterdam. I can't say exactly where because I have yet to take a good look at a map to get oriented. But the flowers were indeed beautiful, and if it's a preview of what will be seen outside in another month or two, I'm sad to be missing it.

We saw a good amount of the Netherlands too, by train to Rotterdam where Aundrea lives and then by car to Hoorn. A few hours all together. To add to my brilliant observations from yesterday, I should also say that the Netherlands is very wet. I'll write more about that later. For now, Carnival starts tonight and we are about to head out bar-hopping to join the festivities.

So much to see, so little idea how to pronounce it...

As much as I've traveled, I'm finding that I am feeling more lost here than anywhere because of language difficulties. I was set loose today to find the town of Breda, which is a few stops over on the train from Tilburg. The train system should be pretty easy to decipher, except that 1) it's all in Dutch and 2) written Dutch looks very different from spoken Dutch. So it's really of no help to me when the train conductor announces each station as we pull in because he makes everything sound like he's clearing his throat.

Some of my other initial observations about the Netherlands.

1. Everyone has a bicycle. And everyone uses the bicycle as their primary mode of transportation. There are even designated bike lanes on all roads, and sometimes they are even separated from the road. This does not mean they share the sidewalk. Pedestrians walk on the sidewalk. Cars and pedestrians always watch out for the bicyclists. There are even divets on the side of stairways so that you can wheel your bike down beside you instead of carrying it. The Dutch get a lot of exercise and are generally not overweight.

2. Everyone seems to smoke. Okay, maybe not everyone, but all of the eating and drinking establishments which we have visited have had smokers all over the place inside. I'm not used to leaving a restaurant smelling like an ashtray.

3. There are some very tall people here.

4. Life comes to a halt when Speed Skating is being shown on televison.

That's all I have to report today. We will be doing a fair amount of touristy stuff over the next few days, including visiting a flower festival and going to Belgium, so I am sure I will have much more execiting things to report by Monday. Unless I'm too hung-over from Carnival to blog. But you'll hear from me again at some point.

Grocery shopping in Tilburg...

It's the first time I have ever been to a grocery store and had virtually NO idea what any of the labels said. Though Norma says her favorite grocery store word is Winkelwagon, which means "shopping cart." It's just fun to say, she thinks...

Dutch is not at all like any of the languages I have ever seen, or heard for that matter. After a good long nap, I am sure I will be able to focus a bit and figure out how to describe it. But for now, after a virtualy sleepless night on the plane, I am going to sleep.