eurotrip 2000

2001 was the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) and as national coordinator for IYV in Laos, I got to do some cool stuff. Number one in terms of coolness was getting to go to Europe for my first time ever. It all centred around a conference I'd discovered that was being organized by the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE). The conference was a key event in the IYV year, and I was able to mastermind the trip around it. My job was funded by SNV, the Netherlands development agency, and so I also worked in a trip to visit the SNV headquarters in the Hague. Finally, since I was a UN Volunteer and the UN Volunteers main offices were in Bonn - just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the Hague - I also went there.

As you know, my life is always organized as a family affair, and eurotrip 2000 was no exception. Mum quickly planned to meet me in Holland, Phet arranged things so he could come on the whole trip with me, and in a stroke of unbelievably good luck Emma got a free trip to France as a babysitter with a Canadian couple going to a ski resort for their holidays. Damn, what luck!

Oooh, and I also handily wove in a trip to Hanoi by flying Hanoi-Paris, so I got to see Claire and Trung before heading off. Nice.

So, in the end we flew Hanoi to Paris, met Emma in Paris, spent a few days gorging ourselves on cheese and red wine, then took the train to the Netherlands. Emma carried ALL her university books on the WHOLE trip and "studied" on the train with her eyes closed and her head resting on said books. We went to the Hague and checked out the coffeeshops and art galleries, and then to Amsterdam where we met up with Mum, stayed on a wicked cool houseboat, and I went to my conference while Phet went diamond shopping with his mother in law. Finally, we took the train to Bonn, suffered through miserable weather, and then headed back to Paris and flew home. Phew!

FROM MUM, ON HEARING OF THE PLANS AND PLOTS

Whoo,whoo,whoo, that sounds toooo fantastic for words, I will meet you in Amsterdam, one of my most favourite cities, very doable, very safe, compact, and full of dutch men, great museums, and fantastic cafes and street food, the only place I've ever eaten the herring and LOVED it, yes, it's true, and the most best super fine airport (read Duty Free, more like a total shopping mall,) in the world. I'm so excited, I for sure will meet you and anyone you choose to bring with you. [13-September-2000]

MORE FROM MUM

Oh, my brain is a mess, where to begin, well, first of all, I'm delighted that Phet is coming to Amsterdam, BONUS I say. We, Phet and I, will get wasted every day then meet Thaba after she's been working hard all day and say, ohh, maybe we should just go back to the hotel and have a nap. [12-December-2000]

AND FROM ME

Ok, so I just found out that my daily allowance will be $173 US for each day in the Netherlands, and $146 US each day I'm in Bonn. The days in Paris I'm taking as annual leave so I don't get allowance for them (only 2). So let's see how that works out...

173 x13 =2249 plus 146 x5 =730 and 2249+730 = 2979

(plus I get my usual salary of course for the month while I'm away).

I think that we should stay at backpackers hostels since I'm going to be on a shoestring budget. And I think I'll bring dried food from VN so that I won't have to spend much on food. As Phet and I always say, the life of a development worker is a hard one. [14-December-2000]

IN EUROPE (SENT TO MY BOSS)

Yesterday me, Phet and my Mum (I can't remember if I told you she was able to get a cheap ticket here, but she did, and so she's with us) joined the conference "study visit" to go to Zalmdijk and to Alkmaar. It was the greatest day, ever. We got to visit a working oil windmill from the 17th century, plus a windmill museum, we saw skaters out on the ice, and then we went to Alkamaar where we were greeted by the deputy mayor, had lunch, and then went to visit their new museum. We also had a walking tour of the town, and we've all decided we want to move there. It's so beautiful!

Aside from the evil hotel owners we've had to deal with (also evil here in Amsterdam), all the Dutch folks we've met have been very friendly and kind.

(LATER, AT UNV HEADQUARTERS)

Well, I'm sitting here writing this from the UNV offices. I have somehow managed to get a password on their intricate and complex computer system, which will allow me to infiltrate and destroy all their files, and draw mustaches on all of Sharon's pictures on the internet! Ha ha ha! At least that's what it feels like I should get up to given all the security here, it's really incredible.

Looking out the window, it's very dark and depressing and it seems like there might be witches on the wind. There are huge dark grey storm clouds speeding across the sky, and it's incredibly dark for 5:00 pm, and all the trees are leaf-less and black. Yikes, Bonn is scary!

I have to say that Phet and I both give Germany at least one thumb down for the moment. The weather has been awful today - raining, cold, dark as per the above description, and the city is not very pretty or welcoming, especially after being in Amsterdam and Den Haag. Plus, no coffeeshops. Just for the coffee, really! Also, today we went wandering all across the city, walking to get to the UNV offices. Why would we embark on such a long endeavour? Well after being in Amsterdam , we thought that Bonn would be equally small. It was so funny, the first few days in Holland, we'd think we had to take a tram to get somewhere because it was halfway across our map, but then it would only take 15 minutes to walk. So we (very mistakenly) thought it would be the same here. We started off near the train station and wandered around looking at some of the old churches and buildings, trying to guess our way to the river. We passed the university, and Phet said he could smell the river, and lo and behold he did find it.

So we followed it along, and along, and along.

We tried to change money twice, but at the first bank they would only accept US bills of 10, 20 or 50 dollars. What the heck is up with that??? We were both baffled. We've never ever been to a country where people didn't like US $100 bills. What's going wrong in Germany ? We walked out of the bank in a huff, and tried another one about a half hour later after walking past all the museums. This bank didn't do any money changing at all. Nutty country, I say. We ended up having to walk way out of our way in a complete downpour to finally get lunch money. Then out of despair, we gave up on catching a bus and just walked the rest of the way to UNV.

The offices here are very odd. Each person is like a chicken in their own laying pocket, and they're not allowed to get out and cluck with their other chicken friends. Kind of alienating, I say. I was able to meet Team IYV - all young folks, packed into one room. I guess they have barnyard priveleges unlike the other poultry. [On The Road-24-January-2001]