So, there is not much to catch up on this time, :) but we thought we would get fully caught up before leaving for Copenhagen, or Kobenhavn, this evening. :)
Amsterdam was beautiful. ..Although it was not entirely what we expected. We are not sure what we were expecting. :) We hopped on a tram that looked like it was going in a cool direction, and got off when we saw something interesting. :) It was fun! We saw a few interesting things. We walked on a bridge over a canal that looked much like Venice!
The bridge led into a big open square where people were just walking around. On one end of the square we saw something that we couldn't quite figure out, at first. :) There was a statue, wearing a long orange robe, placed on something that looked like it had wheels. It was not moving at all, but then would sometimes wobble in the wind.. Which made me think, maybe its a person! But then we watched it for a bit, and it didn't move, and the face looked completely like stone, even when some young hooligans came running up and pretended to kick over the bowl that was sitting in front of it. But then, as we watched more, it stqrted to verrrry slowly interact with people as they walked by!! And once we saw his face change, so we knew for real then that he was for real. But he was incredible. The first human statue busker I have.. ever seen, I think. Haha, and it was even funnier, because on the other corners of the square were copycats of this guy.. kind of. :) There were three or four of them, and each of them were standing on little boxes, with a can out front, dressed in some sort of Lord of the Rings ringwraith/Star wars outfit, complete with "scary" mask and some sort of sword/blade. Oh, it was funny. :) They would make scary noises at you as you walked past.. hoping someone would pay them..? "Hey man, thanks for scaring me..!" ..? We had a good laugh, anyways. Thats one way to make a living! :)
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The statue man.. It took us a long time to figure him out! But he IS very talented!! :)
We kept walking, and found a store to buy some Dutch jewelry. (Because thats what we are doing in every country. Anna buys necklaces, and I buy bracelets! We now have some from India, Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Belgium and Holland, or The Netherlands.) We spotted this alleyway that looked like it led to somewhere cool. And found a orphanage that had been made into a museum of sorts.. We couldn't really figure it out. :) While walking back to catch a tram to the train station, we saw policemen on horseback ride by! |
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| Policemen on horseback. Kind of like Mounties! :) |
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| The amount of bikes parked outside the train station was incredible. They went on and on and on.. They had their own three level parking garage! Crazy. :) |
Once we were back at the train station, we saw on a map outside the train station that the coastline was right behind the station! So we walked back there to check it out, and it was nice. :) But it was just so darn cold! :)
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| It was cold and windy..! |
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| Us in Amsterdam. :) |
So we found a train back to Dendermonde, and got home about 7:30, I think. :) We got the impression that there are a lot of museums in Amsterdam, and a wicked night life.. But other than that, even our guidebook or Europe said there was not a WHOLE lot to do or see, at least for free. The architecture was beautiful, and the city itself was lovely! So we did have fun wandering around the city.
And back in Dendermonde, it was games night at Lieke and Peter's! :) So, we learned a Belgium game.. Once the game was explained, we realized that it was exactly like Farmville (a game on Facebook), except as a board game. ..It was funny. So, we played Farmville! :) With Lieke, Peter and two of their friends from the neighborhood. One of them lived in Calgary for 15 months, a couple years ago! Small world. So, we chatted with him about Canada, and the differences. :) Then, after we were finished the game, we used their computer to Skype our parents. It was fun! We found out that we actually do miss them. :) Well, I guess I should just speak for myself, :) But I am pretty sure Anna misses them a little, too. :) Anywas, it was really good to connect with them. Then, we went to bed, for the last time in Dendermonde! :(
And when we woke up, the sickness that Lieke had just been getting over came back with a vengance. :( So, right now; Peter and her are both at the hospital, getting her looked at by a specialist. Please pray for her. They have been SO good to us, and she does not deserve to be sick. :(
Anna and I just went to the grocery store, or supermarket, to buy them some groceries, in hopes of trying to repay, at least a little, the kindness they have shown us. It really has been very good. And another part of being here that has been interesting is find ways to share our faith with them. We keep looking for opportunities to share with them what we believe, and how its so different from the negative view most Europeans have of Christianity, the Catholic view. The Catholics in the past here, in all of Europe I think, have.. not been so helpful. :) But we don't really know our European history all that well. We are learning! Anyways, a couple of days ago, Lieke asked me what I went to school for, and I love this question. :) A Bible School?!? What in the world is that.. :) So, I get to explain to her what we do there, and it basically is a great conversation starter for me to share my faith, which is an entirely foreign concept to her. Church, in her mind, is the Catholic church, there are many things she disagrees with in the Catholic church! So, we tried to explain just how different our church is from the Catholic church. We found if we actually compare it to CouchSurfing, it gave her a better idea of what the church should look like! Often, they have sing-a-longs, where they just get together, hang out, sing some songs, and eat some food. This is comparable to my church back home..! Without the Christian focus, of course. :) But I told her that in my church, we get together on Sundays, to sing some songs, the pastor gives a message, we pray, and then we go and have a potluck! :) Every Sunday. And she said, "Wow.. If there was a church like that here, I would definately go!" ..Which made me think of how we need more missionaries in Europe. They have such a distorted view of Christianity, I would love to see that start to change. :) And then, this morning, we got into a great theological discussion with Peter. :) And for those of you who know me, you know how much I love them.. :) But it was so good to hear his views, and he was very open to hear ours! So, that was fun. Ans we showed him where we were from on Google Earth. ..He was blown away! By how big Edmonton is, and by how..empty my part of the country is. He said he would hate that much openness, and emptyness. :) I love it! ..TWO neighbors in, like, 10 km? SO different from Europe, thats for sure.
And I am so excited to see the rest (what we can) of Europe!! We are heading up to Copenhagen tonight, on an overnight train, then spend the day in Denmark, :) and take an overnight train that night up to Oslo! Thats to plan. ..but we have been discovering, we don't really have a plan.. :) Haha, ok, we have not JUST been discovering this. :)
Anyways, that IS the plan, and when we write on this blog next, we will let you know how much it changed. :)
More later, perhaps from Kristiansand, Norway, where we are staying with some relatives. ..or relatives of realtives, I suppose it would be. :)
God Bless!!!
Demara and Anna
ps. Oh, and Amanda, this is for you. Its the Hungry Caterpillar.. in DUTCH! :)
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