An ode to Marieke

In the past two weeks, through work, I have met four amazing Dutch women, all by the name of Marieke, albeit written in differently in one case (Mariken). Over lunch in Costa Rica the father of my colleague asked me what that weird name was we kept on repeating. He thought we said 'Marika' which in Spanish is colloquial for 'gay'. But in Colombia (or at least in Cartagena) they use it to refer to anyone, not always in the most positive way. In the Netherlands, however, it's a very normal name. Whether you think it's a weird name or not, Mariekes rock!

An assignment Marieke made me do.

Marieke is a passionate Design Thinker and devotes all her time to helping people think differently in order to come up with solutions to their problems or to invent new things. She told me she does not separate working hours from leisure time, because she loves what she does so much. Mariken bursts with energy and great ideas. She is an entrepreneur that brings people together in order to make the world a better place. Our first encounter lasted three days, as we kept on running into each other. Nice detail: she was the 200th 'liker' of Meer Lieve Brieven. Marieke is a player. Not with men, or well, I don't know her that well yet. Playing and helping others to play more is her thing. She's started the 'Speelkwartiertjes Club', an open group of people that play a fifteen minute daily game online on her cue. Dutchies: Join us! Marieke lives in Costa Rica, but she was born and (partially) raised in Indonesia. She abandoned the world of do-gooders to work in the private sector for a while, but is now back to facilitate workshops differently and to get people out of their comfort zones.

Thank you, ladies, for inspiring me. This one is for you.


*This is not even mentioning some of the other cool Mariekes I know. For instance: Marieke founded Ubuntu and now teaches fantastic Kundalini yoga classes in Amsterdam.

Boersma's like it hot

Meet my granddad, Tjibbe. He served for four years in Indonesia from in the forties. Yes, during this time the Dutch colonial government violently tried to hold on to its colony. Recently (sparked by photos of mass executions), discussions arose again about the amount of violence used by the Dutch. There is quite some re-writing of history be done.

The young Boersma in the Dutch Indies

However, my grandfather speaks only with a happy spark in his eyes about the time he spent in the Dutch Indies (the Dutch still considered Indonesia as the Dutch Indies until 1949). He signed up voluntarily and even falsified his father's autograph in order to be able to go. He loved the climate, the people, and the food. These days his health does not allow him to eat anything spicy, but there is no way the doctors (or my grandma, for that matter) can make him stop eating sambal (Indonesian hot chilly sauce).

Sambal in the soup

Free to love and choose

'In the Netherlands is democracy to be compared with love, the Dutch have known it for so long that they tend to take it for granted and hardly could remember the first time they got touched by it. In Africa is democracy scarce, and the Africans still desire it as a new love needed to be conquered' - 

Alphonse Muambi.

A friend of mine posted this quote on his Facebook post last Wednesday, when elections were held in Holland. I realised how true this statement was and decided to document my experience voting. It wasn't very spectacular as it was a 2 minute walk to the nearby sports centre serving as a voting station. Having been reminded of the fact that many people in the world do not have the freedom to vote, to do it safely or to vote for the party they prefer, made me enjoy it even more so. What a luxury! Many people around me seemed to wonder why I wanted to take pictures of everything. The reason was to show you what freedom looks like. Voila!

Election card ready for my on my mom's fridge

All I need to vote!

Propaganda as seen from my mom's window

Voting here

Voting station

Committed citizens

Choices, choices

And my vote goes to...

All the votes safely locked up

Off you go

Even though the results were better than last time, I still was disappointed. But hey, that's what democracies are for. 'De meeste stemmen gelden' (the majority of votes count) is what we say in Dutch...

Humans: sleepwalkers in robot mode or highly intelligent creatures?

In the movie Limitless (not bad by the way) it is assumed that we only use 20% of our brain capacity. That we don't use a lot of it, became obvious to me again last Saturday at Albert Heyn (a Dutch supermarket chain). People often act like computers in sleep mode than as highly intelligent creatures!

Upon arrival at the store I noticed there was an extraordinarily long queue at the ATM near the entrance. In order to pass it, you almost bumped into a sign saying that you could only pay by cash. Maybe some hackers had managed to bring the electronic payment systems down - it was down in all Albert Heyn stores in the country. While I was getting my groceries they announced on the intercom as well that we could only pay by cash. I was impressed by how well they were informing the customers.

But yes, you can of course guess what's coming next... While in line to pay, there were at least five people that seemed to wake up from a long nap and were annoyed at the cashier that they could not pay by card ("This is ridiculous. I don't have any money on me!"). They aggressively put their groceries back into their basket and made their way to the ATM queue.

It could've happened to me too. And probably to you too. So, why is that? Are we robots that do not think when we do things that we often do? Do we stop observing if we know the environment? How come people were so lost in their thoughts that they missed the ATM queue, the signs AND the announcements? How come there aren't many more bicycle accidents in Amsterdam knowing people are absentminded?

Well, now I understand why all this talk about mindfulness and 'the power of NOW' is really necessary. In Jakarta, I'd often take a different route to work just to give my brain some different impulses. On my other blog, I once wrote about things you can do to get yourself out if you're stuck in a rut. So, what are you gonna do to get yourself out of robot mode?

Somewhere between love and hate

How wonderful it is to wander and wonder...

 At a construction site on Javastraat, Amsterdam

Last year, I described the phases we go through when we live in another country for a while: the honeymoon and the hostility phases. Well, they also appear when you come back to your own country. While I am happy to have family gatherings, eat cheese & licorice, bike through Amsterdam and meet friends for coffees, I also look at my own city through different eyes. Yes, there is such a thing as a reversed cultureshock! Despite the fact that I've spent most of my life in the Netherlands, living abroad makes me see my country in a completely different light. And I figured I should take advantage of this sense of wonder by taking many pictures and blogging about it.

Healthy people eating out

Amongst other things, I've noticed: Girls were wearing bikinis in the park with the first rays of sunshine (my battery died as I tried to take a picture. Sorry, guys). Everybody here looks healthy and carefree. It's all so expensive! A single tram ticket costs 2,60 euro, that's the amount I paid for an 8 hour busride in Vietnam. There is so much going on in Amsterdam. There are tourists everywhere and festivals on every street corner. Then there are the funny interactions between people: A woman on the tram says to the driver "Sorry, I can not see very well, I'm only wearing one contactlens". Waiting for the ferry, I see a man in a wheelchair asking someone for a sigarette. The smoker bluntly said "No", nothing more. It's interesting, this city of mine...

 

Royal palace on Dam square

Spreading the word of the Lord

Human statues still do it for tourists

A man at the city hall pays with coins he keeps in a winebox

Very Amsterdam style bar called 'The traffic light'

"Stop suffering" (across the street from the bar)

Drinking water available for free!

Home Sweet Home

It was my intention to highlight the beauty of the Netherlands, before heading off to distant lands. That didn't exactly work out. So now, while I slowly get used to Jakarta's craziness, I will reminisce about the beauty of my very own country. Even though I have just recently learned to appreciate its varied richness, I have been able to admire it quite a lot in the past months.

 

De Veluwe

Texel 

Veere

Hoorn

Amsterdam

Before heading off to Mexico, I decided to take a good look around and began to wonder: "What's so special about Amsterdam?". Well, I suppose it's its calmness even when it's crowded. On my way to work I noticed the beauty of the sunlight relfecting in the ij; seems peaceful.. In fact people where running around me trying to catch trains and ferries. And then a Sunday afternoon at the Westerpark; people everywhere and still... a great place to be alone with your mind. I do love Amsterdam.