Netherlands Adventures!: De Sterrewacht/Leiden Observatory

Last weekend was Open Monumentendag-- Open Monument Day.  Basically, there are buildings that are considered to be monuments around the Netherlands (I'm pretty sure this weekend was bigger than just Leiden) but they're often private property.  So last Saturday and/or Sunday, these doors opened up and we get to come visit for free.  So I took advantage of this.  

I really wanted to see the Observatory at Leiden University, but you can only go up and see the telescopes if you're a student in the astrophysics or astronomy programs.  I am not in those programs.  I'm a lowly passerby in the philosophy department at Leiden University.  So I was really excited to hear about this day!

When I set out to go visit the observatory, I didn't realize what a language challenge this was going to be.  The man at the desk outside the observatory said that he only knew a little bit of English.  But I didn't know how to ask him what I wanted to ask him in Dutch, and even if I did ask him in Dutch, I wouldn't have understood his answer to me.  Even though I asked, "Spreek jij engels?" (Do you speak English?), I still felt like I was stepping on his toes.  I am, after all, a guest in this country where everyone speaks Dutch.  It's a good thing that, in my experience, everyone is pretty patient when I do ask (in Dutch) if we can speak English instead of Dutch.  And if they don't know English and I don't know enough Dutch, they're even more patient as we try to mime what we need and speak in broken Dutch.

I had an even more humbling experience with Dutch though not long after I talked to the man at the table outside.  It turns out that the entire tour I was on was in Dutch.  All of it.  But I didn't complain.  Yes, I was getting maybe 5% of what the tour guide was saying (he didn't speak as clearly or as slowly as my Dutch teacher does), but everyone else on the tour seemed to understand Dutch.  Why complain?

So while I don't have a lot of information to report back (I can tell you that I understood that the tour guide was a lot of history and a number of things were "belangrijk," or important, and that he gave a short tutorial about how the giant telescope worked-- there were "kleine" or little knobs you could use to fine-tune the telescope), but I do have pictures of some of the things I saw:

I don't think you can have a proper observatory without pictures of galaxies and supernova... that's pretty much the extent
of my space knowledge... sorry.  I'm an English major, what can I do?

To orient you, the picture above is the canal that goes around the main part of Leiden.  I live to the right of this canal just a couple blocks away.  I'm basically neighbors with the observatory.  Below, you can see that the observatory neighbors the Hortus Botanicus.  They're essentially connected.  Maybe that tells you something about how small and close things are around Leiden.

The BIG telescope :)

I wasn't kidding-- it's huge!  And it looked like it was pretty easy to move, too.

Side note: did you know the dome that covers this telescope is able to turn?  I didn't know that was a thing until the tour
guide started turning a crank and the walls started moving.  I was confused and I definitely jumped in surprise.

Fun Fact: Einstein came to Leiden and did some important
work on his Theory of Relativity here.  I'm not sure who the
other people in the picture are, but I'm sure they're nice
people too.  Very hard working and intelligent men.

We finished up the tour in this hall, pretty much.  I'm happy that I got a chance to visit the telescope (even if they didn't turn it on... I checked.  I took a peek and all I could see was black in the eye piece).  I just wish that I knew more Dutch to have had a really great visit.  But that's no one's fault but my own.

Thanks for Reading!  Tot Ziens!

--Jude

A Review of 'The Encyclopedia of Early Earth' by Isabel Greenberg

"It is an epic work of fiction, detailing the many tales and adventures of one lonely storyteller on a quest for Enlightenment and True Love.  This book contains many stories, big and small, about and pertaining to the following things: gods, monsters, mad kings, wise old crones, shamans, medicine men, brothers and sisters, strife, mystery, bad science, worse geography, and, did we already mention true love?

Critics are saying it is probably the best thing since sliced bread.  Maybe even since bread knives."

I was watching a YouTube channel called BooksandQuills and Sanne, the lady who makes the videos, reviewed this wonderful graphic novel.  I think I went and requested every graphic novel that she recommended.  She was right about this one-- such an amazing read.

I love the simple color scheme and the incredibly detailed illustrations.  Given that this graphic novel is part origin story and part epic journey, I think these elements bring out the simplicity of the time (compared to now, any way) and the complications that is communicating across different cultures and surviving in places you were not previously aware existed.
The story itself was one I attached myself to really quickly.  The story got intense when people would try to challenge him and possibly kill him because the Storyteller was from such a different place and they weren't convinced that he was telling the truth.  Although I don't think that it was the goal of the book, it promotes patience and understanding of people that seem very different than you.  We come from different places, but we're not so different, really.

Click to see image in a larger size.  This is one of my favorite pages.

This book is nice to read in one sitting, but since it contains so many stories, it's also a good book to read a little bit of, take breaks, and come back later.  Each story is given a different title and each story is pretty short, so even if you only have a few minutes and want to read this book, you won't have to worry about stopping in the middle of a thought.

This is a wonderful graphic novel and I'm really pleased to have read a graphic novel that doesn't have anything to do with superheroes.  Those are also great graphic novels, but it's very limiting of graphic novels.

This book is good for people who like short but related stories, want something new in a graphic novel, or are a fan of origin stories and tall tales.

I give 'The Encyclopedia of Early Earth':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Netherlands Adventures!: My First Time in Amsterdam

Note: this post is going to be quite long, mostly due to the number of pictures I included.

On Friday, I went to Amsterdam with Abby, Kristin, Marika, and our program director, Steef.  We woke up really early in order to get to Leiden Centraal (train station) by 9am.  It was weird bbeing at the train station-- I haven't been to the train station since 27 August when I arrived in Leiden.  It was really nice to be there and not be hyper-stressed the way I was that Wednesday.

From Leiden Centraal to Amsterdam Centraal was about a 30 minute journey one-way.  Not bad at all.  Since we arrived at the train station in good time, Steef stopped and showed us how to manage the Dutch train system-- it's much easier than I thought.  I have yet to hop on a train by myself, but the prospect of taking a train somewhere no longer terrifies me.  So that's nice.

Canal Tour By Boat

Once we arrived in Amsterdam and got off the train, we immediately hopped on a boat for a boat tour.  Here are some pictures from that part of the trip:

Parking garages for your bike :)

It's a peculiar bird.

Lots of boats tied up here!  Also, there were a lot of houseboats.  Some legal, and some illegal.

A very adorable car :)

The roofs are all different from each other.  Also, there are beams sticking out of the roof.  I found out that that beam is used
to hoist furniture up to different floors.  Because the stairwells are so tiny, it's much easier to lift things up and put them on a different floor through the window.

Our Lord in the Attic

After the boat tour (I don't think I'd like to do boat tours any more, by the way), we hopped out and started walking around the old part of Amsterdam.  Yeah, that also happens to be the Red Light District (I'll talk about that later in this post).  The next thing we did was go visit a place called Our Lord in the Attic.  Our Lord in the Attic is a formerly hidden Catholic church.  There was a time in Dutch history when Protestantism was becoming a bigger thing than Catholicism.  So Catholics were forced out of their churches/cathedrals so they could be used for the protestant denominations.  After that, Catholics went and built small places of worship that were set way far back on the property (that way, if you looked around the corner, you wouldn't see it-- you'd have to be standing right in front of the church to see it) or they created churches that were hidden in houses.  That's what Our Lord in the Attic is.  In the attics of three homes that stand next to each other, a complete church was built and over 150 people attended each Sunday while the church was operating.  Here are some pictures:

We had to put on these fancy foot covers to protect the floor.

They managed to fit a whole organ in this
hidden church!!!

God was just chilling on the ceiling.

Actually, side note: I don't think I've ever seen God as part of church decoration.  Jesus, yes,
but never God.  So that's a new thing for me.

There was even a confessional!

An altar for the Virgin Mary.  On the audio tour we were on, it said that there was a tradition--
after a bride was married, it was customary for her to come back to this altar (behind the sanctuary)
and pray to Mary, giving her wedding bouquet as tribute.  I thought that that was beautiful.

Yeah, try moving house on these stairs.  You're not to get a couch or a bed frame up that.

The view outside one of the windows of the church.

The Red Light District

I think one of the most talked about things when it comes to Amsterdam (after marijuana and Anne Frank, maybe) is the Red Light District.  The Red Light District takes up most of the old part of the city, which was where we did most, if not all of, our walking.  So yes, we did walk past the well-talked about windows with the women standing/sitting behind them, waiting for someone to come and solicit their services.  A lot of the women in the windows looked really bored.  They were on their phones, talking to the lady next to them and... that's it.  We saw one man come out from behind a window and another guy go up and knock on the window before leaving (either being sent away or changing his mind, I'm not sure).  This is a really interesting part of Amsterdam for me, because I don't understand it.  I have a lot of questions.  I want to know how many people are working in this industry in Amsterdam, what the ratio of men to women in this industry is, how many people were forced into this system and how many people are in the industry by choice... I'll have to do a little research.

There won't be any pictures for this section.  As Steef told us before we walked past the first windows, if you try to take pictures, the women will come out from behind their window and throw your camera in the canal or throw you in the canal (paraphrased, of course).  I knew that pictures were not allowed, but I didn't realize just how much pictures weren't allowed.

Around the City on Foot

This is closer to a more touristy part of the city, but look!  So many flowers!  This is a really striking shop!

Traffic jam on the canal... oops.

Me, Kristin, Marika, and Abby

Oh!  We found a macaroon shop and decided to stop it.  Macaroons are the last things I expected to see here.
I had a champagne-flavored macaroon.  It was smooth going down and had a very rich aftertaste.  So good!

This artist is anonymous.  Apparently sometimes art like this just shows up.  This one is in the government building.

How Dutch-- so many bikes in so many colors!

I wish I could remember the art museum that this is apart of... I'll have to return and explore.  But when we walked into this museum, there was a carpet outside that said "Walk on Art" and I didn't really understand what that meant until we came in and saw this giant carpet.  It turns out each square on the carpet represents a different country, although not all countries are represented.  I found the U.S. (upper right) and France (lower right), among others.

This is what our excursions/tours are like.  Steef went to school for history and art history, so he's an excellent guide.  Our group is incredibly small, so it's an even better set up.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to walk around with a group of fourteen people through Amsterdam.

So that was my day in Amsterdam!  I'm definitely going back soon.  My friend Marie, from France, is coming to visit me this weekend.  I might go with her, although I haven't figured out what she wants to do while she's here.  If we decide not to go back this weekend, I will go on the 23rd when I don't have classes.  I really, really want to see Anne Frank's house, and soon.

Amsterdam is a great city to visit and explore, however I'm glad that I'm living in Leiden this semester.  Amsterdam is loud and bustling, but Leiden is a pretty quiet place.  Well, there are more quiet places, any way.

Until next time!  Tot Ziens!

--Jude

Netherlands Adventures!: Hortus Botanicus

This is going to be another post in which I play tour guide.  Here's another place to visit in Leiden!

After a day of class last week where I came out not feeling the most confident or happy, I decided to walk over to Leiden University to go and see the Hortus Botanicus botanical gardens.  I'm not here in the Netherlands when the tulips are blooming or even just as the caretakers are just about to dig up the bulbs for the year.  The tulips are D-O-N-E done.  But I don't want to be cheated out of seeing flowers.  So I'm glad that this garden is here.

I had no idea of the actual size of the garden.  I'd seen the front before and I'd seen the reconstructed botanical garden in the front and the towering green house with 3 or 4 levels to suit the different climates and environmental factors the different plants required (for example, the ferns were mainly towards the ground of the green house while cacti were higher up).

But there is a lot more to the gardens than what you can see in front.  It's essentially a sprawling grounds behind, with more greenhouses in back and arrangements of the different plants throughout.  Most of the plants are finishing up for the year, but I did manage to find a few gems outside:

Even though there weren't as many flowers as I was hoping their would be, the Hortus Botanicus was a great place just to walk and clear your head.  Plenty of paths lead through the gardens and they're not all the same.

Hortus Botanicus is a place where you could either spend a few hours or a short visit.  Even if the plants are slowing down for the season, it's still a nice place to visit.  I believe that it's open through October.

Thanks for Reading!  Tot Ziens!

--Jude

A Review of 'Fahrenheit 451' by Ray Bradbury

"The terrifying prophetic novel of a post-literate future.

Guy Montag is a fireman.  His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness.  Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage.  Are books hidden in his house?  The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books.

The classic dystopian novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs, and conformity.

Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which, decades from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock."

This is one of those books that I should have read a long time ago-- probably in high school-- but just didn't.  So at my friend Ezra's request, I borrowed her copy and read.

It was scary to read about a world where books aren't important.  Not just unimportant, but feared to the point of destruction.  TV consumes entire days, weeks, and years until the people who watch refer to the people on TV as "the family."  Violence runs rampant and is even encouraged.  Fire fighters start the fires instead of putting them out.

Guy Montag is one of the firefighters, but then he starts to wonder about the books that are burned and steals some books Book Thief style.  He has trouble understanding them but he still wants to know more, despite his frustration.  Montag realizes that while books may be hard to read or may hit so close to home it's scary, that's the point.  Books are stories written for people by people.  We may not always like it, but books are records of people.  Sometimes it's the things human beings have physically done, but more often than not it's a record of what we cared about and what we were passionate about.  Maybe that's building a relationship with God, surviving a struggle, figuring out what ultimately matters in a lifetime, finding true love (or figuring out what that looks like), etc.

That's what I love about the books that exist in the world, whether they were published yesterday or forty or a hundred years ago.

That's why I loved the end of the book when Montag meets the camp full of scholars and thinkers who memorized some of the most prominent books and stories in existence.  There's something beautiful about books and stories written for people by people being passed on from one person to the next by word of mouth.  We embody the stories that we take in and that's a very literal representation of that.

This is a book that I'm not done with.  Yes, I finished it once and that's why you're reading this review, but this is not a book that one can read once and toss aside forever.  I finished this book a while ago, but it needed to marinate for a while.

Read this if you're a lover of books and would like a book that has a high potential for sticking with you.

For now, I give 'Fahrenheit 451':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Netherlands Adventures!: Rijksmuseum van Oudheden

"Rijksmuseum van Oudheden" translates to "National Museum of Antiquities."  So this is a museum filled with old things from different countries and cultures.  This place must be an anthropologist's dream.  It's a dream for me too-- I love looking at the different artifacts.

I've visited this museum a couple of times already (one of the perks of studying with Central College Abroad is that part of what you pay for is a museum card.  This museum card helps me get into most museums throughout the Netherlands for free.  So awesome!), and I know that I'll be visiting more as the semester goes on and as new exhibits are put together.  But even within just two visits, I've realized how cool and diverse this museum is!

Egypt Exhibit

The Egypt exhibit was mostly about how the ancient Egyptians dealt with and felt about death.  Death took a lot of preparation.  Once a very important person died, it could take around a month to get them prepared, preserved, and ready for mummification.  It wasn't just the body that needed to be prepared though.  The tomb needed to be built (often these tombs were under construction long before the person actually died), the spells and incantations needed to be carved into the sarcophagus to assist the dead person in their journey through the underworld.  It was a lot of extensive work.

Greece and Rome Exhibits

I like that for these two exhibits, they had plaques that talked about what the Greek and Roman cultures were like, putting the artifacts in front of me in context.

I was most interested in what the people of the time were like and what their values were.  The picture in the upper left (photo above) was my favorite find (near Rome exhibit) because of how the women are shaped.  They're curvy and wide and they don't all have very defined waists.  The ideal woman was shaped differently than she is today.  It's interesting how things change.

History of the Netherlands

My favorite exhibits above all were the ones about the Middle Ages in the Netherlands as well as the exhibit that was a giant timeline of the Netherlands, complete with artifacts found around the Netherlands during different periods of time.  Part of the reason why I chose to come to the Netherlands is because this country is very much unknown to me.  I didn't know any history or facts about the Netherlands until I came here.  This was a great way to get an idea of the general history of the Netherlands.  I'll take a course called The History of the Low Countries (the Netherlands) starting the week of the 22nd, so this is kind of getting a sneak peek.

This is definitely one of my favorite places in Leiden so far.  I can't wait to keep exploring!

Thanks for Reading!  Tot Ziens!

--Jude