Gouda

Goedemorgen! Here is an update and some pics of this past week for your enjoyment!

This was taken during a bike ride along a canal. The tiny cabins built over the water are just so cozy! There are a few swans swimming in front of this one.

And this is the latest and definitely the greatest development of this past week... a new bike! After jogging to and from school three times in one week (8 kms each way, so 48 kms total), it was a happy day. It's a little bit of an antique, but she is a beauty! Very happy with it, and hopefully it will last more than two weeks without being stolen...

This is a picture of Gouda! Do you notice how the houses seem to lean inward a bit? It may be partly the angle of the camera, but many houses have the dates on the front (many from the 1700s even), and they really do lean inward. It's a bit of an adrenaline rush going through some streets (ok not quite, but at some point they really will topple!)

The trip to Gouda was a bit of an adventuresome trip, as they tend to be. We started off into the blue skies with excited smiles on our face. Also alas, our constant downfall, no map. It was supposed to be a 20 km trip, and we received some pretty straight-forward sounding directions, so thought we could do it no problem. We followed the street Hoofdeweg (even the name sounds like it's not made for happy times). After following it for way too long we asked a friendly guy at the gas pumps where Gouda was, if we were heading in the right direction. He discreetly wiped a smirk off his face before answering, and I knew it would be bad. Indeed, we had to pedal back (against the wind, which is brutal) for a few kms. And then of course we were hugely off track so we relied on passer-by's for the direction. Usually a vague wave in the direction of the town was as good as we got.

But anyway, we arrived there only about 2 hours later. The town itself is beautiful! It is famous for its old architecture, its candles, stroepwaffles and obviously cheese. So we had to get a fresh stroepwaffle, which was warm, dripping syrup and simply delightful. And then for lunch we had THE world famous fries (I forget what they were called, but they are apparently famous and for very good reason). After which I felt like a ball of lead had landed heavy in my stomach.

Not trusting our sense of direction too much, we figured after 2 hours of exploring we should probably start heading home. The trip home was, well, a test of strength of leg muscles and sheer will power.

We began well, retracing our steps. Very quickly we lost the trail we had followed. We ended up going over a bridge with a 'do not enter sign' (we don't read Dutch, plus the gate was easy enough to push aside, so it couldn't have been that illegal... at least that's what I tell Val) that took us to a graveyard. Two men drinking blue liquid hooted at us, cars honked at these tourists in  the middle of the narrow road, yes it was an experience. And then of course we had to go back over the wretched bridge (we learned that it's very hard to navigate deactivated bridges, especially for the second time.) The wind was blowing against us the whole way back, which often made us set a pace slower than walking.

But anyway, all is well that ends well. For some reason, after all that I felt quite invigorated. Poor Val was ready to drop for the last five kms. We traded bikes and I think that helped a bit, but she was very happy to see familiar territory again! When we got to the MacLeans she asked how I was doing, and honestly, I had to smile and say I'm pretty sure I can conquer the world right now. But  just then, I also should report, I did fall over with my bike on top, not seeing an extra step. But hey, if you can conquer the world from beneath the bike I think one is doing pretty good!

Just arriving home... still smiling (somewhat)!

Yesterday was kind of interesting as well. Not being able to understand more than 10% of the sermon, we had contacts who introduced us to a different church. It was quite different than what we were used to. A woman pastor, people shouting their Hallelujah's, not quite as 'tame' as a Reformed service. I enjoyed it for the fact that people's emotional connection to God was very evident, they had much joy. But I think we will stick with our Dutch services from now on.

We went to a bible study of people aged 20-30 in the evening. It constantly amazes me (in a very good way) how kind people are here! They translated enough to give us a rough idea of the study. Afterwards we talked, losing track of the time until about 11:15. Talking to people like this is always very encouraging and inspiring. Definitely we are very blessed!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend as well!

Cheers!