On the way!!

What adventures on the way to Prague!!

My friend David (who works for an airline company) and I flew out of the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport on Thursday. I got to use his "buddy pass" for an exremely reduced ticket price which allowed us to have a stopover in Amsterdam-one of the cities to which his airline flies.

The only downside of the buddy pass sysytem was that we were flying standby-which ended up meaning that we didn't get on the same flight! There was only one open seat on the earliest flight out of MSP to Amsterdam on Thursday so David kindly let me go ahead of him.

So, I got to Amsterdam at about 6am on Friday morning, quite early. Because we didn't know which flight we would be able to get on and because the prices were good I booked my ticket to fly out of Amsterdam to Prague for Monday. But we were able to get on the Thursday flight, so when I arrived in Amsterdam I had to try to find the hostel because we would have a few days until my flight to Prague...

I was feeling pretty confident when I found the right train to the Amsterdam Centraal Station from the airport. Then I was just supposed to transfer to tram 5 and go for 10 stops to the hostel. I asked a man behind the info desk where the tram was and he pointed me to track 5, so I went upstairs (all the while carrying my 50lb. bag, pulling my 50lb suitcase and carrying my carryon backpack in front, hehe!). I got on the number five train and was enjoying looking at the scenery including the many apartment buildings and the Dutch architecture-especially the fancy roofs. It seemed like the train stops were kind of far apart-then I started seeing cows in fields, sheep and windmills...oh no!!! I certainly wasn't in Amsterdam anymore! Hehe! I asked a man (who had brought his folding bicycle onto the train) where the stop that I was looking for was located. He gave me a funny look and said, "that is in the city center, we're going to Utrecht." Haha! We were on our way to a city halfway across the small country. Oops. So, the man kindly agreed to help me buy a new ticket back to Amsterdam when we finally arrived in Utrecht. He certianly went out of his way-he even came up to the ticket counter with me and made sure that I got on the correct train that time. Wow. I was grateful for the directions and guidance and I decided that Dutch people are very nice (even if they don't bother you if you don't try to talk with them, if you do ask them a question they will give you a very friendly and helpful answer, yay.)

So, thankfully I made it back to Amsterdam Centraal (after that humbling experience), but the handle on my large suitcase broke off making it quite hard to manuver out of the tram. Finally I made it to the hostel after having to slide the suitcase down the stairs to get it off of the tram. Wow. What an adventure. At the hostel the room we were assigned was up two flights of very narrow, very steep stairs, wow. But, the kind middle eastern man working at the desk carried my bag up the whole way. Praise the Lord for his help! I didn't know if I could have done that at that point...I'd only slept for 6 hours total in the past two days...So when I got into the room met our Brasilian roommates and then I was very very thankful to take a refreshing shower and then have a nap! ...Unfortunately that meant that I missed David's knock on the door when he arrived at the hostel a few hours later, leaving him to have to go and sit on a bench in the park for a few hours until I woke up, oops, "Sorry David!"

Later that day we went for dinner after a brief walk to explore the city. I was surprised to discover that Amsterdam is sooo diverse! There were restaurants with Indian, Chinese, Greek, Malaysian, and a very wide variety of other ethnic foods, yum!

In the morning on Saturday we ate breakfast of granola/bread with nutella and peanut butter and then went to the awesome Rijksmuseum. Wow. Such a collection of wonderful art in tradition of the Dutch painters. Awesome. We saw "the Night Watch" and other creations by Rembrandt. Quite spectacular. The detail was incredible and the renderings were so realistic and lifelike.

David and I discussed how a painter captures a scene. The painter's rendition focuses on some aspects of the scene and leaves out other aspects according to their own interpretation. The viewer may or may not like their interpretation. The paintings are images of things in life. Are the actual things, which are created by God, really more lovely than the artist's work? It would seem like they would be...but sometimes we don't even notice the beauty in nature that God has placed around us. Art is helpful to help us see events and images from different time periods, places and cultures that we might not otherwise get to see. That is why visiting a museum can feel so overwhelming-because it is like having a worldwide tour of ideas, historical experiences, feelings and emotions all withing a very short span of time!! But, the experience is valuable because it is exciting to be exposed to diverse perspectives and ways of seeing the world.

We also talked about how painting is like teaching in that way-a teacher passes along their interpretation and understanding of the subject matter that they are trying to relay to their students. But, is it possible to share this information without a bias? Probably not, although in the case of teaching the Bible, which is God's pure word of truth, that would probably be preferable. Hmmm, so then, just like different people prefer the styles of different artist, different students may prefer the style of different teachers. The teaching that is the most interesting is the most seasoned with the right "flavor" that the student prefers and can digest. It is not good for the teaching to be too bland, and it should be carefully seasoned with salt to add just the right amount of interest to the subject material. :)

After the Rijksmuseum we stopped in the park for lunch. I had a sandwich with small fried sausages, lettuce and ranch (seems to be a preferred Amsterdam condiment) on a roll and David had a waffle (a Dutch delicacy).

Later we walked to the flower market where there were many vendors selling a wide variety of tulip bulbs in a plethora of colors (as well as cactuses?!).

Stopped in an extremely colorful and extravagantly decorated Catholic church...David wonders-are all of these statues really glorifying to God? Would He be pleased if He was here? (Or are they idols like in Buddhist or other faiths that are distracting the worshipper's attention away from the one true God?) Yes...God does give us gifts such as artistic and creative abilities...isn't it better for a person to use these gifts to decorate a church building than to create rubbish of other sorts that certainly would not glorify God at all? Is beauty in a church building distracting or helpful to worship???

We went on a lovely bicycle tour of Amsterdam with our guide from Mike's Bike Tours. Wow. Very educational. Biking seems to be the preferred mode of transportation in the city and there are even bicycle lanes on the sides of each street. Bikes have the right of way, so pedestrians must watch out so as not to be hit by oncoming bike traffic (or trams or busses!!)

We heard a history of the founding of the city of Amsterdam (which began before the 1600's by fishermen and then expanded outward.) The Amstel river was dammed to moderate the flow of the water and people were hired to dig the canals so that there would be more land available for building and living on. Because the canals are manmade they were able to lay them out in a very organized U-shaped pattern.

The bike tour went around to many of the different quarters of the city including the Jewish quarter, the part by the sea, the Red light district, the Jordaan neighborhood and other areas. We were able to view many lovely canals, churches and have the full-flavor of traveling in true Amsterdam style. Definately worth it! Yay!

Heard a choir group from the Phillipenes performing A-Cappella music in Dam Square to raise money for orphan children. A beautiful and wonderful surprise! They were so passionate, joyful and skilled. Praise God for their zeal and caring for others. ;)

Stopped at an excellent Indian Restaurant for dinner. The waiter served us patiently and seemed interested in our discussion revolving around Christian topics...

In the morning David left for the airport to catch his return flight to MN and I got up at the same time to switch to "The Shelter Jordan Christian Hostel." It was interesting to be travelling on the tram at around 7am...certainly fewer people out to become irritated by my large suitcases on the tram, teeheehee! :)

The check in for the hostel was not until 1:30pm, but I was able to put my bags into storage until then. In addition, two girls who were volunteering there for the summer allowed me to tag along to go to church with them. What a wonderful experience! The church was located about half an hour from the hostel by bus. It was called "Crossroads" and was very welcoming-they seemed to have a family/community focus. The message was about Fathers (for Father's Day)-how God the Father loves us soo much!!! The preacher was from South Africa. He spoke about how he sometimes has conversations with people who are atheiest. Once a man he met at a party found out that he was a preacher and kept insisting that he didn't want to talk about God...but after the third time, the preacher sensed that the man really needed to talk about God, so he said "well, why don't you tell me about the God that you don't believe in?" and the man said "well the God that I don't believe in is distant and angry and is waiting to punish anyone who sins against Him because of His wrathful anger." The preacher replied "Well, I don't believe in that God either! The God that I know is loving. In fact he loves us so much that He sent his only son to DIE for us so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life!"

The message was about how God loves us like a father...if a Father and a son are in a rainstorm, the Father would pick up the son and hold him close to his body. He would whisper "I've got you buddy, it's going to be okay. Daddy knows the way." Oh that we would trust the Lord that much!!! The worship time at the service was also very blessed...how awesome it is that people in The Netherlands enjoy singing the same songs to the same God that we do thousands of miles away in America!!! We serve a BIG God. :)

After sampling caramel vla, a Dutch dessert (kind of like pudding) I went for a walk when we got back to the city center-found a Dutch pastry and sat by the canal to eat it. How interesting to observe the passers-by! The people were from diverse ethnic backgrounds-African, Indian, Asian, other Europeans...Many were on bikes, some were walking dogs, familes were strolling down the street (I suppose that those are typical ways to enjoy a Sunday afternoon in any city, but there was a certain Amsterdam feel too-maybe because of the way the people dress, their shoes, the architecture of the buildings along the canals or the fact that there were houseboats floating nearby and canal boat cruises going by every few minutes, cool!!)

I took a more extensive tour of the city later in the day after checking into the hostel and meeting my British roommates there. The neighborhoods each have a certain feeling to them. Oh my though, such a very sinful people the human race is in many regards...neighborhoods bearing the gay rights flag, prostitutes standing in the windows of buildings, the smell of marijuana in certian "Coffee shops" ..."Oh Lord! Change our sinful ways to adoration of You!! Reform us O Lord. How we need You. Remind us that You alone are the one who truly satisfies. You are the one who meets our needs. Help us be filled with Your pure and Holy love and not turn to idols to try to be satisfied! God! You are God! You are the most satisfying. When we know that we are satisfied with You then we will be full. Then we will not need to worry what others think of us. We will stop seeking satisfaction elsewhere and we will be free to LOVE as You love us-with a pure and holy love that is never-failing and is unconditional...Please help us know You more and be in love with You Lord Jesus. Then we will be free to pour out that love and hope-even to our enemies and those who defile your name...then we will be purified and one with you... please create more worshippers of You in Amsterdam dear Lord! Turn us away from sin and toward Your Holiness, In Jesus' name!! Amen..."