God's Squad

Wow am I behind on updating you! Lot's happened this week. I'm going to put it in list form and try to keep it short...noooooot. I'll do multiple posts.

Amsterdam Centraal

So. Many. Bikes!!

1. Dance in Amsterdam: Marijn and I traveled again to Amsterdam on Tuesday (the 15th). It took the usual three hours to get there and I barely made it this time. We decided to get there at 10:45 instead of 9:00 so we didn't have to wake up at 5:30am again. I had a rough dance day. First I had contemporary, or modern, with Sara Wiktorowicz (she's from America!). We did a lot of improv (a weakness of mine) and initiation focus. It was a lot of fun and I was sweating by the end. She mentioned that she noticed it was new for me but that I attacked well and she was excited to see improvement throughout class. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd been working on that kind of dance for a couple years...

More bikes!

Then came ballet with Carmen Rozestraten, one of the founding members of Lines Ballet, directed by Alonzo King...nbd. She definitely was tall and lean like most Lines dancers and was a phenomenal teacher. I coward like a little girl--stupid mistake. But I still had fun and gained a lot of good insight on gaining long lines. Coming out of the studio, Marijn and I agreed that the training was wonderful but the commute (Total: 6 hours a day) was a little ridiculous...and expensive.

Amsterdam Art

We reached the tram stop and usually wait for tram 17. I remember hearing that tram 7 was also good to take when coming to the studio. Tram 7 showed up first and I was convinced it would take us back to the station. Marijn felt otherwise but I was positive! I was wrong. We ended up in a pretty shady part of Amsterdam and had to take Tram 14 back to the middle of the city. Then we had to walk about half a mile to the Amsterdam Centraal Station. We followed behind Tram 17 into the station. I felt really bad that my mistake now made making late for his work out plans back in Druten. I offered to buy him a cup of coffee from starbucks on my card since we had to wait for the train. I knew it would cheer him up. But then after I offered, I realized I did not bring my wallet. What an awesome fiancée I am. We didn't get on the train until 2:53 and weren't home in Druten until 6:10. We were supposed to be home at 5. Oops.

Dance in Tilburg

2. Dance in Tilburg: I found a new studio about an hour away called Danshuis Station Zuid. The commute by public transportation was only half that of going to Amsterdam and it cost half as much as well. The classes were a euro cheaper. We went on Thursday. We drove since we had the car that day and got there at 10:10, anticipating a class at 10:30. They changed classes to 11 recently and hadn't updated the site. The lady at the front was very sweet and offered us coffee and a place to sit.Tilburg is like the American south--very friendly and laid back. It was a nice change to Amsterdam. The ballet class that I went to was very small--only 7 or 8 people as opposed to the 20-25 in Amsterdam. The teacher, Csaba Kvasz, was very friendly and funny. He laughed a lot but had a wonderful class. For some reason, his class exhausted me beyond anything. I felt like I couldn't catch my breath and I almost didn't do the last combination (a grande allegro). I think it's because I already danced three hours earlier that week and my body hadn't fully recovered. Still have some mono left in me.

Mosque in Tilburg

After class the Teacher asked me if I was ok. I had to laugh and told him I'd been sick for a while and was trying to get back into shape. He thought maybe the class was too fast for me until I told him I was from America and he said "O! All the classes are very fast there!" Great. Cool. Not my day. :) A lovely dancer who had a baby seven months ago and hadn't danced for almost a year was struggling. But you could tell she would get back into soon and she would be just fine--such beautiful movement! And her baby was too cute. I had the worse headache of my life after that class and had to lay down with my jacket over my head in the car. It took a couple hours before it finally went away....So annoying. I was so exhausted.

I had a great time though. Lot's of laughing. Marijn, once again, was the man and drove all around with me. I have the best guy! Sorry ladies.

Bridge opened.

Bridge Closed.

3. That night Marijn and I drove to our friend Ton's house so that we could travel together along with our friend Marcel to a God's Squad meeting. God's Squad is a Christian Motorcycle Club that started 40 years ago in Sydney, founded by a Godly man, John Smith. It now has chapters all over the world.

Marijn, Ton, Me, and Marcel

The drive to Ton's was about a half hour and then to the meeting was about one hour. I've seen all of the Netherlands...not really but it felt like it! We met in a clubhouse, had a beer and some chips, and talked with friends. Wow, what testimonies! It was neat to hear how the hand of God quite literally pulled these men out of the lives they were living. Talk about a life change from booze and drugs to one of discipleship. Although these men were huge, tattooed, and incredibly intimidating, they were kind-hearted and easy to talk to. And they loved the Lord with all their heart and were ready to proclaim the gospel to the world.

The bikers

I met a young lady who was also a dancer. She was part of the worship team dance at her church there in town. She invited me to attend a class (every Wednesday) but the commute might be a bit much. If we're on that side of the country again I may join. She was so sweet :)

We were there for a couple hours. It was a neat experience. I've never been around so many bikers before. Marcel was cracking jokes (half-serious) about how much America bugs him. Sweet man, big heart.

More Netherlands fun to come....

Marijn--what a goober...and super handsome too

My dancer friend, Ghea, and me

Super happy Marijn and Ton

 

A Castle!

Old Church in a little village

Close up

Sweet pathway...worthy of a picture

O, just a wedding in a castle...nbd.

Windmill!

Stop lights to help the blind by clicking loudly