I'm a Hasher, Thru & Thru...

Hard to believe that since January, I've been hashing for 15 years and have done over 600 runs (unlike some hashers, I haven't kept count). While it's not like the old days when we hashed 2-3 times a week, I think it'll always be an important part of our lives.

I was honored when my hash buddy Suzanne from Raleigh asked me if I'd talk to her brother Howard Unger, who's a freelance writer for The New York Times. I've always considered myself somewhat of a hash evangelist -- a true believer despite being a crappy runner -- so I was thrilled to share with him my hashing story. While the March 30th article's focus is on hashing in NYC, I made the cut:

“Wherever you hash, there’s an immediate connection,” said Melissa White, an American living in The Hague.

“Some folks find God; I found the hash,” said Ms. White, who also met her husband and found a home in North Carolina while hashing, the latter occurring while she was running with a real estate agent.

In The Netherlands, where she and her husband moved for his new job (a position he learned about through a Raleigh hasher), the couple now hashes with a NATO missile scientist, an investigator for the International Criminal Court and a medic for the Dutch Special Forces.

For the complete article, click here. On-On!

Humor on the Train...

After a quick jaunt through the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, it was time to take a train back to reality to meet up with the girls. The train was unusually full, so we walked from car to car in search of seats. When we hit the last car, we were surprised to see a TV camera and a photographer filming a local celebrity reading a book over a microphone for National Book Week to promote reading on the trains (which I do daily). We were especially surprised when we saw what he was reading: Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris, a comedian from Raleigh often heard on NPR (you might remember a link to his article about Sinterklaas a few months back). Of course, we couldn't understand anything beyond Macy's and a few references to Santa, so we weren't laughing. Sadly, neither was anyone else. Perhaps the humor was lost in translation. It must have been a slow news weekend, because a similar photo was on Monday's front page.

Eating & Drinking Our Way Around Amsterdam...

It was so liberating having an entire night in Amsterdam to celebrate Jimmy's b'day without having to worry about the girls or missing the last train out. Rather than stick with one restaurant for the evening, we were on a mission in search of unique eating and drinking experiences. Our evening started with appetizers at a roto-sushi bar (where the sushi comes by on a conveyor belt), and continued with cocktails at the Ice Bar, surprisingly delicious stuffed pumpkin and fish at a Mediterranean deli, a beer at this slanting bar built in 1695 with an amazing canal view, luscious chocolate cake at a trendy cafe appropriately named Envy, and finally champagne tasting at a wine bar. Luckily it was a long walk back to the hotel to burn off a few of those calories.

We're So Cool in Amsterdam...

OK...maybe not cool as in hip or trendy, but cool as in ice cold with the emphasis on ice. After failing to get into the Ice Bar when we visited Stockholm because we lacked a reservation, when we discovered that both our girls had sleepovers on the same night, we quickly booked a reservation at the Xtra Cold Ice Cafe in Amsterdam. As further proof that we're not cool, we went there at 7pm, which was early enough for a few other tourists but not the hip crowd. We didn't mind, however, because we got to take lots of pictures while drinking a cocktail in a cup made of ice. They provided us extra coats and gloves to survive about 30 minutes in the 18° cafe. Frankly, since there was no wind, it felt warmer than many days this winter. All the walls, chairs, sculptures and the bar itself were entirely made of ice blocks as shown above. It was a fun way to start off Jimmy's early b'day celebration and liberation from our children.

That Tricky Tooth Fairy...

Looks like the Tooth Fairy's up to new tricks. When Ashlynn lost her first tooth, she asked the Tooth Fairy for her signature and discovered it was written in invisible ink that magically appears over an open flame. When she lost her 2nd tooth recently, she wrote this note and was was very excited to receive a long invisible response. When she discovered that her school friends weren't receiving similar responses, she said, “It's because there's as many tooth fairies as there are stars in the sky.”

Look At Me, I Got My “C”...

Last weekend, Veronica completed her final diploma test within the beginner's series of swim lessons. Just 12 kids had progressed to this 3rd test, but there was still a large crowd there rooting them on. As before, the exam stressed survival skills. It started with her dressed in long pants, long-sleeved shirt and a windbreaker. While dressed, she swam for 4 laps with a short underwater swim below a pad and a climb over a pad as shown here. The remaining 10 laps were in just a swimsuit with a variety of skill stops (treading, floating, somersaulting, diving and a 9-meter underwater swim through a hoop). She's come a long way and is looking forward to swimming in the river this spring and in Grandma & Grandpa's pool this summer.

Our $0.28 Luggage Cart...

Check out our new cart. Well, it's not exactly ours, but we're sharing it. Rather than buy a car, we've joined a car co-op (which operate in over 600 cities around the world). If you've never heard of one, a car co-op is essentially a fleet of cars owned by a cooperative that are placed all over town (in this case usually at train stations) for members to rent. Like most car co-ops, Greenwheels encourages the use of public transit; since we have train discount cards, we get a discounted monthly fee of $16.25 (which also covers insurance and gas). Then we pay $3.25/hour plus $0.40/mile. Doing some quick math, you can tell it's not a great deal if we want to go on a day trip. However, it comes in mighty handy picking up bulky items from the store and transporting luggage to/from the train station. On our last trip to France, our train was so early in the morning that there was no hourly rate so we paid just $0.28 to get our packs to the station, a fraction of what it costs to rent a luggage cart at the airport. Of course, we'll remember next time not to be so cocky, since we almost missed our train because it took longer to drive than we expected.

A Human Birthday Cake...

A 50th birthday is a big deal in Holland. Typically there's a big party with copious amounts of beer and champagne. It's not unusual for a life-size doll (not of the inflatable variety) of the birthday boy or girl to be made to represent the wisdom of biblical figures Abraham or Sarah; rumor has it that when you turn 50, you'll attain wisdom. At Hague Hasher Bromfiet's surprise party, there was a doll dressed in an army medic uniform sitting on a bike. There was also lots to eat and drink. The entertainment, however, was not traditional Dutch, but rather a warped tradition of the Hague Hash itself (which isn't just reserved for 50th birthdays). Bromfiets was placed on a block of ice (it was in the mid-40's that day) and turned into a human birthday cake. Ingredients included baked beans, flour, eggs,chocolate sauce and whipped cream. Just after this photo was taken, the cake ring was removed so all the ingredients could shower down on the birthday boy. Think I'll be wise enough to be far away on my birthday.

Valuable Lessons Learned - Part 7

* Trying to jump a curb from a parallel position on a granny bike is a great way to fall. To add insult to injury, when people come rushing over speaking Dutch, it's impossible to tell if they're offering help or just making fun of how you ride a bike (or in this case, crash your bike). As much as you'd like to cry, you have to get up and pretend nothing's wrong. And of course, you have to get back on that horse (or in this case, crashed bike) because you have to get home to pick the girls up from school. (Luckily my bike wasn't damaged, so I chose this one for demonstration purposes.)

* When the tram driver starts making unexpected announcements, it would be a good idea to ask someone for a translation. Assuming he's just telling useless information instead of a direction change is a great way to be late for school pickup in the middle of a storm.

It's Election Time in Holland...

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Does Your Gym Offer This?

Only in Holland would you see a photo like this splashed across the front page of Monday's newspaper. As some of you know, since even the Raleigh News & Observer reported on this event when it was first announced, the world's first nude fitness session was held in eastern Holland on Sunday. Sorry to infringe on your fantasies guys, but it wasn't bursting with buff beauties bubbling with joy on the thigh machines. Instead about a dozen middle-aged and elderly men fulfilled their dreams of exercising naked while being outnumbered by reporters, photographers and at least five television teams. No word yet if this will become a regular event at this gym or will catch on across the country. One of the participants said,"You feel more free." Sorry, but even if the sessions were offered for free, I'd pass.

Sophisticated Beer Drinkers...

Not sure about the rest of Europe, but the Benelux countries take not just their beer, but their beer glassware very seriously. Bars will only sell a beer if they have the matching glass to serve it in. In fact, I just read an article that Amstel will be collecting hundreds of thousands of glasses from bars as they introduce a more recognizable glass. Apparently beer companies dread the idea that another beer could be served in their glass. As the sophisticated beer drinker that I am, while at an Antwerp bar with over 100 Belgium beers to choose from, I chose the above beer by the name: Forbidden Fruit. Not only was I impressed by the taste and the glass, but I was amazed that this 9% beer was only $3.40.

Hear This...

The girls suggested Jimmy take this photo in a mirror at the Fine Art Museum in Antwerp so I could do an entry on how much we like taking audio tours at museums. I figured Veronica would like them, but I was skeptical when Ashlynn took her first audio tour over the summer at the Mauritshuis in Den Haag. I figured she'd get bored listening to the explanations of paintings, but I was wrong. Turns out it's the perfect way to keep her engaged and we now do audio tours whenever they're available. In this photo the girls also have digital cameras around their necks, which we've now banned from art museums since they want to take photos of almost everything.