Wintertime in Holland

I'm aware of the fact that I have only written two entries since I've been back, and one was about my time in Canada.  I apologize, but you must understand that life here, as exotic as it may seem, doesn't contain much blog worthy excitement.  So, as a compromise, I'll offer you this website.  I've linked you to my personal favorite, but I urge you to check out some others, especially hagelslag, and not owning curtains (which happens to be one of my favorite Dutch traits, for it makes going for an evening walk through a rich neighborhood as exciting as sitting down and watching a good TV program).

As you may have heard, a "cold snap" has swept through Europe, and Holland has a whole 7cm of snow!  Honestly, I'd love to see their reaction to a real cold snap of -45 and a real blizzard leaving behind 37cm of snow, but nonetheless, this is a big deal for them, and it has left the entire country in a frenzy.  Aside from the crappy trains that can't handle a single snowflake, the hottest topic right now is The Elfstedentocht.  It's a 200km speed skating race through 11 cities in Northern Holland and it's all done on natural ice.  It's really rare for it to happen because it's not often that it gets cold enough for the ice to be thick enough.  The last race was in 1997, and there has only been 15 races since 1909.  The officials have met this year, and they're pretty tight lipped about whether or not it'll actually happen, but I think we're heading in the right direction.  There is currently 11cm of ice and the cold weather is supposed to stick around until next week sometime.  I'm not going to get my hopes up, but I'm even excited about the prospect of it!

And now for your visual pleasure, here are some snapshots of winter in Holland, and my friend Flores (whose name might actually be spelled Floris, but I'm not really sure....).

(random note: the thumbnails are in nauseatingly poor quality.  Click the pictures to view them all in a decent size and quality.  Please, just do it.)