Right on the Left Coast: Views From a Conservative Teacher: A Day of Extras

Before I talk about today's activities, let me confirm a few stereotypes about Amsterdam and the Dutch. Yes, they're very tall--I've encountered plenty of women at least as tall as I am, for example. Yes, in general they're very attractive. And yes, everywhere you go you will encounter the smell of colitas rising up through the air; I'm probably going to have a contact high for 4 days after I leave Amsterdam.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about today.

We took a half-day excursion that took us to the windmills at Zaanse Schans, the fishing village of Volendam, and the wooden shoe factory at Marken. Zaanse Schans strikes me as the Colonial Williamsburg of the Netherlands; it was very picturesque and interesting but nothing extra happened there.

Our next stop was Volendam, where, among other things, we learned how Dutch cheese is made (the town of Edam is right down the road, and Gouda is a little further away). Our cheese instructor demonstrated a cheese cutting tool, and after cutting a few slices and giving it away to a few in our tour I noticed that I was really hungry. So when she asked who would like to help demonstrate a second tool, I jumped at the opportunity and volunteered. She called me up, asked me to cup my hands, and then she demonstrated a hand-held cheese grater. For each type of cheese she mentioned, she scraped across a wedge of gouda and added more grated cheese to my hands. When she was done I had about a ton of cheese in my hands, and that certainly took the edge off my hunger!

After dinner we went to a bakery and learned how stroopwafels are made. Our demonstrator called up another man to help her, and she walked him through the process of making one. The last step in the process is to use a cookie cutter-type device to make the stroopwafels perfectly round, but that leaves some excess from around the edges. When she asked who would like to try a taste, I was adamant that I would. She joked that I looked so hungry so she gave me the entire excess! Then, of course, she cut up the actual stroopwafel and passed out pieces for others in the group to try.

By this time I was getting a reputation amongst our group as the guy who gets everything! Hey, you can't get something if you don't ask for it, right?

It was time to board a boat and go out to Marken to see the wooden shoes made. Long story short, I was the last person accepted onto the boat. The captain asked if I'd like to join him in the wheelhouse. Imagine the look on everyone's faces, sitting in their sets up the upper deck of the boat, as I walked by all of them with the captain, entered the wheelhouse, and closed the door behind me! I took video of our departure from Volendam and our docking in Marken, and I took it from within the wheelhouse itself! He even let me drive the boat for a bit!

When we got to the wooden shoe factory, I made a point of telling our group that I would not volunteer to help make any wooden shoes! Laughs all around, and I made sure to sit in the back so that I wouldn't be volunteered! Our shoe maker didn't ask for any volunteers for assistance.

My day started well before 5 this morning (still not used to the time zone), as my first picture today is timestamped 5:13 am. It's now 11:04. I'm ready for some beauty sleep.

Update, 7/20/18: