“You’re not like most Americans.” A student of mine, a trainee English teacher, said this to me. I laughed, and the conversation moved on to other topics, but I’ve been thinking about what he meant by this. What the Dutch think about Americans – and I dare say this applies to other Europeans too – is…
Zuanich Point Park
Bellingham is far more interesting than I ever expected it to be. When I looked it up on-line before coming here, it sounded like a rather sleepy, rather hippy-ish place, with its once-a-week organic market and its encouragement of biking. And, to be honest, that’s what it is: a sleepy, hippy-ish place. The residents even…
T is for Travel
What is it that we like about travel? I think people would give a variety of answers. Here are a few that come to mind. Experiencing different cultures and ways of life This is what interests me the most. I am constantly curious about how other people live. As we were driving along today, for…
Serenity on the BC Ferry
I experienced a few moments of serenity yesterday. It was on the ferry from Swartz Bay to Tsuwassen, on my way back from a lovely visit with my relatives in Victoria. It had cleared up from an overcast, rainy morning to one of those afternoons with deep blue skies and bright, billowy clouds. I stood…
Odd Little Things in America
When I first moved to Holland there were a lot of little things I noticed that were different than at home. Nothing of importance, so I just noticed and moved on. Now that I’m back visiting, all sorts of little, unimportant things are striking me as different and odd: things that normally people would never…
G is for Grief
The 9/11 memorial was on my “To Do” list today. I went there once before, though I’m not sure exactly what year it was. At the time, it was just one huge pit in the ground. It had been cleared of debris, but nothing had been built on the site yet. I’m not sure why…