花捲窩

      First of all, about half of the participants were diplomatic people, which inevitably connotes three impressions: boring, boring and boring. Well, let me do them justice by adding a fourth one: old. But, fortunately, the other half of us were quite loose already without much drinking, (please mark the word 'much'), and the nostalgic presence of Hollandse nieuwe (herring), cheese and bitter bollen, which is a common Dutch food a bit like 'kroket,' and whose main difference is the shape. I surely had a great time with the herring, we got along quite well, given the fact that I only got to it twice in my stay in the Netherlands. And it was my first time trying bitter bollen, whose bizarre taste reminds me the good ol' days in train stations eating from the wall. (see the pic below)    

Food vending machine inside train stations

Our Dutch delicacy on the feast (freshly imported!)

      There weren't really a whole lot of people I know, but I managed to bump into a few nice people on the scene, including the Dutch representative Meneer Menno Goedhart, who otherwise would've been the Dutch ambassador had we 'official' diplomatic ties; he gave a real hearty speech dedicated to the Queen, and led the singing of Dutch national anthem, of which I surprisingly have no impression of hearing while I was in NL. But that was really nice. (you can click here to hear it). And there was a fat and cheerful old man who danced so hard that his shirt soaked in sweat, and I was really amazed how well he could dance. Gee.  

      It was a pity that there wasn't any more Dutch songs playing that night except the ear-opening national anthem, but the live band surely did a good job in warming up the dance floor, by a couple of good oldies like I Feel Good.

      The orangest day of 2006 for me and for all the Dutchies has passed alright, but whenever I see the color orange, I'd think: this will do perfectly for Queen's Day next year, or the next, or the next......

Thijs en Tulps