What I've been up to...

So I spent a day with Jozien and her sister in a small town near Columborg. It's very Dutch. I know, I know, what did I expect?

So they took me to a cheese shop. That was great. Wheels of cheese. And then the dairy section of a grocery store. They have something called vla here. It''s not as thick as yogurt, but thicker than milk. They have all consistencies here. It puts Wisconsin to shame.

I also got to go up into a windmill. That was really cool as well. Jozien found the molaar (operator of a windmill) to show us the inner workings of the mill. He applied the brake, and then let me help restart the mill. It ruled! I took pictures. Unfortunatly, I don't seem to be able to find an internet cafe in Amsterdam that will let me upload pictures. They all seem to have massive control systems on them that prevent me from hooking up the USB cable...

We also went for a drive in the area. They explained winter dikes and summer dikes. A diagram would help, but I couldn't readily find one. But the summer dike is the first barrier around the river sides. Then, there's a flood plane, surrounded by a higher winter dike. Then, beyond this winter dike, you have the town. So you can see houses behind the winter dike, but know that you're looking at the second or third story of the house.

So I had a great time and made it back to the train with a whole 15 seconds to spare...