AWC Going Dutch March April 2021

Going Dutch
March/April 2021
15, 22
The AWC reflects on the loss of two long
time Honorary Members
24
Learn more about the movie made about
the group sponsored by the FAWCO
Target Project
30 - 51
Our Members reflect on living in the
Netherlands
The Magazine of the
American Women’s Club
of The Hague
Table of Contents
5 Officers and Chairwomen
6 Sip, Swap and Shop
8 Message from the President
10 March General Meeting
10 April General Meeting
11 Dutch-American Friendship
Day
12 Ramblings from the Editor
14 Ongoing Activities
15 In Jessie’s Honor
16 Volunteering During a
Pandemic
18 Book Lovers
20 AWC and the Arts
21 Women’s History Month
22 Memories of Lucille Heineken
24 FAWCO Corner
28 Calendar
SPECIAL DUTCH MEMORIES SECTION
30 Mary Adams
32 Jo van Kalveen
35 Alex Moore
36 Anne van Oorschot
39 Melissa White
40 Eileen Harloff
42 Roberta Enschede
44 Melissa Rider
46 Georgia Regnault
48 Becky Failor
50 Anne van Oorschot
52 Classifieds
53 Advertising Rates
53 Index of Advertisers
54 Poet Laureate
MARCH/APRIL 2021 3

Editor
Melissa White
2020-2021 AWC Officers
Committee Chairs
AWC Clubhouse
Johan van Oldenbarneveltlaan 43
2582 NJ Den Haag
Tel: 070 350 6007
info@awcthehague.org
www.awcthehague.org
Going Dutch Magazine
goingdutchmag@awcthehague.org
Clubhouse Hours
By Appointment Only
Dues (Effective 2020-2021)
€ 110 per year (€ 66 after January 1)
€ 90 business, professional
€ 55 valid US military ID
€ 35 student
€ 35 Outside the Netherlands (Going
Dutch magazine not included)
Add € 15 new member registration fee
Deadlines: Submissions are due no later than the last Monday of the month preceding the publication month.
For example, for the May/June issue, submissions are due before Monday, March 22.
Please Note: Articles submitted to Going Dutch will be published subject to space limitations and
editorial approval. All rights reserved; reprints only by written permission of the Editor. Please email to:
goingdutchmag@awcthehague.org
Legal Notice: Articles in Going Dutch express the views and opinions of their authors alone, and not necessarily
those of the AWC of The Hague, its Members or this publication.
4 GOING DUTCH
Design and Layout
Teresa Mahoney
Cover
Stevenhofjes Windmill in September 2020
Photography
Greetje Engelsman, Melissa White
Proofreaders
Celeste Brown, Jane Gulde, Diane Schaap,
Debbie van Hees
Advertising Manager & Invoicing
Open
Contributors
Mary Adams, Molly Boed, Barbara
Brookman, Jane Choy, Suzanne Dundas,
Greetje Engelsman, Roberta Enschede,
Becky Failor, Eileen Harloff, Alex Moore,
Georgia Regnault, Melissa Rider, Asmi Sen,
Jo van Kalveen, Anne van Oorschot
Printer
www.dwcprint.nl
AWC Bank Account Number
IBAN: NL42ABNA0431421757
KvK Den Haag
40409274 BTW or VAT: 007408705B01
President Barbara Brookman
president@awcthehague.org
Vice President Melissa Rider
vicepresident@awcthehague.org
Treasurer Anne van Oorschot
treasurer@awcthehague.org
Secretary Mary Ellen Brennan
secretary@awcthehague.org
Club and Community Development
Officer
Carin Elam
community@awcthehague.org
Clubhouse Administration Officer
Open
clubadministrator@awcthehague.org
Communications Michelle Voorn
communications@awcthehague.org
Front Office
Liduine Bekman, Siska Datema-Kool,
Jan Essad, Deana Kreitler, Hannah Gray,
Georgia Regnault
Activities: Sarah Partridge
Arts: Jane Choy
Assistant Treasurer: Teresa Insalaco
Book Club Daytime: Teresa Mahoney
Book Club Evening: Dena Haggerty
Bookkeeper: Lori Schnebelie
Caring Committee: Naomi Keip
Chat, Craft & Cake: Suzanne Dundas
eNews: Melissa Rider
FAWCO: Molly Boed
Front Office Coordinator: Hannah Gray
General Meetings Programs: Open
Heart Pillows: Jan de Vries
Historian/Archivist: Georgia Regnault
Holiday Bazaar: Georgia Regnault
IT Administrator: Julie Otten
Kids’ Club: Open
Lunch Bunch: Greetje Engelsman
Mah Jongg: Jen van Ginhoven
Membership: Melissa Rider
Movie Network: Tina Andrews
Newcomers: Jo van Kalveen, Hilde Volle
Parliamentarian: Georgia Regnault
Philanthropy: Open
Pickleball: Barbara Brookman
Social Media Facebook and Instagram:
Michelle Voorn
Social Media LinkedIn: Julie Otten
Tennis: Molly Boed
Thirsty Thursday: Open
Tours: Liduine Bekman
Volunteer Coordinator: Laurie Martecchini
Walkie Talkies: Emily van Eerten
Webmaster: Julie Otten
Women with Dutch Partners: Michelle
Voorn
AWC Mission Statement
The AWC is an association formed to provide social and educational activities for American
women living in the Netherlands and to promote amicable relations among people of all nations,
as well as acquiring funds for general public interest. Membership in the club is open
to women of all nations who are friendly and welcoming to American culture. The association
does not endeavor to make a profit. The AWC is a 100% volunteer organization.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 5

Sip,
Swap &
Shop
6 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 7

Message from the President
by Barbara Brookman
We Have to Do What’s Best
Watching the Australian Open, the first
Grand Slam tennis tournament in a year to
allow spectators, I was thinking about what
is lost when we don’t have an audience. I
could hear it in the speaker’s voice at our
General Meeting and I notice it in myself
and others when we have online meetings.
It’s hard to know if we truly connect when
we look at our screens.
Seeing a sporting event with thousands of
spectators is exhilarating. The strength and
encouragement that the players draw from
the audience helps them perform better,
and the fun and comfort of a shared experience
sustains everyone. Just like we are
sustained by participating in AWC events
and from interacting with each other. But
here is this event on the other side of
the world, where it’s summer and where
they’ve contained the virus. And just as it
seemed like a preview of life to come, the
Australian state of Victoria went back into
lockdown for five days forcing the tournament
to change course and continue without
fans.
As a Club, we have been in that position so
many times this year. We lay out a plan and
we change it; we zig and we zag to make
things work given the restrictions we have.
When asked about adjusting to this change,
Serena Williams said, “So … five days? I
have to stick around. We have to do what’s
best.” Like a true champion, she not only
showed flexibility, but also
grit and determination
to win her next
matches so she will
still be in the tournament
when the
fans return.
to 100 years, we
have patience,
strength and flexibility
to stick
around. It may
not be five days,
but I hope that
in five months
we can welcome
everyone back
in person. To be
ready for that,
we’re focused on
the work at hand.
The Investment Committee is evaluating
the management and performance of our investment
portfolio, the Finance Committee
has started drafting a budget for the next
Club year and the Lease Committee is getting
ready to negotiate the Clubhouse lease
and improvements. Finally, the Nominating
Committee is hard at work to identify and
interview potential Board Members for
next year. I hope you will consider becoming
part of this team. Please reach out to
Celeste Brown if you’re interested.
Departures
I would like to thank Honorary President
Diane Hoekstra and former Board
Secretary Heather DeWitt for their service
to the Club. Best wishes for the next
chapter on your journeys. Diane returned
to Holland, Michigan, early this year. I
would like to thank her for welcoming the
AWC into her home on several occasions.
Heather returned to Houston in February.
She had only just arrived at the Club when
she was drafted to serve on the Board,
which she did for two years (2018-2019
and 2019-2020). Most recently, Heather
served as our Membership Chair.
8 GOING DUTCH
I feel that’s exactly
where we are as
a Club. On our way
Barbara
MARCH/APRIL 2021 9

Virtual General Meetings
by Melissa Rider
March General Meeting
It’s time for potty
talk! Most of us
do not give much
thought to the centerpiece
of our bathrooms,
but the toilet
is an unexpected
paradox. On the one
hand, it is a modern
miracle: a ubiquitous
fixture in a vast sanitation
system that has
helped add decades
to human lifespan by reducing disease. On
the other hand, the toilet is also a tragic
failure: less than half of the world’s population
can access a toilet that safely manages
body waste, including many in the US. And
it is inefficient, squandering clean water as
well as the nutrients, energy, and information
contained in the waste we flush away.
While we see radical technological change
in almost every other aspect of our lives, we
remain stuck in a sanitation status quo—in
part because the topic of toilets is taboo.
Fortunately, there’s hope—from a growing
army of scientists, engineers, philanthropists,
entrepreneurs, and activists who are overcoming
their aversions and focusing their
formidable skills on making toilets accessible
and healthier for all. Science journalist
Chelsea Wald, a Club Member since 2016,
has spent years plunging into the topic of
the toilet for her book,
PIPE DREAMS: The
Urgent Global Quest
to Transform the
Toilet, forthcoming
on April 6 from Avid
Reader Press/Simon
and Schuster (available
for preorder from
your favorite bookseller).
Chelsea will
talk about the process
of research and
10 GOING DUTCH
Welcome New Members!
Diane Dream
Arlene Houk
writing her book, as well as what she has
learned. This will be followed by a lively
discussion, to which you are invited to bring
your own toilet stories and most pressing
questions about this most necessary infrastructure.
Thursday, March 11
Via Google Meet
10 a.m. Social Time
10:15 a.m. Club Business
10:30 a.m. Guest Speaker
April General Meeting: VOTE!
This marks the anniversary of our first ever
AWC Virtual General Meeting. It’s unfortunate
that we still must meet virtually, but
the Board is thankful that the technology
of video conference calls to the layperson
has been able to keep our social and philanthropic
club active this past year during the
trials and tribulations of the various coronavirus
restrictions imposed throughout 2020
and now into 2021.
Voting for your Board is one of the key responsibilities
of being a Member of our
AWC. The Board oversees all aspects of
the Club with the help of committees and
volunteers. With guidance by the Chair,
Celeste Brown, the Nominating Committee
Members – Laurie Martecchini, Una
Mulvihill, Sarah Partridge, Minal Rajan,
Jo van Kalveen, and Peggy van Luyn –
have worked hard to put together a Slate of
Officers for the 2021-22 Club Year. A big
thank you goes out to all of them for their
time and commitment.
In addition to voting on the Slate of Officers,
there will be a vote on the modification
of the Membership Dues categories for
Students and Nonresident Affiliates. These
changes to the By-Laws under Article 1:
Membership, Section C: Dues are points #8
and #9. Student Memberships (#8) will now
have the added age qualification of being 25
years old or younger. The requirement to be
studying full-time in the Netherlands with
a valid ID remains the same. Nonresident
Affiliate Memberships (#9) will decrease in
cost to € 15.
Two hundred and thirty-nine years ago,
on April 19, 1782, the United Provinces
recognized the independence of the
United States of America. On October 8 of that
same year, the US and the United Provinces
signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce,
the longest standing treaty to which the US
is a party. The Dutch then loaned us money
to sustain the American Revolution.
Who we are and what we have become is
rooted in our Dutch heritage. John Adams, our
second President and first ambassador to the
Netherlands lived in The Hague. In fact, the
very first embassy building our country ever
owned was located at Fluwelen Burgwal 18 in
a house he purchased and said was “suitable
for a Hotel Des Etats-Unis”―an American
Embassy. Now it is the site of a city parking
garage!
Our sixth President, John Quincy Adams,
and his brother, Charles Francis, attended
Leiden University. Presidents Martin Van
Buren, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin
Delano Roosevelt directly trace their ancestry
to the Provinces of Gelderland and Zeeland.
Resolutions may only be adopted if a quorum
of at least 15% of the Membership is
present or validly represented at the meeting.
If you cannot join the meeting virtually,
then you can vote by email by contacting
our Parliamentarian, Georgia Regnault,
at parliamentarian@awcthehague.org before
the meeting.
After voting, there will be a FAWCO update
on their March Virtual General Meeting as
well as their 2020 – 2022 Target Project:
S.A.F.E. (Safe Alternatives to FGM
Elimination). A fun fundraising event for
the Target Project at this meeting is in the
planning stages as we go to print, so stay
tuned via Facebook and eNews for more
information. Please RSVP via our online
AWC Calendar or Wild Apricot App by
April 7.
Thursday, April 8
via Google Meet
10 a.m. Social Time
10:10 a.m. Voting
10:20 a.m. FAWCO Update
10:30 a.m. Fundraising Fun
Dutch-American Friendship Day
by Roberta Enschede
Other Americans who have shaped and
continue to shape our country also have roots
in this nation: Walt Whitman, poet; Herman
Melville, author; Thomas Alva Edison, inventor;
Humphrey Bogart, Henry, Jane and
Peter Fonda, actors; Bruce Springsteen,
singer and poet; Walter Cronkite, news commentator;
Eleanor Roosevelt, human rights
activist; and General (ret) David Petraeus,
to name a few.
To honor the contributions of the Dutch
nation, a resolution declaring April 19th
Dutch-American Friendship Day was passed
by the House and Senate on the occasion
of the Bicentennial of Dutch-American
Relations in 1982.
Each year, OAR ~ Overseas Americans
Remember commemorates Dutch-American
Friendship Day. If it is possible this April, it
will happen once more.
We encourage our fellow Americans to
reach out to your Dutch neighbors and friends
to create your very own Dutch-American
Friendship Day.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 11

Ramblings from the Editor
by Melissa White
While I have no memories of my
grandfather, there is one story that
my father told me about him that I
will never forget: how he had been stabbed
with a pitchfork while hiding under hay in
a wagon with his family while attempting
to escape from Russia before World War I.
Of course, he couldn’t scream out or they
would have all been discovered. How the
family went from that hay wagon to a ship
arriving at Ellis Island is all a mystery to me.
Frankly, whether he was indeed stabbed is
also a mystery as my father has admitted that
he doesn’t remember ever seeing the scars.
Nor does he know what his father’s real last
name would have been as it must have been
shortened to end up as Karp.
To be honest, growing up I never really gave
much thought about the fact that my grandfather
was an immigrant nor that my father
was a first-generation American. I was
teased once in high school, during the height
of the Cold War, when I confessed that my
grandfather was born in Russia, but quickly
convinced the other kids that I couldn’t be a
Russian spy since I couldn’t remember the
words to the Pledge of Allegiance, which
clearly any good spy would know. It also
never dawned on me that one day I would
become an immigrant myself.
When we moved to Holland as expats in
November 2005, we assumed we’d only be
here for three to six years due to the nature
of contracts awarded where my husband
was working. However, it didn’t take us
long to fall in love with the place and start
looking to secure additional contracts to extend
our stay. While he was under contract
for our first 11.5 years, we had semi-diplomatic
status that meant we lived outside the
local system regarding aspects of life such
as health insurance and taxes. After he was
laid off, we decided to stay, getting visas under
the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty
so he could try his hand at starting his own
software engineering consulting business,
thus becoming “local.” We are no longer expats,
but rather immigrants who, like many
AWC Members, need to pass a series of
inburgering (integration) exams in order to
qualify for permanent residency. As with so
many things in life, once something hits you
personally, it gives you a whole new sense
of empathy for others going through similar
challenges.
Life is either a great adventure or
nothing ~ Helen Keller
In this issue of Going Dutch, you’ll find a
wide range of articles as Members reflect
on their lives in the Netherlands, with a nice
mix of sentimentality and humor. You’ll
find a common theme in what inspired these
women to choose Holland as their adopted
country: falling in love with a Dutchman,
falling in love with the Dutch lifestyle, or
a combination of both. These authors range
from arriving in the Netherlands as far back
as 1957, long before affordable transcontinental
phone calls or flights, to one who arrived
as recently as 2018, in an age of smartphones,
video calls and discount airlines.
Regardless of when they arrived or how
long they will be remaining, they kissed
their families goodbye and started a new life
in a faraway place. Whether coming here as
an expat or an immigrant, it takes an adventurous
soul to take a leap of faith into such
a wild unknown. Reading through these articles,
you will see we have many Members
who haven’t regretted that decision at all. I
hope you feel the same and can reflect upon
your life in Holland fondly.
For our next issue, we will come full circle
for this club year as we revisit the pandemic:
Reflecting Once Again on the Pandemic (see
page 31 for details).
Unique products
for entrepreneurs
Sligro The Hague Forepark is the perfect fit for you as entrepreneur.
We inspire and support you with our products and services, that will
help you with your business. Our people are always there for you
with professional and tailored advice.
sligro.nl
Linge 2, The Hague
1061246
12 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 13

Ongoing Activities
Virtual Activities
Due to unknown coronavirus guidelines,
please assume that the following activities
will be held virtually until the Clubhouse
can reopen. Look for updates in eNews.
Please contact Suzanne Dundas with questions.
Chat, Craft & Cake
Every Tuesday
10 a.m. – Noon
Wassenaar and Environs Coffee
1st Thursday of the Month
9:30 a.m.
Walkie Talkies
Whether you count your steps or just want to
take a socially distanced walk with friends,
the Monday morning Walkie Talkies is a
fun and healthy way to start the week. The
group meets in front of the Clubhouse before
heading out promptly to walk to various
destinations in the area, usually racking
up 10,000 steps along the way. No RSVP
is necessary. Contact Emily van Eerten at
walkietalkies@awcthehague.org to be added
to the WhatsApp group for last minute
updates and cancellations.
Mondays
9:30 a.m.
AWC Clubhouse
Free
14 GOING DUTCH
Virtual Women in Business
Are you a business owner? Are you thinking
about starting a business? Come to our
ongoing meetings for networking and discussion
among AWC Members about being
a business owner in the Netherlands. All are
welcome, no matter what amount of experience
you may have with owning a business.
Every meeting will include a topic
of interest and time for questions, discussion
and networking. Please watch eNews
for announcements of the monthly topics.
Feel free to email Mary Ellen Brennan
for more information or suggestions at
secretary@awcthehague.org.
Friday, March 26 + April 23
10 – 11 a.m.
Virtual Meeting
FREE
In Jessie’s Honor
by Georgia Regnault
With great sadness for all who knew
her, Jessie Rodell passed away on
January 18, 2021, after months,
if not years, of fighting cancer. As AWC
Members, we have wonderful memories of
Jessie’s active years at the AWC, as President
(1984 – 1985) and Board Advisor to many
AWC Presidents after she retired. Whenever a
group or committee needed volunteers, Jessie
was the first to sign up. And one of her specialties
was welcoming new Members and
making them feel “At Home in the AWC.”
It is hard to say farewell to a good friend of
more than 40 years.
Jessie’s daughter, Tiersa, expressed, “To all
the family and friends of Jessie, former colleagues,
and parents of the American School
of The Hague and the wider international
community of the Netherlands, whether
here or back at home: We are all happy that
Jessie lived to celebrate Quinn’s birthday in
November, her own in December as well as
her 56th wedding anniversary. She was more
vocal these past few weeks than in the past
few months, so we are very grateful for that.
When they said three to six months, she didn’t
listen, so we had a beautiful nine months to
enjoy as a family. I need to say thank you
for sharing your stories and pictures. It has
given me more of my mother than you can
imagine. Thank you does not begin to cover
our thanks, and hers, for everyone who has
brightened her life. Even in her most quiet
moments she was always aware of and grateful
for the friends of a lifetime.” Tiersa has
set up a website: www.jessierodell.com
Jessie Rodell Educational Award
Some months ago, the Rodell family asked
me to set up an Educational Award in Jessie’s
name. This international community-wide
award will help a person in the Netherlands
further their education and has been set up
with the help of The FAWCO Foundation.
We hope that many of you will support this.
There are several ways to send donations:
The FAWCO Foundation Website
Go to www.fawcofoundation.org and hover
over the tab Ways of Giving and then click
on How to Donate. Please note that all donations
through the website will be in US
dollars. Indicate “Jessie Rodell” in the notes;
if not possible, follow-up with an email to
treasurer@fawcofoundation.org.
EU Bank Transfer
Euro denominated donations can be transferred
directly to the AWC of The Hague,
IBAN NL42ABNA0431421757. Please include
your name as well as “Jessie Rodell” in
the comment. For any questions, please contact
me at parliamentarian@awcthehague.org.
Send US Checks
The FAWCO Foundation
c/o Kathy DeBest
1817 Prairie Dunes Ct. S
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
Zelle App
If your US bank uses this app, send
your donation via the email address
of the FAWCO Treasurer at
treasurer@fawcofoundation.org. Please indicate
“Jessie Rodell.”
Employees of American companies may be
eligible to get a company match from their
employer as The FAWCO Foundation is a
recognized 501(c)3 organization.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 15

Volunteering During a Pandemic
by Carin Elam
As the Club and Community
Development Committee reflect on
the pandemic, we considered how we
could leverage AWC traditions to continue
making a difference in the community. How
we could continue to be charitable despite
limited opportunities for in-person volunteering,
especially knowing that needs in the
community have increased.
Life’s persistent and most urgent
question is, “What are you doing for
others?” ~ Martin Luther King Jr.
Dr. King’s message seems very appropriate
at this moment in time, especially as we consider
our committee’s mission. What are we
doing for others?
Efforts in 2020
Last spring, not much. This committee felt
the full effects of the pandemic when it was
forced to cancel the 2020 Easter Basket
event. It was terribly sad for both AWC
Members and children in the shelters to miss
this treasured event. Unfortunately, so much
was unknown at the time and it seemed to be
the only option.
16 GOING DUTCH
Throughout the summer and early fall, the
committee patiently waited for workable
rules regarding social distancing and masking.
We were hoping to return to a “normal”
year of community outreach events. In late
fall, with a better understanding of what
was possible, the core committee, Molly
Boed and Minal Rajan, joined me to move
forward with planning the holiday Toy &
Toiletry Drive. Given government restrictions,
we had to modify the drive, making
it COVID-safe: offering multiple drop-off
locations in and around The Hague, thereby
reducing foot traffic in the Clubhouse; asking
Members to donate funds versus shopping
for gifts in the hopes that this would
minimize potential exposure for Members;
asking fewer volunteers to wrap gifts in the
Clubhouse; and shifting to an early delivery
schedule (mid-November) because one of
the organizations planned to close its operation
on December 1 (prior to the traditional
December 5 celebration).
With the quick work of the committee and
generous offers of time and approximately
€2,000 donated from our Members, we were
fortunate to organize a very successful Toy
Drive. Hopefully you saw the photos in the
previous issue of Going Dutch. We shopped,
wrapped, and delivered toys and care packages
to two organizations: Oasis Food Bank
in The Hague and Salvation Army Children’s
Home “Vliet en Burgh” in Voorburg.
Looking Ahead
In the course of delivering toys to the children,
the committee learned that the Oasis
Food Bank was closing. A post on the Oasis
website explained that “changes in the
neighborhood” prompted the organization’s
leadership to reallocate resources, and other
organizations would support the Spoorwijk
neighborhood. Given the closing of our
long-term partner, the AWC must find a new
partner for our charitable donations. That
search is underway, and an update will be
shared in the near future.
2021 Easter Baskets & Care
Packages
Although the Oasis is closing, Vliet en Burg
is open and still doing great work to support
children and teen moms. Children living in
the home are offered a safe place to live,
and the teen moms receive support while
they learn to care for their child and move
forward with school or work. Therefore, we
look forward to bringing some additional
joy by delivering Easter baskets and care
packages to these children and new moms.
Sign-up details for this volunteer opportunity
will be shared with AWC Members
in early March, with a planned delivery in
early April. While we had hoped to offer
more in-person volunteer opportunities, the
Dutch government announcements in late
January led us to believe that strict measures
will remain in place through late spring/early
summer. As we learn more, we will adjust
our planning accordingly.
Fundraising for the FAWCO
Target Project
In a “normal” year, Molly, our FAWCO Rep,
would be busy planning a Spring Handbag
Auction to raise funds for the FAWCO
Target Project S.A.F.E.* (Safe Alternatives
for Female Genital Mutilation Elimination).
However, since this still isn’t a “normal”
year, our committee has brainstormed to
come up with creative alternatives.
Hopefully you have heard about the February
fundraiser: Desserts for Donations. To raise
funds, some Members volunteered their
time baking or cooking items in return for
a donation to S.A.F.E. If this first February
event was successful, the committee will
organize monthly or bi-monthly Dinners for
Donations. Please check eNews or the AWC
Facebook Group for additional details.
The Board has made the difficult decision to
reschedule the in-person Handbag Auction
for Fall 2021. Since that is so far away, we
will host a virtual pub quiz in March with
the teams competing for some of the handbags
from the AWC collection. Committee
members have just started work on this
event and more details will follow in eNews
and the AWC Facebook Group. If this
first virtual event is a success, we will plan
other, similar events, such as bingo or another
pub night.
* S.A.F.E. (Safe Alternatives for Female
Genital Mutilation Elimination)
Female genital mutilation (FGM) still occurs
in virtually every country globally,
but we are focusing our efforts on helping
girls and women in Tanzania, a place
where FGM is still widespread. A courageous
Tanzanian woman, Rhobi Samwelly
(herself a victim of this barbaric procedure),
has opened a safehouse for women and girls
in Tanzania and she is using the power of
education to educate young boys and girls
about the evils of this tradition (with the
support of the Tanzanian Government) so
that this barbaric practice can end with this
generation. Read more about Rhobi’s efforts
on page 24.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 17

Book Lovers
Book Clubs
The AWC Book Clubs are FREE and open
to all readers. New Members are especially
welcome! There are no requirements that
you must attend every meeting or lead a discussion.
Snacks are provided by a different
Member each month. We have a daytime
and an evening group. Questions? Teresa
Mahoney organizes the daytime group:
bookclubday@awcthehague.org. Dena
Haggerty handles the evening meetings:
bookclubevening@awcthehague.org. Look
for messages in eNews about the possibility
of meeting at the Clubhouse or virtually.
Daytime Book Club
March Selection: An American Marriage
by Tayari Jones
The winner of the 2019
Women’s Prize for Fiction,
this novel gives an intimate
look into a contemporary
marriage that is ripped apart
by circumstances beyond
their control.
Thursday, March 25
10 a.m.
April Selection: The Midnight Library by
Matt Haig
Between life and death there
is a library with shelves that
go on forever. Every book
provides a chance to try another
life you could have
lived. To see how things
would be if you had made
other choices. Would you have done anything
different if you had the chance to undo
your regrets?
Thursday, April 22
10 a.m.
Daytime Book Club Reading List:
Thursday, May 27: Weapons of Math
Destruction by Cathy O'Neil
18 GOING DUTCH
Evening Book Club
March Selection: The Midnight Library by
Matt Haig
When Nora finds herself in
the Midnight Library, she
has a chance to make things
right. She can now undo every
one of her regrets as she
tries to work out her perfect
life. Before time runs out,
she must answer the ultimate
question: what is the best way to live?
Wednesday, March 10
7:30 p.m.
April Selection: The Body by Bill Bryson
Full of extraordinary facts
(your body made a million
red blood cells since you
started reading this) and irresistible
anecdotes, this book
will lead you to a deeper understanding
of the miracle
that is life. "We pass our existence
within this wobble
of flesh and yet take it almost entirely for
granted."
Wednesday, April 14
7:30 p.m.
Daytime Book Club Recaps
Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout
Technically a sequel to Olive Kitteridge,
picking up one month later, this “novel in
stories” can be read as a standalone. At the
center is Olive Kitteridge, a woman from
the small town of Crosby, Maine, negotiating
her life two years after her husband has
died. She doesn’t have any real desire to
please; she can be rude, abrupt, unforgiving,
formidable, direct, insensitive, cantankerous
and funny. She can also be compassionate
Evening Book Club Reading List:
Wednesday, May 12: Before the Coffee
Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
Wednesday, June 9: It's Not all Downhill
from Here by Terry McMillan
and show empathy and vulnerability especially
as she starts to become more aware
of her own mortality. She struggles against
loneliness, aging and the issues of whether
she has been a good mother and can embrace
life with a new man. The 13 stories are told
from a range of perspectives and explore the
themes of grief, loneliness, regrets and familial
torments. Nearly all of us enjoyed this
book, deeming it just as good, if not better
than the original. We felt Olive had softened
with age and was more aware of the impact
her actions and words had on those around
her. We liked how lots of the characters had
transformative moments. Whilst Olive isn’t
at the center of all the stories, she can light
up a story even when glimpsed from a distance.
It was interesting to note that many
of the characters spent more time looking
backwards in their lives than forward and
we wondered if this was true of most of us.
As Olive herself would say, whilst walking
away waving her hand over her head, “Read
this book, you can thank me later.”
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
Kill or be killed? Lydia, a former American
judge, asks us, the readers of her diary, point
blank, “What would you do?” if given the
choice of being the shooter or the victim of
a firing squad. Having been tortured by the
male commanders of Gilead, the theocracy
that replaced the United States after an armed
attack on the US Capitol, Lydia chooses to
live, gunning down former colleagues who
chose differently. Having proven her loyalty
to Gilead, Lydia crafts a position of
great power within the Aunts, the branch of
government concerned with female affairs.
This novel gives us three firsthand stories of
a more mature Gilead than presented in its
prequel: The Handmaid’s Tale. The stories
unfold in the testaments of Aunt Lydia and
two young women: Gileadean Agnes and
Canadian Daisy, who take very different
routes to become freedom fighters. Atwood
is uncanny at what she calls “speculative
fiction,” weaving brilliant, terrifying,
but sometimes archly humorous, stories
that are on the cusp of being all too true.
Knowing the government of Gilead determines
a woman’s entire role in life by the
viability of her uterus feels ominous but also
familiar to us. The religious, environmental,
and social horrors of Gilead, always subtly
rendered, are also unsettlingly close to reality.
Atwood, 80, shared the Booker Prize
in 2019 with a younger, trendier author. We
agreed it should have gone to Atwood alone
as The Testaments is a masterpiece.
Evening Book Club Recaps
The Last Painting of Sara de Vos by
Dominic Smith
To be honest, there was little that the six
members that participated in our discussion
could agree on except that everyone’s favorite
section of this book took place in the
Netherlands in the 17th century, focusing on
a fictional female artist who specialized in
landscape paintings. While some loved the
familiarity of the locations that switched
between the Netherlands, New York and
Sydney, others were frustrated with the
modern-day characters and details that they
found superfluous.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 19

AWC and the Arts
by Jane Choy-Thurlow, AWC Member and Mauritshuis Docent
Let’s Remember All the Women!
by Roberta Enschede
Despite the uncertainty of lockdown
restrictions, I have continued to
plan some Arts activities. Please see
eNews for updates on the details.
Walking Tour of Pilgrims’ Leiden
Four hundred years ago, the English
Separatists we call the Pilgrims set sail to
America from Delfshaven, near Rotterdam.
This is an occasion to be reminded of their
story and that of their contemporaries, and to
learn about the world they lived in. On this
tour you will discover the city of Leiden,
where the Pilgrims arrived as refugees in
1609, and its unique environment: home
of the country’s first university (1575), a
flourishing textile industry, printing houses
and many foreign immigrants looking for
religious freedom. In the 17th century,
Leiden was one of the largest cities of the
Low Countries. Much of the urban landscape
today reflects the cultural, academic and
scientific riches of the city as well as
daily life in the Golden Age. Wandering
around Leiden with Sarah Moine, curator
of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum
(www.leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.
org), you will learn about the Pilgrims’
journey, monumental churches, old and
quaint houses, and secrets of the city. Due
to COVID-19 restrictions, it will not be
RSVP for all Arts Activities directly
on www.awcthehague.org
Direct any questions to
jechoy@me.com
possible to allow the entire group into the
museum. However, everyone is welcome
to book a visit online in advance at https://
pilgrim-museum.sollidd.com.
Smell the Art: Fleeting – Scents
in Color
Experience the newest exhibit at the
Mauritshuis, featuring scented flowers and
perfumes, foul-smelling canals and unpleasant
body odors, new aromas from far-away
lands (spices, tobacco, coffee and tea), the
disappearing smells of the bleaching fields,
old crafts and more. Can life in the 17th century
be captured in smell? How are smell
(and scent) portrayed? What significance
did people attach to smell? And what aromatic
connotations do artworks have? In the
vicinity of the artworks, various historic
scents will be prepared to bring the paintings
in the exhibition to life. Either we will join
Jane Choy for a tour in the Mauritshuis (in
which case
you will need
to pre-book a
ticket for the
museum) or
she will hold
a Zoom talk
about the
exhibit (and
you can visit
the museum
on your own
before the
exhibit is
scheduled to
close on June
6).
Women’s History Month was first commemorated
in March 1987. The recognition
of the rights, abilities and
contributions of women has been a long time
coming.
Back in 1851 at a Women’s Convention in
Akron, Ohio, Sojourner Truth, a former
slave, got up and said:
That little man in black there, he says women
can’t have as much rights as men, ‘cause
Christ wasn’t a woman! Where did your
Christ come from? From God and a woman!
Man had nothing to do with Him.
If the first woman God ever made was strong
enough to turn the world upside down all
alone, these women together ought to be able
to turn it right side up again! And now they
is asking to do it. The men better let them.
Obliged to you for hearing me, and now old
Sojourner ain’t got nothing more to say.
And even earlier, on March 31, 1776, when
the members of the Continental Congress
were drafting the founding documents of the
United States, Abigail Adams wrote her husband,
who was later to become the second
President:
Remember the ladies and be more generous
and favorable to them than your ancestors.
If particular care and attention is not paid to
the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion
and will not hold ourselves bound by
any laws in which we have no voice or representation.
It took 240 years for the US to finally nominate
a woman as a candidate for President.
Hillary Clinton did not win, but she made
history. No longer do we assume that only a
man can be President. Now and in the years
to come, a candidate can and will be woman:
a white woman, a brown woman, a Black
woman, an Asian woman. Little girls like
little boys will be able to say, “When I grow
up, I want to be President.” We’ve already
heard young Amanda Gorman say it in her
unforgettable interpretation of the Inaugural
poem she wrote (see page 54).
My mother would look at me and
she’d say, ‘Kamala, you may be the
first to do many things, but make
sure you are not the last.’
~ Kamala Harris
In 2020, we saw so many women running for
President. “The times, they are a-changin’.”
When Kamala Harris, the first woman Vice
President, put her hand on the bible of Justice
Thurgood Marshall, it said it all. A woman
of African American and Asian heritage
swore to uphold the Constitution on the bible
of the first African American Justice of the
Supreme Court.
So, this year in March, when we commemorate
Women’s History Month, we will know
that the second highest office in the US is
held by a woman. She stands on the shoulders
of Abigail and Sojourner and all the
women who spoke out even when they were
ridiculed and told “a woman’s place is in the
home.” Now we know it’s in the House, the
Senate, the Office of the Vice President and,
one day, the President.
Let’s take time this month to “Remember
the Ladies.” The rights and opportunities
we have today are ours because of the
women who stood up and refused to accept
second-class citizenship. Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg who fought for women’s rights
during her entire career once wrote, “Women
belong in all places where decisions are being
made. It shouldn’t be that women are the
exception.” And Hillary Clinton said, “Let it
be that human rights are women’s rights and
women’s rights are human rights once and
for all.”
20 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 21

Memories of Honorary
Member Lucille Heineken
by Georgia Regnault
Word reached the AWC in the last week of 2020 that
Lucille Heineken-Cummins, an AWC Honorary
Member and the wife of the late Alfred Heineken,
passed away at the age of 95 at her home in Noordwijk. She
is survived by her daughter, Charlene de Carvalho-Heineken,
son-in-law, and five grandchildren.
For me, this brought back many memories. During the
70s and 80s, my husband, Peter, worked at the Heineken corporate
offices in Amsterdam. For five years in the early 80s,
Peter was Secretary of the Board which meant he had quite
a bit of contact with Mr. Heineken. As a couple, we attended
many Heineken functions at which I met Mrs. Heineken and
got to know her a bit.
According to the AWC Membership records, she joined
the Club in 1975, and although she didn’t attend many functions,
she and the Heineken Company were extremely generous
to our Club and the American community as a whole.
When our Clubhouse on Nieuwe Duinweg was purchased, Photo taken in 1989 by ANP
it was Heineken that sent a crew to renovate the kitchen and provided a four-door under the
counter refrigerator free-of-charge. The only “catch” was that as far as drinks were concerned,
only Heineken or Vrumona (soft drinks and juices) products could be stocked in it. That was
not a problem! For many years, we called it the Heineken Café.
Mrs. Heineken gave very charitably to our Pink Galas as well as the FAWCO Interim
Conference, organized by the AWC at the Kurhaus in 2004. Most of the time, these substantial
monetary donations were given anonymously.
was spelled incorrectly. His comment, which typified his famous humor, “I thought my name
was well-known enough to be spelled correctly.”
Mrs. Heineken’s father was a bourbon producer in Kentucky, and she and Mr. Heineken
met there in 1947 when he was sent by his father to the US to be the Sales Manager for
Heineken, long before Heineken became a household name there. During that terrible period
in November 1983, when Heineken was kidnapped along with his chauffeur and held captive
for three weeks, all of Holland lived in much stress and fear that Heineken wouldn’t be
found alive. I can only imagine how terrible this time was for Mrs. Heineken, as she was
quite a private person, but was suddenly thrown into the spotlight.
When Heineken and his chauffeur were freed after three weeks of captivity in a Quonset
hut in the western part of Amsterdam, instead of our Club sending flowers―as would be
the Dutch custom―I asked a few AWC Members to bake lots of brownies and deliver them
to their home in Noordwijk. Brownies were what Peter always brought to the office for his
birthday and Heineken would always make the comment when they were passed around,
“Oh, it must be Regnault’s birthday today!”
According to the obituary in various newspapers, Mrs. Heineken was not only an avid
horseback rider, but had been a fashion model before she moved to the Netherlands after her
marriage. Maybe that was why, in May 1984, she did attend a General Meeting. It was my
last as President and we were holding a tremendous―and I mean tremendous―fashion show
at the Holiday Inn in Leiden. This opportunity had fallen into our hands via the American
government which had brought several American designers and their clothes for a travelling
fashion show in a couple of European capitals. We had to provide the models, location, and
audience. I think we invited the entire American female population of the Netherlands! There
were probably 350 – 400 women there, including Mrs. Heineken. Since this event was just
six months after her husband’s kidnapping, I remember her apologizing for all the security
she was forced to bring along with her. Looking back today on her attendance, I can’t help
but wonder if she had any (monetary) part in this travelling fashion show.
It was a privilege to have known both Mr. and Mrs. Heineken in some small way. Our
Club and the American community in general should be very grateful to the family.
Celeste Brown remembers two encounters with Mrs. Heineken. In Celeste’s enthusiasm
upon joining the AWC in 1998, she offered to be the neighborhood chairwoman for Leiden
and surrounding areas. At that time, she and Jaap were living in a “teensy tiny” apartment
in Katwijk. On her list was Mrs. Heineken, so she called and invited her for coffee, having
no idea that she was MRS. HEINEKEN of the Heineken beer family! Mrs. Heineken didn’t
attend the morning coffee, but Celeste has never forgotten her friendly conversation and
warm invitation to “drop by.”
When Celeste was President, Mrs. Heineken unexpectedly attended the 2004 Honorary
Members Tea with her personal assistant. Maybe it was shortly after that time that I saw
her for the last time. I was at the Clubhouse one afternoon and all was fairly quiet, except
coming down the staircase was Mrs. Heineken with her hands full of items from our Gift
Shop. She commented, “I always come here to buy things for my grandchildren in England.”
A small anecdote about Mr. Heineken (who passed away in 2002) was a letter we received
from him written on the back of the address label of the magazine, showing that Heineken
22 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 23

FAWCO Corner
by Molly Boed
Federation of American Women’s Clubs Overseas, a United Nations NGO with
consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council
www.fawco.org.
In the Name of Your Daughter
by Asmi Sen
The rustling of leaves, the roaring of the
engine, the sounds of children laughing,
crying, singing, and learning together, the
way women and girls hold their hands in
unison … all merge together beautifully to
paint a vivid picture. The unfiltered lens
through which the stories of at-risk girls
have been captured reveal the painful truth
that is female genital mutilation (FGM),
a form of gender-based violence (GBV).
FGM has continually affected girls under
18 in central and northern parts of rural
Tanzania, despite being outlawed by the
government in 1998. The documentary, In
the Name of Your Daughter, directed and
produced by Giselle Portenier, captures
what posters and websites cannot: the
voices of those directly affected by FGM.
24 GOING DUTCH
Portenier’s movie has been screened in
many different countries in order to raise
global awareness about FGM in Tanzania. It
is important to note that FGM isn’t unique to
Tanzania. In fact, this barbaric practice has
been uncovered in over 92 countries, including
in the Americas, Asia, Europe and many
other countries in Africa. The global prevalence
of this issue is, disturbingly, growing
increasingly evident. Rhobi Samwelly, who
is the protagonist of this documentary film,
is a force to be reckoned with in paving the
path towards ending FGM and promoting
women’s rights in Tanzania. Having nearly
died at her cutting ceremony when she was
12, Rhobi is determined to ensure that this
evil practice is eradicated from her society
once and for all. In order to change attitudes
towards FGM, Rhobi has spent years leading
a team of actors, singers, and dancers
in villages that promote FGM. She has also
changed attitudes of younger generations by
educating young boys and men about the
negative health consequences of FGM. This
film is a well-constructed amalgamation of
Rhobi’s efforts, the voices of the many girls
at risk of being cut, and the obstacles that
Rhobi and her team face along the road.
After the virtual movie screening in
November 2020, the audience had the honor
of interviewing Giselle. According to her,
while greater awareness has been raised
about FGM, what had been missing from
the picture were the actual voices of the girls
themselves. She said that the first step towards
raising awareness about and working
towards resolving FGM is to directly ask the
girls what they themselves want, as their human
rights are at stake. What distinguishes
this documentary from many others, is that
it allows those directly affected by FGM to
raise their voices about the issue. This theme
is prevalent throughout the film. Every time
a girl was rescued, she was asked if she was
at risk of undergoing FGM. It was each of
their responses that made the film so authentic.
The unfiltered recording of each of the
girls being introduced to the safehouse and
asked questions about their situation, laid
bare emotions of fear and uncertainty, while
also revealing the personalities of each girl.
Once rescued, some were more comfortable
staying in the safehouse than others. Flora
was older than most of the other girls. Her
feelings about the situation seemed to be
very conflicted, as she seemed observably
worried in the safehouse. Rhobi revealed
that Flora seemed the most unhappy as she
felt that she was betraying her family, her
tradition. Flora was put in a situation where
she had to choose between her family and
her basic human right of remaining uncut
and healthy.
From escaping to a safehouse to returning to
her parents’ home was a rocky journey for
Flora. The first time she returned to her parents,
her father had been convinced to sign a
binding contract with the police, promising
not to cut her without her consent. However,
Rhobi and her team later discovered that a
cutting ceremony was planned soon after, so
Flora was rescued back to the safehouse. It
was clear, though, that she was more conflicted
than relieved. Her facial expressions
indicated self-doubt, as though she regretted
every move that she made. Towards the end
of the movie, Flora finally found her way
back to her family, who once again promised
to never cut her without her consent.
However, according to Gisele, she eventually
agreed to be cut due to societal and familial
pressures, despite being educated about
the negative consequences of FGM on her
body and her human rights.
Flora’s journey revealed two significant
themes that have long been prevalent for
women’s rights. The first idea is that women
should put their community above themselves,
and the second is the patriarchal
ideal that women should serve as vessels
of pleasure for men. In the end, it boils
>> 26
MARCH/APRIL 2021 25

FAWCO (cont.)
Continued from page 25
down to a woman’s worth. According to
Rhobi, if a girl dies in Tanzania, she is not
buried but rather thrown away because she
is believed to be cursed. It is as though it
was her fault that she died. These themes
were highlighted further by the interviews
of men in areas where there are many instances
of FGM, also known as “high risk
areas.” Rhobi and the team talked to young
men to try and change their attitudes towards
FGM. There was a particular scene in
the documentary where Rhobi was hosting
a roadshow during which men in the area
were interviewed about cutting ceremonies
and why they are performed. These reactions
provide an insight to both men’s perception
of women in those regions, and the
patriarchal ideals from which this practice
is rooted. It is by changing the attitudes of
these men that significant progress can be
made towards eliminating FGM.
To achieve significant progress, there needs
to be a leader who prevents FGM. Due to
the patriarchal structure of these rural villages,
it is the men who need to put to a stop
to FGM. The education of boys is captured
in a scene where two now confident and reeducated
(formerly at-risk) girls from the
safehouse gave a presentation about FGM
and answered questions from the boys. The
boys watched a video of a young girl undergoing
FGM at her cutting ceremony, after
which the girls gave a speech raising awareness
of the negative consequences of FGM.
After watching the video and the presentation,
the boys appeared to have changed
attitudes about cutting. This heartwarming
scene indicates that educating children, especially
young boys, about the horrors of
FGM is critical for the eradication of this
abhorrent practice.
Postscript: While cutting season is typically
over the December holiday, cutting can take
place at any time. While over £500,000 has
been raised towards ending FGM, the training
of the rescued girls has yet to be fully
successful. Also, unfortunately, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the school education
of young boys and girls about FGM has been
reduced greatly. As a result, FGM will most
likely be occurring even more. UNICEF
has estimated an extra two to three million
girls have been cut worldwide due to the
pandemic. In fact, violence against women
globally has increased during the pandemic
as a result of the social isolation and economic
insecurities that follow. According to
the UN, “At least 200 million women and
girls, aged 15 – 49 years, have undergone
FGM in 31 countries where the practice is
concentrated. Half of these countries are in
West Africa. There are still countries where
FGM is almost universal, where at least 9
in 10 girls and women, aged 15 – 49 years,
have been cut.”
These global statistics cause us to infer that
conditions of FGM in Tanzania have most
likely worsened during the pandemic. While
the pandemic has most definitely presented
a setback, significant progress has nevertheless
been made through the brave work of
Rhobi and her team, who have changed attitudes
about FGM in Tanzania since 2014.
Through the unfiltered documentation of
at-risk girls and their journey towards freedom,
Portenier’s film In the Name of Your
Daughter serves to educate and enlighten us
about the detrimental effects of FGM in rural
Tanzania. This film is in the name of every
woman’s daughter, or every girl that doesn’t
want to be cut. When the cast watched the
film, they were overjoyed by the fact that
their voices had been heard. They even
laughed at the funny parts. There were also
village screenings of the documentary, after
which three girls came to the safehouse, and
one of them was brought in by her brother!
There were both men and women who
wanted to stop FGM. With more initiatives
towards re-educating people about the negative
consequences of FGM, we can achieve
significant progress towards minimizing
this barbaric practice.
26 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 27

March 2021
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m. Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
Wassenaar Coffee and
Convo 9:30 a.m
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m. Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
Virtual March General
Meeting 10 a.m.
Buddy Check 12
Evening Book Club
7:30 p.m.
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m. Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m. Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
Daytime Book Club
10 a.m.
Virtual Meeting: Women
in Business 10 a.m.
Passover
28 29 30 31
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m. Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
April 2021
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1
Wassenaar Coffee and
Convo 9:30 a.m
2 3
4 5
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m.
6
Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m..
7 8
Virtual April General
Meeting 10 a.m.
9 10
Easter
11 12
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m.
Buddy Check 12
13
Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
14
Evening Book Club
7:30 p.m.
15 16 17
18 19
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m.
20
Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
21 22
Daytime Book Club
10 a.m.
23
Virtual Meeting: Women
in Business 10 a.m.
24
25 26
Dutch - American
Friendship Day
Walkie Talkies 9:30 a.m.
27
Chat, Craft & Cake
10 a.m.
Earth Day
28 29 30
King’s Day
28 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 29

Lange Tenen
by Mary Adams
When I was a child, I had a recurring dream: In it, I was a scullery maid. I would
stand in front of a kitchen sink and scrub copper pots. I would pause and catch my
reflection in the water. I was wearing a white Dutch bonnet and apron. A door would
open behind me. I would then turn and cry out, “Pieter!” and then I would wake up. End of
dream. Later, as a teenager, I felt a strong affinity to New York City. My mother teased me,
that it was because I had a speech impediment as a child that I sounded like a hardcore New
Yorker. For example, I said “boyd” instead of “bird.” After successful elocution lessons, I
eventually defied both my New York and Texas accents. As a career woman, I worked in
New York for a few years, but my teenage yearning for the Big Apple slowly faded.
Fast forward to 2002. After two years working in Paris, I decided to move to the
Netherlands. I wanted to continue to live and work in Europe and―yes, I will admit it―I
fell in love with a Dutch man. Although I have not re-dreamed my childhood dream, I reach
back in my dusty memories and it is still there. When I moved, I wondered if I was finally
finding my roots. I imagined that fitting into Dutch society would be extremely easy. I was
certain that I could learn Dutch very quickly. I enrolled in a community college course in
Rotterdam, but was soon frustrated that I could not twist my mouth to make the proper
sounds. I would try at home with Jerry. Jerry is an echte Rotterdammer and speaks four languages:
Dutch, German, English and body language. Although we always spoke in English,
he promised to help me practice Dutch.
In the car, I would spot
signs and nature and say the
words out loud in Dutch.
Look, tree – boom. Easy. Next
I would spot a sign and say
te huur, meaning to rent. My
pronunciation sounded good
to me, but Jerry insisted that
I was saying te hoer: a prostitute.
How could that be? It felt
like tongue gymnastics. I kept
falling off the balance beam.
I continued my studies, but I
became shy about speaking. I
held entire conversations with myself, but when I tried to talk to others, most Dutch people
would screw up their faces and exclaim “EH?” That sound soon became my frustration and
humiliation point. The Dutch have an expression, “lange tenen” (long toes) to describe
super-sensitive people who feel like everyone is constantly stepping on their toes. I haven’t
measured mine properly, but I do believe that my toes grew at least an inch during this period.
For three years, I worked alternate weeks in Paris and Rotterdam. I loved being a Thalys
girl! After a few trips, I realized that speaking Dutch train talk was much easier than attempting
dialogue. The same round of questions happened on every trip. As I left Rotterdam on
the morning train, I gradually understood what the stewards were asking me during meal
service. Every trip was an instant replay where I could fine-tune my accent. I got so good
at it that I momentarily fooled some people into believing that I was Dutch, but any other
30 GOING DUTCH
conversation quickly reverted to English. After all, sinaasappelsap (orange juice) can only take
you so far. When I stopped traveling back and forth, I convinced my company to finance an
immersion week at the language Institute Regina Coeli. At the end of the week, I discovered
that I wasn’t as bad as I thought I was, but I wasn’t as good as I could be.
I spent eight years as a consultant at Shell, where English is the working language. In
my social circle, the conversation formula was always the same. “How long have you lived
in the Netherlands?” “Why aren’t you fluent in Dutch?” My toes grew three inches. I was
always busy translating and parsing sentences in my head to understand content. To form my
response, it took time to string words together and then flip all the verbs to the end. By the
time I was ready to talk, the conversation had moved on. I constructed shorter sentences but
that didn’t work well either. For example, if I wanted to tell a funny story about a pet dog, the
English equivalent that came out of my mouth ran something like this. “I have dog when I
was girl. Good dog.” Telling more of the story would require a session with Google Translate
or my grammar books. I just couldn’t seem to relax and let the language flow. My mistakes
felt demeaning. It was easier to stick with English and not worry about sputtering in Dutch.
It is always so much easier to speak Dutch with people that I do not know and will probably
never see again. As lax as Dutch customer service can be in stores, malls or restaurants,
I am still a paying customer. No nasty “EHs?” but rather honest attempts to communicate
amidst multiple (refused) offers to switch to English. My self-confidence has grown. My
toes retract when I am rewarded with shopkeeper praise.
After 15 years, I cannot claim fluency. However, when inburgering was invoked in my
community, I studied hard. I passed all five culture and fluency tests in a single day, but I
didn’t proactively practice after my victory. I comprehend about 65% of what is said to me.
I am still greeted by the fateful “EH?” that makes my toes tickle. On rare occasion, I will
lose a word in English. All I can remember is the Dutch word. It is those times when I want
to paint my toenails bright orange and wiggle them.
Submissions Needed
To continue along with Going Dutch’s focus on Reflections, the theme for our next
issue will be Reflecting Once Again on the Pandemic. The coronavirus has now
been part of our lives for an entire year. It’s once again time to document what
that has meant to our Members, in a positive manner, of course. Share with us
the silver linings, things you are grateful for, things that you have learned about
yourself and/or your favorite staycation
destinations. Undoubtedly,
this past year will be one that
none of us will ever be able to
forget, so let us know how you
made the most of this tough situation.
Please understand that we
have the right to edit any articles
and are not obligated to publish
all submissions. Send articles or
questions to Melissa White at
goingdutchmag@awcthehague.org
by Monday, March 22.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 31

Blood, Sweat and Chocolate Cake!
by Jo van Kalveen
I
first started to learn Dutch back when Kees and I were living together in London. Once a
week after work, I schlepped across London to a language school for a two-hour lesson
with a teacher named Marieke, a native Dutch speaker who was young and forthright.
The class was mostly made up of people who had a Dutch partner or who wished to move to
the Netherlands. I wasn’t the most dedicated of students, mainly because I had no intention
of ever moving here, but wanted to “show myself willing” and learn some basic Dutch to
impress Kees and his family. When life took a funny turn and I told Marieke I was pregnant
and moving to Holland, her immediate reaction was, “Really? Wow! I’m not sure how you
will ever cope, with your language skills, Jo.” And, to add insult to injury, she made bunny
ears with her hands when saying “language skills.” Well, that was a nice way to send me off.
I made a second attempt at learning Dutch after a year of living here. I was pregnant
with son number two and had severe morning sickness that lasted all day. I struggled to do
the homework and felt guilty about putting son number one, then aged one, into daycare. I
watched the clock throughout the entire lesson. I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind to
learn. Plus part of me thought we would move back to the UK in the near future, so I really
just wanted help with ordering food in restaurants, shopping and chitchatting about the weather
with the neighbors. I was that pupil who would try and avoid catching the teacher’s eye by
keeping my head down and furiously taking notes. It was like being back in my high school
math class! I was almost relieved when I had to stop when Oliver was born.
Attempt number three came a few years later when I signed up for a more intensive
course, which was two evenings per week. I roped a fellow expat friend into joining me. It
certainly made the lessons more pleasurable―especially when we were put in a class with a
couple of German ladies who became fluent in Dutch overnight and who read Dutch grammar
books “just for fun.” I struggled through; at the end of the course, I got a call from
the teacher to suggest that, instead of moving on to the next level, I repeat the beginners
class because, “Let’s face it, Jo, you are never going to be a language wizard.” (What is it
with Dutch teachers and their motivation techniques?!)
Between attempts three and four came the AWC Dutch Conversation mornings. Becky
Failor, Jessie Rodell and I sat with Greetje Engelsman for an hour or so every week to chat
away in Dutch. We talked about whatever was going on at the time. Greetje often had a very
bemused look on her face, mostly because we were talking more “Dunglish” than Dutch,
but chatting away in a relaxed, friendly environment like that can do wonders for your selfconfidence.
I recommend it! (Come to think of it, cake may also have been involved.)
Attempt number four began when the boys were both
at school and I found myself having more time to devote
to learning Dutch properly. I signed up for a semi-intensive
beginners’ course, four mornings per week for three weeks,
with lots of homework in between. A lovely lady named
Henny was my teacher and the class consisted of just three
of us. Henny would host us at her home, supplying copious
amounts of tea, biscuits, fruit and chocolate cake. If one
of us was struggling, she would gently coax us in the right
direction whilst nudging cake in front of us. I finally learned
some Dutch and put on weight!
32 GOING DUTCH
Henny was brilliant at understanding how
different people learn in different ways. I was
more intuitive; I knew something was right
or wrong but didn’t know why, and I had a
wide vocabulary of Dutch words. I found
grammar incredibly difficult; Henny used to
say, “Jo, you have all of the right words in
that sentence, just in the wrong order. But
that’s OK, have some cake.” One of my
fellow students was a linguist (a professional
interpreter) so she picked up Dutch
easily; the other loved grammar and rules
and wanted to understand the complexities
of the language. Henny made learning Dutch
fun and relevant. We learned the same thing
in different ways, from listening to a Dutch
pop song, watching TV/film clips, to role playing or playing board games. Even now when
I’m compiling Dutch sentences, I still think of Henny holding up two fingers in a V shape at
every opportunity to demonstrate that the verb (mostly) falls in second place in a sentence
(her V representing both verb and two; simple, eh?) I stayed on with Henny for a couple of
years until she retired and one of the class members, now a friend, moved away. Whilst I was
still far from fluent, I could read and understand a lot of Dutch. Henny was a miracle worker!
When the Brexit Referendum plunged us Brits into a bit of a panic about whether
we would be able to stay in the Netherlands, I thought I’d better take the Inburgering (integration)
exams. I duly ordered all the textbooks and sat down one morning and opened them.
Thirty minutes later, with rising anxiety and a migraine, I closed them and put them back on
the shelf―thinking maybe I would just wait a couple more years when I could be optioned
in as a Dutch national due to having lived here for 15 years! Those books are still on my
shelf, gathering dust, along with all the other visual reminders of my quest to learn Dutch.
I would say my lowest point when trying to speak Dutch was once when I was ordering
a cappuccino in a restaurant and was not understood (cappuccino in Dutch is cappuccino!).
Or the time I was trying to buy the boys snow boots. The sales assistant didn’t have a clue
what I was asking about and Luc, then aged about six, tapped me on the arm and said, “Leave
this to me Mum.” I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry! I think I probably cried.
I still smile when, after asking a Dutch person if they speak English, they say “a little”
and then proceed to speak fluent, perfectly formed English sentences. When I say “een
beetje” in response to being asked if I speak Dutch, I really, really mean “een beetje!” But
the Dutch love it if you try.
Lots of people still ask me if Kees and I speak Dutch at home. The answer is a resounding
no. Kees is one of those lovely but annoying people who picks up languages very easily.
He can hear a word once and remember it five years later, whereas I need it repeated about
1,000 times! If I ask Kees for help, it usually goes something like this:
Me: How do you say **** in Dutch?
Kees: You know that.
Me: No, I don’t, that’s why I’m asking you.
Kees: Think about it; you must know this, it’s easy.
Me: <<slightly squeakily>> I really don’t.
Kees: You must know it.
Me: <<steam appearing from my ears>> Just forget it!
>> 34
So in short, we learned early on that speaking Dutch is not good for our marriage!
MARCH/APRIL 2021 33

Chocolate Cake (cont.)
Continued from page 33
Since the end of Summer 2020, facing yet another lockdown without the lure of a sunny
garden and having decluttered my house top to toe in the first lockdown, I have returned
to my Dutch books―which has surprised both them and me! For various reasons I needed
something to occupy my brain and time. I dug out my course material from Henny’s class and
went back to Chapter One: Ik ben Jo. I’ve been gratified to see how much Henny taught me
that has stuck. In combining the course with one online, too, I’m still terrible at grammar, but
I’m focused and getting through a chapter each week. I’ve adopted the “Henny approach” and
have chocolate cake at hand for when I’m struggling. Who knows, maybe I will get around to
doing those Inburgering exams just to prove to myself I can; but I think that will take a hell
of a lot more chocolate cake first . . .
Chocolate Cake Recipe
Guaranteed to Help You Learn Dutch!
• 125g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
• 100ml Guinness or Coca Cola
• 40g cocoa powder
• 200g light brown sugar
• 100ml milk
• 2 large eggs
• 175g plain flour
• 3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Cream cheese or buttercream icing/frosting to decorate
Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.
Lightly butter a loaf tin that measures about 20cm x 9cm x 8cm and line with a strip of
baking paper such that the excess hangs over the
sides of the tin (this will make removing the loaf
easier).
Put the butter into a pan and place over medium
heat until melted. Remove from the heat and add
the Guinness/Coca Cola and cocoa powder, whisking
together until smooth. Whisk the sugar, milk
and eggs into the Guinness/Coca Cola mixture.
In a bowl, mix together the flour, bicarbonate
of soda and salt. Add the Guinness/Coca Cola
mixture and whisk briefly until smooth and combined.
Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin
and bake in the preheated oven for 40 – 45 minutes
or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the
cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in
the tin for 15 minutes before carefully lifting out;
cool on a wire rack.
Decorate with cream cheese frosting or buttercream
icing.
Eat and become fluent in Dutch :)
34 GOING DUTCH
Two Years On
by Alex Moore
I’ve lived in the Netherlands for two years―two and a half in February. My job is based
in Amsterdam, although I suppose that’s a technicality given that we’re working from
home until who knows when. I also have a resident permit: a verblijfstitel. My Dutch
husband Diederik and I have built our happy home together, so I’m not just a Dutch resident
on paper. Two years and counting has given me a lot of time to figure out the Netherlands.
As for my grasp of Dutch, it’s getting there, but it’s not easy considering all the rules
and irregularities regarding those rules. Don’t get me started on de and het. I’ll always mess
those up. The syntax is another area where I mess up the word order, since Dutch syntax
seems to do what it wants when it wants with no rhyme or reason. At least not that I can tell.
It’s been a good two years, all things considered. Certainly, culture shock is no fun and
I miss certain things about home, but the Netherlands is still a nice place to be. The longer
I’m in Rotterdam, the more it grows on me because it seems like there’s always a new café,
festival, or event to discover. At least there was until the coronavirus. I’m looking forward
to the day when everything opens back up and we can explore again. It may be a small
country, but there is still a lot to explore, whether it’s Friesland, Nijmegen, or Breda. And
everywhere else in between.
While many people do not come to the Netherlands strictly for the cuisine, I’d be lying
if I said I didn’t enjoy bitterballen, pea soup, or stamppot. As for the kaas, it doesn’t get
much cheddar than that. The irony is that it’s hard to find decent cheddar here, but I digress.
I went to Gouda once and purchased a wedge of aged cheese that I demolished in one week
because it was that delicious. I regret nothing.
I think back to the first time I visited the Netherlands in March 2013. I remember looking
out the window of the plane and seeing Amsterdam appear through the clouds as we got closer
to the runway. The thud
as the plane landed and
taxied to the gate. The
bright lights of Witte de
Witstraat in Rotterdam
as we went to a local bar
called De Witte Aap; the
windmills at Kinderdijk;
the Van Gogh Museum
and the evening canal
cruise in Amsterdam.
I didn’t know then
that I’d end up living
here with the guy who
took me to all of those
places. Yet, here we are,
Diederik and I with our
nice life in Zuid Holland
and with our Irish terrier
Murphy.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 35

A Glass Half Full or Half Empty?
by Anne van Oorschot
It was in January 1980 that I left the US, bound for a one-year governess job for an American
family living in Salzburg, Austria. The couple was employed by the Salzburg Seminar, a
conference institute housed in a castle where I would live with them. They had to travel
frequently, thus needed someone to take care of their seven-year-old daughter. I had just completed
my bachelor’s degree, so the timing was perfect for a break, and what an opportunity!
It was at a Salzburg conference in June that I met Hein, a handsome and charming Dutch
fellow. We spent a lot of time together in the week he was there, wrote back and forth after he
returned to The Hague and had two little vacations together in the months that followed. We
also talked about me moving to the Netherlands or he to the US. Was I sure about spending
the rest of my life with this guy already? Of course not, but I did know there was something
REALLY great about our relationship and wanted to give it a shot. Since Hein’s degree was
in Dutch Law, we decided to try living in the Netherlands first. While I liked what I had seen
of the country on my visits there, my experiences in Austria had made me skeptical.
I had a few American friends in Salzburg and had heard stories of difficult experiences
and I had a few stories of my own as well. Like when I tried to buy pecans in a shop to make
a pie. I didn’t see them and described the nut as a slim walnut, reddish in color; the shop
owner said, “We have walnuts and hazelnuts and any other kind of nut you don’t need!” My
employer asked me to pick up some alcohol at the pharmacy for him to mix with water to
fill his windshield wiper washer reservoir; the clerk asked if I wanted 75% or 90% alcohol?
I said either was fine, but then had to explain what I wanted to do with it. The clerk refused
to sell it to me as, “there is special fluid that you buy for that.” I could go on, but you get the
picture! It had never occurred to me that I could not live somewhere, but, as charming as
Salzburg was, I realized I would have a really hard time living there.
I moved to Holland in January1981 and attended my first AWC meeting a few months
later. I still remember two of the women I met―not their names, but their messages when I
said I had just arrived. One woman said, “Poor you!” She hated it here and could not wait to
leave! She hated all the traffic, the “so dangerous!” bikes everywhere, the lack of space, the
tiny stores that weren’t open in the evenings with many of her favorite products unavailable,
the stern Dutch, and the weather . . . ALWAYS gray and rainy! She painted a somber picture
of life in the Netherlands. The other woman had a very different message, “Such a lovely
country, and everything is so close by and convenient!” She loved being able to cycle to
get around, “Exercise built into your daily life!” And what a treat it was in the spring when
beautiful bulb flowers exploded in bloom all over the city. While it did rain regularly and the
winter tended to be gray, there were enough patches of dry weather, with the sun peeking out
regularly to enjoy the wonderful outdoors. She loved it here, “Lucky me that, with a Dutch
partner, I could stay!” And therein lies the trick of living happily someplace: it’s all about
how you look at it. The glass is either half full or half empty.
There are two sides to everything and which side you choose to dwell on is entirely up to
you. Dutch houses are close together, usually with shared walls, making it possible to hear
neighbors, with yards tiny compared to American standards. The flip side is that shared walls
make our heating costs lower, the higher population density makes it possible to have an
excellent public transportation system, and it’s easy for our neighbor to keep an eye on our
house when we are gone for a six-week vacation in Minnesota. While my husband loves to
garden, he prefers the smaller garden in the back of our current house to the big yard around
the free-standing house we had previously. He says he doesn’t want to spend more time
working in the yard, that he has to enjoy sitting in it.
>> 38
36 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 37

A Glass Half Full (cont.)
Continued from page 37
Our Floating Bathtub
by Melissa White
I also love how close shops are and how I never have to worry about parking as I go on
my bike. Shopping takes a lot less time than at an XL American supermarket. The excellent
public transportation system meant that, when we lived in Delft, I could walk to the corner
and step into a tram that brought me to the corner next to the previous AWC Clubhouse. It
works perfectly for this Clubhouse as well, by the way, but I no longer live in Delft. Now I
catch the train from Tilburg and sip tea during the 75-minute train ride to The Hague while
reading a book or writing a letter or email. I hop on a tram from the station or rent an NS
bike to get to the AWC’s front door, with no worries over traffic, navigation or parking.
Of course, the weather can be a challenge, and it is definitely a Dutch pastime to complain
about it. When my children were younger and needed to be brought to and from school, I
can remember bemoaning the rain when I looked out of the window during the day. Luckily,
I often discovered that it wasn’t actually raining when I had to head out on my bike to pick
them up. Also, when my kids got into Jr./Sr. high, they were able to bike to school themselves,
as well as to football or baseball practice, piano lessons or to a friend’s house. Many friends
in the US with kids listened enviously and told of the hours they spent taxiing their kids to
sports and other activities.
There was an article in Going Dutch in my early years that had three helpful lessons for
getting along with the Dutch weather:
1. Be honest about the weather you’ve left behind: remember not only the lovely spring
sunsets over the Arizona and Texas landscape, but the summers that are so hot you
can fry an egg on the sidewalk. You can miss the lovely spring and summers in
Minnesota and the Midwest, but don’t forget the tornados and endless snowfall in
other seasons.
2. Get appropriate clothing and dress for the weather: invest in good raingear so that
if you have to go out on a wet day, you can arrive more or less dry.
3. When the weather is nice, get out in it: If the sun is out and the weather is gorgeous,
leave your planned activities for another day (when it is gray and rainy) and go out
to enjoy the beautiful Dutch parks and terraces.
Let me close by saying something about the Dutch. They tend to be pretty straight forward
and while it can be hard to get used to initially, I have come to appreciate it. You know
what they think and since they generally don’t mean any insult or harm it’s kind of handy. I
remember an evening in my early years when we had friends for dinner and our guest commented
on the celery in the salad. He said, “We never eat celery raw, only cooked.” Then he
looked at his wife and said, “By the way, raw is really nice in a salad.” (Whew!)
People often ask me what the biggest difference is between the Netherlands and the US
and, after giving it a lot of thought, my answer is space. The Dutch need less space and are
happy with less of it. It means that people are happy with smaller houses and a smaller yard;
they can be outside in their small yard and speak quietly to not disturb or interact with their
neighbors who are also outside. The tables in restaurants are often smaller and set closer
together; the Dutch can stand closer together without feeling like someone else is “in my
space.” I think I’ve changed over the years to need less space as well and am grateful for
my new attitude. With our climate in crisis, compact is better, and I’m happy my Dutch
glass is half full.
38 GOING DUTCH
Our first rental in the Netherlands was a typical Dutch house built in 1935 on a canal
in a suburb of Leiden. It didn’t take James long to start researching buying a boat. I
reminded him that we didn’t need to own a boat, we just needed to have friends with
boats. Eventually we settled for two used Canadian canoes instead of a very expensive boat.
Our daughters, who were just eight and five when we arrived, spent a lot of time in those
canoes during that two and a half years that we were fortunate enough to live in that lovely
waterfront house.
Fast forward to a beautiful day in June 2020, when our friends brought us out on their boat
to tempt us into buying in as co-owners, as the other co-owners never used the boat and wanted
to be bought out. My main hesitation was that while I knew that boating around Leiden was
fun, I was worried that it would grow weary after a while. So I was thrilled that we quickly left
the canal ring of Leiden and headed towards Leiderdorp, even crossing over a freeway at one
point. Clearly they knew we were suckers for new adventures, so it didn’t take much convincing.
Actually, I use the word “boat” loosely, as I fondly refer to Bootjuh as our “floating bathtub.”
There’s only one seat, which is for the captain, of course; there are also two beanbag chairs,
but I broke down and brought a folding chair. It’s also missing a fuel tank and lights. Luckily
the portable fuel tank fits on the back of James’ bike; he looks quite funny when he cycles up
to a gas station for a refill. In addition to our neighbor’s spare rechargeable lamp that was easy
to strap to the front of the boat, James rigged up a Christmas decoration mounted on top of a
flashlight strapped to a pole; he’s clearly hoping
not to find out what the authorities think of his
lighting solutions.
On the negative side, our little putt-putt
motor is quite loud. On the positive side, € 2
of fuel lasts well over an hour (much longer
than € 2 of wine), which makes for pretty darn
affordable entertainment. Our timing was perfect
to be able to enjoy the amazing summer
and fall weather exploring Leiden and beyond
with other couples or on our own and giving
us yet another reason to love living in Holland.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 39

I Remember
by Eileen Harloff
I
first came to the Netherlands in 1957 as a Fulbright Fellow assigned to work for a year
at the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA) in The Hague. World War II was
still vivid in peoples’ memories and the nation was just getting on its feet financially and
socially. America was a land they admired and wanted to emulate in various ways; Americans
were welcome. I knew very little about the country and what life would be like. Of course, I
knew about the little boy who saved his fellow countrymen by putting his finger in the dike.
I knew that windmills were abundant, and that many people wore wooden shoes and liked
to skate on the frozen canals.
My first home in The Hague had been arranged for me in the house of a doctor who lived
on the ground floor, his mother on the second and I in the attic on the third, on the Frederick
Hendriklaan in the Statenkwartier. The stairway was steep, and my small room contained a
sink, round table covered with a Persian rug, worktable (for typing and cutting up veggies,
etc.), table on which was placed a two-burner stove, and two chairs. Next door was the bedroom
and a toilet room, with a pull chain which I pulled too hard causing it to come crashing
down; both were unheated. I immediately put the table carpet in the closet, fearful of spilling
food on it, unpacked as best I could and went out on a tiny balcony that overlooked the street.
It was clear to me that the washbasin was intended for washing dishes, clothing and body.
As my landlady and I could not communicate except with gestures, and not wanting to
play the role of a rich American used to a separate bathroom, I accepted the situation as it
was. Fortunately, I met a woman from the US Embassy who lived in the neighborhood and
offered me the use of her bathroom (without a shower). Ironically, it was on a day just before
I was leaving The Hague after a two-year stay that I saw an open door on the landing and,
much to my surprise, it revealed a bathroom with a bathtub. Apparently, it was being used
by my landlady and an elderly woman who lived in a backroom whom I had never seen.
And to think that I had felt sorry for my landlady all that time because I thought she didn’t
have a proper bathroom.
In the middle of the orientation week for the Fulbright Fellows, we were told that we had
a real treat coming to us: we were going to Soestdijk Palace to meet Queen Juliana. I was
relieved that the girls were not
expected to curtsy, we were to talk
only when spoken to, and we were
to be on our best behavior. We
arrived at the palace at precisely
the time allotted, formed a line,
gave the Queen our names and
shook her hand. We then waited
at the side of the room until the
Queen lit a cigarette and we were
free to mingle for a short time before
climbing back onto our bus
to return to Noordwijk, where we
were learning about the history
and culture of the Netherlands and
were given our first Dutch lessons.
40 GOING DUTCH
Having done graduate work in local government,
I was assigned to spend the coming
year at the IULA in the center of The Hague.
There was a tram outside my house, and
I climbed aboard it and off we went, ending
up a short time later in Scheveningen―
oops, wrong direction. I changed to the right
tram and ended up in town, but where was
Paleisstraat? After several attempts, I found
out―surprise, surprise, it was across from
the Palace on Noordeinde. I was cordially
received at the IULA office and we sat down
on large but low-slung chairs around a table
on which was an ashtray and cigarettes. We
were then served a cup of coffee, lit up a cigarette and chatted. At a certain point I found that
there was a movement under my left arm―what could it be? When I surreptitiously looked
down, I discovered that my elbow was not on the arm of the chair, but was actually on the
boss’s knee. I was horrified and blurted out, “I am so sorry, please excuse me,” to which his
reply was, laughingly, that he thought I had done it intentionally. Fortunately he had a sense
of humor and we became good friends during my stay which lasted not one, but two years.
I went back to the US on the maiden voyage of the SS Rotterdam on September 3, 1959.
Among the 1,200 passengers on the ship were a few other Fulbright Fellows on the lower
deck and Princess Beatrix on the top deck. The Fulbright boys wanted to invite the Princess
to come down and have coffee with us, and so an invitation was sent upstairs. The Princess’s
lady-in-waiting informed us that it would not be possible for her to come down, but that we
were welcome to come up to her quarters, which of course we did. The rules were not as
strict as with the Queen, but it was clear that
the Princess was feeling a bit overwhelmed
by us. We were offered coffee and taartjes
and were enjoying them and chatting with her
when one of the boys dropped his taartje down
the front of his shirt, much to his chagrin and
our amusement as Beatrix’s lady-in-waiting
cleaned him up.
As we were coming into New York Harbor,
I spotted the Statue of Liberty. After two years
in Holland, I felt very emotional seeing this
most American site. I was coming home.
Did you know that any woman who speaks English is eligible to
join the American Women’s Club?
Invite your English-speaking friends, wherever they’re from,
to join us today!
MARCH/APRIL 2021 41

Since My First Days Here
by Roberta Enschede
When it was suggested that I write another article about living in Holland, I knew it
would not be about discovering Dutch art or tulip fields or where to find American
products. It’s about me and a discovery I made on the third day I was in the
Netherlands.
My father-in-law, who had a tiny blue 2CV Citroen that I used to refer to as “a can-opener
car,” asked me if I wanted to take a ride and see some of Amsterdam. I met him for the first
time that day. I wanted to be nice, so I said OK. I knew he was born in Amsterdam in a canal
house on the Herengracht.
We drove from Amsterdam Zuid, where we were staying,
down to the area not far from his birthplace and near the
ancient Portuguese Synagogue. We got out of the car and he
showed me the giant sculpture honoring the dockworkers
who went on strike in February 1942 to protest the deportation
of the Jewish people. He stood and looked and started
to mention names of Jewish boys he grew up with in that
neighborhood. He was not Jewish. He’d sort of look, stare out,
mention a name of a friend, take his own time to remember
and sometimes, forlornly tell me they were gone.
I remember thinking for the first time in my life that because
I am Jewish, one of those people could have been me
or my sister, my Mom, my Dad, or my friends in Chicago.
For the first couple of months that I was here, I would go out and just roam around
Amsterdam. Very often I got lost. I didn’t care. I was always wondering what it was like
before, when the Jewish people were there. I kept thinking what would New York or Chicago
feel like if from one year to the next, there were no more Jewish people? What would my
cities sound like? Smell like? Would the delis disappear and sounds like Oi and a bagel
with a schmear? What about all the artists, writers, lawyers, doctors, Jewish mothers and
matzoh ball soup?
For the first time in my life, I wanted to walk down the street and tell everyone, “I am
a Jew! Do you hear me―a Jew and I’m here and I’m alive.” After a couple of months, I
met a Jewish American woman who was a sociologist by training. I told her that I wasn’t
interested in anything but walking around Amsterdam and trying to reconstruct in my mind
what the real Amsterdam was like. She told me, “It happens to all of us. We feel guilty
because we’re alive.”
The following spring, on the evening of May 4, when the Dutch remember those who
died in the war, I decided to go to a service at the liberal synagogue. I very rarely went to a
synagogue in the US. I had no need or interest, but here, I had a need, so I went. There were
very few people, all older. I remember feeling like an intruder. I knew they had memories,
stories to tell―memories I could only try, but would never be able, to understand. I could
never feel what those people felt, but I still think about how they looked, how alone with
their thoughts they seemed to be.
42 GOING DUTCH
Now, whenever I go to
Amsterdam and visit the
Jewish Historical Museum
opposite the Portuguese
Synagogue and the
Dockworker’s Statue, I always
find myself thinking
that the museum shouldn’t
be there. It is a building
that once housed four synagogues,
but after the war,
there were no people left to
fill them.
About a year ago, we
drove down to explore a
little town in the south:
Zaltbommel. It was one of
our “be a tourist in Holland” days. As we walked, we looked down and noticed Stolpersteine
before one house after another. It was a beautiful early evening, but those stones, those
Stolpersteine quickly turned the evening around. On those stones were engraved the names of
Jewish people, when they were deported, and when and where they died. In the Netherlands,
that history is ever present: in Wassenaar where I live, in Zaltbommel, in Amsterdam, everywhere.
My Jewish identity too is ever present. There are always reminders. For many years, I’ve
gone to the synagogue on the High Holidays, fasted on the Day of Atonement, commemorated
Passover and lit the lights of Hannukah. If you ask me why I go to the synagogue, one reason
is because I want to make certain every seat is filled. It’s like I’m going for those who were
taken away. It’s probably the reason I fast and commemorate Hannukah and Passover―a
way of feeling at one with my people and knowing that the people who lived in Amsterdam
and grew up with my father-in-law and the people in Zaltbommel and all over Holland will
not be forgotten.
I never had such feelings in New York or Chicago where I grew up. Here in Holland,
to this day, they are with me. It took living here for me to discover how much being born
Jewish means and will always mean to me. It took living here to for me to commit myself to
do what I can and never ever
accept racism, anti-Semitism
or white supremacy, ever! I
guess when one realizes it
could have been me, standing
against hatred is not an
option, it is the only choice
a person has.
Eli Wiesel, survivor of
the Holocaust, author and recipient
of the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1986 once wrote,
“It’s not that we remember,
it’s what we do with those
memories.”
MARCH/APRIL 2021 43

Reflecting on Life in Holland
by Melissa Rider
What do you like best about living in Holland? And what do you like the least?
These are the two most frequently asked questions by my friends and family in
the US as well as Dutch friends and acquaintances. The answers: biking, of course (fietsen,
natuurlijk)! And the weather (het weer)!
The unpredictable Dutch weather of rain and wind is not ideal for cycling, but nevertheless,
the Netherlands holds the record as the nation with the most bikes per capita and is an
extremely bike-friendly country with its continuous network of bike paths, clearly signposted
and well maintained.
When I first moved here in 2006, I opted not to get a Dutch driver’s license and instead
decided to rely solely on my bike and public transportation. My two sons, who were in the
7th and 9th grades at the time, did not particularly like my choice when on their very first
day at their new school, they had to cycle 1.6 miles (2.7 km) in the pouring rain. However,
in all the years from 2006 – 2012, I had only one occasion to wish for a Dutch driver’s license:
when I was cycling to the American School of The Hague in a sleeting rain to deliver
a crockpot full of meatballs to my son for a Student Government lunch. As the saying goes,
“there’s no such thing as bad weather, only unsuitable clothing,” so the boys and I survived
the bad weather days and enjoyed the health benefits of cycling to all of our daily activities.
Upon my return to Holland in 2017, I once again chose not to obtain a Dutch driver’s license
and have yet to regret my decision.
My fondest biking memories to date will
be the trip through the eastern provinces of
the Netherlands with my father and two sons
organized by me in 2009 and a repeat of that
trip nine years later with just my dad, Tom,
and me. I relied heavily on the book Bicycle
Touring Holland by Katherine Widing to plan
the trip in 2009. Through her research, I had
my map to follow and a list of homes that
offered cyclists bed & breakfasts that were
booked through the local VVVs (tourist offices).
While there were some minor changes to the original itinerary, the second trip was
much easier to execute with overnight accommodation and tourist info research done on
the Internet. Also, the now established fietsknooppuntennetwerk, a network of junctions in
which bicycle routes can be put together and was only in its infancy in 2009, made the daily
routes super easy to plan and follow. For both trips, I carried six detailed bike trail maps,
but in 2018 I had the advantage of Google Maps on my phone to get me to the doorstep of
our nightly accommodations, if need be.
Meppel, Kampen, Deventer, Doesburg, and
Nijmegen.
For the first portion of the trip in Groningen
and Drenthe, we cycled through picturesque
towns, by tidy farms, alongside canals,
and through mature forests. Sites included
Hunebedden, megalithic tombs, and Kamp
Westerbork, a detention and transit camp for
Dutch Jews in WWII. The second half of the
week was spent cycling on the dikes beside the
Ijssel River and passing by or through the once prosperous Hanseatic Towns. The weather
was hot and sunny with a few days approaching 85°F (30°C) and absolutely no rain or wind.
It was idyllic!
My second bike trip with my father from June 9 to 17, 2018, added the provinces of Utrecht
and Zuid Holland to the 2009 trip itinerary and we averaged 36 miles (60km) per day for a
total of 325 miles (542 km). The weather for the week was lovely with temperatures averaging
around 70°F (20°C) with the exceptions of one rainy afternoon and one windy, blustery day.
We followed a southerly path from Groningen to Zutphen, where we then departed from
our touring of the Hanseatic towns and riding along the IJssel River by heading west through
the Veluwezoom National Park, Hoge Veluwe National Park, and Gouda before ending at
home in Wassenaar. Hoge Veluwe is the largest
nature reserve in the Netherlands and offers
a mixture of heaths, woodlands, sand dunes,
and grassy fields for visitors to explore. We
circumvented the city of Utrecht by hopping on
the train which allowed us more time to explore
the bucolic countryside and in particular the
UNESCO World Heritage site at Kinderdijk, a
series of 19 magnificent windmills built around
1740 to help with the water management system
to prevent flooding in the area. I cannot
imagine a better way to experience this site except by bicycle. Overall, the trip was fantastic,
but made even more special by the celebration of my dad’s 80th birthday in Dwingeloo.
Both trips were grand adventures which will forever keep the Netherlands’ biking culture,
citizens, and country dear to my heart.
From June 28 to July 6, 2009, Tom, Ian, Jonathan and I toured the provinces of Groningen,
Drenthe, Overijssel, and Gelderland by bicycle. Averaging 30 miles (50km) per day, we traveled
222 miles (370km) in 9 days between the towns of Groningen and Nijmegen. We traveled
by train from The Hague to Groningen with our four bikes and saddlebags loaded with
our personal gear. At the end of the trip, we boarded the train in Nijmegen to return to The
Hague. We stayed in small B&Bs or hotels in the towns of Groningen, Borger, Dwingeloo,
44 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 45

I Was Hooked
by Georgia Regnault
May 12, 1952: that is when these two
photos were taken, and they have
hung in their same frames in all of
my homes ever since. I was nine years old
and that was my introduction to Holland―the
Netherlands was far too big a word to use
in 4th grade! Mrs. Boynton was my teacher
and the little girl next to me, Patty, is a sister-in-law
of Judy Treanor, a former AWC
Member, whom many of you knew. Talk
about a small world! Oh, I should tell you
this was in Providence, Rhode Island―like
Holland, a small place.
Unfortunately, the photos have faded, but
one can certainly see the background of typical
Dutch houses and a couple of sailboats, so
there must have been water. And, of course,
the windmills give it away. The second picture
shows about half of the class gathered
around our teacher’s desk. I have included
this one because the girl standing to right of
the teacher was a celebrity in our class. Her
father, Ivan Fuqua, had been a track and field
athlete in the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam.
And what did she bring to our class during this
project―a big wooden shoe that was given
to all the Olympians that year. I have always remembered seeing that proudly exhibited on
their mantelpiece. Knowing this man might have spiked my life-long interest in sports. No
gold for him in Amsterdam, but four years later, he did win one for the 4x400-meter relay
race in Los Angeles.
I firmly believe that this 4th grade experience jump-started my interest in Holland, as
I remember thinking it was such a storybook place―I wanted to go there. My sister first
came here in 1958 (I was 15), on a tour run by NBBS, a Dutch student travel agency, so she
obviously came home with all sorts of wonderful stories. Dutch students she had met came
to our house for Thanksgiving, so I became even more curious about this small country.
In 1963, it was my turn to take this tour of Europe in a Volkswagen bus with a Dutch
student driver―no backpacking in those days for college girls! But I was hooked! A week in
the Netherlands was not enough to discover this kikkerland. Upon graduation from college
and finding no employment in mathematics on the horizon, I took a job with a travel agency
in an office of two: myself and a Dutchman, who had just finished university. Our converted
closet office was located on the Holland-American Line Pier in New York City. Fabulous year
with lots of work to be done, but also lots of playing. I think every Dutch student who came
to the US passed through our office to say hello or to have a jenever (Dutch gin), sherry or a
Heineken with us. We also waved goodbye to every sailing that left the pier bound for Europe.
46 GOING DUTCH
This job only lasted for one year, but it
did have a fantastic perk: free transportation
on one of the student ships to Europe
for the summer. Well, I wasn’t going to
just stay for a couple of months, but decided
to spend a year in Amsterdam. Luckily
I found employment at Time-Life; they
needed native English-speaking people.
Another fantastic year, discovering all
that Amsterdam had to offer; skating in
the winter, football games in the Olympic
Stadium, long evenings in small brown
café’s, all enjoyed with Dutch friends,
whom I had met in New York. After 11
months, I decided that I probably should
go back to the US and use that education I
had earned. And as luck or fate would have
it, the very next day after handing in my
resignation at Time-Life and booking the
trip back to the US, I met Peter, my future
husband. What now? You can imagine
how the first year, being so far away on my
own, also had its difficult moments. My
living quarters were rather spartan, and with no telephone, I had to make an appointment at
the post office to call my parents. My job, although paying well because it was an American
company, was probably not going anywhere. I felt it was time to end these two gap years.
After a whirlwind two-month romance with Peter, I still stuck to my plan and sailed away
from Rotterdam. After four months with a
fascinating campaign job for the governor
of Rhode Island, I returned to Holland on
the day after Thanksgiving. Luck was on
my side again and I was rehired by Time-
Life for a better position. And Peter and I
became engaged on January 1, 1967. The
rest of our 50 years together will have
to be for another time, but suffice it to
say that we lived in Amsterdam, Assen,
Wassenaar and The Hague with two foreign
assignments in Hamburg, Germany
and Curaçao.
Looking back on that fourth-grade
project building a Dutch village, I guess
I was just destined to live here. And what
does Holland mean to me? The other pictures
in this article all come from paintings
I own. The flowers, the pastures, the
dunes, the canals, the churches, the Pollard
willows, the cows―Holland is still that
storybook country I learned about those
many, many years ago.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 47

Musings While Cycling
by Becky Failor
Some of my fondest memories of living
in the Netherlands are the times I
spent on my bike. We chose to live in
Rijswijk so that my husband, Hugh Gregg,
could cycle to his laboratory from home. It
took him less time to ride his bike than to
drive! And I used my bike far more than I
ever used our car. There was a freedom in the
bike rides and an ability to “take it all in.”
One of my more infamous bike rides was
to Delft in December 2016, to pick up a few
“Dutchy” souvenirs for a Christmas gift. My
front tire slipped out on the polished stone
around the Stadhuis and DOWN I WENT.
Thinking that my injury wasn’t too serious,
I did my souvenir shopping and hobbled
to a café to wait for Hugh to pick me up.
However, my leg soon started to swell at
it was indeed broken, but I didn’t let this
incident put me off from getting back on my
bike as soon as I could.
Of course, we moved our Dutch bikes
to California when we returned in 2018.
Unfortunately, the hill where we live is far
too steep to cycle up, so we must load up
our bike carrier onto our car just to go out
for a ride. How I miss the freedom of hopping on my bike to run my errands and just to get
out and about.
In 2016, I wrote this piece below for Going Dutch and it seems like a fitting reflection
of my time in the Netherlands.
Musing While Cycling to the AWC Clubhouse
• It’s such a sign of love, caring, and support when I see a mother or father riding with
their hand on their child’s back as they ride together.
• I love all the different ways you can pile kids onto parents’ bikes.
• I love bakfiets as it’s so cute to see kids in them. It’s also fun to see bier kratten in them.
• Little push bikes (without pedals) are such a great way to get toddlers used to balancing
a bike.
• Lots of people like to take photos of the Hofvijver. I remember doing that 15 years
ago on my first visit to The Hague.
• I like the signs on the bike path that say things like “Put away your phone and notice
the nature around you” and “Don’t SMS, talk to a real person” or “Get out of the
virtual world and into the real one.”
• It’s not a bad thing when my usual bike route is torn up for construction as I get to
48 GOING DUTCH
discover new parts of my neighborhood or around The Hague.
• It’s great to see all the families riding with beach paraphernalia on a lovely warm
day at Scheveningen.
• I still have not mastered holding onto the post with my feet still on the pedals while
waiting for the light to change.
• I accidentally wrapped my bike lock chain around another person’s bike, which was
next to the post I had intended to lock to. Luckily the man was quite nice about the
five minutes he had to wait for me to exit the store.
• My husband has a rule for me in bike riding: No flat-Beckies. I must always look
both ways.
• I am still surprised how many people smoke while cycling. Then I remember
that cycling in Holland is more of a
form of transportation than a form
of exercise.
• Wearing leggings is the only way I
am comfortable riding very far in
a skirt. Maybe I should try a skirt
bike seat?
• Cars and trucks parked across the
bike path bug me!
• It was so cute when I saw a young
girl riding with her doll in a special
seat on her bike just the same as on
her mom’s bike.
• Don’t forget to ride perpendicular to
the tram tracks to avoid getting your
tires caught in the grooves.
• It made me smile when a lady said
she liked that the color of my panniers
and bike matched.
• I love riding down the tree lined
roads of Huis te Landelaan and
General Spoorlaan in Rijswijk.
• I enjoy waving at the neighbors on
my little street.
One-of-a-Kind Activities
With lockdown restrictions changing constantly, it is difficult to plan One-ofa-Kind
Activities too far in advance. We are hoping to reschedule some of our
cancelled fall events in addition to implementing some new fun ideas. Please
keep informed of newly added events through Facebook and eNews. If you
have a suggestion for an activity―either virtual or in-person―please send
to Melissa Rider at vicepresident@awcthehague.org or Sarah Partridge
at activities@awcthehague.org.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 49

It Always Pours in the Netherlands
by Anne van Oorschot
When thinking about life in the Netherlands, I think back upon when I was first in
the country and eager to fit in. I wrote an article for Going Dutch in 1991 about
my first Jaar Club weekend―it is still spot on regarding Dutch hospitality―and
thought I’d share it with you.
My husband and I just returned from our Jaar Club weekend and it was, as usual, lots
of fun. Since not everyone will know what a Jaar Club is, let me explain.
Here in the Netherlands, the university
system is much different from the US, one of
the most visible differences being the lack of
a campus as we know it. The college buildings
may be located more or less in one or
two areas (at least they are in Rotterdam),
but there are no dormitories or other student
living quarters clustered together. The
students who don’t commute simply rent a
room somewhere in town. This makes contact
among students less automatic, which is why
Dutch student clubs are so widely joined.
They are much larger than the Greek system
in the US and often have hundreds of members, both male and female. For that reason, first
year students often form small groups with 5 to 15 other new students, and these small groups
are referred to as (first) year clubs, or Jaar Clubs in Dutch.
Sometimes a Jaar Club will stay together as a group only the first year or two. Other
times, the members remain a group for the duration of their university studies and often for
awhile after they’ve embarked on careers and “life after college” in general. It’s rather rare,
however, for a Jaar Club to remain together for as long as my husband’s club has.
This past weekend we celebrated the group’s 20th anniversary. (We would have celebrated
our 49th anniversary in 2020, but it had to be postponed due to COVID-19. We are
already postponing our 50th anniversary until 2022 in the hope that we can go to Huesca,
Spain in honor of the Saint the student club
is named for.) When I joined the group as a
spouse in 1981, there were no children, and
now there are 18 (!) with the oldest one 10
and the youngest 3½ months. Twice annually
we rent a big house somewhere in the
Netherlands and move in from Friday afternoon
till Sunday evening; everyone shares
in the shopping, cooking and cleaning up.
The spring weekend is with the kids (they
all love it!!!) and the fall is just for the 14
adults. Heerlijk!! (Delightful). However, I
have to laugh when I think back to my first
Jaar Club weekend.
50 GOING DUTCH
I hadn’t been in the country long and was completely in the dark as to many Dutch
habits and customs, but was eager to fit in. Dutch husbands aren’t terribly helpful in this
area as it usually doesn’t occur to them that there’s anything to explain, “How else would
you do that??”
When I got up Saturday morning, someone had already made coffee and tea, “Would I
like something to drink while breakfast is in progress?” One cup of tea and one refill later
everyone was up and breakfast slowly appeared on the table. There was more coffee and tea
to go with breakfast, and I made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which everyone agreed
was a revolting combination. Being new and innocent in such matters, I said nothing about
peanut butter and chocolate sprinkles or peanut butter with sambal. After three cups of tea
(at least) during the long breakfast, everyone pitched in to help clear the table and do dishes.
Now the group gathered in the living room of our weekend house and what appeared
on the table? More coffee and tea. Two cups of tea and two cookies later, it was decided we
would go for a walk. We returned 1½ hours later after being lekker uitgewaait. (This translates
roughly to “being blown through deliciously”. It’s hard to translate it better because
we simply don’t have the concept that it’s delicious to be blown around like that!)
Once we were again settled in our gezellig huisje what appeared? Coffee and tea again.
Since I don’t like coffee (and my husband’s aunt thought I looked so nice!?) I was poured
another cup of tea. After two or three cups and a piece of taart, sorry, cake, all food and
beverages disappeared.
Their absence was of short duration, however, and at 4:30 p.m. the next category of
beverages appeared and de borrel began. Luckily for me, there was a variety of drinks available;
from orange juice and cola to wine, beer and jenever. I started with orange juice and
moved on to wine later. The Dutch are very polite and good hosts, so every time my glass
was empty, “Did I want a refill of something?” Not wanting to be different, I allowed my
glass to be filled again.
During dinner there was wine and after the dishes were done, what should appear but more
coffee and tea. After my third cup of tea―and my 25th trip to the WC―I was definitely all
tea-ed out and said so. It seemed as if the rest of the group was done as well since the cups
all disappeared. Wonder of wonders, however, they were soon followed by the appearance
of wine, beer and soft drink glasses. I literally floated to bed some time after that and had
long since lost track of how many liters I had poured into myself that day. I understood from
my husband that those who really stayed up till the wee hours indulged in another round of
coffee and tea before going to bed, but I am very glad to have missed it!
After many years in the
Netherlands, I’m not so worried about
fitting in, and if I feel myself starting to
float, I have no trouble missing a round
of whatever is being served. I must admit,
though, that it remains difficult not
to drink here. If you doubt this, next
time you visit a Dutch friend when
they ask you what you’d like to drink,
tell them, “Nothing, I’m not thirsty.”
The looks on their faces should convince
you that in a good Dutch house,
it always pours.
MARCH/APRIL 2021 51

Classifieds
Private Pilates in the
Comfort of Your Own Home
Certified instructor offering
mat Pilates tailored to your
body’s specific needs.
One on one, duos or live
Zoom possible.
Women or couples only.
Lessons are in English.
Greater The Hague area.
Enquires contact me at
christina@pilateslounge.nl
Ad size Dimensions Price per issue Price for 5 issues
Outside cover (full) 148 x 210 mm € 270 € 1.250
Inside cover (full) 128 x 189 mm € 250 € 1.120
Full page 13 x 18 cm € 240 € 1.050
Half page 13 x 9 cm € 125 € 530
Third page 13 x 6 cm € 95 € 400
Quarter page 6 x 9 cm € 75 € 315
Half page and third page ads will always be landscape (horizontal) and full page and quarter page ads will
always be portrait (vertical).
AWC Member Rates:
For 45 Words
Per Issue € 10 € 5
Five Issues € 45 € 20
For 25 Additional Words
The AWC is not responsible
for accidents or injuries
occurring at Club activities
or on Club property. Sports
and exercise instructors
must carry their own
liability insurance.
Advertising Rates
Non-Member Rates:
For 45 Words
AWC is a Pet-Free Zone
As much as many of our
Members love their pets,
please do leave them at
home as the AWC has a
long-standing policy of
no pets in the Clubhouse.
Thank you for your understanding!
Going Dutch is published five times per year from September through May by the American
Women’s Club of The Hague. Our members are a combination of American, Dutch, British and other
English-speaking nationalities. Circulation varies between 300-350 recipients per month, and the
full online-version of our magazine receives over 1,000 views each month.
Deadline: In general, the 1st of the month prior to the month in which your ad will appear.
How to Submit Your Ad: Email our magazine staff at : goingdutchads@awcthehague.org
Payment Information: Please indicate the name of your ad on your payment so that we are able
to match up your payment with your ad.
By Bank Transfer: IBAN: NL42ABNA0431421757
Display Ad Prices and Dimensions:
Classified Mini-Ads:
Per Issue € 15 € 8
Five Issues € 70 € 35
For 25 Additional Words
Index of Advertisers
ACCESS
page 27
Aveda Lifestyle
Salon
Inside Cover
FRITSTAXI
Airport Service
Inside Back Cover
Member Privacy
Happy Critters
page 19
Marcel
Vermeulen
Jewelry
page 9
Petros Eyewear
page 9
Support Fellow AWC Members
Find links to a large variety of businesses
owned by AWC Members at www.
awcthehague.org/site/newcomers/businesslinks
Playball Kids
Sligro
page 27
page 13
TRI-PT Studio
Personal Training
Back Cover
Going Dutch is Available Online
VERHEY VAN
WIJK brilmode
Wassalon
Weissenbruch
Members: eNews Distribution
A weekly electronic newsletter is sent to all
AWC Members.
If you have not been receiving your eNews,
please contact Heather at
membership@awcthehague.org.
page 13
page 14
Your Cleaning
Service
page 27
Go to www.awcthehague.org to share the current month’s issue with friends and family. You will
also find links to our annual advertisers, whose support makes this magazine possible. If you
visit or contact one of our advertisers, let them know Going Dutch sent you!
Please be reminded that the AWC Membership List is for AWC Member reference only and
use of this information in any communication other than AWC official business is strictly
prohibited. Members may not share the list with anyone other than another AWC Member
in good standing and never to any third party.
The AWC takes care to protect Member information and adherence to this policy is critical to
maintain Member privacy. Members are asked to report suspected misuse of the list to any
AWC Board Member.
52 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 53

The Hill We Climb
by Roberta Enschede
Where a skinny Black girl descended from
slaves and raised by a single mother can
dream of becoming President,
only to find herself reciting for one.
I kept wondering why only Lady Gaga
and Jennifer Lopez were singing at the
Inauguration Ceremony of President Joe
Biden. With all of the incredible African
American artists, why did the Inauguration
Committee not ask one of them?
Then, at the end of the ceremony, Amanda
Gorman was introduced―the first Youth Poet
Laureate of the US. A slight young woman
walked to the podium overlooking the nearly
200,000 American flags representing those
who couldn’t attend the ceremony due to the
pandemic. That slight, beautiful young woman
dressed in the yellow of daylight and sunshine
began to speak. She was slight no more.
Hers was and is and will be a clarion call ―a
challenge to all who believe in justice, peace,
and equality. Amanda asked:
Where can we find the light in this never-ending
shade? What ‘just is’ isn’t always justice.
On January 20, she stood in the place where
those who would destroy democracy in the
name of democracy shoved, beat, shattered,
and broke their way into the hallowed halls
of the United States Capitol. January 6, 2021
will live in infamy, but Amanda, in her youthful
optimism and artistry, wrote:
Somehow we weathered and witnessed a nation
that isn’t broken, but simply unfinished.
But while democracy can be periodically delayed,
it can never be permanently defeated.
She then vowed to the riveted world:
We will not march back to what was, but move
to what shall be: a country that is bruised but
whole, benevolent but bold, fierce, and free.
We will not be turned around or interrupted
by intimidation.
And, in the spirit of Maya Angelou, she
spoke of rising....
Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest,
we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous
one. We will rise from the golden hills
of the West. We will rise from the windswept
Northeast where our forefathers first realized
revolution. We will rise from the lakerimmed
cities of the Midwestern states.We
will rise from the sunbaked South. We will
rebuild, reconcile and recover.
She looked straight out across the flags
and the Reflecting Pool to the spire of the
Washington Memorial and the Memorial
where Abe Lincoln sits, and where Martin
Luther King and John Lewis once stood, and
spoke out for liberty and justice for all. This
diminutive “skinny Black girl descended
from slaves” pronounced for the world to
hear:
There is always light, if only we’re brave
enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough
to be it.
Dr. Jill Biden first heard Amanda recite one
of her poems at the Library of Congress.
Being an educator, she recognized an incredible
young artist, and that’s how a 22-yearold
woman became not only the first Youth
Poet Laureate, but the youngest Inaugural
Poet. A collection of her poetry entitled The
Hill We Climb and a picture book written as a
children’s anthem entitled Change Sings will
be published in September.
On a personal note, I love poetry, and have
taught and done oral interpretation of poetry.
I have always believed that a poet can encapsulate
in a few words the essence of things.
We’ve heard speeches and sermons about
coming together, compromise, and diversity.
In eight simple words, Amanda Gorman,
poet, said it all:
If only were brave enough to be it.
54 GOING DUTCH
MARCH/APRIL 2021 55

PERSONAL TRAINING
SWIM ANALYSIS
MOBILITY TRAINING
TRIATHLON TRAINING
WATTCYCLING
PERSONAL TRAINING
VOORSCHOTEN
Offering the latest in training
technology, Tri-PT studio will work with you
to create your goals - then make sure you get
there! Train 1-on-1 or with a friend for some
extra motivation.
Contact Paul :
info@tri-ptstudio.nl
TRI.PT.STUDIO
+316-18144296
www.tri-ptstudio.nl
TriPTStudio