AWC Going Dutch May June 2021

Ramblings from the Editor
by Melissa White
As I write this, we have just passed
the one-year mark of the Netherlands’
first national pandemic lockdown and
we’re all eagerly awaiting the lifting of this
latest round of restrictions which has left restaurants
(except for takeaway) and bars (except
for those that converted into beer stores
like ours in Voorschoten, which we now visit
every Friday to stock up on interesting beers
for the weekend) closed for over six months
and museums closed for over four months,
upending several AWC planned tours of exhibits.
To make matters worse personally,
as I write this my father is dying. While he
is not a coronavirus casualty, the pandemic
upended my family’s plans to visit my parents
for their 40th anniversary and his 80th
birthday this past summer. I am likely not
alone in regretting that I didn’t take a leap of
faith and travel to see my father sooner. So,
like many, coronavirus has left me distraught.
Only in the darkness can you see
the stars. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Honestly, I never would have predicted that
we would be dedicating yet another issue of
Going Dutch to Reflecting on the Pandemic,
but I am thankful that there have been silver
linings, some of which you can read about
in our special section starting on page 30.
One such story was written by my eldest
daughter, Veronica. She recently became
fascinated with mine and my husband’s love
story, interviewing us separately presumably
to compare the “she said” versus “he
said” versions that she’ll hopefully share
with us soon. In the meantime, I’m thrilled
that I had an excuse to get her to write about
her own love story, which the pandemic
helped to put on fast-forward (see page 44).
And here’s another confession: I wasn’t
excited when I was contacted by Sarah
Partridge to help with her Front Door
Lockdown Portraits Project; I hope you’ll
agree that the results turned out pretty great
(see page 6). As much as I love photography,
I tried just about everything I could think of
to get out of helping her. However, she’s a
very persuasive woman and generously offered
to transport me to all of the appointments
(which were far and wide away from
my village as The Hague is huge). Thank
you, Sarah, for hanging tough and not letting
me off the hook as I had a blast! While
only six Members, including Sarah herself,
took us up on the offer to get free portraits
taken, it was such an interesting way to
spend time with Members and meet some of
their families and pets.
I know that many of us are suffering from
Zoom overload, but I am also thankful for
the many efforts made by the AWC to keep
us engaged. I’ve enjoyed Icebreaker Bingo,
Chelsea Wald’s fascinating lecture on toilets,
several Quiz Nights thanks to Suzanne
Dundas and Melissa Rider, and a Virtual
Beer Tasting organized by Sarah and Una
Mulvihill. While I personally haven’t attended,
I’ve been very impressed with the
incredible dishes being cooked during
various Virtual Cooking Classes taught by
Monica Rodoni and Minal Rajan. It’s
great that we have such creative ladies who
can think outside the box to keep activities
flowing even during difficult times.
I still hold out an inkling of hope that things
can return relatively to normal later this
year and thus am unsure if we’ll continue
with themes for the entire next Club year.
However, I can announce that the September
issue will continue with having a theme,
which will be What I Did This Summer. I
hope this open topic will prompt many of
you to write something, even if you’ve
never submitted an article before. Perhaps
it’ll even inspire you to do something out of
the ordinary just to have something to write
about. Happy Summer!
10 GOING DUTCH
MAY/JUNE 2021 11