I am guilty of behaving like this in the past, especially in the two or three years after my initial conversion to the Christian faith. I became a member of a very strict and orthodox Evangelical church: the type with two services on Sunday, not buying stuff on Sundays; not going out for dinner on Sundays; no studying or other work on Sundays. There were a lot of rules you had to obey to because this was how they were teaching and living the Ten Commandments. They were serious about it, and in fact I liked that. Not because they were the rules and you had to do it because it were the rules. I found myself doing a lot of these things already as a result of trying to live a Christian life. I was very happy to be a Christian and would make sure everybody got that. At one point I started to expect other people to live the same lifestyle I was living because that was how to live properly. If you would adopt another lifestyle, you weren’t living a good life. Same approach for doctrine: I held tight on what the church was teaching, on what Calvin and other reformators were teaching and anything that wasn’t in line with those teachings was heretical in my mind. I gave other people in my church a hard time because they weren’t sticking to the doctrines of their own church.

After a while it occurred to me that my behaviour had no results whatsoever: nobody had the slightest inclination to live a more orthodox life or corrected their flawed understanding of doctrine. And that had nothing to do with them and their approach, it was me. I had this “I’m doing it right, you’re doing it wrong, and I will tell you how to do it right” attitude. According to my own pastor and other orthodox people, I knew a lot about my faith and I was right to defend what I held for the Truth. That may have been the case, I hear a lot of people saying that I know a lot, but I wasn’t spreading the Good News efficiently. There may have been a big chunk of insecurity as well: because I was new to the faith it felt odd to be so different from the others. The inability to deal with the Dutch approach to authority may also have been playing a role. Whatever it was, whatever I was doing, it wasn’t working. If I really was interested in defending the faith, I had to change my approach. I needed to learn other people’s language and see where they were coming from and be gentle and actually listen to them. It took a while to get there, but when I adopted this approach I noticed people becoming less hostile to what I was saying and that they actually started to listen what I was saying.

This experience shaped me and how I deal with other people. One of the things I heard most frequently back when I was this Evangelical neophyte was that I was so arrogant and self-righteous. This was totally not how Christ wants me to be, so I needed to learn to be humble the hard way with God’s help. I needed to go around with an open mind and had to acknowledge that some of the things I defended as the doctrine of the Evangelical church I belonged to was actually incorrect. The reason why a lot of Evangelicals didn’t stick to it anymore was that they also sensed it was flawed. This led to a huge crisis. If some things were wrong, other things could be wrong too. So I needed to rethink everything and learn that things can be different in reality from how they look at first glance.

Why do I come up with all of this? At the one hand to remind myself to be gentle and patient with new Catholics who have a lot of zeal and at the other hand to hold up a mirror. It’s very easy to fall back in this trap of forcing your point of view down other people’s throats. This doesn’t mean that truth is something optional. But there’s truth and ways to share it. And there are different audiences. If someone claims to be a devout Catholic but is not living like one and has opinions that go against Church teaching, I will treat that person different then a non-Catholic who opposed the Church because he or she doesn’t know what the Church actually teaches. One big thing I learned to respect is the fact that people have a free will. I can give out information, I can be an example living my life, but I can’t make them believe and live a virtuous life: only God can.

I believe most converts go through this phase and I can understand how they can frustrate cradle Catholics. But keep in mind they have good intentions. They need to learn the hard way how to deal with differences among faithful Catholics. This is especially difficult if those neophytes come from a Protestant or even an Evangelical background. In a lot of those churches there’s not much variation allowed: differences are often seen as a form of heterodoxy. Yes the Catholic Church has well defined what her doctrine is, and that what’s they have learned in RCIA (hopefully). What they didn’t really learn is all the different kinds of spirituality and all the different ways to live a virtuous Catholic life and still be faithful to the Magisterium. Don’t blame them. It’s not something you can learn in RCIA but only by living the faith in full Communion with the Church. They need their time. And they need good examples of how open-mindedness doesn’t necessarily leads to heterodoxy. A challenge for both sides, cradle Catholics and converts alike.

You can find more pictures and the story here.

It turns out there's a very easy solution for 'repairing' scratches from CDs that skip. Apply a small dot of toothpaste to a cotton pad. Rub in a straight line from the center of the CD outward and over the scratch. Rinse off the toothpaste with water. It's important to use toothpaste, not the gel, because that won't work.

I know Oliver Sacks is American, but I can now hear he has an eastern accent, he sounds almost British. It only occurred to me he talks like this after my visit to Boston.

Since today was also a rainy day, more like Fall then like Summer, I decided to make a traditional Dutch meal that’s normally associated with the Relief of Leyden (1573/1574). After the Spanish soldiers left, the hungry burghers found fires with hotchpotch cooking over it abandoned by the Spaniards. At least, that’s how the story goes. They probably used parsnip (sweet potato) instead of our modern potatoes but apart from that the recipe has been unchanged. Normally people who celebrate the Relief of Leyden on October 3 will eat herring on white bread and hotchpotch. Here is how you make the hotchpotch:

Ingredients:

• 300 grams / about 1.5 cup carrots (peeled and cut into 1/4″ slices)
• 300 grams / about 1.5 cups onions (peeled and cut into rings)
• about 2.2 lbs potatoes
• a bit shortening / lard
• milk
• coffee milk
• chuck roast / beef shoulder chops (the cheaper option would be meatballs)
• salt, pepper, sugar to taste
• gravy

Directions:

Peel the potatoes and put them in a large pot. Make sure they’re about 3/4 immersed with water. Add a bit salt to make the water boil faster. Prepare the meat by seasoning it with salt and pepper. You can roast it or bake it. If you make Dutch meat balls, this is how it is done:  1 pound ground beef, 1 egg, some salt and pepper are mixed in a bowl. Then breadcrumbs are added until there’s one big ball. Divide it into smaller balls which are fried in a sauce pan with butter.

Peel the onions and the carrots and cut them into coarse pieces. Add this to the potatoes. Cook for about half an hour until it’s done. Drain the pot with the water.

Add a lump of shortening and mash everything. Add a bit milk and mix everything together until a lumpy mixture. Add salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

Serve with gravy, meatballs or chuck roast / shoulder chops.

Eet smakelijk.

Variation: For the “original” version use parsnip instead of potato.

]]> http://taquoriaan.com/2010/08/29/2699/feed/ 0 http://taquoriaan.com/2010/08/28/2695/ http://taquoriaan.com/2010/08/28/2695/#comments Sat, 28 Aug 2010 21:18:40 +0000 Inge http://taquoriaan.com/?p=2695 In this episode: Public holiday in the city remembering the Siege of Groningen in 1672 and the new academic year is about to start!

Links mentioned in this episode:

• This podcast in the iTunes store

Subscribe: feed | iTunes

As many of you may know, my family does not believe in anything. They’re self-confessed Atheist or they simply don’t care and don’t want to be bothered with any form of religious talk. They don’t want me to pray for them, which brings up a dilemma: should I pray for my family like St. Monica did for their conversion or not? They don’t want me to pray for them and I guess I should also respect their wishes.

Part of the reason they don’t want me to pray for them is fear, I guess. Suppose God exists and they are put for a choice which possibly means they need to change their lives. They are happy with the lives they currently live and don’t want to change it or have it changed by a third party. I know that their lives will be more happy if they would know God. So I pray for them anyway, knowing God will respect their wishes, but still I feel uncomfortable doing something they don’t want me to do.

How do you deal with non-believing family and friends? Do you pray for them? Do they know you’re praying for them? How do they react?

In this episode: Freshmen Introduction Week & the student parish; an unexpected encounter with my inner demons; Saint Augustine: shining example how everybody can become a Saint.

Links from this episode:

• Website of the student parish

(via tunelab.com)

This cake was made for her daughter’s wedding. What a devoted and sweet Mum, to make this beautiful cake for the wedding! To find out how she did it and what everything is made of, go over to this site.

I’m not new to blogging. I first started blogging in the Fall of 2003, maybe it was 2004 already, I don’t really remember. My first “blog” was on my Protestant church’s national forum and consisted of a fictional account on my life, set in a Fairytale Forest and people in my life were given fairytale character names to ensure anonymity. This was natural to me since I love fantasy/SF stories and my handle on that forum was “Little Red Riding Hood”. After I discovered the joy of blogging I went over to Blogger two years later, continuing to blog in “fairytale-speak”. This changed in 2007: After a number of years of discerning my spiritual path, I saw that traditional Protestantism (Calvinism) was nothing for me and therefore I called myself “General Christian”. I was blogging about the things occupying my mind. This could be faith related but also about psychology and science. Blogging became a way to process my thoughts.

Between 2008 and now I have hardly been blogging for various reasons like finishing my bachelor’s degree, working, health-related issues and such. It’s also clear I cannot continue where I left off, because I got older, my thoughts changed and most importantly my faith changed. Or maybe it has not so much changed. “Correctly labelled” is a better way to phrase it. I have been thinking and reasoning along the lines of Catholic teaching and Catholic piety for a long time, even when I still called myself “Reformed” or “Protestant”. This brings me to the topic I have been musing on ever since I came back from Boston: What does “Catholic blogging” mean?

Back when I was a Protestant, I already thought (and believed) like a Catholic would. I wasn’t aware of it, but my reasoning was 100% Catholic and it irked me when Catholics pointed this out. I was blogging about my faith, but how would one label such a blog? Would that be a “Protestant Blog” because its writer was a member of a Protestant Church? Or was it a “Catholic Blog” because its content was Catholic? Does Protestant (or Catholic) say something about the blog and the content or does it say something about the owner/writer of said blog?

Is a blog, written by a devout Catholic writer, but about non-Catholic topics a Catholic blog and is the writer “blogging in a Catholic way”? I think the answer can be yes. A Catholic blog doesn’t necessarily have to cover pious Catholic topics like the Magisterium, the Church and such. Look at SQPN, a Catholic New Media Network producing Catholic podcasts, without being blatantly Catholic. I am member of the “Secrets of Middle-earth” panel. There’s a “Secrets of Harry Potter” podcast as well. Harry Potter isn’t Catholic nor is J.K. Rowling. I also have to think about something Lino Rulli said. The goal of Catholic New Media (which includes blogs) is to make people curious. Being different, being fresh, being new. You have to be new, otherwise it’s not New Media.

This brings me back to Saturday two weeks ago, with me sitting in this tall trolley bus musing on the concept of a “Catholic” blog. Do I want to blog about the Catholic Church, the Magisterium and other pious topics? Sure, but that shouldn’t be the main focus: It’s boring to non-Catholics. I am not a Catholic now because SQPN was making boring Catholic Radio podcasts, but because it was about Star Trek, Star Wars and most importantly Battlestar Galactica. I cannot recall one single conversation with Fr. Roderick which was about the Catholic faith and yet I converted. Because it was real, it was authentic and it was about something I could connect to. I want my blog to be like that too.

Some animals have another face we normally never see. Who knew that porcupines could be this cute? God’s creation never fails to amaze me. What a wonderful thing to live on this amazing planet with amazing wildlife!

Source: www.youtube.com

Ingredients

• 2 (6 ounce) cans water packed tuna, drained and flaked
• 2 teaspoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon sweet pickle relish
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• salt to taste

Directions

In a bowl, mix the tuna, mayonnaise, mustard, relish, lemon juice, cinnamon, curry powder, pepper, and salt. Cover, and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Source: allrecipes.com

(Source)

(via gawker)

“One’s first step in wisdom is to question everything – and one’s last is to come to terms with everything.”
Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742 – 1799)

I don’t know what people in the Spanish city of Toledo were thinking when they decided on the location of their fireworks display to commemorate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. They decided it was probably a great idea to set off a lot of fireworks in front of the famous 13^th century High Gothic cathedral of Toledo. It’s considered to be the pinnacle of Gothic architecture in Spain. And of course it’s no problem to ignite a lot of gunpowder in the close vicinity of this monument.

The mayor, Emiliano García-Page, had the honours of starting the fireworks and some of the rockets went the wrong way towards the cathedral which resulted in the beheading of one of the angels that accompanies the ascension of Mary to heaven at the door of the Lions. A big uproar started, people are upset, some are suspecting foul play and others say it was an accident. If I read what happened on larazon.es, I think this is just an act of utter stupidity. Every sound mind knows you shouldn’t do anything with explosive materials near a monument like the cathedral.

The city council said everything will be repaired and paid for. The fireworks display next year will take place somewhere else with more space.

Link:

• Larazon.es (run through Google Translate)

Our Lady was the first ‘regular’ person who ascended to heaven with body and soul. God promised we all will one day, but because Mary was so special, she got the special grace of ascending right after she died. That is what the Church teaches as a dogma since 1950 and what we in our collective spirituality believe for over one thousand years.

Being a former Protestant means that I know my Bible pretty well and I wonder where Mary’s Assumption differs from the story of Elijah, which is described in 2 Kings 2:6-17. I quote from the NIV translation:

Then Elijah said to him, “Stay here; the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.”
And he replied, “As surely as the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them walked on.

Fifty men of the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.

“You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise not.”

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart.

He picked up the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak that had fallen from him and struck the water with it. “Where now is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.

The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”
“No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”

But they persisted until he was too ashamed to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

Both stories are great stories of encouragement. Our bishop touched upon this in his homily this morning: although we are surrounded by death in this life, we as Christians don’t have to fear death, because it’s not the last thing. In our secular culture death is a taboo, because secular philosophy has no answer to death. God’s answer to death is life, as we can read in the second reading for today, where St. Paul writes that the last enemy Christ has conquered is death. Unlike in the Old Testament we don’t have to be very special people to be raised up to heaven like Elijah was. Everybody who has had a Christian baptism lives in this hope. That is the difference between Elijah and us, I think.

Isn’t God an awesome God? We can walk our path to holiness with confidence in His promises. We know death is not the end. And because we know this secret, nobody can break our spirits. It was the belief of the martyrs who died under the persecution of the Roman Empire, it is the belief of today’s martyrs in countries like North Korea and Saudi Arabia. It’s also our belief which makes us jump into the deep and really live our lives to the max in total freedom. If only more people knew!

Links to this episode:

• Luther’s Devotion to Mary
• Dave Armstrong – A Biblical Defense of Catholicism
• Wikipedia on Pietism.

It’s hard to get back into ‘normal mode’ for me, because the excitement of having been there and not being able to share it with my fellow parishioners is hard. It’s like falling into a black pit. I now understand how people attending World Youth Day must have felt after returning to their homes: You are extremely excited and they look lukewarm from your point of view.

Decompressing and taking it all in are important to me, because usually I don’t deal really well with a lot of excitement and being extremely social. It’s now time to sit down and look back. Decide what to do with all the input I got last week. I did the blogging track for a reason: I’m much more a writer then a podcaster and am thinking about starting a Catholic blog for a while already. My experiences with the Catholic Internet presence in The Netherlands are very important for choosing my tone and focus.

An Atheist turning Catholic: the long journey home.
I already said this at the blogging track session with the American Papist: back when I was an Atheist I was an early adopter of the Internet. When I got interested in faith, the most natural thing for me was to look up things on-line. I did not know any practising Christians in person, so everything I thought of them was based on what I read on-line. What struck me about the Catholics on-line was that they were very sour: they were writing about what was wrong with everything and how they hated current developments in the Church or if they liked the developments in the Church, they hated the ones who hated the developments in the Church. The overall tone was very argumentative, negative and sour. It’s not hard to imagine that Catholicism didn’t look appealing at all, judging from the stuff I read on-line.

If I ever would become a Christian, I most certainly would not become a Catholic in the early 2000s. Remember that shortly after that the whole abuse scandal started, and the Church was portrayed as a horrible organisation nobody really wanted to belong to and those who did were apologising for being Catholic. At least, that’s what the impression on-line was.

Being convinced I needed to be baptised I went to an Orthodox Protestant church and tried to make the best of it. I didn’t fit in, no matter how hard I tried. In 2004 I gave up on the whole project of trying to be a good Protestant. I wasn’t cut out to be one, being accused of all kinds of Papist heresies. In the meanwhile I met a person on-line who was calling herself “Free Catholic” on different internet discussion boards and being the moderator of everything Non-Christian (beliefs not in line with the Nicene Creed) I had to deal a lot with her. I remember we had lengthy discussions about the idea that everybody is a sinner and therefore needs redemption. She totally disagreed with that. We even got in such a big dispute that she didn’t want to talk to me any more.

I don’t know what happened or what I wrote in reply to another person, but it made her read Romans chapters 5 to 7. Then the coin dropped for her and she saw the need of redemption and why she couldn’t stay “Free Catholic”. She returned to the church she grew up in: The Roman Catholic Church. I was happy she returned to Christianity but why she would join that horrible group called Catholics was a mystery to me.

She was a very happy Catholic, we got in touch again and she knew that I was an avid Star Wars & science fiction fan, therefore she shared that her pastor had the same hobbies, was probably as nerdy as I am and that we absolutely had to meet. The name of her pastor was Fr. Roderick Vonhögen, and before I actually got to listen to him and meet him I didn’t believe a single word from what she was saying. My prejudice was that priests were dorky and old-fashioned at the best and liberal semi-heretics at the worst.

She made me subscribe to his podcast, the Catholic Insider and later also the Daily Breakfast was posted in the same feed. The rest is, so they say, history. I entered into full Communion with the Church in August 2008, after repeatedly telling everybody there was no way I would ever become a Catholic.

To outsiders the image of the Church is formed by us, who are Catholics and talk about our faith and our Church. We can chase away people from the Church and the Truth by being sour and negative. This means we have a responsibility, especially as lay people. We need to be aware of the effect words can have to people who miss the context we have.

Therefore I want to start a Catholic blog, but at the same time I want to be very careful in the way I communicate my faith. I need to show the faith to others, instead of being a road block on other people’s path to holiness.

With a hat tip to Fr. Anton Ten Klooster.

Links:

• SQPN.com
• GSPN.tv
• CNMC photostream
• My CNMC photos
• Alice in Wonderland trailer

I woke up around 6:00 AM, so I had maybe 3 hours of sleep and I was extremely drowsy. Breakfast was served and I tried to squeeze in as much as I could. Their idea was to have the cereal that was similar to cruesli with milk. I always have found that a horrible combination. So I had it with the strawberry yoghurt instead. I could not finish the rest. I had a croissant, but that was about it. To sleepy to eat. Between that and the landing I dozed a bit. After landing in Schiphol Airport and deplaning I waited for Fr. Roderick to arrive from the back of the plane and together we walked to baggage claim. Since I was a standby passenger, they put in my luggage last, which meant it came out first. Fr. had already bought a train ticket, and I should have checked my credit on the chip card I was using but my drowsiness made my thinking slow.

I topped up my credit at the machines at Schiphol Plaza while Fr. was yelling our train was leaving within two minutes. Of course the machine refused to read my travel bank card, so I quickly tried the other one which worked. Fr. dashed of with my luggage, so I had no choice then going after him. I checked in at the gate near the door, followed Fr. in the train and was ready to pass out. That was WAY TOO MUCH excitement for a sleepy Inge early in the morning. I was happy I travelled with Father, because our chatting kept me awake.

In Amsterdam Central Station we changed to a train to Amersfoort and in Amersfoort we said goodbye and exchanged hugs. I had to transfer to a Groningen bound train. I am happy I pass through Amersfoort so often, because now I can find the platform for the Groningen train blindfolded. Being extremely sleepy is almost the same as being blindfolded. I got a quiet seat in the corner, put my bag under my seat and without Father’s chatter to keep me awake I quickly fell asleep again. I woke up shortly in Zwolle, because the train was standing at the platform somewhat longer then usual, only to doze off again when we left for Groningen.

It was shortly before noon when I arrived back in Groningen, and knowing I had to keep awake, I decided to go to the cathedral for the Rosary and Daily Mass. I parked my bag in a corner of the Rectory and wanted to go back into the church when I heard the voice of my parish priest calling my name. I don’t know how I looked like, but I must have shared close resemblance to a zombie. He told me he had received a letter for the Freshman Introduction Team, for an event starting Monday and he wanted to know how things were going. I replied I didn’t know since I just came back from the United States. He said I should be asleep then. Frankly, sleeping is about the only thing I wanted to do at that point, but I also knew that would be a very bad idea. I had to try to stay awake at least until 8:00 PM.

At one point I managed to enter the church for the Rosary but noticed that I dozed off half way through the chaplet and was too tired to say the Hail Mary. I was a bit bummed I couldn’t attend Mass, because I would almost certain fall asleep during Mass, therefore I went home.

I just unpacked everything when my mom called: she was coming over at 4:00 PM to see how I was. I could tell her I was sleepy. But I was glad she came, because I could share my stories and she would help me stay up a little bit more. We had burgers for dinner with a salad and around 7:00 PM she went home, ordering me to go to bed because I was almost sleep walking.

Sleeping is exactly what I’m going to do after I get my laundry out of the machine and clicking ‘Publish’ after writing this blog post.

After having the leftover donuts for breakfast and discovering that the only way to lure Fr. Roderick out of his room is twittering about donuts and coffee, we went out to the Museum of Science. I really REALLY liked this. There were several shows, Fr. got heaps of new podcasting ideas after watching the “This Week In Science” presentation and I just enjoyed watching the kids being excited over science. Yes, I am a science nerd. I totally dig it.

I also had to laugh very hard when we had our lunch in the museum’s restaurant. We could choose different kinds of food, from Italian to sandwiches, BBQ and grill. We went for the grill and ordered a bun with meat and sauce and two sides. I always want to try the local food whenever possible, so I had the Boston Baked Beans and Cornbread as a side. I never tasted American Dr. Pepper, so I had that as a drink. We couldn’t sit at one table with the five of us, so we split up: Father Roderick and I sat at a table with a stunning view over the river and Zina sat behind us with the kids. For some reason we decided we needed to take pictures of us eating. I took a picture of Fr. happily showing a spoonful of beans he was about to try out. The face he pulled after eating it was priceless, so I took a picture of that too. We both didn’t like the Boston Baked Beans. I think we both expected to taste something savoury and it turned out to be extremely sweet. I guess it’s a love it or hate it thing, because I cannot imagine the combination beans with molasses: it’s horrible.

The cornbread was way sweeter then the stuff I had earlier and so was the Dr. Pepper. I think they adjust the taste of soda to every country’s taste, because both the Diet Coke and the Dr. Pepper taste different in Europe: the American version is MUCH sweeter. I was afraid my teeth would fall out!

After having seen about half of the museum we had to go to the airport. I bought a bottle of water because I was very thirsty, at least that’s what I thought, because the central part of the water was solid ice, so I couldn’t finish everything before going through security. I figured that the water I did have would keep my hydrated until I got on the plane.

Security and customs out of the US is peanuts compared to getting in, so we were at the gate pretty quickly. There were signs that indicated we could use free WiFi at Logan, but getting online was more tricky than it sounded. I think I had to click at least a dozen buttons before connecting to Facebook. The standby list showed only two people, with me being listed first. I asked the agent at the gate what the procedure was, because I knew it was different from Amsterdam. This also gave me the opportunity to make contact with them identifying myself as one of the two standby people. I always do this, because if anything is going on, they know who to look for. The agent informed me getting on this flight would be easy because it wasn’t a busy flight. I hoped to get a seat near where Fr. Roderick was sitting, not to chat, because I wanted to sleep as soon as possible but just because it would be more comfy to sit near to someone you know.

My jaw dropped when I saw the cleared list: I got seat 03J, which means a business class window seat in an Airbus A300. I have no clue why they did this, because there were a lot of empty seats in coach as well. This the first time I ever cross the Atlantic two ways in Business class. I felt guilty because Fr. Roderick got a seat in the back of the plane. An Airbus makes those fish tail movements in flight, so you can get really nauseous in the back of the plane. Father said I deserved it and twittered happily about my seating. I had to board first because of my seating, but I needed to get a boarding pass first. That took a while because the computer refused to print one. I was at the back of the line when boarding, so I didn’t see Father anymore.

I am always amazed what they serve in Business Class: champagne, wine, more wine (in real glasses) and the food is excellent. I skipped the Tiramisu dessert because I was really tired and full and could only think about sleeping. I took a sleeping aid I bought at CVS and dozed off, hoping to wake up somewhere over the UK.

Zina had to bring Jeff to his work first, and nearby there would be an opportunity for me to shop at Borders. You have to know that book stores are extremely dangerous for me: if I don’t pay attention I will leave the place with lots of books and a depleted bank account. Thank God I don’t have a credit card. Somehow I managed to spend $120 anyway. I bought all kinds of books I needed for “research”. I’m on the Secrets of Middle-earth panel and have a lot of Tolkien books already. The only problem is that they are in Dutch. A lot of names and places have been translated. This makes talking about them in English extremely complicated. My mission was to get the basic books in English: The Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. I ended buying those books plus the Children of Húrin, History of Middle-earth volume 1-5, History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell (on sale) and an illustrated book on Catholicism for $6. Books in the United States are SO CHEAP compared to Europe where you have to pay the same price, but then in Euros. With the euro being worth $1.30 when I changed it, this means books were 30% cheaper in the US. I really need a chaperone next time I visit a book store here.

Zina also wanted to go to Boston Common to take the kids to the Frog Pond and let them ride on the carousel, so therefore we went there by bus and underground. I think Americans call this subway and Bostonians “T”. The carousel at the west side of the Frog Pond, near the stop Park Street on the Red Line, is an old restored landmark and rides cost a whopping $3 per kid. We just finished our first ride when my phone rang. It was Fr. Roderick who had said good bye to Cliff and wanted to tag along with us. We would wait near the carousel, because that was a landmark that’s easy to find for him. I paid for an extra ride on it to entertain the kids while waiting for Father. After a while we went uphill to see a civil war monument, at least that is what I think it was when Fr. Roderick called us again. I saw him standing downhill while calling me, so I waved to show him where we were.

Together we took the Subway, or the “T”, which the kids loved. At Harvard Station we took the bus to where Zina lives. I had some time to refresh myself and then we went out for dinner. Matthew Warner had mentioned they had some food at Summer Shack, so Jeff and Zina decided we should have dinner there too. Food was great over there, can highly recommend it. Also they keep track of allergies to make sure every need is looked into. Their service was great as well. If I ever go back to Boston and visit Zina (I now know how to get there using the T), I definitely will take them out to eat there.

I was surprised to learn that Jeff and Zina made a stop at Dunkin’ Donuts and Trader Joe’s. On the way home Fr. Roderick and I were in a teasing mood, I guess my teasing mood was worse than his so I was making jokes about pushing him into the sprinklers near the sidewalk which were turned on to irrigate the lawns. He dashed off with the box of donuts and I got soaking wet from the sprinklers when they suddenly all turned my way. God punishes immediately, I guess. Fr. thought that was very amusing.

At home I learned that the donuts, which I figured were for breakfast, were supposed to be eaten late at night. I told Fr. this is the infamous ‘late night donut run’ which upset Jillian Michaels a lot. Everybody who has seen “Losing it with Jillian” knows what I mean. Of course we had to post a picture with Fr. and a box full of Dunkin’ Donuts to Facebook, just because.

When it was near eleven o’clock I felt how tired I was and went to bed.

We were greeted by Fr. Reed who invited us to join for Mass, he and Fr. Vonhögen concelebrated Mass and again I had the same feeling I had when Fr. Reed did his keynote a day earlier: it felt scripted and distant like he wasn’t being himself. Again, I don’t know Fr. Reed, but this is just the feeling I got. People who weren’t able to attend Mass didn’t miss a lot of things except for the great homily given by Fr. Roderick.

After Mass there was a tour of the studios and I couldn’t stop thinking how great it would be to have something like this in Europe. Something like Catholic Eurovision, maybe we can call it Vatican TV or so. I’m sure it’s possible to set something like this up over here as well: making sure it’s privately funded to avoid all kinds of politics involved in the programming schedule. I think most bishops would back up an idea like this, when it’s clear it won’t cost them any money.

After the tour of the studios we got a light lunch involving donuts, muffins and other unhealthy stuff. They did offer a fruit salad, but they mixed the fruits so I couldn’t eat it as I’m allergic to some kinds of strawberries. We got a goodie bag with a Catholic TV travelling mug, a comb (really!), 3D glasses (the cheap ones) and some magazine. I kept the travelling mug, hoping it would fit in my expanding suitcase.

When we got back at the hotel I could get my suitcase, because we checked out before we left for Mass. I wasn’t sure what to do: going back to Cambridge, drop off the bag and go to the Tweetup or go directly to the Tweetup. Since we were running out of time and I bumped into Fr. Roderick and Cliff Ravenscraft in the lobby we ended up getting a cab and the gentlemen thought it would be nice if I would sit next to the driver. I took the opportunity to pay for the ride, since everybody has been paying for all kinds of stuff for me me already. I felt grateful to be able to return the favour in a small way.

The Tweetup was great, the beer at John Harvard’s Brew House was great, too. I will never say again that American beer is horrible. Microbrews can be great, like the ones I got over there. After the Tweetup was over we went home to get Stephanie, who ended up caming out at Alewife station because of construction works at the Red Line and Stephanie’s luggage at Jeff and Zina’s. Somehow Matthew Warner showed up as well, he also was heading to the airport and Jeff gave both a ride to Logan.

Zina, the kids and I stayed at home and I took the opportunity to decompress. I usually get pretty worn out when I meet a lot of people in a short time. Being in a crowd costs me a lot of energy. But I didn’t mind. The Tweetup was great!

Because there was confusion at my side which plane to Amsterdam I would take and the realisation that  I would be on the same plane with Fr. Roderick, which was on Tuesday, not Monday made me quickly reschedule all kinds of things.

Tired, but satisfied I went to bed, knowing I had a whole day to decompress, see a bit of the city of Boston without the pressure of having to wait out on the airport to see if I could make it on a flight: according to the sold tickets and the stand-by list (2 people, with me being first) I probably would make it on the first flight I was listed for.

The folks at SQPN always stress that this event is not a conference, but a celebration. And boy, did we share in the joy of faith. We were brought to the Archdiocese’s Pastoral Center in Braintree, MA, which is about 10 miles south of Boston. It’s a very new accommodation given to the archdiocese by a local benefactor after they had to sell most of their possessions after the whole abuse scandal ten years ago. It is very modern, has all facilities and very fast internet. I was surprised to see lots of people watching the ustream feed that was being broadcast from the same connection and it didn’t glitch. The bandwidth must have been over a gigabyte per second.

After we arrived at the centre, we got breakfast and coffee before moving over to the big room for the opening session. I will discuss the other sessions in upcoming blogposts and only get to the opening and closing session here. I loved the session with Mac Barron. For me it was immediately clear that he was doing a spoof on an Apple Keynote. He talked and moved like Steve Jobs, he even wore a similar sweater. It was too funny to hear afterwards that a lot of people didn’t get it, especially given the amount of Apple gadgets at the celebration. I think I counted more iPads in the room then there would be in any given Apple Store. And then the Macbooks and iPhones… It was too funny!

For me, the opening session was also an opportunity to upload stuff online, because my internet connection at the hotel wasn’t working. I had to sign up for internet at the desk, then I had to give my credit card details and if I would be a member of the special program, then it would be for free. I don’t have a credit card, so therefore I couldn’t access free WiFi. Am I the only person who thinks this is moronic? But anyway: I did have internet at the pastoral center and tried to update my social networks, while listening to keynotes while making notes myself. I can imagine that if you are following me through various social networks, that the updates from me from the events were sparse. I’m sorry I cannot multi-task like that, even though I’m female. But I don’t think anybody minded it.

After the hilarious opening by Mac Barron it was time for an introduction by Scott Landry which gave me goosebumps. His story about how the Archdiocese got the Pastoral Center and how they got help after the disastrous financial situation after the abuse scandal was very touching. He was very real, his emotions were real.  After that it was time for the first keynote by Fr. Reed from Catholic TV. I will discuss the contents of this session in a seperate blog posts, just like the contents of all the other sessions, because putting everything in one post wouldn’t give them the credit they deserve.

In between sessions there was time to get coffee, eat a bit, connect with people. I don’t know to who I talked, there were so many people I wanted to talk to, but there was so little time, I felt overwhelmed by everything. I hope in the future the CNMC will be more then one day, so I have a chance to genuinely talk to people and hear about what they do in New Media. I talked briefly to Denyse and Deborah, which I saw in person for the first time but I could not do quality time. I’m still a bit frustrated over that.

I also would have loved to make more audio recordings, but everything went by so fast: there simply wasn’t the time to do interviews. I think I got more out of it compared to last year when everything was so very new to me, so perhaps I won’t have this feeling of being overwhelmed as strongly as this year. What I will remember of all the interactions I had was the passion and joy everyone was radiating, you could clearly see that the Holy Spirit was working in overdrive.

The closing talk was by Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley. He encouraged us to continue and keep up the good work. But you could tell he didn’t really know who we were and what we are doing.  That’s also what he said: before hosting the CNMC, he didn’t know what SQPN was and what we did. He talked about a Catholic radio station and a newspaper they started, which are of course not New Media, but “Old Media”. He explained how he got into blogging and shared his experiences in New Media. Basically the blog was something he was supposed to do for a visit to Rome, but because of the success and the fact they got 3.5 million hits in the first week, there was no way he could stop blogging.

I found it hard to connect to both Fr. Reed and Cardinal O’Malley. I think the reason is that both are not really connected to New Media. Fr. Reed does ‘Old Media’ with Catholic TV and seems to treat New Media as the internet variant of Old Media (which it isn’t) and Cardinal O’Malley’s talk was about the Catholic Newspaper and the Catholic Radio they used before. If he thinks that’s about the same as we do in New Media, then he clearly doesn’t “get” New Media. New Media is not a digital form of a newspaper and Catholic Internetradio. Both would be only broadcasting stuff, not interacting with the listeners/viewers. It shows that we need to reach out more to these kinds of people. When we teach them, when they ‘get’ New Media, it will be a great way to push things forward. That in itself is for me a great motivator to try to show bishops and other key figures what we can do on the internet and maybe get some funding or backup that way. I hope that the speakers who weren’t really into New Media yet also caught a glimpse from the joy and passion that was radiated in the corridors, I hope we were able to impress them and set them on fire as well.

We need to be ambitious and not accept mediocre results, neither should we strive for mediocre goals because we think we never can reach the ambitious ones. We shouldn’t think in terms of what is not possible, we should think of what is possible and aim for the highest goals, just like St. Paul said in the first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 24-27 (NIV translation):

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

I think that’s the attitude we need to have when it comes to New Media.

After breakfast I got the opportunity to geek out on the Liss’ iPad and totally want one, too. Unfortunately it’s not within my budget anytime soon. There are more pressing matters to address, like buying a couch. We were discussing what to do in Boston before I had to leave for downtown to check in at the hotel with the Beeghley family. We decided on doing the Unofficial Harvard Tour. If you ever want to do a tour of the Harvard University Campus, this one is highly recommended. The tourguides are Harvard students and they have a funny story to share. Because I did this tour, I can now officially say I went to Harvard.

There were a number of times I had to smile during the tour. It’s so funny to notice how much the perception of ‘old’ differs from the European perspective. Harvard is one of the oldest universities in the country, they said, being founded in 16 something. Most Dutch universities are at least a century older. I think Leiden University is from 1575 or thereabouts, my university is even older then Harvard: it was founded in 1609. But then again, when I look out of my window, I’m looking at a tower initially built in the 13th century.

Cambridge and Boston are old to American standards, and maybe that’s why I like them. They are pretty, they have a soul. I don’t know why, it must be the brick buildings. I think concrete and steel makes a construction very sterile. After the tour Zina, Steph and me had a burrito at a Taqueria. I never heard of them before. It’s the Spanish word for a taco shop, but they mainly sell burritos. They had great food, but I love Mexican food over everything else, so it’s not hard to please me that way.

After lunch we said goodbye to Zina who went home with the children. Stephanie and I went for a ride on the subway (red line) to Park Street, which would be close to the Omni Parker Hotel where I would stay the next two nights. The hotel would also be the place for the Meet & Greet later that evening. After I settled in my hotel room I was debating whether to go outside to take another tour or to wind down and decompress a bit more. Usually a Meet & Greet is pretty intense, so I decided to stay in my room, have a shower and hang out in the lobby for a bit to see if other people would show up.

This merged into going up to the Mezzanine level of the hotel for the actual Meet and Greet. First thing I had to do after entering the room was giving Fr. Roderick the whole story of my epic journey getting into the United States. It was the first (and only) chance to tell everything in Dutch.  Later Captain Jeff dragged me to the table where Fr. Roderick was recording something and I had to sit down to tell my story again in English.

The Meet and Greet was very different for me compared to last year. I’m a shy and modest person and I’m not really comfortable in big crowds, but this was like a family reunion. Lots of people I met a year ago were here again and we hugged a lot. I start to get used to the American hugging thing already. I don’t mind it that much any more. The whole event touched my heart very much because it showed the essence of the CNMC: it’s a celebration most of all. It’s like being member of this big Catholic family and being loved for who you are no matter what. The joy and love was so omnipresent that evening that I got all teary-eyed towards the end of the event. I stayed a bit longer to help out with cleaning up and dragging a very heavy box to Pat Gohn’s car in a nearby car park. When we returned to the hotel, we ran into Fr. Roderick, Dr. Paul and a couple of other people who were going out for dinner. I realised it was past nine and the last thing I ate was the burrito for lunch. I was starving!

We ended up eating at a Irish Restaurant/Pub near the hotel, I think it was Emmets Irish Pub, but I’m not sure. I do know I had a GREAT stuffed chicken breast. It had cranberry in it and it was served with mashed potatoes. The beer in Boston was great too! I really do like Sam Adams beer! Before going to Boston I thought Budweiser when thinking of American beer, and thought also that was a horrible concoction. Sam Adams is almost as good as the Belgian ales I drink at home! I didn’t get the chance to pay for my dinner, because someone else paid for everyone. It’s so humbling to see the generosity and love of people for people they’ve never met before.

It was very late when I got back to my hotel room, past midnight. And now I have to prepare for bed and get up early for the CNMC. The buses leave at the front of the hotel at 7:30am already!

Yesterday I left with the note I had to get up at 6:00am to be at the airport at 7:00am. I almost missed the train, but I got on in time anyway. I did not forget to check myself out this time, but had troubles checking myself in for the 11:15am flight at the kiosk. It turned out I wasn’t listed for the flight. The flight attendant at the desk got me listed and checked in and said it looked good with the current figures. That wouldn’t be hard, because if the plane leaves at 11:15, most people will check in after 8:00am and I was an hour earlier. I knew that there were only business class tickets for sale online, which meant to me that coach was full and with 10 people standing by, this wasn’t a great sign. This was confirmed by the flight attendant at the gate when I handed over my boarding pass. She thought there would be one or two seats available and with 10 people on standby my chances as a low-priority stand-by passenger were next to 0%. I wasn’t surprised to find out that I wasn’t on the flight. I watched the plane being pushed off the gate and walked to the next gate. Nobody was there yet. I had a very expensive coffee and a sandwich and bought a bottle of water.

The afternoon flight would be my last chance, but things weren’t necessarily better compared to the morning. When boarding started other stand-by passengers were being called, but not me. I felt very sad when I saw the last people in line board and the flight attendants wrapping things up by printing out passenger lists. I packed my things and said a final prayer when I heard my name being called: a flight attendant was walking towards me with a couple of boarding passes. I had a seat, but still had to go through security at the gate. The security officer said I had a business class seat and I was genuinely surprised to hear that. He wasn’t being difficult and because I went through the drill the day before I knew what to say. He wished me a great stay in the US and I walked towards the jetway in a daze.

It is such a weird experience to be blessed like this after totally having given up. The only reason I was still sitting at that gate was because of the support messages that were sent to me over Facebook and Twitter. I was doing it for them, not so much for myself.

The flight was uneventful, I dozed for most of the flight in my inclined chair still having the idea I was dreaming, that it wasn’t real. Come on: getting on a flight that had a very low chance of empty chairs and then being awarded a business class seat on top of that. I had asked for a travel blessing before I left, and it most certainly worked. That and the fact that St. Joseph of Cupertino must like me. He saved me from an impossible situation before and now he did it again.

The final approach to Logan International Airport went a bit different then most of us hoped for: after announcing the final descent into Boston, we were put in a holding pattern because the Boston airport was closed due to bad weather. We could not stay there because we were running low on fuel. Therefore the captain announced we would be diverted to Hartford, CT which was another 30 minutes away. We would refuel there and wait for the weather to improve and fly back. I was amazed how fast we could land at Logan Airport given the fact the whole landing schedule was messed up. But it didn’t end there. We were taxiing to the gate and when we stopped, the jetway operator had the greatest trouble connecting the thing. After that we were led into a corridor with all doors closed. It took a while for a flight attendant could open it, and of course all alarms went off doing so. What started as a landing 30 minutes early turned out to be a landing 2.5 hours late. Going through customs was easy compared to Atlanta last year and when I got out of the International Arrivals Terminal to wait at the curb for Jeff to show up he was already driving there. I could hop in the car and go to Cambridge for dinner.

Originally I had scheduled to have dinner with Denyse and Deborah, but because of all the delays I didn’t make it to dinner. The pizza dinner at the Liss family was great too. After dinner we hung out in the living room for a bit and I unpacked my stuff. Today was a great adventure, and looking back on everything it was great. Hopefully the journey back home will be as uneventful as possible because going to Europe is wearing me out more then going to the US, jet-lag wise. It’s too weird I can estimate how late it is without watching a clock and be correct most of the times while coming from a time zone where it is six hours later then here. Hoping it stays this way and that I won’t wake up at some crazy early time.

When you travel on standby you can travel for free or for a very low fee (usually you only pay for taxes). You can only get a ticket for this if you are related to or friends with an airline employee. The ticket is called a ‘buddy pass’. The advantage is that you can travel for low prices, the disadvantage is that you don’t have a confirmed seat on the plane. You can only go when there are empty seats left after all regular passengers got on the plane. This means that when it’s very busy, you won’t be able to travel at all. Also, being a buddy gives you the lowest priority possible. Employees who work for the airline have a higher priority and will be seated before you.

I heard from Fr. Roderick, who initially tried to travel on stand-by on Sunday that there were an insane number of standby passengers for only a few seats: 90 people standing by, only 20 seats available. And this situation was going on for weeks already. It would be very hard, maybe impossible for me to travel into the United States on a buddy pass. He bought a ticket to get there, that’s an option I simply do not have.

Getting up at 4am to get the 5am train, I hoped the best for it. I checked in at 7:30am and had to wait until 11:15am to know if I was on the flight or not. While waiting at the gate, I discovered to my great horror that I had forgotten to check myself out for the train. If you don’t check out, it means you will charged the maximum amount of money for a ticket since they assume you travelled by train for the rest of the day. I could not get back to the trains because that would force me to leave the gate. If I would leave and my name would be called and not show up, my seat would go to another person. The fact I didn’t get on the 11:15am flight on Wednesday was a relief, because I could rush back to the train station, check out, have some lunch and go to the next gate for my next try.

Boarding would start at 12:15pm and things were looking bad. 20 people standing by, only 4 seats available. I saw online that they were selling business class tickets only and heard people who weren’t expected to show up showing up anyway. So the flight left without me and without any other standby passengers, because it was completely full. I had spent most of the day on Schiphol Airport with no results and had to decide what to do. If I would go back to Groningen, that would mean a three hour trip, get some food, sleep, get up at 4am again for another three hour trip back and hope for more luck on Thursday. I was already tired for not being able to sleep, the stress would only make it worse so therefore I decided to stay the night with friends near Amsterdam, who live only 15 minutes by train from Schiphol.

I decided to make the best of it, tried to enjoy Leiden anyway, despite the fact I visited it the Saturday before. After dinner I went over to my friends, had a nice chat and went to bed early because I had to get up at 6am to get on the 6:43am train which would arrive at 7am at Schiphol Airport.
To be completely honest I didn’t believe for one second I would make it today on the plane, because of the situation. The flight attendant at the gate said that tomorrow doesn’t look necessarily better than today. Lots of people standing by, very full flight. I will go to the airport and try, just because of my friends over in the United States who are praying for me and my flight situation and who would love to see me on Friday. But in my mind I already have given up on the idea I will walk around in Boston this weekend.

There is something however, that gives me also the feeling this is a test to have faith. If God really wants me to go there, I will go there. I just try tomorrow to see if I have any luck not because I believe in it, but to allow for a miracle to happen. If it works, I will have a great story to tell afterwards.

The question is: how many seats will there be available and how many people are on the standby list? I checked the airline’s site and things aren’t looking particularly good. There are two direct flights into Boston every day and both the afternoon flight on Wednesday and the morning flight on Thursday show business class seats as the only ones available. I also contacted a friend who lives near Schiphol to stay over if I don’t succeed on Wednesday. I can stay the night there and try again the next morning.

There are a number of ways to increase your chances when flying stand-by. The most important one is taking carry-on luggage only. Actually that was the fact that saved me last year when I arrived at the check-in desks last-minute. I could try at the gate just because I only had one bag. The second thing is checking in as early as possible. The airline I fly with doesn’t have it’s own check-in desks anymore and as far as I know it’s a “first come, first serve” system. So I need to make sure that I show up at 8.15 sharp to be able to get on the 11.15 flight. They require intercontinental passengers to check in three hours in advance. Then, never leave the gate. If you miss your call, they will call someone else. When it takes a long time, it won’t hurt to check if you’re on the list. Sometimes things are so hectic ground crew could overlook you.
The last thing you can do if you are bumped from the flight is ask for other options immediately. In my case: if I cannot get on a direct flight into Boston, are there one-stop options left? For example via Detroit Wayne County, New York (JFK) or even Paris (Charles de Gaulle).

If you’re a Catholic there’s a bonus option left: pray very hard and ask St. Joseph of Cupertino to say a good word for you. With things not looking particularly bright, I might just do that.

Did you ever travel stand-by? Do you have the impression that it gets harder to get on a flight compared to previous years? Do you have additional tips to increase one’s odds when flying stand-by?

After Mass I spent most of the afternoon frantically arranging stuff for my trip to the United States. Most of my SQPN friends know Fr. Roderick and probably heard he could not get on the flight he wanted to take into Philadelphia because there were more people on stand-by then there were seats available. Captain Jeff was afraid this could happen to me as well so he advised me to travel one day early on Wednesday. I’m trying the first flight that leaves at 11:15am, which means I have to check in from 8:15am. That means I have to take the train from Groningen Central Station that leaves at 5:04am. I am SO happy I’m living close to the railway station this time!

This means I only have Tuesday left to get things sorted out. One of the things I still need to get is a rain cape. I looked at the weather forecast and things aren’t looking good. I also hope to get the last things I need for some friends. And my mom is coming over, too AND I need to be in bed around 8PM in order to survive Wednesday…

How do you prepare for a long trip? Are you able to sleep on planes? Does anybody have any tips for people who are 6 foot tall to sleep on the plane?

I spent the rest of the afternoon figuring out what to bring to the United States and by cleaning up a bit. I gave in to my resolution not to overdo it by not making a checklist. First because I don’t have to bring anything fancy besides my equipment and second because I don’t have that many clothes that I have to choose what to bring and what to leave at home.

While talking to my brother it occurred to me that I completely forgot about OTHER things… like making a photocopy of my travel insurance papers, my passport and bringing my e-ticket and ESTA form. Basically I end up bringing all my equipment, most of my summer clothes, some books and paperwork to the US. And yet I have the nagging feeling I forgot something… AAAGH!

I was about done with that when I heard that Fr. Roderick returned home: like me he is flying stand-by, but there weren’t empty seats left: too many people travelling standby. It was like someone pushed the panic button: I was already starting to stress out over my flight although I’m leaving on a week day instead of the weekend, I have another destination and since it never occurred before this incident was probably a fluke. Plus I got a travel blessing yesterday, so what can possibly go wrong? I have to admit I will ask some prayers of St. Joseph of Cupertino to be even safer. Most people will ask St. Christopher, but I have a special relation with St. Joseph of Cupertino. He was involved in a small miracle before, so it will never hurt to ask him for help.

What do you bring for travels? And what is your preferred way of spending your time in transit? Who is your favourite saint for asking intercession when it comes to travels?

Normally I travel to Leyden via Schiphol, but this is one of the cancelled trains, so I have to transfer in Utrecht Central Station, the nation’s train hub. I don’t know what my friend has planned for me, but I hope to be able to record a soundseeing tour for my podcast and snap some pictures and videos to post to my feed. This way I’m able to check if things are working like they should.

On Sunday I’m listed for coffee duty again, on Monday and Tuesday I need to study all day and on Wednesday I’m listed to be a church warden. My mom comes over after I get back from the cathedral, then I need to pack for Boston and hopefully everything will go smoothly on Thursday morning. There’s already one plus: I don’t have to get up at 3:30 AM to walk an hour to the railway station (because the first buses only start their schedule at six): I moved closer to the station, which means I should be able to walk there with luggage in 25 minutes (I am walking very slowly then).

I’m getting more and more excited already!!

]]> http://taquoriaan.com/2010/07/31/2522/feed/ 1 http://taquoriaan.com/2010/07/30/2517/ http://taquoriaan.com/2010/07/30/2517/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:29:15 +0000 Inge http://taquoriaan.com/?p=2517 Nowadays, almost everybody has a very specific idea on what elves are. When I asked a number of people how they look like, I was surprised to find out that most people gave similar descriptions: they are very beautiful human-like creatures, have eyebrows that curve up to their temples, their eyes are almond shaped and they have pointy ears. A number of people told me they wear green clothes. Elves have almost always blonde hairs, according to most people I talked to.

I think it’s very amusing to see how there seems to be a common image in modern global pop culture when it concerns elves. Had I asked this question one hundred years ago, answers would have been completely different. Back then, the general understanding was that elves are very small and they would have a mischievous character. Elves were known to prank people. Going further back into time, people would think elves would have a normal size and their physical appearance makes it hard to distinguish them from humans. As you can see, elves’ physical appearance changed over time, they shrunk in a certain era, to “unshrink” later only to shrink again a century later. They are always fair and youthful, male elves never have facial hair.
People back then did not have the same interest in elves like the people have now. The reason why elves are so popular now lies in the works of one man: J.R.R. Tolkien, writer of “The Hobbit”, “The Silmarillion” and “The Lord of the Rings”. I think the genius of this man lies not so much in telling fairy tales but in creating an almost parallel universe where these creatures live. It’s a very different world but very similar to ours as well. It fits people’s intuition when they read it for the first time because the story is new and old at the same time, which makes it very powerful.

J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon literature and knew a lot about history, folklore en mythology of the people of North-West Europe.  He loved the culture and folklore of Iceland. Tolkien was not a professional writer like the ones we know today. His goal was not to write books, but to create a mythology for England. His first book, “The Hobbit” is a children’s book that emerged from the tales he told his own children. In his work he combines age old existing mythologies with modern storytelling to create a unique world. He gets inspired by the old mythologies, which means there’s no one on one comparison.

Back to elves. Elves are extremely popular nowadays thanks to the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. And he used mythology to create them. So what inspired him? Where do elves come from?
If we want to know more about elves we need to go back to Norse / Icelandic mythology. That’s the only place where they show up. There is one surviving work which deals with Norse mythology: The Edda. Actually, there are two Eddas: a book with a collection of poems (poetic Edda) and a book with prose (prose Edda).
The Edda is relatively young: most of what we have now was written down int the 12th-13th century, probably using 8th-9th century sources. It disappears for a while to turn up again in 1643 when the bishop of Skáholt, Brynjólfur Sveinsson took possession of it. It’s not totally clear who wrote everything down. One name, though is brought into connection with the book: Saemundr the Learned, a 12th century Catholic priest from Iceland. The prose version is attributed to Snorri Sturlesson, a 12th century politician ‘lawspeaker’ from Iceland with great interest in the roots of Icelandic culture. Without these interested individuals most stories of Norse mythology would probably be lost forever.

Before delving deeper into this, I need to give a very short explanation on the whole creation according to Norse mythology first, because this is important to understand where elves come from.
The first similarity is the existence of several ‘realms’ or worlds. The Norse gods form two tribes or families. I’m not sure if they come from one source or not. There are the Æsir who live in a place called Asgard and the Vanir who live in Vanaheimr. Sometimes these families fight each other, much like Olympians and Titans. And then there’s our realm, our world which is called “Midgard”. The prefix ‘mid’ means ‘middle’ and the suffix -gard refers to ‘place’ or ‘earth’. Our word ‘garden’ has the same root. So Midgard actually means “Middle-earth”. Readers familiar with the works of Tolkien recognise that name of course. In total there are nine worlds, there six more from the three I just mentioned. For our story on elves one other is of interest: Alfheim (English: Elphame). The suffix -heim means ‘home’ or ‘dwelling place / world’. The word home probably has the same root as ‘heim’. In German you call your home still ‘Heim’. The prefix ‘Alf’ means ‘Elf’. Which makes Alfheim or Alfrheim the place where elves dwell.

We now know where they live, but it’s still not clear what kind of creatures they really are. Norse mythology is a bit vague on their origins as well. What is clear is that they are a divine-like kind of creatures. They do have some powers and they dwell near the gods. The god Freya lives among them according to some sources. When reading the descriptions in Norse mythology, elves are quite similar to what we now refer to as angels: they are creatures made by the gods and share some godlike powers but are not as powerful as gods. They are usually benevolent except when they are treated in a bad way. When people anger elves all kinds of bad luck is crossing their paths.

One think is strikingly different from the elves you find in Tolkien’s books. In Tolkien’s world elves are like the pinnacle of creation: they are very wise, very civilised, their architecture is very elegant and they are the only race with interest in academics and the arts. That’s something Tolkien made up himself. Elves in Norse mythology are nothing like that their “culture” (if you can use that word in this context) is much more “primitive” . They also look different: At the beginning of this article I summed up how people see elves nowadays: they have pointy ears, are very beautiful, have almond shaped eyes and their eyebrows curve up to their temples. Their frame is very delicate. This would be the perfect description of a pixie, not of an elf. In Norse mythology, elves look exactly like humans, they are indeed very beautiful but there’s nothing in their appearance that gives away their true identity. Again: just like in Christianity angels look exactly like humans and the only thing that would give their true identity away is their beauty.

When we read a bit more in the prose Edda, we find that Sturlesson divides the race of elves into three groups. There’s the Light Elves, the Dark Elves and the Black Elves. The way Sturlesson writes about elves is utterly confusing. Sometimes it seems that Black Elves and Dark Elves are interchangeable and sometimes they seem to be separate groups.
The Light Elves are the elves we met so far: they are the benevolent creatures who live in Alfheim and who are friends with the god Freya. They are ‘good’ elves, so to say. Then there are those not so benevolent elves, the Svártalfr (Black Elves). It is interesting to note that dwarves (dverger) and goblins (kobold in German, kabouter in Dutch) are in fact black elves. They are of elven origin but evil. Dwarves in Norse and Germanic mythology are nothing like Gimli and his friends in “The Lord of the Rings”. It’s not clear how the relationship between dwarves en elves works, you can find a number of dwarves in Norse mythology with elven names, but it sure explains the animosity between Gimli and Legolas. It could be that there has been a war and part of the elves went to the “Dark Side”, thus becoming “Black Elves”. This would be similar to the clash between angels in the Bible which led to the emerge of demons in our world. The devil and his demonic minions are fallen angels.

In Tolkiens world the elves became divided by a historical sundering: there as a group called “Calaquendi” (Elves of Light who have seen the light of the two Trees of Valinor) and the Avari, who did not want to go to Valinor. There was also this inbetween group of the “Elves of Twilight”, the grey elves. To make things even more confusing, Tolkien calls Eöl “Dark elf”. Indeed, Eöl had close relations with the dwarves.

I think this comparison sums up nicely what the similarities between the appearance of elves in Norse mythology and Tolkien’s works are. In a new post I want to take a closer look at the subject by comparing both creation myths: How similar is the creation saga for Arda in Tolkien’s literature to the creation myth in Norse mythology? We’ve already seen there are some striking similarities in the cosmology between the two, so who knows.

Links for further reading:

• Wikipedia entry on elves.
• Encyclopedia of Arda: Index of Elves.
• Talking about Tolkien: Lore of Middle-earth.

]]> http://taquoriaan.com/2010/07/30/2517/feed/ 1 http://taquoriaan.com/2010/07/30/2513/ http://taquoriaan.com/2010/07/30/2513/#comments Thu, 29 Jul 2010 22:58:04 +0000 Inge http://taquoriaan.com/?p=2513 There are those days where nothing goes according to plan. Today was such a day: after a night without sleep for no good reason I felt really sick when I tried to get up at 7:00 AM. My whole stomach felt like it was on fire and so did my back. I immediately realised that there was no way I could go to my 9:00 AM appointment. Therefore I wrote an e-mail to explain that I could not make it and what was causing it. I also had to disappoint the “Secrets of Middle-earth” team. I could not join the fun in recording episode 9. In between those events I had planned to go out shopping for goodies for my friends in the United States. That didn’t work out either, so I think I will do that tomorrow when I feel better.

I’m still thinking about what to get for Americans who don’t really need anything. Is there anything that’s not insanely expensive here but what Americans would love to have because they cannot find it over there. I have some food-related ideas but I’m not sure how that would work with US Customs. I know I cannot bring fresh meat, fruits or anything with European mud attached to it into the USA without getting a steep fine and my goods confiscated. I’m not sure about alcohol though. Would bringing a sixpack of Abbey-beer be allowed? I looked at the website of the US Customs Office, but could not find the max amount of alcohol I can bring to the US: that depends on the state where you arrive, in my case Massachusetts. I cannot find anything related to that at the MA state government site. *SIGH*. I guess it means bringing no beer then.

Then there’s the category of corny Dutch souvenirs like Delft Blue ceramic stuff, or wooden clogs, little windmills and more junk like that. The tourist shop around the corner sells tons of that stuff. I really hate it, I wouldn’t want to own it. But then again: I live here… It could be, however, that my American friends think it’s cute.

Tomorrow I will have to decide what to buy, but I won’t post here what I bought, because I don’t want to spoil the surprise for my friends. It will be also the day I travel to Leyden, an old town in the West of the country in the part of The Netherlands that’s actually called Holland. And since that’s a day of travel, I want to try out some things I’ve set up on Wednesday to see if they work (and to see if I won’t double or triple post stuff to my social networks). So be prepared to see and hear a little bit about the old Dutch town Leyden in my updates tomorrow!

Today it occurred to me it’s only a week from now that I will travel to the United States to attend CNMC MMX in Boston, MA. I also went to last year’s edition, kind of unprepared because I didn’t really know what to expect. This year, I plan to leave much more updates and such, just to look back on later. It probably will be my last CNMC ever since I hope to start a new job early 2011 which makes planning days off really hard. Last year I made the mistake by posting my updates to different kinds of social networks I’m not using any more this year, so therefore I made a dedicated category on this blog to keep things organised. I already saw other attendees are doing similar things on their blogs. For instance, Stephanie is also counting down on her blog. I’m wondering if other people I don’t follow but who do attend the CNMC are doing the same, too.

Back to preparing my trip. Since I’m flying in from The Netherlands I had to arrange a number of things before even considering going to the CNMC. First, I had to get a new passport, since my old one expired and my European Identification Card hasn’t much value when travelling outside Europe. After that I had to apply for the VISA Waiver program at Homeland Security by filling out an ESTA form. After getting a plane ticket, a registration for the CNMC and making sleeping arrangements I think I’m basically set. The only thing I need to figure out is how much cash I bring to the US as I don’t have a credit card. Sometime next week I need to go to my bank and buy United States dollars. I need to make sure not to buy too much, because changing them back to euros will cost me extra and if I don’t bring enough I will run into troubles too.

Today in a week I probably will post some audio boos and other updates on different social networks while travelling, at least for the leg inside The Netherlands using my 3G mobile internet. I don’t know if there’s free WiFi on Boston airport, probably not. Using 3G internet in the US is insanely expensive, so I have to rely on open WiFi as soon as I touch down.

Since there’s not much to do in the real world to prepare for the trip, I’m thinking on how to prepare digitally? I wonder if someone set up a new TweetGrid already? Did you know there’s a TwitPicGrid too? What’s the hashtag for CNMC 2010 tweets? #cnmc10, #cnmc-mmx or something else? What other services do people use to aggregate their social network activity? I plan to try out posterous, but I’m not following many people over there yet. I’ve not posted anything either over there yet. I also set up a dedicated tumblr blog which aggregates everything that has anything to do with my travels. It syncs this blog category, audio boo, vimeo etc. I’m more familiar with tumblr then I am with posterous. What tumblr basically does is merging everything I post elsewhere related to my travels into one place whereas posterous seems to be a posting site that will ping all kinds of other services, including tumblr. I need to see how it works out. I wonder if people who read this use other services? And what’s your experience with it? What do you recommend?

That’s about it for now. A new countdown post tomorrow about gifts: thinking on what to buy and avoiding problems with the custom department in the US. What do you bring to Boston for your friends? Local goodies? What kinds?

“No I’m not talking about Twitter. I literally want you to follow me.”