Alright so I am going to skip ahead from the weekend in Groningen over April 13 to 16 to April 26 to 28. In between then and now, I enjoyed some sunny spring time adventures, which I will write about when it is not pouring rain since the switch in weather is a bit depressing. I also did a lot of reading and presentation preparation for university so less exciting but I guess it is also part of the deal with going back to school and all.
Now if you are not Dutch, you probably do no know what is so significant about April 27th, which is completely understandable as it is a pretty Dutch-specific holiday. The Netherlands is still a monarchy and since the Dutch also like any excuse to get the day off work to party, they celebrate the monarch’s birthday. The current king was born on April 27th, thus the significance of the date, but the day changes as the monarch changes. Six years ago it was still April 30th, the King’s mother’s birthday, as she was then still Queen but trust me, there are more than a few travellers with old guide books, who show up ready to party on April 30th for Queen’s Day. Okay, so I have not seen them personally but Amsterdammers like to joke about it so I can imagine that it did happen.
If you need a North American equivalent to spark your imagination, think Canada Day or Independence Day, but with a lot more orange. Like a lot more. You might be wondering why a country with a red, white and blue flag chooses to show their national pride by wearing orange. At first I thought that it may stem from the fact that they do not wish to associate themselves with another nation that is in love with their red, white and blue flag but I think the tradition has been around longer that the USA has been considered the black sheep of the Western world. Since I have zero desire to delve into the long, dry history of the Dutch association with orange, feel free to read this very reliable source if you are curious. The thing to take away is that orange is important and no one cares if you can pull it off or not, just put as much of it on as you can. If you want to complement it with some red, white and blue, go for it but remember just stripes, no stars.
I know all of you are now itching to hear about my wild King’s Day so I will get on with it. I was heading back to Nicole’s for King’s Night and Day as her daughter, Kiki, was home from her year in the USA, where she played varsity field hockey for a college in South Carolina. Just to be clear, Kiki is not her real name, it short for Frederique but what 2 year old or native English speaker can say that? So she gave herself a nickname and it stuck. Kiki and her mom had visited us in Vancouver last November for the first time during American Thanksgiving, which was great for two reasons; the first was that I finally got to meet Nicole and Kiki after hearing stories about them from Mom and the second was that we got to enjoy two thanksgiving dinners that year since we also had celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving. What a win! To be fair, I had met Nicole before and maybe Kiki but I was like four or something so I do not really remember much besides the giant slide at the zoo in Amsterdam. I was four okay… people were not much of a priority as I was pretty focused on food and fun. Clearly, the only thing that has changed is that I now also care about those whom I share my food with. When Kiki had come to visit in November, we got on like two peas in a pod right off the bat so I was super excited to see her again. We had a quick visit when we had both been in Amsterdam after New Year’s but now that I was more accustomed to Dutch lifestyle, she was going to show me the Amsterdam nightlife. Koningspracht Nachtfestival 2018, here we come.
I am going to be honest, I had to have a nap before dinner in order to prepare myself for a late night but it also gave me an opportunity to enjoy the wonderful duvet just a little bit more so I am not ashamed to admit it. We then enjoyed a healthy dinner of salmon, green beans and potatoes as an attempt to counter the alcohol that would later be consumed and followed it up with an amazing cheesecake for dessert. I honestly was too excited to try it to even remember to take a picture so if that does not describe to you how good it was, I don’t know what will. Nicole had bought a huge flat of juicy strawberries that were so fresh, you could smell them as you walked past so we added them to the cake and it was a match made in heaven. I also had a coffee and thus, with the sugar and caffeine starting to kick in, I was ready for my first King’s Night.
Nicole dropped us off at Kiki’s friend’s place, where we chilled for a few hours as the other girls got ready. I am happy to report a bunch of girls getting ready does not differ much between the Netherlands and Canada. Music, gin and tonics, bad dancing and singing, and soooo many selfies. I mean if you actually get dressed up and do your make up, might as well remind the world of what you look like when you change it up right? Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that girls do not look good in “sweatpants, hair tied, chilling with no make up” (Drake) but it is just a different sexy. Realistically, as long as you love whatever look you are rocking then continue to rock it. Personally, the untamed curls, comfy-casual, and some mascara normally do the trick for me on a day-to-day basis but that is because I like efficiency and convenience. Yes, I know, those two words scream sex appeal but somewhere along the line I think someone told me confidence is key and I am going to stick with that.
Now, not only is April 27th King’s Day, it is also Kiki’s birthday, so when the clock struck midnight, we celebrated her birthday with a shot of something lemony, sang Lang Zal Ze Leven (HBD song in Dutch) and birthday hugs before making our way to Westerunie for the night festival. Yes, it was now 12:30 am and I was just leaving to go out. Like I said, I am getting more used to this Dutch lifestyle. We had to climb over a small canal bridge that was closed in order to get to the building, which was completely safe and not at all lazy because walking around was an extra 5 minutes. Sorry not sorry Mom. We dropped our coats off in the lockers and then we were in. Our first order of business: finding the bathroom. Normally, you need to have a “coin” to get into the bathroom, and you can buy these coins from a machine and exchange them for drinks or the bathroom. I let Kiki do the talking because we had no coins, she had to pee and well, frankly, I would have just followed the rules and purchased some coins. She played the birthday card and then “snuck” me in so I mean I can be a bit rebellious. I also occasionally jaywalk or cross the street without the go ahead from the walking man. Hardcore, I know. Post-bathroom, we grabbed some coins, of course some drinks, did a tequila shot as per Kiki’s birthday tradition, and then headed to one of the seven dance rooms where we met Kiki’s friends and had a blast dancing until 4 am. I sent the parental units a message to document the time and in return I got an “Proud of you!!” back from Mom and Dad wondered why I did not spend the entire night there. Only my parents… Once we arrived home, I, of course, completed my post-drinking/pre-bed routine of water, toast and ibuprofen and then crashed at 4:40 am as the official time.
I think I am finally getting used to the Dutch going out schedule because four months later, I managed to sleep in until 11 am. Although, I have not yet seen the sun rise on my way home from a night out. I think I will wait until the sun comes up a little bit closer to 5 am because when goal setting it is important to follow the SMART rule and A stands for attainable. I think 6 am is just a little too unrealistic considering it took four months for me to actually enjoy staying awake until 4:30 am and then sleep in past 9 am. I did wake up at 9 am but I went pee, drank a whole bottle of water (dehydration = hangover) and then went straight back to bed for two hours. A huge achievement for me(and for the Tollenaars as I was less of a zombie than I normally am after a night out).
On King’s Day, there is what is known as the Vrij Markt (free market), which pretty much just means it is a giant garage sale free-for-all. This is because on any other day of the year, a license is required if you would like to have a garage sale. Weird, right? Imagine how different a telephone pole would look in the late spring without all the homemade posters with addresses and times scribbled across them. Maybe that is just a Chilliwack thing though… Anyhow, in Oudekerk aan de Amstel, where the Tollenaars live, all the neighbourhood kids were busy negotiating the best deals (they are Dutch after all), flags were out on all the houses and the signature orange was abundant. The sun was not shining, which was okay because honestly my eyes found even the clouds too sunny, but on the bright side it was not raining. Everything is done outside on King’s Day so when it is a rainy day, it definitely changes the atmosphere.
Once everyone was up and ready, we enjoyed a lovely family brunch for Kiki’s birthday. Croissants, lattes, fresh strawberries and wonderful cheese on a warm bun fresh out the oven. Although my eyes were tired, and I had teeny tiny headache, I was glad my stomach was totally okay after the previous night’s escapades. I also managed to make it until like 1:30 pm before eating so I think I may be starting to understand how Dutch students stay thin. Sleeping in and eating just two meals a day does cut out some calories, which can be made up by drinking highly nutritious beer. Personally, I like to eat my calories a bit more than I like to drink them so I think I will stick to three meals a day plus dessert somewhere in there. Plus, I ate enough at brunch to make it breakfast and lunch because croissants, lattes, fresh strawberries and wonderful cheese on a warm bun fresh out the oven.
After brunch, Nicole, Kiki and I headed into the Jordaan district of Amsterdam to go check out the celebrations. Essentially, it was just one big orange street borrel. Some people are out on their boats touring the canals, others just set up camp on the street and most people are close by the cafes (aka the beer source). Music is playing and the Dutch gezellgheid is in full swing. There also a few large day festivals, the two main ones known as KingsLand and Oranjebloesem, the former is a mix of music and the latter is mostly techno. After such a fun, albeit long, night I think Kiki and I can both say we were very glad to take it easy and wander the streets instead of heading off to another festival. After a bit of wandering and taking in the unique Dutchness of King’s Day, we headed back to Ouderkerk, where Kiki and I proceeded to “rest our eyes”.
That evening we enjoyed a borrel with a cheese board and sausage with the family before heading to Loetje for Kiki’s birthday dinner. Loetje is a Dutch chain but has a really great local beginning story that you can read briefly here if you are like me and enjoy any fun foodie facts and history. After a delicious meal, we crashed on the couch and watched a terrible romantic comedy on Netflix with some tea and some more cake. This time it was a divine lemon meringue. I chatted with Nicole a bit before calling it a night at around 11 pm however, Kiki and I were lucky enough fall asleep to King’s Day karaoke as people winded down their King’s Day in the center of Ouderkerk.
*quick side note – Nicole sent a photo of us enjoying the borrel to her jaarclub (reminder – mom and her were in the same jaarclub) asking if they could tell which daughter belonged to which mom. My mom replied that I am clearly not her’s as I have water by the borrel and not wine.
Saturday morning Nicole and I went for a detox run along the Amstel. Well detox for me as I sweated out the remaining alcohol and tried to work off the cheese and cake. We enjoyed another wonderful family brunch, with yummy treats from the baker. So much for detox but we did walk there to grab them so that balances it out right? I apologize for the lack of food photos but I guess you will just have to take my word for how great brunch is. Think bed and breakfast goals and you have breakfast/brunch at Nicole’s.
The more time I spend in the Netherlands, the more I begin to really grasp what my parents gave up by moving to Canada. They also gained a lot in return and I do not wish they had done anything differently but I understand how hard those first few years were or all the little moments between now and then when they might have felt a little homesick. When I spend time with Nicole or Meindert, I get to hear all these stories about what my parents got up to in their university years. When I am with my grandparents, I hear more about how Mom and Dad grew up. I can travel this country from top to bottom, east to west and have family or family friends to stay with or lean on if needed. Canada is not like that for Mom and Dad, and yes I get there is a bit of a size difference. There are no stories from the past, no nostalgia from their childhood, no quick trips home to Mom and Dad. Their roots are here in the Netherlands and I am starting to see how some of mine may be too. Luckily, trees can grow rather well in both countries?
Life is an adventure. 
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