Written Tuesday, September 1st 2009

Written Tuesday, September 1st 2009


Yesterday afternoon, we arrived safely to Amsterdam from Kenya. We took a bus from the airport to the city center and walked to the hostel less than a mile away. We are staying at a hostel a few blocks from the Anne Frank house (Anne Frank Huis). This is where Anne wrote her diary while in hiding during WWII and the Nazi occupation of Holland. The country was devastated and most of the countries Jews were murdered. Many of the Dutch tried to fight against the Nazi occupation, but like much of the rest of the world, the Nazi propaganda had confused and divided the people here.
Still, Amsterdam is a breathtakingly scenic city, with beautiful 17th century housing and some of the continent’s best museums. It is a compact and user-friendly city with tons of bikes and beautiful boat filled canals. Today we went on a long walk along the canals of the Jordaan passed the Anne Frank house. We walked through the south west of the city going through Leidseplein (theater area) to Vondelpark where we walked for about an hour. Next, we left the park and went passed the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum (we may visit one of these highly acclaimed museums as the entrance fees are high). We walked through Museumplien (a park) taking pictures at the touristy “ I AM STERDAM” sign. We then walked north toward the city center stopping at the FOAM photography museum: terrible. We wish we would not have paid for that visit. In fact, we decided that in order to make the visit worth our precious Euros we would occupy the top floor’s conference room. Mariella spun in their comfy chairs and I sat and planned the rest of the day out. Mariella got a kick out of the people coming in with confused looks on their faces, wondering if they were interrupting a meeting or something, while wondering where the rest of the exhibit was, seeing as there were only 15 to 20 different photos, for way too much money.
Luckily, we were still satisfied with the wonderful bowl of soup we purchased shortly before the museum visit and ate next to the Keizersgracht canal. Next we walked to the Bloemenmarkt (flower district) looking at the beautiful variety of Holland’s finest flowers. From the flower market we walked north to Dam Square where we viewed the National Monument in the center of the square. It has been interesting watching people smoke marijuana as common as the way people smoke cigarettes at home. There are many “coffee shops” around that sell the drug. In Amsterdam, people go to the “Café” to get coffee and they go to “coffee shops” to get marijuana. Good thing I explained this to Mud before she made a crazy mistake and turned her coffee addiction into something worse. We have not yet visited the red light district where brothels abound. Prostitution was legalized in the Netherlands in 1815 and brothels legalized in 2000. Mariella does not want to visit as she says she does not want me to see the near naked prostitutes propositioning passersby from black-lit windows. I think she is right as it is heartbreaking to think about the lives of the individual women, their customers, and the families that are destroyed by the casual sexual encounters. What a beautiful act God created that man has abused. God certainly created sex for the right context. In the right context (between a man and a woman in marriage) it is a beautiful thing. When sex is taken out of this context it seems to destroy people. Of course it is fun in the moment, but it leads to difficulties and destruction. I have always liked the example of a fire in the fire place being a good thing and the proper place for a fire. But if the fire were taken out of the fireplace and put in the middle of a room it would certainly not be good and will eventually cause the house to burn. The right thing in the right place is good. Right thing in the wrong place is not good. I am just speaking from life experiences and observation of others. Jesus said, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. Is there a difference between living life and having fullness of life?