Dec. 22- Den Bosch and Black Pete

     Arjen had to go to work on Thursday morning so I went to ‘s-Hertogenbosch, or Den Bosch, for the afternoon. Arjen dropped me off at the train station. I went to buy my ticket, but unfortunately, neither my American VISA nor my Swedish VISA worked in the machine. I had to call Arjen to come back to the train station to buy a ticket for me. I was then finally on my way to den Bosch! I greatly enjoyed walking around Den Bosch because it is an older town with really cool architecture, but there are also a lot of stores for shopping.

     My first stop was St. John’s Cathedral. It dates to around 1220. It was a beautiful gothic church with a nativity set up inside the church.

     After looking around the cathedral for a while, I made my way to a bagel restaurant for lunch. I have only had 2 bagels since I left America so I always eat one when I can find them. I had an everything bagel with bacon and goat cheese. It was absolutely delicious! I could have eaten more than one.

     I continued my walk around the city. This time doing more shopping! Here is a little math for you…

American prices < Dutch prices < Swedish prices

Moral of the story, I did some shopping because everything seemed so cheap compared to what I am used to. Looking back, I wish I had bought even more. :)

     Arjen met up with me in Den Bosch after he got off work. We stopped in a coffee shop for a Bossche bol (Den Bosch ball) and a coffee. This was my third coffee of the day. When I am in America, I never drink coffee. I would occasionally have a chai latte, but never a cappuccino. When in Europe, do as the Europeans. I drink lots of coffee and cappuccinos now!

     Thursday night, Arjen’s volleyball team had a Christmas party. Christmas for the Dutch starts on December 5^th with the visit of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet. Sinterklaas or Sint Nicholas was a Roman Catholic bishop. He is the patron saint of children. Sinterklaas rides a white horse and brings little presents or cookies to children with the help of Zwarte Piet, or Black Pete. Children leave out their shoe for Sinterklaas to fill with gifts and some carrots and water for his horse. This is partially where we got our American tradition of Santa Clause. Anyways, Arjen decided to surprise his team by the two of us showing up as Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet!

     The party was a lot of fun. We played a Christmas present exchange game. Everyone brought 2 presents, one that they wanted themselves and one that they didn’t want. Some of the gifts were a bottle of wine, a water gun, a ceramic bird, an incense set, a quote book, a candy g-string, etc. I ended up with the bottle of wine, but I left it at Arjen’s house. The whole night no one ever found out my name. I was only known as Black Pete!