Vondelpark

on saturdays, I have gotten into the habit of doing a very intense form of journaling with Shawna and a couple of other ladies of Dutch nationality, Esther and Harmine. this journaling has been so good, and a really good tool to get in touch with getting my subconcious congruent with my concious life. in addition to the fact that it has been so great to get to know these other ladies on such a deep level. Shawna is in Poland right now, and i have been here at the house with the kids and Dan's mom, Linda for the past couple of days. we have been having a good time taking Shea to ballet, among other things... SO much pink.

but i am side-tracking... yesterday, Harmine and I had lunch and got to know each other a bit better - exchanging life stories and all. this morning, she showed up (i think esther spaced it out... she has a lot going on at her house at the moment) and since the other 2 of our little tribe were not present, we decided to go for a walk and talk more about faith and life. it has been a very damp morning, and fortunately we didn't get caught in the rain. we walked over to vondelpark, walked in and out of all these muddy little walkways. our conversation was one that was so life-giving and challenging for me. in the past 2 years, she has come to know and trust God and is in such a beautiful place. we talked about the problem of evil, the realtionships that exist between people, attitudes towards hetero- and homosexuality, the role of women, churchianity as opposed to christianity ... so many things. many of our topics covered things that cannot be answered easily, if at all on this earth. there are so many things that we don't have answers to, but i think that it is the pursuit of trying to seek deeper understandings for those things that we are drawn into a deeper understanding of God and of the world around us. needless to say it was a good conversation and we had a great time walking for a couple of hours. she is becoming a close friend and advocate for the work that i am doing here.

speaking of what i am doing here, i went to the PICNIC '07 on wednesday and yesterday... slightly disappointing. my intention was to go to some of the free workshops on marketing and business models, in addition to seeing the cutting-edge technology-meets-art and music stuff. the workshops were mostly just a platform for companies to advertise themselves, and the tech-and-art was minimal, but what was there was really good. made a connection with a guy the created something called "the girlfriend experience" (check it out at www.mediamatic.net/girlfriend) which is something that is MOBILE and he has gotten backing from Rabobank! i am meeting with him and another guy (Miguel) that is helping me make connections at festivals, crafting the business plan with me. so, at least there was something good that came out of it. ;) Miguel and Noelle (Shawna's oldest) are going to go to the Amsterdam Underground Festival (http://www.amsterdamunderground.nl/index.php?id=english) tonight, so hopefully that will be a bit more cultural and helpful. more connections perhaps. that is the hope anyway.
so, that is life here... going to Crossroads Amsterdam with Ari tomorrow to hear Ari speak about Russia to the youth group, working on crafting my business plan, working on Field Orientation with CAI, meeting with people and spending time community building with the people that have been placed in my path.

not the best pic of my friend Phenny and i...

auto free day

i will post more real information tomorrow, but i had to write about this today... one of the greatest ideas ever: Auto Free Day here in Amsterdam! it was amazing! i had no idea this was going on (i don't speak dutch yet, so the signs all over the city that made this clear were totally lost to me) there were tons of people riding in carriages and on horses - like a parade, but without the marching band and stupid banners.

even people in period clothing... really interesting to see how much work people had put into this!

Shawna and I went to meet our friend penny for lunch near the amstel canal and the nieuwmarkt and there was another impromptu parade of rollerbladers! these guys were great though... not only did they say THANK YOU for moving out of the way (if you have ever been here, you know that this is unheard of from the dutch), but there were a couple of guys that had what appeared to be stereos strapped to their backs! way too funny.

it was such a peaceful day... riding all over the city, running through vondelpark and not having all of the noise and hassle of cars. it was also nice to not have to be concerned about getting run over... by a car, anyway. chicago: please consider this. a moment of peace in chaos is so welcome :). auto free day rules.

the PICNIC

so, shawna and i decided to start looking into festivals and things here in the city to be a part of to start networking more effectively within the arts and culture community. there is SO much to do in this city.... there is no way that any one person can do all that is available here in this city. I also want to go to every museum, and this city has more museums than any other city, so this is going to be something to tackle! anyway, this next week, there are som really exciting things going on... we looked on http://www.iamsterdam.com/visiting_exploring/what's_on/what's_on_text/2007/global_warning and found this http://www.picnicnetwork.org/set-5958-en.html.... it is a convention/festival that is geared for the most cutting-edge/innovative

/creative/cultural/tech and science/arts/music orgs adn companies in the world. you register for it like you would a myspace and people become your friends and invite you to their "pitches" (for new ideas), workshops, etc. the first guy that invited me to be his "contact" is a guy that is pitching a motor oil that you never have to change that is earth-friendly! i have no idea what on earth he could have created, but that is the king of stuff that i am talking about. the cost for this thing is almost 1000euro, but for all of us poor people, there are over 50 workshops/discussion groups, a huge party for two nights that presents many of the newer music, dance companies, audio/visual technology, who-knows-what-else (this is at http://www.discovery07.nl/), a network of city games that is being put on that is ageless and interactive using the CITY as your playground, and a free screening to see the latest in coming cinema... the CineGrid 4k!!! All of that is FREE!!! So, I have signed up for all kinds of workshops ranging from web marketing and business development, to global communities and the CineGrid 4k. going to the party (hopefully bringing my friend Dieuwke - pronounced doo-ka) and dragging the kids to some of the games that are going on. that is just one festival before the end of the month. i think there are 2 others that need to be checked out. and of course, shawna will be in poland with wanda, the art-gallery neighbor, so i get to fly solo... should be interesting and fun! (she is really not-thrilled that she can't go ;) ) so, we are receiving affirmation that what is going on here is good, right for the moment, and God is opening doors for us to take this to the FRINGE of the cutting edge! very encouraging! more on this later as it progresses...

finally

friends, I am here. finally. so, this is the inagural post for the next... however long i am here. i hope you have all received the last email i sent out. if you are reading this, chances are you did. yay!

i am in den Haag right now, which is about a 40 minute train ride from amsterdam. this is where the christian associates international (cai) headquarters are. i am working here on tuesdays and thursdays, helping out with organizational and administrate needs here in the office. right now, that means that i am helping plan and orchestrate the coming of all of our most-recent missionaries to den Haag for the Field Orientation. I am also helping a bit with the Staff Candidate Orientation for those that are still looking into joining the forces here. so that is my "day job".

due to my monetary situation (many of you know that when i left the states, my intention was to come here fully funded. that has not happened for whatever reasons...), i am in a place where i am still support-raising, but needing to get creative about how to stay here and work with cai/other groups/people. lucky me: Holland happens to be one of the most strict countries in the EU when it comes to the entrance of ex-pats, so this is going to be good... presently, i have met with an immigration lawyer here who is offering some helpful suggestions and creative solutions to be here and have it work! more to come on that when i have a better idea of what that is going to look like.

presently, my habitat is at shawna snow's house with her and her lovely children, among whoever else is coming in and out of the house at the time. it has been fabulous; getting to know her neighbors (friend Phenny and the other great people at the thai restaurant next door... wanda, the polish photography art gallery owner on the other side... eddie, the bar owner down the street who is self-declared neighborhood watchdog...french friends Geraldine and Ben who own another gallery not too far away... esther and james, andrew, ian, brigitte, dieuka, others that come by the house...) such a great place of community and developing friendships... as well as great contacts in the community at large! there is more to come, but i have to bolt for the moment!