GWAPA: Articles: Sean's Cryptocoryne Odyssey

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Groningen

This morning we have an 11 AM appointment in Groningen to have the plants inspected. I wake up and look at my iPod clock and panic, 9:45 AM. Jan said we need to leave at 10 AM. I scramble to wash up, dress and get downstairs. Jan seems relaxed when I get downstairs, and I realize that my iPod does not reset itself for the change in daylight savings time. Well now that I know I can relax, I have coffee and breakfast. Last thing I wanted to do was make us late for an appointment, being late is not usually acceptable in European cultures.

The ride is uneventful, we are caught in the rain, the sun, the rain, the sun, then when we find ourselves in Groningen we get turned around, twice. Eventually we find the correct building and parking is actually easy in the parking lot. We drag the boxes inside to a "front desk" where Jan tells the lady there that we have an appointment. She makes a phone call, goes around and opens the door for us, and escorts us to the elevator pressing the up button. I half expected her to press the button for the floor but she just told us as the elevator arrived that we were going to the first floor.

We get off the elevator and Jan picks a room that has no obvious markings to me and asks if we have the correct place. There is an affirmative response so we pile the two boxes on the counter. The government inspector surprises both Jan and I. He takes the carryon box and inspects it quickly, he actually seems more interested in the rolled up newspaper in the box than the plants. He complains a bit about the application for the certificates, then informs Jan that the cost of the inspection is 1.74 Euros per minute and they don't take cash or credit, only transfers from accounts.

Jan give the inspector his account and tells me I can pay him back. The inspector then starts on the large shipment box. Every part of the conversation here is in Dutch, so I don't understand much, Jan keeps feeding me tidbits. The inspector has never done such a small inspection before. He apologizes for taking so long, takes my permit and all the paper work and makes photocopies of everything for us. The two certificates cost about 40 Euros, but I can live with that. Jan is amazed at:
The Cost, he remembers it being much less;
The Service; we both are stunned that both boxes were inspected while we waited.

Honestly, I'll bet this is one of the cleanest shipments they will ever see. OK We have two certificates in hand, time to site see, we go park the car in town so we can walk around Groningen. Jan shows me several churches that are no longer churches, one has an Artist's show going on. We walk in and I'm looking at the stones that make up the floor, many are actually the headstones of graves. People paid to be buried in a church, I bet they never thought it would stop being a church. I walk through the exhibit, it is by a "shock" artist, I wonder if they are offended that I'm more interested in the church then their stuff.

We wander back out to the street, there are many small shops here, kind of what it was once like on main street in most American towns. I spot a fishing/pet store, European fishing is much different than it is in the US, they LIKE to fish for carp. This is a SERIOUS tackle store for carp fishermen, I'm tempted to buy a pile of their gear and bring it home. The pictures on the wall are of customers with these pot bellied pig like carp, not the sleek torpedo carp of the US, certainly not the typical bass, trout, salmon, or pike pictures you see in the US. The fish shop in the back is an after thought in the store. Jan is amused that I find the shop so interesting.

Back out on the street we walk towards the town centrum. It is market day, stands selling fish, meats, cheeses, veggies, clothes, and more. We stop at a fish vendor, Jan says I have to eat a herring, it is traditional Dutch fare, the herring is raw with onions, clean and headless and raw. Fine with me. I eat sushi, striped bass cheeks, cherrystone clams, what's a herring to me?

The herring wasn't bad, just different, I think I would have liked more onions with it, maybe packed into the body cavity . We look at the whole fresh fish they have for sale, salmon, trout, hake, turbot. Nice selection. We find a wine shop next to a grocery store. Eiswein! While Jan is asking where to find it I am selecting a wine on the shelf, he turns around and says "She says the wine is right where you are. Oh you've found it." Well now at last I get to show Jan and Cora that Eiswein is real. We tell the shop keeper that we will be back in a little while.

We walk around for a while looking at the churches, shops, and such, looking for a place to have lunch. Jan has a place in mind if it is still there. A small sandwich shop in the basement of a building. A fresh baguette with pineapple, provolone, and ham, hot, yum. The odd part is you buy the food in the basement and then take it outside, upstairs, to a "bar" setting where you can eat it and have a drink, coffee, coke, beer, wine, whatever. It's basically a room full of young Dutch people, college aged. I have a cappuccino, probably the best I can remember. I'm going to miss the coffee here.

Back to the wine shop before we are off to Emmen. The shop keeper tells Jan that if you buy two bottles of the same wine the second is half off. This wine is already a bargain compared to what it costs in the states so getting a second bottle is an easy choice. I get the Eiswein and a late harvest wine from France to take home. One bottle of Eiswein is for dessert tonight. I ask Jan if he knows someplace we can get a dessert, an apple cake or pie or something. Amused, he tells me that yes we can do that. Jan looks at the time when we are back at the car, we have a lot of time to get to the box mailed.

On the way back to Emmen Jan drives through one of the small villages. I spot houses with thatched roofs, Jan tells me that they lay the thatch down and attach it and then shave off the excess. Which is why they look so squared off at the corners. Then Jan shows me a prehistoric cairn (rocks positioned by someone long ago), interesting stuff, there is another one as we are leaving the village. I saw my only windmill on the way back to Emmen.

We get back to Emmen and go to Jan's house, where we seal up the bags, put the paperwork together in the boxes, and seal up the one to be posted including affixing the Green Importation sticker. We take that box and go to the local shop that handles the post. This shop usually sells Jan his pipe tobacco so they are a little confused when that's not what he wants. Thirty-two Euros later the box is officially on its way. Huge sigh of relief to have that done. I remember to get stamps for the post cards to my kids. Next is a tour of Emmen.

Ok in the middle of the street near the center of town is this boulder. It is the size of the front end of a car. We dodge it on the way to park to walk around town. I ask why it is there, Jan says no reason in particular. I'm laughing in disbelief, it is now the "Rock of Emmen!" I threaten to turn it into a new urban legend on the internet if he doesn't come up with a better story than that by morning. I'm still waiting for a good explanation.

We stop quickly at a grocery store for an apple pie. Cora has a friend over when we get home, Lenie is the name I hear. I'm introduced, American, but she thinks I say Proost just fine which amuses Jan. After Lenie goes we have dinner, sausages, salad, bread, potatoes, cauliflower with a cheese sauce, we clear the dishes and break out the dessert. My relief comes as the wine and pie match up great, now they understand what I was looking for.

We all help with the dishes and Cora heads for her Women's club meeting. 8 o'clock and Jan settles in to watch the News. Politics, Tragedy, Human Interest, seems like the news is the same in all languages.

Time for my photography lesson, C. edithiae is in bloom. Jan and I go out to the green house and collect the bloom. Jan shows me how to dissect a Crypt bloom to show off all the structures inside. Then I get a lesson in how to take macro pictures to document the structures and features of the bloom. Jan uses a digital camera with an accessory lens to give more free space in front. With my camera trying to do the same thing we document the inadequacies of my camera.

Time for bed, this is my last "thud" on the European continent for this trip.

Wednesday, November 1, 2006

I wake up about 6 AM Europe time, 1 AM home time. I get myself and my stuff together and drag it downstairs. Cora comes downstairs and we surprise each other, before going back to bed she makes me a last cup of coffee. Did I mention before I like their coffee maker? Jan comes downstairs a few minutes later, joins me for breakfast, and gives me my schedule.

This morning I am taking the commuter train to the airport. The train station is over in Hoogeveen, about a 20 minute drive from Emmen. As per our usual results we get lost on the way and have to turn around an try again. Hey, what else would you expect when the co-pilot can't read the street signs. Anyhow, At the train station the machine won't take my card, so Jan buys the ticket for me, and I pay him back, I have extra Euros at this point, 36.30 Euros for a 1st class ticket. The 2nd class ticket is 10 Euros cheaper but I don't have much else to spend Euros on so I splurge. Glad I did when I see how people crowd into the other cars. I get a nice seat with a fold down table which lets me write in this journal!

Jan hangs around for a minute to make sure that the train leaves the station. This train should take me right into the bottom of Schiphol Airport, the last stop. As long as the train doesn't have a problem I should not be able to get lost. The Conductors alert everyone that the train is going to leave so Jan and I say good bye and I go get comfortable.

At Schipol I just get off the train, head up a ramp into the airport, into a check in line, to the gate through security and to my plane. My trip is coming to a close, as I head back to the "New World" leaving behind the new world I've been exploring. I guess how New a world is depends on where you were standing when you left.

OK, one last story. I arrive in Philadelphia and gather up my bags. I take my customs form to the Immigration officer and tell her that I need to go to Agriculture with my box of plants. She looks at me and asks what kind of plants do I have. I inform her that I have live aquarium plants with me, but I have the permits for them. I must be too forward, she welcomes me home, tells me that I have to go to Agriculture, marks this down, and signs off on my papers.

Smiling I wander off to find Agriculture, no lines over there, everyone else is lined up in "nothing to declare", liars. I take out the small styro I brought the plants home in. The Agriculture agent takes the styro from me when I say that I have live plants with me and looks at the sticker on the side of the box. I tell him that I'm an academic and we all recycle boxes like this one for multiple purposes. I take the top off the box and the inspector spends a few seconds checking the rolled up newspaper, not the plants. He picks up the paperwork and looks at the others behind his desk, "Hey, this one has a Phyto"
"A Phyto huh, well you know what to do with that right?"
"Yup" he puts the paper work back in the box, puts the lid on the box, signs off on my paperwork, and says "Have a nice evening" and hands me the box back.

"Thanks," and I was gone.

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