Daedalian Adventures

The road ahead is rarely straight…

By Lynelle Barrett

Coming to America

It was bound to happen at some point. This month I am going back home. I’m not returning to the exact place where I lived before, but back to America.

My only cousin, Maxwell, is getting married. I have not met the bride yet, but it is a fairy tale, love-at-first-sight romance. Maxwell was a sculptor living in Boston. He took a trip to visit a friend in Seattle and met a girl at a party. He knew she was “the one” that night. So he moved to the West Coast. Now I am off to Seattle for a “camping” wedding somewhere at the foot of Mount Rainier. The whole wedding party (including my mother!) is lodging in cabins in the forest for the festivities.

Since I live in Holland now, I have generous holiday benefits. So I am off for a “proper” holiday of three weeks. The cities on the itinerary are Seattle, San Francisco and New York City. It’s going to be a whirlwind of activity. I have spent the last few weeks lining up visits and places to stay with old friends. Basically, I am Couch Surfing across America. I am almost certain to need a vacation after my holiday.

It’s been more than three years since I left America. This will be my third time back. Last time was about a year ago and each time I return, I feel less connected to American culture. I am curious how I will feel this time. I know that Europeans do not consider me one of them, but will Americans still consider me American? Or have I become some outcast half-breed? Will I be just a tourist in my own country? Maybe so, but at least I know the natives will be friendly.

Lynelle Barrett lives in The Netherlands but is curious which feels more like home now, Holland or America. Check out photos of her adventures on her website at: http://lynelleinholland.spaces.live.com

Daedalian Adventures

The road ahead is rarely straight…

By Lynelle Barrett

“What’s the difference between a rude Brit and a rude Jew?

A rude Brit doesn’t say goodbye when he leaves, a rude Jew says goodbye but doesn’t leave.”

             ~ Menno

Every month when I sit down to write this column, I plan to write about the most interesting thing that happened in the last month. Well, this month I was wondering what to write about, when I realized that the most interesting thing that has happened to me this month is my friend, Menno.

Menno is on holiday at my apartment for a month. He is planning to spend three months in New York pursuing religious studies. In order to manage the finances, he had to sublet his apartment. But the guy renting his apartment wanted it for four months. So, I have a roommate this month. I moved the bookcase and desk out of my teeny-tiny second bedroom to make room for a rollaway bed. He has set up a little cozy cave to house his single suitcase, an alarm clock, a small stack of books and his yarmulke.

Menno is a bachelor of limited means and even more limited cooking skills. He doesn’t have an oven or a microwave in his apartment, just a stove. So he has been enjoying the benefits of a home with a woman’s touch. He keeps kosher, so I have think about the ingredients I cook with for dinner. I would say we are eating healthy, except he keeps bringing home naughty desserts like chocolate mousse.

He observes Shabbat and on the first Friday this month we spent it together. I had the afternoon off, so I baked Challah (a braided bread made with honey and saffron) and set the table with good linen and crystal. All the cooking had to be done by sunset. Then I lit the candles (the woman of the house is supposed to do this) and Menno told me the prayer to say in Hebrew, line by line. Prayers were said before breaking the bread and we took ceremonial sips of wine. Then we had a lovely dinner and a quiet evening at home.

Menno has an administrative job for the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. This is just a job to pay the bills. At heart, he is an artist. He likes photography and his hobby is to paint and restore antique toy soldiers. As I write this, Menno is hunched over the dining room table painting miniature Lord of the Rings figurines with a delicate paintbrush. He appears to be achieving a Zen-like state of relaxed concentration.

Menno had a troubled childhood. He lived in a foster home and spent some time living on the street as a teenager. His retarded uncle calls him at all hours to chat. Menno is 38, but still doesn’t know where his life is leading him. He is fascinated with children and craves a family of his own but cannot seem to find the right woman to be his life partner. Yet Menno has a great treasure, something he has been able to rely on for much of his adult life. Menno has an incredible network of loyal friends. Through all his journeys in search of himself, journeys that have taken him as far away as New York and Chile, he has always had the emotional and financial support of his friends. He is indeed one of the richest people I have ever met.

The first week Menno stayed with me, he invited me to a night out dancing with his work colleagues. Once a month, a club will host a party for the workers of government organizations. This month the party was at the Baja Beach Club in Rotterdam. I was warned that the club was very “fout”. Fout means wrong or flawed, but I think in this case he meant something like cheesy or campy. The club did remind me of places I have been to in Florida and Mexico with hot girls in bikinis and guys with six-pack abs and board shorts. But since it was Spring in Holland, i.e.: cold and rainy, only the staff was dressed like this. The rest of us stood around with drinks and plates of buffet dinner watching their antics. Our group was a mix of Dutch and Surinamese folks including a guy in a wheelchair. As the music got going, everyone was starting to sway around a bit but the dance floor was still empty. The one wiggling the most was the guy in the wheelchair, so I asked him if he could dance in that thing. He smiled and said “Ja!”, so we initiated the dance floor. It only took a song or two before the floor started to fill up. Then there was no stopping us until the wee hours. One of the guys in the group was a Rap musician (in his spare time) and had an open, infectious friendliness. As he made his way around the dance floor enticing strangers to dance and sing with him, Menno said, “He could bring world peace.” And at that moment, it seemed possible.

Baja Beach Club video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQEbIeqSSAs

Lynelle Barrett lives in The Netherlands, where her circle of offbeat European friends continues to grow.