Back on American soil (after a wondeful tenth-anniversary cruise to the Bahamas), this evening has been a celebration of Americana.

My friend Jim and I drove about four miles, in an air-conditioned car, to a Seven-Eleven, so I could buy a Super-BigGulp Dr. Pepper.  Then we drove the four miles back to Jim's house (again, covering roughly the distance from Amsterdam's Centraal Station to Schiphol airport in one little strip of Orlando suburbia!) and watched digitally-televised NBA (basketball) play-off games and even a precorded bit of a college football championship game from a couple of years ago.

Viva Americana! (Jim says "Hello," by the way). 

Day Six of our Great American Adventure. They say that for every time zone crossed in travel, it takes one day for a person's body to adjust -- thus, the six hours of time difference between Amsterdam and the Eastern United States should translate to six days of jet lag before our bodies feel normal again. And while this seems to be true for Marci, Elliot, and Cor -- I'm not so sure how the rule-of-thumb applies to me and Olivia.  Ah well.  One of these days we should all be back to normal (and let it be said that I am eagerly anticipating that day!).  Our laptop computer's screen was damaged during travel, so I haven't been able to blog as much as I would like (somehow, writing things down in this space helps me to process the events for myself). But borrowing some time on a friend's computer is allowing me to check in here and now -- and though I can't write for very long, I thought I would share some interesting (though rather random) observations of cultural adjustment

I'm finding it difficult to train myself to not use the word WC ("vay-say") to refer to the restroom facilities.  I constantly feel tempted to ask "Where is the WC?" or to excuse myself from a room with an explanation like "I need to go use the WC."  And though I'm sure no one really cares if I use the Dutch/English word for the toilet, I find it important for myself to make the cultural adaptation (still working on it)

Elliot has "forgotten" how to speak Dutch already, less than a week into our visit to the USA.  People will ask him, "What's the Dutch word for ______?" and he will invariably reply that he can't remember.  Even when I talk to him one-on-one (initiating in Dutch), he will say that he can't or won't speak Dutch -- "because the people here can't understand it."  I'm surprised that his cultural perception is so acute.  But then again, it makes sense.  I guess he just doesn't want to be the weird European kid or some kind of performing circus monkey.  And frankly, I can completely identify with him.  So we're still figuring our way out here in our "homeland."

I always used to hear European people complaining about Americans asking "How are you?" without expecting (or even being prepared for) a sincere reply -- but I never really understood it (at least not on the felt level) until this trip to America.  Especially in the Southeast part of the United States (where we've been visiting up to this point), "How're you?" is not really a question as much as a salutation.  In a post office in Virginia I heard one person answer the "question" of "How're you?" with a response of "How're you?"  Very odd indeed.

Perhaps I will be able to add more observations later.  But for now my blogging time is up.  I'm off to the next great experience in this Great American Adventure.

We made it.

There is, of course, still some adjusting to do (which may be self-evident, given the fact that I'm writing this post at 5:00 in the morning, local time -- and even that's about two hours after I initially woke up!)... But all in all, things have gone about as well as can be expected.  Transportation logistics have gone very well.  The kids have been pretty manageable.  And fortunately, even though I am not sleeping so well on my first night here, Marci and the kids are (aside from a few minor moments of half-wakeful disorientation, which are always to be expected).

Within the first hour of Cor's first day on American soil, he had the privilege of driving within 150 meters of the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Smithsonian Museum, the National Archives, and the Capitol Building -- which, I would have to say, was quite an auspicious introduction to his "native" land... Oddly enough, he didn't seem too impressed.  Ah, the fickle fancies of an 8-month-old...

By sunset, we had made it to our destination on the Eastern Shore of Virginia -- a little strip of land between the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.  We got to enjoy a lovely lasagna dinner with our hosts (Marci's brother and his family).  Even more meaningful than the lasagna, though, was the tall glass of A&W Root Beer, chilled with about 12 cubes of ice which signalled my true homecoming.  And as if that wasn't enough, Jacqueline had made a root beer cake (which I enjoyed very much, though I'd never had it before) and made mention of root beer floats somewhere on the menu within the next couple of days... Ah, yes.  That is indeed when I knew:

We made it. 

Did you know that today is Ascension Day -- the recognition of the day that Jesus rose to heaven in view of his disciples?

I realize that readership of my blog is pretty evenly split between Europeans and North-Americans (with a few other international readers on the side) -- thus often one person's "Oh really?!?" is another person's "No duh!!" -- but I think it's ironic and interesting to notice which group is likely to know the religious significance of this particular date on the calendar.

By and large, I would absolutely say that North America (and especially the United States of America) is considerably more "religious" and more "Christian" than Europe (well, at least the Netherlands).  Considering everything from church attendance figures to popular music to political debate to bumper stickers and T-shirts seen on the street -- I think it's pretty clear to see God, Jesus, the Church, and Faith in general are much more public and prevalent on the west side of the Atlantic.

And yet, when it comes to celebrating holidays, Europeans are much more "Christian" than Americans.  Eight out of ten national holidays in the Netherlands are Christian holidays:  Good Friday, First and Second Easter, Ascension Day, First and Second Pentecost, and First and Second Christmas.  The only "secular" holidays are New Year's Day and Queen's Day (with an official recognition of Memorial Day thrown in every fifth year)... Oddly enough, when looking at the list of American holidays, the percentage of religious observances is almost exactly the opposite (depending on how you count, i.e. depending upon whose list of holidays you might be looking at).  Employees of the U.S. Federal government get eight secular holidays (New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Junior Day, Presidents Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, and Veterans Day) and only two religious holdays (Christmas Day and Thanksgiving -- the second of which is only implicitly/historically religious).  Some employers in the United States give extra time off for Good Friday or Christmas Eve or the day after Thanksgiving -- but even so, the point remains that the observance of holidays represents an unusual flip-flop of cultural priorities, when it comes to the subject of religion and Christianity.

I'm sure there are rational explanations for why the holidays have developed as such in Europe and North America... But I don't understand it.  And in any event, I find it ironic.  I'm not saying that one culture's take on things is more or less correct than another's -- but it's definitely interesting to notice.

It's such an exquisite joy to learn an embarrassing secret about the past life of one of your closest friends, isn't it? Why do we delight in seeing a picture of someone we deeply love and respect -- back when he or she was 12 years old, wearing braces, and holding up a beloved poster featuring the New Kids on the Block? Why do we smile so broadly (and share so willingly) about an absurd childhood obsession or experience -- even if it's something like collecting "Garbage Pail Kids" trading cards, or roller-skating backwards, or holding some obscure title in the Guiness Book of World Records? Why is this? This, to me is one of the great mysteries of life...

All of this just goes to say that I've been infinitely fascinated to learn the colorful history of my dear friend and co-pastor, Todd Watkins (a.k.a. T.T. Watkins, a.k.a. TW, a.k.a. T-dubs)... Or should I say, "Twinkle-Toes Watkins?"

Just a few weeks ago, Todd and I were casually chatting at the H88 -- then, whether from boredom or simple joie-de-vivre, Todd busted out this rather remarkable tap-dance maneuver. I laughed and clapped at his spontaneous burst of kinetic expression and said something to the effect of, "Wow, that looked surprisingly professional!" Todd laughed too and then kind of wiggled his eyebrows mysteriously and said something like, "If only you knew..." His remark was meant to be something of a joke, but there was something in his tone that made me wonder if there might be more of a story behind it. So I kept asking questions, pulling the story out of Todd piece by piece. And in the end, I was simply amazed by what I learned about my friend.

One of the things that I really like about Todd is his humility. He's really a very remarkable person, but he doesn't flaunt it. He doesn't feel some insecure need to regale you with stories about his illustrious talents and life experiences. But if you get down to it, asking specific questions about a specific area of Todd's life, he will slowly bring you in on his life story (smiling in such a way that you know that he is secretly, though appropriately, proud of his past acheivements), and you can learn that he is truly one of a kind. As it turns out, Todd was actually a childhood tap-dancing prodigy! He was classically trained in a number of different kinds of dance, but apparently he showed a special aptitude for tap. And as he developed his skills as a six-year-old, seven-year-old, eight-year-old, he became something of a national sensation for a time in the early 1980s.

Big stars like Sammy Davis Jr. and Ben Vereen performed live with my friend, the child prodigy, on Broadway stages and on the Silver Screen in films which have, apparently, become cult classics for those in the tap-dancing subcultures of the world. I guess Todd made the circuit of the television networks' morning shows at one point, and even appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson! Do you maybe remember Savion Glover -- a kid who often appeared and exhibited his own tap-dancing skills on Sesame Street during the 1980s and 1990s? Apparently, he's a personal acquaintance (and once something of a rival) of our own Todd Watkins! Isn't that crazy!?!? You think you know a guy... and then you go and learn something totally unexpected about him!

Hoax or not? I don't really know. Even now, when talking about it with Todd, there's something about his mannerisms and his tone that makes me alternate between completely believing his story and completely questioning it. But as I've searched the internet a little bit and checked out some of the background facts, it seems that enough checks out to at least make the story credible. And you know, it's just one of those things that sounds almost too crazy to be made up! In any event, all I know is that I've attained a whole new level of respect for my friend and co-pastor: the great Twinkle-Toes Watkins.