Postcard 10, based on Sean Condon’s book discussed in Subgenre presentation: My dam life

Dear Rosalie,

How have you been? Have you already read the book I told you about?
The book about the Australian guy who lives in the Netherlands for three years?
I just finished the book yesterday and the author still ticks me off. I just can’t believe how some arrogant Australian guy writes a book about our great country and says that pretty much everything sucks in the Netherlands. The thing is: before moving to the Netherlands, he was already complaining. But what did he expect then? You should always visit a country as open minded as possible! From the first page the guy is complaining about the food, the Dutch people, their habits, the Dutch mentality when it comes to jobs, the weather (ok, I get that), saying we are not raising our childeren properly, saying that Dutch people are very stubborn or too honest, etc. How can a person be too honest? I have never met a ‘too honest’ person, have you? Oh wait, maybe I have. I personally think that his author is being too honest, plus he is wrong, of course! There is one thing I do like about the book and the auothor. In the end, when he ‘finally’ gets to go home to Australia, he finds out that there are quite some things he’s gotten used to in our small country and there will even be some things that he is going to miss back in Australia. Unfortunately, these things were just small things like the ‘hagelslag, frikadellen and the patatje met’, but hey, at least it’s something he’ll be missing. So what is your opinion on this book? Do you feel sympathy for the author, or the actual opposite?
I am thinking of writing the author a letter. He doesn’t seem very objective towards the Netherlands in the first place and I don’t like the fact that he says all these bad things about our country. If many people will read this book, they won’t feel like coming to our country and that shouldn’t be the case! It’s just one man’s opinion. What do you think? Should I write Sean a letter? Let me know!!

Love,

Lonneke

Postcard 9, based on presentation by Leila

Dear Daniela,

How have you been? I am doing pretty well now. I hadn’t been feeling very great during my trip to Kenia. I am so happy to be back in the Netherlands again! I will never visit Kenia again. As you know, my boyfriend and I went to Kenia for 7 weeks and we wanted to see as much as possible. As soon as we had arrived Kenia, both our bags were stolen. They took our passports, wallets, etc. What a lovely start of this trip! I felt like going home right away, but I decided not to give up and I also know that there are pickpockets in every country.. Eventually, we saw lots of beautiful things like the wild animals, awesome nature and a whole different culture. Despite of these nice things, the whole stealing-issue was still in my mind and it actually made me scared of being there. I am pretty sure I won’t be going back to Kenia that easily. I hope your summer holiday was great, let me know, will you?

Love,

Lonneke

Postcard 8. Based on article by Menno: Vail Story, Colorado

Dear Menno,

How have you been lately? I am not doing very well. I spent the last few days in Colorado
and I wish I was home at this moment. I have been ill since the second day I arrived in Colorado. On the first day I had dinner at some cheap restaurant and I have been having stomach problems ever since. I went to the doctor on the second day, but he wasn’t able to help me since he thinks I caught some kind of virus. I am feeling exhausted and angry at the same time because I can tell that the surroundings are extremely beautiful. I wish I was able to enjoy and explore the pretty views over here. The main thing that I have been doing the last couple of days, is writing postcards. I feel quite lonely since there is nobody to look after me while I am sick. I have to say that I am starting to feel better, compared to the first few days.
I hope I will be able to start exploring within a couple of days. Tomorrow I will have to visit the doctor again and see what he can do. I suppose I will be alright. So, what have you been up to lately? Have you graduated yet? I remember you trying to make sure you could graduate when you left. Have you managed already? I hope you are doing well. Maybe you could come and visit me once you have graduated? I would really like that. I could show you around and we could go sightseeing. And how is your girlfriend doing? Are you still planning to live together? I hope you two are doing well! I think I will start looking for a job as soon as I am feeling better. I ran out of money since I haven’t been working for quite a while. I am going to sleep now, cause it suppose that will make me feel better again. It would love to hear from you. I did send you my address, right?

Love,

Lonneke

Postcard 7. Based on presentation by Daniela.

Dear Daniela,

I haven’t heard from you for quite a while. How have you been lately?
I am doing great, I’ve got so many things to tell you! I remember you telling me
about your trip to Israel and how you met your husband in the Kibbutz. At this moment
I am staying in a kibbutz in Israel and believe it or not: I also met a really nice guy. His name is Or Anissimov and he is a Dutch guy whose parents are originally from Israel. I met him on my first day in the kibbutz and we started hanging out. After a week or two he FINALLY tried to kiss me and we have been together ever since! Besides the love affair there is still some working and studying to do. You can probably imagine that it is quite difficult to keep focussed because I am so much in love. I will tell you all about the work and studies in my next postcard, all right? I hope you are doing great!

Love,

Lonneke

Postcard 6 based on article by Rosalie: a Real Dutch Treat: Holiday on a Houseboat.

Dear Menno,

How have you been lately? Have you still got plans to visit me during my Europe trip? I would love that! At this moment I am staying in the strangest country ever, I am staying in the Netherlands. I have only been here for 2 days now and I can already recommend this country as a holiday country, unless you find the weather very important. My goodness, it is so cold and windy all day long! I feel like I don’t know what clothes to put on since it always seems too cold! Despite the weather, there are plenty of nice things to see. First of all, I noticed that most houses in the Netherlands seem well built and goodlooking. And the Dutch people are extremely tall. I can’t remember ever seeing so many tall people in 6 days. I first arrived in Amsterdam late in the evening, and it seems that Amsterdam is always alive, no matter what time it is. The streets were filled with (again, enormous) people and pubs were opened till early in the morning, which is new to me, as you might know too. As I looked around, there also seemed to be a lot of people from different kind of countries, or so I thought. Dutch people are known as tall people with blond hair and that is not the only thing I saw: I saw all kinds of nationalities and they didn’t seem to bother about it. It was a great sight. I looked up some hostel and went to sleep. As I woke up, I decided I wanted to see the city first. It is not the sights themselves that make the city so pretty. It’s the atmosphere, the fact that people seem relaxed and the musicians on the street that make it so nice to walk through Amsterdam. I am planning on staying in Amsterdam for the next three days and then I will head towards Utrecht, which seems to be quite similar to Amsterdam, but smaller. I am looking forward to exploring this country. If I decide to stay here for quite a while, you might consider visiting me over here? Let me know! I will keep you posted!
Love,

Lonneke

Postcard 5, based on presentation by Petra

Dear Menno,

Another postcard from a foreign country. I have been in Curacoa since last Friday, and I have to say that I am truly enjoying myself over here. I very much enjoy the warm weather, the white beaches, the bright sea and the friendly people. I am also enjoying the seafood! There was just one bad thing that happened to me…I decided to start a diving course, since I had never learned how to dive before. The first day I started the course, things were taken easily. The guides told us all kinds of things about the equipment we were going to use and that was it. The second day the guides gave us information about the dangerous fish we should stay away from. There were so many fish, I simply wasn’t able to remember all the fish but I figured I would be fine. On the third day we were finally allowed to start diving. I went along with some girl who turned out to be very scared, so I tried to calm her down and I told her that she had nothing to worry about. As we got into the water, I noticed that I felt something swimming close to my legs. I decided to take a quick look and I noticed there was some kind of huge fish swimming against my leg and it bit me in the foot! I decided not to scream since I did not want to scare the other girl. As I went out and looked down, I noticed that the fish bit off a small piece of my toe. I almost fainted and that was when one of the guides rushed towards me. He took me to hospital and now I am doing pretty well. I have to wait for another two days and then I will be able to start swimming again. Please: don’t ever start a diving course!! You will hear from me soon, I will keep you posted!

Love,

Lonneke

Postcard 4, based on article by Rosalie

Dear Rosalie,

Another postcard, this time it is sent from Mexico. I have been here for 2 days now and I am planning to get out of here as soon as possible. I’ve had nothing but bad experiences since I got here. It started straight away, at the airport. Somehow the guards must have thought I looked suspicious so I had to leave the queue and they took me for further examination. I was asked all kinds of rude questions about myself, about drugs, etc. This whole ‘escapade’ took about two hours, and then they let me go. I was absolutely horrified, insulted and really tired. I decided to find myself a hotel as quick as I could, near the airport. I wandered around for about an hour without seeing any hotels. I started feeling quite desperate.. Luckily, after another hour or so, I saw a tourist information office. As I walked in I wondered what I could expect; friendly people who were able to help me out or people similar to the ones at the airport..? As soon as I got inside I knew things were bad.. There was a sitting man behind the counter, sleeping. I wasn’t sure what to do but I decided to wake him up. He was not amused but he decided to help me, since he was awake now. I starting asking him about some hotel nearby and he looked at me as if I had become crazy. It turned out that the man could not speak English, just Spanish. He gave me a brochure on hotels and tried to explain (all in Spanish, or course) where I was supposed to go. I decided not to waste any more time on this disaster and so I started walking again. After 1,5 hours I found a small hotel, near the centre of the city and I went in. There was still a single room available and after checking in, I went to sleep for the rest of the day. I simply didn’t wake up until the next morning. After taking a good look at the room, I noticed that I couldn’t find my bag, with my passport in it. After searching EVERYTHING, I figured out that my passport has been stolen. I went down to the reception and told the man behind the counter about my passport. He looked at me with big eyes and told me that nobody could possibly have been in my room since I was the only one with a key. Let me tell you this; I got soooooo mad. This was too much for me to handle, first all the struggles at the airport, and now my passport was lost. He told me to look for my passport one more time and so I did..and I found it! It turned out that my passport was hidden between my clothes. I couldn’t remember doing that, but once I saw where it was, I remembered. I must have been so tired that day. This is my second day in Mexico. Now that I have written this down I feel a lot calmer. Maybe I should give this country a second chance.. You will be hearing from me soon!

Love,