Holland & South Africa, 2008

End-Presentation in Capetown

2008-08-18T01:52:00.003+02:00

After we finished in Genadendal, we traveled back to Capetown for a few days to end the study tour. There, we saw Robben Island, which is where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for political crimes, during the rise against apartheid.

In Capetown, we presented all of our research findings to the Capetown Tourism board.

Here is a summarized version of our presentation:

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BULEMBU

Research Objective:
"To determine how the local community can contribute to the development of tourism in Bulembu by analyzing the involvement and willingness of the local community."

Bulembu Achievements:
- creating a local honey and guava jam manufacturing projects
- building a craft shop to sell local crafts, adjacent to the main lodge
- tourism lodge infrastructure improvements
- offering guided hikes for tourists through the city and into the foothills
- proactively pursuing a project to enhance existing water lines in the community

Findings & Recommendations:

1. Communication could be improved, in order to achieve more local involvement.

- English. Many local people cannot speak adequate English to interact with tourists. This can be addressed by offering more English language courses in schools, as well as courses for adults. Encouraging informal interaction with tourists can also help.

- Marketing. Marketing at the lodge does not provide information about activities that tourists could participate in, within the community. A large poster with photos of the activities and prices is a good way to inform tourists of what they can do in Bulembu. The website also needs to be further developed.

- HIV. HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention needs to be addressed in the community. This is a strategy for staff-retention and local empowerment.

- Tourism Committee. A tourism committee should be created, to communicate about tourism development in Bulembu. The creation of a committee spreads responsibility over a greater area, and also builds a sense of ownership.

2. Tourism products could be expanded, based on suggestions from interviews. These may include:

- story-telling
- a trip to the daycare for tourists
- rotational homestay
- expansion of existing walking tours for more local involvement (e.g. eating local foods, drink stops, going to the old asbestos mine, tours of the honey and guava projects, etc)
- creating a soccer program for tourists and local children

***

GENADENDAL

Research Objective:
"A comparison study between Genadendal and Greyton to measure local community involvement in tourism development."

Research in Genadendal, South Africa

2008-08-18T00:35:00.009+02:00

After Khayelitsha, we arrived in our second host community of Genadendal, located in South Africa. We stayed in Genadendal for approximately one week, researching how community-based tourism could be managed in Genadendal, and also comparing tourism development in Genadendal with that in Greyton, a neighbouring community.

We spoke with many community members during our stay, and divided our group into two, to gain more interviews. I remember one day we had a local guide, Wilmohr, and he was introducing us to influential people in the community. We told him that we'd like to go to the local highschool in town, and possibly talk with some of the directors there, to see if there were any tourism programs already in place for young people. Somewhere along the line there must have been a misunderstanding, because before we knew it, we were standing in front of a full class of 14-year olds! Talk about on-the-spot improvisation!

We started off by introducing ourselves, explaining why we were in Genadendal, and then began asking the class some questions. The kids were interested in tourism, but not many of them had considered it as a career, before. There are currently no highschool tourism classes offered in Genadendal.

A major challenge facing Genadendal, along with many other rural towns in South Africa, is that most of the young people leave for the big cities. This means that the average age in Genadendal is very high, and very few people are moving there from outside. No new energy and expertise is being infused into Genadendal, and as a result, it's tourism development (along with other forms of development) have stalled for the time being. Youth retention is a top priority, and this can be achieved by showing young people in the highschool what business opportunities exist in Genadendal. The area is rich with cultural and natural beauty, but the tourism product is unorganized and poorly marketed. A common problem in many communities is that residents have a hard time seeing the tourism potential that is there, right under their noses. Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out these opportunities.

One thing that struck me about Genadendal was how deeply the church is involved in all aspects of the community. Genadendal is home to one of the earliest Moravian missionary settlements in all of Southern Africa, South of the Sahara. A museum and garden highlighted this history. Some of my classmates were uneasy with the amount of control the church has over the community, especially since we were looking at Genadendal through our Western lens of secular government as an ideal.

But I think the church in Genadendal, and similar communities, has the potential to play a large role in motivating people and initiating change. A further challenge we later discovered, is that the Moravian church in Genadendal had split off in the past, into two seperate religious groups, all within the city. This means that today, the community is divided along religious lines, which are very strong. This lack of social cohesion is very difficult to overcome, and provides a major barrier for all community members to come together to discuss and plan for future development.

eKasie Backpackers, Khayelitsha Township

2008-08-17T06:58:00.012+02:00

After our stay in Bulembu, we flew to Capetown in South Africa, and stayed there for a few days. One night, we stayed at a backpackers in the township of Khayelitsha, not far from Capetown. We drove into the township in a rented shuttle bus, and it was quite amazing. There were shanty houses as far as the eye could see, and some were not much more than a few corrugated pieces of metal placed together. I remember getting kind of anxious as we were driving in, and wondering if this was really the safest place for us to be staying. We drove up to a brightly painted two-story building, in the middle of the township, and were greeted by the owner, his wife, younger son, stray dogs, and the resident cook at the backpackers. We unloaded our suitcases (once again) and were amazed when shown to our rooms. They were fully furnished with bunkbeds, clean, with a full kitchen and games room upstairs.

After unloading, our host took us on a walking tour of the township.

Khayelitsha township, like many townships in South Africa, was artificially created during the times of apartheid. It was a way to keep black South Africans seperated from the whites. If I remember correctly, I think the townships also housed the first black migrants who were working in the mines. With time, women were allowed into the townships and families grew up there. These communities were historically economically disadvantaged, which you can still see today in the lack of infrastructure, development, and investment.

During our tour, our guide walked us down the street to show us what such a community looked like. He assured us the area was very safe, and explained that in some cases the townships are often more safe than the larger cities. This is because a sort of volunteer community-policing force is organized by locals, and everyone watches out for each other. Crime is surprisingly low, especially when neighbours are watching out for their neighbours. As we walked, I became aware at how obviously we stuck out, as white foreigners. I thought racism might be a problem for us in the township, but I found quite the opposite. Locals there were very interested in us, why we were there, what we were studying, and so on.

As we walked, we passed some schools in the township, and a care center for children which we visited. At one point during the walk, we heard some music off to the side of the street. As we walked closer, the people there invited us to come over for a bit. Looking at each other, a bit nervously, we thought: "why not"? There was singing, dancing, and people were passing around a local brewed beer in a large pail, as you can see in one of the photos below. It tasted a bit sweet, although I liked it.

Local brewed beer, in Khayelitsha township tour.

At first, we weren't quite sure what all the celebration was about. I remember asking one of the guys next to me, and he explained that someone had recently died. Instead of a funeral, focusing on death and the loss of a loved on, this was instead a celebration of life. For me, it was quite a different cultural perspective than from back home!

After the unplanned party, our guide took us to a 'shebeen', or local pub. Historically, shebeens arose in the townships because black South Africans were not allowed entrance into a bar or pub reserved for white South Africans. These places sold liquor without a license, and often featured various forms of local brew. Today, the shebeens are lively places filled with young people and the latest trance, techno, and house music. After the shebeen, our guide walked us home as the sun was setting.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay in this township, because I was able to speak with local people, and understand how different people lived. I didn't feel threatened or unsafe at any point. The liveliness during the party and later in the shebeen was great! Although I enjoyed my time in the township, some of my other classmates did not feel the same. Some of the girls had trouble adjusting to the high level of noise, and felt like we were being watched during the tour because we were white. I think they may also have been feeling some culture shock, especially when we were confronted in the beginning with the poverty of the area. I have a feeling that my previous traveling experiences had at least somewhat prepared me for this.

Township tours are growing in popularity. Many tourists coming to the large cities such as Capetown and Johannesburg are looking to have an 'authentic experience', that goes further than just a staged cultural dance or stop at a museum.

The concept of a 'township tour' fit perfectly with our theories of community-based tourism. It is a local initiative, lead by local people, and benefiting local people. Some of the proceeds gained in township tours often go towards community projects, such as care centres for children, schools, and HIV/AIDS centres. If managed correctly, it can be a non-invasive way that tourists can help support local communities, and in return, gain a better understanding of townships themselves.

One of the major barriers facing tour operators in townships is the perceived risk that tourists associate with townships. Especially lately in the news, there have been reports of riots and violence in many townships in South Africa. The reasons for these riots are complex; one reason being high rates of local unemployment. Some South Africans feel that black migrants from other African countries have driven up the rate of unemployment, and make it harder for some native South Africans to find a job. The attacks have been against these black migrants who live in South African townships, and not against tourists. However, safety concerns are a major barrier that tour operators face in the townships.

Research in Bulembu, Swaziland

2008-06-14T13:46:00.009+02:00

We spent roughly one week in Bulembu, which is a small community in Swaziland. We had a chauffeur drive us into Bulembu, and the mountain roads were sometimes very small and winding. We made it to the border crossing with minutes to spare, since the crossing we used usually closes at 4pm every day.

During our stay in Bulembu, we were interviewing local people about their views on tourism. We wanted to measure empowerment, levels of local participation in tourism, to identify tourism product, and to uncover barriers to community-based tourism development.

While we were in Bulembu, we encountered members of various church groups as well as other volunteer groups who came to Bulembu to help in any way they could. Sometimes they helped to build a water pipeline system for locals, other times they helped in schools and day-care centers. Now that I'm back in Holland and going over the theories again, I realize that there is actually a name for this: "justice tourism". This kind of tourism is relatively new, and the term has not been extensively used. To quote from my textbook, it's "a process which promotes a just form of travel between members of different communities...it means treating local people as people - not as beggars, nuisances, servants, con men, thieves or exotic photo opportunities".

Justice tourism can include:

- historically oppressed communities sharing with visitors their experiences of past wrongs (like apartheid), thus rewriting history books

- tours of poverty-stricken areas (like the townships) where education and understanding, not horror, are the outcome

- tourists from Western countries coming to assist with development or conservation work, which makes their vacation more meaningful, rather than an egocentric holiday

An interesting trend. Here are some pictures of my classmates playing with some kids at a daycare in Bulembu, and serving food at a battered womens shelter:

One interview I had with Andrew, a local municipal officer in Bulembu, will stay with me for a long time. The interview started out with me, and 2 other classmates, asking questions about tourism development in Bulembu, and if locals are prepared to deal with tourists. As the interview progressed, Andrew started to talk about the reality of his community, a reality that many tourists do not see when coming to visit.

I forget the exact numbers he mentioned, but something like 6 out of 10 children in his community are raped before they reach high school. 80% of the time it's by a family member. Spousal abuse, domestic violence, and alcohol abuse are widespread. The average life expectancy is around 32 years old, because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. People are desperate, and societal values are breaking down.

Andrew was dead-serious when he was explaining these things to us, and I'm sure he wasn't saying it just for shock value. It's important to understand the underlying issues in a community, before jumping in with big plans for any sort of development.

Because of abuse, many children develop behavioral problems, which later creates problems for them when they are ready to enter the labor market.

The AIDS problem is huge, because how can you empower local people to hold management positions, if you train and train and train them, but they die before they can reach that level? It's a huge frustration, and it's part of the reason why many communities are stuck in cycles of poverty.

One quote from Andrew was very impactful: "you can't look at the issue of HIV/AIDS through a Western perspective, it doesn't work. You can't throw money at AIDS research and health clinics. AIDS is not just a health issue, but a cultural and social one as well. Do you know how difficult it is to change a culture?"

So in this context...is there a place for tourism in Bulembu? According to Andrew, yes. He says it's essential that the word gets out about issues his community (and others like it) are facing. Become informed, tell as many people as you can, and don't support corrupt governments, with politicians who remain silent on these issues. Ignorance is not an excuse.

First Stage of Our Research

2008-05-29T16:55:00.006+02:00

Finally, I have the time to update this blog!

We arrived back in Haarlem around the 15th, and we've been busy with festival preparations, presentations, a photo exhibition, and other projects.

During our time in South Africa and Swaziland, we created three newsletters, and you'll see the first one below, as pictures. Click on the picture, and you'll see the larger view. Some of you may have received these newsletters already by email.

***

So! After a 12-hour flight with a lay-over in Heathrow, we arrived in Johannesburg. Johannesburg is the most populous city in South Africa, with a population of 8 million people living in the Greater Jo-berg Area. We didn't have to change our clocks when we arrived, because although Jo-berg is a long flight from Amsterdam, we didn't cross any times zones since we flew almost straight South. Also, we learned upon arriving that in fact South Africa is moving into its winter season now, with colder temperatures and leaves falling from trees. The seasons there are reversed, just like in Australia.

During our first day in Johannesberg, we went to the Apartheids museum. To understand apartheid & it's effects, you have to look at the history of South Africa. It began when the Portuguese first came to the region is 1487, looking to expand the slave trade to the New World. The Dutch East India Trading company (the same as in the Pirates of the Caribbean) used South Africa as a strategic trading point for trade. Then the British entered the scene, bringing slaves from Malaysia and India. Lots of wars broke out between everybody, and in the end, the Dutch won. This is why Afrikaans is now largely spoken in South Africa, because it's a 15th century version of Dutch (but still classified today as a separate language). Anyway, there were lots of tension between the local people, even though it was quite multicultural. The Afrikaans government officially implemented apartheid in 1948, but segregation had been happening for a long time before then. Things came to a head when many black visionaries began speaking up, including Nelson Mandela, who later was sent to prison. On a side note, we saw his house in the township of Soweto.

So what does all this mean? When we were doing our research, we found that apartheid is still an issue for many people in South Africa today, since they lived through it themselves. Apartheid in South Africa officially stopped in 1994, so just 14 years ago. Racial tensions are there today, just under the surface of day-to-day life. We found this to be a big barrier in community-based tourism development. Some black, or mixed communities did not feel like they could make tourism partnerships (or any meaningful partnerships) with other, white communities. Apartheid had the effect of socially disempowering lots of black and colored people. It is not a problem that can be overcome quickly, but only with time. Again, we found this to be a considerable barrier for tourism development in the region.

***

One interview I found really interesting was with an NGO called Fair Trade Tourism South Africa (FTTSA). We had a meeting with a director from the NGO while we were in Pretoria. This NGO is the first of its kind, in which it has taken the "Fair Trade" label, and applied it to the service industry in tourism. It has a certification program, in which tourism businesses can applied to be certified with FTTSA, if they prove that they do a list of 'best practices in tourism'. This includes things like: hiring local people, buying products through local channels, paying workers fair wages, having an anti-discrimination policy in place, providing resources for HIV/AIDS, etcetera. It's kind of like an ethical seal of approval, if a business is certified with FTTSA.

But why would a business want to become certified, other than to prove they are 'ethical'? Certification isn't free, after all. Businesses realize that there is a growing demand from tourists who are looking for ethical business practices. Consumers are becoming smart. Once they are certified, a business is featured on the FTTSA website, and in this way gains access to new markets. They are also able to network & partner with other businesses that are certified, and are given consultancy advice from FTTSA on how to succeed.

So far as they know, there is no other NGO like it. FTTSA wants to expand regionally within southern Africa, but does not yet have the capacity to consider expanding abroad.

On my next post, I'll talk about our experiences in Bulembu, Swaziland.

Prep for South Africa

2008-04-17T16:45:00.005+02:00

In two days I will be flying to Johannesburg from Amsterdam, with a layover in Heathrow for a couple hours. Yesterday I paid my residence permit for the Netherlands, so when I re-enter the country in May they won't deport me back to Canada haha. I also received vaccinations yesterday, and need to pick up malaria pills either sometime today or tomorrow.

Our new project group for South Africa is working well together. I've been appointed the group leader by our professors, so I'm in charge of group meetings, creating agendas, and making sure we are staying on track. It's also a nice resume-builder!

This past week we've been writing, writing, and re-writing our research proposals for South Africa. These are basically the guidelines for the type of research that we'll carry out. After changing our problem statement about 4 times already, we're going to let it go for now and just wait until we arrive. Chances are, we'll have to change our focus when we arrive anyways. At least this is what other students have told us, who did this same trip last November.

South Africa has been in the news lately! There have been problems with the democratic voting in Zimbabwe, which is located just to the north of South Africa. President Mugabe in Zimbabwe has been accused of "fixing" the votes, so that it looks like he won. His political opposition is calling for a re-count, but Mugabe says "no way!" Mugabe's been in power now for over a decade, and he's seen Zimbabwe change from one of the most advanced countries in Africa to one of the worst, with almost a quarter of the population leaving the country due to out-of-control inflation. Local money is now almost worthless in Zimbabwe.....you are better off if you have cows or chickens, because at least farm animals don't change their value. Mugabe also kicked all the white farmers out of the country, which lead to the collapse of Zimbabwe, because the black farmers who took their place had no idea how to farm. Anyways......long story short, the South African President is now putting pressure on Zimbabwe (along with other countries in the region) to force an election recount. The U.S. has accused South Africa of not putting enough pressure on Zimbabwe. It's all very political.

Here's a link to the BBC front-page article about it.

Another news flash: there have been protests this week in Johannesburg due to rising food costs. This problem isn't just in South Africa, but it's happening world-wide. Reasons for this include the growing appetite of China's middle-class for meat and wheat.

So far, South Africa is still stable enough for us to go, although we'll be closely watching the situation. If it gets to be too much, we might have to cut our research short.

Adventures in Antwerp

2008-04-06T01:13:00.007+02:00

Today, Jeroen and I took a day-trip to Antwerp, Belgium. The round-trip train fare from Amsterdam Centraal Station only cost about 30 euro, so we thought......why not?? We left Haarlem around 6am in the morning, and arrived in Antwerp sometime around 8:30 or 9ish. Above is the Antwerp Centraal Station, which is much bigger than Amsterdam. It seemed that the train station itself was a shopping centre, as you can see some of the shops to the right and left of the photo.

Here you can see one of the high-speed trains that we took. They are currently building/finishing a high-speed line from Amsterdam to Paris, which will only take about 3 hours of travel time between the cities.

Classy McDonalds!! We stopped for a quick breakfast when we arrived, and this is the photo I shot from our booth. The real name of Antwerp is Antwerpen, and Dutch is mostly spoken there. It is slightly different than the Dutch spoken in the Netherlands, although Jeroen said that he could understand what the people were saying.

Here's the homepage for Tourism Antwerp: http://www.antwerpen.be/eCache/BEN/52.html

Poor Jeroen standing in the rain. In the morning it was pretty wet, which is typical weather here, just like in the Netherlands. He later bought a "paraplu" (umbrella).

In this photo, it looks a little like there's a lake in front of these buildings. Actually, just wet cobblestones.

Behind me in this photo, there was a business offering 3-hour guided tours of Antwerp's sewer network below the city. Sadly we couldn't go, because there was too much water underground from the rain.

Here's a good example of the strange architectural contrasts in Antwerp. It's common to see heritage buildings dating from the 15th century built right next to modern buildings like this one.

While walking around the city, Jeroen and I came across a free boat-museum, highlighting Antwerp's maritime history.

Of course we had to stop for lunch............for FLEMISH FRIES & CROQUETS!! The fries come in huge cones, and you can choose any sauces you want to go with them. Ketchup is not so common, but my favorite is tartar sauce and mayonnaise. Croquets are very Dutch.....although I've seen them sold in McDonalds as mc-croquets. Weird. It's basically a fried mixture of meat and cheese, sometimes with vegetables and potatoes (I think) inside. Sometimes it's just a mystery. Best not to ask.

The view from outside the cafe that we stopped for lunch. Notice the building across the street selling more "paraplu's". You can't go without one in Antwerp, in the Spring.

Here's the sun!

Here I am standing in front of a garden at the Rubenshuis Museum. (http://museum.antwerpen.be/rubenshuis/index_eng.html) We paid 4 euro each, and entered the museum which is filled with paintings from famous Dutch artists, mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries. Peter Paul Rubens was a famous painter, and used to live in this huge mansion. Today it has been converted into a museum and garden.

Rubens was regularly commissioned to paint portraits for important people. I found it really interesting that there were many paintings of the Spanish nobility here. It turns out that the Spanish empire used to extend through Belgium and the Netherlands. I had no idea!

The photo above is one of the fanciest shopping centres I have ever seen. Another example of how old style is mixed with the ultra-modern in Antwerp.

This is a group that was performing in the main chamber of the shopping centre.

Our trip to Antwerp was a success, although I would have liked to spend more time checking out all the museums, cafes, and boutiques.

Now it's time to focus on studying.....I have an exam on Monday!

Things You'll See When Wandering Around Haarlem in Springtime

2008-04-01T02:10:00.003+02:00

A Dutch cafe. NOT a coffeehouse. Coffeehouse = marijuana

Typical Dutch yard.

A water-tower that looks like a castle.

A Jewish cemetery. The gate was locked, so I couldn't actually go in.

A church steeple. One of about five thousand. Maybe less.

The first daffodils of Spring.

Hungry ducks.

A peacock??? Yes, it was strutting around the entrance to someone's house, it wasn't tied up or anything. Do you think they knew it was there?

Field Research In Marken

2008-03-24T18:13:00.004+01:00

These are all pictures of Marken, where we did our tourism questionnaires in the Netherlands.
Marken actually used to be an island, until a causeway was built connecting it to the mainland.

***

It's snowing in Haarlem again! Looking out the window, it's been going on and off all day. A few days ago we had a thunderstorm at 4am in the morning, which woke everybody up. It looks like we've been getting some ugly weather out from the North Sea...

So last week! The face-to-face questionnaires in Marken were a success, although to be honest, it was a bit of a challenge for me. We decided as a group that to get the best results from the locals in Marken, the questionnaires should be in Dutch. Right. So this meant that our group of 6 split up into pairs of 2, with every pair having at least one native Dutch speaker. We went to tourism businesses in Marken, as well as asking people in the street. Since it was a wet and windy day both days we were there, we decided that the best way to get as many responses as possible was to go door to door.

So I tagged along with my partner, and she introduced us and our project every time, and asked the locals if they would like to participate in our research. I felt like I was there for moral support more than anything, as I couldn't really help administer the questionnaires haha. But...I've picked up some more handy phrases, which I repeated almost the whole time we were in Marken: "Goedemiddag, ik kom uit Canada, ik spreek engels..." (good afternoon, I'm from Canada, I speak English...)

After our field research in Marken, we decided that it would be useful to create online questionaires to send to the tourism businesses that we weren't able to contact. For those people at Malaspina: surveymonkey saved the day! I ended up transcribing our Dutch questionnaires into surveymonkey, and later sent it off to the tourism businesses. If you'd like a look at this survey, here's the link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=rTC_2bu1aOZ1ssFIQLWTShNQ_3d_3d

Please don't actually fill in this survey though, because it will skew our results :)

A friend took pictures of Marken herself while we were there, if I can get the pictures then I'll post them here.

Research Proposals!

2008-03-15T18:12:00.006+01:00

The last two weeks have been mostly busy with school work and group projects. We have been working on two research proposals, one for the region of Marken in the Netherlands and the other for the city of Genadendal in South Africa.

Marken is located in the province of Noord-Holland, the same as Amsterdam. It takes maybe one hour by bus to travel to Marken from Amsterdam. Marken used to be an island, until a causeway was built to connect it to the mainland. It's a major tourist attraction, with lots of tourists coming in the summer months to see the unique wooden houses in Marken. Here's a link with some pictures of the area: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Europe/Netherlands/South/
Noord-Holland/Marken/

So basically, we made a research proposal in our group, to measure the impact of tourism in Marken on locals. We want to see what kind of effects the tourists have on locals, and we made two separate questionnaires. One is for those people directly involved in the tourism industry, so we'll go to hotels, and restaurants, and attractions. The other survey is for people not directly involved in the tourism industry. We'll find these people once we're in Marken, and this second survey is only in Dutch. This Monday and Tuesday, our project group will be in Marken giving face-to-face surveys, so the results are in quickly. On Wednesday we'll compare the results of the two groups, and even try to compare them statistically with SPSS! Let's hope I still have my notes from Statistics class...

Genadendal (pronounced: HHHay-NA-den-doll) is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, built on the site of the oldest mission station in the country (so says Wikipedia). This is really interesting, because this past November, the first group of students from InHolland traveled to South Africa and went to Genadendal and other communities. These students carried out initial research, which we will be following up on when we go in April. The research proposal that I've been working on with my project group is looking at the extent to which tourism development plans have been successfully implemented in Genadendal. One of the problems is that often there are lots of great tourism ideas, but these ideas are never fully carried out. Our research wants to find the reasons why.

One of the girls that went to South Africa in November gave us a presentation in class. Here is a youtube clip of when their bus got stuck in the mud in Swaziland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45ByqB56sOE

So I'm getting excited about Africa! I will be traveling with a group of about 7-8 other students, and we will be flying from Amsterdam Schiphol airport on the 19 of April. We'll be in Swaziland and South Africa for 27 days altogether, which is when we will be holding interviews and conducting our research. We will be staying in a variety of places, including homestays, hotels, and hostels. Some of our stops include Soweto, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Capetown, and other smaller communities.

I will be getting my vaccinations next week for Hepatitis A and DPT, as well as picking up malaria pills. Most of South Africa is not at a high risk for malaria, but we will be entering a park in the North in Swaziland that most travel agencies recommend bringing pills for.

I recently received confirmation from the South African embassy in Den Haag that if I'm traveling on a Canadian passport, then I don't need any Visas or residence permits for South Africa, if I'm staying less than 3 months. I still have to check the details for Swaziland, though.

Exciting!

Vacation Week

2008-03-02T22:52:00.009+01:00

This week was vacation week, kind of like Spring Break. No class! So, I went to Amsterdam a few times with friends to keep busy. The picture above is 'the Dam', or Amsterdam Square. Did you know...? New York city in the United States used to be called New Amsterdam, because the original colonisers there were Dutch. This is also why there's a Harlem in New York. The name of the city was later changed to New York because of the English who came after, but for some reason they didn't change the name of Harlem. The Dutch here keep reminding me about how they first owned New York...

It wouldn't be a trip to Amsterdam without the Red Light District, Erotic Museum, and Sex Museum. Although prostitution here is legal, the Dutch government is actually trying to close down a lot of the businesses that have the women in the windows. It's an interesting case study on how the Dutch government is trying to shift it's tourism image away from the "red-light city". It's hard to say if they'll be successful.

Shopping in Rotterdam. I took a day-trip with friends to Rotterdam and Den Haag, which is maybe a 30-40 minute train ride to the south. Rotterdam was almost completely destroyed in one of the World Wars, and as a result is a very modern city today. There are almost no older buildings in Rotterdam. It reminded me a lot of Vancouver, actually. The picture above is an underground shopping centre.

Stroopwafels!!! (pronounced: strope VAW-fulls) This is a Dutch delicacy....two really thin crepes stuck together with caramel in the middle.....mmm. You can buy them fresh at vendors like this, and usually during market days.

A group shot of us overlooking the waterway in Rotterdam. I'm not sure if this is true, but Dutch people have been telling me that Rotterdam actually has the biggest port in all of Europe...true or not, it's still impressive. This is another similarity with Vancouver.

After Rotterdam, we hopped back on the train to Den Haag (the Hague). This is the political capital of the Netherlands, and also the headquarters of the International Criminal Court. The building above is one of the government buildings.

The guy on the horse is the first king of the Netherlands. Today, there is a Dutch monarchy similar to the British one. It's mostly just a ceremonial position.

***
And now....for some Dutch lessons! Actually, I took the train this morning from Amsterdam and I was very proud of myself. I had my first conversation all in Dutch!

Me: "ummm hoi, alles goed?"
-->pronounced: hoi, ALL-is hhhhoot?
-->translation: hello, how are you?

Train station attendant: "Ja alles prima, en met jou?"
-->pronounced: yaw, ALL-is prima, en met yow?
-->translation: I'm great, and you?

Me: "prima, dank. Ummm spoor voor Overveen?
-->pronounced: prima, dahnk. spore fore O-fur-FANE?
-->translation: Good, thanks. Platform for Overveen?

T.S.A: "ja, spoor twee-A."
-->pronounced: yaw, spore TVAY-ah.
-->translation: yes, platform 2-A.

Me: "ok, dank je wel"
-->pronounced: ok, dahnk yeh vel.
-->translation: ok, thanks a lot.

T.S.A. "als je blieft"
-->pronounced: ALL-syeh-bleeft.
-->translation: you're welcome.

Wow, I'm almost fluent now.

How International Students Can Make Money in the Netherlands

2008-02-24T09:43:00.003+01:00

So I've been looking for a job lately, especially since I've seen my bank account plummet after converting it to Euros. One Euro equals about $1.50 Canadian....yikes. Since international students can't legally work here without a work permit (which costs about 400 Euro, no thanks) I've come up with a list of other ways to make money:

1) Paint a friend's apartment. Recently my friend Jeroen in Haarlem introduced me to some other friends he has, who live in Amsterdam. For two days I painted this other guy's apartment, and ended up earning €130. Niiice.

2) Hand out advertising pamphlets for clubs in Amsterdam. I haven't done this, but an American student at InHolland says she does this every weekend. You don't have to say anything, just wander around the city and pass them out. I'm not sure how much she's getting paid for this, but hey, it's something.

3) Register at an uitzendburo (pronounced: OUT-sent bureau). These businesses help anyone find a job, whether you have a work permit or not. The only trouble is, once they find you a job, they ask for a large percentage of your pay.

4) Help foreign students correct their English homework. Hehehe I feel kind of guilty about this one, but I think it's genius. The thing is, I realized that I am one of very few students here who has English as a first language. There are only two other Americans that I've met at InHolland, and just a few students from the UK. The idea is, I charge €2 per page for grammar corrections. Friends get the first assignment for free.

***

About the language, I think it's interesting to see how students clump together in social settings (like at the pubs, or apartment parties), based on a shared language. Since there's not many native-English speakers, I've been 'adopted' by the students from France, since my French is passable. It turns out that the Dutch are not so friendly with the French, and we've gotten more than a few dirty looks while speaking French in the supermarkets. I've also been adopted to a lesser degree by the Spanish students :)

But what about Dutch? I've found that if I pay really close attention when my Dutch friends are speaking, I can understand maybe 15-20% of what they're saying. Even more, if I can see it written. We've come to the conclusion that Dutch is a jumbled mess of French, English, and German. So at least the majority of us international students can at least understand SOMETHING.

Once you understand how to pronounce the Dutch words, it surprisingly sounds a lot like English. My biggest learning curve in Dutch has come from buying food. I have 3 examples:

1) So I get home from Albert Heijn (the Dutch equivalent of IGA, or Safeway) with what I thought were two cartons of fruit juice. I mean they had pictures of oranges and lemons on them, so clearly it's juice, right? I open the cartons, and pour a glass...but this is no juice. What?? Looking closer, I read 'Ijs Thee'....pronounced: EYES tay.....could this be...iced tea?

2) I was thinking tea would be nice to bring to class in the mornings. Looking at the supermarket, I find some tea with pictures of apple and cinnamon. That looks nice, I think to myself, so I buy it. The next day in class, I have my tea in-hand but, for some reason I can't keep my eyes open. Why am I so tired?? The answer came as I was staring at the teabag in my thermos. Avondmelange....pronounced: A-font mel-AN-hhhay....hmm, well 'melange' means 'mix' in French....and oh 'avond' means 'evening', I remember this from our survival dutch course (goedenavond = good evening).....could this be like sleepy-time evening tea? The Dutch students in class said yes, that's exactly what it was. So this week I was sedated in class.

3) Latest example. I'm getting ready for a dinner party at the apartments, and once again Albert Heijn to the rescue. I'm grabbing munchies and other food, and hey some beer would be nice to bring as well! I found the cheapest one on the shelves, maybe €3.50 or something like that for a 6-pack. What a deal. So later at the dinner party as I'm enjoying the meal, I decide to drink my beer I brought along. Strange...two and half bottles later and I'm not feeling any effects. Looking closer on the label of the bottle, I read : 0.1%, alcoholvrij....pronounced: alcohol fry....DID I JUST BUY A 6-PACK OF ALCOHOL-FREE BEER??? My friends shared their wine with me.

Market Day in Haarlem

2008-02-16T14:08:00.005+01:00

Today was market day in Haarlem, so I went to check it out, to see if I could find a broom for my apartment. The outdoor market had just about everything you could think of to eat, like fresh bread, dutch pastries, fruit, cheese, and meat pies. You can buy flowers, jewelry, kitchen utensils, paintings, shampoo, watches...the list goes on.

Sadly, I did not find my broom. My apartment really needs a good clean...

Here is the outside of the student apartments. If you look to the left, you'll see some familiar flags in the window.

This is inside my room. I'm glad they included mini fridges in all the rooms. For a kitchen, I share with about 6 other people or so in our common room. It has a full kitchen with a TV and sofas. There's been more than a few parties there already.

This week of classes seemed to go by quite fast. I'm finding the structure of teaching here really different than at Malaspina. From my perspective, the teaching method itself seems a bit unorganized, but then the professors expect our group work to be extremely organized. For example, we had to create an 'action plan' in our group, to outline all of our projects and group responsibilities for the first period. Some of our projects include creating a research proposal for a community in the Netherlands, as well as another proposal for a community in South Africa. We'll also be participating in a festival of our choice, and we have to provide some sort of information to people at this festival about community-based tourism. We can be as creative as we like about how we do this.

In our group, I'm the secretary so I'm always in charge of keeping minutes of our meetings. Once I've formatted the minutes, then they are posted on an online program called Blackboard, which is the same idea as Moodle at Malaspina. It's where students submit their work, and also were the professors post any updates or readings.

So another week down, I wonder what next week will bring.

(Happy valentines day, by the way. I'm still recovering from the valentine's pub crawl we had last night, which was organized by the school)

First Week of Classes

2008-02-09T22:57:00.002+01:00

This is the entrance to InHolland University in Haarlem. It is actually known as a Hogeschool, which literally means highschool, but it's actually a sort of University with very practical, applied programs.

This is the main reception desk, when you first walk into the school. It reminds me of a giant peach. The school itself is actually pretty big, with about 4 or 5 levels, and lots of different sections. All the sections are given a letter of the alphabet, and then the rooms are numbered. It was pretty confusing the first day, finding where my lectures were.

We've already had our first week of classes. It turns out that I mostly only have lectures on Mondays and Tuesdays...the rest of the week is set aside for group projects. It seems like this program has a large focus on group-work.

The semester here is broken into 2 periods. The first period is to learn the tourism theory, and the second period is for the fieldwork in South Africa. This period, I have four classes with different lecturers. I have: Creative Promotions, Intercultural Communication, Research Design, and Tourism & Development Issues. I think the amount of schoolwork will be about the same as at Malaspina, but it's just structured differently.

This is one of the main streets in Haarlem...there's bikes EVERYWHERE. I'm still working on not getting hit. I think tomorrow I'm going to cave, and buy myself a bike at one of the local dealers. Although now that I think about it, I think everything closes on Sundays...

This cafe is right next to the Grote Markt (pronounced: HHHROE-tay market) which is a large square in the centre of Haarlem. Every Saturday and Monday vendors set up for market, in the square.

This is Sint Bavokerk (saint bavo's church) right next to the main square. It's the largest church in Haarlem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sint-Bavokerk

Yesterday, Jeroen took me to Zandvoort aan Zee (pronounced: ZAND-vort ahn ZAY) which literally means sand fort/castle by the sea. It's a city maybe 5-10 minutes west of Haarlem, which touches the ocean and includes the dunes. The dunes are large rolling hills near the ocean, which is the only bumpy part in the whole country. I think the reason people ride bikes here so much is because there's no such thing as an incline.

Right now, bars and pubs are being constructed on the beaches of Zandvoort. They are built every year directly on the sand, and this is a very popular party spot in the summer for tourists. Jeroen told me that Zandvoort is over-run by Germans in the summer haha.

These are more pictures that other people have taken of Zandvoort: http://photo.shoq.com/tag/zandvoort

This last picture was taken from our shared kitchen balcony last night. I'm not sure which church steeples those are off to the right.

Next week I'll post some pictures of my apartment to show everyone. Just think: Ikea.

Arriving in the Netherlands

2008-02-02T10:18:00.000+01:00

(the pictures above are from our latest trip to Amsterdam, yesterday)

Instead of sending out mass emails, this blog will document my exchange program in Holland and South Africa. I’ll be updating it once a week. For those of you who don’t know, I am currently enrolled for one semester at InHolland University in the Netherlands in the Tourism and Recreation Program. My concentration is in Community-Based Tourism.

So one week has passed since I first arrived! I’m still shaking off the jet-lag time difference of 9 hours. I flew into the Amsterdam-Schiphol airport on Sunday, January 27, and luckily I met up with a friend who I knew from working at the resort in Kananaskis last summer. By chance, it turns out that Jeroen (pronounced yer-OOn) happens to live in Haarlem, which is the same city as the InHolland campus. Jeroen drove me to a Hostelling International location in Haarlem, where I got to use my HI discount card. I stayed at the hostel for 4 days this past week, before I could move into student housing.

My first night in the hostel, I ordered a pizza. I thought this was pretty funny...

From Monday to Friday this past week, there were orientation activities planned for all of the international students. So far, I’ve met students from Finland, Sweden, France, America, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Brazil. Although there’s no other Canadians, I don’t mind…it’s kind of fun to be a novelty. The first day of orientation, I met 3 Finnish girls at the same hostel I was staying, and tagged along with them, since they’d taken the bus system once before. Public transit is amazing here, although some parts of the city are very pedestrian-unfriendly. I think soon I will have to invest in a bike, as I got more than a few dirty looks from cyclists this week, because I kept walking in their ‘bike-lanes’.

Orientation included a general introduction and tour of the school, a walking tour of Haarlem, a crash-course in ‘survival Dutch’, an overview of Dutch culture and social life, and a full-day excursion on Friday to Amsterdam. A busy week!

At the top of this post are pictures I snapped on our trip to Amsterdam. We went for the day, and first stopped at the Rijksmuseum (http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/index.jsp) which was very interesting. After that, we went to a reconstructed boat that was moored in the Amsterdam harbour, and the boat was a smaller-scale replica of the ships used in the Dutch East India Trading Co. (this is the same company that's mentioned in Pirates of the Caribbean). Finally, we took a boat tour of the canal.

It was a good trip, and now everyone is getting ready for classes, which start on Monday. I'll keep you posted!

2008-01-25T09:53:00.000+01:00

I'm just setting up this blog now. More to come soon.