Day 242: How the Dutch handle the water

Back in June I met a man through CouchSurfing. We got to talking about the Netherlands, and he asked me what I thought of when I thought of the country. So, I mentioned cheese, clogs, windmills, unilever, etc...
"No, no" he interrupted, "the best representation of the Netherlands is the way we handle the water."
He started talking about the Delta Works, Haringvliet and Maeslantkering. It sounded very interesting to me, and he offered to take me for a visit to one of these representations of the Netherlands at some point. So, this weekend we finally had our chance to go visit Maeslantkering, and I could see what could possibly make him so excited.
Maeslantkering is the last of the Delta Works, a series of projects launched after the great flood of 1953 in which almost 2000 Dutch people died. It was left to the last, because all the other water ways could be shut off by simpler dams, while the Nieuwe Waterweg is the approach to the Port of Rotterdam, where one ship every seven minutes passes through. To shut it off, or replace it with a series of locks would be very damaging to the Dutch economy. So, in the late 1980s the Dutch government asked for bids to create a wall that could be moved across the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg in the event of a storm surge. It also had to be built without restricting traffic on the river. The Maeslantkering was the winning bid.
It is really an impressive stucture. On each side of the river is a huge joint, about 10m in diameter. The joint is sunk into a huge pocket of concrete, so that it can resist large pressure put against it. The joint is much like a shoulder joint. It can move up and down, and side to side. Connected to the joints are large steel arms, each one the size of the Eiffel tower, and twice as heavy. The arms couldn't be made in one piece, but had to be brought in in pieces and welded together. Each weld took over 100 hours and 100 layers to finish. They are also each coated in paint in the amount that could fit in half of an olympic swimming pool. The arms were covered in white paint, so that in the sun the steel wouldn't expand as much. If they had used black paint the steel had the potential to expand the diamater of each tube by half a metre. With the white paint it is only around 9cm. On the end of each arm is a large curved wall. The curved wall is 22m tall and 210m long. At the end of each wall, next to the river is a locomotive, which is used to move the wall out into the river. Once the wall is moved out into the river, there is still space between the bottom, and the riverbed. This creates a really fast current which sweeps all the sediment out of the way, exposing the concrete blocks on the bottom of the river. The wall then sinks down.
The structure is completely computerized. The wall will only move on the say so of the computer, and that will only happen when the sea level rises more than 3m. Not at 2.99m, only at 3m. When it was built it was expected that, aside from a yearly test, the wall would only have to be closed once every 7 years, and in the future with rising sea levels, once every 5 years. Since it's completion in 1997, the wall has only been closed once because of rising sea levels. Unfortunately, when I asked, they wouldn't close it so that I could see what it looked like closed...

International Film Festival of Rotterdam

The last week and a half of January, I worked as a volunteer at the International Film Festival of Rotterdam(IFFR). I was a 'zaalwacht', in other words, I stood at the door, ripped tickets and handed out rating cards, and at the end of the movie I helped clean up the zaal(theatre). I worked at the Luxor which is usually used for theatre productions, musicals, that kind of thing. It was only the one theatre with room for 750 people. I had a really good time. I got to see a lot of movies, and got to work with interesting people.
I saw about 17 movies over 10 days. Some of them were quite good, and others, well, I would like the hour and a half of my life I spent watching the movie back.
Here's some of the best movies I saw:

Troubled Water (Norway) 5/5
This was probably the best movie I saw. It told the story of a young man, just released from prison. He had been sent there while still a teenager for murder of a young boy. Something he still claims was an accident. In prison he has become an excellent organ player. On the outside he finds a job at a church as the organ player. Soon, he is an important member of the church; falling in love with the priest, making friends with her son, having his own place to live again. But trouble starts to happen when the mother of the young boy who died comes across him one day...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0948544/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7I3hFBtOFQ

Maman est chez le coiffeur (Canada) 5/5
The 2nd best movie I saw was about a young girl and her family over the course of their summer vacation. It is the summer where she discovers that the lives of adults and those around her aren't as perfect as she thought. She helps her mother discover that her father is having an affair, which results in her mother leaving home. How will the rest of the summer go?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1153111/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRmpXuXWgtg
Also check out two of the songs from the movie, which are sung by one of the actors:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUGFcqGBPtg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NrT14CGWMY&feature=related

The Chaser (Korea) 4/5
This was a really cool Korean film. About an ex-cop who owns an escort service. One night he realises that his escorts, that he thought were running away, in fact all disappeared after visiting the same man. He sets out to find the escort he had just sent to this man. Unfortunately he doesn't know where he lives... There begins a night of chases through the street, fights which explode into a great climax the next day. A very good thriller.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190539/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkqczsLZd1I

Wrong Rosary (Turkey) 4/5
This is a movie about a young muezzezin who has just moved to Istabul to work in a mosque. He meets two people, one an older man who owns an antique book shop and a young catholic woman who is looking after the old nun who lives next door. He begins to fall in love with her. There's also a connection between the old man and the woman. Both men have to make confessions to her, will they do it?
I actually saw the world premiere of this movie. The director and all the actors were there.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1366981/

Bronson (UK) 4/5
This is a true story about the longest serving prisoner in the UK. Charlie Bronson has been behind bars for 34 years, 30 of them in solitary confinement. He has never killed or fatally wounded anyone. However, he's pubslished 9 books on topics ranging from poetry to personal fitness. It's a very interesting story!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1172570/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLvVXYwVj-o

La frontiere de l'aube (France) 4/5
This movie follows a young man through two relationships. The first one with an actress, things alternate back anf forth between them, he leaves her, she goes insane and kills herself. Then he's with a new girl, things are going good, she gets pregnant, they're going to get married, than his old girlfriend starts haunting him through his mirror. What will he do?
http://www.imdb.com/find?s=all&q=la+frontiere+de+l%27aube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZgsWh7QSxY

La memoire des anges (Canada) 3/5
This isn't your regular kind of movie. To make this movie, the director went to the National Film Board of Canada, and went looking through all their old films that somehow touched on the city of Montreal. Then he took all the old stock film, amd made it into a movie about the city. There's no real characters aside from the city itself.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286825/

Jerichow (Germany) 4/5
This movie is about three people. A German man just out of the army, and a couple a german woman married to a Turkish man. The Turkish man owns a chain of snack bars, and hires the german man to work for him. Then the German man starts having an affair with his wife...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1224153/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANPf4TmPB9E

Gomorra (Italy) 3/5
A movie with many different plot lines about life in Naples under the mafia. One tells the story of how the mafia is diggin holes all around Naples to dispose of dangerous chemicals. Another looks at two young boys who want to do things independently.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0929425/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk8KeeZcQYc

Delta (Hungary) 3/5
This movie tells the story of a young man who movies back to his home village on the Danube Delta. He decideds to build his own house out on the river, away from everybody else. his sister moves out with him to help him out. But, is their relationship getting too close? The townspeople certainly think so...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910860/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E422dgatB10

Everybody dies but me (Russia) 3/5
This Russian movie is about three teenage girls preparing for a disco at their school. Things start out good, with them promising to be friends forever, but as different pressures build up, as boys come between them, things start to break apart. A really depressing movie, but also quite realistic I think. The filmmakes were not afraid of showing real life.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1227189/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXjEb7JzbBg

Tokyo Sonata (Japan) 3/5
Tells the story of a man laid off from his job, but he decides to keep it from his family. He then meets people doing the same thing. Meanwhile, back home his family is starting to fall apart. It was a good movie, but way too long.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0938341/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSKDeTVDEIU

Kan door huid heen (Netherlands) 2/5
This movie is about a woman who is assaultd in her home by the pizza deliveryman. It alters her life dramatically. She ends up moving to Zeeland and trying to renovate her own home with the help of the neighbours. A really weird movie. Can't say I recommend it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1132593/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jomMVK2skw0

Tony Manero (Chile) 1/5
Weirdest movie ever. About a man living in Chile during the Pinochet regime. He has an obsession with the movie Saturday Night Fever. He takes it to some extremes...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1223975/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvCpNw609V8

Parque Via (Mexico) 0/5
Most boring movie ever. It's about a man who's been living in a mansion from 10 years, looking after it, while it waits to be sold. Then, one day it is sold. What will he do? He's now accustomed to living on his own, and has trouble being in large crowds. Apparetnly it's mostly a true story. And the man who it's based on, actually plays himself. it is extremely slow movie. Here he is mowing the lawn... now he's brushing his teeth... now he's preparing something to eat... now he's sleeping... and repeat. The only highlight of the movie was when his girlfriend visits him, and she asks him: 'Do you think my legs are beautiful?' He replies 'I don't care about legs... They're the first things I push out of the way.'
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1183942/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPz9EhipfWI

Trip to Germany

My trip to Germany was also very good. First I went to a small village called Brilon. This is where the family of a former roomate of mine lives. They kindly invited me to spend Christmas with them. The village is situated in a very nice area. Lots of forests and landscapes. Also, it lacked the light pollution that is so common in the Netherlands, so I was able to see the stars again. It was very interesting to celebrate Christmas with them. New traditions and new foods. The main day was actually Christmas Eve. We went to church. We came home and had a big supper. It was a fondue, something I had never done before, and was very delicious. Then, after we opened the presents. Supposedly the Christ Child comes in the evening and delivers the presents. The Christmas tree was lit up with real candles. I got some nice presents: chocolate and a very nice book. On Christmas day I again got to try new foods. This time we ate stag for supper. I've never eaten deer before, and I have to say it was very good. The next day we went for a walk around the village. All the buildings are quite similar: white with black roofs. The countryside was beautiful, still green despite winter. My next stop was Weimar. Weimar is town in Eastern Germany. I chose to visit it because I had heard good things about it, and it was on the way to Berlin. Weimar is famous for giving it's name to the short-lived Weimar Republic which ruled Germany from the end of the First World War until Hitler took over. Weimar is also where Goethe lived most of his life, and has several museums about him. The final stop on my trip was Berlin. On the way to Berlin, on the train, I was able to get a good view of East Germany. In a way, it was definitely different than West Germany. It seemed much more drab. My first introduction to Berlin was confusion. The main Station, Berlin Hbf, is very large, and I thought didn't have very good signage. But, luckily while I was looking for a ticket office to get my subway ticket, I met my first familiar face from the Netherlands. Thankfully she was able to point me to the right direction. My next experience reminded me that I should be very thankful to live in the Netherlands where so many people speak English. As I was trying to buy a ticket, I discovered that the ticket agent didn't speak English, and had no idea what I was trying to ask of her. Fortunately, she had an English speaking colleague.

I was in Berlin for a CouchSurfing event called Berlin Winter Camp. Five days of 450 cs'ers hanging out together in Berlin. We even had our own bar rented for the duration of the camp. I met lots of interesting people from all over Europe. I stayed in the flat of a guy from Hong Kong who has lived in Berlin for the past three years. Staying there also was a German guy from Stuttgart and three Romanians who had hitchhiked their way from Romania. The camp was kinda of a blur for me, I was having so much fun, not getting enough sleep, and was sick with a cold for most of it... but, I did lots of things. I saw quite a bite of Berlin. I visited the Stasi museum which is situated in the former headquarters of the Stasi. It was a very interesting tour, lots of old spy equipment, the office of the head of the stasi still in its original condition, an example of a stasi jail cell, and lots of pictures and memorabilia. I also visited the Pergamom museum. I was familiar with this museum already, as i had visited the ancient city of Pergamom when I was in Turkey a few years ago. There, I was told if I wanted to see most of the city I should in fact visit the Pergamom Museum in Berlin, as that's where German archaeologists had carted most of it off to. There is quite a bit, most importantly, the Pergamom alter which is very impressive. It also has some famous parts of other ancient cities. It has the market gate from Miletus and the Ishtar gate from Babylon. The museum is very big, and takes pretty much the whole day to see properly. Also, you can expect to wait outside in line for awhile. But, i definitely think it is worth the visit. A lot of the information is in english. The last major location I visited, was the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen, which is just north of the city. It is definitely worth a visit. But, it's quite depressing to see. There are also many sites to see in Berlin. I saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Bundestag, and the Bundesrat, the tower in Alexanderplatz, the holocaust memorial, Berlin wall, etc.... One really fun event we did was about 30-40 couchsurfers got Santa Claus outfits for 5 euros, and then we went for a walk through the city together. We created quite a stir!
Overall, I enjoyed my trip to Germany, especially the Christmas part. but, I was definitely glad to be back in the Netherlands, and hear and see a language that I could understand a bit again.