Following up, MH17

As I suggested might happen, the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, has declared a day of public mourning for this afternoon.  This will coincide with the return of the recovered remains to the Netherlands tomorrow afternoon in Eindhoven.

The Times posted a second commentary, following on from the first, reflecting on Dutch sobriety in the face of collective tragedies.  Again, I’m not sure that they get it right, or that they view it from a local Dutch social or cultural perspective.  There are some good comments observing how the Dutch are avoiding the politicization of grief, individual and collective expressions of sadness, and how best to show support for the families who have suffered losses.

We all have to do what is best  for ourselves, nobody else will, a friend reminded me yesterday.  And in the realm of individually setting goals, choosing means, making choices for which one is responsible and accountable, that’s true.

But when those choices have consequences for others,then others have a stake in the decision.  And when individual choices, however well or sincerely motivated, cause undeserved loss and pain, then the community has an obligation to speak out.

When an individual is silent, a group fails to speak out, that decision is a choice, and the choice carries an implied message off support and approval.  I am glad that, once what needed to be done was done, and once patience let the facts become clear, that the community did come together to bear witness against atrocity.

Reflecting on MH17

Why is nothing happening? asked Casper van Neirop, quoted in a New York Times column reporting on how the Dutch were reacting to the downing of passenger flight MH17 over the Ukraine.  When will the government announce an official national day of mourning, asked Willem Vissers; Our leaders come across as cold and insecure, muses an NRC columnist.  The overall thrust of the article was that the Dutch government, if not the Dutch people, were taking an all-too hands-off and detached view of the event, which killed nearly 200 Dutch nationals.

The American reaction would have been much more immediate and much stronger, I admitted to friends.  We would want to do something, fix something, see justice served, hold someone responsible: express and act, strongly.

Soft Power, relying on cultural example and economic influence to persuade others in international relations, was never our way.  Hard Power, political and military approaches, get results.

I think that the Times misses the depth of Dutch feelings, though, and in particular the way that the Dutch (in my experience) work things through.

There’s no question in my mind that the Dutch are deeply angry and sad about what has happened.  It is the first and only topic of conversation.  But there is a determined prioritization to their  concern, first for the victims and in getting their remains back to their families.  Most approve of the government’s public and private efforts to reach the site and to repatriate the victims, recognizing that this cannot be done in an atmosphere of anger.

There is also a patience to wait for the facts to sort themselves out. The Dutch tend to save their emotions until the full scale of the problem is clear, notes a commentator.  The who fid it and how, why it happened and motives behind it, are animatedly discussed.  As the news and opinion is gradually coalescing around a narrative and an identity, then towards measures that need to be taken to deal with the criminals and to prevent another tragedy.

Finally, there is the process of building consensus before acting.  When surprised by events, the Dutch talk things through and argue about meaning and response until they come to a shared agreement.  I remember how the ‘Polder Model’ governed our unexpected plant closure: there were daily meetings and discussion circles until everyone figured out how they all felt about it and what they would do next.  Then the conversations and meetings stopped and everyone started acting in concert with one another.  I expect that it will be much the same this time.

It’s one of those instructive cross-cultural moments when the differences in how societies process tragedies are really apparent.  The failure of the Times was not to document how the process was unfolding, locally and quietly, but to judge the differences though their own cultural bias.

Time for TEFAF

“The fair has a very wide audience with very wide pockets.”  Jamie Ede, the FT

Meetings finished, I detoured past the MECC to watch the art collectors arriving.  Orange and white cones separated the limousines from the commuters on the Ring Road, diverted them down a clear corridor free of traffic.  Red-jacketed valets pulled open doors and touched white-gloved hands to their top hats and smiled broadly.  Well dressed couples, mismatched ages, emerged, squinted into the sunlight, stepped onto the carpets.

I edged closer for a picture and a better look, dodging hurtling towncars.  No tourists, shouted one parked driver, waving me off with his hand over his head.   I smiled and took the picture.

The 0.1% have arrived for The European Fine Art Fair.

I actually enjoy the annual show and the bustle of events around it, red flags deployed around town.  TEFAF showcases the best in paintings, sculptures, collectables, antiquities, and drawings from around the world.  Ordinarily, these works are out of sight in private collections, but for two weeks they become visible as they exchange among galleries and patrons.  I like the energy of the whole ecosystem , detailed in Sarah Thornton’s book 7 Days in the Art World, which encourages the production of high-quality creative works and rewards the best artists.

In contrast, two commercial arts outlets are in trouble elsewhere in town.

The Dominicanen Bookshop, housed in a landmark church nave in the center of town, is closing because its corporate parent, Polare, has filed for bankruptcy.  “Dominicanen gaat door; jij kunt helpen!” (Dominicanen goes on; you can help! with a purchase, a donation, a visit. The owner of Paradigit, a computer retailer, has rescued the Eindhoven store, and there are hopes for a similar rescue in Maastricht.

“As the situation became more precarious, we explore continuing as an independent bookstore…your heartwarming support helped us a lot and therefore we dare to ask you to help us make a go around,” pleads the store manager. 

Across the river, the local movie house, the Pathe Maastricht, has similarly announced its plans to close.  There are hopes that it will be re-opened by the Belgian Euroscoop cinema chain.

Both announcements have spawned Facebook groups hoping to save the institutions with thousands of Likes.

Two sleek, gleaming towncars parked in front of my apartment building.  Bert at le Cle tells me that a directeur from The House of Dior has arrived for dinner at the restaurant downstairs.  In Markt Square, the city hall glows with lights and music from the formal reception underway inside. 

Do private collectors motivate and protect works that would otherwise never reach public exhibition?  Can public arts venues survive without private patronage?

This balance and dynamic are on display across Maastricht this evening.  It’s a funny world, limousines and Facebook pages, the ways the money flows and the arts subsequently evolve.

Curating expat thoughts

I’m still feeling rough despite the time off: sleepless, alternately discouraged or worried.  Rather than fret in print, though, I’ll share a few links that absorbed my 4:30 am reading.

The dark side of expat life.  ELink

The NYT offers a perceptive blog post that likely resonates with every expat.  It starts by noting that “home” might be where your apartment, your work or your belongings are.  It’s true that I’ve become less rooted to a sense of where I am,  and more to who I am.

That is a subject for a whole other blog post, but has to include my personal capabilities and ambitions, the balance struck among life’s activities and events, and my important relationships with a tight circle of very close people.

But such transience has a dark side: getting stuck in limbo, neither here nor there.  True: I’ve felt it.  A loosening of family connections, never meeting my son’s (ex-)wife, friendships maintained through Facebook and Skype instead of dinners and drinks.  That nagging worry about becoming that expat with the long white hair at the end of the bar.

Therein lies the expat’s problem: there’s nothing back home for me now. Home is not “back home.”  My life is here.

It’s both an exciting and hard reality that every expat faces.  Where is “home”; how do you define it?  How do you maintain important and core relationships?  How much a part of “home” can you become if you aren’t native?  How much a part of “home” can you be if you’re never there?

And, perhaps most of all, how long is too long?

UK Wealth Managers turn Americans away.  ELink

It seems that measures to address excesses of the financial collapse have now swept up expats as well.  The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act requires banks to disclose the identity and activity of every American with more than $50K in their account.  While the point is to prevent tax evasion, in reality it blocks banking services.

I’d found that no Dutch or UK bank or brokerage would want to take an investment account from an American citizen.  Now it seems to be extending towards everyday banking as well?

Saskia Holleman, a 25-year-old actress who appeared nude in a famous Dutch political campaign poster in 1971 has died.  The PSP party saw it’s representation halved from 4 seats to 2, regardless, but the poster remains a legend.

Making friends (Cameron edition) ELink

The UK has proposed a Security Bond, ensuring that everyone who comes into the country will eventually depart.  Visitors from nine foreign countries, including India, will need to deposit £3000 on entry.

India in  particular, takes this as a personal slap and is planning reciprocity for UK visitors. 

How about a “Collective Pension Plan”?  ELink

Once upon a time, companies banked funds for their employees retirement.   “Defined Benefit” plans have now been replaced by “Defined contribution” ones, where each worker bears the burden of funding and managing money for their retirement.

Enter a new Dutch idea: Collective Pensions.  Individual retirement accounts are bundled together to create large funds pool risks and share costs.

It’s had mixed success so far (admittedly during devastating market downturn),  with loss of individual control and diminished overall returns as the major drawbacks.  But they may provide an attractive Mutual-Fund chubbiness and professionalism that brings these schemes to US / UK workers soon.

Finally, it’s rumored that In de Zevende Hemel,  a local brothel around the corner from my apartment, is now offering 18% discounts through Groupon.   They have a Facebook page (with 2 Likes): can a Kickstarter campaign be far behind?

I’ve never visited (any) place like that, and they’ve always been good (quiet) neighbors.  Still, I suppose that a business has to brand and market, and that means the occasional discount to get people to try a sample?

Dutch news and ideas

I’ve been stuffing things into Pocket as I read in between work assignments and calls.  Things are hectic, but I want to take time to share a few links and ideas. 

I can’t decide whether the busy days or the short nights are wearing me down but I’m looking forward to having a weekend off.  

People say I’m sighing more than usual too: ‘probably becoming a bad habit when I make a mental shift of perspective on a topic rather than any specific critique on the world.

Can the Dutch have too many bicycles?  link.

This one came from the New York Times, highlighted by a photograph of a woman lost in a sea of parked bikes in the garage outside Amsterdam Centraal.

I don’t see bicycles as a big issue. I’ve learned to look both ways crossing bike paths and feel more pushed around by motor scooters.  Finding a slot on the racks and worrying about having one stolen are my biggest concerns.

Nederland moet vooral weer geld leren verdiene. NLink ELink

MP Jan Vos writes that the Dutch should return to doing  what they do best: Earning Money.  In particular, foster entrepreneurship and creative innovation to find sustainable energy solutions.  His argument is both historical and global and utterly oversimplified.

Historian Daniel Bell writes thoughtfully on the links between economic and political power, and better analyzes the tensions between business and government.  He goes further to suggest a solution: What if democratically elected representatives were chosen from economic rather than geographic blocks?  Imagine a  Tweede Kamer made up of elected representatives of business, labor, social and cultural groups.  Would that promote transparency, eliminate lobbying?

It’s a more intriguing idea than ‘green startups’.

Dutch are leading more sober lives.  NLink ELink

Nederlanders leiden steeds soberder leven,  but not in a good way.  More materialistic, less open, and more interested in violence according to a survey.   The authors attribute it to the effects of financial austerity; I hope that Dutch tolerance and optimism aren’t fleeing the country.

Bill Nye Aims to Change the World.  ELink

No, not that Bill Nye.  This is Bill Nye The Science Guy, an American engineer and TV-Science geek who turned up on the local late-night comedy show Almost Live in Seattle in the 80’s.  With the kids, we became fond of his knowledge and his shtick.

I hadn’t thought of him in years, but heard the other day that a conservative radio talk show host had excoriated him on the air for his support of climate change.  When contacted, Bill said that “When Rush Limbaugh says I'm not a scientist, I'm charmed”.  It was a classy comment, and made me go back and look up what he’s doing today.  ‘

Good to see feisty optimism lives on, 30 years later.

Onder A2, Maastricht

Today was the Dag van de Bouw in the Netherlands.  Construction sites are opened all across the country to let people see what the builders have been up to.  And, in Maastricht, there is no bigger project than the sinking of the A2.

The A2 is the main North/South highway through the Netherlands, connecting Maastricht with Amsterdam.  It cuts through the center of Maastricht, dividing the city as decisively as the Maas river.  It was dotted with traffic  lights, and was a notoriously slow passage, lined with ugly apartments and gritty sound barriers.

 

For years, there have been plans to move the highway underground, with a lid and a park over it, and ground was broken last year.  Today, the public was invited to see the progress.

 

First impressions are of dirt and water.  The holes are huge and filled with rubble from the broken-up apartment blocks.   The water table from the river lie above the two levels of the tunnels, so there’s a big effort involved in holding the walls and the river back.

 

Of course, anything that involves water attracts scrutiny.

 

The men prefer examining the equipment; the children pose on it.  My neighbor told the television crew that she came with her husband so that he could explain everything to her (hoping to get on the news by being outrageously non-PC…)

 

The tunnels are huge, gently curving spaces, dotted with exhibits by companies explaining their part in the project.

 

There are impressive walls of scaffolding and braces everywhere.

 

And the traffic jams have already begun…

 

Drugs, data, and gnocchi

Maastricht’s law enforcement authorities did swoop in on the re-opened drug shops, as promised, on Monday evening.  The café’s promised to sell to tourists from outside the Netherlands, marking Liberation Day on Sunday, and the police predictably arrested three foreigners on-premises.  They were quickly released, but the city council is threatening the drug boat, Mississippi, with a three-month closure.

Mississippi is one of three boats moored along the river near Kesselskade, and the only one that I ever toured. It’s kind of  dark and seedy inside, disagreeably hazy, but the people were nice enough.  The owner gave one of my visitors a tour of the shops (but no cannabis), explaining the supply chain and business model; it put a human face on the whole thing.

I’ve never been too bothered by the trade through the shops: apart from the occasional youth asking me if I know where to find the boats (and do I look like the sort who would know?), they don’t seem to degrade the neighborhood.  It looks like most of Limburg will move towards “discretionary enforcement” of the ordinances, but I’m sure that the debate is not over.

This week that I plan, no, I promise, to finish Big Jobs.  These are the perennial elephants squatting on my schedule, needing a day or two to complete and never rising through the smaller, quicker tasks that make the day feel accomplished.  Each has a constituency who is increasingly concerned about the delays, and that makes me feel guilty each evening when I relax for an hour instead of making an hour’s progress.

So, I’m determined to clear out the backlog.  Marking of 25 papers and presentations from my Cambridge Medical Device class assessment six weeks ago.  Compilation and analysis of 30 patient’s EMG data to support a presentation by one of my physicians in Japan at the end of this month.  Pulling in the background data from bank accounts and receipts to get the 2012 tax preparation rolling.  Completing 20 questions for a re-branding project for Stone Bridge Biomedical.

That which does not kill me….

I’ve been experimenting with recipes from Saveur magazine,  which has lots of intriguing ideas from around the world.  I’m focusing on the basics: a stuffed pork loin, a flaky pastry crust, gnocchi.

Especially gnocchi

Most come out well after a couple of tries: the prosciutto/pork loin was wonderfully moist and flavorful after minor variation to the stuffing, a foil cover, and less cooking time.   My fondant potatoes are great (this BBC Recipe is a particular winner).  But gnocchi is persistantly touch, despite trying wildly varying directions from Saveur, BBC, and NYT cooks.

It’s easy enough in principle:

Thoroughly cook potatoes (boil or bake). 

Mash (rice) the potatoes, then cool

Add a bit of (plain, whole-wheat, superfine, semolina) flour to hold them together (and maybe an egg (yolk)).  Knead gently, don’t overwork it.

Roll out in 1-inch thick ropes, cut into 1-inch (4-inch) thick slices, (press with a fork). 

Drop into boiling water (both); when they rise to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon.  Splash in cold water (fry in butter) to firm the surface.

Keep warm, and serve with a sauce and parmesan.

Mine no longer come out like tiny fondant potatoes, heavy flour dumplings, or rock-hard little potato crisps.  But I don’t (yet) have the pillowy-light, slightly-chewy consistency of Italian restaurants.  I think that my current batches are still too wet going into the water.

The problem is that there are so many variables, and it takes a couple of hours to try any one experiment.  I think the answer is to talk with an Italian friend and just spend some time in the kitchen with their grandmother.

I’ll report back when I find success.

Raad eens waar ik vandaag was?

I was up at six this morning to catch the early train north to Amsterdam.  It’s important to establish a hedge against negotiations falling through, so that meant a trip to see Hans the Advocaat. Fortunately the news was all good, and I headed back towards the station with some spring in my step (even if it wasn’t in the chill air).

Passing Dam Square, I paused to take a few pictures of the banners hanging from the old Post Office, the balcony where the royal coupe met the crowds, the lines snaking around (and around) the Square.

And, well, why not?

   

I’m no royalist, but these things only come around once every few decades, and the Nieuwe Kerk was open for just two days to view the decorations.  So I found the end of the queue – it actually moved along faster than I would have expected.  5 euros to enter (they have to have paid for the wedding with entry fees alone), and it was just like the news photos.

      

I do feel like *such* a tourist…

Credits: Stock news photos from NRC

More photos at my Flickr site.