Sylvia's Journal

I landed in Holland after a seemingly endless descent through thick cloud cover. It made me think about the early aviators who didn’t have instruments and had to find ‘holes’ in the clouds, sometimes discovering that the hole was only a few feet above the ground. Some of these descents didn’t end well.

Below the clouds everything looked very wet. Holland is a land of water, existing because of and in spite of the water. I once translated a famous Dutch poem about Holland. It is all about water too, and low skies. The poem makes me a little homesick. But I am no longer used to low hanging skies and water. I generally prefer Massachusetts.

The KLM lounge is a pleasant place to hang out between flights. I can eat stuff I miss in the US, such as ‘poffertjes’ (tiny one inch pancakes), mini ‘stroopwafels’ (thin flat waffle cookies stuck together with molasses), ‘speculaasjes’ (spice cookies), ‘krentebollen’ (raisin rolls) that are best with a slice of old Dutch cheese in the middle and cream puffs, filled with real whipped cream – I had a few too many of those. And now there is even ‘muntdrop’ – a large jar filled with my favorite kind of licorice. It is no wonder that I gain on average 5 pounds during a trip. I had just lost the five pounds from my previous trip and so I can start all over again. After posting this two hostesses came around with a platter with (raw) herring, also on my top Dutch foods list; and there was more, small tubes filled with ‘osseworst’ and ‘filet americain,’ two raw meat spreads, like steak tartare, that I miss much in the US.

You can also take a shower which is a nice way to pass the time while washing off the previous flight and get ready for the next 6 hours in a small cramped space.

And now it is time to turn my attention to the Pakistan work. We will be working with an organization that looks very together. I am not sure it needs any help related to organizational functions, my department. My colleague from Johns Hopkins will focus on social and behavior change communication approaches, products, strategies and techniques. That’s where the real work might be.