Dutch Citizenship

Well, as we say in Dutch, "Het is zover." Essentially means "It's a done deal." I'm Dutch. After living here for seven and a half years and navigating a sea of (relatively reasonable) bureaucracy for almost two years, I received a rather boring letter two weeks ago that Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of Orange has made me one of her subjects by royal decree. But don't think I'm anyone special... this is just how it works in Holland. I picked up my new National Identity Card (above) two hours ago from City Hall. Believe it or not, this is the closest I've gotten to any kind of "ritual" associated with my new nationality. The Dutch are decidedly businesslike 'when it comes to conferring Dutchness on foreigners. No pomp and circumstance. "Just be happy you made it through all the paperwork" seems to be the message. Not like the "swearing in" ceremonies you have in the U.S. Perhaps a bit overdramatic, but at least it's a special occasion.

But don't think the fun's over yet. Now comes the tough part. Right now, I'm still temporarily a U.S. citizen. But to get my Dutch citizenship, I had to promise I would give up my U.S. citizenship. The Dutch are not fond of dual nationality, and only allow it in a limited number of cases (most commonly if you marry and Dutch person or if your country doesn't allow you to give up your citizenship - like Morocco). I didn't qualify for any of the exception categories, so in the end, I signed the paper agreeing to let go of my American passport. 9/10ths of the letter I got conferring Dutch nationality was about the procedure I have to follow in order to prove that I've given up my U.S. citizenship. I have three months from the date of the letter to do so, and if I don't, I risk having my Dutch citizenship revoked. I've heard mixed stories about what people actually do in this circumstance. Many people simply fail to ever do so, and have never had any problems with it. But recent conflicts in the country with dual citizens of foreign origin are leading the authorities to crack down, so I'll probably have to march into the U.S. consulate and renounce my U.S. citizenship soon.

To many that may seem like a big deal. To me, it's more of a recognition of a reality. I live here, I love here, I work here. It's become my home. Though I'm deeply concerned about the future of my birth country and the horrible direction I believe it is currently taking, giving up my citizenship isn't really a political statement. I'm proud of where I come from, even if I think the current conservative trend in American politics is returning the country to McCarthyism. I can still visit the U.S. for months at a time without a visa, but I just can't live or work there without jumping through the same hoops that any other foreigner would have to. And the truth is that I can't imagine wanting to live in the U.S. again after having such a wonderful taste of what it's like to live so close to the rest of the world. I'm much more happy working in a company with people from 30 different countries. I'm much more happy being able to hop on a plane for 90 minutes and be in any one of a dozen different completely different countries and cultures where I've never been before. And yes, I'm much more happy knowing that when the time is right, I can marry the man I love, and this country will recognize and respect that relationship without prejudice to my sexual orientation. And I will get the same benefits for my tax payments that heterosexual married couples do.

So for those of you who might think, "How could you give up your American citizenship," I would say that it's because my life is much better here than it ever was in the U.S. I have more opportunity and more respect here than in the place I grew up. The only things I miss are my family and Denny's.

Hermanus, South Africa

On a business trip to Johannesburg, South Africa - one of my favorite places on earth - I took a little detour for the first time and flew down to the Western Cape for the weekend. I stayed at the Western Cape Resort & Spa, a member of the Sheraton/Luxury Collection chain and managed by the German company Arabella. It was in an idyllic nature reserve - the Bot River Lagoon area - and was about an hour east of Cape Town. It's about five years old, I'm told, and it is a vision of luxury. The architecture is neatly fit into the landscape, and the suites are large and generously appointed. I had a lounge, a walk-in closet, a bedroom, a huge bathroom with a bathtub next to the window overlooking the lagoon (with a TV!), and a huge balcony running the length of the room. I spent a whole day enjoying the spa and it's services (massage and facial!), and spent the next day running around the Hermanus area, seeing the Southern Right Wales, and seals, the tortoises, penguins and beautiful flora - including the national flower: the protea.


I was knackered after many long months of traveling, so this represented the "home stretch", as I now get to stay home for a while, which I'm overjoyed about! I can't wait to go back and spend more time in this beautiful area with its charming and courteous people and amazing landscapes. Tot siens!

Whooping Cough Update

Well, it's almost a month later, and guess what: still have it. Not as bad as it was before. I don't choke, but rapid changes in air temperature still trigger a lesser fit, and I usually have a few bouts in the morning, but it's only a few times a day, and the severity is much less, thank goodness. I had a cold last week, and the runny nose made it worse, because of the post-nasal drip. Not a good combination. I still cough so hard I invariably get teary eyes. People still think I'm dying and expect me to answer their concerned questions immediately following a fit, which is of course completely impossible, as it takes me about a minute to recover my speaking ability.

But it's nothing compared to what I had before. I would never wish this on anyone I know, love or even hate. So avoid it at all costs, get your kids immunized, and take a booster if/when it becomes available on the market!

Urumqi - Where East Meets Middle East

My company holds annual meetings of all its customers; globally, but with a special meeting for our customers in China. China can be a bit of a world onto itself, so their needs and concerns are significantly different than our other customers'. This year's meeting took place this week in Urumqi (oo-roo-moo-chee), in the extreme north-western Xinjiang province. This is my fourth city in China (after Beijing, Shanghai and Kunming) over the last three years, and by far the most unique one I've seen so far.

Instead of Chinese temples, the skyline is littered with the minarets of the Islamic mosques that fill the city. A city of contrasts (with endless rows of decaying post-revolutionary brick barracks next to ultra-modern new buildings and shopping centres), Urumqi has reminders everywhere of its role as a pivotal point in the "silk road". Unlike Beijing, where road signs are in Mandarin and English, here they're mostly in Mandarin and Arabic. 70% of the current population is of Han (eastern Chinese) origin. The 30% of the native population that remains (after massive troop migration by the Beijing government radically Han-ified the population) wears middle-eastern skull caps, is Muslim, speaks Arabic and continues to practice their traditional culture. So the area is a bizarre mix of slightly chilled-out Beijing culture and culture you would expect to find in any Kasbah in Marrakech, Cairo or Beirut. And you see both faces you would expect to see in Beijing as well as other faces you could easily come across in Iran, Marocco or Spain. The local music and dancing has a lot in common with other Arabic cultures as well (including women belly-dancing with snakes).

After completing our business, we took off in two tour buses into the mountains surrounding the city for an all-day trek through the desert. Once we left the city with its prolific sprinkler systems (a la Phoenix), it was clear that we were actually in the middle of an extraordinarily arid region. We then entered the Turfan Depression or Turpan Pendi, and that all changed. It is the lowest point in China-at its deepest it measures 154 m (505 ft) below sea level-and is the second-lowest place on Earth after the Dead Sea. It is part of an enclosed oasis, the main town of which is Turfan. The fertile land is farmed intensively; crops include cotton, silk, wheat, nuts, melons, and grapes-the region's wine is famous in China. The basin is irrigated both by natural springs and a series of ingenious man-made, underground tunnels that channel groundwater down from the mountains, and is filled with vineyards. Despite the mere 1 inch of rain they get per year, they are famous for their fruit production. The hills are filled with clay brick structures that are used only the dry grapes and turn them into raisins. The local markets are full of dozens of kinds of raisins, beautifully spread out across large tables (with free tasting!). I picked up 1 ½ kilo for about €4 (probably got robbed, but who cares). Our local customer presented us and our other customers with large boxes of grapes, apples and melons as a gift (which I unfortunately had to donate to hotel staff). To summarize, it's amazing that these people have successfully carved out a lifestyle for themselves under extreme conditions (besides the sparse rainfall, the temperature in the region varies between 5c and 40c from season to season). Yet another example of the triumph of the human spirit.

After tasting every kind of raisin in existence and stopping for a rest (sitting without shoes on raised carpeted platforms around a table), we then visited the historic 2000-year old ruins of the Uygur city Gaochang that included a 20-minute long bumpy donkey-cart ride to get there. This was one of the earliest meeting points for Islam, Christianity and Buddhism at one point and also combines elements of Indian and Persian cultures, as it was a stop on the Silk Route across Asia. It was a sprawling walled complex built of mud and straw bricks in the middle of the desert, and was quite impressive. The donkey jockey kept alternating his encouragement between the Chinese "Chu-a, Chua-a!" and the Ricky Martin lyrics "Go go go, aller aller aller!" from the 2002 World Cup theme song. Thank God there were a few shoe-shine boys working at the departure point so I could get the thick layer of fine dust off my black leather shoes. Price: 20 cents.

After a 12-hour day on the bus (where the narration was all in Chinese and the Sales V.P. and I sat in the back of the bus and slept most of the ride), we came back to town for a dinner show at the Urumqi World Bazaar. This appears to be a hugely popular phenomenon in every region of China, and allows Chinese tourists to feel like they "know" the minority culture of a region by virtue of having seen a singing and dancing characterization of it on stage over a regional meal. But it's a very "Hollywood" version of a much more complex reality. And of course downstairs there were the requisite shopping opportunities, where they essentially sell the same tourist crap available all over China. I did manage to find a few marble vases to add to my collection (bringing the total this trip to 10!).

So another beautiful and unique region added to my list of travel destinations. Now I've got to get back to finishing my Turfan grapes before heading back to Beijing this afternoon, and home on Sunday. By the way, there's a nasty travel irony here. I am half-way home from Beijing already, but I first have to fly 3 ½ hours to the east before I can fly back to Europe because there are no direct flights from here to anywhere outside China.

Portions taken from Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2004. © 1993-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

My Introduction to Poland

As often is the case with my job, I didn't find out I would be traveling to Poland until a few days ahead of time. Sometimes these trips are the most interesting; the ones where there is no chance to study or build up any expectations ahead of time. You just get plopped down in the middle of a country and there you are. I had never exactly dreamed of coming here before, but now that I'm here, I thought I would share some first impressions. Granted, the trip from Berlin to Zielona Gora (Green Mountain) and my 24 hours of exposure to Polish hotels and my business partners here don't exactly qualify me as an expert, but thought you might like to hear my thoughts anyway.

Living in Holland, one of the most densely populated countries in the world, the first thing that strikes you when driving through the western Polish countryside is large amount of open land. Forests with tall thin pines, and prairies with what looks like little other than grass. The kind of countryside where you'd want to build a log cabin and retire to! Passed one turkey farm (it appears to be a popular meat on the hotel menu as well), and lots of picturesque little villages that are in various states of disrepair, but look to be quite proud nevertheless.

The Polish language itself is sort of halfway between Russian and German, with lots of recognizable roots hidden among all the c's, z's and k''s. And quite unpronounceable for me. :-)

The road from Berlin to Zielona Gora is highway up to the German border, and little more than a two-lane country road in Poland (in reasonable but not fantastic condition). The town of Zielona Gora is not known for much other than its wine festival, and even that is on the decline, because the climate is changing and the grapes no longer like to grow here. They are quite proud of the new business hotel in town, which is small but offers modern and clean conveniences. We ate a tasty and reasonably priced meal in the hotel last night (fresh green pea soup and venison and mushroom stew), and the breakfast buffet this morning was filled with small local delights and was quite nice.

My business partners here appear to work long hours and have a strong work ethic, but like China, the level of organization and management seems to be less than one would expect in a major international company... things are a bit chaotic. Might just be this company, though. :-) They are excellent hosts, though, and very hospitable. They serve tea and coffee out of proper and lovely Polish china. :-)

Polish people appear humble, hard working, friendly, and curious. As a society that had been under oppressive rule for many decades, I can understand the sort of enthusiastic but cautious approach to the outside world. There seem to be only a few international companies in this part of Poland (Shell and Tesco are the two I noticed... both British or Dutch). Between communism, catholicism, and being relatively rural, the people appear to be very sober by nature. My colleague and I will see tonight if we can find any excitement happening in town.

So that's my superficial first impression of the country. Still quite virgin (nothing like over-developed Germany or Holland), hospitable, friendly, and still trying to transition from communism to their new status as a full member of the European Union.

Whooping Cough

After a short cold, I mysteriously started having coughing fits that would last for minutes at a time, followed by an inability to breath and nausea. The medical profession failed to correctly diagnose him, but he got on the internet and found the surprising diagnosis... Pertussis, otherwise known as Whooping Cough.

I could hardly believe it. The doctor's (three of them) all wrote it off as a virus. But I can't blame them too much, because unless you are around to hear the painful and exhausting coughing fits a whooping cough patient has, then it's hard to come up with this diagnosis. They refused to give me antibiotics (Dutch doctors would rather prescribe codeine than something that would actually help), but it probably would have been too late anyway. The actual disease sticks around for only a short time. But the damage it leaves behind is what causes the real problem and can last for months. In Chinese it's called the "100 Days Cough".

What is whooping cough? It's caused by a bacteria and you become infected by breathing in the airborne droplets of someone else who's infectious. Known mostly as a childhood disease (a falsehood), and thought to have been mostly knocked out by aggressive worldwide vaccination programs (wrong again), it's actually on the rise, and appears to engender local epidemics once ever 3-5 years. Indeed, shortly after I found out I had it, the front page of the newspaper announced there was an epidemic in The Netherlands. I'll never know where I got it, but I suspect it was at my neighbors' wedding where numerous small children were in attendance. Many parents in Holland have stopped vaccinating their children this year because there were reports that the vaccinations were either dangerous or ineffective. It's thanks to them that I got this. In children it can be deadly. In adults it's mostly just a very scary pain in the ass.

Now almost two months along, I've stopped taking codeine and am down to only several fits per day. I've managed to avoid the broken ribs some patients get from the violent coughing, but I have a perpetually sore throat no matter what I do. Otherwise I feel perfectly fine and have worked throughout the entire period.

So how do you survive this disease? There's really nothing you can do other than take a cough suppressant in the severest phase. Nevertheless, I seem to have developed somewhat of an ability to relax when I'm having a fit and stop it before it gets too bad. I usually put my palm to my chest (reflex action) and just relax. A curious side effect of this technique is that I invariably have a single sneeze every time I do this. Have yet to figure out why.