Instead, we decided to do something here in Rotterdam. After much deliberation and dozens of messages in an amusing combination of Dutch and English we decided to meet at the Alexandrium for lunch, and then take public transit to the swimming pool. The Alexandrium is a massive shopping mall just seven minutes' bike ride from where I live! It's wonderfully convenient to be able to go shopping whenever I want!
So it ended up being a group of four of us getting together for the afternoon. Hannah van der Plas, Rob van Apeldoorn, and Kim and I. Lunch was very gezellig, and after that we got to ride on the metro AND the bus! I was of course very excited about it all. I never took public transit in Canada so it was my second time on a metro, and my first time on a public transit bus. It sure is a lot more exciting (and comfortable) than a school bus. The pool was lots of fun. It's been a while since I went swimming, so it was very refreshing. The swimming area was huge! There were three different areas with pools, and a water slide. We spent a lot of time throwing spongy water ball at each other and play fighting over who got to sit on a foamy mat. You know, typical fun in a swimming pool. Then we had some delicious ice cream and then went back in the pool (and a few more times on the water slide).
Now comes the unexpected adventure part of the day: we all went back to the Alexandrium on the bus and the metro. Then when we got there Hannah discovered that she had lost her keys somewhere, hopefully at the swimming pool. But the bikes are all locked with a chain, and they have a key to lock the wheels so they don't turn. So Hannah's bike was very much stuck and utterly unrideable at that moment, and her parents were busy. So I was very excited then (although I was sad that she lost her keys) because that meant she could come with for a potluck dinner at the church! She could just ride on the rack on the back of my bike. People in Holland do that quite often.
But then we discovered another predicament just as our first one was solved. Kim had locked her bike with the chain, but left the key that locked the wheels. And someone else had taken it! (Cue the 'dun, dun, dun' tragic music). Kim's bike was stolen just three days ago, and now she was riding the spare one and that too is now out of commission. Hopefully just temporarily though until we can get the wheel unlocked.
So then a new plan was needed. Rob came up with the best solution. He would take Kim's unrideable bike on the metro to the station nearest our home. Kim would ride his bike, and Hannah would ride on the back of my bike. I was a bit unsteady at first (it's a bit different riding with a passenger) but Hannah is an excellent teacher and I got the hang of it in no time. I really enjoyed it because I felt so Dutch, and so much fitting in with Holland life. It's also very gezellig to have a passenger to chat with. So we biked home to the Maclean's house, and then realized I didn't have my house keys. Kim had hers, and usually I take mine as well, but this time I figured I wouldn't bother. Of all the days I had to forget my keys! The neighbours weren't home to ask for the other spare set either. So we waited. Outside. In the cold wind. But at least we had pretzels! Extra big ones with peanut butter inside. I never would have guessed peanut butter pretzels, but they sure were delicious.
Then Hannah got a call from Rob. He'd accidentally taken the wrong metro! Oops! It was my first time not bringing my keys, and his first time taking the wrong metro. It seems today was the day everything just went amusingly wrong.
Hannah and I decided that rather than keep waiting, we'd go to Hesseplaats station and get the keys from Kim, who was waiting for Rob. So we biked there, only to receive a call as soon as we arrived that Kim and Rob were waiting for us at home. So much for getting out of the cold earlier! Oops again.
Inside we feasted on some of the chocolate chip cookies I baked yesterday. We were all pretty hungry by then, and chocolate chip cookies always taste delicious after a day full of exercise and adventure. Actually they taste delicious even without adventure, but not quite as good. I'm sure you all know what I mean by that.
So us three girls quickly freshened up a bit. Alas, my curly hair was more or less beyond hope after all that chlorine and wind. But I did my best to make it semi-presentable in a short amount of time.
So then we biked to church. We were about an hour and a half late for the potluck, and we sure hoped there was some food left. I biked Hannah again, and Kim hitched a ride on Rob's bike. Once again very gezellig, although I could feel my legs by the time we arrived at church. I definitely earned my dinner today between swimming and all the biking!
Thankfully there was plenty of dinner left for the four of us. So we had a gezellig dinner as well. Oh, and just in case anyone doesn't know, the word gezellig is Dutch for something like cozy, friendly, nice, etc. It describes a happy environment of visiting with friends. I figured I better clarify that now that I've used that word four times in this post!
After dinner Kim went home with the Macleans, and they also had to pick up her bike from Hesseplaats station. If it was left there overnight it would quite likely be stolen, even if it was chained. Rob was very kind and offered to bike with me home because it's not safe for a girl to bike alone at night.
So thus ended a day fraught with excitement and true Dutch adventure! As soon as I got home the phone rang and I was delighted to see it was Mom's number. So I got to tell her all about it, and have a lovely chat for an hour.
Now I'm working on this blog post. I'm rather tired after such a day, but I had to get all this down while it was fresh in my mind. Hopefully I can still stay awake in church tomorrow!
Oh, and to top everything off: I just realized that I put my shirt on backwards after the pool.
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