7th of February, 2022.
You cannot pay the trams in Amsterdam with cash. Only card! What the fuck?! In what kind of word are we leaving? How can you possibly oblige people to have a bank card in order to take public transport? And in the Netherlands?
Of course I figure that in the worst way possible: when I was already inside the tram and tried to pay with cash. Yeah, there is another thing: they have a small cabin inside all the trams, where there is a security guy checking if everybody is paying. Hello, we have that system in Brazil yet! In all the other European countries I have been there was no such a thing. And I though the Netherlands was quite a liberal and advanced country.
Anyway, luckily the guy let me remain in the train until my stop. Either he was just a nice guy or he realized I was telling the truth and really don’t have a card. I also got in the train to the wrong direction. Perhaps that also helped me with him a little bit.
The thing is: I supposed to take another tram after that and keep going a little further until I finally have to walk. I don’t have a problem with the walking, only with the directions. Luckily I am prepared: I have looked before in which direction the next tram would go plus I have the name of the station I supposed to get out. There is only one problem: I cannot simply follow the tram lines because they change direction in quite a few places. So I have to wait for the tram. Not to get the tram but to follow it. I have to wait for the tram so I can follow it and get the directions. Laugh
It works quite well and about half an hour later I arrive in my hitchhiking spot.
I know I can hitchhike here because it is not the highway. Not yet! But I still get nervous when I see about 4 police cars passing by. And one of them even give me some lights signal and make some signs, kind of meaning I should “come”. I don’t. I just keep hoping somebody will pick me up soon, before the police come and actually make me leave. Even though I can stay here. I can!
Vu comes back for me. I have heard him honking before but I can never know when people are being serious or just showing sympathy. So he goes all the way around and comes back for me. He leaves right in the small town I have written in my sign: Vledeun-de-Meern. He is from the Netherlands but his family is from Vietnam. When I tell him my story and where I am going, he suggests that I ask for shelter in a place called Emmaus, in the same village of the castle, where himself did a volunteer work about 10 years ago.
Vu drives me to the castle and because he is going to Rotterdam tomorrow morning, and Gouda is right in the way, he offers to pick me up in Emmaus around 11 o’clock. I totally accept!
The entrance to the castle is gorgeous! Everything is beautiful! And the toilets are for FREE! When I ask in the reception if I can go quickly only around the grounds to take a photograph (which normally costs 7€, and the whole package, with the inside tour, it costs 15€), a man tells me I can simply go around, by outside, and I can have a view for my photograph. I say thank you and leave.
He is not completely wrong, there is a view of the castle from outside, but it is only a side view. And I walk even a bit further, just to check, and the view from the front gate is barely a view. So I decide to walk all the way back to the reception (even knowing that Emmaus building is right over here, so I will have to walk all the way back again), and try one more time and ask to go quickly to the grounds without a ticket, for only some photographs.
This time the man is much nicer and right away let me go, only asking for me to be quick. And I am! I leave my backpack by one of the benches (because I know that NOBODY who is visiting this castle would have any interest on taking my backpack), and go quickly all around the castle, even running a little bit sometimes, just taking photographs here and there. I am almost sure it took me the 10 minutes I had asked for the man initially, so I am happy. I wave to him when I am leaving.
Oh, yeah, the castle! I am sorry! It is absolutely gorgeous! They rebuilt most of the building on the 1860’s, so even though it looks quite new, is still old. And it is lovely! Mostly in a sunny day with blue skies like it was today! The whole area is so beautiful and green! I cannot believe it is only 40 minutes driving from Amsterdam! I say it totally worth the visit! But please take a day trip so you can walk all around the castle area and the village of Haarzuilens. The whole are is incredibly pretty. Really breath taken! And the houses of the village have white and red details on it to match the castle. It is so cute!
After my 10 minutes of euphoria, I walk to Emmaus. After talking with two of the residents, even though they tell me they are sure I can stay, I should talk with the coordinator of the place. He is in a meeting so I just have to wait a little bit. After walking a little bit around, I come back and finally meet Jeroen, without knowing that he is the person I was waiting for. He tells me I am welcome and soon enough there will be a coffee break so I can meet everybody.
Emmaus is a organization which started as an idea of the French priest Abbé Pierre, who was a resistant during the Second World War. After getting elected to a public post, he used the money he owned to buy a residence in Paris, where homeless people could live. When he didn’t have the money to keep running the house anymore, the residents had the idea of starting to collect goods (either from the streets or donations) and sell it for profit and so on be able to keep running their home. And that is how Emmaus operates until nowadays: it is a home for people in need, either homeless people, or people who suffered with some kind of addiction in the past, who now helps on collecting donations and selecting them in order to sell to the public and make profit for the organization. They are so hard workers and generous, that all the extra money they get (after paying the bills, getting the food, and giving the residents some pocket money for their personal necessities), they donate to other charity places! Not only in the Netherlands but in Africa and South America. It is incredible! They have the numbers of their achievements in the front gate so everyone can see it. It is an amazing institution, which is truly helping the people who need the most! And I am so glad that I got to know them.
I am told that dinner will be served around 6 p.m. So I go for a walk from 4 to 5 o’clock. That is when I see how wonderful the village and the whole area are!
When I come back, I help Jan to prepare dinner: a delicious veggie pasta with peanut sauce and cucumber salad. For desert: Vla!
After dinner, I dry the dishes while Odilia is washing them. I am writing this just now, after I came to my room. My eyes are closing but wait! I still want to watch one episode of Friends!
P.S.: Here is the link for Emmaus Website: https://emmaus-utrecht.nl/
