I wake up with the sound of thunder: it’s raining hard. I hope, going in Holland, to get away from the rain. When I arrive in Delft, after a couple of trains, it is nice to see again Barbara after so much time. I met her in 2007, when she was a guest of the camping in which I was working. She is a simple and nice girl. She takes me around the little town taking advantage of the sun, which is making is its way between the clouds. We taste a typical sweet, a kind of waffle filled with a dark honey. It is not bad.
Barbara is Protestant, and she brings me to visit her church. We climb the high tower and she’s proud to point every part of the beautiful town. We tell each other about our lives and I realize that we have similar activities for children and young people, within the two different Churches. Barbara is really involved in activities of intercultural education and she helps me to understand the Dutch situation.
In the afternoon I arrive at the university campus where Dominique lives. He is the boy who accepted to host me thanks to Couchsurfing. At first glance he seems like a marine who has came out of an American TV series. Muscular, short hair in soldier style and an apartment which seems like a sty. He has a foot in plaster: he tells me that he broke it playing soccer in Latvia one week before. We talk a little and I realize that, in reality, he is a really nice guy. Barbara and her boyfriend invited us for dinner: her house is not too far: while I’m walking, Dominique slouches on a bike because of his foot.
Barbara prays before starting the dinner. She says thanks for the food and for my return after many years. I like a lot how the evening is starting. She prepared a typical Dutch dish in honor of the foreigner, that’s me: a really good pie made with potatoes. With some beer and a strange card games about some goats, the evening is quiet but really funny. Dominique and I willingly accept the umbrella that they offer to us when we’re leaving, because it started to pour. But because of his broken foot and the bike, it is not simple to cover ourselves and we arrive at home soaked. Another short, but intense, step of this travel has gone, and I am a little bit sad, but the enthusiasm for the coming days continues to be prevalent!
Andrea Cuminatto
READ HERE THE STEP N°1: Munich (Germany)
READ HERE THE STEP N°2: Bayreuth (Germany)
READ HERE THE STEP N°3: Bruxelles (Belgium)
READ HERE THE STEP N°4: Bruges (Belgium)
READ HERE THE STEP N°5: Antwerp (Belgium)
ANDREA CUMINATTO 