What a day,

It didn't start out eventful, but I really had an interesting finish to the work day. After some meetings and class, I went back to my friends' for lunch and some studying. Following that., my friend Renee and I were biking home, and we kept getting cut off by a Volvo on a canal road. Canal Roads, like Prinscengracht, Keizersgracht etc. that ring around Amsterdam are narrow, and if a car is meandering through them, bikes can't get past. We were baffled why this car kept stopping and starting - it almost even stopped on a tee and I was two feet from smacking into the back of this car (don't worry mom, I'm fine). So we went around the car finally on the sidewalk, and we found out why this car was driving so erratically.

In the car was SINTERKLAAS and ZWARTE PIETE. For the uneducated, Sinterklaas is a religious, Dutch version of Santa Claus who represents a different holiday altogether, Sinterklaas on Dec 5. There is only one Sinterklass; the same man plays him every year, and there he was, waving to us in the car, staff in hand and sidekick, Zwarte Piete (Black Pete) beside him. It's a rarity to ever see Sinterklaas live, and Renee and I almost got run over my him. I'm still laughing. Even Zwarte Piete was all decked out in blackface (google it if you are curious) and big hoop earrings. It was surreal. We couldn't stop laughing in amazement as we biked past the Volvo. So there you have it Dutch kids, Sinterklaas doesn't ride a white horse, he drives a Volvo.

After criss-crossing through rush hour and taking the usual route home, I biked over a broken bottle and a piece of glass, about 1cm thick got lodged in my front tire, flattening it. I ended up walking home - about 2 miles - and dropped the bike off at the shop. It needed oil anyways.

There you have it. Happy Sinterklaas,

Tot Ziens!

Meneer Shain Shapiro