Inge Thinks...

Howdy there, dear readers!

I am allowed to say howdy now, because I’m currently residing in Dallas, Texas. And I believe that Texas-people are cowboys, and cowboys say howdy. Some of you know that I left The Netherlands almost two weeks ago for a journey to the great land of the free, and now, here I am. After a week of running and driving around like crazy, I’ll now have to weeks of peace and happiness by the pool of my uncle’s house. I will, of course, tell you all about my life here and I will start at the very beginning. Photos will follow later, and with later I think I mean a whole lot later, but I’m not sure about that. Anyways – it all started on that Saturday morning, nearly to weeks ago when Joshua and I, still sleepy, got into the car on our way to Schiphol..

We first left Schiphol for London, which was a rather short, but also quite funny flight, because all of the stewards were male. Me and my very little flying experience thought this rather funny, especially when they came over and asked everybody for drinks in their cool English accents. My brother was sitting next to the window so he could see London, and I just pushed my camera over his face hoping I’d get the London Eye on there. (I did, actually!) We arrived at London, late, so we had to hurry into this bus which took us to another terminal. There was this strange lady who tore our boarding passes apart and gave us new ones for no reason, and after that we walked real fast to our flight to Chicago, which was already boarding. This flight would take eight hours, so armed with my Lord of the Rings-book I settled myself into a seat, wearing a thick vest and covered myself in the blankets that were on the seats. The good news was that there was this cool screen on which you could watch movies (I watched The Last Song, it was pretty), the bad news was that there was a lot of turbulence and that sucked. I think I got some sleep, but I was pretty tired and I was feeling a little weird when we finally arrived in Chicago.

Over there it was superhot and we had to wait forever in line for the stupid custom guys (who told me that when I would go and study art history, I’d probably end up serving fries at the McDonalds) and our suitcases. Then we were kind of lost, and were not, walked through half of the airport and finally arrived at Gate 20, only to find it had been changed to 3 and so we had to walk the entire way back. Yeah, we love airports. After the short flight in the teeny-tiny airplane we arrived, tired and feeling a little lost, in Memphis.

There, tons of family was waiting for us. There was my uncle (who’s Dutch) and my aunt (she’s American) and her two cuuuute kids (like supercute-cute), also my aunt’s sister, her husband an her son and also my aunt’s parents. We drove to the house of the parents, drank coke, spent some time talking and had a lot of fun laughing at my brother’s strange Scottish accent (he’s Dutch, so..?) but I was very happy when I could lay my head down on the soft four pillows that were on my bed.

The peace didn’t last long though, because the next morning at 8.30 we had to leave for an eight hour drive (or something) to Sevierville, Ohio. There, we would attend the awesome Answers in Genesis-apologetics-conference. We were pretty tired when we arrived at the hotel and after we settled down for a bit I was about to experience my first American fastfood restaurant. We went to Ruby Tuesday and I got myself a burger and some fries while I was wondering about the nice waiter who was all like: ‘Hey, how you doing?’, because our waiters don’t do that. When we got back to the hotel I only remember my gigantic bed and the four pillows I so longed for, after that, it’s all black (:

The next morning, after sleeping in for a bit (finally!), I was about to experience some more weirdness: the American breakfast. These crazy people somehow love everything hot and toasty while they’re eating it at 8 o’clock in the morning. I’m not kidding, Americans eat hamburgers for breakfast. I settled for some yoghurt, fruit and orange juice, feeling kind of a loner eating that food. Then we went into the town and I was just laughing out loud. Seriously. There’s like a gazilliontrillion billboards everywhere with big shiny neon things and a hundred of attractions at the side of the road that are trying to be bigger than the thousands of fastfood restaurants that look like a forest so dense. I was seriously scared, at first. It’s SO big and everything is just SO huge. Really, really scary. And funny, haha. So when we passed the wilderness of billboards we got close to the real wilderness: The Great Smokey Mountains.

And that’s where the adventure really began. We went hiking to some place called The Chimney Tops. So when you know me, you are probably like this: ‘Inge, you probably mean walking.. Not hiking!’ That, my dear friend, is a very logical thought. Inge + sports activity = not happening. Yet, it did. I actually hiked to The Chimney Tops, and honestly, it was terrible. The climb was sooo long and sooo heavy and I just felt terrible, so terrible. When we made it to the top, there was more horribleness, because before you could make it the real top, you’d have to climb this. Yup. Well, I got half way before totally freaking out. It was cool though, and the way down was a lot easier. We stopped at this mountain river and we just totally relaxed there for a long time. So gooood! We drove down, got some MacDonalds driveby food and then went to our first night at the conference..

More about that in the next blogpost! Bye for now <3

This time I was interviewed by the sweet Maria from the site Photographic Project, which is, again, Spanish. Though the interview was originally in English, they translated it for their Spanish readers. But I don’t speak Spanish and I guess you guys don’t either, so here’s the original text in English:

1 – How did you begin in Photography?
How I started in photography.. Well, I guess that was about two years ago. My dad bought a Nikon D50 around that time and I figured I’d give it a try. I really liked it, joined Flickr and tons of people started telling me that I really had a talent, so, I continued until it really became my most favourite thing to do! : )

2 – How do you define your work?
Wow, that’s a difficult one! My goal in photography is always to picture the things that people usually don’t see. That little flower by the side of the road that you would’ve walked past without noticing if you hadn’t seen my photo. I want to take pictures of things and make them beautiful, make people amazed by God’s amazing creation! So the goal of my photos is showing beauty and I do that by mostly using vivid colours and a whole ton of bokeh, haha. So the definition of my photography would be, using Coldplay’s words, life in technicolour!

3 – Which picture would you like to take you haven’t yet?
Ohh I soooo badly want to take a picture of a beautiful girl with a ton of freckles in a yellow field when the sun is setting. That is my biggest photography dream right now, haha. Sadly enough, we don’t have golden fields here in Holland :/

4 – What’s the best photographic advice that you have received? What would be your best advice to us?
Ehm, advice. I really can’t remember that, actually. My advice would be, don’t try to find extraordinary subjects but try to make something simple extraordinary. You don’t need gigantic churches, golden fields or journeys to a far away country for good photos, a good photographer can make an amazing photo of the grass in his backyard, for example.

5 – Which photographers inspire you?
So many of ‘em! My greatest inspiration is and has been Katrina though. The light in her pictures always challenges me to look for that golden sunflare everywhere. And also Siebe Warmoeskerken and Natalie Franke are really awesome.

You can see the entire interview, with pictures, here at Photographic Project.

I can feel it. It’s in the air, it’s everywhere. When I wake up in the morning the sun is already up high in the sky (and that’s not because I wake up late!) and I hear birds everywhere. When I go outside I’m greeted by a flow of warm air that swirls around me, wraps me up in sweet scents and leaves me speechless. Summer is really here. The ice creams (yay!), long afternoons at the park with my boyfriend, the tanning in the backyard, the big glasses of icy cold water and the smell of sunscreen, hmm.

But I knew for sure that summer was here when I grabbed my camera, an hour or two ago, jumped on my bike and cycled for five minutes, arriving at the small forest just outside my hometown. The sun trickled through the fresh green leaves of the trees and the ground was covered with amazing amounts of tiny little flowers, plants and weeds. I sank to my knees in amazement and an hour later I found myself lying on the ground, covered in insect bites and scratches, with over 400 photos on my camera.

When I biked home I felt so full of God’s amazing creation and His glorious works that I couldn’t help but singing, with strange looks of a few people as a result. That feeling, that feeling of joy, of happiness and of wonder, that is summer. I’m in awe of God’s amazing skills and creativity, how He manages to let the sun fall on leaves and so many different weeds and flowers and make everything look so gorgeous. I’m absolutely in wonder of God’s fabulous creation, of His shining, divine, gorgeous, ravishing and glorious summer. I am in awe. It is summer.

Ik ben ongelofelijk teleurgesteld in jou. Heb je dan nooit opgelet in de geschiedenisles? Niets geleerd van de Franse Revolutie? Ja, het zijn zware tijden en ja, de economische crisis is ook hier te zien en te voelen. Maar denk je nou echt dat je dat op kunt lossen met stemmen op de partijen die het hardste schreeuwen? Partijen met de meest rechtse maatregelen, de meest harde maatregelen, denk je nou écht dat daar de oplossing ligt voor al deze problemen?

Ik ben zo teleurgesteld, want jij, Nederland, bent een land van heel veel kleuren. Een land met rijke mensen, maar ook met arme mensen. Een land met een cultuurrijke geschiedenis en ook veel economische rijkdom. Een land van minderheden. En toch kies jij ervoor om jouw rijke cultuur weg te gooien? Want denk je nou echt dat er onder dit beleid nog iets komt van subsidie voor kunst, ondersteuning voor theaters of het stimuleren van creativiteit? En denk je nou echt dat er onder dit beleid nog enige sympathie of liefde is voor de minder bedeelden, of de mensen uit andere landen? Vaarwel sociaal Nederland, hallo keihard Nederland, gemaakt van beton.

Teleurgesteld in jou, Nederland. Omdat ik altijd hoopte dat er meer mensen waren die dit inzagen. Dat er meer mensen waren die om cultuur en kunst gaven, en om hun medemens. Maar blijkbaar is dit allemaal verdwenen door de angst voor die ‘economische crisis’, waarbij je misschien maar één TV zult hebben in plaats van twee. Jouw enorme angst om je rijkdom te verliezen heeft je geduwd in de armen van de harde schreeuwers die eigenlijk niks te zeggen hebben, die enkel het grote publiek kunnen aanspreken.

Ik ben teleurgesteld. Maar gelukkig is er ook hoop. Want hoewel Nederland op dit moment een rotzooi is waarvan ik me afvraag hoe we er ooit uit kunnen komen, en ik mijn vertrouwen in Nederland totaal verloren ben, is er hoop. Want Rutte is de baas niet, en ook Cohen niet en zelfs Wilders is niks. God is de baas. Hij is de koning over iedereen, Hij heeft alles in Zijn handen. En hoewel ik mijn hoop en vertrouwen kwijt ben, is een leven met God vol met hoop op en vertrouwen in een betere toekomst. Hoe groot de bergen van Wilders’ anti-islam geroep ook zijn, hoe diep de zeeën van Rutte’s rechtse beleid, hoe hoog de muren van teleurgesteldheid:

‘U bent de Redder van het vertrapte volk,
wie zich hoog wanen, brengt U ten val.
U bent het die mijn lamp doet schijnen,
U, HEER, mijn God, verlicht mijn duisternis,
met U storm ik af op een legerbende,
met mijn God beklim ik de hoogste muur.’

Dus, Nederland, wat je ook doet, onthou maar gewoon één ding: God is control.

Veel liefs,

Inge

Hi and hallo,

How have you been, dear readers? Vacation right now, or at school? You know the thing is, with me, it’s neither of those. I’m not really at school (because I’m at home) but I don’t have vacation either, because I’m studying all the time. It feels like I’m in the in-between.

The final exams are in two weeks, and when that’s done my new future starts. I’m going working a lot, then my cool trip to The States and after that an entire new life at Middelburg at The Roosevelt Academy. My old life, though, has passed already. I’m no longer at school for five days, I don’t have classes anymore, I’m just here – at home, studying.

I’m in the in-between.

Jeeeeeej! I’m so happy! This summer, July to be exact, I will dwell in the United States of America, for a month! My uncle and aunt live in Dallas, Texas, and they invited me to come stay with them, which is really, really, real-ly sweet! Thank you <3

I will attend the Answers in Genesis conference in East Tennessee, which is awesomeness. I will also visit The Hawaiian Falls Waterpark (which is like, gigantic dude), a Cattle Drive in Ft. Worth, a visit to the Creation Museum in Ohio AND I will go to Memphis for a weekend!

Everything is just so cool and I’m really, really excited!

Agent Orange was a chemical used during the war in Vietnam, some fifty years ago. The Americans used this stuff, which contains dioxin, one of the most terrible toxins we know, to throw it over the woods of Vietnam so that they could find the people, ‘the enemy’, who were hiding there. This toxin left nothing but bare fields, all the trees and other vegetation were dead. But these are aren’t even the worst effects of this horrible practice, the toxin also does something to people:

‘Dioxin is a virtual ‘genetic time bomb’: once it has entered the body, it may cause any number of birth defects in the children of those exposed, ranging from stillbirth or infant death to mental retardation or physical deformity.’ [source]

People who were exposed to Agent Orange will have to suffer for the rest of their lives. Children who are born, without having anything to do with a war that took place over fifty years ago, have defects that will affect their lives. Children are born blind, with missing limbs or are dead, even before they’re born. What did they have to do with the troubles of communism, the war of Johnson or even the Vietcong warriors that hid in the woods? Why do they have to suffer because of other people’s useless wars?

The American soldiers who had to cope with the effects of Agent Orange started a lawsuit and received tons of money to compensate them for their disabilities. Nobody has given a penny to the children in Vietnam, who are born with the same defects that will affect their lives even more than the lives of wealthy American veterans.

Am I the only who finds this unbelievable, ridiculous, outrageous even? It goes beyond words, there’s no name for it. Why do little children have to suffer, why do innocent people have to face the consequences of a war that they didn’t have anything to do with, everyday? Why do we bomb villages, why do we spray toxins on trees, why? For some noble cause, to keep the world from harm? No. To fight our stupid little wars, to get what we want, to not loose what we think is ours. Since when do politics consist of playing with people’s lives? Who ever told those people that their stupid principles are more important than the life of a five year old?

‘You are precious and honored in My sight, I love you.’
-Isaiah 43:3

Life is precious in God’s eyes. Nature and people are precious in God’s eyes. God loves it! Who are we, tell me, who are we, to destroy something that is precious in God’s eyes? Who are we to put our futile and meaningless ‘principles’ above the life that God finds precious?
Nobody, we are nobody.

Read this.

It is about time for blogging and fortunately, I have time for blogging. Moving from this terrible pun to somewhat more interesting literary news: I finished reading The Catcher in the Rye. Honestly, I don’t know what all the fuss is about. I mean – it’s a good book, but it just stops there. It’s a good book, full stop. Salinger is perfectly capable of painting a portrait of a young man who doesn’t know what he wants, but he makes me feel like he doesn’t get everything out that’s in there. I actually thought the book rather boring, it reminded me somewhat of De Avonden by Gerard Reve, a book that really made me yawn.

Anyways – I’ve got four more tests (one of them an English literature test = reading The Catcher in the Rye) and three more oral tests, and then I’m done. NO. MORE. SCHOOLWORK. Everything that has to do with school will be done in two weeks, I will have a gigantic holiday after that in which I will study my ass of for the actual, big, gigantic, enormous exams. I’m not really nervous for them though, because it’s very clear what you have to learn and you’ve got tons of time. You might actually state that I’m looking forward to the exams. But, we’ll see.

For now: studying very hard this weekend, working for two weeks and then, finally, some time to relax (: Oh and by the way – I’m celebrating my seven months anniversary with Josh today. I love you, hun <3

Jeej, today my mum turned 43!

The preparing of the cake

Hmmm

The jummie-result

Birthday-breakfast and the gifts

I got in! I am admitted to The Roosevelt Academy and soon I will receive a letter that invites me to come study down there at Middelburg. I’m so excited!

Thanks, everyone, for your support! (: