About

Welcome at the blog of Dini Commandeur. I've written quite a lot of columns for various magazines. I also write short stories every now and then. These columns and stories are available for everybody at this blog. I'll release new columns and stories periodically.

Archives

01 Jan - 31 Dec 2017
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2016
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2015
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2014
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2013
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2012
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2011
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2010
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2009
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2008
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2007
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2006
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2005
01 Jan - 31 Dec 2004
01 Jan - 31 Dec 09
01 Jan - 31 Dec 00

E-mail

Mail

Links

dini's site in english
dini's site in dutch
Veel meer columns
en nog meer columns
Leeskring
B9-Literatuur
Schrijverspunt

Search!

Stuff

Powered by Pivot - 1.40.7: 'Dreadwind' 
XML: RSS Feed 

« Tommy and the Lilac T… | Home | With two hands »

Amazing America

Column July 2008 Tuesday 15 July 2008 I’ve barely made it back from America when a friend asks me where the travel report is, but he’ll have to be patient a bit longer. The Interface deadline is approaching and I have to write a column.

That evening, the phone rings. A friend is watching Dr. Phil, which reminds her that I have just been to America so she quickly gives me a call during the commercials. “America, report?” she asks curtly. “Deadline, column,” I respond equally curt, because she’s interrupting my brainstorm. Meanwhile, she peaks my curiosity about Dr. Phil and that’s the end of the brainstorm session, because Dr. Phil proves irresistible. However, the next day, when some of my loyal readers start asking for the travel report as well (“even if it is short”), I surrender. An America report they want, an America report they get.

Once again, we went to Amazing America. Long before departure time we already asked ourselves why we even wanted to go. Just the hassle to get there: Booking the trip, what travel agency to use, the exact travel dates, arrangements for an extra visit with our correspondence friend William in the Florida jail. And what to do with David in California? It would be the first time we would visit him and what was the filing procedure there? It was quite an organization but in the end we departed, at some ungodly hour, and already exhausted from the get-go. After quite some time in traffic we finally arrived at Schiphol airport and then it started. The waiting. A long flight. Waiting in some more long lines at Washington Dulles Airport. A customs agent who had had enough of all those travelers and didn’t even ask the purpose of our visit to America. Waiting some more. A delay. But then, waiting at Washington Dulles did make for some interesting encounters. A Pakistani American woman and I became friends. And I had a fascinating conversation with a man in a wheel chair, holding a super-sized milkshake. As part of my personal “Holland Promotion” my fleeting friend and the gentleman received a ballpoint pen with windmills and tulips. After all, we’ve got to do something to avoid The Netherlands being solely associated with the legal soft drug policy, the Red Light District, and similar Dutch decadence. We had to do something to bring back the tulips and windmills into the American minds, right?



Since it was nighttime, we didn’t see much of Los Angeles, where we landed. Immediately the next day we left the city to drive north to San Luis Obispo. This part of California is beautiful, once you’re past busy LA. The hills, the little white towns, the valleys… We drove through the famous “soap opera” town Santa Barbara and then up along the coastline. The sea was blue and dotted with surfers, as is usual in California. We drove past a Native American reservation and along vineyards. I felt part of an old TV movie when I only saw African Americans working the fields in the heat. Where were the whites?

The distance between Los Angeles and San Luis Obispo is comparable to that between Leeuwarden and Maastricht (the most northern and most southern major cities in The Netherlands), but because it was a straight drive we quickly arrived at our destination. This part of California is beautiful as well and it looks prosperous. It struck me that physical exercise seemed very important; we often saw runners, bikers and even biking paths. The people were friendly. In David’s penitentiary the guards were friendly as well, even to the detainees. Quite a difference from several in Florida, where we visited William a week later, who could barely utter a greeting. The difference between Florida and California was enormous anyway. The poverty in the part of Florida where we were was stark compared to the opulence we had seen in California. The villas of San Luis Obispo versus the many dilapidated shacks of Starke and surrounding area, which were uninhabited, we thought, until with unease and shame we did see people sitting on some ramshackle porches. No biking paths here, no running athletes, few slim figures, no muscular bodies. Except in the fitness centers, and wouldn’t it be good if more people would go there. We thought we were used to the corpulence of many Americans, but once again we were flabbergasted. Every year, it seems that more people become overweight. Too bad Dr. Phil can’t seem to help them with his slim-down books and diet programs.



America. We petted cats that were sitting in a cat shelter in an animal storage area. We saw sea lions basking in the sun, walked around beautiful San Luis Obispo, and admired flowers with incredible colors. We sat on the beach and ate at exotic little restaurants with sweet waitresses and warning signs “No shirts, no shoes, no service”. We talked to many people, especially while waiting in line at airports or in front of jailhouses. In all fairness, we didn’t always understand one another and not everyone was friendly, but generally the discussions were interesting and the people amicable and respectful.



When we flew home I had to think of David. “Will you come back to America?” he had asked when we were sitting on a little bench in the courtyard of the jailhouse, just before we said our goodbyes. I couldn’t promise that we would come back, but I do hope so. In spite of the preparations and the long journey, in spite of me exclaiming that this is really the last time, a stay in Amazing America is so well worth the effort that the longing for the land of Dr. Phil already starts before we arrive back home.



Text: Dini Commandeur, Translation: Maria O’Neill


 

Design and implementation by Focusys