Holland Summit 2002
N.B., I forgot which night the instructor from Mande
Muda taught and what his name is. Also,
I did not mention and think it should be mentioned that if it was not for the constant
learning and sharing of Oom Ingram, that this Summit never would have
happened. I also think it should be
mentioned that the woman in charge of the training place rearranged her
personal schedule to facilitate this workshop.
I just do not know where in the document to place that information and
again I believe you know more of these details than I do, thus I did not
mention it anywhere else except here. I
also wrote with a perhaps wider objective than what is maybe needed to fulfill
the requirement of a summary. This way,
I believe you can better chose which details to include, how much, and
hopefully can help to spur other details/facts/information not mentioned
here. Above all, I hope this
helps. It was a good exercise for me
and wished I had more time to have devoted to this. Gary.
I. Experience
at Holland
II. Coming
Home
I. Experience
at Holland
[The following paragraph maybe should not be here,
but I thought it to be important and should be mentioned first.]
Overall,
the trip to Holland was well organized.
One could tell a lot of planning had gone into the realization of
Holland Summit 2002. Visitors from the
USA were picked up from the airport with no hassle with finding our host, whom
some of us had never met, nor did we know what he looked like! The accommodations were a pleasant
introduction European living - toilets separate from the bathroom, pots and
pans were not coated with Teflon, the light switches are wide, majority of the
floor space was tile, the buildings were made out of concrete. Our host, Raymond Ingram and his family,
were nice enough to include first day food and beverage items for each unit,
until workshop participants were able to purchase desired food and beverage
items on Saturday, August 3, 2002. The
objectives of mini-vacation/tour and of martial-arts seminar were fulfilled
completely. Routes for the daily
sight-seeing trips were already planned out and events and places to visit were
already arranged, and in some cases already reserved as well. A job well done by our host Raymond Ingram
and a very big Thank You as well; your hard work and time spent planning and
arranging trips and events was a great investment, which produced great returns
of satisfied guests and participants.
Waiting
for us at Amsterdam airport, was Raymond Ingram, the Host of Holland Summit
2002. Immediately outside of baggage
claim, standing right in front and against the roped corridor, was Raymond
holding a beautifully made sign stating Amerindo, and containing the associated
animals that are part of Amerindo. It
was approximately 11:30PM (Holland time), and this was the third trip of the
day Raymond had made to Amsterdam from Zeeland, which is approximately 2 hours
drive time in one direction. Raymond
was tired, yet he gave us a great welcome: smiled, asked how our trip was, if
we were tired, told us where we were going, what he had experienced during the
day, etc.
During
the van ride to Zeeland from Amsterdam, we were excited and tired and excited
at the same time. Even though it was
night time, Raymond had already begun wearing the tour guide cap. In the midst of sharing a story or talking
about music or any conversation we had, he was sure not to miss any area/land
mark of interest during the drive to Zeeland.
We arrived at the condominium in Villapark Livingston and quietly went
to one of five units rented for the week.
Raymond quickly gave us a tour of the condominium where we stayed for
the week. During this quick tour at
1:30AM (Holland time), we met up with our other member from Team USA - Rhode
Island, Andrew, and we quickly met Brian from Washington State. After some initial discussion of the 13 hour
travel day, we (Travis, Tanya, and Gary) got ready and went to sleep.
Each
unit housed a different team, each with a different team name. Our unit, was known as Omega Team #54, but
by the end of the week, we were being addressed by geographic origin: Team
Rhode Island, etc. The condominium
comfortably housed six adults and seemed small from the outside, yet there were
three bedrooms, and some units even had a sun tanning booth and a sauna. Sleep was of the essence and gotten at any
moment possible, especially during the corresponding daily van excursions. The weather overall was nice, it was not too
cold or hot during the daylight hours.
Although each day, there was some rain for either just a few minutes or
at most a couple of hours. It was also
interesting to find out that most of Holland is below sea level, and this is
possible by a series of dams, pumps, and gates.
On
Saturday, August 3, 2002, workshop participants went to the next town of
Haamsteede to do grocery shopping, go to the ATM, and do a little sight
seeing. There was a festival in town
and it was nice to be in a foreign country in the middle of a lively
festival. The food shopping experience
was interesting, especially since most of the workshop participants from the
USA could not read or speak Dutch. We
looked from similar items and watched what the locals bought. It was really nice to purchase good French
and Italian wines for under $6.00 US, and one could purchase a case of Heineken
for approximately $10.00 US! Also on
this day, people from different teams were able to meet each other and
intermingle in a relaxed atmosphere.
Later that night, we were taken to Renesse for drinks at a
restaurant/pub followed by dancing or other bars, if one so desired.
On
Sunday, August 4, 2002, fortunately there were no activities scheduled for this
morning, and a number of us still suffered from jet lag. Although now that I mention this, I really
do not know if any of us actually were able to overcome jet lag. In the early afternoon, we travelled to the
six-hour workshop. At the workshop, Oom
Ingram opened and conducted the first half of the seminar. Approximately halfway through the seminar,
Oom Ingram brought in his “surprise” guest instructor, Oom Maurice DeThouras. Oom Maurice DeThouras is 75 years
young. It was a pleasure to see this
man and watch him move. He shared with
the workshop participants, as did other guest instructors, a small portion of
his art. He would share a sequence with
the group as a whole and then would observe a section of the group at a time to
make sure the participants understood what he had shown. At the end of his portion of the workshop,
he sat with Team USA for a question and answer session.
On
Monday, August 5, 2002, we were taken to Waterland Neeltje jans. This complex explained how the dam system
works, what the obstacles are for building dams, and the history of dams and
dikes in Holland. Also the events of
1953, when a dike broke during an intense storm, is documented for all to
see. There were signs in both Dutch and
English. As time progressed, we were
transported back to Zeeland to prepare for the training at night. From Monday through Thursday, the workshop
hours were from 6:30PM to 9:30PM. Only
on Sunday were the hours for the workshop from 3:00PM to 9:30PM. On this night, the guest instructor was
Paatje (Bapak) Nelson (Pamur Bandai).
Bapak Nelson brought with him Yohan (spelling and I think that is his
name???), student of more than 15 years.
He shared with the workshop participants a form, followed by
applications from the form.
On
Tuesday, August 6, 2002, workshop participants were taken on a early morning
trip to spend the day in Amsterdam. Boy
what a city that is! As with the whole
Holland experience, more than one week is needed to see and experience all of
Holland, yet this can and probably should be said while visiting any other
country in the world. Albeit our host
Raymond did show us a great tour of Holland and knew the history of the places
visited as well, which was an added bonus!
In Amsterdam, Oom Ingram shared with those who walked through Amsterdam
with him, stories of history of the city and stories pertaining to his life
when he used to live and work from Holland.
Another great tour guide! As
with all good things, time quickly passed and we were off again to another
great workshop with another guest instructor.
This time, the guest instructor was Paatje (Bapak) Phefferkorn S.H.
(Setia Hati). Bapak Phefferkorn is 81
years young and knows how to liven things up.
I do not believe any workshop participant will ever forget how to
shuffle! As with other instructors, a
form and a bow sequence were shared, and applications done.
On
Wednesday, August 7, 2002, workshop participants were brought to Rondje Dordt
to visit a “live” windmill exhibit, where we were able to walk in a windmill
and see how Dutch people lived and worked within a windmill. A small number of workshop participants were
even able to try walking in real wooden clogs.
The clogs were comfortable and have the same rating as modern safety
shoes do. This night, the guest
instructor was Bapak Dolf de Vries (Pukulan Pak Serak). Bapak Dolf de Vries is 68 years young and
brought his son Frank to aid in the seminar as well as conduct a portion of it
himself. During this seminar, Bapak
Dolf de Vries used a different approach than previous instructors and asked the
group what we wanted to see and that is what he gave us. Towards the end of the seminar, Bapak Dolf
de Vries conducted a question and answer session with Team USA.
On
Thursday, August 8, 2002, workshop participants were shuttled to Rotterdam, the
oldest port and the most tonnage through the port {I believe these two facts
are true.?.} in the world. In
Rotterdam, we boarded the harbor cruise line called Spido. There was warm pie awaiting participants on
the section of tables reserved for us.
There were several televisions within this level of the ship, which
broadcasted the tour of the habor/port.
First the mayor of Rotterdam appeared on screen, and in several
languages introduced himself and summarized facts of Rotterdam and what we will
be experiencing. As with the dialogue
of the mayor, the remaining tour was also explained in multiple languages. Once the tour finished, we went and spent
the remainder of the day in Dordrecht, shopping and eating. This night, the workshop was conducted by
our host Raymond Ingram (first half) and Oom Ingram (second half). Warm-up and other exercises were shared and
more applications were taught. Finally
group photographs were taken and workshop participants were able to say good
bye to other participants and to our host and family.
II. Coming
Home
After
the workshop, the team worked together and prepared the one last shared
meal. This dinner lasted for
hours. It was not that the meal
prepared required more time to coordinate, it was just simply the last meal
that would be enjoyed together as a group from a tiring and fulfilling and
satisfying week. Training stories and
experiences were shared, both from this Summit and from previous
experiences. The dinner lasted over three
hours. Then the packing begun. Even one of us stayed up the remainder of the
night in order to write post cards that were bought at the beginning of the
week. The morning came awfully fast,
and before we knew it, the time was 6:00AM.
Amazingly, our host was able to bring all of Team USA to the airport
on-time, even with an unscheduled, unplanned “pit” stop, just prior to the
arrival at the Amsterdam airport.
Although it was nice to arrive home on Friday, August 9, 2002, during
the daylight hours of mid-afternoon.
Perhaps some of the workshop participants never did overcome jet lag,
they just pressed on.
