Today, May 29, was the national Dag van het Park (or day of the park) in the Netherlands. Around the country, various parks hosted different types of activities, allowing residents to sample offerings of the communities, as well as the parks themselves. A few months ago, my friend M (first mentioned here) asked if I'd help out with a disc golf demo going on that day in Maxima Park. Since I don't have too many commitments here that would get in the way of volunteering, I agreed to help.
I had a great time at the park today. Together with the couple that runs the Leidsche Rijn Disc Golf Club, I helped explain the sport of disc golf and handed out flying discs (the light weight type that are commonly given away as promotions... most people refer to them as Frisbees, but that is actually a trademarked brand). We had a steady stream of interested kids and adults, picking up the free discs that the parks organization provided and trying out our temporary disc golf holes. It was really great seeing all of the interest that our booth generated, considering that disc golf is not very big in the Netherlands.
One of the most challenging things to me was communicating with interested parties, since I don't speak Dutch (beyond a few basic terms, mostly revolving around food). Most adults are pretty fluent in English, so I didn't have much trouble explaining the game to them or giving basic information. However, I did feel bad when I couldn't answer the younger children's questions. At one point, I tried to explain to some girls, probably around 10 years of age, that I didn't speak Dutch (Nederlands). One of the girls looked at me as though she pitied me, shook her head, and said, "Oh, you don't understand." I half-expected her to follow up with the "bless your/his/her heart" saying from the Southern U.S., as the sentiment was basically the same. (For those of you who are lost on this point, see Jennifer Youngblood's description here. "When your cousin Susie does something just plain dumb, and your aunt Margaret calls you up to tell you about it, you just listen real close and utter a few "bless her hearts" when she pauses long enough to draw in a breath.")
Despite the pity of the young child, however, I felt like I did okay communicating with people, even throwing in the occasional "dank u wel" and "alstublief". (Yes, it's very basic Dutch, but it's better than nothing.) I also had fun conversing with a few fellow Americans (my friend M, the woman who heads up the LRDGC - along with her Dutch husband, and a disc golfer living in Eindhoven who is originally from NY but moved to the Netherlands from Austin).
Unfortunately, since my point and shoot camera is currently broken, I don't have any photos to share from the event; I can tell you, though, that looking out on our temporary holes and seeing 10+ kids at once enjoying themselves, throwing the discs towards the basket was pretty amazing. I can only hope that at least a few of the children will be at a local course soon, developing a love for the sport which has meant so much to me over the past few years.
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