July 2009 Update

I'll start with my usual excuse for not updating this blog: I've been quite busy lately. Although I have, at least temporarily, relieved myself of most commitments outside home and work, time is still a scarce resource for me. With my mother staying over and me trying to let Luda rest in the evenings and weekends, most of my free time goes to Anne Sophie.

Almost every evening we go out to play on the nearby children's playground, where she can play with the sand, climb the stairs, go down the slide again and again, but most importantly, play with other kids. Most of the kids are older than her (they are mostly from 3 to 12 years old), but that seems not to deter her and she tries to imitate them in different ways. They also take good care of her.

I myself also enjoy watching the kids play there. Most of these kids are not of Dutch, but of Moroccan, Turkish, Polish, Somali, Ukrainean descent, and they seem to get along perfectly well. With very few exceptions, they play peacefully, cooperate in various games, take care of the little ones. I also like to talk to them and listen to their stories about their school, home, friends and travels. It's amazing how enthusiastic and creative they are in their play! I often wonder why it is that in most cases this enthusiasm and creativity withers away as children grow older. Maybe it is the parents, school and society at large that stiffle their individuality by forcing them into the narrow confines of what is seen as normal and praiseworthy? But that would be a topic for a separate post.

On other fronts, I've been biking quite a lot as the date of our climb up the Grossclockner in Austria is approaching. In July I bicycled a total distance of 523 km in almost 21 hours, with a couple of longer trips of 30 to 45 km. In August I am planning another couple of long trips.

I've been reading several books, of which I have finished one: The Prentder by Lion Feuchtwanger about the 1st century AD events surrounding the false claims of a certain Terentius Maximus to be the emperor Nero. The book is a fine specimen of historical fiction, of which Feuchtwanger is a true master. Written in 1930s, it draws parellels between the growing megalomania of Terentius and Hitler's rise to power and insanity. The book also gave me an appreciation of the oriental ways of dealing with life, contrasting the linear and straightforward ways of the West, exemplified by the Romans, and the subtle, sophisticated, meditative ways of the East as portrayed by the senator Varro, the rulers of syrian Edessa and Commagene, and the king of Parthia.

My next major reading and study project will be the long desired study of the Hebrew Bible (The Old Testament). I am really looking forward to it!