World Collaboratory

Dupont has a new commercial, "welcome to the world collaboratory." It features rows of dinner tables through corn fields and cities.

I wish I had thought of that catchy phrase! I also saw a brilliant piece about Apple and Steve Jobs on BBC's Impact program.

Last night we collaborated with two of Hoorn's best ambassadors, Ina and Clint. We had wonderful evening thanks to their group who hosted the American's from Vantage.

They served a "traditional dutch meal" which consisted of a beef stew and potatoes baked a certain way with common spices. It was very tasty but we enjoyed the comradery of our hosts even more.

Each table of 3-4 couples had a host from Hoorn who explained what they knew about the town and their life in the town. They all had interesting stories.

Luckily, we drew Ina who married Clint from Tennessee. She was Dutch born and travelled to our country on a work visa and worked for Monsanto as a health nurse in St. Louis. She had problems renewing her visa and was denied her green card, very sad for our country.

She wasn't bitter about it but you could tell it hurt. It hurt me to hear it. It reminded me of our friend Dutch in Seminole, Texas who has the same problem His family was working here, went home and was denied re-entry. Dutch perservered, came back and met Katy and made a good life and is an asset to our country.

She and Clint escorted us back to our ship and pointed out places along the way. It seemed to take half the time to get back as it did to walk to the meeting hall.

The Dutch people wear big boots. They are big, friendly boots like the Welly's in the picture I took there. We did get a pair of soft Klammpens for Brynn and she loves them. They have tulips on them of course. They had a big pair of yellow ones I should have brought home for me.

Ed