Editing CS Newsletter for the Netherlands 2010.1 (section)

=Past meetings=

==CSinterklaas Rotterdam 2009==

For the 4th time couchsurfers in Rotterdam celebrated Sinterklaas, and like other times hunderds of couchsurfers from all around came over for this special event. This year even the organisation was a joint venture between couchsurfers not only from Rotterdam but from several Dutch cities and even a Belgian city. The climax was of course the visit of his holyness himself and the handing out of presents. Sinterklaas didn't start giving out presents immediately but had to talk to some couchsurfers who have been naughty in 2009 (hier kan mooi de foto met Liza en Sanne die op de testpagina stond). There were also lots of possibilities to discover Rotterdam or the many rituals around Sinterklaas. 

===Presents===

We asked some people what they will do with the presents Sinterklaas gave them.

[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnyOYqmpI/AAAAAAAAFCo/enYltkmMq5A/s800/IMG_3613.JPG Sam]: Give it to a boy I know very well.

[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnykUkYVI/AAAAAAAAFCs/vu1_XP27GQ0/s800/IMG_3614.JPG Paul]: I am going to put coins in it.

[http://lh5.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnzeJvR_I/AAAAAAAAFCw/Q1W7Di1DgDs/s576/IMG_3615.JPG Sagnik]: I will break this puzzle tonight, before I go to sleep.

[http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxQnrcI1vgI/AAAAAAAAFB0/pmAPyCppxPg/s800/IMG_3601.JPG Jessica]:

===Speeddating===

The Sinterklaas meeting is always a great event with people from nearby countries taking Rotterdam by storm, and of course filling local couchsurfers' couches. It all starts innocently enough on the Friday where the main party is the speed dating mee... wait, that doesn't sound very innocent.

Alright, it IS innocent, it's a bit of a joke on the "CS is not a dating site" motto going around, but as my friend Ben said, that regardless of the joke: "So many people are going to hook up", which sounds like it definitely wouldn't be entirely untrue. Presented by Carel & the speed dating bitches (Damn, I'd buy music by a band with that name.) we were all given cards with suggestive questions on them, and when the other person answered them we'd get to write something related to that answer on their back for everyone to read, and mostly for yourself to read at the end of the night, especially if you're very self-absorbed.

After that, all the men spent half the night finding out who wrote "He is definitely gay" on their backs, because God forbid someone realizes the truth.

If you want to read more about Tommy's experiences click [http://surferofcouches.blogspot.com/2009/12/worst-4-beers-of-your-life-or-how-i.html here]

===Sinterklaas Pastry Extravaganza!===
Part of the Sinterklaas Event in the last weekend of November was the [http://www.couchsurfing.org/meetings.html?mid=50714 Sinterklaas Pastry Extravaganza!]

For this meeting 21 people signed up but at the day itself about 10 people showed up. So did [http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/wizzardofoss/ the Wizzard of Oss] (the writer of this article).

As we arrived the host of this event, [http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=1YA2FUP Maartje], already had some tea ready.
The forecast told that it would be raining a lot that day so everybody was happy to be at this workshop not having to do sightseeing in the rain. After finishing the tea we all went to work.

We made 'pepernoten'. They are good for getting [http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409590869192774994 dirty hands] and a good view on the recipe.

In the end many things were made, like [http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kruidnoten kruidnoten]. Also many decorations were made with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marzipan marzipan].

In the end after all our work we managed to prepare:
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409592114868791538 pepernoten and cookies]; 
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409592348657724402 the horse of Sinterklaas that was very tired]; 
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409593014472790642 a flag (guess from wich country)]; 
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409593149510617506 meat (and a present vegetarian meat;-))] and 
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409593329163313042 fresh big pepernoten].
[http://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=43L1EXA Linda] liked to color her [http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409594099720538930 fingers].
[http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409594680871282306 A bored Couchsurfer with die sick dogs of the host] Maybe someone was killed there.
But when they saw [http://picasaweb.google.com/lourenssenm/2009CSSinterklaasMeetingRotterdam#5409594545561912610 this pepernoot] everybody was happy again.

Everybody liked the baking extravaganza and because the group was small it was a very cosy meeting.

==Sinterklaas in Utrecht==

Sinterklaas was all over the Utrecht community for several days this year. 

It all started with the monthly meeting of Friday December 4th when Sinterklaas left some [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqHvC4HCmI/AAAAAAAAFS0/W3-u2RNXIZw/s800/IMG_3737.JPG nice] [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqHfZ8meGI/AAAAAAAAFRg/b_-_tOPmL0U/s576/IMG_3693.JPG presents] for [http://lh6.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqHyWPevII/AAAAAAAAFTQ/D-5y7689yhc/s576/IMG_3744.JPG some nice couchsurfers]. When Sinterklaas himself showed up it appeared that Utrecht had the honor of hosting the very politically correct [http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqIDTcw2jI/AAAAAAAAFUU/wI-q_j5TMAE/s800/IMG_3769.JPG Zwarte Klaas and Witte Piet] who were quite willing to give all those naughty couchsurfers some [http://picasaweb.google.nl/Lizzie82ish/CSMonthlyMeetingSinterklaasEdition04122009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJyz4OLa8MzyEQ&feat=directlink#5411787236789597778 decent spanking]. After that it was time to say goodbye to Graham in Utrecht style: with [http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxqINdsk24I/AAAAAAAAFU8/dmjDv5NlGdY/s576/IMG_3787.JPG something to write on], this time a table-cloth.  
On Pakjesavond (the evening of December 5th) Sinterklaas was to busy for us, so we had to make our [http://lh3.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxuvSIZzIyI/AAAAAAAAFY4/0IW0O4vNPLI/s800/IMG_3802.JPG Sinterklaas candy] [http://lh4.ggpht.com/_4si9ljdgMXs/SxuvXwYpMOI/AAAAAAAAFZY/k7NrBEb-wNs/s800/IMG_3816.JPG ourselves].
Luckily Sint managed to come back from Spain on the 8th to attend the [http://lh4.ggpht.com/_cYvPOJlCNuE/SyElFoT4GAI/AAAAAAAAC8w/rVIsTlAQrfI/s720/Sinterklaas%20068.jpg surprise evening] of the Dutch lessons in Utrecht.

For more pictures check here:
[http://picasaweb.google.nl/Lizzie82ish/CSMonthlyMeetingSinterklaasEdition04122009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJyz4OLa8MzyEQ&feat=directlink# monthly meeting], [http://picasaweb.google.nl/Lizzie82ish/SinterklaasBaking05122009?authkey=Gv1sRgCPDb95DGuYrnhQE&feat=directlink# baking evening] and [http://picasaweb.google.com/Nynke87/CSSinterklaasUUNL09# Dutch lesson].

==Winter Efteling meeting==

It is in days like this that you understand what fairy tales are made of....

The obstacles we all had to endure to reach the park, the solidarity of couchsurfer heroes who, because of their patience and support, allowed other people to also live the experience of the Efteling and finally the magical surrounding & great company, provided the perfect ingredients for an unforgettable day in which our inner child had a blast!!

Links to pictures:
[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4889440&id=663115970 1]
[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4889447&id=663115970 2]
[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4860159&id=663115970 3]
[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4889457&id=663115970 4]
[http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/photo.php?pid=4889471&id=663115970 5]

==Sauna Meetings ==

Ramon ?