CS newsletter for the Netherlands

Old newsletters:

CS Newsletter for the Netherlands 2010.1

Draft 2nd newsletter

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Een welkom en een vraag die linkt naar een threat in de NL group (wanneer is iemand voor jou een vouch waard?)

Couchsurfers meeting up (rechterbalk)

Queensday

Wie schrijft er een korte introductie over alle activiteiten?

Visit the Deltaworks!

The Dutch know how to manage the water, it's been a constant struggle in the past centuries with the lowpoint being a major flood in 1953 with thousands drowning. Nowadays big dikes keeps the water out succesfully. One of the major accomplishments in the fight against the water is the 'Deltaworks' in Zeeland, in the southwest corner of the Netherlands, with the Eastern Scheldt storm surge barrier being the masterpiece. The first part of the Deltaworks was built about 50 years ago, and the Eastern Dam was finished in 1986. Check for more information: http://www.deltawerken.com/23

I think both Dutch and foreigners would love to see the Delta works by themselves. For me it's been a while as well, so that's why I'm setting up a meeting event for June 5th. The enthusiasm was overwhelming in the first few days with over 20 people signing up. We are working hard on the program now, but it will include a museumvisit and the visit of the outside structures. It could be a whole weekend event for those who want, with camping, or we could have a night program in a city afterwards. It depends on you as well. Ideas and suggestions are very welcome. So please sign up, and let's make it a fun event! We'll keep you updated then.

Harold

Flash Mobs in the Netherlands

Flash mobs have been taking cities all over the world by storm since around 2003, though until recently they were not common-place in the Netherlands. A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual act for a brief period of time, and then quickly disperse. At the first ever recorded flash mob 150 people arrived at a flooring shop, claimed to live together in a warehouse and showed interest in buying the same rug. Exactly 10 minutes later the crowd suddenly disappeared.

Reading about this first flash mob inspired me to research the phenomenon. As I sat captivated by videos of flash mobs on Youtube, the idea of organising one in my home city became increasingly exciting. Admittedly it took a bit of work, but within a few weeks eager participants were signing up on Couchsurfers, Hyves and Facebook.

The afternoon went off without a hitch. At the appointed time on Saturday 20th February 2010 the signal was given. Couchsurfers ran out of shops, jumped up from benches, suddenly stopped window shopping, and got down on their knees and fanatically worshiped a small statue in the busy shopping area of Rotterdam. Passers by looked on with confusion and surprise, as the mob disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared. You can find “Worship the Sock Bears” on Youtube. Our after party proved highly successful as Rotterdam’s Tiki Bar kindly agreed to open early for us.

If you’ve ever been part of a flash mob you’ll know the immense amount of fun involved. If you haven’t yet, don’t fear, there are many more entertaining events looming on the horizon. On Saturday 3rd April at 15:00 there will be massive pillow fights worldwide! The pillows of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, along with over 120 other cities will be celebrating together as never before. Interested? Check out our group

Hazel

MCME

organisator Victor schrijft een stukje

Arnhem Calling?

Sytse gaat op zoek naar iemand die een verhaal wil schrijven

Bowling meetings

Astrid schrijft een stukje

Midsummernight in the park

Wil er iemand iets leuks over schrijven?

Small meeting?

Wil er iemand iets leuks over schrijven?

Carnaval?

Wil er iemand iets leuks over schrijven?

Meeting in Zwolle?

Vind enkele dagen voor de deadline plaats, is het nog mogelijk er iets over te schrijven?

News from Cs Netherlands (rechterbalk)

CS Eindhoven in Elsevier

More and more media are noticing Couchsurfing, after 3opreis, Arnon Grunberg in NRC and many more also Elsevier found our about couchsurfing. Read here a article about a CS event in Eindhoven

nieuwe ontwikkelingen

hopelijk zijn de vernieuwingen van het ambassadeurs-systeem bekend en kunnen we een oproep plaatsen voor nieuwe ambassadeurs

Nomadic adventures (linkerbalk)

stories from Dutch travellers?

Hitchhiking from Bremen to Stockholm

Check the weblog of Tommy for more.

I hitchhiked up to Stockholm, because the only home I have is the road. It took me three days to get to Stockholm for one reason, and one alone: Some hitchhiking places in Sweden suck. It took me a while to realise that in Scandinavia on-ramps with your thumb out are actually better than their gas stations which are often at least a km from the highway, small, and frequented by locals, not long-distance drivers.

The first day of the hitch up was really lucky. Even though it ook me 3 or 4 hours to get out of Bremen, right before Kiel I met Jørg. Jørg was a german from Dortmund, moving to Sortland, up north in Norway (Yeah, it's pretty far up). He had all his stuff with him and he was taking the ferry from Kiel to Gøteborg, and since he was paying the same amount regardless of the amount of people in his car, he had no problem taking me along.

My free bed on the right. Jørg on his on the left.

The next day, the ferry docked at 9 and by 9 30 we were on our way North, where I got stuck for a long time before moving on to Karlstad, where I pulled some strings to stay a night with Elina's boyfriend's friend's neighbor. (Elina being my host in Stockholm, whom I hadn't met yet, technically making Marion Carel's friend's boyfriend's friend's neighbor. Then of course true to my nature, I left the very instrument used for the pulling of aforementioned strings (read: my phone) in Karlstad.

Noooo, Phony!

So after a romantic 5 days in Stockholm, I ha to pick up my phone again and finally go home. No way was I going to find an excuse to spend even more time in a meter of snow.

guests in NL?

Sytse heeft contact gezocht met een interessante surfer Jasper gaat nog contact zoeken Zie voorstel vragen in de newsletter werkgroep

Standaardvragen

1. How did you find out about Couchsurfing?

2. How do you combine travelling with your professional life?

3. What is the most special experience you ever had through couchsurfing?

4. What is the most special place you ever visited?

5. What is your favourite means of travel?

6. What should every traveller bring in his/her suitcase?

7. Which traveller should we interview in the next newsletter?

Exotic couches (linkerbalk)

Couchpicture

Who can beat 8 people?

Interview with a 'exotic host'?

Jasper heeft een mail gestuurd naar Gerard Wie heeft er zin in een tweede host te interviewen? Zie voorstel vragen in de newsletter werkgroep

Standaardvragen

1 How did you find out about Couchsurfing?

2 What makes your couch special?

3 Tell about a special person you hosted?

4 What place near your couch would you recommend everybody to visit?

5 What do you like to see in a good couchsurf request?

6 Which sort of guests do you prefer?

7 Which host should we interview in the next newsletter?

Place unknown

Casa Merode, a CS house in Tilburg. It's a house with 5 students who are all active on CS. There's a Wiki-page about it and it's got its own group on CS.

http://wiki.couchsurfing.org/en/Casa_Merode http://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=22894&showpage=1

traveltip (linkerbalk)

Get a phone without SIM-lock and get a new SIM-card whenever you enter a country in which you plan to stay for over 5 days. It saves you (and your CS-hosts) loads of money.