Sunday, April 14
Day 2 in the Netherlands! Today, we spent the day exploring the traditional town of Delft, where we are staying for the week. Delft was founded in 1075, which is a lot older than what we have in America. We woke up after a long day on Saturday and had a nice breakfast in our hotel. Once we had all eaten, we took a tour of Delft. We were split up into two groups so we could see things a bit easier. When traveling, one learns a bit of the local language one way or another. Today, our tour guide, Yvette, taught us another word to add to our Dutch vocabulary, fiets (bike) – this is an extremely important word to know! Yvette used this as a way to warn us if any bikes were coming and for us to move out of the way. It is safe to say that that word has become a favorite amongst the students, and even the faculty. During the tour, we saw houses of the rich, some of the oldest churches around, and even the spot where the founder of the Netherlands, William of Orange, was Murdered in 1584. I think it is safe to say that this town has a deep, rich history. Not only did we learn about the murder of William of Orange, but we also learned that he is buried in the new church of Delft, which is where all the royals of the Netherlands have been buried ever since.
After finishing our tour, we ended up in the Market Square in Delft. There was an outdoor market today, so we had an hour and a half to eat, and even do a bit of shopping. There were rows and rows of people selling textiles, pieces of art, and even old maps. We walked through all of these shops to get to the “food court” on the opposite side of the square. We were all split up into groups, so we had a bit of freedom in choosing lunch. I was able to have some nice chicken empanadas and some fries.
After having lunch and doing some shopping at the Market, we started walking towards the Royal Delft Museum. Delft is famous for a type of pottery called “Delft Blue”. When looking at the pieces of artwork, you might mistake them for Chinese porcelain. Well, these pieces were made to mimic the work of Chinese artisans. Back in the days of the Dutch East India Company, a big ship would come into Delft annually (when it was a harbor city) bringing exotic things to the Dutch like coffee, tea, and Porcelain. When a Chinese civil was cut off the supply, local artisans, who were losing the competition to these Chinese artisans, decided to mimic the porcelain to the best of their ability. They were incredibly successful, as we saw in the museum. The museum was filled with everything from vases to plates to porcelain tile paintings. We were also able to see some of the artisans making the pottery, which was very interesting.
After the museum, we walked back to our hotel to prepare for our evening performance. After getting into our formal choir dress, we started heading to the church where we performed. We sang at 6:00 mass at the Maria Van Jesse church here in Delft. The church is quite old, dating back to the late 19th century. It is a beautiful church with a lot of character to it. Being Europe, we saw many ornate side altars and paintings in the church, as well as beautifully set up main altar. We sang well and the congregation seemed to love hearing us. We also had a very special Guest in our midst this evening. Many of you may not know this, but Dr. Rozenberg used to have a choir in Russia before she came to the United States. One of her students from 20+ years ago, Yulia, came to see us sing. Yulia is a very good musician and singer who lives here in the Netherlands. After mass, we sang a few more songs, ending with a Russian favorite of Dr. Rozenberg’s and Yulia’s, “Ya vas loo Biel” or “I loved you once” in English. Yulia was moved to tears and loved to hear us sing.
Following mass, we walked back to our hotel to quickly change for dinner. We ate at a lovely restaurant called “Da Baarbar” here in Delft. We had a burger buffet, which seemed to be a fan favorite among the boys. This was shown when they promptly put their jackets down on the chairs and went straight for the buffet, we were as hungry as ever. Once we all ate some nice burgers and salad, we were served some nice yogurt and berries for dessert. After this lovely meal, we walked back to our hotel. As you may have noticed, we have not once taken the bus anywhere today. We have been walking all around Delft. I think it is safe to say that we all got well over our 10,000 steps for the day.
Note: The picture of the donuts is from Dunkin’ Donuts – this is what Dunks looks like in Delft! Also, the bikes you’ll see below were rescued from the bottom of the canal – over 500 bikes were pulled from the canals in Delft last year…and one piano!
Joachim Arokiaraj ’25
BC High Concert Choir 