Places Around Maastricht: Wereldwinkel

Type of Place: Fair Trade store
Location: Brusselsestraat 7
Website

Today’s Places Around Maastricht shares with you my favorite place to buy coffee: Wereldwinkel. This small gift shop is just a few blocks from me near the Vrijthof and carries a variety of products produced in the developing world. In keeping with the tenets of Fair Trade, the producers receive fair compensation, allowing them to make a respectable living. The shop is filled with a variety of reasonably priced textiles, dishes, statues, and all sorts of other handmade odds and ends. If I had a place to hang the blue hammock in the window, I would seriously consider buying it.

Wereldwinkel is run significantly on volunteers; mostly older women who are friendly and tolerant of my crummy Dutch (a side perk is I actually feel comfortable trying out a few Dutch words there).

Wereldwinkel sells a small but varied selection of Fair Trade foodstuffs in the back of the shop, including the single-origins ground coffee that I like so well. Supporting Fair Trade in my coffee is so easy, that there is really not excuse not to and the brand sold here is much tastier than the Fair Trade or organic brands sold at Albert Heijns. The price is nearly the same too. In addition, I’m just a sucker for single-origins products. The earth the plants grow in has a significant effect on the flavor of the coffee.

Wereldwinkel is open Mondays through Friday from 1 pm to 5:30 pm and on Saturdays from 10 am to 5 pm. They are never open on Sundays.

News from Friends & Family

We interrupt your semi-regularly scheduled Maastricht programming for a couple of important announcments from friends and family back home.

Firstly…

Congratulations to my sister-in-law Karen and her new fiance, Nick, for getting engaged. Best of luck you two and have fun with the wedding planning.

Secondly…

I’m pleased to announce the birth of Alice Caroline to our good friends, Keith & Alyssa (who live in Boston).  Alice was born on June 27th at 4:18 am. Mother and baby are doing well and father, based on the facebook posts and photos, must be elated. (Updated with photos!)

Congratulations & enjoy parenthood you two. We’ll have to stop by over Christmas to meet the newest member of the family.

Join Me at Social Media Day 2010

Next Wednesday, June 30th is Social Media Day and Jules & You is sponsoring a meetup in Maastricht to “celebrate the revolution of media becoming a social dialogue”. The event will be held at the Jules & You office and will include a short presentation, 4 mini workshops, and information discussions about social media. There will also be a video interview of thoughts on how social media can help Maastricht’s 2018 City of Culture bid.

Given that Jules & You is a student support organization, I expect the attendees to mostly be younger than me, but the subject matter is interesting enough that I think anyone who enjoying blogging or other social networks will find something valuable. Dan & I are planning to attend and if Social Media Day sounds like fun, we’d like to meet up with you too. Just comment below or send me an email. There is also a Facebook page with some more information and a place to RSVP your attendance.

We hope to see you there!

Places Around Maastricht: Bonnefanten Museum

Type of Place: Art Museum
Location: Avenue Ceramique 250
Website

Unmissable along the banks of the Meuse as it flows through Maastricht is the silver tower of the Bonnefanten Museum. Inside is housed an every changing collection of art, both old and new. From here in the Netherlands and around the world. The “Old Masters” collection focuses on medival art from the Southern Netherlands, Maas region woodcarvings, and several Italian masters. Rounding this out is the Contemporary Art collection which includes an ever changing mix of artists from all over the world.

Temporary exhibits are the highlight of the Bonnefanten Museum and they will frequently have 3 or 4 special exhibits at any give time. In addition there is often a special installation in the top of the silver tower, and even their permanent collection gets changed up periodically; making return visits every so often worth your time. Currently the permanent collection is laid out for “Augenspiel”, an attempt to re-contextualize various pieces across traditional lines. The temporary exhibits are on Sidi El Karchi, Bas de Wit, Pierre Kemp, and The Invisible Color.

Art is naturally very subjective, but I’ve enjoyed the Bonnefanten Museum when I visit. The temporary exhibits in particular are frequently a great chance to see something a little different and often are very modern or abstract.  Sidi El Karchi’s beautiful, comic-like portraits are particularly worth going to see, especially when placed in contract to Bas de Wit’s grotesquely surreal works.

On the other hand, I did not enjoy the attempt by the “Augenspiel” exhibit to deconstruct the cultural and temporal context of the permanent collection. Personally I feel that art is strongest when viewed within its original cultural context and without that the viewer is simply left to flounder. The inclusion of booklets detailing each piece just added to the feeling that this reorganization is missing its mark.  Still, you will find some interesting works within; even if you don’t like the organization.

In addition to the museum, the Bonnefanten also has a small, but tasty cafe with outdoor seating within view of the river, which is nice during the summer. Live music events are often hosted there as well.  They accept the Museumkaart and if you plan on returning (or visiting other Dutch museums) frequently, I highly recommend you pick one up.

The Bonnefanten Museum is 8 euros for adults and 4 for children. They are open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:30 am to 5 pm and Mondays when there is a national holiday.

Image by andrebiazoti used via Creative Commons.

Going Orange

I may be the last expat blogger in the Netherlands to write about the World Cup 2010 (Wereld Kup or WK in Dutch) tournament going on right now. I’d blame it on being an American and therefore genetically predisposed to find football boring, but really I’m just not that into sports. I worked for a sporting goods store for 2 years and the day I stopped reading the American football scores was also the day I quite. Ah glorious freedom.

My favorite team sport to watch on TV is actually hurling, a dangerous rugby-like game played with field hockey sticks and optional helmets. But since the rest of the world is too wimpy to play, I have to say I enjoy a good game of football when the stakes are high. The WK has pretty high stakes.

Most years the WK has passed me by without a whisper, but since we’re in Europe this year it would have been folly to try and avoid it. Since the US is notoriously bad at the game (remember that genetic anti-football defect?), I’ve thrown my lot in with the Netherlands team and Gone Orange. Sorry USA. Please don’t revoke my passport.

In support of our new team, Dan and I went down to the pub last Saturday to catch the game between the Netherlands and Japan. It was a Saturday and as you can imagine the streets were filled with people. The Vrijthof was jammed pack; many people watching the game from the outdoors seating on a TV set in the window. Other pubs were standing room only. Fortunately Markt square was relatively quieter and we found a table inside one of the cafes. The crowd inside was excited, but not rowdy, something I, for one, appreciated. There was a lot of orange clothing and paraphernalia of course. I even wore my free beesie from Albert Heijns perched in my hair were he had the best seat in house.

The Netherlands won the game (1-0), but it was a slow game. I’m looking forward to doing it again, but Dan? He’ll take a lot of convincing.

Commercials

One of the things I do like about football/soccer in the States is how noncommercial it can be. It’s nice to watch a live game without stopping for sponsors every 10 minutes or so. Outside the US, football is much more commercial, and the WK seems to take on an almost Olympics level. The TV is filled with WK themed adverts; many lampooning the German team and a few that are actually pretty funny even if you don’t understand Dutch. My favorite is the return of the paint whisperer (which to be fair is in English):

All in all it is an exciting time to be in the Netherlands, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the WK games play out. And I’ll keep hoping for an NL vs. USA matchup. Just because it would be fun.

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