joy magnetism: AMA-Ho!




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Saturday, August 30, 2008

AMA-Ho!

Magnet #190 - Ede, Netherlands

Country #1 - The Netherlands

Just before my senior year in high school, a good friend of mine and I decided to join the American Musical Ambassadors. The AMA was an organization that took U.S. high school students on a whirlwind trip throughout Europe, performing in different venues along the way.

Think of it as a 21-day, 7-country...BAND TRIP. And, for those of you band geeks reading this post, you know what those away games were like.

This will be the start of a short miniseries to uncover how much I remember besides 50 kids running through Europe with the rallying cry of "AMA-Ho!" (Yep, it sounds so wrong now.)

So, after a 3-day intense rehearsal session in New York, off we went to Ede, for a host family stay and a concert in Ede.

Hazy memories of:
  • a lovely host family
  • cool bathroom fixtures
  • a community center dance where girls fought to dance the chicken dance with my supercute host brother Peter
  • tile (for some reason)
  • Dutch windmills
  • Dutch mom telling me that they don't really wear wooden shoes
  • acres upon acres of tulips (and maybe poppies)
We also hit Amsterdam, where I was intrigued by the Anne Frank Museum, thoughts of a red light district, and fell asleep on the canals tour. What? It was an overnight flight!

This is the only magnet that I have from that trip, and the only one that won't be a stretch during the next seven days. I looked up what it means, and Kok-Ede was some sort of food company, I think. And, if I take my iGoogle translator widget seriously, then voor grootverbruik means for bulk.

Well, of course. Somehow, I ended up with a magnet from the Dutch version of Costco.
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6 comments:

jen said...

omg you're such a band geek (hello, pot. i'm kettle).

Did you know their Big Bird is green? that is what my Ede host mom told me!

OH! And i fell asleep on our canal tour too. Hmmm. our family and boat tours? Do. Not. Mix.

The Geek said...

My little yin-and-yang heart hopes there's some chick in the Netherlands blogging about her band trip to America where she came home and found out her souvenir is a promotional gift from Costco.

julie said...

i struggled to stay awake on the canal tour too. seriously, they should have let us sleep before doing the canal tour. NO ONE remembers any of it! also, i didn't get a host stay. instead we went to f'ing belgium where 4 belgian jerks yelled obscenities at us on the street. awesome.

also... it's weird to think of you NOT collecting magnets. a whole trip through europe NOT told through magnets?

joy said...

Ha! I love it, GG - but now I'm wondering if there *is* a Costco magnet to be had, and when my next visit is. Hahahaha.

There's a part of me that can't remember a time when I didn't collect magnets. And there was never any conscious decision to begin collecting - I turned around one day and my fridge was the only thing decorated in my apartment.

In looking at the map, I can't figure out how we circumvented Belgium to get to West Germany, but there you have it.

Actually, in looking at the maps, I can't believe how many major cities we actually *missed.*

Anonymous said...

Was the Netherlands the site of the "you come from the Land of Tea" incident? Do you remember that? My sisters thought that story was hilarious and we still use the phrase.

Love the magnet!

joy said...

I completely forgot about the Land of Tea remark! Hahahah.