The day before New Year's Eve (Dec 30th) I worked my first shift. Kitchen Cleaner. Something I am not that familiar with, because when they say kitchen cleaner you are literally mopping, scrubbing, scraping, sweeping, picking food off the plates, doing everything that involves making the kitchen nice and sparkling. But, that isn't the bad part! The bad part comes when the cook asks me to try a "mystery meat" it was supposed to be chicken, however, it didn't look anything like chicken. So, me being the good little worker I am, was like sure! So, I popped a piece in my mouth. Two hours later I'm puking in the boys toilet! What can I say? I know how to start my first shift with a splash. For the very first time I experienced food poisoning. The whole next day I was out of commission and had to miss my second work shift and spent the whole day on the couch trying to sleep. I say trying to sleep, because there were fireworks going off all day.
They sounded like gunshots. Pop. Pop. Pop. POW. Constantly, all night and all day. All over the city anywhere you went people were shooting off fireworks. It was a constant stream of noise. Something that was quite amusing were these three young boys right outside our living room window, they would light the firework and then throw it at the nearest object and run as fast as they could in the other direction. They continued to do this until they noticed us watching from up above and decided to go somewhere else. That was just the beginning of the day. Fireworks never stopped.
In the evening all of us joined at the Shelter Jordan, the hostel where I work at, we enjoyed a special New Year's Dinner! Zucchini Soup, potato salad, some kind of bread with sauce, tuna, and or bacon, cheese, and tomatoes on it. After, all of us staff members and some hostel guests gathered into a circle where we thanked God for all he has done for us and shown us in the last year. Next, we prayed for what we would like God to do in our lives in the coming year. We wrote our prayers on a piece of paper, put them in envelopes, and exchanged them. Then in December we're supposed to email them and see what happened! It was a really moving experience and allowed me to look back over the past year and see where God has led me. Last January, I had no idea that I would be in Amsterdam. It's also amazing to see how much I've grown in God and how much faith I have in Him now. I can't wait to see what happens over the next year and how much more I can grow to lean on Him.
So after that, onto the real party! Through Amsterdam we went! Through throngs of people, over bridges, passing ancient buildings, and finally into the square. Where we watched firework after firework after firework. Cars were beeping trying to get through, bicyclists had to dismount and walk their bikes, all the while people were shouting "Happy New Year!" Then the count down began. Though, it wasn't much of a countdown. No one really started it. It was just a jumble of numbers in different languages and vaguely I could hear 5...4...3...2...1!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Everyone was hugging! Then more fireworks. Two feet in front of me, men came with this ginormous roll of firecrackers and rolled them out for what seemed like forever. Then they lit them!! You couldn't hear anything except for the loud noise and the occasional shout (or not so occasional shout.)
After the square, we headed up to a roof where we watched the fireworks continue for almost another hour. The view was even more magnificent. The fireworks would explode over these tiny dutch houses and chinese wish lamps would float into the night air. Simply breathtaking.
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| Firework from the square |
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| Where I saw it from! A Castle! |
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| Roll of Fireworks! |
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| Going off |
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| All of the leftovers... |
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| View from the roof |
Going into the new year this is a verse I believe sums up everything I'm looking for in the coming year.
"...Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus"
Philippians 3:13-14
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