NOTE: For additional promoted NTBA events, always check the CALENDAR!! www.netherlandstexas.com/events.aspx

Thank you all

for visiting the second annual

Art Exhibit

to celebrate "Dutch American Heritage Day"

last Saturday November 6, 2010

from the artists, organizers, and assistants:

_{^{(left to right, back to front)}}

Maricel Blum, Guus Kemp, Gretta Pieper, Maryalice Haest (and sister (left)), Tanja Huybregts-Buist, Paul von Burg,

Deniz Kabuloglu, Jos Hermans, Elisabeth Feerick (and daughter), and Prentice Danner

A special thanks to Guido's Orchestra:

www.guidos.nl

and the sponsors:

Intercontinental Hotel Houston: www.ichotelsgroup.com/intercontinental/en/gb/locations/overview/houston

Terrace Hotel, Lakeland, Florida: www.terracehotel.com

Machine Support: www.machinesupport.com

Jumbo Shipping: www.jumboshipping.nl

Intercontinental’s General Manager (happily biased toward orange!), and NTBA board member, Raymond Vermolen, set up an enormous screen and turned his hotel lobby into open hospitality space to welcome all supporters – and a sprinkling of Spain supporters ventured in among the large Dutch group that greeted each other confidently, happily, in proud anticipation of the outcome, sporting everything and anything in the now famous orange color.

Our eyes fixed on the screen, outcries and applause and sighs of anxiety welled up continuously from the confident-looking orange masses.  We sat and stood, paced and shared comments, the Heineken flowed, humor spread, bitterballen circulated and the mood was tense but so very hopeful. The promise of a big after party with the entire group was in the air.

The game went into overtime and still no goal – the crowd became quieter, eager and impatient now, intent on every move on the field. And when the letdown came, and the Spanish team won through a very fast and very unexpected goal, the orange crowd stood stunned. Silenced at once, and bewildered at this outcome.

The absolute and immediate end to an afternoon of unity, shared excitement and confident hope – all together this in such a great environment, which offered everything at hand for a continuation of a real celebration. The disappointment was deeply felt, and easily shared with fellow supporters left and right of each of us. 

But at a moment like this, there was still the comfort of a group of people connected by the same sentiment, comforting and hugging eachother in this outcome, shaking hands when saying goodbye, and commiserating -  we remained united in knowing we had had a great run!

THANK YOU!

With his background being half Dutch, half American and having lived in The Netherlands until he was 12, Shannon began to dream of working for an airline to enable easy travel back and forth to Europe visit family. After having worked in investment banking and public real estate development for a short while, going on to Harvard School Business, he started his career in the airline industry, ending up at Continental, where he has been for 15 years now. He combines his other interest, architecture, in his current position to mix real estate development with beautiful, logistically efficient airport objectives. Shannon is now proud to show the development of our Houston International airport.

IAH was built in the 60’s on a vast land and was one of the largest airports in size. As Houston’s economy grew, IAH expanded to become one of the top ten largest airports in the US and a strategic hub for Latin America and Europe. It originally started with two terminals (current A and B) and has grown until 2004 to a major airport with in total five terminals (A, B, C, D, and E). In 2007 IAH had a throughput in excess of 52 million travelers from which approximately 90% were passengers in transit. 

To sustain this growth in the future (reported expectancy 80 million in 2020), Houston's Intercontinental Airport is required to create more efficient take off and landing logistics. Recently IAH received the permits to accommodate landing in Westward as well as in Eastward directions. This enables the airport to build more ‘East/West’ runways. The existing EW-runways will in the future be extended and widened to support new and bigger aircrafts like the A380. Therefore, too, the North> South runways will in the future be decommissioned and partly converted to additional terminal spaces.

The final objective for IAH is to duplicate an airport setup such as Atlanta, with separate terminal “trains” to transport passengers from one flight to another by commuter magnetic rails. The first step in this process is now starting, by reconfiguring terminal B to a third state-of-the-art international terminal.

With Houston as the energy capital, the world’s largest medical center and still offering best opportunities in the US, Houston is sustaining its name as a Modern International City; one of the best cities to live in according to Forbes magazine.

In conclusion: Shannon’s speech had the attention of the whole audience, and the NTBA would like to thank him for this great opportunity to hear a very interesting presentation!

The NTBA would also like to thank the Intercontinental Hotel, which hosted this event with perfection and arranging again for the famous Dutch ‘bitterballen’.

The NTBA is furthermore very pleased to have connected with the other European Chambers when organizing this special event: the French American Chamber of Commerce, the Italy America Chamber of Commerce, the German American Chamber of Commerce, and the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce - we look forward to co organizing many more joint ‘European’ events!

More information to be found on:

http://www.fly2houston.com/0/1004785/0/1906D1934/

http://www.houston2020.org/houston.htm 

http://system.gocampaign.com/files/file.asp?f=56071

This Rijsttafel feast offered by the Consul General of the Indonesian Consulate was a great feast for all. 

The Indonesian Rijsttafel, a Dutch word that literally translates to "rice table", is an elaborate meal consisting of many side dishes. The Rijsttafel originated in the Dutch colonial era, when the need was felt to create a festive and official type of banquet that would represent the multi-ethnic nature of the Indonesian archipelago. 

Many great hosts, the very friendly staff of Consuls and their spouses received all the guests and walked them through their elaborate museum located on the premises, explained the artifacts and were available for questions.

The food was excellent, and since I cook so often rijsttafel dishes myself, I know many of the ladies that had prepared the dinner, because I often come in on Saturdays to get Indonesian food and snacks and always go to their Pasar Malam's, the “evening” market festivals that they organize on their grounds..

Everybody that couldn't make it really missed out on a very pleasant night. 

The setting in the dining room with tables and booths was very nice and many guests asked if they could sign up and become a member of the NTBA. With such events they thought that the NTBA contribution was a real steal!

They all complimented about such a good dinner.

Geert Visser, NTBA President, reminded everybody also about the Dinner Cruise Tour, the Bitterballen evenings every month, the Koninginne Ball, the OTC event and some more.

We did shake hands with all hosts and thanked them very much ( terima kassi banyak) and wished them all a good evening, “slamat malam.” 

Willem ten Wolde