in the netherlands, part 1

i am in Oss, the Netherlands. I just got back from an evening of local beer, wine, salmon, shrimp, and discussing politics, the atlantic divide, electoral politics, and the war on terrorism with a dude form the netherlands who lived in newark for 4 years and cried when the towers fell even though his beautiful twin girls were just born, and he thinks we (americans and europeans) have more in common than we realize and he hopes we can figure out how to put aside egos on both sides and work together on commmon goals like fixing iraq at all costs. i also met this guy from japan who worries that kerry will be weak on terrorists.