May 2nd 2019
We woke up with rain today, and it kept on raining the whole morning. In between rain showers we went to the sanitary building for a shower. The sanitary building is actually the old harbour office. Funny, from the outside it doesn’t look like it’s being used as a place to shower, just like a monument of sorts.
We made use of the rainy morning to get some work done. In between traveling and exploring sometimes work tends to be forgotten, we’re trying to get into the habit to work while it rains.
When it cleared up in the afternoon we went to museum Boerhaave, a museum dedicated to science and medicine. It’s named after Herman Boerhaave, a renowned physician and botanist from the 17th century. The museum contains a remake of an anatomical theatre, and many other historical scientific instruments.
Today you could also join a workshop to learn how to make soap. We saw it being advertised when we came here, but we couldn’t find the place inside the museum where the workshop was being held. Suddenly we smelled soapy fragrances, so we followed our nose to the source of the smell. The smell originated from a space crawling with children, with a few forlorn adults, probably the parents as statues in the bustling sea of small people. Apparently the workshop was intended for children. But we wanted to make soap too, so we sat down at an empty table and tried to figure out how we could get started. An museum employee came to us and asked with how many we were, because he needed to melt the soap for us. “Just the two of us” we said. “Two? No children?” He was obviously confused that two adults wanted to join the workshop. We said something along the lines of releasing the inner child after which he recovered from his shock and enthusiastically started to explain everything in detail.
We received a small glass jug with molten soap to which we could add a few drops of color and fragrance. The aromatized liquid soap then had to be poured into small molds, and the whole thing needed to set for about 20 minutes. Although not exactly complicated is was a lot of fun to do. A couple with their two children joined our table. The father asked us what they were supposed to do, and we explained that they could select a color and a fragrance, and that the museum employee would be with them shortly for the soap. So the children and the father had already selected a fragrance when the guy from the museum came again. “How many people? he asked, then looking at us he asked the parents “You too?” The mother didn’t respond at all, she was zoned out, but the father said in a very grownup tone. “Well, it is for the kids isn’t it?” The museum guy left again an came back with 2 jugs which he gave to the children. The father looked greatly disappointed, but said nothing. “Where is your jug?” asked his daughter. “I didn’t get any” he said looking crestfallen. “Then go and ask him if you also can get one” she said. “No, it’s okay” the father said trying to hide his disappointment. So funny, it’s so not done to act out of character, like joining in a children’s workshop (although we checked later, it actually said nowhere that it was only for children). The reaction of the museum guy was hilarious, as was the disappointed father who didn’t dare to admit that he wanted to make soap too. When we later plopped the little soaps out of their molds and left the father glumly wished us much joy with them…
