Tweet27-11-2010 om 15:31 by Sueli Brodin

This has clearly been a US themed week for me, with several highlight events which reminded me in various ways of my connection with the north American country. My father grew up and spent his youth in New York and a part of him, till this day, feels more culturally American than French. My grandfather Pierre Brodin continued to live there all his adult life, together with his second wife Dorothy and I visited them almost every weekend during my student year abroad at Rutgers University in New Jersey.



Guido Wevers, Artistic Director of Maastricht Cultural Capital of Europe 2018 introduces Susan Schaefer and her bilingual children's book to the audience

A few years ago I met Susan Schaefer through the International Women’s Club South Limburg and the web magazine Crossroads, to which she contributed several articles. Susan, a US citizen, had moved with her Dutch husband to his native Maastricht, and we quickly became friends.



Bilingual reading by Susan Schaefer and Gerd Leers

Now a widow, Susan has returned to the US but regularly visits her third home in Maastricht. She is here now for the launch of her latest work, a Dutch/English bilingual children’s book, which she presented last Sunday at the Selexyz Dominicanen bookshop, together with Gerd Leers, the current Dutch Minister of Immigration and former mayor of Maastricht.

My family and I enjoyed listening to the bilingual reading of the adventures of the American/Dutch couple Sara and Antoine, based on Susan and her late husband, and of their cats Yin, Yang... and the new arrival in the family, a sweet little kitten appropriately named Snoepje.



True to Susan’s ideals, it is a story for the young and young at heart, about bridging cultures and continents and giving a home to all.



Launch of the new website Akkers van Margraten (Fields of Margraten)

Two days later on Tuesday afternoon, I was invited to attend the launch at United World College Maastricht of the new bilingual website Akkers van Margraten (Fields of Margraten), dedicated to the story of the construction of the American military cemetery in Margraten near Maastricht.

The website is the latest addition to a wider project aimed at preserving the memories of the last surviving witnesses of the contruction of the cemetery and its impact on the inhabitants of Margraten and the surrounding area. The project includes among others a book, “From Farmland to Soldiers Cemetery” by Mieke Kirkels, Jo Purnot and Frans Roebroeks, a documentary film “Bitter Harvest” by Eugenie Jansen and Albert Elings, and a children’s book “Het geheim van Opa” (Grandpa’s Secret) by Limburg author Jacques Vriens , available both in Dutch and in English.



As part of its Service Learning programme, United World College Maastricht has decided to start a pioneer project with the Akkers van Margraten Foundation and the American Cemetery in Margraten.

The American Military Cemetery in Margraten is very unique in the fact that it is the only one in Europe where the graves of the fallen soldiers have been adopted by local inhabitants.



The adoption programme started in 1945 and is ongoing. UWCM recently adopted a grave at the cemetery and will adopt a second one in January 2011. Each school year, a group of students will be responsible for paying visits and taking care of the graves, keeping in touch with surviving relatives in the US, and providing information to the school community about the history of the military cemetery and its significance in the region.

The school is planning to integrate the project into its academic curriculum in several subjects, such as history, Dutch and English, so that students become involved in it in multiple interdisciplinary ways.



As Simon Murray, head of UWC Maastricht said, the cooperation with the cemetery in Margraten, by “serving those who served us in the past” meets the school’s mission, which is to make “education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future”.



On Thursday night, I joined Susan and a group of friends for a Thanksgiving Dinner party which turned out to be the most international and most musical Thanksgiving celebration I’ve ever seen on both sides of the ocean. Susan had assigned a dish to each guest and for the first time in my life I was faced with the challenging but exciting task of making a pumpkin pie from scratch.



Between the 13 of us, we managed to have it all: a superb six kilo turkey which baked for three hours in the oven, homemade stuffing served on the side, authentic cranberry sauce, a delicious sweet potato casserole, green beans served with a creamy Belgian mustard sauce, Limburg specialty Knien in 't zoer (rabbit in vinegar), wholesome vegetable pies and fresh salads. Then a selection of French and Dutch cheeses and for dessert my pumpkin pie and a pecan nut pie...



Homemade Pecan pie and Pumpkin pie

We raised a toast to friendship and sang songs, in many languages, bonding across borders and cultures, like in this swinging Thanksgiving Dinner Blues improvisation in English, Dutch and even Maastricht dialect.



How  many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?



Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

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