The Talking Traveller

For the last 4 days I feel that I have experienced the Netherlands on the genuine Netherlands way. From the back of a bicycle. Before I left from England I joined a group called "Vriendenopdefiets" - Friends on bicycles. After you subscribe they send you a book with over 3000 home adresses of people living in holland, belguin, germany and some in france. You are then allowed, if you travel using muscle power such as cycling or hiking, to overnight in these peoples homes. They charge you a mere 16Euros a night and this includes breakfeast. You phone them the day before and reserve your space and there you go. I have stayed at  two homes already, one in Rotterdam ,and last night in Moontfort, west of Gouda.You get a warm welcome, and nice chat, and a comfy warm room.I have cycled from Dordrecht past the amazing Kinderdijk WindMills and through some beautiful holland countryside. I also visited the swampy Biesbosch park and saw a majority of waterbirds.

The last couple of days I, for some strange reason, experienced some tension on saying my surname to people.The "Merwe" part. It would come out something like "Helo, mij naam is Hein van der M-m-m-m-m-merwe" To handle this I used a combination of two tools that are taught in the McGuire programme. The short-hit-and-hold and deep-and-breathy-voicetone. This results in me saying the M-sound almost assertively, hitting the M, and then holding it for 2 seconds. Before doing this I would have ensured that I speak in a deep tone, and I also lower my tone in those 2 seconds. The end produce of this effort is that I remove the muscular distortion in the articulators and I ensure adequate "breathy" airflow over the vocal cords. I also keep tension  and focus away from the vocal cords by speaking deep and from the chest. I have done this in both my phone reservations and in numerous contacts with great success.

These kind of "stumbles" occur regurlarly for recovering stammerers, and we are taught how to handle them. As I ride my bicycle throught the flat soothing roads of Holland I sometimes feel tired, especially when it's raining or very cold. What I do then is ring the silver bell on my handlebar, BLING! BLING! BLING! I look up to the next stranger and give my warmest, friendliest smile. I then I ZOOOOOOOM on forward, for everything is then brighter once again.