Why is the pope in our house?
`A few years back, I dressed up as Sinterklaas in the traditional long, red velvet robe, tall mitre hat and gray beard. Members of the Erasmus Student Network board wanted to show international students the meaning of our Dutch Sinterklaas celebration. At the time, I was joined by other ESN Board members, who painted their faces black and dressed as Zwarte Pieten. In the evening, we rang the door bells at four international houses on campus, located in the area of Caarlslaan. Initially, the Zwarte Pieten ran in through the door, throwing heaps of peppernoten and candy in the air, and then I walked in later to tell the history and tradition of how Sinterklaas arrives from Spain in his boat with his white horse. It was actually really funny. The international students reacted with surprise and shock, and some of them even thought I was supposed to be the pope or some kind of Christian disciple. They ran to grab their cameras to take photographs of us in our costumes. I can remember, while growing up in Zwolle in the primary school, I always enjoyed writing the poem because you can write a clever satire about someone, but I admit I didn't like making the elaborate surprises. If the truth be told, most of time, Dutch parents make the surprises for their children to bring to school. I was always a bit skeptical of the thin man called Sinterklaas and felt scared to walk close to him. He really scared me as a child.'
