Day 1 in the Netherlands done! We started off the day by winning the group scavenger hunt in a landslide. Then we stopped for lunch at and met some of the local crowd while we ate by the water. Afterwards we walked over to the Waterloo plein market and on to the Rijh Museum to observe the paintings of the past. Then we met up with the group to go on our tour to the House of Denim.
They have figured out a way to develop denim in a much more sustainable way. One of the people that gave us the tour was a top 5 jean chemist in the world and he was telling us about their new way to bleach jeans to a lighter color using much less water. The original method used harsh bleach, tons of water and workers to scrub on wear marks. The Denim House first developed a better method of bleaching by using pumice stones to add spots, then they started making the stones out of recycled plastics which can also be reused. So not only did they make a more sustainable method they also made a reusable one too. The new method uses just 16 gallons of water to bleach rather than the original 600 gallons.
After our tour we went to dinner at a great soul spot and did some sacking after. Then, just now we observed the Dutch Memorial Day and had a two minute moment of silent reflection for those who were lost in war. Similar to America they had a wreath laying for soldiers and observed a moment of silence.
