My US History teacher has lived in the Netherlands and taught at the American School of the Hague for a long time. Today in class he told us how there used to be a big meadow in the lot next to the school building. It was fenced. Early every morning, a truck would pull up, towing a row of trailers. The driver would open the gate, drive into the meadow, close the gate, and open each trailer to let out the cows riding inside.

All day, the cows stood around in the meadow, eating grass. Each evening, they lined up to wait for the truck with trailers to return and pick them up.

I recognized the system: we used to live near some fields in the Hague city center, and they, too, were regularly filled with and emptied of cows.

Now that meadow next to our school has been turned into a rest home (in Dutch, a verpleeghuis). My teacher finished his story by pointing out at it and showing us which room he wants to move into when he finally goes senile.