Some fun adventures I've been on with Rotarians.....
The program I've talked about in previous posts is now starting to pick up and a few kind Rotarians have taken time to bring me to some very special places. First was a nice boat ride to Leiden (a larger city nearby) for dinner. We went in the evening and luckily had very nice weather. My only regret is that I didn't bring my nice camera! So I only took one picture but it was amazing just riding through the canals seeing the city, and of course after dinner it was even more beautiful at night time. Can't wait to go back!
The next week, Jan, the president of the Voorhout Club, had me over for dinner at his place to meet his family which was nice. After that we watched a small parade in the village and then went to a fair going on a few crazy rides. On the weekend he also took me to a town called Kinderdijk which has 21 windmills in the area! It was soo Dutch and very very cool to see. We also toured inside a windmill and saw how people used to live. I learnt a lot about how they work which was actually pretty interesting! After that we went for dinner and ice cream in Noordwijk which is a town right on the beach. Sooo nice! and I LOVE the ice cream here. It's way better than back home. Jan and his family are great and very welcoming just like everyone else here.
On Tuesday I had an amazing opportunity and had a VIP ticket to Prinjesdag! A Dutch tradition in The Hague.
A lady named Carol (prior president of the Sassenheim club and also happens to be a sister of one of my future host dads) works for the Royal Family and decided
to bring me along with her son, Jarno. From what I understand she is the flower arranger,
which may sound simple but in Holland it is a very big deal! She plans and arranges all the flowers for the Queen and the Royal family. Prinsjesdag, the third Tuesday of every September, is when the Queen reads the "million dollar speech" which is the financial plan for the country for the upcoming year. To start off the day Jarno and I took the train to Den Haag (the Hague) and we walked through the town to Noordeinde Palace (where the Queen lives!). Our tickets allowed us to go in the back entrance, through the palace and then sit inside th
e gates to watch the Royal family come out of the palace. They came out in pairs, Queen Beatrix and Princess Maxima (the Princess who will eventually be Queen) came out last of course. They all rode in cute carriages that reminded me of a movie, and the beautiful Golden carriage came for the Queen and Princess. The whole event reminded me of some kind of fairytale (probably Cinderella)-- it was AMAZING. and I was so close! They all leave the palace and head over to the Binnenhof where the speech is made in front of members of the government and other very important people. Along the streets there are about 100,000 spectators that come from all over the country hoping to catch a glimpse of the members of the royal family in their carriages. During this time we were invited into the palace to have lunch and watch the speech on TV. After lunch we came back outside to see the carriages return to the palace, and then see the royal family come out and wave on the balcony -- again, just like a movie! SO COOL. Around the balcony of course are flowers that Carol arranged! I got so many neat pictures with my new camera and nice new zoom lens too. I'm starting to love that camera more and more everyday...
After this incredible experience we again walked through town and took the train back to Leiden. AAHHH an amazing day I can't even fully describe! You'll have to look up Prinsjesdag on Google because I'm sure I didn't do that great of a job describing it. But it's certainly a huge tradition here that I wish we had something to compare to in Canada!
So to sum things up, my host rotary clubs are amazing. I've only been here a month and I have seen so many memorable things. I'm scheduled to go see the Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam as well as the Marriage of Figaro opera in Amsterdam later on. With some more lovely Rotarians of course....
One Rotarian, Rinus, is giving me Dutch lessons once a week. He's a very nice man and fun to talk to. I had my first one last week and it went well.. we went to the meeting after and I was able to tell a bit about my week in front of the club. My Dutch is slowly, slowly getting better :)
School!.....
My school is going smoothly so far. I have French (easy, but taught in Dutch), English (my favorite because my teacher is a hilarious clone of Bridget Jones), Art (another favorite), Science for Public Understanding (SO BORING! but taught in English, so can't complain) and Math (waaayy more advanced than Canada and taught in Dutch..). I'm also taking part in the first year english classes helping the teacher and laughing at them talk.
I'm very lucky that most of my classes are taught in English except French and Math. The school system here is very different in the fact that they have different types, Mavo Havo VWO, like I mentioned before. Also, you have to choose a profile to follow which determines what kind of classes you take. You are also divided into classes which means you are primarily with the same people in all classes, which isn't that great for an exchange student but I'm still enjoying it. They have 9 classes a day here and it seems much more like university to me. Students have a different schedule each day and start and end times always differ.. but can sometimes be 8:30-5ish. But for me I have a very slack schedule and spend a lot of time in the study hall with nothing else better to do -- like right now ;)
The only big difference I've found is that kids here actually seem to do work in class. It's so strange. The teacher will assign something.. and then all of a sudden the kids plug in their Ipod and start to work... then they put up their hand to get a question answered... and then resume. Every single one of them. Quietly and obediently. I was almost terrified the first time it happened and even felt a little awkward. Now I'll be honest not every class is like this, but still. It's just so very strange. I think the obedience is starting to rub off on me. But don't worry, I'm sure I'll still be the world's best procrastinator when I get back home.
My English class is best described as a riot I think, the teacher is so funny and the kids in it just seem to make me laugh all the time. A lot of the boys speak in English accents because the teacher (aka Bridget Jones) does, but I didn't realize it was a joke until my second week. The students seem to have more freedom here. I've also realized swearing in English isn't as frowned upon in schools as it is back home. For example, the first day of my English class we were asked to pick a picture out of a pile and relate it to how you feel about coming back to school and then share it with the class. One girl chose a picture with a swamp and a pretty background in the distance. She said "I chose this because the swamp is like school, you have to get through all of the shit and then when you're done you're free." Sorry for the language Mom, but seriously. My teacher replied "Well said Laura, interesting word usage." This is just one reason why I love this teacher.
Anyways that's enough blabbing about school.
Some more random adventures....
A few weeks ago I went to the Kaasmaarkt (cheese market) in Aalkmaar with Dieteke, Geraldine, and Dieteke's mother. It was huge and there was SOOOO MUCH CHEEEEESE! Literally an entire street covered in it... so Dutch and so great :). and then of course we did some shopping where I realized I am going to spend way too much money this year. Everything seems to be double the price here than back in Canada -- very depressing!
Today we went to the fair in Sassenheim which is almost exactly the same to the fairs back in Kamloops. The rides are very similiar, the only difference I noticed was that they have fried miniature pancakes called Poffertjes instead of fried donuts. Again, so Dutch.
Okay this doesn't really share everything I've done, but I'm getting blogged out and my wrists are sore from typing. Tot ziens!
Ps. I'm starting to get more comfortable on my bike and can even ride with one hand while texting on my phone. That doesn't really say much considering half the teenagers here ride with no hands.. but still. I love biking to school on the little brick roads!
more, more pictures!!
1 comment:
Ooh it's fun to read someone else's blog! Very nice :). I haven't found the math here harder than at home. So was surprised to read that. I'm sure it's just because Alberta is ahead of BC :P. Also, I'm amazed that you said kids have a better work ethic here! It must be your school or my school is weird because my classes are so loud and no one is ever working! lol
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