Monthly Report 3: October

Let me start off by addressing Halloween, a beautiful American holiday with ancient-Celtic origins. They don't celebrate it here, and no one understood why I had brought so much candy to school, but I had a good Halloween regardless. I am very thankful that last Thursday one of my classmates threw a Halloween-themed party. It gave me a chance to dress up a bit and made it feel like I wasn't missing out on the holiday. I ate a lot of candy today, and had a really good Spanish class. Spanish is one of the only classes where I actually do work, and one of the hardest for me. It was a good day. And it was following up on a really good night of Kung-Fu (last night we did some kicking, it was the first time in a long time and I was very grateful for it).

It was another event-filled month. In the first week I found out that I had to run for school. Either 1.8km (1.1 mile) or 3.6km (2.2 miles). I don't really get grades for school but I did it anyway since I barely do any exercise here. I chose to do the 3.6km and finished in 16 minutes 15 seconds. Not bad. The school made it a big event, with music and a big finish line and everything.

In English class we read Of Mice and Men, and it was actually my first time reading it. They aren't as familiar with American literature here, but I was glad to have something I could actually read by myself.

My class went out to dinner together one night, a "Japanese" all you can eat place. I was glad that I wasn't sitting near any of the other exchange students, and I could interact more with the other kids. They were telling me stories one sentence at a time, which I found extremely helpful and patient of them.

Not long after that night I was invited to play games and hang out at a classmates house. I was the only exchange student there as well. It was encouraging to hear more people speaking Dutch, and to have more people speak with me in Dutch. We played games in Dutch like Headbandz and Mafia, things with short, easy sentences. It was a nice group of kids, the same kids I went to the Halloween party with. I don't have any strong individual friends yet, but I am falling into a friend group. I think that's a step in the right direction.

I went with my extended host family to see my host-cousin (6 years old) earn her swimming diploma. There are a few swim diplomas and most of the kids in the Netherlands get at least two of them. You take swimming lessons for half a year or so and then you take your test to earn your diploma. It was quite the event. My host family kept assuring me that it was only basic swimming, just enough to get out of the water if they fell. That was a lie, at least by American standards. The kids dove into the pool (going through a hoop that was under water), they treaded water, did a couple laps, floated face down and face up. They did great and we had cake afterwards to celebrate. There is no American equivalent to a swim diploma, so it was a really cool and really Dutch thing to see.

My class took an overnight field trip to France this month. On the way we stopped in Ypres, Belgium. Ypres has a lot of World War One history. It's a very pretty town, and I preferred it over Lille, France (where we spent the night). While in Belgium we visited a WWI museum, two WWI memorials, and a WWI memorial ceremony. 2017 is the 100th anniversary of the war, which put everything in a bit of different light. I liked Lille less than Ypres, but I had a great time getting closer with the other students. When we got there we goofed off in our youth hostel before seeing a movie. We had a choice of different films (all American, all in English). I chose to watch IT (it was great tbh) and was surprised to find that the floor of my movie theater was slanted towards the screen, rather than away from it (the closer to the screen you got, the higher up you were). It didn't hinder my viewing experience, but I did think it was strange. While in France I ate many crepes. I also had a McDonald's veggie burger (because I was curious). We saw an art museum (that was undergoing renovations) and a natural history museum (really a taxidermy room) the following day. Overall I didn't quite understand Lille, we did nothing really educational while there, but I was glad to have the excuse to hang out with my classmates outside of school. (photos at end of post)

Last Sunday me and the Canadian exchange student took the train to Groningen (a northern city that I still can't pronounce) to meet with two former-exchange students that we knew from last year. Last year I showed them around my town, and now it was their turn. We had a lot of fun with them. The last time I had seen my Dutch-Mentor it had been in America. To see her in her home-country was really different. We climbed to the top of Martinitoren to see the views of the city. It was a really nice day and I am sure we will go up and visit them again.

View from Martinitoren, Groningen

Student Library, Groningen (I am told that this is the least-busy it gets)

The Lelystad exchange students, along with some other exchange students from the north of the Netherlands, were invited last week to a police-center in Drachten. The building we went to houses their dispatch center for police, fire brigade, and ambulance. It also has their police-training center. We were given three small tours of different sections of the building. One showed us the process of police dispatch, which was very interesting. Another talked about police-briefings but focused mostly on Dutch drug policies (which are wild. apparently laughing gas is an illegal but really common recreational drug here? are teens here all just dentist-wannabes? also it's legal to sell weed but not to buy it, so every marijuana shop is legally selling weed that they bought illegally. It makes no sense. You'd think if they're going to let people smoke it anyway they might as well make it 100% legal but heavily taxed). The last tour was really interesting. We saw all of the training rooms, big sound stages where incidents can be stimulated in real time. Prop bullets, guns, pepper spray, real cars and body armor. We also toured their shooting range, where we all took turns firing real .9mm guns (yes, with real bullets). Of course, everyone was shocked that me (the American!) had never held a loaded gun before. They all agreed, however, that I was not from Texas, so it made sense. It was almost scarily easy to shoot a gun. We stood just 5 meters from our projected target. 5 shots for aim (2 head shots, 2 neck, 1 way off) and 5 for speed (whenever he tapped us we had to pull the trigger without hesitation). I was glad to experience it once, but I won't be rushing to do it again. Overall it was a really interesting visit.

My parents mailed me all the ingredients for American pancakes and chocolate chip cookies. The cookies were quickly made and consumed (probably the best chocolate chip cookies I ever made tbh), they were greatly accepted by the Dutchies. Plans for a pancake party are underway.

Last night I gave my presentation to my hosting Rotary club. I decided to try and give it in Dutch, and I think I did okay. There were a couple parts where I had to switch to English, but my club was very patient with me. They told me afterwards that my Dutch was good. The Dutch are a very direct people so I don't think they were lying, but with Dutch being such an unpopular language I think the bar for "good" is pretty low. The presentation is about your home town and what you hope to accomplish this year. I've already posted about my bucket-list, but really I just want to see and do as much as possible. I think I am doing well so far. I already have plans for two concerts (Kimbra and Lady Gaga) and in December my host mom is taking me to see a German Christmas festival! I am really excited for that. I am really lucking out on holidays here. My host parents ordered a turkey and told me that we're going to have an American Thanksgiving. I'm a little wary of making a Thanksgiving meal for 30 people, especially in this small European kitchen. Needless to say I'll be skipping school that day. I've been talking a good amount with family back home, and I think that'll help as the holiday season approaches ;)