Monthly Report 4: November

I've just finished my third full month in The Netherlands. In a week I'll be switching to a new host family in Lelystad. I am sure I'll do a lot of great things with them, and I hope with them we can start trying to only speak Dutch at home (though I am sure it'll be taxing at first). I am at the point in dutch where I can have small conversations, but often have to add in English words. And the longer the conversation goes the higher the percentage of English becomes as well. Even though I get frustrated and wished I was learning faster, I think realistically I am doing fairly well. I think (I hope) in the next few months that my Dutch will drastically improve.

And I have been speaking more Dutch in general. At school a few kids will only speak to me in Dutch (though some still only in English) and most are generous enough to entertain a slowly moving mostly bad Dutch/partial English conversations.

I started off the month with a popular 16+ event at a local club. It was called SuperStijl and its basically a DJ night where you vote on the music. So every 15 minutes they have three new options for a music genre and while you dance you can go vote on an electronic machine for which one you want. I went with my host sister and her friends and met up with kids from my school at the club. It was a lot of fun hanging around just Dutchies.

The 11th of November is the closest thing to Halloween here in the Netherlands. It's Sint Maartens and kids go door to door singing for candy. It was weird seeing a trick or treat environment without any of the decorations or costumes. Luckily that night I also went to a Superhero-themed surprise 18th birthday part for a class mate. People were wearing superhero costumes which definitely made it feel like Halloween.

I am attending my Rotary meetings weekly and it paid off this month. One of the Rotarians owns a spa and gave all the girl exchange students a free spa day. we went on a Wednesday (because it was an all-women day and because we didn't have school) and since we went in the middle of the day (complimentary lunch!) no one else was there! We had all of the saunas and swimming pool to ourselves. Since Dutch spa's are fully nude it took a bit of convincing to get the Ecuadorian girl into the Sauna. She eventually broke her comfort zone though, which is nice because we also got full body massages. It was such a nice day, and though I did take pictures I don't think I'll be including them in this post...

This month was also the Rotary Residency Weekend in Den Haag. Den Haag (The Hauge) Rotary hosts all the exchange students in the country for a weekend. Like the DOC weekend we stayed in temporary host families. Mine was very nice and even bought me a chocolate letter. We took the train in on Friday and started with a tour of The Netherlands government buildings. The Netherlands has a First and Second chamber the way we have a House and Senate. It was a crash course in Dutch history and politics and I found it very interesting. I enjoyed it a lot even if the other exchange students were less enthused. We got home at 6 that night and weren't allowed to go out (rightfully so, a lot of promiscuous exchange students) so I met up with other host families for a group dinner.

That Saturday was great. We got a tour of the Maurits House art museum, home to Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring as well as other great Dutch works. It would seem that the other exchange students aren't as into museums and education as much as I am. Though it is a small museum I could have spent at least another half an hour there. I loved how our tour guide explained the paintings. She pointed out things I would not have noticed by myself (which I suppose is a tour guide's job after all), specifically things that were wrong with the paintings. Inna curacies that showed you that a subject as a made up creation rather than a still life (the flowers all face the same way, the vase would be too heavy to stay up, the cow has young horns but adult teeth). Things that don't take away from the beauty of a painting, but perhaps from its realism. Rembrandt's "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp" (a commissioned portrait painting) is also at Maurits Huis. When I first saw it I was viewing from the bottom left, and I was struck by how out of proportion the lying man was. He was so short. When I asked the tour guide about it she took me in a circle around the room until I as looking up at the painting from its right side. As I walked in the circle I watched as the body grew to an appropriate length. The guide explained the the painting was meant to be hung in the top left of a wall, meaning it would always be viewed from the right. Rembrandt, always the master of lighting and perspective, scewed the image to favor this view point. It was really cool to see. There was also one modern painting in the gallery, also dutch, painted on the ceiling of one of the hallways. It was very abstract, but it reminded me of angels and I felt the red in the painting complimented the red wallpaper of that room. The guide asked us how we felt about it and explained it was supposed to tell the story of Icarus. I definitely wouldn't have gotten that by myself, but I liked the painting (even though it was too big to photograph).

We took the tram from Den Haag to Scheveningen to see Sinterklaas arrive on his steamboat from Spain. He marches through coastal towns on his white horse and with his squadron of Zwarte Pieten. It was my first time seeing Zwarte Pieten and I have to admit I found them a bit scary looking. But seeing how happy the kids were was nice. I'm starting to appreciate Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet more, and overall I feel like adults should stop trying to micromanage a children's holiday. All of the kids were dressed as Zwarte Piet (almost none dressed as Sinterklaas) and they definitely don't see Zwarte Piet as being less than Sinterklaas they way we think of elves as being less important than Santa. There was one drum that had a pretty questionable cartoon depiction of Zwarte Piet, but I think it's overall a very fun day. Later the exchange students got a personal visit from Sinterklaas and some more PC Zwarte Piets (more of a chimney sweep vibe).

The next day was my Cousin's wedding. I was a bridesmaid and my dad was officiating. I thought I would be crying all day. I ran to catch the earliest train home so that I'd have wifi if anyone wanted to call me. My family did a great job including me though. They sent me photos in real time and sent me a video of the ceremony as soon as it was over. When I facetimed them during the reception I had already seen the ceremony and could talk with them about it. I got to talk to my cousin and her husband and all of my immediate family. Of course there were some tears (there is always crying at a wedding) but much less than I thought there would be, and much less sad tears. I love my family and I was obviously a bit homesick, but that Sunday fed right into test week and Thanksgiving. Since it was test week I didn't have school (I took an English standardized test on Monday and a small dutch test on Tuesday). That meant I had all of Wednesday and Thursday to make a thanksgiving meal for 20 Dutch family members. I thought I would be sad on Thanksgiving but my host family decided to do a real American Thanksgiving. The Canadian exchange student came too and it felt like a real family thanksgiving. I live streamed the parade and made pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cranberry sauce, greenbeans, candied carrots, mashed potatoes, and gravy. My host dad made the turkey. Everything came out very nice and I really did feel like I had family around me. Even my host brothers from my 3rd host family came. Gezellig. I still think Christmas will be hard but if Thanksgiving could feel this homey I think Christmas can too.

I spent half of the last week of November with the Canadian's host family. My host parents were in Spain and I thought it would be nicer to be with them than alone. It was nice to have a sister to wake up with and go to sleep with, I've missed that a lot. I also got to go to a Kimbra concert. It was my first time in Amsterdam at night and I really enjoyed it.

We're entering the holiday season now. I am attending Rotary meetings weekly and am planning on going on a rotary trip to a German Christmas market next month. The first Sunday of December we're celebrating Sinterklaas and I think it will a nice time. Overall a good month and looking forward to the changes in the coming months.