day two: whew

Far less intense than the day before. Due to some meetings, shifting schedules, and I suspect intuition that I was feeling a bit shell shocked, I wasn't expected to come in today until 10:00. The extra two hours were exactly what I needed. After a slow start to the morning, I got to sit in on classes with the upper level students. Despite the fact that the schedule and format and culture are totally different, there is one thing that does not change across the continents: teenagers. All day I laughed at how similar the personalities are to the students that I've interacted with at home. Complaining about homework, cutting up under their breath, it doesn't change. In between classes I met with the various teachers that I'll be working with and began discussing plans to firm up my schedule in the coming weeks and the lessons that I'll be taking over. I also met the school principal today, a kind man who graduated from the University of Florida. It was a treat to speak with not only another American, but someone who knows the South. So far everyone I've met at Marnix has been crazy nice. Obviously I didn't expect them to be mean, but it's an amazing perk nonetheless. Everyone has encouraged me to not only learn about the school but to make sure that I travel and see all of Holland - coming from a pretty work centered culture (or maybe it's just been me intensely focused on work the past few years) I've been taken aback at their insistence for exploration outside of internship. 

Also, something a little odd, that I'm sure has come from speaking with people who have a myriad of accents the past two days. The voice in my head that I read with has developed a weird hybrid Dutch-British-American English accent. Three of the teachers I've spoken to frequently are British natives and most of the rest learned English from the Brits, so they have a British twang to their English (which is a really cool thing to listen to because some words come out in a Dutch accent and some words come out in an English accent). But being around all that with very little exposure to American English has totally warped the way that I've been reading things - if this is happening after 48 hours, who knows what it'll be like come April?! 

After I finished for the day there was still plenty of daylight so I walked around the block just to see what the neighborhood was like - lot's of small, Dutch-looking houses and one very friendly postman. Then I took the long way back to the bus station and waited for the 52 to arrive. In my efforts to see more of the neighborhood, I missed the earlier bus and had to wait around a half hour for the next one so I pulled out my copy of 1984 (T6t - their name for bilingual track seniors - are reading it). While I stood reading, an older woman approached me, also to wait for the bus. She pointed to the cover and spoke a string of Dutch that went completely over my head. "I'm sorry, I only speak English" I said, cursing myself for not trying harder at learning a few phrases earlier. In very broken English she translated, saying that she believed that 1984 had come true. I laughed and nodded in agreement and didn't have anything else to say... In my head this was an entertaining moment, but now that I write it I can't really find the punch line. Oh well. The Dutch are pretty friendly when they have an excuse to be. 

The bus finally arrived and I began the long journey back, passing all the little stone houses next to pastures of sheep and cow and horses. All things that shouldn't surprise me, I've lived in Auburn, Alabama for the last three and a half years for goodness sake, but do. Probably because Renkum/Ede doesn't feel like what I know to be the countryside. The houses are clumped so closely together that it feels like it's a big city. 

When I arrived home, I thawed out for a few minutes. Apparently Holland is having a "warm" winter. Could've fooled me on that one. Temperatures are expected to drop soon though. Thank goodness for thick socks. When the feeling came back to my extremities, I set out again to walk around the block, just to get my bearings a little bit. We're surrounded mostly by other houses, but there is what appears to be like a convenience store with a weird assortment of American and Mexican looking food advertised in the window. Mostly I just noticed the ads for burritos and pizza. The quality is probably a little questionable, but in a pinch I bet it'd be good enough. 

I haven't had much time to take photographs. I feel like a fool when I whip my phone out to document what is mundane to everyone else here. I'm expecting most photo opportunities will arise in my weekend outings. But here's a couple that I managed: 

My room - the photo doesn't do justice to how large the space is;
I thought the tulips waiting on my desk were an especially
Dutch touch from my host family

The windmill I pass everyday getting to Marnix,
They really are everywhere.