nobody cried, nobody died

It’s Friday night in Holland, and I’m curled up with my space heater. Yep, seems about right. I’m not even upset about it – it has been a long stinking week. A great week, but a long one.

I picked up my first round of lessons with T4 this week. “Monologues, Soliloquies, and Asides” on Wednesday, “Present Perfect Tense” today. Nobody cried and nobody died. And what I lack in comprehensive knowledge of English grammatical rules, I make up for in enthusiasm. But for the sake of my sanity and the students, I’ll be doing less grammar and more literature from here on out. It’s nerve racking to have your expertise put on the line like that, but I really like it. After school on Wednesday we had the second round of MarnixTalks, a speech competition for the upper form students where they create a speech about anything, then present it (in English) to a panel of judges. I stuck around to hear the speeches and help with set up/break down. We enjoyed a dinner cooked by my host teacher’s husband - who is an amazing chef, by the way. I could've eaten the whole pan of creme brulee by myself. Let me tell you, they do things a little differently in Dutch schools than we do in American schools. Around half past five, we all gathered around the staff room tables, which had been pushed together to create one big community table. Bowls of soup and salad went round, followed by offers of “red or white?” My dinner mates were thoroughly tickled when I regaled them with tales of a teacher friend who could not to return to school on a half day to get some grading done because she had drank a small a margarita with lunch. There's been a bottle of wine sitting in the staff room's fridge ever since, and it makes me giggle every time I see it, because I'm obviously twelve years old. One of the biggest cultural adjustments has been how lax Dutch society is. Walking to the bus station this week I passed by one of the little smoke huts – glass enclosures where people can go to smoke when there’s nasty weather – nearby the bus terminals. As I passed by I detected a hint of something a little more… fragrant… than a cigarette. A smell I had really only encountered by my high school's art basement and in fraternity houses, if you catch my drift. For a split second, I was aghast. Here? In public?? Aaaand then I remembered that I’m in Holland.

Other than that, things have been pretty uneventful. I’ve been trying [you like that present perfect continuous tense?] to become as immersed in Marnix as I can. This morning I sat on the judges panel for the Junior Speaking Competition and got to hear a handful of T2 and T3 students talk about their take on culture. We heard everything from women’s rights to sports to initiation rituals. It was amazing to see the effort and ability of these kids. I wish we could’ve sent them all to the next round. After that I spent the rest of the afternoon preparing for my lesson (i.e. double and triple checking my activities in between cutting up with the other teachers in the teacher’s lounge). After school, I spent about twenty minutes wandering around the small town of Ede. Just checking out all the store fronts and whatnot when I stumbled across this gem:

I’m not really sure why I found it so funny, probably because that’s a whole fish she’s lowering into her mouth. mmmm.

As the students taking oral exams next week, I’m taking on a pretty full load of classes for the teachers who will be proctoring the exams, so this weekend will be filled with lesson planning. In fact, I’m about to have a pretty hot date with my main squeeze, Charlie Bucket (from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for you non-literary people who might have been deluded into thinking I have an active love life) so that I can do some guilt free exploration tomorrow.

I’ll leave you with this, I have a week off for spring break in February and am a little overwhelmed with possibilities. I’ve been leaning toward seeing Greece (Athens or Sparta) and Rome – I’ve spent many an afternoon with my nose in Edith Hamilton’s “Mythology”, much to the ridicule of my English major peers. But I don’t know, with (almost literally) the whole world at my fingertips – where should I go? Suggestions?