Another Day

20^th February 2014

Today was my coldest day here so far; no fun cycling in the rain but something that must be done.

I had the opportunity to sleep in this morning and I took it in open embrace. After I felt fully rested I made my way to town to buy hockey boots, and I met up with Chelsea and we made our way to Johan’s office for our meeting. We spoke about a few ground rules regarding our time here and helpful tips on how we should live. We then made our way to the apartment and received our sets of keys. We also received our first ‘pay-check’ so we have to make that last.

The apartment is very nice and fully equipped. We are very excited to move in and start living independently. There is a washing machine and tumble dryer, unfortunately the dish washer is broken. There is a coffee machine and new fridge and there is a closet which is quite cute. It seems to be a cupboard filled with all the things that the other gappies left there over the years. We just need to organise ironing stuff. And stock the kitchen and, well, move in.

I had hockey practise in the evening at Huizer Hockey Club with Craig Sieben. It was a new experience; they are obviously at a much higher standard than at back home. It is amazing to walk into a hockey complex that has four lit-up AstroTurf’s and to realise that this is a mediocre second division side. I did not play well at all but I am there again next Thursday. I didn’t have the opportunity to see much of their hockey but I can say, even though they are better than us, the Dutch do not have many  natural sportsmen, certainly not as many as South Africa.

This will sound funny but I am starting to crave cookies, so I am sure I will stock up on those.

First experience of schools

18^th February 2014

Today was my first meeting with Laar and Berg School. It is fair to say that it is not a traditional single sex school. I was shown around the school by André and the biggest initial difference is probably the ‘smoking section’ for the kids. No one really greets each other there; it is not really a school thing but a Dutch thing.

The school is nice and fully equipped, the school is apparently in a rather wealthy area, so I believe the children come from relatively wealthy backgrounds. The kids dress as they want and well kind of do what they want.

I was introduced in the staff room, and some of the teachers spoke to us afterwards. There is one teacher who is very excited to have me for their teacher’s hockey side, and it looks like I might be doing a lot of work for the English department as that would be the most convenient for us. I am excited to help out with PE. We are already going on an excursion to Amsterdam with the History class to Amsterdam and some of the Jewish museums next month.

We sat in on two of André’s geography lessons, they were in Dutch but it gave us an idea if how classes worked. They are a lot more conversational, kids were not as severely punished for talking as I am used to. And they are allowed their cell phones in class; while not technically for personal use, it did not stop the kids from texting or going on media.

Well the classes may seem less disciplined; I really do see the merit in the style of teaching. It really does allow the kids to think for themselves and be more interactive.

So those were my first observations of a Dutch school and I was impressed and truly excited for some work.

So tomorrow I have a meeting at the other school ATC, it should be interesting as well.

Exciting times.

Amsterdam Town Hall

first day in the capital

17^th February 2014

 We boarded the train to Amsterdam and to Amsterdam we went.

On Mondays shops only open at one o’clock. They know the pain of those Monday mornings. We went there in the afternoon. We decided not to be too adventurous as this was our first outing there and we only had the afternoon. We stuck to the main roads and tourist places. We saw The Dom, which is the main square with monuments and a beautiful Town Hall. The train station itself is a marvellous building. The weather was on our side so we walked up and down a couple streets, went into stores and saw canals. We did not get to the Red Light District nor did we see any coffee shops in the part we went, I’m sure you can hear my disappointment as I write this. The event of the day is that we visited the Amsterdam Historical Museum (For free with our cards) and that took us through a thorough history of Amsterdam.

Chelsea continued to shop; nothing there warranted me to reach for my wallet so I returned with nothing but my memories. It is official, the Dutch have no shame, they do not hold back on any opportunity to display anything sexual or use profanities. While it does make them unique, some disclosure has never that bad.

So that was our first day in Amsterdam and I am sure it will not be our last.

I found a website showing all the performers coming to Holland, and Miley might be bumped down my list.  

 I am starting to get a picture of how expensive this year will be. But I go on in good spirits, and tomorrow I have my first meeting with the school.

Fact of the Day: The February Strike in Holland during World War 2 was the only mass workers strike against the prosecution of Jews.

Going to Utrecht

14^th February 2014

So here I am thinking that Holland is pretty cold, and I’ll be okay if I wear enough layers and plug the holes. And to be honest it is a great plan; but only if you decided to only step outside between ten in the morning and eight in the evening. So yes, when I cycled to fetch Chelsea at eight thirty this morning, I was cold.

But after a chilly start to the day, we had an excellent time. We left by train to Utrecht, South West of us. (Utrecht is the fourth most populated city in Holland, for all you General knowledge fundi’s out there).

Utrecht central train station has a great thing going for them. The main exit of the Station is the entrance to the local shopping mall. And since I was with two women, the shopping commenced. It did not last too long as the price tags quickly took the wind from our sales. I should probably mention that the Dutch is an impeccably dressed population, everyone seemed to be well dressed and fashion conscience. What I did notice is that about 80% of the people would be considered ‘hipster’ in South Africa, with the glasses, Euro-cuts and blood restricting pants. I could not help to wonder if the remaining 20% could be the new Hipsters.

I’m sure my dad will be glad that the shopping was the smallest portion of our day. After I was done judging the style of the population, we soon found the tower that dominated the Utrecht skyline. We went to the DomKerk (oldest church in the region). We could not go on the tour as there was a wedding on but we did get to see some of the church and one of the courtyards. It was built in 1735 and registers as the best looking church I have seen.

We walked the streets of the town and were astounded by the beautiful canals and old houses, all the buildings seem to be ancient or completely modern so it leaves a stunning place to visit. We had sandwich’s from the most famous Italian bread deli in Utrecht (Don’t Worry, I was also blown away by their credentials). We continued walking when Chelsea and I walked past a few shoe stores and decided to get High-tops. When in Europe, do as Europeans do. So we got ourselves some shoes. From there we returned to the Station, we indulged in Starbucks coffee, only ever seen before in movies by South Africans.

So I do have to quickly apologise for the some of the rubbish I have written between the title and now, but well done for reaching the end. 

Utrecht

1st day in Holland

12^th February 2014

“It looks like a beautiful day in Holland, little to no cloud cover and great visibility up to 10km. On the ground it is 3 degrees……….”

There was no simpler way to be told that I was no longer in Cape Town, and was indeed in Europe. At least I was not alone, as we disembarked the plane, there was a general pain felt as in turn everyone put down their hand luggage to put on a jacket and all warmth of South Africa was lost.

Anyone travelling alone would admire the simplicity of Schiphol Airport. I was directed very clearly by signs to passport control, luggage halls and arrival hall. And as you pass through passport control, you think, “Well this is going to be simple enough”. Straight afterwards the baggage hall with opens up in front of you; you look at the monitor to find out that baggage from Johannesburg will be on belt 16. Now in my head 16 is a pretty small number, and it is until you have to first pass 15 other belts. As it turns out Schiphol’s baggage hall forms a semi-circle around the arrival hall, so once completing the half-moon to get to belt 16, you look back and you can see where passport control is, about 50m away.

But as much as I can moan, it was an easy trip, I slept well and I had no hassles. I still haven’t seen Wolf of Wall Street though.

After leaving the airport, and facing the cold for the first time, you realise that you can deal with this weather. So we pack the car and begin the drive to Hilversum. Now at this stage my eyes are set firmly out the window, looking at the countryside and the highway and making my initial observations of Holland. They take great care of their country, no litter, trees planted alongside most of the roads and where there is no road, building or tree there is grass, a lot greener than you would find in our back yard.

The Highways have walls constructed on the sides, I assume to stop cyclists from trying to cross. These walls have been constructed to have some design or pattern to liven the place up. The Roads are very clear as to where to go, especially the circles with divided lanes. And after about 15 minutes of driving, you realise you that you finally reached the edge of Schiphol. But my biggest observation was that as far as you look in any direction, the highest point is a tower or the tip of a tree. When people say Holland is flat, believe them, they are not over-exaggerating anything.

It seemed appropriate to go for a cycle on my first day. And that is what I did, cycled through the streets and the town and the park. There is no easier place in the world to cycle. There are bicycle lanes almost everywhere and cyclists have the same rights as drivers. Cars wait for bikes at corners and cyclists have their very own robot system. But what makes cycling so easy and dare I say enjoyable is the fact that Holland is so flat, my steepest incline all day was a speed bump. Very little energy is used and the only time when your legs feel the burn is when you are cycling into the wind. While I enjoyed my time on the bike, I may still give the Cape Argus a couple years.

So far so good in Holland, I am settled and having a good time, I look forward to putting down some more thoughts. But I must first mention the biggest revelation of the day, and that is their Wi-fi. I no longer feel that far from home as I can always stay in contact and it helps that it is a lot quicker than anything at home.