MY VALENTIJN: THE NETHERLANDS

Not-so-bright and incredibly early on Monday morning, I went back to the school and worked with the art teacher throughout the day. The different groups came to the art room throughout the day, which is different than how I’ve seen art in my school back in Texas. At North Ridge, the art teachers go to the different classrooms instead of the children going to the art classroom. The students were working on a little Valentine’s Day (Valentijn’s Dag) craft. I’ve never been great at folding paper, but the goal was to make a cute little origami heart. The teacher explained everything in Dutch, but by the third class, I really had the hang of it. I started off having the kids help me out, but by the end of the day, students were bringing their paper to me and asking for help. It was really cool to see how the art teacher made small modifications to the lesson depending on the age of the group (groep). The younger students had thinner paper and a less intricate design whereas the older kids had very complex folds. Overall, the kids had a great time and it was a nice time to have genuine interactions and conversations with the kids who speak English. Most of the time they asked about Netflix, but they also asked about differences between the United States and the Netherlands.

After school, I found my way back to the beach (strand) again. Mackenzie and I made a couple friends in the Hague during our time here so far, and one of my friends gave me a tour of the dunes that are close to the beach. I got an unexpected history lesson when we came across some old bunkers that were left from WW2. They are half buried in sand and covered in graffiti now, but they are still really cool and full of history. Less than two weeks in, and I’ve officially gotten used to the feeling of having sand in my shoes.

Tuesday was one of the most fun days we’ve had at the school so far. We were with one of the groups in the middle, so there were a couple of children who could speak a bit of English (Engels). The teacher is really nice and gave us the freedom to step in if we had any ideas throughout the day. After planning a Texas vs Netherlands timeline activity, we introduced the class to Kahoot! Kahoot is something that is very popular in the US, so we thought it would be fun to try and use it with the kids at Nutsschool. ----THEY LOVED IT--- They started to chant “one more time” in Dutch after we went through all of the questions. The teacher was really impressed by how his students responded to the new tool and even asked us to make more Kahoots that he could use with his class in the future. While the kids were eating lunch, we introduced them to Go Noodle--fun little songs that cover different academic topics and involve gross motor skills. My kids back home love Go Noodle, so I made sure to show the students in the Netherlands some of the favorite songs from the students in my class back home.

Wednesday was also an incredibly fun day at the school. I really am starting to feel more confident and comfortable at the school. I’ve gotten better at interacting with kids who don’t speak English. I feel like I’m learning new words everyday; one day I’ll be able to speak a full sentence, I just know it. We learned a little more about the kids that attend the school--some are even princesses. Never in my life did I think I would spend a day running on the playground with, drawing pictures with, or putting gym shoes on an actual princess. The Netherlands has really introduced me to so many experiences that I never thought possible. Spending the day with the youngest group in the school was a great way to spend my Valentine’s Day, even if it meant getting my hair tugged on a bit. It honestly reminded me of the kids I work with back home; I love meeting the kids at school here, but I do really miss the kids back home. I’ve been keeping up with my teacher and have been getting updates about the kids. I can’t wait to bring back ideas from the Netherlands to my classroom.

We made the trek to Rotterdam, one of the most unique looking cities I have ever seen. Our friend, Casper, is studying architecture and told us that Rotterdam was much uglier than Amsterdam. After the World War, Rotterdam had to be rebuilt. Because of the rebuild, the architecture of Rotterdam looks a bit more modern and contemporary compared to the more traditional style we see in the Hague, Delft, or even Amsterdam. The first thing we went to see were the cube houses. These are bright yellow houses that sit at angles that don’t seem to follow the laws of physics. There is one house that they use for tours now, so Mackenzie and I went up in it and got a view of the city. So many buildings in the city don’t completely make sense--some windows look upside down and others look similar to the doors in the end credits of Monster’s Inc. We decided to get some food at one of the largest indoor markets and were not disappointed. There were so many free samples it felt like we walked into Costco, but everything was so fresh and incredible. We ended up getting ice cream and fries for dinner, one of the healthiest meals you could think of. It’s crazy to see so much history everywhere we go here in the Netherlands. It seems like every building has a story behind it. I would agree with our friend, Casper, that Rotterdam as a whole isn’t the most beautiful city if you were to take a panorama photo, but each building is so unique and really interesting to look at.

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