Merry Xmas!!

Hello everyone!
It's been a while, my apologies, I really have not been in the mood for writing, but my mom has been bugging me for a blog post, so I figured I would send one out for Christmas.

I last left you at Den Haag, so I'll give you an update of what’s been going on with me since.

November 17-December 2 nothing really exciting comes to mind, Christmas shopping, school, etc.

December 3 I went to my host sister Joanne's school to talk about life in Canada. That was a lot of fun, all the kids were very excited to meet me and they all had very good questions. My favorite question to answer is defiantly about the weather, people's eyes always get wide when I tell them it can get down to -40 in winter and up to +40 in summer.

December 4 I went and saw twilight :P

December 5 was sinterklaas, which was very cool. We did a Secret Santa like thing, I had my host mother's brother Marco. All parents register their houses and then the night of December 5 Sinterklaas and a few zwarte Pete come around to each house and talk to the children. Kind of like how at the malls in Canada the kids can go sit on Santa's lap, only it's at the house. After sinterklaas left we exchanged presents. I got some very lovely wooden shoe slippers, a scarf, mittens, 2 Dutch picture books about Sint, and food.

December 6 I went to Madagascar 2 with my host family because it was my last night with them. I laughed so hard all the way through. And I think they think I’m crazy.

December 7 I moved to my current host family. I am staying with Michiel and Relinde and their two kids, Jan Dirk (11) and Anne Noor (8). They also have 3 dogs, Dribble (Springer Spaniel), Dor (Lab) and Dalka (Jack Russle) and 2 horses Tiffany and Dorief. My new host dad hunts a lot, so I have eaten many different types of meat since I have been here. Duck, pigeon, hare, deer, quail, to name a few. Again with this family I am in a small town outside of Hengelo where I go to school, it is about a 45 minute bike ride to school. I also have a whole section of the house pretty much to myself. I have a bathroom, kitchenette, living room, and my room. The living room is where the TV is, but we don’t have channels or anything so no one ever uses it. Above the living room is my bed room, which I have to use my death trap to get to (trap is staircase is Dutch - it is VERY steep) which I have also converted into a closet because I don't have one in my room.

December 11 was my birthday:), I am finally 16! And since it was a Thursday, the day my rotary club meets, they threw me a surprise party! They even bought me presents! My favorite being a bottle opener with a wooden shoe on the end:P. It was very sweet of them and I had a lot of fun.

December 18 was Kerst Schoolfeest, which in my opinion, makes any school dance in North America look like the lamest think ever. First off, it's in a club, not in the caff. Second, they serve alcohol. Third, they actually play decent music. I defiantly think schools in Canada should follow the example.

December 20-22 I went to Friesland for my Canadian friend Julianna's birthday. The party ended up being Julianna (Ontario), Duncan (Arizona), Patty (Ohio), Elizabeth (Ontario), Maeghan (New Brunswick), Sara (Washington State), Matt (New York State), Kalie (New York State), Flor (Argentina) and Me (Alberta) for the exchange students, we all stayed in Julianna's counselor’s house. So I was off to the train station where I found out that since I turned 16 my Dutch pinpas (debt card) doesn't work...so I had just enough money for the train. We were all suppose to all arrive at 1, but Patty and Duncan's train got delayed, Sara got on the wrong train and went to Groningen instead of Leeuwarden and Flor couldn’t get there of time, so it ended up the only Kalie, Matt, Maeghan, Elizabeth and Me on time. We just chilled till everyone but Flor (she was really late) got there and then we went to the Planetarium. It is the oldest working planetarium in the entire world (Constructed 1774-1781), and is extremely accurate. The entire scale model (1mm:1 trillion km) moves exactly as our solar system (What had been discovered by that time at least) and also includes the date, rise and set of the sun, and moon faze, all powered by a set of weights and many different gears (picture of Planetarium: http://www.openmonumentendag.nl/images/fotos/Eise_Eisinga_Planetariumkamer.jpg). After the Planetarium we went shopping and picked up Flor from the Train station then went back to Julianna's counselors house and had supper (Chinese). After supper Juliannas friends from school came and we ate cake. At around 11 we headed to the bus station to go the TDF (the dance factory -the discotheek). We stay at TDF till around 4 and then we headed back to where we were staying. It ended up being all 10 of us exchange students in one room - heel gezellig. Sunday I got up at 10:45 and said goodbye to everyone (I was staying till Monday) and me and Julianna cleaned up and went to her host families house, showered, and then fell asleep and slept till dinner time, got up for dinner, went on the computer for a bit, went back to bed at 9 and slept for 12 hours. On Monday we went to Leeuwarden and shopped for a bit, and then I went home.

December 21 I went to the Circus with a Rotarian and his family. Lots of fun.

December 25 (today) is Christmas!! However since we have Sinterklaas December 5, Christmas isn't really a big deal here. We had Hare stew and rice and had Relinde's brothers family over. No turkey for me:(.

So now you're all caught you on my life in Holland. I would like to thank everyone that sent me something on my birthday and Christmas, it really means a lot.

I hope everyone has a very merry Christmas!!
Love
Doei!!

Jayden

p.s. remember! i love comments, so if you have something to say, or just to say hi, let me know your reading and post it!