Hey All!
I should really update this thing more, sorry about that.
So guess where I was two weekends ago?? Amsterdam!! I know exciting right, finally I have seen it! I went with it was with Michiel, Anne Noor and Jan Dirk.
Amsterdam is now the #1 city on my favourite cities list, over taking Paris, Seattle and Vancouver (and we all know how much I love Seattle). Amsterdam is absolutely beautiful, and, I found, much safer, and cleaner than Paris. It is a city know for it's -ahem- party atmosphere, don't worry I stayed out of trouble, but I found that as well as the coffee shops (which are as frequent as the Starbucks's in Seattle), you can find just about anything in Amsterdam.
In fact, the only real rare commodity in Amsterdam is space. Small roads, small houses, small stores, small restaurants, LOTS of people. The house we stayed in was 5 stories high, which doesn't sound that small, until you consider the fact that each story was one room, and the room gets crowded with any more than 2 people. In restaurants, waitresses have to shift tables and chairs to have enough room to move, and separate parties will often have to share tables.
We arrived in Amsterdam Saturday around noon, dropped our stuff at the house, and went out for lunch. With the endless amount of canals, bikes, and architecturally cool buildings, I could walk through Amsterdam forever without getting bored. After lunch we took a canal tour through the city, seeing all the great sites in Amsterdam, the St. Nicholas Church, Crazy Jack Tower, Western Church, the Harbor, Mayor's House, the Skinny Bridge and some other things.
When the canal tour was finished, we went for a walk, seeing some of the great sites of Amsterdam that you can't see from the boats. We saw the Vodka Museum (didn't get to go in:( ), the Palace in Amsterdam, the WW2 monument, and the Holy Inspiration Church/Gallery. We decided the Church might be cool to see so we went in; the artwork in there was pretty cool, what nude women and random blobs of canvas have to do with religion I'll never know, but that’s modern art for you. Also, it is of my personal belief that Amsterdam is the only place in the entire world where you would be able to buy books on Islam and Hinduism, and mini Buddha statues, in a Christian Church gift shop, love it :). Dinner on Saturday we went out for pizza at an Italian restaurant by the house. Really tasty, but the Dutch each order a full pizza for themselves (and they think the North Americans eat a lot!), I was stuffed.
Sunday we went for breakfast in a small café by the house, really really good orange juice. After that we went over to Michiel friend’s house and we chilled out for a bit and then went to the park. Did you know that Amsterdam has bright green parrots living in their park? I sure didn't. Apparently someone let their Parrots free and they took up residence in the park, quickly adapting to the cold climate, unfortunately I didn't get a picture, but it quite the sight to see, frozen lake, frost over everything, a light dusting of snow, some parrots sitting in the trees... ahah Amsterdam.
So that was my trip to Amsterdam, I hope you enjoyed reading about it almost as much as I enjoyed being there.
Last weekend, was Anne Noor's birthday and she had a birthday party Friday, then Saturday it was one of my host parents friends birthday (the people that we are going skiing with) so we went over there, they have a 19 year old au pair from Germany, so I'm not going to be totally lonely. And Sunday I went flying with Michiel to the German city of Hamm.
Next week I have off, and I'm going skiing in Italy :). Super excited. Look for that blog post sometime after the 22nd.
That’s all for Now!
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!
P.P.S. here are the links to my pictures, make sure to check them out!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51979&id=519280565&l=16821 <- Random Photo’s
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72554&id=519280565&l=ed812 <- Random Photo's 2
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72590&id=519280565&l=bcecb <- Random Photo's 3
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72599&id=519280565&l=b6902 <- Random Photo's 4
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=72634&id=519280565&l=47431 <- Flying
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76689&id=519280565&l=52b4b <- Amsterdam
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76768&id=519280565&l=ea756 <- Amsterdam con't
Don’t worry if you're not on f/b, they will still work!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
...
Hey everyone (if any one is even still reading this thing)
My host family got back last week, and life is back to normal here. Just thought I would give you an update of what is to come.
February vacation I am going to Italy to go skiing. I am so excited!! Two weeks after that I move to my third and last host family. And a month after that my family comes from Canada:). And three weeks after that is Euro tour. Then three weeks(ish) after that I come home.
It really doesn't seem like I have enough time here, and I'm sure any exchange student will tell you the same thing. Especally for all the stuff I want to see and do, I still need to go to Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, and Den Haag again. I want to go wadlopen (walking to the northern islands when the tide goes out) and eat the pickled harring. I want to go down to Maastricht and up to Groningen to visit friends.
Ahh so much to do, so little time!
So theres my little rant.
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!
My host family got back last week, and life is back to normal here. Just thought I would give you an update of what is to come.
February vacation I am going to Italy to go skiing. I am so excited!! Two weeks after that I move to my third and last host family. And a month after that my family comes from Canada:). And three weeks after that is Euro tour. Then three weeks(ish) after that I come home.
It really doesn't seem like I have enough time here, and I'm sure any exchange student will tell you the same thing. Especally for all the stuff I want to see and do, I still need to go to Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, and Den Haag again. I want to go wadlopen (walking to the northern islands when the tide goes out) and eat the pickled harring. I want to go down to Maastricht and up to Groningen to visit friends.
Ahh so much to do, so little time!
So theres my little rant.
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!
Friday, January 9, 2009
:)
Hey everyone!
So I'll pick you where I last left off at Christmas.
December 27 my host family left to Curacao for two weeks, so I am currently staying at my first host families house.
Everyone here buys firecrackers and set them off day and night for two straight days before New Years, symbolizing "shooting the last year away". New Years eve I went to my friends Sophieke's house. At 12 o'clock, people start shooting off the fireworks that I imagine cost them a small fortune, and I don't mean 40 mile roman candle fireworks, I mean real, Canada Day fireworks, so any way you turn the sky it being lit up by the fireworks. It is soo cool, and very loud! On New Years the Dutch eat something called Oliebollen, which is flour, eggs, yeast, milk, and baking powder put in a deep fryer and covered in powdered sugar. So tasty, and soo bad for you, I was feeling a bit sick by the end though!
New Years day I went skating with Sophieke and her family. It wasn't on a canal, but it was outdoors, so close enough. Skates in Holland at different from the ones in Canada, they are very short, only reaching to below your ankle, providing NO support, with a very long blade, not to mention that no one owns new pairs of skates, the box mine came in said, "Made in Czechoslovakia." So I know by now all my friends are laughing, thinking I must have been a disaster on ice, considering I can't right side up on ice without skates on. I'll have you know however, that I was skating a total of 4 hours, did not fall once! That’s right, be proud.
A couple days ago, my departure date was set, July 5, which I am having mixed feelings about. On one hand, I get to see all you guys again! On the other, I have to leave Holland. It is really scary to think that I am already 5 months in, and if these 5 months have gone as fast as they have, I can imagine that the last six are going to go even faster! But, I cant let that bug me, I just need to savour every moment!
That’s All For Now
I hope everyone had a good New Years and I wish you the best for 2009!
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!
So I'll pick you where I last left off at Christmas.
December 27 my host family left to Curacao for two weeks, so I am currently staying at my first host families house.
Everyone here buys firecrackers and set them off day and night for two straight days before New Years, symbolizing "shooting the last year away". New Years eve I went to my friends Sophieke's house. At 12 o'clock, people start shooting off the fireworks that I imagine cost them a small fortune, and I don't mean 40 mile roman candle fireworks, I mean real, Canada Day fireworks, so any way you turn the sky it being lit up by the fireworks. It is soo cool, and very loud! On New Years the Dutch eat something called Oliebollen, which is flour, eggs, yeast, milk, and baking powder put in a deep fryer and covered in powdered sugar. So tasty, and soo bad for you, I was feeling a bit sick by the end though!
New Years day I went skating with Sophieke and her family. It wasn't on a canal, but it was outdoors, so close enough. Skates in Holland at different from the ones in Canada, they are very short, only reaching to below your ankle, providing NO support, with a very long blade, not to mention that no one owns new pairs of skates, the box mine came in said, "Made in Czechoslovakia." So I know by now all my friends are laughing, thinking I must have been a disaster on ice, considering I can't right side up on ice without skates on. I'll have you know however, that I was skating a total of 4 hours, did not fall once! That’s right, be proud.
A couple days ago, my departure date was set, July 5, which I am having mixed feelings about. On one hand, I get to see all you guys again! On the other, I have to leave Holland. It is really scary to think that I am already 5 months in, and if these 5 months have gone as fast as they have, I can imagine that the last six are going to go even faster! But, I cant let that bug me, I just need to savour every moment!
That’s All For Now
I hope everyone had a good New Years and I wish you the best for 2009!
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!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
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!
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!
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Paris, Den Haag and a New Hair Cut!
Hello All!
I have got a new camera charger, and you know what that means! New pictures! Hurrah. I'm just going to put a few pictures up of Paris and Den Haag, so here is the sites so you can see the rest of the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61130&l=4498d&id=519280565
<- Eiffel Tower!
<- My weekend host family
<- Den Haag from the Pier
<- Sinterklaas!
<- World Peace Flame, with Sara from Washington.
New Hair Cut!:
I have got a new camera charger, and you know what that means! New pictures! Hurrah. I'm just going to put a few pictures up of Paris and Den Haag, so here is the sites so you can see the rest of the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61130&l=4498d&id=519280565
Here are some photos from Paris:
<- The Louvre
<- Notre Dame
<- View from the top of the Notre Dame
<- Notre Dame
<- Eiffel Tower!
Photos from Den Haag:
<- Den Haag from the Pier
<- Sinterklaas!
<- Zwarte Piet
<- The Queen's Work Castle
<- World Peace Flame, with Sara from Washington.
New Hair Cut!:
Last tuesday I got a haircut! (Above). My friends Lotte and Ly went and got their hair cut too, so I had someone to explain to the hairdresser exactly what I wanted in case I got stuck (Lotte is very good at english) and of course to change their hair style as well.
Last weekend I went to Den Haag (The Hague) on a rotary trip! Den Haag is the government city of Holland (Although it is not the Capital), so there was a lot to see and do there! I was there the 14th to the 16th of November, and it was a lot of fun. Here's the run down of what happened:
Last weekend I went to Den Haag (The Hague) on a rotary trip! Den Haag is the government city of Holland (Although it is not the Capital), so there was a lot to see and do there! I was there the 14th to the 16th of November, and it was a lot of fun. Here's the run down of what happened:
Friday I was suppose to leave at 4 o'clock and get there at 6:30, however, driving to the train station, I realized I forgot my phone, so we had to turn around and I missed my train. Trains leave every half an hour from the Hengelo station, meaning I got into Den Haag half an hour later than I was suppose to, and ended up missing all the other inbounds. Also, we were staying with host families for the weekend (Above), and I was suppose to be staying with the girl from Japan, unfortunatly, she cancelled last minute and I ended up staying by myself. So Friday night I went to my host families house in Wassenaar (really close to Den Haag) and ate supper, and after that I went over to Sara's (Washington State) house, because she is spending her exchange year in Wassenaar she was staying in her normal house. Elizabeth and Meaghan (Both from Canada) were staying with her, I went over there and visited them and we hung out and watched Prom Night. At 12 Frans (host dad) came and picked me up and we went home and I had nothing to do, so I went to bed.
Saturday I ate breakfast with my host family and then we were a bit early so Frans took me on a tour of the house and garden, which was beautiful, the houses in Western Holland are much more modern than the cottage-style houses of the east. The house was a large one story very modern looking house witha beautiful garden that included a huge Koi pond and 3 different dining places. After the tour of the house and garden, my host parents took me on a short tour of the area of Wassenaar and Den Haag by car and then we drove to the Museum where I was meeting the group. The Museum was called Gemeentemuseum and it showed modern art and several interactive things. It was quite strange and with many things that you could look at, make noise with, dress up in and play with. After the museum we walked to the Tram station to take a tram to the beach. On the way to the Tram, we caught the Parade for the arival of Sinterklaas in Holland (I'll explain Sinterklaas later), which was cool, because Sinterklaas is very much apart of the Dutch culture. After the Parade we went to Scheveningen (the Beach in Den Haag) where we ate lunch (Croket) and walked along the beach and on the Pier. The beach was beautiful (but slightly cold) and was being used as a Motocross track at the moment, so we watched bikers testing the track for a bit. At 5ish our host parents pick us up and we went home for dinner. Afterwards we were told we were going to a Disco, however it was actually sitting there watching an orchestra reherse and then standing in a small room with crappy music. Needless to say, most of us we pretty angry, we were all very excited to be able to finally go out together.
Sunday we all met at the train station and said goodbye to our host families. From there we took a bus tour through Den Haag, where we saw the Queens Work Palace, The Peace Palace, many of the Embassies (unfortunatly not the Canadian) and some other things.
The Queens work palace (Photo Above) is located in Den Haag and is where the Queen does her official Queen stuff. The Peace Palace (Photo also Above) was built in the early 1900's in an acted of trying to keep peace between America and Russia, unfortunatly the year it was finished, World War 1 broke out. Many countries gave something to the Palace, it's gates are from Belgium, fence from Germany, wood from Indonesia and rugs from Iran among other things. Now the Palace is used for the International Court of Justice (or World Court) and Permanent Court of Arbitration. Near the gates you can also see the World Peace Flame (Photo Above) which is a eternal flame ment to symbolize world peace.
After the Bus tour, we went to the Heart of the Government and were taught about how the Dutch government works, which is pretty much just like the Canadian, with a few small differences. And then we went to McDonalds for lunch, where Rotary reserved a table for us (All the inbounds found that pretty epic). McDolands here is surprisingly a lot better here in Holland than it is in Canada and much nicer. Following that we went to the Mauritshuis Museum where we viewed city scape paintings of the major cities in Holland. Then it was time to say our goodbyes and headed home. Fortunatly me and Kalie got to ride together half way, and I didn't miss any of my stops!
So that was my weekend, lots of fun, Den Haag is a beautiful city, if anyone is going to Holland, it is deffinatly something you have to see (along with me of course :P).
Now as promised, Sinterklaas! Sinterklaas is the dutch Santa Clause, only he's from Spain. The Sinterklaas celebration is held in The Netherland, parts of Belgium and Netherlands Antilles (A group of islands located in the Caribbean the use to be colonies of The Netherlands) and is ment to honor Saint Nicholas the Patron Saint of Children. Every year in November (normally on a Saturday) Sinterklaas comes to The Netherlands from Spain on a steamboat with his mischievous helpers, the Zwarte Piet's (Black Peter's). Then on December 5 people celebrate Sinterklaas (I'm not sure how) and eat Pepernoten, small gingerbread like cookies (which are really good), and end the night but placing their shoes (typically wooden clogs) by either the fireplace or window for Sinterklaas to leave presents in them. Then it is said that Sinterklaas goes to all the houses by night and the Zwarte Piet sneak in through the Chimney (to explain their black face and hands) and leave presents in the shoes. Small children are also told that if they are bad during the year, Zwarte Piet will leave them a bundle of sticks or some salt instead of a presents.
Thats all! Nothings really happening here right now, just busy with school and friends and fencing. However, I switch host families in 20 days, and my birthday is in 23 days:) so some fun stuff should be coming up soon.
Thats All For Now!
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!
Saturday, November 8, 2008
3 Months!
Hey!
So yesterday was officially the end of my third month in Holland.
Last month was a lot of fun. I went to Paris (sorry no pictures yet, I will post them ASAP, my camera battery charger is gone.). And to Friesland to visit one of the other Canaidan inbounds, Julianna for 6 days over fall break. That was a lot of fun, we went shopping and horse back riding and ate Chinese food. Those were my two major trips in October.
I also started fencing! Hurrah!!! It feels so good to be fencing again, it's like my little peice of home. Everyone in the club is very nice and welcomed me in with open arms, it was really nice to meet more people and to be the special Canadian again, because I'm not at school anymore.
For those that don't know, I have subconscience issues directing my head toward the ground, making it very difficult for me to forward roll or dive. However, Gym class a couple days ago, I learned how to forward roll! Luckily I wasn't the only one that couldn't do it, Lotte, one of the girls in my class couldn't do a forward roll either. It took the full hour and several friends, but by the end of class we were both able to do a forward roll. Go me!
I am back on my full scheldule at school. Which is difficult because I still have problems understanding some teachers, but it is a lot easier than when I left the classes a month ago. Speaking of school, I would like to tell you some more differences between it here and it in Canada. The most major difference is that almost nothing is for marks. Teachers assign questions, and people do them, but they aren't for marks. No one would learn anything if that was the case in Canada! Also there are no projects, essays etc. just the questions which aren't for marks, and tests. Teahcers don't explain anything either, we do the questions, and then while we are correcting it, they explain it, which I think is silly. Also, thy score things differently, everything is out of ten. In my Nederlands Les I got a 6 on the exam, pretty good for someone who's Dutch is niet zo goed.
In Art right now we have a project that has to do with 'Time'. There was a bunch of different things we could choose, paint a still-life, make a clock, stuff like that. I am doing the project where we were given a word or phrase, and we have to make a piece of art from it. My phrase is "Rat-Race", so I'm doing a drawing of a bunch of Rats in suits fighting their way up a ladder. It's going to be sweet, I'll take a picture of it and put it up when its done.
I think thats all.
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!
So yesterday was officially the end of my third month in Holland.
Last month was a lot of fun. I went to Paris (sorry no pictures yet, I will post them ASAP, my camera battery charger is gone.). And to Friesland to visit one of the other Canaidan inbounds, Julianna for 6 days over fall break. That was a lot of fun, we went shopping and horse back riding and ate Chinese food. Those were my two major trips in October.
I also started fencing! Hurrah!!! It feels so good to be fencing again, it's like my little peice of home. Everyone in the club is very nice and welcomed me in with open arms, it was really nice to meet more people and to be the special Canadian again, because I'm not at school anymore.
For those that don't know, I have subconscience issues directing my head toward the ground, making it very difficult for me to forward roll or dive. However, Gym class a couple days ago, I learned how to forward roll! Luckily I wasn't the only one that couldn't do it, Lotte, one of the girls in my class couldn't do a forward roll either. It took the full hour and several friends, but by the end of class we were both able to do a forward roll. Go me!
I am back on my full scheldule at school. Which is difficult because I still have problems understanding some teachers, but it is a lot easier than when I left the classes a month ago. Speaking of school, I would like to tell you some more differences between it here and it in Canada. The most major difference is that almost nothing is for marks. Teachers assign questions, and people do them, but they aren't for marks. No one would learn anything if that was the case in Canada! Also there are no projects, essays etc. just the questions which aren't for marks, and tests. Teahcers don't explain anything either, we do the questions, and then while we are correcting it, they explain it, which I think is silly. Also, thy score things differently, everything is out of ten. In my Nederlands Les I got a 6 on the exam, pretty good for someone who's Dutch is niet zo goed.
In Art right now we have a project that has to do with 'Time'. There was a bunch of different things we could choose, paint a still-life, make a clock, stuff like that. I am doing the project where we were given a word or phrase, and we have to make a piece of art from it. My phrase is "Rat-Race", so I'm doing a drawing of a bunch of Rats in suits fighting their way up a ladder. It's going to be sweet, I'll take a picture of it and put it up when its done.
I think thats all.
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!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Paris
I'm sorry, my USB for my Camera has disapeared from the face of the earth, so no pictures. I will upload them ASAP.
Paris is official my favourite city on the face of the Earth. I LOVE the city. However, that was not my first impression.
We went to Paris by train, and as the Train came into Paris, my first impression was a Graffiti filled, lower class, industrial city. Seriously, it was gross. Then, from the train station, we got on the subway, which didn't change my oppinion at all, that, too was gross.
Then we got out of the subway station, and I immediately changed my mind, I love french architecture. Zo mooi!
From the subway station we went to our youth hostel. For the band trip kids, you know the Hotel we stayed in Vancouver that we all complained about?? Thats nothing. We stayed on the 5th floor with no elevator, and the stair case was falling apart. the rooms didn't have their our toilets and the shower didn't have a curtain and you had to hold down a button to get any water, which was just a trickle. I loved it though, it was an adventure.
After droping the bags off at the Hostel, we went to the Notre Dame, which I loved. The amount of work the French have put into creating and maintaining their own, distinct culture is amazing. I think whoever disigned it was thinking, "I'm going to make a Cathidral that will one day bring in hoards of tourist." and that it did. All the steps in the place were worn down and curved in the middle from people walk up them. After the Notre Dame Cathedral, we had some from time, then we went from supper, had a canal tour, then back to the Hostel.
Tuesday we went to a the Pere-Lachaisecemetary. Which was kind of strange, but I really enjoyed it, which kind of made it more strange. The cemetary had the graves of several famous people, including the remains of Peter Abelard and Heloise (What the French consider their Romeo and Juliet - http://classiclit.about.com/cs/articles/a/aa_abelard.htm) and Jim Morrison. Thats right I saw Jim Morrison's grave, I was pretty excited. The funny thing was, compaired to most of the graves, famous people or not, Jim Morrison's seemed like the smallest and most insignificant. After the Cemetary, we had lunch and then went to a Museum (we went to A LOT of Museums, so I cant rember all of them), had supper, had some free time and went back the the Hostel.
Wednesday we went to a Museum, then had some free time. In our free time, a couple of us went to the Galeries Lafayette, which is this huge, 7 story, shopping complex. This place was no ordinary shopping mall, for one, it didn't go by store but by material, the first floor was Cosmetics and Accesories, second was underwear, third was shoes, etc. (I can't remeber the rest.). Also, everything was Gucci, Prada, Channel, Dior, D&G etc. needless to say, I didn't buy anything. However, I was walking around and I turned around and my group was know where in sight, after spending 10 minutes looking for them, I came to the conclusion that Iwasn't going to beable to find them with out getting lost, so I sat at the escalators waiting for one of them to either call me or come looking for me. Luckily, after about 15 minutes, Ann Marie called me. In that time I started to worry I that they forgot about me and I was going to die there. After shopping we went to the Architecture Museum, which was kind of borring. Then Wednesday night we went to a Ballet, it was to the story of Snow White and was really good (though I was fight off sleep through most of it).
Thursday we went to a museum, the name of which I have forgoten because it was over shadowed by the rest of the day. After the first museum we went to the Louvre, so cool! But they only gave us two hours in the Louvre, two hours!! I know i should be thankful I got to go at all, and believe me I am, but if I could choose one thing I would change about the trip, it would deffinatly be to spend more time in the Louvre. After that we went, althought to the contrary of the rest of the group, to my faviourite museum, the Pompidou. The Pompidou is modern art, from 1850 to now, my favourite kind. I love modern art, it's so much, I don't know, more free, I guess. It can be or mean anything you want it to be/mean, or it can be/mean nothing at all, as opposed to older art, where the meaning is clearer. Thats what I like about modern art. After the Pompidou we went to the Eiffel tower, which was cool, but on European tour, I'm going to take the steps, just so I can say I've climb the Eiffel tower.
Friday we had free time. I went shopping with Floor and Ann Marie. I bought a scarf and a winter coat, a pair of converse and Morgans bday present (don't think I forgot about you!). So the converse I bought have a story to them. We were walking around, looking here and there, and I spotted them, and they were really cute, so I decided to try them on. I really liked them, but decided not to buy them because I had already bought quite a few things that day, and you know how I am, I hate spending money. So I nod to the sales guy, and he interprets that as"Ï want them", and before I could correct him, he handed them to the man at the counter who started bagging them. I went over to the counter to explain I didn't acctually want them, but before I could get that out, the man asked me where I was from. After I responded that I was from Canada, he launched into a full speech about how he loved the Canadians, and how we are so nice and polite and clean(?). So after all that, not wanting to ruin our rep, I bought the shoes.
So that was my week in Paris. I now have new week off, I'm going up to Firesland to visit one of the other exchange students, Julianna, and then its back the school!
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!
Paris is official my favourite city on the face of the Earth. I LOVE the city. However, that was not my first impression.
We went to Paris by train, and as the Train came into Paris, my first impression was a Graffiti filled, lower class, industrial city. Seriously, it was gross. Then, from the train station, we got on the subway, which didn't change my oppinion at all, that, too was gross.
Then we got out of the subway station, and I immediately changed my mind, I love french architecture. Zo mooi!
From the subway station we went to our youth hostel. For the band trip kids, you know the Hotel we stayed in Vancouver that we all complained about?? Thats nothing. We stayed on the 5th floor with no elevator, and the stair case was falling apart. the rooms didn't have their our toilets and the shower didn't have a curtain and you had to hold down a button to get any water, which was just a trickle. I loved it though, it was an adventure.
After droping the bags off at the Hostel, we went to the Notre Dame, which I loved. The amount of work the French have put into creating and maintaining their own, distinct culture is amazing. I think whoever disigned it was thinking, "I'm going to make a Cathidral that will one day bring in hoards of tourist." and that it did. All the steps in the place were worn down and curved in the middle from people walk up them. After the Notre Dame Cathedral, we had some from time, then we went from supper, had a canal tour, then back to the Hostel.
Tuesday we went to a the Pere-Lachaisecemetary. Which was kind of strange, but I really enjoyed it, which kind of made it more strange. The cemetary had the graves of several famous people, including the remains of Peter Abelard and Heloise (What the French consider their Romeo and Juliet - http://classiclit.about.com/cs/articles/a/aa_abelard.htm) and Jim Morrison. Thats right I saw Jim Morrison's grave, I was pretty excited. The funny thing was, compaired to most of the graves, famous people or not, Jim Morrison's seemed like the smallest and most insignificant. After the Cemetary, we had lunch and then went to a Museum (we went to A LOT of Museums, so I cant rember all of them), had supper, had some free time and went back the the Hostel.
Wednesday we went to a Museum, then had some free time. In our free time, a couple of us went to the Galeries Lafayette, which is this huge, 7 story, shopping complex. This place was no ordinary shopping mall, for one, it didn't go by store but by material, the first floor was Cosmetics and Accesories, second was underwear, third was shoes, etc. (I can't remeber the rest.). Also, everything was Gucci, Prada, Channel, Dior, D&G etc. needless to say, I didn't buy anything. However, I was walking around and I turned around and my group was know where in sight, after spending 10 minutes looking for them, I came to the conclusion that Iwasn't going to beable to find them with out getting lost, so I sat at the escalators waiting for one of them to either call me or come looking for me. Luckily, after about 15 minutes, Ann Marie called me. In that time I started to worry I that they forgot about me and I was going to die there. After shopping we went to the Architecture Museum, which was kind of borring. Then Wednesday night we went to a Ballet, it was to the story of Snow White and was really good (though I was fight off sleep through most of it).
Thursday we went to a museum, the name of which I have forgoten because it was over shadowed by the rest of the day. After the first museum we went to the Louvre, so cool! But they only gave us two hours in the Louvre, two hours!! I know i should be thankful I got to go at all, and believe me I am, but if I could choose one thing I would change about the trip, it would deffinatly be to spend more time in the Louvre. After that we went, althought to the contrary of the rest of the group, to my faviourite museum, the Pompidou. The Pompidou is modern art, from 1850 to now, my favourite kind. I love modern art, it's so much, I don't know, more free, I guess. It can be or mean anything you want it to be/mean, or it can be/mean nothing at all, as opposed to older art, where the meaning is clearer. Thats what I like about modern art. After the Pompidou we went to the Eiffel tower, which was cool, but on European tour, I'm going to take the steps, just so I can say I've climb the Eiffel tower.
Friday we had free time. I went shopping with Floor and Ann Marie. I bought a scarf and a winter coat, a pair of converse and Morgans bday present (don't think I forgot about you!). So the converse I bought have a story to them. We were walking around, looking here and there, and I spotted them, and they were really cute, so I decided to try them on. I really liked them, but decided not to buy them because I had already bought quite a few things that day, and you know how I am, I hate spending money. So I nod to the sales guy, and he interprets that as"Ï want them", and before I could correct him, he handed them to the man at the counter who started bagging them. I went over to the counter to explain I didn't acctually want them, but before I could get that out, the man asked me where I was from. After I responded that I was from Canada, he launched into a full speech about how he loved the Canadians, and how we are so nice and polite and clean(?). So after all that, not wanting to ruin our rep, I bought the shoes.
So that was my week in Paris. I now have new week off, I'm going up to Firesland to visit one of the other exchange students, Julianna, and then its back the school!
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!
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