Rats, school & sailing

School is a combination of sitting in class, listening to lessons taught in Dutch. Without my Resident Permit I am not an "official" student at Wolfert Lyceum yet, so I don't have a locker nor card to scan to open them. I haven't had any textbooks either, but they have just been ordered today. No more zoning out and staring at the wall during class! Well maybe. No it's not that bad...just hard to understand! I've met many new people and made several friends in my grade so far. But the language barrier is definitely hard. In my Dutch class (their version of Language Arts), I sit and do my own Dutch lessons, which AFS provided me (I'll be tested in februari I think, maybe januari). The teacher is very nice and bluntly told me she didn't expect me to complete assignments in her class, due to the fact I know little to nothing in Dutch. She also encouraged me to ask her questions if I need assistance with translations.

I only have a few classes a day, and come home exhausted. I think the exhaustion is caused by constantly being around a language completely foreign to me, as well as that I'm sick with a cold.

This past weekend we spent preparing for and participating in the Sailing Club BBQ, which Marijke arranged. Big party tents were set up on Friday, and Marijke, Renee and I spent the night on their sailboat! I took a walk along a narrow canal that night, passing cows left and right. In the water I watched ducks float by, and then I saw something else. It appeared to be a river otter! I stopped and watched it more closely, until I noticed that it wasn't an otter at all, but a giant rat swimming. I had never seen a rat before...
Talk about disgusting!

On Saturday I went sailing for my first time with Dorris. It was beautiful out, and I manned the sails while she steered. Later in the day, all the food preparation finally paid off. Being of age, I tended the bar the whole night and got to practice my Dutch; "Wat wil jij drinken?" to all that came to the counter.

Fruit Beer was my drink of choice for the night. Sounds weird? It is...but I like it better than normal beer. It tasted of cherry, but still had the carbonated kick of beer to it. Delicious!

I played guitar at the end with a few other people, it was so much fun. Slept in the boat again, which is great EXCEPT FOR THE SPIDERS. I will never be afraid of an Alaskan spider again. They are nothing compared to the big, black hairy spiders that are
e v e r y w h e r e here.

This coming weekend, we might go back to the island and go sailing. Another idea is to go to the zoo; everything is up in the air at this point.

My travel schedule this year:
Oktober: AFS trip to Berlin
December: Skiing trip with the family to Austria
April: School trip to Cambridge!

Other than that, no definite plans have been made. Apparently Paris is only like, four hours from here. So a weekend there would be quite fun! I hope to have waffles in Belgium soon as well :)

In a few weeks, another AFS orientation is held with all AFS Nederland students from all over the world! We will stay in a youth hostile, and apparently the weekend is supposed to be incredibly fun from what I've heard! So I'm pretty stoked.

As for tomorrow, school pictures...

I love Holland so far. I especially love the chocolate sprinkles on bread and butter…to die for! My breakfasts are the best.

-Molly