Thuis (At Home)

Okay, I know I said that I wouldn't make a post today. But I realized that I forgot to mention couple of things yesterday.

First of all, I've changed my entire computer and internet to Dutch. We'll see how that goes.

Also, this jet lag is killing me. I'm dead tired all day and then as soon as I get in bed I'm wide awake, like this: O__O

Yesterday, the little girls wanted to play tag with me. I didn't understand what they were saying, but right now pantomime is my best friend. So I was the tikker, (as I just found out, that means "knocker," better known in America as "it"). We ran around the square tagging each other, which was great. No Dutch needed to play that game. Like I said, pantomiming is seriously the best thing ever invented. I use it whenever I don't know how to describe something, and people usually know what I mean.

Aaaaand the winner for BEST Dutch word goes to...

WINKLEWAGON! (shopping cart).

A very close second is KAPOT (sounds like kaput. It means broken. "Het is kapot" :D).

I have the house to myself for most of the day. Mostly I'll just be lying around, reading kid's books. Maybe I'll walk around town a bit. But it's raining, so I don't know. Tomorrow I'm checking out the public library.

Tot ziens,

Emily

I Dream in Dutch

That's right, last night I had a dream in Dutch! Well, the faulty, painfully slow Dutch that I know how to speak. Also, some guy in my dream was named "Goed zo," which is a Dutch phrase meaning something along the lines of "well done/good job." In other news... we went to a birthday party today. Dutch parties are a bit different than American ones. Everyone is invited - neighbors, family, acquaintances - unlike America where only the friends are allowed. So basically, there were A LOT of little kids, all eating poffertjes and running around. We also walked around Leiden for a while. It is a beautiful city with rivers running through it, and many bridges and churches. It's a university city, so it was pretty quiet since school is not in session. Oh, and I was so happy today! Sebastiaan, the little boy, saw a street called "Sebastiaan Street" and said, "Dat is een gekke naam!" Everyone laughed, including me, because I understood! He said, "That is a strange name!" (Good job, Emily, you learned one word. The rest sounds a lot like English. But hey, I was proud, because I didn't need a translation. Yay!) I can understand better now, but speaking is still very difficult. It seems that I know exactly what people are talking about until they ask me a question. Then I totally blank and say something like, "Ja." Hahaha, well, I'm trying, anyways. I can say (short) complete sentences now. ("I want to eat." "I want to learn Dutch better." "That is good.") Oh well. I'm eating stroopwaffels. They're like round wafers with caramel in the middle and they are very delicious. I love these kids! They're so cute! I actually still can't believe I'm really here, after all that preparation, it seemed that I would NEVER get here, but here I am! I think I need to write in this blog less often, as it is allowing me to use and think in English more. So, no post tomorrow, or for a while, sorry. Ik moet Nederlans te leren!

Tot ziens,

Emily

PS: I went grocery shopping today. So cool! I can't wait until I'm allowed to buy things for the family (hehehe, Dutch candy shall spill from every nook and cranny)! Just kidding. But seriously. While I'm here, I'm going to make the best of it. Meaning I'm going to eat Dutch candy. :)

Zwemmen (Swimming)

Today, my host father said to me, "We are going to throw you into the deep end." He wasn't kidding. I have never biked in the city before, and I have trouble starting and stopping usually, but today we biked about 25 kilometers! All around Den Haag! It was so great... even if I did get honked at a couple of times.... and I mashed my toes into the ground more than once. But that doesn't matter. Oh, and guess what I ate today? Herring!! The famous smoked herring of the Netherlands! I was so excited, mijn ouders (my parents) said that we ate at the best herring stand in Den Haag. I also ate poffertjes, which are like mini pancakes shaped like donut holes. After that, we all walked around the beach. It was very crowded, and I asked, "Hoeveel van deze mensen zijn tourists?" (how many of these people are tourists?). The answer was 80%! Apparently, the pier used to be very old and romantic, and the street was clear and rustige (quiet, tranquil). Now, it is covered in shops and games and restaurants, just for the sake of making money off tourists. And here I was thinking I had escaped Justin Bieber, Hannah Montana, and High School Musical...

Here's something interesting, while I was trying to decide what to put into this post, I couldn't help but think in Dutch. The language is coming along, but talking to people is still very difficult. I've been reading children's books and I watched some TV today, both of which are helping. Well, I am very tired, it is almost 12 am here, so I had better get some sleep.

Tot ziens,

Emily

IK BEN HIER!

Iceland is amazing. Hahaha, gotcha. But seriously, we had a layover there on our way from New York to Amsterdam and Iceland is pretty awesome. Anyways.... so it's really happening!! Honestly, it didn't exactly hit me until the last minute, when I saw the country from the the airplane window. Okay, if you have been told that the Netherlands is flat like a pancake, then you have been lied to. It is way flatter than that. Imagine a very thin turkey cold cut that's been pounded onto a board - that's about how flat it is. So it didn't really hit me that this was all coming to life until I saw the windmills. I just thought, "HOLY COW I'M IN THE NETHERLANDS!" Also, the Netherlands is not always cold. It was pretty hot when I landed.

So I'll be living with a welcome family for the first two weeks. I'm in their kitchen now. These people are so nice!! The little kids are so friendly and talkative, which is helpful, since they don't speak any English, I'm forced to speak Dutch around them. The parents are fluent in English, so that's also helpful, at least while I'm still learning. I am happy here. I'm sure I'll be happy with the main host family as well! I'm starting school soon - more on that later.

I walked around the town a bit. I went to the baker's and I saw a playground. It's interesting, all the streets in the area are named after fruits. That's so cute to me, the most similar thing I've seen in the States is streets named after numbers. Oh, and they have other familiar things here as well, particularly food. I saw a Burger King, Ben and Jerry's, and the kids ate Otter Pops after dinner (not the same brand, but the same idea). But already I have had new experiences, like riding the train and the tram, and just looking at the different style housing. In the city, the homes are very tall but not very wide, so my room is on the third floor of the house, and the houses are squished together. That's cool... and I have to start riding my bike around, but I'm scared of getting lost. I guess I'll just have to get over that, and be smart about how far I go. Well, I will write again once something new happens.

Tot ziens,

Emily

Host Family

At last, the long awaited second post! I just received news of my host family!

I will be living in The Hague, which is in the southern province of the Netherlands and approximately one and a half miles from the coast of the North Sea. It is a city with about half a million people in it, but I looked at the address on google maps and it looks like a very nice place on a pleasant little street. I'm starting to get really excited - I can't believe that I'm leaving in two weeks! I'm still working on my Dutch... hopefully I'll learn quickly once I arrive. I haven't been assigned a high school yet, but I'll make another post when I get news about that. Well, I guess the only things left to do are: work on my college applications, make sure I pack everything, say goodbye to all of my friends and force all of them to get Skype! Just kidding - but at least stay in contact with me via facebook or e-mail (oh, how I love modern technology). At this point, I would just like to thank everyone who helped me along the way. There are way too many of you to count, but a few I would like to mention are Ms. Brier, my wonderful and amazing Dutch tutor; Mrs. Basmajian, my high school counselor; my parents of course; Mrs. Breckheimer; all my friends and teachers who supported me; and the entire AFS staff who made this all possible :)

I'll keep you updated. Tot ziens!

Emily