I always seem to forget to mention something on my blog. But I wrote down everything so hopefully this won't be one of those times!
1. I have a new favorite word: sowieso! It means anyways, which I say a lot, so it's handy and fun!
2.Technically, 188 people could ride the tram at one time. There are 70 seats and 118 standing places. Not that I counted, hahah no there's a sign by the door that says so.
3. When I'm bored after school, I window shop and eat. Which actually doesn't help, because then I don't buy anything, and when my food is up I'm sad because I want more food.
4. My handwriting has gotten better. Which worries me. I've always been sort of proud of my messy and scientific looking handwriting, cause it made me look smart. Now it's just boring and unoriginal.
5. Apparently I'm pushing the sandwich rule. You aren't allowed to have two pieces of bread with something in the middle. It must be one piece of bread folded over. And there can only be butter and ONE other thing in the middle. So two pieces of cheese is unacceptable. BUT if you make a TOSTI which is a sandwich that you put in a sort of waffle machine, (and you all thought I was crazy in America when I did that), you can have two pieces of bread AND ham with cheese. How about that?
6. Every couple of months we get a new school schedule, which is actually sort of annoying. Every day is different, so just when you start remembering which classes you have on Wednesday and how early you have to wake up on Monday and so forth, they change it on you.
7. I never knew how much I loved sleep until I got here. The more sleep I get, the better mood I am in the next day. It is very important to me.
8. For some reason, every dog here is ridiculously cute and perky. They love everything and everyone. I love dogs, I miss mine, dogs are really important, I think.
9. I can read Dutch, like in my textbooks and on tests, but not all the words. And even when I can, if it's a story I usually can't follow it. Like, I'll read a sentence and be like, "mhmmm mhmmm" but then a few sentences later I'll have forgotten what the first one said.
10. I'm pretty sure that heated towel racks were designed specifically for freezing Dutch people. Because I never saw the purpose in America. Who needs one, seriously? Dutch people do.
11. Do not wear jeggings in the rain. If you think that your jeans stick to your legs when they're wet, jeggings do that times 10. And then the color bleeds onto your legs, so when you take them off it looks like you've been hit by a windmill from the waist down.
12. I see the same graffiti everywhere. It is a simple word: Adult. Usually in a similar style, nothing too extravagant, but easily recognizable. It's on walls, on windows, on the tram, on garage doors.... I'm starting to wonder about it.
13. You can easily find mechanical pencils here, but if you find a store that sells the refillable lead please let me know.
14. I've started to think in blog posts again, which is probably not a good sign. Or maybe it is. I'll be doing something and think, "I'll put this on my blog!" Like my life revolves around it or something.
15. Whoever designed the lockers at my school should have tested them out first. I don't like them. Let me try to explain: I'm convinced I have the worst locker in the entire school. Actually, I probably do, since I started 2 weeks late and that one was leftover. There are rows of lockers. At one end of each row is a box that you wave your student card in front of and it unlocks your locker. Then you have 8 seconds to get to your locker before it locks again. Okay, so my locker is at the very end of the row, plus one of the coat racks makes the aisle way narrower and more crowded with people. So basically, it's like this: *wave pass* *maneuver around people* *try not to step on random coats on the ground* *say "sorry" as you push through someone's oh so very important conversation that always seems to take place right in front of your locker* *switch latch about 0.5 seconds before it locks* *move out of the way because other people want to get by* *get stuff* *lock locker* *leave*. It also doesn't help that my locker is deeper rather than taller. So I have to put in my books sideways so they will actually go in, and then to get them out I have to stand on my tip toes and reach wayyyyy back to find my tiny book that I can't read anyways. So, if you are planning on designing a locker, come talk to me first.
16. Dutch men walk the walk and talk the talk, if you know what I mean. They all have this way of carrying and expressing themselves that says, "I'm the man, man." Not in a bad way or anything. Just the way it is.
17. There are some words in Dutch that are the same in English, but are pronounced differently and have a different meaning. Here are some examples:
ramp = disaster
wilt = to want (you form)
trap = staircase
jammer = it's a pity (which, by the way, every Dutch person loves the English phrase "it's a pity", don't ask me why)
file = traffic jam
snap = to understand (or rather, "to get", like, "I don't get it", "ik snap het niet")
room = cream
bad = bath
There are more, but that's enough of that, I think.
18. I went to the Ikea for the first time in my life. It was huge and very crowded! I ate Swedish meatballs there.
19. Right now the weather is lousy. I tried to use an umbrella to shield myself from the rain, but the wind blew it inside out so I had to settle with being wet. At least it's super pretty here, though. Too bad I don't want to go outside to enjoy it. The weather really does make a difference on my moods. I love warm weather!
20. People here feel the need to translate sentences for me like "De pyjamas kosten drie euros" (The pajamas cost three euros, yeah you could figure that one out I'm sure), but not sentences like, "Het voorbereiden van uit voerende werkzaamheden" (Preparing for carrying out activities) Yeah, I didn't get it either. Good thing I have Google Translate!
21. It also doesn't help that a lot of my teachers don't have very good handwriting. For instance, today on the board was written "Rechsvormen" which, according to my best friend Google Translate means "rights constitute", but to me it looked like this: "Rccksuovnrer".
22. Many of the TV shows here are painful to watch because they're so bad. The acting is awful and fake, the plots are predictable, and it feels like everyone is trying desperately to entertain the Dutch people. They have some pretty weird forms of entertainment here, especially the kids and reality shows.
23. I really miss wearing dresses. They make me feel so pretty.
24. It's totally fine to wear the exact same outfit for a couple days in a row. It's also totally fine to eat the exact same thing every day for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. I don't know how people stand it, but I always know what shirt someone will wear, with which belt, and at exactly what time they will eat the same cookies and juice box every day.
25. When the tram doors are closing, but there is someone in the way, a terribly obnoxious beeping noise goes off until they move. Here's a video of exactly what it's like to ride the trams. You don't have to watch the whole thing, 30 seconds will do, but at least you'll know what the view is like. But you can't actually experience it without riding one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI6dRoohhPs
Here's another link so you can hear the voice saying "de volgende halte is ---" Oh, how that voice will forever live in my head. You only have to watch the first 8 seconds of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5XpqB5MUrQ&feature=related
26. I heard a song that reminded me of Christmas and I got sort of depressed that I won't be able to spend it at my house with my mom and dad and sister. I won't eat the inevitable marzipan fruit out of my stocking while having the same conversation with my sister over whose stocking was originally whose. (I still say the green one was always mine!) But anyways, it won't be the same routine which makes me sad.
27. Speaking of marzipan... the Dutch people just loooooove the stuff! You can buy huge marzipan blocks, and most come in delightful shapes, such as corn cobs or cauliflower. I guess I was wrong when I said they didn't have vegetables here, hahaha. I bought a small marzipan carrot. It turned my hand orange. Makes me wonder if I should have eaten it at all...
28. I was standing by an ice cream machine once and this woman couldn't read the Dutch instructions, so she asked me in English how to work it. But I got all confused because I could read the instructions so I wanted to explain it in Dutch so I was like, "Oh, uhm, you uhh the cone here then, see, the white button push, uhhm... then take." But I wanted to prove that I was good at English so then I said, "Pretty cool." But she just thanked me, took her ice cream and walked away. And now when I try to speak English, it comes out as a direct translation of Dutch phrases. For instance, you can't say, "I like this", you have to say, "I find it nice". So when I try to speak English I end up saying things like that. I also sometimes will be sitting on the tram or walking by a couple and think to myself, "Woah! What language are these people speaking??" then realize that it's Dutch. FAIL.
29. The days go slow, but the weeks go fast. And I never have anything to do on weekdays, but I actually usually have too many invitations on the weekends to do everything I want to do.
30. I'm not actually smart. I'm like Jenny from the book, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant. I got good grades, but I'm actually hollow inside. This video clip from the movie A Cinderella Story seems to constantly play through my head (before you watch - don't be afraid of the tanning bed goggles, they're there to be funny) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jnh4SReiTE
31. The classrooms at school don't have heating or air conditioning. So that means that if it's stuffy, we have to open the windows, which makes it cold. So I have to wear a jacket at all times. Ugh.
32. Here's a list of foods I miss from America: Pie n' Burger, Pink Berry, peppermint Joe Joe's, Rice Dream, my dad's random lemon bars from a box, and SALAD
33. I would now like to quote my good friend Jenny, who is also here from the USA: "You know, people are always hating on America, but at least we don't capitalize on human bodily functions." This is really funny, because she's talking about the fact that you almost always have to pay to use the bathroom in a public place, like the train station or in a shopping mall. Sometimes they just put out a plate for you to put a coin, but usually they don't trust you that much and either have a person stand outside and ask you for the money or a machine that won't open the door to the bathrooms unless you pay. It could be 40 cents or even 70 cents.
34. Since I ride the tram for two hours a day (one hour to school, one hour back), I've been reading a lot of comic books during the rides. I love Donald Duck, because it's so funny! And it's really easy to understand what's going on, so I'm picking up new words from it.
35. Sometimes I feel like I am just wasting a year of my life here. School is boring, I'm not doing anything particularly interesting, and I have these regrets building up in the back of my mind. Like, what would have happened if I had gone to an English speaking country? Or somewhere with a symbolic alphabet? Or had gone to college a year earlier? Or even stayed for my senior year at my high school? I just don't know anymore what the best decision would have been. Well, if i quit now nobody will be proud of me. Not my parents, not my host parents, not my school, my friends, not AFS, and not myself.
36. Every time I look out the windows at school I see these random seagulls. Well, there is a lake near by, but.... they're called SEAgulls.
37. There is no word for "cereal" in Dutch. Just call it what it is, Corn Flakes, Muesli, you get the point.
38. I don't know if you know who Sinterklaas is, but he's sort of like the Dutch Santa. He comes on a boat from Spain in November and stays until he gives out presents in December. It is VERY important to the Dutch culture, especially to the little kids. Sowieso, there's this new movie out called Sint, and it is a horror film about Sinterklaas and there are some really angry parents, believe me. On the bright side, Sinterklaas time = yummy candy and cookie time! Yayyyyy!
39. Which reminds me, I thought I needed to buy a belt, but I don't anymore. Oh no. Gotta lay off the stroopwaffles.
40. I feel like I live behind my computer.
41. Also, Dutch people have a very specific breakfast spread every morning. There is always a pile of bread slices, a tub of butter, and a wide assortment of jams, sprinkles, pastes (like Nutella and peanut butter), cheese, cold cuts, and something to drink, like milk or coffee.
42. Like I mentioned in my previous post, Dutch people ask very direct questions. Just this week, I have been asked, "Are you a Republican or a Democrat?" and "Do you believe in the evolution or the creation theory?" I answered both with "I'd rather not say," because I'm used to keeping those sort of things private, but I got a strange reaction both times so maybe I should just share my opinion about these things like everyone else here.
43. My school bell sounds like a fog horn from outside, but from inside it is very hard to hear. It is just low "murrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrm", so you just have to watch to see when other people start going back to class after break.
44. I miss how, in California, I would be too hot, then walk into a store and be too cold, then walk out and feel too hot again. Because here, it's me being too cold and wet, walking into a store and never wanting to leave, then walking back out and practically getting hypothermia. That's an exaggeration, by the way. Don't get scientific on me.
45. I went to see the movie The Social Network the other day, but there was an alarm and everyone had to leave the theatre. I don't know what it was but I didn't get to finish the movie. Well, eventually I saw the rest. It's pretty good, actually.
46. Sometimes people think I don't understand them, when actually I do, they just say weird things. Here's an example from the beginning of my trip:
Woman: (in Dutch) So, in America, everyone goes out to eat every night, right?
Me: Uhm........ well.......... *gives strange look*
Woman: Oh, she didn't understand me. I said, in America they --
Me: No, I know what you said, that's just incorrect. But I can't speak for everyone.
Woman: Oh.
I don't know, stuff like that happens now and then.
47. Here in NL, it does matter what people think of you. How you look and act means a lot. Not so in America. But, people see what they see and think what they think and there's nothing you can do to stop it, you just have to be smart. And actually, I think that's the same everywhere - everyone is a little judgmental, but here they show it. Going along with that, food is not the center of the party here. It is important, but socializing is much more important. Plus, you don't want people coming up to you and saying, "You are going to get fat from all those scones you're eating," which is exactly what happened to me. Dutch people like to eat, but it's not the number one favorite thing to do.
48. You aren't going to get your one cent back. If something costs 2 euros and 4 cents, the cashier just says it costs 2 euro 5. I suppose you could ask, but I don't really care about a cent. Hahaha, ohhh the ongoing debate about the penny in America...
49. I'm sort of a boring person. I don't think anybody will remember me after I've left.
50. My skin is so bad here. I don't know why. Oh wait, yes I do. Because it's cold and windy and I really like sugar/salt, and sometimes I forget to wash my face at night.
Here are 3 bonus thingies which I find the most interesting. A little treat since you got this far :)
51. There was this man sitting next to me on the plane ride over to the Netherlands who was apparently some language obsessed dude without many social skills. I don't know if the two go hand in hand or not. He can talk to like, everyone, but then.... not hahaha. Anyways, he talked to me the whole plane ride over, which was half interesting/cool and half annoying/uncool. He tried to teach me Finnish. Let's just say, I am very glad I didn't go to Finland. Go on over to Goog Trans if you don't know what Finnish looks like. Anyways, he said something strange to me. He said, "Do you know what a hairdresser is called in the Netherlands? It's a "kapsalon", because "kap" is like "head" and "salon".. well, yeah. Anyways, you know that "chicken" in Dutch is "kip", right? Well, I've always had this dream of going around to every hairdresser in the Netherlands and changing the "A" in "kap" to an "I". Then, the next morning, everyone would be wondering why they were called "kipsalons"..... Well, now you can tell all your friends that you talked to some strange man on the plane who had this dream." Sucks because now every time I walk by a hairdresser I think of this guy who had an interesting smell and told me he only tickled women when they asked to be. Well, now I'm telling you. He was nice, though.
52. You know, Dutch skies are always really nice, no matter what the weather is like. The clouds are always gorgeous, and they move really fast! I remember being a little girl sitting in the back seat of the car and watching the Los Angeles clouds barley budge and I was sort of mad about it. But HERE it's like they're all running to score the winning goal in the World Cup or something. This one time I was awake at 3 am watching a movie, and I looked outside my window and the clouds were ORANGE!! Hahahha oh you Dutch people just love orange so much that you painted your clouds orange! Just kidding, but it was really cool and that's happened more than once. Sometimes the sky is silver, or the brightest blue, or the sunsets are really beautiful, or you can see all the stars, it's great, and I guess that's why there are so many paintings of the Dutch sky.
53. This is something I actually find really interesting. There are something like 70 kids from all over the world who are spending a year in the Netherlands, and I am friends with a lot of them. You know, we're all just people. I don't notice any strange cultural differences between the kids on AFS and me. We're just teenagers who wanted to try something new and have fun. So... maybe in the end, it's just nice to have friends, and people are people (to half quote Dr. Seuss), and we're all alike in a lot of ways.
Well, congratulations! You made it!! That only took me about.... 2 and a half hours to write, ahahahaha. Whew! Well, I don't think I forgot anything lol, at least I hope not! Today I partook in a very Dutch festivity called Saint Martin's Day, which is sort of like American Halloween - the little kids carry lanterns and a bag for candy, walk up to doors and sing a song to get some treats. But it didn't actually last very long because it was really windy and raining. Oh, silly Dutch people, making a holiday that involves going outside on a November night! I mean, what were you expecting, really? Then a bunch of the neighbors came over to our house and socialized and ate some of the food, but not really, like I explained above. Hey, doesn't matter to me, I got the leftovers! Sowieso, I felt pretty Dutch doing the Saint Martin thing, the town is really pretty at night. Now it is really time for me to go to bed, otherwise I will be grumpy and tired tomorrow, which is never fun. Ohhh but I don't want to walk in the rain tomorrow (cries and sobs). But I have chocolate milk, which means I can make hot chocolate tomorrow after school! Oh, ONE MORE THING, whoosh, good thing I didn't forget! The word "slagroom" is very important here. It means whipped cream, and almost every time you order a milky drink or lekker dessert the waiter will ask you if you want slagroom with it. It costs a little extra, but it's always sooo worth it. I accidentally broke someone's whipped cream dispenser the other day, because I tried to push the squirter sideways like in America, but it kinda just snapped off. Here you have to push a button next to the squirter. But, luckily, I was with a girl who went to America last year, and she said that she did the exact same thing when she returned to the Netherlands, so I didn't feel like a complete idiot. Well, I'm off now, I hope you didn't fall asleep or die while reading this, I know it was really long. And as always,
Tot ziens!
Your friend,
Emily
