The Last Week

We made it! Even though the kids left (most of them) before 1 yesterday, I was working until 6:30 grading tests and assignments. It felt so good to finish it up though. And I even have a bit of a plan for what I will do after the break. Now I can enjoy the holiday!

We leave tomorrow morning for the airport. That means today will be a day of wrapping presents and packing up. I am looking forward to it. I also transferred the final chunk of money to the states that will pay off my student loans. That will be a good feeling! I am in quite the minority to be debt-free after four months of work. Not bad.

Wednesday was the Christmas dance for our school and two other schools combined. We went to a nightclub in downtown Rotterdam. This is really a nice solution because they set up, clean up, and offer security. Good thing we brought earplugs though. We left just before 11 and the place was packed. They claimed to be able to host 2000 and we had about 1400. The ventilation was terrible and lines for the coats took over an hour. The first and second year students were supposed to go at 11 so that the older kids could start drinking. In the crunch to leave, some students started passing out from the heat and noise while packed into a line. The street was jammed up with parents waiting to pick up their kids, so the police came. I guess the club was expecting 500 people. Not sure how that happened, but they were horribly equipped and we are lucky nothing bad happened. The party lasted until after 2 in the morning.

Anyway, Thursday we had Christmas drinks at school. Yes, you can drink alcohol in schools here. They did this instead of offering us a Christmas package with gifts in it. It was nice, and we even got to take a couple of nice bottles of wine home with us.

Last night we went into the city with our friends Clifton and Karmen for a couple hours of pool. It was fun, and afterwards we ended up talking until almost 1 in the morning and our place. I guess we are preparing for the time change...

To the Sea

This week was a bit rough. I was miserably sick on Wednesday and barely made it to school on Thursday. I got all of the things done that I needed to do this week, but barely. It did start off nicely though. I had my evaluation discussion on Tuesday. My administrator was glowingly positive. He said I did almost everything right and he was impressed - if all the teachers would do things this way then we would have the school we want. Funny how it went from almost as negative as possible with the first evaluation to this great success a matter of weeks later. Although I did change some things, I didn't change much.

Hoek van Holland (corner of Holland) Harbor

Friday was a long day. The last two hours were arts and crafts for the first years as this was their last Friday afternoon before break. There were no major disasters or fights (I had to break another one up Thursday and got hit in the face) so I consider it a success. After school the staff went out for a Vietnamese dinner. The restaurant was nice, but I didn't like the food much. The starters were nice, but the main course was too spicy and not that tasty. Afterwards we played some pool which went really slow as some people hadn't played before. It was still nice to see what Rotterdam's night life is like - can't say I am too impressed. 

Colder than it looks...

Today we went to the sea. It was a half hour train ride from the central station and when we got there a big, black cloud met us so we ducked into a cafe/bar right before the ice came. During our glass of hot cocoa, surrounded by pictures of ocean vessels and Christmas decorations, we watched some men play a game that looked like pool but was apparently billiards. There were no pockets. Just three balls. The object was to hit two of them. Eventually we got up the courage to ask how to play, and half the guys there helped us out. They were very friendly - and the game was pretty tough.

The beginning of Rotterdam's harbor/industrial zone

Once the sun came back around, we walked to the beach. It was much further than the advertised 10 minutes, and the wind kept getting stronger. By the time we made it to the sea, it was freezing and we could hear the roar of the surf from quite a distance. The waves were impressive but we chose not to walk all the way to the end of the pier as it was so cold and the spray would have been a problem. It was a nice little trip, but we were more than happy to be home. I still have that cold, and the end is not in sight. I can't wait to make it through this week, because in exactly one week we will be somewhere over the North Atlantic!

See the rainbow?

Skyscrapers!

This week I introduced my new project at school. It will take about three weeks – I wanted to get something in before Christmas break. We are talking about skyscrapers. One of my lessons was evaluated and I thought it went really well. I won’t hear the results for a couple days though.

The project grew rather nicely. I thought that for Mens en Natuur (Science) the students could work in pairs to answer some questions I had prepared about their own skyscraper that they were able to choose. They will put their answers into a PowerPoint and present to the class in English (quite scary for some students). For Wiskunde (Math) they are working on 3D objects and perspectives, so they can make a top, front, and side view of their Skyscraper.

The English teacher got in on it and is teaching them about building terms that have to do with houses and skyscrapers. In their art/building class they will be making their own skyscrapers. And in Social Studies they are talking about internationalization and why some countries have skyscrapers and others do not.

I guess I kind of started a project by accident. I think that this is what the school is all about though, so it would seem I am fitting in. The first week of the project went well, and I hope that we are able to finish everything in time!

Project Finale

This week was the final week of the 1.5 month project about human rights. The first year students (my students) ended things with a market where they raised money for Amnesty International. They made over 1000 Euros. The second year students made some sort of sculptures that are supposed to be on display in a public place like a mall, and the third year students had a debate. The mayor even came to be a part of the celebrations.

Antique cabinet for antique Delftware.

To scale replica of The Night Watch by Rembrandt - took two
master painters one year to recreate.

As a school, Friday was a success. Personally, it was also a success. I got in all four of the math lessons that I needed to this week - they were a bit tricky because the students were making something - a box that was just the right size to hold four ping-pong balls. Maybe a little more than half were able to. For the market, my students were making DVDs to sell about water. I had the deadline for the videos set to a week ago Friday, but had to keep pushing it back. Eventually I got them all except for 2 out of 24 groups. I was even able to burn 40 copies with Naomi's laptop among the chaos on Friday. I am learning to juggle a lot at once.

Kilns where Delftware is fired.

Master painter working on a vase that will sell for well over 10,000 Euros.

Sinterklaas.

Yesterday Naomi's mother and significant other, Marinus, came to visit for Sinterklaas. We went to the Royal Delft Museum/Factory. It is nice to see how the Delftware is made. After we got back we had a nice traditional Dutch meal - mashed potatoes, broccoli, leek with cheese, and sausages. It was tasty. Then we impressed them with a movie on our wall in the living room. Now it is time for breakfast (croissants from France) and the opening of presents. We exchanged gifts with a poem. Naomi had to write it in Dutch since Marinus doesn't speak English. Anyway, time to set the table...

Small container ship.

Is this Earth or the Moon?

...A few hours later...we got back from a driving tour of Rotterdam's port. Or parts of it anyway. It is too big to see everything in one day. Up until recently, it was the largest on earth. I can see why. Docks, piles of containers, and refineries that seem to never end. There are even a few wind turbines sprinkled in here and there. I am surprised they don't have more - I mean it is not like visual pollution is an issue there. Now I have no shortage of things to do...but no motivation to do them. Looks like the rest of today might be a lazy one.

The ferry to England.

What does it do?