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?