This week has been a 'normal' week schedule-wise at school. Hopefully that will change, because next week I will be in the same classroom for the whole week! It is like a huge bonus. I really hope it lasts for more than a week. Moving around stinks. We also solved the problem I was having with connecting the laptop to the beamer. Turns out it was the cable - rather illogical as it worked sometimes, so one would not think the cable the culprit, but it had one too many connections, requiring more amplification of signal, subsequently confusing the Macbook into freezing up. As a result of those two major improvements, next week is looking up at school.
Last weekend we said our goodbyes to Tyson, our American friend here in Rotterdam. He will be biking to Thailand. It is sad for us, but the goodbye party was a lot of fun and he will have quite the adventure. I look forward to reading about it.
The weather finally cleared up, and for the last couple days we have had beautiful, blue skies! This means I have gotten started with a project in the back yard. I am making a chest/bench for the hallway the beautiful Canadian Maple flooring we picked up awhile ago. It has been stashed away in our living room for a few months and now I have turned the living room upside down to get it all out. The collection of tools proceeds, it is hard to decide if I should spend lots of money on good tools or not...I am leaning towards not. Hopefully I won't regret that in a few years. I suppose I can just buy better ones then if needed. It doesn't really make sense to invest heavily when I don't have workspace...
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Den Bosch
This week was a busy one. Monday and Tuesday I had to get ahead of the game so that I could afford to be at camp with the first year students for the rest of the week. On Tuesday I bought a bunch of tools from our friend Tyson, who will be leaving on a bike trip from here to Thailand. He won't be coming back, so that is a bit sad for us.
The first day of the camp went well in Den Bosch. We went to an interesting museum, took a boat tour of the canals, and saw the cathedral. Teachers got to hang out at a nice cafe, and the school picked up the tab. It was very relaxed and the students enjoyed it.
After the city tour we spent two nights at a typical Dutch camp. Sleeping arrangements involved bunk beds, most with about four kids per room, but one had 31. Ouch. Certainly smelled funny in there by the end of our trip.
Thursday was about sports, climbing, and other outdoor adventures. I thought the courses were rather limited, but I guess it was good for 12 year olds who come from a flat country. We teachers didn't have to do much because some older students came along to run the operations. Unfortunately this made it tricky to know when to step in, so often times teachers (myself included) could have done a bit more.
Friday had bad weather, so we didn't go to the beach, but returned to school early. I was happy with that. I would really like to make some furniture this weekend if the weather is nice like yesterday, but we had too much other stuff to do yesterday. Hopefully the skies will clear...
The first day of the camp went well in Den Bosch. We went to an interesting museum, took a boat tour of the canals, and saw the cathedral. Teachers got to hang out at a nice cafe, and the school picked up the tab. It was very relaxed and the students enjoyed it.
After the city tour we spent two nights at a typical Dutch camp. Sleeping arrangements involved bunk beds, most with about four kids per room, but one had 31. Ouch. Certainly smelled funny in there by the end of our trip.
Thursday was about sports, climbing, and other outdoor adventures. I thought the courses were rather limited, but I guess it was good for 12 year olds who come from a flat country. We teachers didn't have to do much because some older students came along to run the operations. Unfortunately this made it tricky to know when to step in, so often times teachers (myself included) could have done a bit more.
Friday had bad weather, so we didn't go to the beach, but returned to school early. I was happy with that. I would really like to make some furniture this weekend if the weather is nice like yesterday, but we had too much other stuff to do yesterday. Hopefully the skies will clear...
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| The creepy 'monster museum'.... |
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| ...sculptures of characters from the painter Hieronymus Bosch. |
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| Drain spout on the canal tour. |
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| The iconic 'Bossche Bol' - filled with whipped creme and native to Den Bosch. |
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| The eye of the cathedral. |
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| The sun came out for a few minutes! |
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| Climbing Dutch style. |
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| The ropes course. |
Sunday, September 15, 2013
The First Full Week
School was difficult this week, but I also had some fun. The schedule is pretty awful - I need to switch rooms 2-3 times per day. This means setting all of the wiring and everything up for the Macbook and taking it down again. I total this takes about 10 minutes to set up and 5 to take down when done properly...but there usually isn't time to do it properly, and often it doesn't work at all, so I end up rushing around and being stressed out. It took about 4 emails to convince the schedule maker of the problem (I am the one piloting the Macbook) and hopefully now he understands it. Whether or not he will change my schedule is a different story.
Things went pretty well once the lessons were up and running. Some classes are really loud but when we get into the PowerPoints they take notes well. I had to kick out a couple students, and I am sure many more will come - especially in the classes with students I taught last year. I got the short end of the stick and still need to suffer for it, but that is ok.
One of the best things happening is this program called Mathletics. We use it one hour per week for every first year class as a supplement to their Math lessons - Arithmetic. The first two times I tried to introduce it the Internet wasn't working, so that was frustrating, but the third time is the charm. The instructions were clear, kids listened well, it was installed without a problem, and they love it! They get to create a little Avatar, earn points, unlock games, and go though explanations and examples. The best part is the live competition - at the class level or the global level.
There was one girl in particular who has missed the last two years of school due to illness, and is particularly worried about Math. The program has a class competition component, and I was watching her compete and she beat everyone in her group! I told her it sure doesn't look like she missed the last two years of Math, and she couldn't stop smiling. I am happy we have found such a great way to use the Macbooks and to motivate kids to practice their Math skills.
At home, the kitchen sink area got a little bit too much attention. Our new countertop dishwasher is finally working, but it took quite some effort and frustration. To make a long story short, I had to take several trips to the Gamma (a Dutch version of Home Depot), soaked the cabinets, broke a fitting, drilled holes where they shouldn't be drilled, but after a few days the cold water line and the drain are split and we have a working dishwasher. It isn't very powerful as it is a cheap model, but it will save some time.
Thursday and Friday we rested after school, and on Saturday Naomi went to visit her Grandma and Mom because they are not doing so well. I decided to stay home in part because I need to go to camp this week and that will be super draining (although not as bad as PRO's camps). Hopefully it will be a lot of fun too!
Things went pretty well once the lessons were up and running. Some classes are really loud but when we get into the PowerPoints they take notes well. I had to kick out a couple students, and I am sure many more will come - especially in the classes with students I taught last year. I got the short end of the stick and still need to suffer for it, but that is ok.
One of the best things happening is this program called Mathletics. We use it one hour per week for every first year class as a supplement to their Math lessons - Arithmetic. The first two times I tried to introduce it the Internet wasn't working, so that was frustrating, but the third time is the charm. The instructions were clear, kids listened well, it was installed without a problem, and they love it! They get to create a little Avatar, earn points, unlock games, and go though explanations and examples. The best part is the live competition - at the class level or the global level.
There was one girl in particular who has missed the last two years of school due to illness, and is particularly worried about Math. The program has a class competition component, and I was watching her compete and she beat everyone in her group! I told her it sure doesn't look like she missed the last two years of Math, and she couldn't stop smiling. I am happy we have found such a great way to use the Macbooks and to motivate kids to practice their Math skills.
At home, the kitchen sink area got a little bit too much attention. Our new countertop dishwasher is finally working, but it took quite some effort and frustration. To make a long story short, I had to take several trips to the Gamma (a Dutch version of Home Depot), soaked the cabinets, broke a fitting, drilled holes where they shouldn't be drilled, but after a few days the cold water line and the drain are split and we have a working dishwasher. It isn't very powerful as it is a cheap model, but it will save some time.
Thursday and Friday we rested after school, and on Saturday Naomi went to visit her Grandma and Mom because they are not doing so well. I decided to stay home in part because I need to go to camp this week and that will be super draining (although not as bad as PRO's camps). Hopefully it will be a lot of fun too!
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Starting Up
This has been quite the week. Monday and Tuesday were warmup days at school. Plenty of meetings but also prep time. We had a chance to catch up with colleagues and plan some things out for the year. There were also some nice bonuses planned in, like luxurious lunches, wine tasting, and a comedy group that came from England.
Everything, of course, changed on Wednesday when the students invaded. I had a light schedule to start out and my first lessons with the second year students went well. I am not a mentor and all of my first year students had time with their mentors, or with their new laptops. We set up a program with the help of an outside firm to guide them through the use of their MacBooks and Google. The only problem was that the Internet was rather skittish, crashing entirely on Friday.
Teachers were rather at a loss for what to do with the kids, as the whole program was Internet based, but I taught them a bit about chess. It was quite nice - starting out with a story from the Middle Ages and introducing all the characters. Then they were partnered up and they could play against each other with a laptop - no Internet needed. The kids had a great time. I guess this is no longer VMBO...what a relief!
We also need to be able to hook up our MacBooks to the projectors in the classrooms - I spent a few hours this week trying to figure out how. There is a program we can use to do this through the network wirelessly, but then we depend on the classroom PC's and Internet to be working which is never wise. Apple TV is the logical choice, but network permissions don't allow it, so we need to kick it old school with wires.
The plan was to give each teacher the connecting cable and they would need to unplug the PC connection, hook up the Mac, and replace the PC after the lesson. We discovered two problems with this. First, they would damage the PC's video card quickly and probably do things wrong as the setup is not the same in all classrooms. Second, on most, but not all of the beamers I tried the Macbook froze up.
This was a big mystery until we got some help from one of the Interns that a teacher brought in to help with Macbook problems - the school's IT department won't deal with anything but PC's. As it turns out, when the power cable is not plugged in, the MacBook is running at about 75% - not enough juice to configure its output properly to some of the beamers. So now all the classrooms will need power outlets as well so teachers can have their machines plugged in. We should get everything wired in so that they don't need to carry around an adapter cable, but we shall see if that happens.
This week was rather eventful at home as well. We rode to Delftshaven to pick up a vintage West German table saw for 15 Euros - in the directions it says that it can 'only be operated by a male of at least 17 years'. I guess Naomi will have to keep her distance. The saw did not have a table with it, so I figured I should build one. We picked a table top out of the dumpster recently and found some nice legs before, so I put it together one hot and sunny afternoon. Now we can eat and work outside much more easily...all that Maple flooring downstairs might need to be turned into something else...
Yesterday we went to pick up a dishwasher - the small kind that sits on a countertop. Today I will try to get it installed. Hopefully that won't be too much of a pain...
Everything, of course, changed on Wednesday when the students invaded. I had a light schedule to start out and my first lessons with the second year students went well. I am not a mentor and all of my first year students had time with their mentors, or with their new laptops. We set up a program with the help of an outside firm to guide them through the use of their MacBooks and Google. The only problem was that the Internet was rather skittish, crashing entirely on Friday.
Teachers were rather at a loss for what to do with the kids, as the whole program was Internet based, but I taught them a bit about chess. It was quite nice - starting out with a story from the Middle Ages and introducing all the characters. Then they were partnered up and they could play against each other with a laptop - no Internet needed. The kids had a great time. I guess this is no longer VMBO...what a relief!
We also need to be able to hook up our MacBooks to the projectors in the classrooms - I spent a few hours this week trying to figure out how. There is a program we can use to do this through the network wirelessly, but then we depend on the classroom PC's and Internet to be working which is never wise. Apple TV is the logical choice, but network permissions don't allow it, so we need to kick it old school with wires.
The plan was to give each teacher the connecting cable and they would need to unplug the PC connection, hook up the Mac, and replace the PC after the lesson. We discovered two problems with this. First, they would damage the PC's video card quickly and probably do things wrong as the setup is not the same in all classrooms. Second, on most, but not all of the beamers I tried the Macbook froze up.
This was a big mystery until we got some help from one of the Interns that a teacher brought in to help with Macbook problems - the school's IT department won't deal with anything but PC's. As it turns out, when the power cable is not plugged in, the MacBook is running at about 75% - not enough juice to configure its output properly to some of the beamers. So now all the classrooms will need power outlets as well so teachers can have their machines plugged in. We should get everything wired in so that they don't need to carry around an adapter cable, but we shall see if that happens.
This week was rather eventful at home as well. We rode to Delftshaven to pick up a vintage West German table saw for 15 Euros - in the directions it says that it can 'only be operated by a male of at least 17 years'. I guess Naomi will have to keep her distance. The saw did not have a table with it, so I figured I should build one. We picked a table top out of the dumpster recently and found some nice legs before, so I put it together one hot and sunny afternoon. Now we can eat and work outside much more easily...all that Maple flooring downstairs might need to be turned into something else...
Yesterday we went to pick up a dishwasher - the small kind that sits on a countertop. Today I will try to get it installed. Hopefully that won't be too much of a pain...
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| The new workbench. |
Sunday, September 1, 2013
One Whole Week
Finally, back to the Sunday routine here of posting this blog. We have been coming to terms with staying in this house for a few weeks now, and this past week we worked really hard to make it more enjoyable. Today we will put most of the finishing touches together just in time for the school year to start. We have been buying lots of new things (well, new to us anyway), organizing, and cleaning things up.
We got a filing cabinet for the second bedroom and couldn't get ahold of transportation, so we picked it up with our bikes. It turned out to be much heavier than I expected - imagine that, a heavy filing cabinet?! Anyway, we walked it back but just keeping the bike upright (the front wheel had a tendency to lift up) was quite the workout. The walk took about an hour, but now our scattered piles of paper have found a home! It is also nice to be able to lock up valuables, and for 20 euros, we found quite the deal. Having a whole week at home to take care of this type of thing has been amazing!
Yesterday we got a note from our realtor that the lady is considering our offer on the house. This could change things, but we still think the chance of us getting everything we want is unlikely - and if we don't we will pull out of the deal. Living here has its advantages too. Nice to have a couple decent options.
We got a filing cabinet for the second bedroom and couldn't get ahold of transportation, so we picked it up with our bikes. It turned out to be much heavier than I expected - imagine that, a heavy filing cabinet?! Anyway, we walked it back but just keeping the bike upright (the front wheel had a tendency to lift up) was quite the workout. The walk took about an hour, but now our scattered piles of paper have found a home! It is also nice to be able to lock up valuables, and for 20 euros, we found quite the deal. Having a whole week at home to take care of this type of thing has been amazing!
Yesterday we got a note from our realtor that the lady is considering our offer on the house. This could change things, but we still think the chance of us getting everything we want is unlikely - and if we don't we will pull out of the deal. Living here has its advantages too. Nice to have a couple decent options.
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