Amsterdam Travelogue: My first trip to the continent!

Hey peeps!

As you will have seen from my photos on Facebook I took a trip to the Netherlands during my half-term break.  I travelled with a colleague from my school who is also Canadian (from Cape Breton), in his first year of teaching and still baffled by the British school system as I am and who had also never been to continental Europe before.  I don’t think I would have gone by myself so I am grateful that he was cool with letting me tag along!  While there I saw more bikes than I have ever seen in my life (and learned to stay out of their lanes or die), was constantly in awe of the stunning architecture and canals, saw the last names of every classmate that I had over the years in Christian education in various places and learned why they say “If ya ain’t Dutch, ya ain’t much.”  I’m still not quite on board with that statement but I love the people of the Netherlands even more after visiting them in their natural habitat.

The adventure began when a hurricane was predicted to hit the UK the night before we flew out.   Every two minutes on the BBC they announced that trains would not be running in the morning.  When it did hit, it was not exactly “Stormageddon” as some referred to it (nothing to do with ‘Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All’ the adorable baby Alfie from ‘Closing Time’ the Series 6 episode of Doctor Who where the Doctor reveals that he can speak ‘baby,’ begins working in a toy store and saves James Corden’s character from being turned into an emotionless Cyberman) but it did cause some significant damage in some areas.  As a result, I had to take a bus to the airport that dragged out a 2 hour trip into 3, making the bus ride officially three times the length of my flight to the Netherlands.

The rest of the journey was uneventful and after I bought some Stroopwafels from the Amsterdam airport we took a bus straight down to Museumplein which was only a few blocks from our hostel.  The hostel turned out to be decent with some pretty funky decorations and a resident kitty cat.  It was about 11:00 by this point and we decided to go for a walk and to see the city at night.  It was pretty quiet since it was a Monday night but most things were still beautiful under the cover of darkness.  At about 1:30 we decided that we should find our way back but since we were wandering a new city in the dark we got rather lost and did not make it back until about 3:00 am! 

I slept rather fitfully that night because I was in a room with four especially smelly guys and the one in the bunk beside me kept putting his feet in my face in his sleep and snoring.  Also, when I woke up I discovered that the guy in the bunk above smelly feet guy was not clothed…at all.  And his blanket had not stayed on in the night.  I was scarred for life.  That’s hostel living though!  I never ended up meeting the people who I was rooming with any night because they were always in bed when I came in at night and slept longer than me in the morning.  Needless to say, I was totally okay with this.

Day 1:

We set off to get pancakes found a little place that served us the most massive ones I have ever seen!  I asked for bananas, chocolate syrup and whipped cream on mine and as delicious as it was I could not finish that much sweetness!

Anne Frank House: We got turned around a couple of times trying to get to this museum waited for over an hour outside in the rain to get in, but it was undoubtedly worth it.  It was truly an emotional experience.  The first few rooms (the main rooms of the house) gave some background on the story but as soon as I walked into the actual annex where the families hid I was struck by the emotion of it all.  Anne’s magazine clippings of celebrities were still plastered on the walls and there were numerous photos of what the place had looked like when the Franks moved in.

What really hit me though was walking around the corner after room that explained what happened to each person in the annex after they were betrayed.  There was a massive, floor-to-ceiling black and white photograph of Otto Frank (Anne’s father, the only survivor of the camps) standing in profile in the room where his family had lived several years after the war.  It was one of the most powerful images I have ever seen and instantly brought me to tears.  The final few rooms had writings and interviews from Otto talking about coming out of the camp hoping that his girls were still alive, trying to get Anne’s diary published and not being able to bring himself to see the play that was made based on the diary because it was too painful for him, even years later.  I was such a mess through all of this.  I cannot even describe it fully.  It is something that has to be experienced.  I would recommend the Anne Frank Museum to anyone visiting Amsterdam.

I was feeling pretty emotionally wrecked even after I pulled myself together so we went into some shops and sites like the Cheese Museum (where we sampled TONS to Dutch cheese), the Tulip Museum and touristy gift shops.  Looking through our tourist attractions guide, we decided that the Heiniken Experience would be a good place to go next and a lot less heavy than what we had experienced in the morning.

Vondelpark: We wandered around here for a while and enjoyed the natural beauty in the middle of the big city.  It's a really nice place to take photos as long as you watch out for the bikers!

Heineken Experience: We got to see all of the steps in how Heineken is made, learn to do a proper beer tasting and of course sample the finished product.  There were some random rooms where you could do things like send e-card pictures to your friends, make a music video and go on a simulation ride where you felt what it was like to be brewed into beer.  It was pretty cool if you like beer, but if you are not going to enjoy the drinks that come with the ticket then it is probably not worth the money. 

Dutch Mexican food/Night-life:: At dinner time, we were convinced by the “hype guy” for a Mexican restaurant that we walked by to come in and try their food.  Since it was the beginning of the week and it was not prime tourist season a lot of restaurants were trying to attract customers this way.  He offered us a deal and free drinks so we decided to try it and it was pretty good!  There seemed to be every type of restaurant in the city and very few that were specifically Dutch food.  From what we saw the urban Dutch seem to have a particular affinity for Italian and Argentinian food.

After dinner we wandered around looked for a nice place to hang out.  We ended up visiting two different pubs, one that said it was an Irish Pub but only had Dutch beers and was decorated with an over-abundance of Halloween décor and a little place with jazzy music and a piano with stack of board games on top and a generally cool atmosphere.  It was really nice to just explore the city this way.  I felt really safe the entire time, more so than I thought I would in a big city with a reputation that Amsterdam has as somewhat of a den of iniquity.  We never ran into the Red Light District at any point so that did help.

Day 2:

We started the day with more coffee and pancakes from a little café near Museumplein.  This time I had a bacon pancake with syrup and icing sugar so it was super delicious without the total sweetness overload.

Van Gogh Museum: This museum was another highlight for me. It has most of VanGogh’s works from over the years and showed the evolution of his style from his early days at art school to his final paintings when he had really come into his own.  There were numerous explanations of how art historians have examined his pieces and found other old paintings underneath and discovered his process in creating his art.  It was really fascinating and surreal seeing a lot of these paintings in real life.  What struck me was how many quotations were displayed that showed how critical of himself he was as an artist and how as I was reading them I was literally having to fight through crowds to get a good view of his work.  If only he had known how loved he would be and how much joy his art would bring after he was gone from this world (a la ‘Vincent and the Doctor’-one of my favourite DW episodes).  Unfortunately, without a time-lord this cannot actually happen. 

We were determined to find a canal cruise next so instead of stopping for lunch we went to a tiny little bakery and ate delicious pastries on the go.  My chocolate croissant was divine!

Canal Cruise: We finally got up to the docks by Central Station where the cruises began and had a 1 ½ hour tour of major sights in the city by water.  This is another must for anyone visiting Amsterdam I think.  You get to hear about a lot of history and get a good overview of attractions that you may want to visit and by the end you will probably want to live in a houseboat!

Nightlife Part 2:  This time we were convinced to try a little Italian restaurant and I had a vegetarian lasagna that contained the only substantial portion of vegetables that I ate over the whole trip.  Really, it was the only thing that I ate that was not purely cheese, chocolate or carbs.  Later that evening we spent a few hours in a tiny hole-in-the-wall bar called “Café de Dokter” which had the coolest décor, the friendliest people and some good dark, Dutch beer.  We met a tram driver named Michael who we chatted to for a while and who was the friendliest guy ever. He was determined that through his work he would show visitors that Dutch people are the friendliest and most welcoming people around.  He was super cool.  We found our way home much more easily this time which was good because exhaustion was definitely catching up to me!

Day 3:

When I woke up on my final day in the city and went to the common room for my morning coffee I met a girl from Minnesota who was studying abroad in Bath and on holiday with her classmates.  It was a bit of a Robin Scherbatsky/Marshall Eriksen moment, though we were a lot farther from our respective places of origin than New York City.  She was super sweet.

After packing up and checking out I put my all of my belongings on my back and set out for a day of touring along while Dan moved on to Brussels. 

Rijksmuseum:

This place was huge and beautiful and full of art from the best Dutch artists from 1600 to the present.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the fact that I had to take a few breaks on the couches that were placed around the building since my legs were really getting tired from all of the walking that we had been doing.

Exploring/souvenir shopping:  Since I had not bought anything to commemorate my trip at this point I finally hit up the museum gift shop and some souvenir places.  Again I went into a few cheese shops telling myself that I would probably buy something that time but in the end just snacking on a bunch of free samples.  At the Van Gogh/Rijksmuseum gift shop I really wanted to buy everything related to Van Gogh’s Almond Blossoms since it is one of my faves (being blue with flowers of course) but I did not think that a bag for €40 or a silk scarf for €50 were quite worth it.  I settled for a mug that was a fraction of the price which has made my tea times even brighter over the past week.  Of course I bought a couple of Delft Blue items for my kitchen as well.

In the afternoon I had to head back to the airport and I began the journey back home.  I finally got back to Southampton by 11:00pm and then had to walk through the city centre which was full of people in costumes suffering from the aftermath of Halloween festivities.  Good times.

It was such a fantastic trip but I was SHATTERED after three days of walking everywhere and getting very little good-quality sleep.  I immediately collapsed when I got in the door of my flat.  So many times over those few days I thought ‘When did this become my life?  It’s so COOL!’ which was a sweet feeling.  I cannot wait for my next European adventure and to later return to Amsterdam on my way to visit my sweet Carmen on Terschelling (hopefully this spring or summer). 

My next term break will be Christmas though, which means I will be heading back to the Great White North (43 days and counting)!  Love you all and I can’t wait to see you once again!

-Heather <3  

A Long-Expected Update

Hello all!

Since it has been awhile I thought I would split this update into two posts, one about my regular school/Southampton life and one about my first trip to the continent!  For those of you who I speak to regularly most of this will be old news, but there are still lots of you who I have been failing at communicating with and who I owe a serious update!  I am feeling fairly refreshed after my half-term break and ready to tackle the next six weeks before Christmas.  The first week back was crazy-ish in typical fashion but I’m getting used to the stresses that tend to present themselves in this particular job.

The last few weeks of term went on pretty much as usual.  I feel like I am getting into a routine and getting used to the two week timetable with different classes to teach during each period on each day.  It is totally different than the system I am used to but I am gradually starting to see the merits (as well as the drawbacks) of setting up the school year this way.  I am feeling more and more comfortable with my classes and with the school environment in general.  I have had to phone a few parents lately which I find utterly terrifying for some reason but now that I have done it a few times it does not seem as bad.  I have an intense fear of being berated by parents and being told that I am doing a horrible job of taking care of their child (but luckily this has not happened yet).  I am sure I will get over that someday.  The teachers who have been around for a long time seem fairly desensitized to it now.

Another recent work-related development is that I got my official Qualified Teacher Status for the UK which just meant sending a form and a letter from the OCT with proof of my qualifications to the Department for Education and waiting for them to send me confirmation.  It does not make a whole lot of difference to my teaching career here since I did not need any additional training to get it but I do feel more official now!  Plus it’s always fun to have more letters behind your name (I am now: BA, BEd., OCT, QTS).

I also made it through my first parents’ evening on the last week of half-term!  We spent the beginning of that week frantically making sure that the students had the final drafts of all of their projects finished so that we could mount them and get ready to display for the parents.  The kids were so exhausted by the time the evening came and they could definitely feel the teachers’ stress as we tried to get everything together.  We set up the theatre classroom with the final projects displayed and with the students’ books on tables with their drafts and feedback inside so that the parents could see the progress that they had made as they reviewed and revised their work in all subjects.  It all looked very impressive when it was set up.  As an added touch, some of the students even served the Japanese food that they had learned to make in food tech and a video of the students’ final routines from Dance class was projected on the wall so that all subjects were represented.

In a nearby classroom I had my little desk for brief interviews with parents.  Many of the students came in with their parents which was nice because I felt like I was talking to them and not behind their back and being open and honest about their progress.  For most of them it was a great chance to praise them and to share what I appreciate about them individually beyond what I get a chance to tell them in class on a regular basis.  I enjoyed meeting most of the parents and none of them seemed to surprised by what I had to say about their children, for better or for worse.

The last BIG thing that has happened at school is that our Head Teacher resigned on the last day of term and we got a new Head at the beginning of this week.  Basically, he was pressured to go because of unsatisfactory exam results, even though in the years that he had been serving at the school he had improved school culture and academics immensely.  It is all very political and even more so now that our school has been an academy for a year and their board has control over staffing and school operations to some extent.  It’s complicated but no more so than teaching is in Canada, just in different ways that still confuse me.  I think I will do a British education system evaluation/rant in a future post where I point out the merits and flaws that have struck me most.  I’ll wait for a night when I am feeling especially fired up about something and use it as a way to vent my frustrations. 

Regardless, the new Head she seems really lovely and she has set up half hour meetings with each of the teachers to get to know us and to hear about what we like and what we would change about the school if we could.  She really seems to have our best interests at heart based on what I have seen so far and I am quite pleased with how things have turned out after the abruptness of the situation at a strange time in the year.  She will likely only be there until the end of the school year but at least we know we will be in good hands until then.

Believe it or not, I have been having some social, fun times outside of school over the past few weeks as well which have been keeping me sane.  Home group and church are great as always and I am really feeling more and more at home at Above Bar.  Other notable fun times over the past few weeks have included my first bowling and cinema experiences over here and my first ever bonfire/firework/Guy Fawkes night festivities at the beach outside of town.  It’s pretty bizarre, celebrating attempted terror plot by blowing things up and setting fires, but I have to admit it is pretty fun.  A bunch of us are are going to the Southampton fireworks display tomorrow night as well so I have become well immersed in the tradition this year.

I definitely have met a couple of kindred spirit, life-long type friends here and I feel like I am always getting to know new people through Glo events and hangouts.  I discover more and more what a definite extrovert I am since I am really enjoying constantly meeting and talking to all kinds of people and I am sometimes really struggling with living on my own!  If all goes according to plan in the new year I will be looking for a flat to share with a friend or two so that I will not be on my own forever.  I am still loving all of the newness and excitement and adventure and spontaneity in the form of deciding a few days in advance that I am going to fly off to another country for a few days (which I will write about later this weekend).  I feel like I am living my dreams and they are turning out to be super awesome. 

Of course my life is not all rosy and perfect.  School is exhausting and difficult and frustrating and even maddening at times but still I love it here.  When I was in Amsterdam by the end of the trip I felt homesick for England and Southampton and I had people here that I missed and could not wait to see when I got back.  It’s so cool that I am at that stage after being here for less than three months.  When people ask if I miss home all I can think is that I honestly don’t.  I miss people, but not places.  In other words, if you could all come over here and live closer that would be a fairly ideal situation :) 

I will write a travelogue-type post giving you the low-down on my trip to the Netherlands (aka the motherland of nearly EVERYONE I grew up with in my school days).  It was so lovely. 

For the moment I will say ‘so long, farewell…”

-Heather <3