Crash Course: Dag 1 en the GH

Like my attempt at incorporating some Dutch into the title of that blog? Well, tomorrow we start our survival Dutch lessons so I'll probably be incorporating a bit more here and there. Today, however, was kind of an overload of information about the GH and the program.

First, Lauren met us at our house and we biked to the GH. So. much. biking! I am thankful that we live the closest to school out of all the SPICE students. We arrived from the cold and joined the rest of the group and a few of the coordinators/professors of the GH for SPICE. After a short introduction, we had a coffee and muffin break. After that, we received a short greeting from Henk, the director of the SPICE stuff at the GH and then filled out immigration papers and went over a few laws in the Netherlands. We then received a tour of their library.

To me, the library is a place to study socially and to find reference books. If I spoke Dutch, I assume the latter would be true, but it was extremely quiet in their small library. Yes, everything is bigger in America, but I didn't think this applied to libraries. We were shown the English section: about 3 shelves that were probably 2 ft wide. So it looks like either I will not be reading here or I will have to learn Dutch very, very quickly.

After our library tour we had lunch-- croquet brotjes and kaas brotjes with melk. In case you are wondering what this means, I will describe it the best way I know how: deep fried gravy sticks on a bun, cheese on a bun, and milk. Don't knock it 'til you try it! The first is a bit heavy, but I actually like it-- clearly my father's daughter. Then we returned to the classroom to receive a crash course in traffic school on the bike. If you have followed my blog thus far, you know that I need that. We went over a few rules (stop at red, go at green, shark teeth mean you wait, etc). and then hit the streets in the form of a large mob of American's led by 5 locals on 4 bikes (double biking is the thing to do here I guess, but I must first master my own bike with my own body). We weaved in and out of traffic like pros for the most part and stopped to find where we can exchange our American money for way less euros than dollars as well as where to take our Dutch passport pictures. One of the locals video-taped our excursion and I'm anxious to see what we all look like on our bikes. I am also anxious to hear my bike. Yes, to hear it.

On Saturday evening someone pointed out that my bike is rather loud. That became an understatement around 2pm this afternoon. On our way back to the GH, my bike was not only rattling in the front and the back, but was also squeaking. So, if I didn't look American, I definitely drew unnecessary attention to myself as a rattled my way through town. After our biking lessons we were dismissed to roam the city or go home or whatever. A majority of the girls decided to go on our first European shopping adventure to the area that most of the girls in the group live in. We knew they had a longer bike ride than us, but we were just about to find out how much further. It took about 25 minutes to get there. We then realized the H&M we thought was there was actually downtown, so Lauren, LaRae, and I rode our bikes all the way back to our houses (about a 40 minute bike ride). When we thought about the math, at that point in the day we had biked somewhere between 10 and 12 miles. That is a lot before dinner, in case you didn't know.

For dinner we were joined by 2 host brothers we hadn't yet met and one of their wives and 5 month old baby (literally the cutest baby I have ever seen). We had some sort of Chinese or Indian type food for dinner. I'm not sure what it was called but my description would have been something like chow mein made with peanut butter, and topped with potatoes. Sounds weird, right? Again, don't knock it 'til you try it! Our host mom is a wonderful cook and for that I am very thankful! Being away from home for a few years in college has taught me that food is one of the first things you miss, and you never EVER take advantage of a good home-cooked meal when you get the chance. Food is a huge part of cultures, and to me, it's so fun to see the people here incorporate not only their own cultural foods but also cook foods from other cultures in their own homes.

At dinner, our family told stories about their traveling adventures and shared some of their miss-haps of traveling. They are such a fun family and I can't wait to spend more time with them! After dinner, we had coffee with our family and then met up with a few SPICE students for hot chocolate at a local cafe. The one we wanted to go to was closed when we got there, so a host sister led us to another place. At first, we thought it was a bit fancy for us to just hang out in, but it was really fun. We were served very fancy and delicious hot chocolate: steamed milk, chocolate on a stick that you stir into the milk, whipped cream on a side dish, and a wafer. The hot chocolate is seriously so good here. I can't get enough of it.

We had troubles paying for our bill (10 people, 35 euros, and they wouldn't split our tab for some reason!), so that was a bit frustrating. (I think) we eventually figured it out and then went our separate ways. As I was unlocking my bike, a young man spoke to me in Dutch. I told him I didn't understand, and yet he continued to speak in Dutch. Again, I said, "I'm sorry. I don't understand." He then asked where I was from and I told him America. He watched as I struggled to retrieve my bike as the rest of the group was ready to leave and asked if we had bikes in America. Embarrassed, I mounted my bike and sped away on my now-less rattly bike (my host dad is very handy with bikes, thankfully!). I really need to learn Dutch and get better with these bikes. I'm sure in a few days I will blend in just fine.

Again, it was a great day in Zwolle but after all this biking and the weather being a bit chilly, my body doesn't seem to love this town as much as my head and heart do. Once that adjusts, I'm not sure I will want to leave.

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes." -Marcel Proust