Where the Mafia Roam

Another early morning for the Italy/Spain spring breakers! We woke up around 6:15, got ready, and went down for breakfast. Sarah and I thought we had it all planned out: buses leaving every half hour to the airport, so we would leave to buy our tickets and walk to the bus stop at 7:10, giving ourselves plenty of time. After I ate, I checked with the lady at the front desk of the hotel, just to make sure we had the right times/bus line. Surprise! The bus only runs once an hour and we already missed the 7 o'clock hour bus. Yay! This resulted in us waiting around for an hour for the next bus, which resulted in the brilliant idea to begin documenting the rest of our spring break travels (video to come later). At 8:00 we departed for the airport to catch our flight to Naples.

The city of Naples is not something I knew much about, other than LaRae and Sarah raving about it being the place they were most excited for over our spring break travel plans. However, before we left Holland, our host brother made a reference to Naples being a very interesting destination. Oh, and the mafia was pretty much founded there, he mentioned casually. I assumed he was just trying to scare us. Well, joke was on me, that's for sure. We landed in Naples and used Sarah's bargaining skills to get a cheaper taxi to our hotel. We asked our very friendly taxi drive what we should do/see while we were in Naples. He had tons of suggestions, but strangely very few were actually in Naples. That's weird; why would he keep encouraging us to leave the city? Thinking nothing of it, we continued to weave through the insane traffic of the very crowded streets to the hotel and unloaded our bags. As I paid him, he said, "It's not safe here at night." Well, thanks for telling us after you dropped us off and we paid you. But alas, nothing we could do. We were here and we had already paid for our hotel. So, we continued to check into our hotel, but again, had to leave Katie outside. Sneaking her into this hotel was going to be a bit tricky. Every time we left the hotel, we had to turn in our key (which also encouraged us more than usual to carry our valuables with us at all times). We began to wander the streets of Naples, not really sure how to deal with the way we were being treated by locals.

Let me try to explain it to you: 5 very beautiful, fair-skinned, light-haired American girls are very, very interesting to Europeans, especially Italians. These Napolean Italians were not what we were expecting. In the movies, Italians are suave and very romantic. These ones treated us like specimen, coming within inches of our faces, staring intensely, and continuing to walk by. Being stared at is one thing, but by all ages and genders, that's just not normal. Feeling a little uneasy already, after being told twice more that we had to watch our valuables and not carry our documents was enough reason for us to come up with an escape route ASAP. All I could think was LaRae and Sarah's idea of a dream destination were so very different than mine. As we discussed our options, we decided the best thing to do was escape the trashy ghetto and find the coast. We took a metro (avoiding walking through the dirty, crowded streets) and wound up in the heart of Naples. This looked a bit more cozy and allowed us all a chance to breath and recollect. We walked around, snapped some photos, and found a great little restaurant to enjoy some pizza in the pizza capital of the world. Not only did we dine by the water, but we also dined with the Italian waiters and the man who made our pizza-- classic, and worth the hidden 4 euro service and cover charge. 

As night approached, we realized we would soon have to return to Mafia land. Luckily we had come up with a wonderful plan to leave the next morning: a ferry to the island of Capri, a trip we had already planned to make 2 days later. So, we grabbed some gelato in the Royal center and proceeded to walk back to our hotel. Unfortunately, my camera couldn't handle the idea of returning to the ghetto, resulting in the lack of photos of our sketchy hotel scene (just know that is added a whole new meaning to the "hide your kids,  hide your wife song. No pictures could have truly captured the stress this city caused us girls). We spent the rest of our evening hidden away in our tiny hotel, trying to cancel our hotel for the next night, and booking a new one. Deciding that even though we couldn't cancel the room, it was worth the 8 euro loss, rather than the potential to lose much more valuable things (like our passports or heads) and book an extra night at our bed and breakfast in Sorrento.

 

From 6pm-10:30pm, we were tucked away in our hotel, preparing ourselves for our sweet escape to what would hopefully be a much better place: CAPRI!

I got a ticket to Venice!

On our first full day of Spring break, we explored the city of Venice! We woke up early in the morning to eat breakfast and make our trek to the city of Romance. Around 9:00am we departed our hotel, bought our bus tickets, and hopped on the bus that took us to the city. For a 2 euro ticket, you would think it was in walking distance... again, our depth perception was completely off and we remained very glad we did not walk that distance. 

We arrived in the city a little after 9:30am and began to wander. The second my eyes fell upon water, it was like I had never seen a canal in my life. Running and screaming, practically begging to get mugged, I approached the water and began photographing like an Asian. You know how you go to a city expecting it to look exactly like you've seen in the movies, but usually you're left disappointed? This was nothing like that. It was exactly like I pictures, just like I had seen in The Tourist. We continued making our way weaving through allies and canals until we spotted a gondola boy. More running, screaming, and pictures led us to the conclusion that we needed to get on that gondola stat. We sent Sarah to bargain with a gondola boy, and she managed to get us a 40% discount. So, we hopped on the gondola and experienced the city of Romance just like they do it in the movies (minus the singing and guitar, but I did have my zebra umbrella to add to the ambiance). 

After our gondola ride, we continued our wandering on foot through the rest of the city, which led us to various bridges, and ultimately the city center by the grand canal. There we enjoyed more picture taking and pizza along the water: LEKKER! We walked around some more after lunch and found our way to a giant dome-shaped church. We took a break from walking and climbing and sat by the water soaking in how lucky we were to be in such a beautiful place on such a beautiful day. We entered the church, snapped a few shots, and then decided to make our way back to the other side to souvenir shop. After a few purchases, we sat by the water and wrote on our post cards (Mom and Dad, did you ever get mine?). As the night approached and the breeze began to feel more like a bitter gust, we made our way further into the city to grab some dinner (baked lasagna). It seemed like a good idea after dinner to see the city at night, but we soon realized how foolish of an idea it was because of the temperature by the water and decided instead to get some gelato instead-- obviously the most logical decision we could have made. And thus ends our journey in Venice. 

Next stop: Naples-- the city of trash, also known as the city LaRae and Sarah were most excited to see.

All Around in 9 days: Spring Break part 1

What you've all been waiting for: spring break blogs!

On February 24, 2012, 6 girls set out for the greatest 9 days of their lives, but first portfolio class. After a very frustrating 3 hours and 7 minutes, Lauren and I met up with 2 of the other travelers to catch a 1:47 train. We had approximately 18 minutes to get to the train station, which would normally be completely doable, but we had a few items to factor in. First of all, we all had to put money on our train cards. Second, Sarah's bike tire was completely flat, resulting in me doubling on the back of LaRae's bike (also not usually a problem, but we had backpacks...). Because of the backpack issue, Sarah willingly securely strapped LaRae's bag to the back of my wobbly, rattly bike and we pressed on. About halfway to the train station, we realized just how flat LaRae's tire was as it carried the dynamic duo to the train station, increasing the travel time quite drastically. Then, we realized LaRae's backpack was slowly but surely slipping from the security of my bike, resulting in Sarah riding one handed to keep a hold on LaRae's only belongings for the next 9 days. 

Now, this wouldn't seem like a huge deal if we were merely traveling by train because we could just catch a later one, but here is the real catch. This train would lead us to a shuttle that would lead us to a plane that would lead us to a bus that would lead us to a walk that would lead us to our hotel in Mestre, Italy.

Around 1:32pm we arrived at the train station, got our tickets and met up with our 5th traveler. All seemed to be going smoothly, until we realized our train was moving at a pace we could walk faster than. After about 20 minutes of that, the train picked up pace and we waited as stop after stop passed until we finally reached Nijmegen, the location of our shuttle. After an hour of waiting, we loaded our shuttle into the bandwagon, hopped in the shuttle bus, and made the 45 minute trek to Dusseldorf, Germany, where our plane was located. After waiting a few hours and making sure our bags could fit into the crammed RynAir carry-on size limitations, we hopped on our plane and arrived in a town 35 km outside of Mestre. We considered walking there as well when we realized the cost of a bus, but decided that at 9:30pm in a strange city it wasn't worth it. And let me tell you, we were certainly glad we didn't walk that. Around 10pm LaRae and I checked into our hotel and met the other girls for dinner: our first Italian pizza! Oddly, it was my favorite. If that was because of the fact that I was extremely famished from a full day of traveling, the egg and ham combo, or the chef's traditional fat Italian chef look, I have no idea, but I am sure thankful for that pizza! We then returned to our hotel where we had to sneak Katie into our 4 person room (not OK in Europe. TAKE NOTE) and went to bed to wake up early to head into the city of Venice to find a gondola, and better yet-- a gondola boy!

A long day of travel, it was. Just the thought of it makes me exhausted! Don't worry, tomorrow I will continue the blog-athon. But for now, ciao!

Better late than never, right?

Yes, it has been almost an entire week without me blogging. I would apologize, but once you hear about all I accomplished this week, you will understand how very busy I have been. So pardon my lateness, but at least I'm blogging before taking off for spring break for 9 days.

Monday we had our first Dutch test. After finding out I failed the first quiz (which didn't actually count for anything), I was more nervous than before. I can't fail a class here. I can't fail a class ever! We reviewed for about 20 minutes and then she handed out the tests. I looked at it and thought to myself, "You have to be joking." It was so easy! I struggled with one section but the rest was a breeze. I handed my test in, the professor looked at it and then told me I did well. Now, what "well" means here could mean I just barely passed because that seems to be what everyone aims for here, but whatever. It's over and I feel great about it.

Tuesday rolled around and we had a very long day: 8:30am-3pm in the same classroom. Not only did we have a long day of classes, but Dordt reps were here so we had to put on happy, studious faces. And let me tell you, that is difficult to do when watching a 2 1/2 hour movie completely in Dutch with English subtitles. During our Dutch culture and society class we watched a movie about 2 twin sisters separated at a young age during WWII-- one grew up to marry a Nazi. One grew up to be in love with a Jew. It was an interesting and very touching movie; however I could have done without about 40 minutes.
Tuesday evening we booked our final place to stay for Spring Break: a cozy little apartment in the city center. The best part: 175 euros TOTAL for 3 nights divided by 6 girls. Yep, I'm the best travel agent ever. Call me if you're ever looking for cheap apartments around Europe because right now I am 3 for 3 on the bookings.
What else happens on Tuesday evenings? The Joffer, of course! But first, our older host brother who lives in town came over for dinner: fish, chicken, and potatoes. However, there were only 2 pieces of fish and a multitude of chicken. At first, the boys seemed like they didn't like fish, so I thought, "Well, I like fish so I'll take a piece." Then they questioned me, "Are you sure you want that? You don't have to have it." Ok... is that sarcasm, or do you actually want the fish, or what? Everyone keeps saying how brutally honest and blunt the Dutch people are, but my host family is just like my family at home: you just never know. Turns out the boys do kinda like fish... whoops. At dinner we talked about our backyard. Turns out we also have a pond I had failed to notice in my first month and a half living here. At first I thought they might be joking about that as well, but they told me we do indeed have a little pond that I could swim in. Then the boys came up with a brilliant idea: in a week or so they will give me a quiz about the environment of the backyard. If I fail, I swim in the pond solo. If I pass, I still swim in the pond, but my little brother goes with me. Why not, right?
Well, after dinner, LaRae and I ran to the grocery store and then proceeded to get ready for the Joffer night! We first went to a Dutch buddies and then headed to the city. What a great night. I'll just leave it at that.

Wednesday rolled around and I had absolutely nothing to do except cook for my host family. We had a few girls over to watch the Bachelor and then LaRae and I made upside-down pizza casserole: another successful meal cooked by the dynamic duo. I finished some homework over coffee with the family and some of the girls and then headed upstairs to get up early for my internship this morning.

Because our wonderful carpool date had fallen ill, Katrina and I were forced to use public transportation. So, I woke up at 5:35am, got on a 6:41 bus to get on a 7:17 train to walk to Gomarus and arrive at 8:35am. We then met with our mentor teacher to prepare our first big assignment. We got some guidelines from her and then spent the next 2 hours preparing a project about persecution of Christians around the world. During the 5th hour we presented the information to the 3rd year (14/15 year olds) students. They did not seem thrilled with the work load, but we assured them it would be well worth the time, effort, and we'd be there along the way to help and support them. It's a bit of a heavier load than I think they're used to, but I have full confidence in these kids, and they get a little taste of American teaching styles. Hopefully they like it!

Tonight we met the 6th and final host brother and his girlfriend. Yeah, I love my host family more and more. I've concluded that the more of them that are around, the funnier they get. Although, dad can be pretty hilarious on his own. I am now completely packed for spring break-- in one backpack... That's it! I have one class in the morning and then head off for a wonderful adventure (at least I hope so!). In Italy we will visit Venice, Naples, and Sorrento, and then we will end our spring break in Barcelona. Needless to say, I will not be able to blog during this trip, so until next time! Happy end of February to you all!

We are Family.

Friday after I finished my internship. I packed up and took LaRae to Groningen-- the student-center, shopping, city of awesomeness. We got there, did some shopping, ate at my favorite pub (Drie GeZusters), and then met up with my cousin. Actually, let me back track a second. We spent 2 hours in the pub, eating, drinking, and being merry. We were also contemplating where we were going to chance to go out later that evening. We thought we were just going to meet up with my cousin in the city, so we needed somewhere to get ready, but where. They charge you for public bathrooms here, and there was no way we were spending 50 cents to fix our hair and change our clothes. Being the cheap and resourceful Friesan my dad raised me to be, we walked to the university, looked for an open building (known as the library by university students), walked in like we were hobos who owned the place, entered the bathroom for approximately 25 minutes, and came out looking like superstars. That is how it's done! I then received a phone call from my cousin telling us we should get on a bus to come to her place for awhile before we go out because no one goes out until 1 AM. Two things: 1) we changed in the university library's bathroom for nothing. 2) We have to stay up until 1 before we can go out? What is this place!?
So, we got on the bus, arrived at my cousin's, and hung out with her and her boyfriend for awhile. Around 12:45 we headed to the bus stop and went to the city. We walked into one pub and it was still kind of quiet. Insane. We entered another and decided (even though it still wasn't super busy) to stay and see if it got any busier. It did. And it was fun, but it was a late, late night!

Around 11:30 in the morning we departed for the train station to Leeuwarden-- the capital of Friesland-- the REAL motherland! My uncle and aunt picked us up and took us to their home in the very, very small village of Kubaard, where my dad grew up. We ate lunch (dinner) with them-- meatballs, potatoes, carrots, applesauce. Now that is what we were expecting from the typical dutch meal. And let me tell you, it was delicious! Then we went to a city on the coast to chase the ice mountains. Once all the cold weather wore off and the wind remained, the waves pushed all of the left over ice to the coastline, resulting in mountains of ice. We searched all along the coast, landing us in Hinderlopen, a town I remember visiting 6 years ago when I was visiting family here with my whole family. It was SO cold and windy there, but I'm glad we got to see it. After that, we went back home and had some coffee. Then we just relaxed with my aunt and uncle and found out a bit more about my family-- like the fact that my uncle competed in '86 in the big ice skating marathon and skated over 200 km!
A little later in the night my uncle, aunt, and I skyped my parents. Skyping my parents is always fun, but I don't think I've seen my dad smile so much over the webcam as when he saw me with his brother.

This  morning we ate breakfast and then went to church in Kubaard. I didn't understand very much of the service, but it was still great to see and be in the church my dad went to. We went back home and had coffee with my cousin and his girlfriend and then got a tour of the dairy/house my dad lived in. However, it has recently been remodeled. To me, it looks great and very cozy, but I wonder what it's like for my dad and uncle to see the house they grew up in and hand all those memories in look so different. Maybe they don't/won't think any differently, but I can't imagine going back to the farm in Nevada seeing a completely different house. But of course, things get old and worn out and need a change. We then had dinner (soup, meatball, potatoes, veggies, and vla of course!). A little while later my other cousin came over with his family for some coffee. It was so great to see so much family in such a short time, and I can't wait to come back! Although, I did promise my little 12 and 8 year old cousins that I would speak more Dutch  next time I came, so I have a ton of work to do in the next 3 weeks. And since I do have a Dutch test in 12 hours, I suppose there's no better time than the present to get started... So, until next time! Dag!

Utrecht and Van Der Capellen

A brief update about Thursday (all day) and Friday (morning):

Thursday we had a field trip to Utrecht. If you remember anything about our first field trip adventure, we all said a lot of prayers before getting on the train. The last thing we wanted was to spend 8 hours of our day in a train again, especially knowing that we had to be back in Zwolle at 7:30 for a gathering with the other foreign exchange students studying at colleges in Zwolle. Luckily we had no trouble with the trains and arrived at Utrecht Centraal, the largest train station in the Netherlands (complete with shopping mall and starbucks) right on time. We began by looking at what used to be an old Roman Catholic church but is now a bar. We took a look inside and it was incredible, quite shocking, but incredible. I'm  not sure how I feel about the whole using what used to be a place of worship as a place of drunken festivities, but to each their own. The strangest part is that the priest had to come and de-holy the place before it could be used for another purpose. That's not something us Reformed folk do...right? We then ventured to the Dom, the highest church tower in the Netherlands-- 430 or so steps to the top, 95 meters high! It took us about an hour to climb to look out over the entire city. It was really neat, but like one of the other SPICE students said, that cathedral in Cologne kind of ruined other churches for us. Yeah, it's cool to climb the highest tower in the Netherlands. And yeah, it's got a unique history with half of the church being destroyed in a rare tsunami, but the beauty and history of that one cathedral is incomparable. After that, we had a cup of coffee and then ventured to a few different museums. One was a house built by a famous carpenter who made thousands of chairs but only one house with 2 goals in mind: space-saving and "the future." We then went to the Miffy museum: the old-school, original Hello Kitty. After that, it was time to go home. Unfortunately on the walk back to the train station the group was separated by a red light (not the kind in Amsterdam). Our professor told us to head down to the train (that would be departing in 3 minutes), but when the conductor blew his whistle and Kees wasn't back, we didn't get on the train. About 30 seconds too late, Kees came back and said to get on the train because the rest of the group got on a different train. However, we were too late and had to go get Starbucks instead... all on our professor. Missing trains is really a bummer... not!

After Utrecht we had a social with the other exchange students and played a little Dutch culture game. Katrina was one of the final 3 standing and received a gift certificate to somewhere. Afterwards some girl dressed in "Dutch" clothes was wandering around with a tray full of Dutch delicacies offering for students to try them: cheese, stroopwaffles, haring, and a Heineken. Well, there was only one thing on the tray I hadn't tried yet, and so I went for it: the haring. Mmm lekker! Alright, it wasn't delicious but for the sake of pictures and bragging rights, it was worth it for sure.

Friday morning at 9:15am I reported for my first day at Van Der Capellen, the public school Katrina and I are observing in Zwolle. The first class we went to was a literature class for 17-18 year old students in the bilingual track. The teacher had decent English but it was a bit broken. That wasn't the worst part: the students hardly had the chance to participate or process MacBeth by themselves. She told them exactly what was happening, why, and even gave them spoilers. When a student asked an in-depth question, she pretty much shut him down and kept up with the rapid pace she was teaching at. I understand being on a time crunch, but for goodness sake, these kids aren't in the bilingual track to get spoon-fed their education. They're looking for an extra challenge.
We then looked at a 7th grade classroom. These students were very, very vocal...mostly in the unproductive way. I whispered to Katrina, "I can't wait to work with these students and demand some respect," but then Katrina reminded me: I can't just do that here. They're not used to it and I'll lose all chance of respect. Crap. That's going to take some extreme getting used to. I'm used to silence in the classroom. Tap your pencil and I'm giving you a detention. You have something to say? I dare you to speak out of turn. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but you get my point. Students here are so vocal all the time. Students in the states are not. How do you channel all that chatting and movement and noise into something productive? That's going to be a challenge for us.

I then biked home and prepared for a weekend with family accompanied by LaRae, but that's a different story. In other words: see my next blog.

Finally! Real, live students!

Slacking off on blogging has been way too easy lately. I apologize.

Monday, that seems so long ago! Well, I had Dutch class, and that's about it. We have our first test in our next lesson... yikes! Learning a new language is seriously so hard. My children are all going to be bilingual the second they start talking. I can kind of translate written Dutch, but the second a real, live Dutch person starts talking to me, I freeze up and forget that I even know any words in their language. So the test should be pretty interesting... other than Dutch class, not a lot happens on Mondays. Oh, but I did manage to almost get hit by a car. It would be funny if a block later I hadn't seen a man in the middle of the street, out cold, surrounded by passing people and police officers because he had been hit by a car on his bike. That got me thinking: does this happen a lot? Also, the fact that people weren't moving for the ambulance and police vehicles was shocking and horrible. Every time I see a car coming towards me now, my heart skips a few beats and I assume the worst. Things I miss about America: the assurance that I will not get struck by a vehicle while I'm biking... because I never bike.

Yesterday (Tuesday), Katrina and I did our internship. Evidently field trips get cancelled for Valentine's Day in this country and get rescheduled to days of other students' internships. Luckily the people at Gomarus love Katrina and I so much they were more than willing to let us come on Tuesday instead of Thursday so we could attend the field trip as well. I was picked up by my carpool date, picked up Katrina at the train station, and made our way to Groningen.
We arrived at Gomarus only to find out that our mentor teacher was sick. Again, because they love us so much there, they were flexible enough to make room for us elsewhere around the school. And lucky for us, this involved real, live students-- not just watching them, but interacting with them! Tuesday was the preliminary round of a junior speaking contest for the ESL (TTO) students in grades 2 and 3 (8th and 9th). The topic for the speeches was the future. The students could choose to do whatever they wanted with this topic, but many of them focused on what the future will be like-- technology, not worrying about the future, etc. However, a few had different ideas. One boy has dreams to travel the world and save the animals-- one of the most passionate speeches I have ever heard. Another girl dreams to get rid of using paper all the way around. Katrina and I spent our day helping students with their diction, grammar, and practicing their speeches. It was so much fun! At first the students didn't want a thing to do with us. They would ask any one in the room besides us for help, but by the time lunch rolled around, students were coming to us for everything. It was a great way to see some of the students' personalities, interests, and also the variety of English-speaking skills. Some of them are excellent English speakers. Others, not so much. Some of them had great English-writing, but their speaking ability was lacking. It was really quite interesting but also inspirational. These kids are so motivated to excel in the same programs, and yet they are so diverse in their interests and abilities.

I have already picked favorites, sadly: purple shirt kid. He was quite the charmer and the crack up. His personality just screamed This got Katrina and me thinking: what if we suggested a one act? We could incorporate it into the English class, and we think this would be a great way for students to practice their English in a different, less stressful (and boring) environment. Ideas like this get me so excited about this opportunity and the opportunities I'll have in the future. I can't wait to have a classroom of my own and enact stuff like this on my own.

Today was a pretty chill day-- watched the Bachelor, cooked dinner for the family (baked lemon pasta with chicken), went to Dutch Culture and Society class, ate dinner with the family, finished scholarship applications, and now I'm blogging before bed. And now I'm done with that, so off to bed I go!