Dutch School is Odd

Heh heh, Dutch school IS odd. Very amusing, though. The Christian-ness of my school in particular can produce some rather funny moments, but the two events I am about to relate could have happened in any Dutch school. That's what's so amusing about them, actually.

Event number one: this week my French teacher spent two of our three class hours talking about wine. The first of these two hours was spent talking (for absolutely NO reason, or at least not one known to me) about Beaujolais Nouveau, and the second was a class discussion about the students' favorite types of wine. And it was totally serious. In America a discussion of this sort would have an air of SCANDAL: ZOMG the children are imbibing, what ever shall we do?! Here, though, the drinking age is sixteen, so the students in the fifth class (mine) are old enough to purchase their own beer and wine. Insanity.

So yes, second example of strange happenings in Dutch school. Today during the morning break (a 10-minute break between the second and third class hours), everyone spontaneously went outside. I had no idea what was going on and didn't much care to be shoved about by eleven-year-old boys, so I stayed inside reading 1984. The ending buzzer went off, so I started off up the stairs to my Dutch class on the fourth floor. Halfway up I ran into three girls from my class coming back down, and they told me that Dutch class was cancelled. How random. I went back to the Atrium to wait out another period, and I saw that everyone was still out in front of the school building. I asked a random passer-by what on earth was going on, and he said that the students were protesting the ninth hour...I guess they only want to have eight hours in a day? COMPLETELY incomprehensible to me; Streek only HAS eight hours to begin with, so they have no reason to complain. I guess they were showing solidarity with Marnix, though. (Marnix is another high school in another part of Ede.) The crowd--several hundred strong, possibly more than 1000, as 1500 people attend Streek in my building and there was hardly anyone left inside--marched off to Marnix to...I don't know. Something. Anyway, they marched off and left very few people at school. My physics class took place in the fourth hour, but in the middle of the hour it was announced that all classes were cancelled for reasons of safety, and all students and teachers could leave. For reasons of SAFETY?! What on earth do they think is going to happen? Ridiculous, that's what I have to say about that. Nice for me, though, as Friday is usually my longest day but today was done at 11:30. Sweeeeet.

Sinterklaas

Woo so yeah random updates. Again. Because, you know, I suck at regularly updating a blog. In my defense, I do write in my diary every day, so I'm not going to totally lose everything that's going on here, but for you curious people in the US it's not so nice when I don't update my blog. Sorry n stuff.

Had a meeting with my AFS person on Wednesday. I will be changing families, THANK GOD. I would feel sort of bad about being glad to change, but I'm so irritated by my host family's antics that I don't care anymore. My biggest problem with them is that they never say anything outright; in preparing to come here I was told countless times that the Dutch are very direct and I should be prepared for that, but in actuality it is the complete opposite. I never hear about any problems unless it's third-hand or so. My host mother email's Julia's mother, who emails Julia, who may or may not mention something to me...it's madness. I would rather have someone incredibly direct than someone who never tells me anything at all.

Today Julia and I went down to the Rijnhaven (local harbor on the Nederrijn river) to see the arrival of Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas is kind of like American Santa Claus--the names even sound similar--but there are slight variations in the legend. Sinterklaas arrives with his helper, Zwarte Piet (Black Peter...incredibly un-PC, yes, but supposedly he's black because he's a chimney sweep, not because he's a slave. Yeahhh, whatever you say.) on a boat from Spain. Today this part of the legend was upheld magnificently, as Sinterklaas arrived on an old-fashioned boat flying the Spanish flag and accompanied by a small army of Piets. There was even a marching band made up of about 15 members, ALL of whom were dressed up as Piet. I was under the impression that only one Piet figured into the legend, but hey, whatever floats Sinterklaas's boat. OH I'm good, I know. I guess multiple Piets isn't as ruinous to little children's hopes and dreams as multiple Sints would be. Anyway! Yes, so they arrive from Spain by boat, then proceed to leave sweets in the shoes good little children have left by the chimney. BUT if they find naughty children, Piet stuffs them in a sack and spirits them away to Spain. Slightly disturbing, yes, but I suppose the German version, in which Piet carries something to beat the children, is equally disturbing. I guess American kids are lucky when they get just a lump of coal instead of being taken away/beaten. Oh yes, and all of this takes place on December 6th, not the 25th. And thus far I have seen no connection with Jesus in this holiday. But hey, I go to a Christian school...I'm sure they'll find somewhere to insert Our Lord and Savior.

And now it is picture time.

Julia and I with Zwarte Piet!

Sinterklaas and Piet down on the shore, shaking hands and distributing pepernoten.

Sinterklaas and the 30+ Piets are on that green boat to the right. Notice the Spanish flag it is flying. There were also kayaking Piets throwing pepernoten at whoever they could reach.

So yes, more about this event...there were SO MANY people! Sinterklaas and the Piets arrived on the boat at about 1 PM, then walked around on a preset path with metal barricades (like the ones on the Today show!) to greet people. The Piets handed out pepernoten to the children while Sinterklaas appeared generally useless, just shaking hands and such. The children gave Piet their lists like American children would write a letter to Santa...it was quite cute. One girl jumped the barricade and ran up behind Piet to give him her list, which Julia and I found adorable. Anyway, after they had made that circuit, the Piets began hiding themselves away in random corners of the city and Julia and I saw several in the course of our random Saturday wandering. AND THEN there was a parade, complete with military band, Sinterklaas in a horse-drawn carriage, and Piets on donkeys. Leuk, for serious.

These are pepernoten...just as useful for throwing as they are for eating, and there seems to be an endless supply of them crushed on the floor of my school. Always. Today there were so many of them about--in little children's hands, in Piet's bag, crushed on the ground--that the very AIR smelled like them. It was rather festive, I'm not gonna lie. I am mailing some home to someone who shall remain anonymous for now, so Plattsburghians BEWARE! for these deadly holiday projectiles.

Sound of Silence

Sooo Dutch people seem to be afraid of silence. I do not mind if no one is talking; sometimes it's the best possible thing. But most people I've met here need to talk to fill the quiet...I really don't understand it. What do they think is going to happen if no one is talking? That evil silence-demons will sweep in?

This also applies, in a slightly different form, to their inability to deal with solitude. Sometimes I really just want to read, but the people at Dutch school do not understand this. One of my acquaintances told me I should hang out with more people because I'd be happier. How does he know? Just because I'm not afraid to be alone or to be quiet does not mean I'm unhappy or won't talk to Dutch people. I can be very loud and social, given the chance. I just don't see the need to fill silences and never be alone.