Markets and Craziness

Today was another crazy day!!! We started off in class, today I had the lowest level kids; 4, 5, and 6 years old. They were so cute! I didn't think I could handle kindergarten but I loved these little ones! I am still amazed at how the education system works in Holland. First, every Wednesday the kids have what they call half day. All the schools let out between 12 and 1 and the kids are free to go play! They also don't have homework. Ever. Holland does not have substitute teachers either. When one of the teachers are sick, they split the kids up and put them in different classes. As a result, today we had four 10 year old's in our room. This was very good because Juliet (I met her on Monday, she has an English Au Pair and speaks perfect English!) was one of the kids who joined us! Also, the kids have so much play time! Kids ages 4-8 have an hour and a half of recess (broken into three blocks) plus 45 minutes for lunch. The older kids have 30-45 minutes of recess with a 45 minute lunch break. They all also have a 30 minute snack break where everyone eats a chocolate sandwich and watches educational videos or American cartoons on Youtube. They have so little instructional time! Even with all that play time, the kids in Holland are so far ahead of the kids in America. They know SOOOOO much more! I don't understand how they accomplish it all!

After school today, since we got out at one, some of the students who also teaching at our school took us to one of the markets here in Den Haag. It was not at all like American markets, but it was so interesting! They sell everything you could possibly think of to buy! It was set up with booths full of cloths, toys, books, shoes, and tons of fresh fruits and vegetables. After wandering through the market for a little while, they took us for lunch to get Turkish pizza. It is similar to a flat bread, covered in a garlicky tomato sauce, meat (chicken or lamb), veggies, and then rolled into a sort of pizza taco. It was soooo good! We went from lunch to see their school. In Holland, children go to school from Kindergarten to 6th grade. After they take a test to determine which secondary school they can go to. The lower level is 4 years, the middle level 5 years, and the upper level 6 years. The secondary school they attend then determines what jobs they can get and whether they can go on to college. These girls were in the middle level, studying to be teachers. It was so cool to have the opportunity to see their school and classes! As "seniors" they spend Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday at their elementary placement teaching and the other half of Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in class. They got special permission on Wednesday to take "the Americans" out!

After the tour, they took us into the city center to do a little shopping (my roomies were desperate for a working blow dryer!) before taking us to one of their favorite restaurants for dinner. It is a pizza and pasta restaurant and the food was amazing! I had the most fabulous spinach pizza, and it was really inexpensive! We all really want to go back and try something else because EVERYONE loved their food :) After dinner we headed back to our apartment for some girl time before an early bed. With our walk to the bus stop and then the ride, we have all been getting up very early to get to school every day and seem to be going to be earlier and earlier! All in all it was a wonderful day! The girls are so nice and it is really fun to get to hang out with the locals :)

My classroom on Tuesday (level 3=1st grade). My teacher was so nice!

The kids in Holland have ice-skates that strap on to their tennis shoes the way kids in America have roller skates that they can attach to their tennis shoes!

My classroom on Wednesday! It's a little hard to see in this picture, but this classroom had floor to ceiling windows on 3 sides! All the windows have soft wooden panes so teachers can hang student work up on the window panes! I love all the natural light and the view of outside :)

Dinner at Vapiano with our wonderful tour guides! The food what so good! We all want to go back :)