The Art of Covering Bread

If you ask me what kind of special dish there is in the Netherlands I'm afraid I would have to say I don't have a clue. I have a vague memory of "boerenkool" or another thing with mash potatoes mixed with crunchy salad (yuk? absolutly not) and also "erwtensoep" (soupe de pois cassés améliorée). But this cuisine is actually something eaten in the middle of the winter.
Still, all the year long you can enjoy "panenkoeken" pancakes the size of a pizza and covered with cheese, onions and bacon (my favourite) or.....

Bread. And that's where they are VERY inventive.
Just a few examples :

Cheese, of course not just one sort but many different. It can be young or mild or old depending on how you like it... Gouda, Leyden, Edam, or Pitjes kaas (cheese with cumin seeds)

Not very fanciful though my favourite :
Pindakaas (peanut butter)

another thing I REALLY like is
Cocosbrood :

slices of coconut paste, mainly for kids

Hagelslag : chocolate sprinkles

Muisjes literally "little mice"
traditionally eaten when a baby is born
pink for the girls and blue for the boys
(coated aniseeds)

Appelstroop :
a sort of apple treacle

and also Vruchtenhagel, (fruity sprinkels)
Ontbijtkoek (spice bread)
Vlokken (chocolate flakes)
Gestampte Muisjes (same as muisjes but powder)
or more common things like ham, bacon, fried eggs....

School visit 1: Stichting Vrieden van de Herenwaard

Here, organisation looks like shelves filled with little boxes, there is a box with its own label for everything or everyone.

The little box I went to was a "special needs" school with "mentally disabled" pupils. Though at Stichting Vrienden van de Herenwaard, pupils don't feel like being in a box since every door is open, every adult is available, the whole space is their own. Their school is like home : warm and comfortable.

First the staff arrives around 8 and they meet around a cup of tea or coffe and discuss the program of the day. Then doors open and children come one by one, by groups, some of them were waiting, some of them are late but there is no rush. They are about 150, aged from 13 to 20 divided into 4 classe according to their age, each classe has 2 levels A and B depending from their mental ability.

Until everyone has arrived, they can do what they want: reading, playing games, drawing, discussing, ... Then at 9:00 it's time to start the "rooster" (the schedule) and it appears like that ... (clik on the picture) Each activity is represented by a pictogram, sometimes there is also a small clock telling the time the activity starts.

So the day starts always with the "Kring" (the circle) in which pupils and teachers talk about different issues like the program of the day, décisions and votes : "Are we going in small groups to the football or with the whole class?"... It can be also show time or talk time when pupils can tell what they did during last May break, or last week-end.

Then they start an activity :
Today they are all going to write a card and send it to a friend. What makes the activity interesting is that the cards will be put randomly in envolpes and sent by post (for real). So everyone is going to receive a card from someone in the class.


After that they have a little pause for half an hour in the class or in the cafeteria where other pupils make the service. They can drink or eat something.

When it's time to go back to class, they go on with the "rooster". I had the opportunity to join a very special class : the "toneel" (drama). Ria, the teacher in charge wanted her group to rehearse the whole piece "Maantje" (little moon).
It deals with issues like relationships between parents and children, between friends but most of all it deals with the difficult question of having a baby when one is "mentally disabled". A very touching issue, more than ever when it's put on stage by pupils like them.
They were really good. They knew their texts by heart, but on top of that they could play the characters perfectly.
I have to say that I did my best to avoid crying (you know how emotional I can be).

When it's lunch time, they all know what they have to do since everyday it is decided who is doing what.


So earlier this morning someone went shopping and at lunch another one is setting the table.


Lunch is quiet, everyone respects the rules




After lunch, the class splits in different groups : some are going to the garden, to the laundry, to the administration, to the woodworkshop,...

I went to the kitchen. Tomato soup on the menu. Yummy!


First they decide what they need, they go shopping if something is missing, then everyone is in charge on something :

slicing, boiling, cooking, frying, stirring, ...





When eveyone is busy I sneak away and I go to the wood workshop, different place, different colours, different odors, different activities, different results. Here they are free to express themselves :











They work the wood and make something of their own : a box, a car toy, a foostool...

When outside, they work the earth and grow strawberries, leak, oignons, carrots, parsley, ...


However different they all are, they succed in achieving something. At the heart of their day lies the verb, triggering the action for their future.

Le système éducatif néerlandais

School Trip to England

As soon as I was introduced to the english teachers of Hogeschool I was offered the possibility to join a group of first year english students on a school trip. At first I was thrilled, then I thought that I shouldn't be so enthusiastic with everyting because I take reckless decisions, finally I found myself on a bus filled with Dutch students and heading to England. Funny thing, when we reached England everyone started speaking English and on the way back it was the same they switched naturally to Dutch when we reached Belgium. How come? I don't know.

Needless to say that even from Rotterdam it's a bl.... long way and my a.... was killing me and would kill me for the entire week since everything we did took at least one hour drive by bus.

Anyway here is a short account of what we did :

- The first day, we arrived around 3pm in Hastings where we travelled back to the 14 th of October 1066, day of the famous battle between William the conqueror and Harold Godwinson.

Then there wasn't much to do so we went back on the bus and drove to Croydon where we met our hosts families. I was welcomed with two other girls by Mr Jones. (No kidding)

- The second day : was my birthday but no one knew so I didn't get a big hug (hey, I turned 30! I could use a big one!)

So we went to Oxford, where I got myself some books, then we went punting.
Let me explain you : you are on a small flat boat and you propel it by pushing the bottom of the river with a big pole. Not that easy! especially when you are called "clumsy mymy"!
We managed to get back on the ground safe and dry after an hour trying to steer the boat correctly.



Then we had a guided tour of the different schools in Oxford, there's not much to say apart from I quote "You went to Oxford's College like you went to jail but you came out with knowledge..."

- The third day we went to Stonehenge.
Don't expect to go inside the stones it's forbidden and don't expect to get any explanations either: the truth is elsewhere. But that's the funny part : not knowing the how but rather finding the why...
Then we went to Winchester's cathedral, where you can see (actually you can walk on) Jane Austen's grave.






Later we saw Arthur's table where according to the stories he would meet the Order of Knighthood. It is said that the names on it have been written by Merlin in magical gold paint which miraculously changed along with the occupant.


- Last but not least, the 4th day we went to London and went to the famous Globe TheatreThere was no play on show but still I learnt a few interesting things about the theatre itself but also the costumes, the instruments, the props... it was like being in one of Shakespeare's play.
We ended this beautiful day with a tour on the traces of the most well known criminal Jack the Ripper before having a nice meal at Dickens' Inn.

-The following day we went back on the bus to Dover, back on the ferry, back to Rotterdam...

A Few Landmarks

Looking back to the history of Rotterdam you'll find out that the city suffered from heavy bombings during WWII which destroyed most of the city. That's why nowadays you find in place of the old city a newly architecturally designed city.

The Erasmusbrug (Erasmus bridge) also nicknamed "The Swan" is the symbol of Rotterdam. 8OO meters long accross the Nieuwe Maas, it links the northern part of the city to the southern part.At the bottom of two huge towers, one of them being the Montevideo tower said to be one of the highest building in the Netherlands, stands the New York Hotel. It was some hundreds years ago the head office of the Holland-Amerika Lijn used by millions of migrants to fulfill their dreams.

The cube houses are one of the most peculiar architectural curiosity. 38 houses designed by Piet Blom to represent a forest the houses reminding of tree huts.

Mevlana Mosque

Dutch are traditionally famous for their tolerance and open mindedness. I think sometimes they are one step ahead of us when they think of themselves one step behind Sweden.

The way they deal with the many different religions is one of the numerous example.

Islam is a growing religion in the Netherlands, as a result of the immigration from the former colonies Surinam and Indonesia and migrant workers from Turkey and Marocco. They tend to be well integrated in the society but bear in mind that this is not without causing some social tensions.

Mevlana is a muslim mosque entirely funded by the muslim community and plays a central role in their life. It has both a religious and social function. People attend the mosque for the prayer which happens five times in a day, but mostly by elderly and unemployed people. The rest of the time the mosque is opened to the muslim community and offers a barber, a shop, a little cafeteria, but also a TV and internet room in order to keep the different generations together.

Inside the prayer room is richly decorated.
On the walls you can see the 99 names of God under a great cupola. Since pictures and paintings are forbidden it is only decorated with caligraphies.
The upper part, on the balcony is where the women pray whereas men pray separately downstairs.
I'm not going through the principles of islam that are taught just remember that their faith is based on the six pillars of islam.

This visit reminded me of the day when my pupils taught me how the muslim community celebrates the Aïd el-Kebir when in return I was explaining them how British people celebrate themselves Christmas.

First Steps in Rotterdam

Here I am, a freshly new teacher trying to find my way into this busy city of Rotterdam.
It wasn't without anxiety that I left Toulouse for the Dutch country but finally everything fell into place. First,I was welcome by a Dutch boy, Tom who came to pick me up from the train and show me my new accomodation and who gave me a few tips for settling without problems.
Then I met Janneke who is like a mother for all the International Students and in the end I met Norika who is the peaceful guardian angel of the flat we share together.
How did I end here?
There are different reasons why I chose to come here. Of course I didn't come to Rotterdam for the climate, though for a long time it didn't rain which is very surprising here. No, I came here first for the languages since English is widely spoken so it is interesting to understand how it is made possible whereas in France we are far from these results.

But most of all I wanted to speak Dutch again which used to be my native language. To put things in a nutshell I understand it quite well because both of my parents are Dutch but I've always spoken French so I can speak though not fluently and I can't read nor write. It makes things easy since I can start a conversation in Dutch and finish in English and still I make myself understand. Sometimes it's a bit confusing having to deal with three languages at the same time but it's fun. You'll see it's not that difficult once you know how it works.