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.