Since nothing very new and exciting has really been happening this week (I've pretty much just been in school). But the camp I went to last weekend was amazing, so I can write about that.
When I thought about coming to the Netherlands, I thought about eating Dutch food, meeting Dutch people, living with a Dutch family, going to a Dutch school. What I never thought about was that I was going to meet other students from Italy, Belgium, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Germany, Switzerland, and everywhere. Everybody has such completely different lives, but because we are all in the same country and going through the exact same things, it feels like we've known each other for a long time. And not at all like we've just met.
On the last night that we were at the camp (which was only for the weekend), there was a talent show that everyone had to be in. We got to see belly dancing, Indonesian dancing, Thai dancing, and the Italians sang songs.
It's like nothing you can even describe being there and being a part of all the different cultures at one time. All of the Italians were always singing, and they would clap whenever any music was played, and the South Americans always were laughing and hugging.
During the day at the camp we did language lessons and talked about adjusting and etc. But then at night everyone got to go and dance. They played music from everywhere, and everyone danced together.
It's crazy to think that now I know people from so many different places in the world.
Besides the camp, things are going good here. Though, I do have to admit that learning Dutch is not going all that great. I feel like I can hardly ever say anything that I want to say, and that whenever I do say anything, I say it wrong. But everyone else tells me I'm doing well, and you know they say that Dutch people are honest! I keep hoping that one day everything will all just click, and suddenly I'll be able to talk. We'll have to see about that.
I've joined a running club here called Team Distance Runners. They're online if anyone wants to look them up! They are all way faster runners than me, and the team is extremely serious. But I think that in the end I'm going to be a much better runner. Everyone on the team is nice and friendly too. It's nice to have something here that is like what I did at home. The girls on the team want the same thing as the girls on the cross country team in Spooner. We all just want to be fast!
So between the girls on the running team, and the girls at school, I think that slowly but surely I might be making some friends here. Of course, it's impossible to make friends like the ones I have at home in one month. I've known the people at home all of my life, and everyone here for just a little while. But I'm starting to feel comfortable, and it's nice to see people outside of school occasionally. I went over to a girl's house after school today... major breakthrough! And on Saturday there's a movie night with the girls from my class, which should be fun.
It's family time here now. Tea, Italian chocolate, and t.v.
Here they call that gezellig, which they say means cozy. But they say it whenever anything's nice. At least I can say that in Dutch!
Doei!
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