Sinterklaas Comes to Town

Friday night was the yearly "Team Presentation" from TDR. Every year in the fall there's a presentation for "the" TDR team, meaning the presentation is actually for the main team from TDR... I run on the youth or the "jeugd" team. Anyway, everyone was allowed to invite people, we got these cool looking invitation cards to give out. I brought Milja and her friend Anita (remember, from the school?!). All of us had to wear Nike clothes to the presentation, because the Nike people who sponsor the team were going to be there, and apparently it's important for them to see us wearing Nike clothes. Unfortunately for me, I don't have a very great supply of Nike clothes, and I have no supply of casual Nike clothing. Some of the girls from the team lent me clothes to wear though, so all of us went in magenta Nike clothes. At the presentation we all sat together, and the other team sat up front in chairs. The Thursday before the presentation the team had gotten their package of Nike clothing, so they started out the night in matching yellow and grey sweatshirts. Then at the end of the presentation they changed into the sweatsuits... the girls got light blue, and the guys got yellow.

The main part of the presentation was a slideshow of "Top 10 Moments" which was the best moments throughout the year. They showed video and pictures of all the athletes winning races, or finishing at the top of national races. It was definitely inspiring watching the same athletes that I get to train with sometimes beat people from all over Europe. It makes me want to run faster!

After the presentation, Milja and Anita drove me to Alkmaar, where there was a party going on for two of the exchange students from our region. They invited 25 exchange students from all over, and then we all slept at different people's houses who lived in Alkmaar. By the time I got there on Friday night, the party was already over, but it was still nice just being with the other exchange students there. There were four of us at Andria's house (a girl from Indonesia). Antea was there (remember?!), Sara from Belgium, Lauren from Minnesota, and me. It's not that we did anything particularly exciting on Friday night, but it was nice just because we all relate to each other so well. Every time anyone would say anything, everyone else would be like, "hey, me too!" It's a good feeling that there's other people going through the same type of thing that you're going through, whether it's good or bad.
Saturday morning, we started out walking at about 10:30 to meet at one of the boy's houses whose birthday it was. After we'd walked for about fifteen minutes, we realized that it was going to be another half hour to walk, and that we could actually take a bus. So, we took the bus. All of the exchange students who were in Alkmaar for the weekend met at Francesco's house (from Italy) and from there we walked to an ice skating rink. The ice skating rink actually was two rinks, one that was like a track (only made of ice) where everyone was speed skating, and then another rink. Really, I wanted to speed skate, because it made me think of skiing, and winter, and Wisconsin, and... you get the picture. I wanted to speed skate! But everyone else was using the normal skates on the normal rink, so I went with that too. The regular skates made me feel like I was at home too, and it was fun watching everyone who came from places with no ice skating rinks try to do it.
We were at the ice skating rink for a really long time, and at about four in the afternoon we all went back to Francesco's house again and ate cake. After that, the plan was for everyone to take the train about ten minutes to Rafael's house (from Venezuela, who also had a birthday) and eat and have a party there. But, we had already told Andria's host parents that we were going to eat dinner with them, so we went back to her house (again with the bus). Antea and I basically stood in the kitchen and watched while Andria made an Indonesian dish for dinner. It was spicy chicken with rice, and of course it tasted amazing. Then, she told us that they usually would eat it for breakfast, though for us it was definitely a dinner meal.
Once we had eaten, we did go back to Rafael's house with the train for the party. There were lots of us there, but it didn't go until very late because everyone still had to take the train back.

All right. Sunday morning Milja drove ("Milja drove" is going to become a very popular frase I think... it happens a lot, usually involving bringing me somewhere) back to Alkmaar to pick up Antea and me. We knew Sunday was going to be an exciting day because.... Sinterklass was coming to Akersloot! Whatever you do, don't get Sinterklass confused with Santa Claus. They do look kind of the same (except Sinterklass was waaaay taller), but Sinterklaas brings presents on December 5th, which is his birthday. Also, Sinterklass doesn't have elf helpers, he has lots of other helpers called Svarte Piet. The obvious question is, why was Sinterklass coming to Akersloot on November 15th, if he doesn't bring presents until December 5th? To be honest, I don't really know. I do know he lives in Spain, so maybe he just wants to rest for a while after his long journey on the boat.
Antea and I walked to the lake by Akersloot with Danique, a friend from school. It was raining, but that wasn't really a surprise. At the lake there were tons and tons of little kids with their families watching and waiting for Sinterklass to come. He came across the lake by Akersloot with a boat, and with all his helpers in the boat with him. The helpers all came through the crowd and gave out papernotas, and candy, and talked to the little kids. Then Sinterklass got in a horse-drawn carriage and rode through the town while all the rest of us went to the church. While we were waiting for Sinterklass to come to the church, everyone sang songs (about Sinterklass) and the Svarte Pieten gave out more papernotas. Then (suspensful music)... Sinterklass came! He was extremely tall, and his beard was may more real than Santa Claus. The most exciting thing about all of this was that all of the kids who were in the church actually believe that Sinterklass is real. Which, actually, how can you really blame them? I mean, he was there. He came in the church, and so did all of his helpers. It's not that hard to believe. Once Sinterklass came to the church, we sang some more songs or "litjes," and Sinterklass talked for a little bit. The whole thing was nice and exciting, and made me glad that I get to be here for Christmas.

Who knows, maybe Sinterklass will even come to Spooner next year. All I need is a white beard and a red costume!