November 24th, 2009 at 07:23pm
Hi again!
Okay, I’m at work right now, and I’m going to write you a really long message! (Yes, I can go on the computer at work. More about that later!) I’m going to put the message on your profile in two parts, because otherwise Mibba will destroy it, which wouldn’t be very nice.
First off, you spelled both porcelain and completely correctly! You’re a better speller than you think, it seems Also, yes, people setting toilets on fire (well, trying to, really) are definitely amusing. My school is boring compared to that!
2,000 students… that’s pretty big indeed! I can imagine it’d be crowded… You’re lucky that you’re tall. Being short can be pretty annoying. I used to get bullied for it – but that’s beside the point. Luckily I’ve grown a bit over the past few years, so now I’m below average but at least people believe me when I tell them how old I am. When I was younger they’d think I was lying because I was so tiny. And people kept thinking I was in first grade (not first grade of primary school, but first grade of high school, in which the kids are 11 years old) even when I was about fourteen.
Yeah, those trips are really cool! Not all of my classmates do bilingual education, and those who don’t are really jealous of all the trips we get to go on… Then again we have to pay for them. Now the non-bilingual students went to France last year so most of them did stop nagging the bilingual students about it.
Your job sounds like fun! I’ve seen a Hindu marriage in Rome on the Capitol, and their clothes are so beautiful! Especially because Hindus often have darker skin and that matches really well with those colourful clothes.
I actually have four jobs - but they’re all only a few hours a week, so it doesn’t take too much of my time. Firstly, I tutor, which is one hour a week (and some preparation time, but that’s nothing too bad). Secondly, I babysit. I totally love that! Babies and little kids are so awesome. Thirdly, I work at an old people’s home every other Saturday. I work on a ward for people who suffer from dementia; the ward has sixteen bedrooms and one living room, and I spend my time in the living room. I have to make breakfast for the residents, and help those who can’t eat very well themselves, and I make coffee and I help with the lunch. I also make sure it’s all neat and clean and whenever I have nothing to do I talk to the residents or play games with them or go for walks with them so they have something to do. My feet are usually very tired by the end of the day, because I run around all the time, but it’s fun and it’s nice to know I’m helping those people.
Fourthly I work at a language center. People come here to do a language course. I have to let them in, and I have to make sure the place is clean – vacuum if necessary, make sure the coffee machine has enough sugar and such in it, clean the whiteboards, water the plants, etcetera. I have to stay in the building until the courses are over, but when I’m done with my work I can just sit down and use the computer or do homework. It’s the easiest job ever, and the coffee machine makes the most delicious Wiener Melange coffee. Which is why I’m currently sitting here drinking Wiener Melange, listening to the faint sounds of people trying to talk Dutch (with English accents, because they’re from the UK and they’re here to learn Dutch) and typing this message to you.
(to be continued)
Yes, it’s called ontbijtkoek. I can’t explain how you have to pronounce it, because the ‘ij’ sound that is in it is something that doesn’t even exist in English. It’s also in the last syllable of the word “apartheid”, which you might’ve heard about (It’s the only Dutch word used in the English language). But even then, I don’t think anybody pronounces that correctly, either. The closest I can get to explaining what it sounds like is “aunt-bite-cook”. Just paste those three words together and then it sounds enough like ‘ontbijtkoek’ to make yourself understood to a Dutch person – I think.
Homemade apple crumble… that’s lovely! And I think it’d be a waste not to use the apples.
Wow, you grow so much in your allotment! I think it’d be awesome if we could grow our own food at my house, too. It all sounds delicious, and the flowers are really pretty! Dahlias used to be my favourite flowers when I was younger. I’m not sure what my favourite flowers are now. The sweet peas are really pretty, too… I might make those my favourites!
We do grow some fruit in our back yard. We have grapes, and raspberries. We only planted the raspberries this year, as a tiny little plant, but it grew a lot and I ate a lot of raspberries over the summer. I also ate a lot of grapes – I love grapes. (Every time I write the word grape, it reminds me of when one of my classmates gave a presentation in English class about Scottish English, and read a poem to us with a Scottish accent. It was about grapes, and he said: “I’m going to read you a poem about grapes, which is my favourite word in the English language: grapes. It’s just so cool!” And he was all enthusiastic, it was really funny. Especially because that boy is usually quite laid-back. But I’m letting myself get all distracted again.)
Yeah, chocolate spread is quite different from the sprinkles. I can imagine that it sounds pretty weird to put them on my bread, but I like it. I guess it’s just a weird Dutch habit, then.
When I went to the UK, I visited Brighton. It was nice, close to the sea. We didn’t go to the beach, though; it was February, I believe, and it rained a lot.
Holland is beautiful, I think. Especially the islands in the north. I went on holiday there this summer, and I spent hours and hours walking through the dunes and along the beach, with my bare feet in the sea. It was lovely, so calm and quiet and lonely. (It wasn’t lonely on the hot days – the beach was crowded then, but then again I could also stay in the dunes, where I got smothered by the heat but at least I was on my own. And I didn’t really mind the heat, anyway…)
I like the way our classes are at school. I usually like working on my own more than listening to lectures, so I’m glad the teachers let us make exercises in the second half of class.
I’ll write you another message about my school day, because this one is already almost two pages in Word. I get so carried away…