Job Hunting, Bike, 4th of July, Field Hockey
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
19
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Thursday, July 10, 2003
JOB HUNTING
On June 17 I interview with the International School of Amsterdam. I sent my resume for the third time earlier that week. This time on my email I said I know that they have no job openings (I was told this once before) but I want to volunteer in the 2003-2004 school year. I was shocked when the head master (principal) of the lower school emailed me and said she wanted to meet with me regarding possible employment.
Let me first explain the International School. I have looked at the website isa.nl in the past and got the feeling it was very fancy, especially compared to Chicago Public Schools. Most of the children there are children of people like Stephen and myself who have relocated abroad b/c of work
01. Stephen ready to play
. So these are far from the children who I student taught. Also, it is a private school.Anyway, I met with the headmaster this morning for 1/2 hour. It went very well. At the end she said they have no openings, she just thought my resume sounded interesting (Thanks Liz for your format!!) and wanted to meet me before she went on holiday for a month (everyone here takes holiday for a month - except for us, Stephen's work won't let him be gone this summer). She didn't ask me any tough questions, phew. Just what I enjoyed to teach and what I found difficult to teach. She asked me how I planned a lesson and I was able to whip out my portfolio and show her--pictures and all. I think she liked that. When I was leaving she said that she hopes there is an opening at the school b/c I would fit in really well with staff. That made me feel good.
We also talked about volunteering at the school and she said she could use me as an aide for one of the grades. 60% of the children at the school are English language learners, so they always need help with reading type activities.
So, we will see what happens. I care more about being busy then working at this point. Up until that day, I have not gotten very positive responses about working in the Netherlands. If you are citizen of a country that is part of the European Union it is much easier to work in another EU country then it is for an American to work here. So, not only I am competing for a job among the Dutch, but all of Europe.
I had some more potential job-hunting luck this week
02. Game in action
. After two phone calls and only one email with my resume attached I got a response from 2 Voices, a Dutch/English preschool here in Amsterdam. The directors (two British women) wanted to meet with me. It is a Montessori program. For those of you who are unfamiliar, it is a specific method of teaching or rather not teaching. The method is very child-centered, meaning the child knows best what the child needs. At preschool age (in Europe, preschool literally means pre school and the ages in the center are 15 mos - 4 years) this means the child chooses what he/she wants to play with. The only catch is that they have to "finish their work" (meaning if you take it out you use it) and then they have to put it back in its correct spot.I visited the center the first time on June 26th. It is in a nice location, just off Vondel Park and very easy and quick for me to get to. I met with the Pedagogical Director. She was very proud of how nice and new the center was. Well, compared to ChildrenFirst - where I worked in Chicago it was not so nice and comparatively not so new. It felt rather sparse to me. There was very little children's art work on the walls for starters. The classrooms were big rooms with tables in the middle and toys on the outer edges. I am used to classrooms with centers - distinct areas for reading, art, science, dramatic play etc. The toys were also all wood so there was not a lot of color going on
03. Stephen on defense
. I was walking in and out of the rooms, so I didn't really get an idea of how the day flowed for the children. It just seemed very quiet. I did witness two little kids with their hands in the child size toilet playing. To me that is taking the idea that the child knows best what he/she needs too far. Two teachers were witnessing this and no one stopped them. I was repulsed and if I was the teacher - even if it was against Montessori method, I would have stopped them and scrubbed their hands thoroughly. I asked to come back and view a day because I was really unsure if I liked it and I felt like I needed to observe teacher/child interaction much closer up and see the flow of the day to see if I would like working there.So, today, July 8, I came back. This time I rode my bike (more about my bike later) and it took about 20 minutes to get there. I observed a day and I enjoyed myself a lot. I really like hanging out with children again. One three-year-old told me she lives in Holland and her grandma lives in America. I thought it was very cute and very smart. I have been around 1st graders that don't know they live in Illinois. And I got a hug from another three-year-old, I felt so good.
I was told that they have two pregnancy leaves coming up (in The Netherlands I believe pregnancy leave is typically one year)
04. Stephen posing
. I got the strong feeling the job is mine, when the leave happens if I want to accept it. I am not sure what I would do. I have a lot to learn about the Montessori method and I think I would prefer to work at the International School of Amsterdam (ISA), but I don't have a job offer from them and that may be very hard to get. Hopefully, I won't have to make a decision until I have spent some time at ISA and can get a feel if I would be hired this year.
BIKE
Since, I am so short and the Dutch are typically so tall, I had a hard time finding a bike that I could fit on. I was too short for a typical sized ladies bike and although I fit just fine on a children's bike, I was too embarrassed to be riding around on it. Stephen told me that I should spend like E80 for a used bike. Well, we realized Stephen was being quite cheap and their was no way I could find a decent bike for that price. I found a shop that had a bike that fit me. The guy who worked there said it was a bike "for people who are not adults yet" I think he meant it is a bike sized for a pre-teens and usually pre-teens are my height. I am enjoying having a bike and it makes Amsterdam seem much smaller. I ride very slowly and ride my breaks (I have foot breaks) whenever I go down hill.
Stephen adds: First, a second-hand lady's bike is about E80. The problem is Julie is so damn short; there aren't a ton of Julie-sized bikes around town. So it seems like we needed to pay a premium for a little-person's bike. In the end, I'm just glad she got a bike she likes - and it has a basket to
05. Julie getting lessons
. She keeps telling me she sees people around town with dogs in their baskets so she wants to put a stuffed animal dog in hers. Sadly, she's not kidding. Also bike-related, I wanted to point out that Julie fell off her bike on the way home from field hockey (more on that is below). We were riding home at night when I head a crash. I looked back and saw Julie still straddling her bike, feet on the pedals, lying on her side, with the bike on top of her. Luckily she doesn't ride fast enough to really get any speed so she didn't get hurt. It was really funny. I married the biggest klutz!4TH OF JULY
The fourth of July passed here without any significance. Neither of us really missed it. Myself and Ange (an Australian my age married to Bruce who works for the bank) rode our bikes out to World Trade Center where our husbands worked to meet up with them and a bunch of others for a happy hour. We enjoyed a happy hour with a bunch of Australians and Dutch. Stephen and I then had dinner at a Peruvian restaurant and that was our 4th.
FIELD HOCKEY
Field hockey is to the Netherlands as baseball is to America
06. Julie practicing with Nicholaas
. Everyone grows up playing it. On Saturday, ABN AMRO's Young Bankers Association hosted a field hockey tournament. There were 29 teams made up of young professionals from many different companies. Eight teams were made up of ABN AMRO employees. Also present was Accenture, KLM, Postbank (ING) and other local companies.We awoke at 7:00 AM on Saturday. Stephen's friend Bertil arranged a ride for us, so after we got dressed (since neither of us has played field hockey we had no idea what to wear, Stephen wore shorts and I had no intention on playing so I wore pants) we rode our bikes over to Bertil's apartment.
When we called Bertil at 8:30 to tell him we were outside his place he said he just woke up and he invited us in to wait as he got ready. Bertil is very much the opposite of Stephen. On Saturday morning Bertil showered, Stephen didn't. Bertil did his hair, Stephen didn't. Bertil brought his hair care products with him to the field hockey game, Stephen didn't. Once Bertil was all primped up we rode out bikes to where our ride to the tournament lives.
We entered an apartment that was very much a place where guys lived, Heineken cans everywhere, food everywhere
07. More practice
. We met the guys that lived there, Bas, Nicholaas and Martin. Bas and Nicholaas work for the bank. Bas drove us about 20 minutes outside Amsterdam to the field hockey club.We arrived at the club and there were so many people all dressed and ready to play. Bertil borrowed field hockey sticks from his room mate for us. I noticed everyone was wearing shin guards, which we did not have. Luckily, Stephen was able to borrow a pair. I was getting nervous for Stephen, everyone looked so prepared and athletic and we had no clue what to do.
Stephen ran into people that he knew and we went out to one of the fields. There were 6 fields at this club. The fields were covered in fake grass. Everyone was out on the field practicing and without warning the game began. Since no one explained the rules to Stephen he just ran around and tried to play. He got the whistle blown at him a few times. He learned the hard way you can't let the ball touch any part of your body - Stephen thought he could stop the ball with his feet like you could in ice hockey. I tried to take pictures and had a lot of fun watching. The game lasted about 20 minutes - I don't think ABN AMRO won.
Stephen adds: First, field hockey kinda reminded me of soccer as a kid
08. Julie shoots
. You basically have to stop the ball before hitting it. Also, the stick is real short so in order to hit the ball, you have to bend down, almost bending all the way over. I was surprised that the Dutch love the game as much as they do in spite of this. The Dutch are so tall and it is harder for a tall person to bend all the way down - I would think they would like a game where it is good to be tall like volleyball and leave this game for a smaller people.After the game the team went inside where there was a bar and was serving coffee. It was raining out, so all the teams not playing were crammed in there. As we waited for the next game we all sat and talked. Some how I decided I wanted to play in the next game. Everyone was real encouraging and told me I should try it out. So Stephen gave me the shin guards and orange socks and I was ready to try.
When it was our turn on the field to warm up for the 2nd game, Nicholaas gave me some quick pointers, like how to hold the stick and we hit the ball back and forth. The ball is heavy and hard, similar to a ball used in pool. Someone told me to play on the left side of the field. So I ran over there. The game started and I just stood there. I didn't want the ball or sticks coming near me. Plus the other teams players were twice my size, I wasn't going to compete with them for the ball
09. Julie scores
. I played for about ten minutes and then let someone else go in for me.Stephen adds: It was funny watching Julie play hockey. She was very good at guarding the left side of the field. She never left the defenders line that was painted on the field. It didn't matter that everyone was on the other side of the field, she guarded that line religiously. And when another player did get close to her, it took moments for them to run past her towards the goal leaving Julie still guarding the line
Since, it wasn't raining our team sat outside and had lunch while we waited for game three. The Dutch eat something they call American filet. Well, I am American I have never seen it or had it before. Basically it is raw hamburger meat with seasoning. I gave it a try - being the none kosher one in the family, I always have to try food and report to Stephen what it taste likes. He isn't missing much, except for a stomach after the American filet is consumed.
I decided to play in game three and give it another try. One of the girls on our team told me just to "stay on" a girl on the other team. So, I tried, but she was mush faster then me
10. Julie and Bertil face off
. Field hockey sticks are short so you run around bent over. So I was running fast and bent over and I wiped out. I didn't hurt myself, I was laughing at myself.After game three our team stopped drinking water and started on the beer, except for me, I had to keep my senses for the next game. By game four I was very tired and not interested in chasing a ball around, so I watched and cheered on (read laughed at) Stephen.
Stephen adds: Much like my darts skills, I improved drastically after a few beers. I'm not sure if the few beers helped dull my senses, thus making me not afraid of getting a ball or stick in the face, or if the beer caused me to not realize exactly how bad at hockey I really was. I tend to think the latter because a few of my teammates came over to tell me how well I played. Maybe they were drunk too.
After our game we all sat outside at one of the many picnic tables and had beer. I stuck with cola. It was only 4 PM and the party was going until 11PM. It was pretty chilly so I found my way inside. A DJ had set up and techno music was already blaring on the speakers. A handful of people had already started to dance
11. The game
.When it was time to announce the winners of the tournament and hand them their trophy everyone went outside - I stayed inside where I would be warm, plus I couldn't understand the award ceremony anyway. When the winning team went to receive their trophy all the other teams through their plastic cups full of beer at them. I was sure glad I was inside and didn't get hit by flying beer.
For dinner the club set up about 20 grills and each team was given a huge bag full of meat; chicken, sausages, kebabs, meat I couldn't recognize and 5 potatoes. Each team was then responsible for grilling their own food. Drunk people and fire, great idea. There was also a station where you could get sauce for your meat. Satay sauce (peanut sauce) was my favorite.
After dinner the party really started. Everyone came into the club house to dance for the next 5 hours to techno. Stephen and I can't really take all that so for a while we sat on some stairs and watched and commented on how weird Europeans are. I got to the point where I realized if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So, I went on the dance floor and danced. Stephen stayed on the stairs and took pictures of everyone
12. Beryl, Adinda, and Julie
.Stephen adds: I couldn't believe all the people who wanted their pictures taken. I didn't know them and yet, they kept calling me and posing. I basically became the event photographer. I finally got tired of this and also joined the dance floor. We had a great time. One comment, the DJ played a song that the Wisconsin band plays and that made me realize that I won't have UW football for a while. That was a shitty realization but I guess I'll deal.
Finally at 10:45 PM our ride got together to leave. Another passenger in the car was Martin. He is Dutch and studying to be an ear, nose and throat doctor in Amsterdam. He said that when you finish high school you have to choose your trade. If your grades are good you can do medicine. But not everyone with good grades is allowed to study medicine. It is like a lottery system, so some people don't get to pursue the career of their choice. I am starting to think banking isn't one of those career options for people who get really good grades. We took the opportunity to ask the doctor if there is a high incidence of smoking related diseases in the Netherlands because it seems like everyone here smokes all the time. His answer was no, the French smoke much more - a typical Dutch response to a question, makes no sense and you have to ask more questions to get a simple answer
13. One of our teammates
. He explained doctors in the Netherlands see more heart disease and Germans are more prone to colon diseases. Now, we have another reason not to go to France, second-hand smoke.Once we arrived at Bas' apartment, we still had to bike home. I was absolutely exhausted. I slept really good and when I woke up in the morning I was so sore. I could barely walk down the stairs. Stephen and I bummed around the apartment all day because I was in too much pain to leave.
YBA is organizing a golf tournament that we both will do. At least I have played that before.
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As I write this, Julie is sitting here eating her new favorite dessert. Stroofwafels are basically graham cracker with carmel in the middle. She likes them but I guess she's become bored so now she is spreading Nutella chocolate on her stroofwafels. She seems pretty happy.
Anyways, we're going to head to sleep since we are heading to the airport early in the morning on our way to Copenhagen. Hope you all have a great weekend.
-Stephen
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