Quirky characters, still finding my feet and a few Dutch traditions

I feel that I’m still bonding quite well with my class. I’m getting used to their little characters and quirky little ways. And they seem happy and settled with me being their new teacher. Even though some of them question some of my little sayings. So-called sayings that I didn’t know I had! Like, asking someone to pop the light back on after watching a video on the board. To which I received the response, ‘Pop the light on? Does that mean it’s going to go bang?’ It’s funny how children interpret things!

But, there are some lovely little personalities within the class. They are an enthusiastic bunch who like to chat and have a joke. And, they seem to gel well as a whole, too.

This is quite possibly the biggest school that I’ve ever worked in. And with that comes lots of staff working there in various different roles. We all seem to mainly stay where we’re based, really. In or not too far from our classrooms! Everyone is just busy getting on with the job in hand, I guess. So, not too surprisingly, even though I’ve been here a good few months now, there are people who are my colleagues, who work in the same (huge) building that I am yet to meet, or put a name to a face. Having our regular social events helps, as I am introduced to some of these colleagues. Which is nice, but odd that I’m getting to know my colleague socially, but rarely see them at work!

Playground duty is pure torture from about mid-late October right up until April, sometimes even May. It’s pretty much unbearable, even with several layers and a huge, fully lined Winter coat with large pockets, and also wearing woolly gloves. However, I’m just thankful that more colleagues are timetabled to be on duty here! Playground duty here is cold, but far less stressful than it ever was in Spain!

I’d heard of Sinterklaas, but didn’t know an awful lot about it. However, I soon learnt that it is quite a big thing, and the children love it! It is even regarded by some as the Dutch Christmas. There are some similarities and differences between Sinterklaas and Santa Claus. The main difference is that Sinterklaas lives in Spain and Santa Claus lives in the North Pole!

Sinterklaas wears red, has a white beard, rides a white horse, and has helpers known as Zwarte Pieten who usually throw pepernotens at children. As well as leaving their shoe out, children also leave a carrot for the horse.

Arriving by steamboat from Spain to the Netherlands in mid-November, where he spends three weeks visiting schools and various public places, such as shopping centres, before the big event on the 5th. You can’t see the hall floor for pepernotens once Sinterklaas and the Piets have visited school! But it’s lovely seeing how excited and enthusiastic they are for the visit and making their paper shoes to leave out in the classroom.

I was super excited to return early from spending Christmas at home to experience seeing in the New Year and experiencing the New Year’s dive in the Netherlands with some of my new friends. We planned to spend the evening in Scheveningen, The Hague, as we wanted to be within walking distance the next morning to the beach for the New Year’s Dive. Booking a place to stay well in advance is necessary, as not only can it be quite expensive to stay there, but it is also quite a popular event, so places get filled up pretty quickly.

We stopped off at the Scheveningen bars along the seafront for food and drinks before making our way to the pier for a cocktail. And of course, not forgetting to order the traditional oliebollen!

The fireworks, from various different streets and neighbourhoods of the city, seemed to continue well after midnight and well into the night as we made our way back and attempted to get some rest before our New Year’s Dive experience the following morning.

We arrived at the beach nice and early, just a 10-minute walk from where we were staying. It was already full and buzzing with swimmers ready and waiting to make their dive. We signed up before going down to the beach. Paying about 4 euros for our spot. We were then given a bag with our orange hats and a huge tin of pea soup before making our way down to the beach and picking our spot.

Whichever direction you looked in across the beach, all you could see was a sea of orange woolly hats. There was a really good vibe as we were all encouraged to do a few exercises in unison beforehand to keep warm. As we were given the go-ahead, the groups and rows of woolly orange hats turned facing the sea and took to a run. In that first second that you hit the icy salt water, you understood why it is referred to as a ‘dive’ and not a ‘swim’! Then, as quickly as everyone had run into the water, there were hordes of woolly orange hats running back up to the beach to retrieve their towels and get wrapped up.

I’m glad I did it. It’s a part of the Dutch culture, and I’m here to experience things. But I’ve done it now. Not sure yet if it is something I will try again!

King’s Day, or Koningsday is celebrated every year in the Netherlands on 27th April, celebrating the birth of King Willem-Alexander. It is a National holiday in the Netherlands. It is also celebrated in schools. In our school, we were off timetable the day before we had the day off for the National holiday. On this day, the whole school is placed into mixed age groups and go from class to class, where each teacher has set up a traditional Dutch game. These include Sjoelen, Koekhappen, Eierlopen and Ezeltje. All fun, but a very chaotic and tiring day with keeping to timings and managing lots of different groups of children!

There are various different celebrations on 27th April that take place. Boat parades, concerts, and street parties. Everyone wears orange, the country’s national colour. Even the traditional tompouce, usually pink, is changed to orange for the occasion.

Right now, I feel like a new job in a different country was a wise move. After a couple of years, I was ready for a new challenge and a different experience. And this move seems to be working out well. I have a lovely, interesting class of children, welcoming colleagues, and there’s just so much to see and explore here with really great transport and easy access to surrounding areas. So, I think I might be sticking around for a while!