AFS End Camp

This weekend was the end camp for all us AFSers. We came Friday evening and stayed till Sunday afternoon.


All of the students

All of us from the United States.

There was a lot of free time.

We played games, like cucumber eating.

Receiveing my certificat.

The "Trail of Tears" aptly named by Elsa, another American. Its us all walking to the bus station. Lots of hugging an crying went on.

And on the train home.

So I fly back on July 9th. Just over a week away!

Terschelling

Terschelling

I went for I walk.

Terschelling

The reason Terschelling was so busy the weekend went was because the Oerol music feastival was also happening. As you walked on the road by the beach and looked to the left you saw this:

And as you looked to the right you saw this:

Quite the contrast.

The Weekend

This weekend Helen from New Zealand came over. We had ice cream, talked, watched movies, etc. Then Sunday there was an AFS BBQ for our area. It was nice, they had big pots of flowers for the host parents and a picture of all the students and a cup with a dutch blue and white design for the students.

Happy Fathers Day!

Happy Fathers Day to everyone.
And especially to Dad, Love you.

Terschelling

The sea always takes a good picture.

Terschelling

When in need using a garbage bin as a table doesnt seem so bad I guess.

Terschelling

Terschelling

Lots and lots of bikes.

And The Dog Of Course

Off The Boat

(L to R Carolines Sister, Caroline, Julia, Me, Julias Friend)

On The Boat

World Cup

Of course I have to mention the World Cup. The Dutch are very into it. Very. You can get anything and everything in orange, the national color. Classes were only 40 minutes today at school because it was Holland vs. Denmark. Happily Holland won 2-0.

A Mini Vacation

This weekend I went to Terschelling with Albert, Caroline, Julia, Julias friend, and Carolines sister. Terschelling is one of the islands of the Netherlands. It was a very nice trip. I enjoyed seeing a different part of Holland as well as relaxing.

A Bit Old But...

The same day that I went to see all the tulips we aslso stoped at this island that isnt an island any more. They had a nice indoor and outdoor museum all about it. And, if you cant already tell, Im pretending to swim in the first picture. That squiggly blue line behind me is sea level.

This place (yes I forgot the name, this seems to happen quite offten with me doesnt it?) used to be (a very very very long time ago) a peninsula in marsh land and thats when people first started living there. Then sea levels started rising and it went through several stages and finally ended up as its own little island. Only then that started to go and it became pretty tough to live there. Finally there was a forced relocation by the Dutch government because it was really too dangerouse for the people to stay.

Now its a happy bump in an otherwise completely flat, manmade landscape.

The Weekend

(looks familiar? its next to the sunken bike)

Saddly I didnt get any pictures this weekend but I did do things. Saturday I went with the family to EO Jongerendag which is a sort of christian music festival. Not the sort of music I listen to regularly but I did enjoy myself.

Then Sunday I went wadlopen with AFS. Wadlopen is walking on the ocean floor (as well as a bit in) at low tide. We walked from the mainlad coast to the island Ameland. It was something around 11 to 13 kilometers and took about four hours. The first hour was the hardest, walking through serious mud but the rest wasnt too bad. I do have blisters though and Im not sure if my shoes are salvageable. The mud was serious. We saw little crabs, mussels, clams, and that sort of thing as well as jellyfish and little fish. I spent most of the time with the other native English speakers and now I wish my last month here wasnt already full so we could have more time to hangout.
But time seems to do that to you. Either long, slow, and painful or way to fast and full of everything. Which reminds me of A Wrinkle in Time. What a great book. You remember The Happy Medium?
Just throwing that out there.

The Bikes Graveyard.

I was in Groningen (one of the best cities in the Netherlands) Thursday and took this picture of a sunken bike. Id seen it before but hadnt stopped and this time I couldnt resist. I tried to be sneaky and acted all casual-like as I took the picture, not wanting people to assume I was a tourist who thought something as hum-drum as a bike in a canal was cool and foto worthy.
It is rather cool though.

These Flowers.

Can you belive these things are in my backyard? At first I thought they where just large weeds. Really the leafy bit is rather ugly but then this pops out. The fotos dont do justice to the color, it was too sunny. Can you belive it. Too sunny. Summer has finally come!

But thats another topic.

They are poppies aka papavers in Dutch.