time just goes way too fast *period*

Ai, ai, ai… already 2 weeks behind with blogging and only 1 week left in England L.

So, we had a week B, followed by a week A. Although this post will cover 2 full weeks, this might be one of the shorter ones since I just realized that I don’t really remember in detail what I did or what happened 2 weeks ago … 0:-)

Starting with week B, week 4 of exchange: …………………..

(I’ll get back to that later)

Then obviously, week B/week 4, was followed by week A/week 5 (I know, English school even enables us Dutch students to understand things like this, must be EXCELLENT education….!!!) Week 5 was actually pretty busy for me! I had quite a couple of Dutch tests. Monday was Harvey’s birthday and therefore we had breakfast all together and gave him his presents. When I got to school, Ms. Rosin told me and Manon that she hadn’t received the Latin test (for which I had studied Sunday night till I-don’t-know how late) yet. She did receive a Dutch test, which I decided to make that same day after some quick revising. Monday night we went out to Brighton with Zoe, Phoebe and Josh to have dinner at Italian restaurant Zizzi’s.

Tuesday was a normal day at school, nothing extraordinary à I did loads of Dutch homework (ok, maybe a little :P), revised a little and even had some nice free time J. After school, I didn’t have hockey training since the hockey season has practically ended here in the UK.

Wednesday was a normal day at school and after school we were supposed to play a mixed match against “the farmers” again. At school we heard that the Plumden College team wouldn’t be able to get to Lewes due to a lack of transport, but because of the fact that some of the sixth formers would be examined for P.E. in this match, P.E. teacher, Ms. Webster asked some other sixth formers and some students from year 10 to play with us after school. So.... after some hitting around, we played a nice mixed match with year 10s and sixth formers, all from LOGS.

Thursday, my parents and brother came over for the weekend. Weekend of week 5 would’ve been my last weekend and therefore they had planned to pick me up, but because of the week extension we got here at LOGS, they left Sunday again, without me, but with one of my 2 bagsJ. Thursday night, after dinner, Claire and I went to the Shelleys Hotel in Lewes where we met my family. Claire met my parents, my parents met Claire. We had a drink all together and after giving Claire all the liquorice and cheese my parents brought from Holland (especially the ‘Oude Kaas’ she got introduced to during her stay in Amsterdam as a student), Claire left and we had some time with the four of us. Around 10, after Harvey’s hockey training, Geoff and Harvey came to the hotel to meet my family and to take me back home. It was very nice introducing my English and Dutch family to each other and it was good to see that they liked it as well (and if not, they did a hell of a good piece of acting out there!!). Around 11, 11.30, we went back home and I figured that the people at the hotel must’ve thought the Waller family took me from my family à 1. We came in with the message: Hello, we are here to meet Sanny’s parents. 2. Then we had some time with the 4 of us. 3. Geoff and Harvey came, had a drink and 4. They took me with them again.

Friday morning I just went to school, made my Latin test and at the beginning of the big break I picked up my parents and brother from their hotel (which is located next to the school) and took them down the road to the Buttercup café where we had lunch and a nice piece of cake. After lunch, we helped Claire with cleaning the basement of the café for Harvey’s birthday party that night and around half 4 (very illogically for Dutch people à half 4 is 4.30), we split up again to meet later that evening for the party. Almost everyone was from LOGS and it was really nice!!

Saturday morning I was dropped off at Shelley’s to have a day with my parents. After they finished breakfast, we walked to Lewes train station to get the train to London where we went to Harrods where did some very nice shopping J. Around 1, my dad and brother left my mom and me to go to a football match (Arsenal - ....?....). My mom and I therefore had a nice lunch and went to Camden market in the afternoon. I hadn’t heard of Camden market before Gabi told me to go there and, just as she said, it’s a crazy, crazy place!! It is extremely busy, but there is a great atmosphere!! We walked around for a while and had a nice cup of tea before we went back to Lewes where we met up with Claire to have a lovely ‘girls night out’ (my brother and dad at the football, and Geoff and Harvey away for hockey).

Then on Sunday, Claire dropped me off at Shelley’s on her way to the café. After a stop at the house of the Waller family to pick up one of my bags for my parents to take home already, I took my parents to Brighton to show them around a little. We walked along the seafront and through the lanes. Unfortunately we didn’t have much time, because at 1 I had to be back at the café to meet Claire for Glyndebourne. So, after having a drink at the café with my parents, brother and Claire, we had some: ‘See you in a week’ and Claire and I went to Glyndebourne in Glynde to see the show LOGS had prepared for for a very, very long time to celebrate their 500^th (O_O) anniversary!!!! It was a great and spectacular show presented, acted, sung and danced by students from Lewes Old Grammar.

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I can’t and don’t want to believe that the 5^th week in England has already passed as well… only one more week and then I’ll be back home again L. This can only mean one thing though: we need to make the 6^th and final week of exchange a very, very good one and lets hope everything will last extremely long this week J.

Xxx <3

Jolly Good

My physics teacher, ms. Roberts says it all the time: ‘Jolly good’. Dutchies, say it out loud and you will think what I thought when I first heard it: soooooooooooo English!!!

Last week went way too quickly (AGAIN). 5 days of school, 9 to 4 and BAM!, week 3 is over…. HOW? Despite the continually activated fast-forward mode, last week was absolutely jolly good!

Second week A of exchange was nothing new concerning school; lots of lessons, lots of free periods, lots of fun, lots of Dutch homework and only a little English homework.

Tuesday I had hockey training again with the Ladies 4s, together with Manon and quite a couple of other girls from LOGS. After training, I was asked to play for the Ladies 2s following weekend (maybe as Finch again?!).

Thursday evening, I joined Claire in her life drawing class. I did warn her that my drawing is pretty bad and that I don’t even have art at school anymore, but after the first two sketches (out of five), I got the rhythm and honestly, the last three drawings weren’t even that bad!! :D

Friday night, Harvey and Geoff left for Harvey’s England practice on Saturday a couple of hours away. Claire and I were both very tired so we watched some telly and went to bed pretty early to catch up with some sleep. Saturday morning, we woke up around 7 (yes, on a Saturday morning). We went to the cafe where we set up some things for the day and had a very nice English breakfast. Around 10.15, I was picked up by Innei from the Ladies 2s to go to the club where we met some other team members and then we went on to Southampton. It was already quite warm, but literally the moment we entered the pitch the sun came through and it was HOT (17^oC…… 0:-) ) Let’s not talk about the match too much and try to believe that the ‘incredible heat’ was the reason for our terrible performance that day……. We lost with 6-1……..      (1.5h to Southampton, lose 6-1, 1.5h back from Southampton) à USELESSSSSS -_-

After Innei dropped me off at the café and Claire was ready, she took me to the 7 sisters (photo’s will follow soon!). We walked around a bit until it started to get really dark. We drove to Glynde to see Glyndebourne theatre, but before we even got there, Claire suggested seeing if her friend Stephanie and her son Russell were home to have dinner all together. We went to their house where we had a nice cup of tea before we walked down the road to have some quick supper at English pub, Trevor Arms.

Sunday was an easy day at the club. Men 2s, a very important semi-final match for something (how clear can I be for something so easy, sorry J) and Men 1s, also a very important match because if they won that match, they still would’ve had a chance to get promoted, without lots of details, the 2s won, the 1s lost.

Xxx <3

Ps. this was week 3, not last week!! J (Hopefully) Week 4 will follow soon!

Week B

Sorry, sorry, sorry, I know it has already been more than a week that I wrote my last blog, but maaaaaan, it only feels like a couple of days ago! HOW is it possible that school days here in England go soooo fast, while a Dutch school day takes ages? Everyone would probably think it’s a good thing (just like me until 2.5 weeks ago), but now, I wish they last much longer…. Last week has gone way too fast and I found out that an English day simply doesn’t have enough hours. I won’t write about every day, but I’ll pick some funny, random and surprising things J.

Last week was a B-week at school. LOGS works with A and B weeks, which means that you have 2 different time tables; 1 for week A and 1 for week B. You have the same subjects, but in ‘my case’, week B gives me a busier Wednesday, but an extremely nice MondayJ.

Last week was obviously the second week of school. You know more people, talk to more people and people start being honest :

Classmate: “Uhm Sanny, maybe a little random, but may I ask you a question?”

Me: “Yes, of course, ask me anything…”

Classmate: “Do you ride? Horses I mean…?”

Me: “Uhm…. Pretty random indeed, but yes I do, why…?”

Classmate: “You just walk like a horse person.”

-_-    and I still don’t know exactly what he meant by saying: “You just walk like a horseperson”, but I think/hope it’s a good sign that people feel free enough to ask/tell me that!!!

Tuesday, just like the week before, Manon and I had hockey training with ladies 4’s. Gabi, Amy, Daisy, Bessy and quite a couple of other girls from the team go to LOGS aswell! I’m really enjoying the hockey here and I have met lots of new friends and interesting people (….) through playing! This Saturday I am travelling to Southhampton with hockey (probably my second outing as Finch) so I get the chance to visit another part of the country!

Wednesday evening made my week even better than it already was: Holland BEAT England with 3-2 in footballJ! I think this night was also the night that I found out that English people CAN’T pronounce Dirk Kuyt. They pronounce it as something like Derek Koot. Quite a couple of people are still practicing on his name à entertainment!!!!!!!!

Thursday was just another school day that went waaaaaaay too quickly! After school, Harvey and I went down to the club because Harvey had to train/coach/umpire the younger LOGS students in a little hockey match. After we got home and had dinner, Claire got a phone call from Mr. Blewitt with the news that Manon had had a very nasty car accident. Fortunately Manon (and the other passengers) were fine and only had some bruises. They had to go the hospital for some ‘just-to-make-sure-tests’ and these results were fine! They had lots of luck and fortunately (I can’t say it often enough), everyone is fine!

Saturday, Harvey and I both had a hockey match. This weekend I played with the Ladies 5s (very boring as Sanny Toonen) and the final score was 2-2. After my match, Geoff brought Gabi and me to Claire’s café: The Buttercup, where we had a FAB little lunch. Around 3, we went back to the club where I stayed to watch Harvey’s match with the Men 1s. Saturday night we went to Phoebes house where we watched a movie… Zoë came as well! It was very nice since I hadn’t really met them yet and it was nice getting to know them a bit betterJ!

Sunday morning I could sleep in a little which was very nice since I was really tired!! Throughout the day I made quite a lot of Dutch work, which made me pretty much up-to date and in the evening we went to the cinema in Brighton to see the ‘Exotic Marigold Hotel’. It was a very nice movie!!

Hopefully I kept you up-to date for now. I will try really hard to write a bit more often, but as I already said: English days don’t have enough hours -_-.

Xxx <3

A typical English weekend

Saturday morning was time to repack the bags (repack; for anything that came out of my bag and was just piled up next to it), say bye to Christine who had to leave in the morning and thank her for letting us stay at her house for the amazing first week. When Christine left, Rose was off working in Brighton and Dominic went for a long bike ride, Manon and I got ready. Manon packed her bags while I was ironing the clothes we washed the night before. Around 11.30, we headed to the hockey club to watch the Ladies 4s match (this team is mostly made up of LOGS girls). At 12.30, I had to meet up with the Ladies 2s for their match. I got my Lewes kit and we had our team talk. Because of the rules, I couldn’t play the match as Sanny Toonen, so for the following 70 minutes I was known as Finch; it really took me some time before I reacted to this name, but when someone calls out ‘your name’ for about 3 times and nobody else answers, you quickly get to realise again that Finch is YOU…..

Saturday was one of my pretty aggressive hockey days, which would be something good in Holland, but here in England it’s not really a positive thing. This is what happened: I played left mid for the entire match and about 10 minutes into second half, my player got the ball, so I went after her and got the ball by “tackling her”. The umpire blew his whistle, got a yellow card out of his pocket and sent me off for the full 10 minutes..... The very first time I have got sent off, in my very first important match I played here in Lewes… now that’s how to make a (good/bad?) first impressionJ. I already noticed it in the 2 previous matches, but English hockey is sooooo soft in comparison to Dutch hockey….. I truly think the English should Dutchalise their way of playing (I do think this is the only thing they should Dutchalise)!!!

After my own match, I had to wait at the club for Harvey and his dad Geoff to pick me up (I will stay with the Waller family for the next 2 weeks). Harvey played away with Men 1s and they were a little delayed, so I watched the matches of Men 2s and Men 4s. When Harvey and Geoff came to the club, we went to Christine’s house to pick up my bags. After saying goodbye and thank-you-very-much to Dominic, we went (to a new) home where I got to meet mother of the Waller family, Claire. Everyone is very nice and welcoming and we had a nice cup of tea. They have a very nice and cosy house and I have a lovely roomJ. For dinner, we had typically English, Fish and Chips.

Sunday morning, I woke up around 10.00. When we were all ready, Geoff brought Harvey and me to Claire’s café: The Buttercup Café. It is a very nice café and we had a really good and typically English, an English breakfast! After breakfast, Harvey and I took the train to Brighton where we spent the rest of the day. First, we went to a huge shopping mall with lots of different shops (nope, we didn’t buy anything) and then we went on to the lanes. The lanes are very nice and busy streets with lots of shops and little cafés and bistro’s; the atmosphere there is very good! The weather was beautiful today, so we went to the beach where we had an ice cream and sat in the sun for about an hour, it was absolutely FAB. Brighton has a very large pier, so before we headed back to the train station we walked up and down the pier. Brighton Pier isn’t just a random ‘thing’ sticking out of the mainland, but it is a real attraction (literally!). At the beginning of the pier, there are some small food shops and at the end there is a pretty good-sized fair. Everything in between is more food shops and places to sit. It is pretty amazing out there and I found it pretty special J. For every Dutch person that still needs to form an idea of what Brighton is like: Brighton is a mix of Amsterdam, London and ScheveningenJ!!

Around 4.00 pm, we took the train back to Lewes, to the Buttercup Café, so Claire could take us back home. After dinner I did quite some Dutch work and now I’m working on my blog….

This was our first weekend of exchange and I really enjoyed it!

Xxx <3