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On a roll
Don't get me wrong, I haven't forgotten the past 7 months I have yet to fill you all in on, but I'll start blogging like a normal human being in the meantime. :)
So yesterday was a little bit rough. I picked the boys up from school, and it was a lovely day outside so I proposed going for a bike ride or playing outside. Just being outside is beyond punishment for male Nintendo junkies, so they were being difficult with me. I was low on patience yesterday, and while I didn't yell at them, I used a firm voice and told them video games rot their brain. They started crying (which is kind of funny looking back on it now), called their mom, and we came to the solution that they'll play outside Friday, today. Well, it's raining today so that isn't going to happen.
I did manage to get the boys to watch Horton Hears a Who!, and they seemed to enjoy that. What they liked most was the village of Whoville and all the Whos because they had never seen them before. Turns out my Dutch family has never even heard of Dr. Seuss, and I feel like your typical, egotistical American for assuming they had.
Instead of Dr. Seuss, Dutch children grow up with books from Dick Bruna of Utrecht, notable for Miffy, or Nijntje (pronounced "Nine-chuh") in Dutch. So famous is Nijntje there's a small square in Utrecht with a statue, and a few cross walks with Nijntje shaped lights instead of people.
Last night I submitted my final application materials for the University of Groningen here in the Netherlands. I'm still waiting to hear from San Jose State and Cal State Fullerton. These are my final three hopes as the other four I applied to rejected me. Granted, they were all Ivy League schools or in a similar category, but I also thought my experience was impressive enough to enter such prestigious institutions. At the same time I seem to thrive in chillaxed environments, so what I'm feeling is a big waste of money on applications is probably just another way of finding out my path leads me elsewhere. I can thank my good Peace Corps friend Daline for making me come to this realization. What would I do without my friends?!
I have a feeling I'm going to bore you all with my graduate school woes in the coming future. It's the only thing I can think about, and not knowing where I'll live or what I'll be doing in August is beyond stressful. I had a small breakdown about a month ago where I was really upset with my life and felt like being an au pair is a big waste of time. One of my classmates from Dutch class, a South African woman, helped me by just listening, helping me sort out my thoughts and figuring out an immediate action plan. Like I said, what would I do without my friends?! I'm truly lucky.
So now I'll play the waiting game. If I receive three more rejections, I'm going to move somewhere to teach. South Korea has numerous programs that pay well. I've also seen great opportunities in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Honduras. Japanese food is my favorite, but I'd love to live in a sunny place again. In the meantime, if anybody has connections with the universities I'm still waiting to hear from, let me know. ;-)
So yesterday was a little bit rough. I picked the boys up from school, and it was a lovely day outside so I proposed going for a bike ride or playing outside. Just being outside is beyond punishment for male Nintendo junkies, so they were being difficult with me. I was low on patience yesterday, and while I didn't yell at them, I used a firm voice and told them video games rot their brain. They started crying (which is kind of funny looking back on it now), called their mom, and we came to the solution that they'll play outside Friday, today. Well, it's raining today so that isn't going to happen.
I did manage to get the boys to watch Horton Hears a Who!, and they seemed to enjoy that. What they liked most was the village of Whoville and all the Whos because they had never seen them before. Turns out my Dutch family has never even heard of Dr. Seuss, and I feel like your typical, egotistical American for assuming they had.
Instead of Dr. Seuss, Dutch children grow up with books from Dick Bruna of Utrecht, notable for Miffy, or Nijntje (pronounced "Nine-chuh") in Dutch. So famous is Nijntje there's a small square in Utrecht with a statue, and a few cross walks with Nijntje shaped lights instead of people.
Last night I submitted my final application materials for the University of Groningen here in the Netherlands. I'm still waiting to hear from San Jose State and Cal State Fullerton. These are my final three hopes as the other four I applied to rejected me. Granted, they were all Ivy League schools or in a similar category, but I also thought my experience was impressive enough to enter such prestigious institutions. At the same time I seem to thrive in chillaxed environments, so what I'm feeling is a big waste of money on applications is probably just another way of finding out my path leads me elsewhere. I can thank my good Peace Corps friend Daline for making me come to this realization. What would I do without my friends?!
I have a feeling I'm going to bore you all with my graduate school woes in the coming future. It's the only thing I can think about, and not knowing where I'll live or what I'll be doing in August is beyond stressful. I had a small breakdown about a month ago where I was really upset with my life and felt like being an au pair is a big waste of time. One of my classmates from Dutch class, a South African woman, helped me by just listening, helping me sort out my thoughts and figuring out an immediate action plan. Like I said, what would I do without my friends?! I'm truly lucky.
So now I'll play the waiting game. If I receive three more rejections, I'm going to move somewhere to teach. South Korea has numerous programs that pay well. I've also seen great opportunities in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Honduras. Japanese food is my favorite, but I'd love to live in a sunny place again. In the meantime, if anybody has connections with the universities I'm still waiting to hear from, let me know. ;-)
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