Thanksgiving on Mars

The first number of years that I lived here in Holland I tried to have the usual American holidays in my home like Thanksgiving and an American Christmas meal. I invited my Dutch family and friends and they enjoyed the meal but the ‘feeling’ of the holiday was not there. After a few years I pretty much left it. It was a lot of work for me and no one seemed to understand what the hoorah was about so I just stopped.  As my children grew I did have small celebrations for them here in the house. They loved Thanksgiving with a few of their friends and Halloween was a big favorite. Now I only have one child at home and she’s not small anymore. They do like an American Christmas so we make it a point to keep that but Halloween and Thanksgiving has been left on the side.
Yesterday I started the day wishing my American friends and family a happy Thanksgiving on Facebook then went to work. I got home late and exhausted and to my surprise my Dutch husband had a small Thanksgiving meal waiting for me. He had to go to the next town to find a turkey and he looked on the internet what to make, he even made cranberry sauce himself. If I wasn’t so exhausted I would have been teary eyed. Unfortunately I almost fell asleep at the dinner table. I will make it up to him today but it really was a nice surprise.

Dark Days Before Christmas

Middle of the day in Holland

One of the first things I noticed when I came to Holland is what they call the ‘donkere dagen voor de kerst’ or the dark days before Christmas. It is the time of year between the middle of November to Christmas and its a general understanding in Dutch. When I tell my English students that we don’t use that saying in English they are surprised. They just think it’s normal to call this time of year the dark days before Christmas. Its the time of year that it will not get light until 8 or 9 a.m. and will be pitch black at 4 p.m.. Notice I did not say ‘the sun rises at 8 or 9…’ because this time of year it will be overcast almost every day. This does not mean it will rain every day. It can be dry for a week or so and still be overcast so you simply don’t see the sun for weeks and sometimes months at a time. This is what is meant by ‘dark days’.

As you can imagine this has its effects on people. The Dutch are like everyone else in that some can get depressed this time of year or just irritable and stand-offish but this darkness has sometimes bigger effects on foreign visitors. My exchange students are from all over Europe and many come here in the summer. Most of them like Amsterdam and enjoy themselves until the ‘dark days’ get here. Some have difficulty sleeping or they sleep too much while others have trouble eating. I have actually had a number of young women students that stopped menstruating during this time. For most, it goes away but some go home early because they simply have to many problems with the dark.

I know there are a lot of people who say they like this kind of sky but I don’t. I think they are all weird, crazy or they are optimists who just keep telling themselves they like it. To me it’s unnatural. Humans need light and sun. Maybe aliens don’t. Maybe it’s just another sign we are truly on Mars. I’m a human and the rest aren’t.

Oh look, the sun. I thought it was the moon until I looked at my watch.

Funny Images to Brighten your Day

One thing I like about the internet is there are all sorts of humorous films, pictures and stories to brighten my day. I particularly like pictures because without any words at all I can get a snicker on my face. I have fun pictures spread around the place to bump into through the day. There are a few sites I like because of the fun pictures. One such site is eclectech which is where I got this picture from. You never know when you need a fun thought to cheer you up.

A real bird dog

Halloween Animations

A fellow Mainer is an artist who has created a site with Halloween flash animations. They are fun and there is something for all ages. Check it out.

http://jackolantern.org/

 

Books Books Everywhere and not a Book to Read

I teach an English as a second language class to 16 year olds. I need to choose three books for them to read and do projects on. There are books everywhere but I want to choose books they will like. Books that will inspire them to want to read and not some book that is ground breaking literature but boring to read. I thought at first it would be easy. I like to read and know what my kids like but for a second language class I need something that is not to complicated in its language use and interesting for their age group. So far I think Steinbeck’s, Of Mice and Men is a good one. It is interesting, lots of themes they can focus on, not to long and the English useage is relatively easy. I would like to have a sifi book and was thinking of Children of the Dust by Louise Lawrence. I’m not sure about a third book. Maybe the blog world could help me. I am open for suggestions. It seems like there are books everywhere but for some reason nothing for them to read.