Spread the love

Yet another article - this time with the readers of Libertas Magazine I shared my opinion about love... No, not that kind of love as you might think - but my love to volunteer!

"We all know that (almost) all of us love our partners, parents, siblings, children and close friends. It is an unconditional love, which (almost) all of us have experienced in our lives and continue experiencing. But how about loving the world through volunteering?"

To read the rest of the article, please, click here!

Ik spreek Nederlands

For those who did not know yet - a couple of weeks ago I finally started my Dutch language classes, which are paid by the city council. Thanks, gemeente! :)

How did I get them? Well, the long to free Dutch courses was not so easy...

1) Register as living in the Netherlands

2) Find information about these courses. Not so easy, because it is (almost) nowhere written that also EU citizens can take them voluntarily, so you need to know about them in advance.

3) Send an e-mail to make an appointment with the city council regarding the courses

4) Go to an appointment and answer to questions like "why do you want to study Dutch?", "what will you do with the skills?", "how much time do you have?" etc.

5) Have another appointment where they test how fast can you learn aka "stupidity/IQ test" :) No language skills necessary.

6) Have yet another appointment with their chosen language school for you where for 1 hour they test your writing, speaking, listening and reading (15 min each) - all in Dutch, of course!

7) Wait results about your current language level. I got A2 for reading and A1 for everything else with a note "uses a lot of German words".

8) Start your classes for one year!

Next time I will tell you my opinion about my classes, which are twice a week for 3 hours each time (+ homework).

Die Welle

I am quite picky about good films, but yesterday I saw a film which is definitely worth mentioning - German film "Die Welle" ("The Wave") from 2008.

First - watch the film.

Second - read the background about the film.

Third - tell me where can I borrow the book! After seeing the film I want to read the book on which the film is based!

Disapointed about Keukenhof

I have so many things to tell and show you, that it is hard to decide what to start with... And often I simply do not write anything - as I can't choose what should it be...

However, yesterday we finally managed to visit Keukenhof, supposingly the biggest tulip garden and exhibition in the world. It is closing this Friday, so it was the last opportunity to see it.

Why "supposingly"? Because I saw everything in Keukenhof - except the tulips. 95% of all tulips outside were cut off, so they were not there. In all the pavillions they had a lot of other flowers and interesting exhibitions going on (e.g., the comparison between the Netherlands and Germany), but I wanted to see the famous tulips - and they were not there. Considering the fact that the entrance fee was the same as usually and it is not so small, I was very dissapointed.

Besides that, it was interesting to see seven different gardens in seven different styles, take a look at the royal family pedigree tree (did you know that three previous generations all married a German?) and see in how many different ways can you use flowers.

My Mum visited the garden some time ago as well and said that one needs four hours to see everything. For me it took a bit less than two hours - maybe because the tulips were not there...

If you were thinking about going this week - save the money for the next year and avoid it this year!

History Walks

Following my luck always to win something, a few weeks ago I won two hours long walking tour around Amsterdam, thanks to English Breakfast Radio.

We agreed that the tour will happen exactly on my name day, so on Sunday afternoon Michael and me were ready to join three other people and our British tour guide. For the next two hours we walked and listened her stories about the history of Amsterdam during World War II and the Jewish population at that time. It was no surprise to hear that Michael was the first German taking part in this tour!

I must admit that I am a fan of history, although I do not think that it is a fan of me - I forget all the historical facts and important dates very fast, although I like to read history books and watch historical movies. Back in the school history was one of my favourite subjects as well (maybe thanks to the great history teacher).

I can definitely suggest the tour to anybody who is interested in history or has Jewish origins. I do not think that a lot of ordinary tourists will be interested in such a tour as it's not the most touristical one, but it really tells a lot not only about Jewish at that time, but also the city and Dutch people themselves. Having lived here for quite a while, it was interesting to see the city from a different perspective - and notice the signs and monuments which I would not notice otherwise.

Saarschleife

I have been looking at this view almost every day for several months in a row by now (as it is Michael's PC desktop picture and I am using his PC). This weekend I finally had a chance to see the view in the reality as well.

What am I speaking about? About the interesting nature and world we are living in, an amazing loop the river Saar is doing in Germany.

It turns out that it is less than an hour drive from Trier, so during Easter we went there and I had a chance not only to see this view, but also to go from the highest point up down to the river itself. Next time it would be nice to bike along Saar and enjoy the view there!

Time for German

I didn't tell you yet, but a couple of weeks ago I started CouchSurfing weekly German classes. A German girl is studying to be a teacher and wanted to practise, so I quickly agreed to be one of her students for intermediate lessons.

So far we have had three lessons and it is really cool. It is like a real lesson, because she is preparing exercises for every week and speaking in German all the time - even when we do not understand some words, she explains them in German and does not give a synonim in English.

The level of the class is quite different and some people drop by and join just for one or two lessons, so she needs to be very flexibile. I don't know about others, but it disturbs me a bit - but just a bit as otherwise I am really enjoying lessons.

I know that I should practise and study German more (especially with a German home :P), but sometimes I tend to be lazy and there is also not so much time... So these weekly classes are very useful (and free) way not to forget the knowledge I have and hopefully to improve a bit as well. I noticed that my German is not so bad as I thought and I can understand more than I can say.

Still, it's not really enough to have a full long and serious conversation in German, but at least my German is still better than my Dutch and I can have simple conversations with Michael's parents - and that's also important. :)

Let's start again!

OK, I changed my mind. I will start writing in this blog again.

About what? Check on the left, you will see and understand. Hopefully. I have already some thoughts in my mind, just not tonight. Need to focus on cooking, packing and writing my master thesis. Maybe tomorrow or late tonight.

Just wanted to say "Hi" to all of you who will start reading it!

Please, mind - I will not write in Dutch, German or any other language you want. Sorry, ik spreek niet so goed in Nederlands & mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut auch. Just Latvian or English, choose yourself or simply follow and read.

P.S. And yes, I will change the background image. Just need to turn on my laptop. Be patient! :)