Holland

Last Wednesday was "Der Tag der Deutschen Einheit" (Day of Germany Unity). It is in recognition of the reunification of Germany in 1990, but it is hardly celebrated at all. In fact, I did absolutely nothing German related that day. It is nothing like our numerous patriotic holidays in the U.S. (4th of July, Veteran's Day, Memorial Day, the list goes on) where everyone breaks out their American flags, grills up some hot dogs and basks in the glory of the good ol' U.S. of A. I think the Germans would rather just forget about their history and focus on today and the future (which is looking quite good for them, I might add...biggest economy in Europe, one of the lowest unemployment rates, no beer shortages). So, to celebrate Germany, my family and pretty much all of Nordrhein-Westfalen made a pilgrimage to Holland for the day and bought all their stuff at a fancy outlet mall.

We went shopping at the mall in the morning, and then went into the city for a few hours in the afternoon. It was really beautiful there. I'd also like to mention that Dutch is one of the strangest sounding languages I've ever heard. It's like a more extreme version of German (and German is already pretty extreme). You should all look up a recording of someone speaking Dutch. Anyway, here are pictures from Holland!

It was a great day! I'd also like to mention that yesterday I FOUND A PIANO. It took weeks and weeks but finally I got permission to use one in the school 3 days a week. Everything here - even just getting permission to use a piano in school - is so bureaucratic and complicated. First of all, I took me weeks just to figure out what I was supposed to do in order to use a piano here, because no one seemed to provide any answers. Finally after I switched into the 10th class and got a new music teacher, he explained to me what I had to do. Then I had to go to the school secretary and get a permission slip to use the piano. Then I had to hunt down a music teacher, which took days because teachers here do not have their own rooms, so you literally have to look at their schedules and try to figure out where they might be in between bells and try to trap them. It's absurd. Then I got the signature, then I had to go back to the secretary and figure out which bells I could use the piano, and then, FINALLY, I got the room number for the piano. I must have looked absurd to anyone who saw me walking down the hallway. I gripped the key tightly in my hand, holding it up like a torch, afraid I would somehow lose it, and I was chanting the room number so I wouldn't forget it. "327, 327, 327." And I probably had a ridiculous grin on my face. Finally I got in the room, sat down at the piano, and played for the first time in a month and a half. It was a religious experience.