We left the Botel and met Rene at the restaurant around the corner. Rene arranged a conference room for his lecture on Dutch Society and Education. One interesting fact Rene mentioned was the unemployment rate is only 4% in the Netherlands, which is phenomenal for their society. I know America's is around 8% or so right now and that has come a long way since the recession. There are 14 research universities and 42 places for higher education. I am unsure if this is many places for the 16.5 million in the country. I enjoyed Rene's historical background because I know nothing about the Netherlands. I thought it was clever how Rene proposed the question of "Why do some countries survive?" I forget that many countries have disappeared over thousands of years by being conquered by others through war. One point he made was that countries need to be open and flexible. countries should find accept all people and therefore being tolerant of their differences. For example, you can let Catholics into the country and build a church as long as they can co-habit take with the Dutch culture. Tolerance is lacking in the United States and it is a shame of how we just want everyone to assimilate to our culture. One other thing I would fascinating is that the Dutch will help their neighbors out in times of emergency. They will work together to complete a task to contain the water in the low lying areas of this country. They are willing to look past their differences for the better good of the country. I found this so wonderful! Americans are competitive and greedy and sometimes we miss the important things in life, like helping others because we are too engrossed in our own lives.
The red light district was a hard part of the lecture to hear about. This is when the women from the farms are taken and put on drugs. Plus they take away their passports and most cannot escape. I know this is a tourist attraction but it is just such a sad life for them to live. They may be making more money than at the farms, but their quality of life has been destroyed. My heart breaks for these women. I wish they could be free again, but because of the revenue they bring in I'm sure the red life district will survive for a while.
I don't mean to be going on about Rene's lecture, but it was fabulous. I enjoyed learning that Dutch students learn about 4 languages!! How amazing! This is such a hard task and because I have taken many speech classes, I am quite impressed. Americans really need to push the multilingualism within our country! We learned a little about the Dutch system- that kids start school at age 4 or 5 but at age 5 years old it is mandatory to be in Kindergarden and it is based on the Montessori philosophy of lots of play and a less structured/forced learning environment compared to my school experience in the states. All the schools are public and paid for by the government. There are no restrictions to where you can go to school because of where you live. If you want to travel an hour to school you are allowed to as long as you've been accepted. I find that having all public schools gives the entire population a more 'even playing field'. I concerned with the CITO exam, which determines where each student will go with their secondary education. This exam is taken at the end of 8th grade and determines if you through the VMBO track, or the HAVO, track, or the VWO. The VMBO is a vocational track lasting 4 years. THe HAVO is a general education curriculum based for professional careers in the future. The VWO track prepares the students for research-based universities and we would consider this the elite track. I love that the curriculum is standardized so that there is no need for college entrance exams! That is fabulous because I HATED the SAT. Regarding Special Education, the Netherlands seems to isolate these students and this is a shame. THey should mix special ed and general ed so that hopefully both sets of students can learn from one another.
Next we went to lunch downstairs and we had a cauliflower soup, which was great! But then unfortunately it followed with unappealing sandwiches with gross meats. Oh I forgot to mention that we got a break from Rene's lecture and I got tea! It was scrumptious. I tried some of Amy's coffee and it was delicious! It seems like I am going to fall in love with coffee this trip! ;)
Because we were in the same region as the Botel, we had to take a ferry to the mainland of Amsterdam which brings us to Central Station. This ferry was filled with tons of bikes! Everyone commutes by bikes…crazy! We went to the Anne Frank house! This was the house that she wrote her diary and hid in for years with 8 or so other people. The museum was so well done and I enjoyed the simplistically of it. You can tell from this museum that many cultures explore Amsterdam and this museum because there were so many languages to choose from! :) The hiding place was behind a bookshelf and it was quite roomier than I thought it would be. It's sad that they lives there for a couple years and couldn't see sunlight! Poor, Anne!
Anyway, now had free time and all 15 of us decided to hang out! :D It was a good time bonding with everyone! For dinner, the girls split up and I got a grilled chicken and veggie panini, which was delicious. I was so hungry that I could have eaten cold pizza, I didn't care. We explored the red light district which was SO upsetting for me. Anyone that sells their own body to make money could not be happy about it. These poor girls were standing so sexually to try to get business but you could see the sadness in their eyes. UGH, I hate it because most of the girls are there and cannot escape that life. After we found a cute bar, and we all were chatting and enjoying a beverage. I got a Heineken beer because a rum and coke was 7 EURO and I didn't find it necessary to spend that much. I am enjoying to talking to everyone in my group! I like all of the girls and I reminded one of the girls to give everyone a chance because some people take a while to warm up to you! It is a lot easier to find negative characteristics in others than the positive ones. Eventually, we made it back to the hotel and a group of us hung out until 2:30AM! I know I am going to be exhausted tomorrow! OPPS. I know I am acting myself when I tell Jake, "Check out my good looking feet" hahaha I know I've been told that I could be a foot model, but I can't believe I said that to someone I don't know that well. I am so weird, but I have accepted it and love it! I really enjoyed hanging with Christina, Anna, Jake, and then Annie at the end. I think our group is great! :)
We are leaving Amsterdam tomorrow, and I don't know how I feel about it. I heard the next city is a lot smaller. I enjoyed Amsterdam, but the Dutch are a little simper than Americans. I think I've seen prettier cities like Venice and London in my lifetime. (Not trying to sound like a brat, I am just being realistic!) I am having a wonderful time with my group and that is what makes Amsterdam so special to me.
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