Netherfieldtrip

Today, I said good bye to my roommate. I dropped her off at central station at 5:45 am. Now my apartment is so lonely. 

I went on a field trip to Vught where an old prison camp was located. The prison camp had 50,000 prisoners during the second world war. Being in that environment made me really sad. 

First of, I got to school early in the morning to do more paperwork. I also had a class with 5h3 where we reviewed for their upcoming English test. After that, at 10 am, Ted, the history teacher, came and got me. I met an intern, Brenda, and she's doing an internship like me in History. She's a student in Rotterdam working on her Bachelor's. She was a really nice girl. 

The ride to Vught was an hour and a half, and we took a bus with 26 students. It was ridiculous how some of the students were getting sick in the bus. A couple threw up - I'm guessing from being car sick. The smell of tomato soup throw up was completely disgusting. 

When we finally arrived at the camp, the whole tour was in Dutch. I should have known, and the guy did not translate at all. I really should stop expecting people to translate for me. I felt so out of place, and not informed, but it was still a great experience. Ted did translate some stuff for me, but he was too occupied with the other students, which I totally understand. Another thing that made me feel at a disadvantage. 

However, the field trips are really awesome. The students are sometimes hard to handle, but they really do learn through experiencing and witnessing some of the horrible things that happened in the past. The students were loud while in the bus but paid great attention when the tour guide was speaking. Ted also told me that parents do pay for these excursions. The parents receive an invoice during the beginning of the year, and it's all voluntarily. It's a little unfortunate for the students who couldn't afford it. 

Anyways, the most touching thing at the camp was the Children's monument. My heart just went out to all the kids, and I started tearing up just from the thought of what happened to them. The most interesting thing about the camp is that they only saved a building for exhibition and the rest is used as a prison currently. The prisoners are the worst you can get - the toughest prisoners - like murderers and terrorists. The thought of being so close to them scared the hell out of me. 

We also went to a monument for the resistance army who were shot and killed by the Nazis. Just being there and imagining what happened made me shiver. This makes me nervous about visiting Auschwitz in Poland next weekend. 

Then, I tried to catch Magdalena before she went home, but as it turned out she went home early because her daughter was sick. I cycled to KFC because I haven't eaten anything all day (this was 4pm) already, and then went grocery shopping so that I have food to last me the rest of the week. Then, I caught the metro to Zuidplein and bus to Oude-Beijerland to have dinner at Magdalena's and to meet with the religious group. 


Like every Thursday, it was a nice discussion about ministry and evangelism. I really like that I have a support group who encourages me and motivates me to become closer to God. It's a nice feeling, and I'm hoping to find a support group when I come back to the US.


Hm. I really want to stay here in the Netherlands. We'll see how that goes. I miss my family and dogs like crazy. :)