Garnwerd, Winsum and Zuidhorn

Admittedly, the first few days of May were very calm at work. Only a handful of kids - on Friday morning as I first arrived there were only three of them, and most of the day it was only five. I have to say I'm really enjoying the smaller group sizes in Netherlands; I don't know if all the nurseries here are like this, but I would welcome more smaller nurseries and groups in Finland too. I think it's a lot more hectic when you have 15+ kids, even if that does mean there are more adults present as well.

But on Saturday, I had another get-together with Hennie. I took the train to Zuidhorn, and from there she drove us to Garnwerd, a small village by the river Reitdiep.

It was very quiet, quite a contrast to the city of Groningen, but it was also very pretty to look at. I can only imagine they get plenty of tourists seeking less-known towns to marvel and take photos of. We even spotted some lovely tulips!

After that, we had a cup of tea (or hot chocolate, in my case) at the local cafe. The village might have been quiet, but the cafe was full of life and people - and the chocolate milk was really delicious, a lot better than most hot chocolate I've tasted in other places or in chain cafes like Starbucks.

After that, we started driving again - until I spotted something I hadn't yet seen on my trip to the Netherlands. No, not a tulip field, unfortunately; ultimately I never saw one, maybe on my next visit to the country. But I saw a windmill that was actually rotating! Hennie humoured me and drove into its direction, and that's how we found the windmill called Friendship (Molen De Vriendschap). We were even able to visit it on the inside. It was a very windy day too, so at times the steel blades were going really fast. Funny enough, there was a second windmill in town as well, which also started rotating while we were in the area. But unfortunately the weather wasn't as pleasant as it could have been and we got ambushed by the rain, so in the end we decided it was time to move on, and back to Zuidhorn.

Hennie was kind enough to invite me over to have dinner with her and her husband at their home. Both only confirmed what I already knew - the Dutch are indeed very kind and friendly people. The meal was lovely, and as for the final treat, we had some tea and oranjekoek (a typical Friesland pastry).

All in all, I feel lucky to have had such kind coordinators and mentors looking out for me in the host country. I'm sure the experience would have been a lot less pleasant had it not been for people like Hennie and Margriet.

Bourtange

On Sunday 28th, most of my day was spent in the Groninger Museum. It did have several interesting exhibitions, but then again the entrance fee WAS a whopping 20 euros, and with that price you really do expect something amazing.

On Tuesday 30th, a disaster struck again - for the second time during the internship, I felt too ill to go to work. While I know it's not really something I can control, I still felt disappointed - time flies by so fast, there are only a limited amount of workdays, and missing even one feels like you've missed a lot. Luckily though, much like during the first week, it was over in a day.

So on Wednesday, 1st of May, I was able to go on a little road trip with Margriet. We started out by driving to restaurant Bij De Molen in Ten Post. The restaurant was, as the Molen in the name suggests, by a windmill.

After lunch, we headed almost to the border of Germany, into the village of Bourtange, which is known for its fort: one of the most well-known tourist attractions in the province of Groningen. Funny enough, when Margriet told me we were going to Bourtange, I had no idea what that was, BUT as soon as I saw the image of the star-shaped fort, I recognized it from a variety of tourist attraction sites and brochures. Basically the fort has been converted into one big museum, using the tagline "Welcome to the year 1742".

Margriet and I both appreciated how picturesque it all was, as we shared an interest in photography. Her camera was a lot more professional than mine, though.

The fort was decently sized, but not so big that walking around it would have taken all day. And it's always nice to visit places that manage to be both entertaining and educational. I enjoyed the combination of nature (like the canals and lakes, which the fort uses as moats) and the quaint, old  buildings.

And I think sometimes, to a Finnish person, it's easy to forget that Netherlands is actually a pretty small country and everything is fairly close-by. It's only about an hour's drive from Groningen and you're already at the German border - and only a few hours from Amsterdam to get to Groningen. Contrast that to driving from Oulu to Helsinki - you'll be stuck in a car for seven hours.

All in all a lovely little place, definitely worth a visit, and I'm very grateful for Margriet for taking me there - I would have missed out on seeing it altogether if it wasn't for her!

The garden

As promised, I wanted to show off the facility's lovely garden in a separate post. It was fairly large in size, with lots of different things for kids to do - which is great when the kids can potentially spend many hours outside each day.

While it was big and included some slightly hidden areas where you might not be able to see the kids without actually walking closer, the whole garden was securely fenced to stop anyone from wandering away.

The environment had interesting variation, from trees to a little hill, rocks, sand boxes, tables and hidden paths. Plenty of nature, plants, trees, birds and bugs to observe. Sadly this is not always the case in Finnish nursery gardens, which can be largely just sand or even gravel, with only a few playground equipment to keep the kids interested.

Of course, I can't say how nice it would be in winter, but at least in the springtime, it was lovely, and you could see most of the kids really enjoyed their time outside and were eager to get their coats and shoes on and go.

Many kids were happy to continue their cooking games even outside - one of the little ones had a very funny game (in her mind at least) where she'd proceed to give me some sand, cake or soup, and as soon as I pretended to eat it, she'd yell "YUCKY" to signal I was meant to stick my tongue out and make a face.

Oh, and the little cars were practically always in use. Mostly by the boys, but the girls would occasionally try them out as well.

Daycare

I can honestly say that this group has been one of the most welcoming work experience places I've ever been, and it made me feel at home pretty much from the start.

Maybe it helps that the very first day I arrived, the notice board greeted me with this:

There's four ladies working shifts in this group: Margriet, Colinda, Franka and Annemiek. Margriet was also my personal mentor/instructor during the five weeks, and I couldn't have asked for a kinder, more helpful instructor for a work period where you're living and working in an unfamiliar, foreign environment. Though that doesn't mean that the other three were any worse off - I would say all four were very friendly and easily approachable, and I never felt like I was an outsider, which is quite an achievement considering sometimes even in Finnish learning work environments you never quite feel like you're fully part of the team. Even staff from other groups were always ready for some chit-chat or kind words!

But to observe some differences (and similarities) between Dutch and Finnish nursery schedules, here's a good example of the Daycare group's regular activities.

In Finland, if children come to the nursery early enough, they get breakfast: quite often some variety of porridge. In here it was always juice and different fruits (selection would vary a bit every day), and served somewhat later - generally speaking, every child who meant to arrive to the daycare before 1 p.m should have arrived by 9:30. After fruit time, there would be time to play inside. There were two toilets for the kids to use, but most still wear nappies - however, since there was only one nappy changing station, nappies had to get checked and changed one at a time.

Since I did my work practice between April and May, which in Netherlands meant that spring was in full bloom, the children would also spend a lot of time outside (I'll make a separate post showcasing the garden). Still, even in case of bad weather, the room had lots of different toys and activities to keep the children interested. During the 5 weeks I was there, a lot of the kids were really keen on playing and looking after baby dolls, as well as using the little kitchen.

Around 11:30 a.m, it would be lunch time. I recall this was actually one of the biggest surprises for me on my first day of work - neither kids nor adults have warm meals, lunch is always a sandwich. Maybe occasionally some soup to accompany it, but mostly just bread, butter, and a variety of possible toppings kids could choose from: ham, chicken, various cheeses, jam, peanut butter... I did get used to it fairly fast, but in Finland, you are used to kids always getting warm meals.

In many Finnish nurseries, kids go to sleep straight after lunch - in here they had a little longer to play before it was time to sleep. But the rule of thumb was that most kids who would go to sleep would be in their beds around 1 p.m, although seeing how some only arrived to the daycare at 1 p.m, there might be a slight delay.

                                                                    (guest starring in the picture: Margriet)

Much like in Finland, the bedroom was a separate little room from the area where the kids would play. But I found the beds themselves quite interesting, and perhaps a sign of how much younger some of the kids in the nurseries are in comparison to Finland. Most Finnish nurseries have either bunk beds or camping beds which are easy to set up and clean away. In here, you have what I can only describe as bunk cribs.

And perhaps because this sort of bed was very secure and kids couldn't get out of them without adult's help, there was actually no need for an adult to stay in the bedroom. In Finland, I'm pretty sure there is always someone in the room supervising the kids when it's nap time.

The kids would generally wake up sometime between 2 and 3 p.m, most of the time on their own, but at latest everyone would be awake at 3:30 when it was time for the crackers and tea - similar to the snack you get in Finnish daycares, but once again, served a bit earlier in Finland. Albeit in Finland, the snack tends to be different every day - here, it was always crackers, although the kids could choose different topping for it, similar to the sandwiches. The kids also all drank a little cup of tea, which I feel Finnish kids might not really get behind, but I guess the kids get used to it.

(A lot of parents in Finland put their kids to sleep outside in buggies, and sometimes the same happens in nurseries - but I've yet to see Finnish nurseries have these sort of little huts where even slightly bigger kids can sleep during nap time. I thought they were actually pretty genius; you just have to keep an eye on them so you know when the kids wake up.)

A lot of times, if the weather was decent, we'd start going outside as soon as kids were finished with the crackers and had been to the toilet (or had their nappy checked). Some would get picked up before 5 p.m, a few would literally only get picked a few minutes before the closing time.

In summary: Some things were different than Finnish nursery traditions, but not SO different that you'd feel fully mystified by it.

SKSG DoReMi

Now, to talk a little bit about my workplace in Netherlands.

To start, SKSG means Stichting Kinderopvang Stad Groningen, which basically means "Childcare Foundation City of Groningen". While they're not the only childcare providers in Groningen, they do have over 60 locations to choose from, and they have over 100 years of experience.

                                                             front entrance of the facility

SKSG DoReMi has several Dutch speaking groups, but in addition they have one English-speaking group called "Daycare" (or the Cookie Monster group). Daycare group offers care for children between the ages of 8 weeks to 4 years, some of whom have fully Dutch parents, but many have one or two parents who do not speak Dutch as their first language - some don't speak Dutch at all. And same applies to the kids. The daycare is open Monday to Friday, from 7.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. My regular work week was Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri, working from 9 a.m to 5:30 p.m.

                                     the break area where most of the staff would spend their 30 minute break on

In Finland, kids go to preschool the year they turn six, and begin in schools when they turn seven. In Netherlands, the system is quite different. Preschool programmes, in Dutch or in English, are offered for 3-year-olds. Pre-school, at least the one that was coordinating with the Daycare group, offered education on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and/or Friday mornings from 8:00 a.m to 1:00 p.m. Many of the kids would go to pre-school in the morning and come to the daycare after 1 p.m. In principle, childcare ends when children turn 4, because that is when primary school begins. Quite a difference from the Finnish system.

                                                                                    Be awesome!

The facility was very pleasant to work in. Every colleague was very nice to me, and while it wasn't maybe the largest building, it didn't feel overcrowded either. The group sizes felt much smaller than in many Finnish daycares - our group had 17 kids altogether, but as far as I recall, a maximum of 12 of them were ever present at any given time, and often in the mornings it was significantly less.

Every group has their own room, but occasionally the kids would also be allowed to play in the hallway, especially in the mornings. But since I generally started my workdays at 9 a.m, the kids would have already been split into their own groups by that point. And perhaps because we were the only English-speaking group in the facility, you could see the kids often grouping together even when they were among kids from the other groups. Even if they weren't technically playing together, you'd still notice that they'd often be around each other, which I thought was quite sweet, and showed that there was already good team spirit even though some of the kids were very young.

And here you see the entrance to the Daycare group, and the bags where the kids would leave their outdoor clothes. But for clarity's sake, I think I'll make a different blog entry about the Daycare group + room.

Biking trip and King's Day

On 24th, I had the Wednesday off again, but I didn't really feel like doing anything super special. I decided to take advantage of the bike, and explore the areas and parks nearby Beijum. And I wasn't disappointed.

Biking is a wonderful way to discover locations you didn't even know about and would not have been able to see if you just went by on public transport. For example, quite spontaneously I managed to find one of the traditional Dutch sights, a windmill!

Although it seems I finished my bike tour just on time; it started thundering at the end of it, and it rained while I was getting some groceries from Aldi. Luckily I made it home dry.

27th was what Dutch call Koningsdag, aka King's Day. A national holiday on the current king's birthday. The weather was lousy, which probably affected the party mood a little bit, but I did eventually go to town to see what I could find.

Anster turned out to be: flags, mainly. Lots of flags.

There were also a good number of people out and about. Mainly the festivities seemed to involve music: there was a bandstand at the Vismarkt market square, and some DJs playing music outside certain cafes, bars and restaurant. Sometimes the streets got so crowded it was hard to get past.

But I appreciate having been around for these cultural events and holidays as well. Shows you a bit broader view of the Dutch life.

Easter

In Finland, it's fairly common for at least one parent to stay and look after the baby until they're closer to being 1-year-olds; as such, we don't see quite so many small babies in our nurseries. Maternity leave might end after three months, but the parental leave usually means that before the child is 9 months, they won't be taken to a nursery. ... in comparison, many Dutch women return to work after the end of statutory maternity leave: 10-12 weeks after the baby is born. Because of that, Netherlands has plenty of baby groups in nurseries.

The daycare group didn't have anyone THAT tiny, I think the newest baby we had was at least 4 months old already, but to someone who hasn't looked after babies all that much, it could be a bit daunting at times. Of course I was always surrounded by professionals, but I kept on thinking "gosh, SO tiny" whenever I was holding the smaller ones. I think it was pretty obvious to everyone around me as well that I didn't have a lot of experience with babies. I suppose if I did more work with the smallest of kids, I'd get used to and better at it in time.

On Good Friday, I was originally scheduled for a full day at work, but I switched it to a half-day instead: I had been told there was going to be a big flower market in town, and I wanted to see it.

All I can really say was that the streets were INCREDIBLY full of tourists (and some locals too, one assumes) so all in all it wasn't as pleasant as it could have been. The flowers were pretty, though.

Easter weekend was a long one, three full days off, and I made my mission to actually look around Groningen and the sights it had to offer - be the typical tourist.

Possibly THE sight to see in Groningen: Martinitoren, the bell tower of Martinikerk. You can even climb the 97 meter tower for some lovely views, but I decided to go for my own walk tour first and save the climbing for another day.

The city was so nice and quiet on Easter Sunday and Monday as well, a stark contrast to Friday's flower market madness. And the local university? A touch fancier than the University of Oulu, which has (lovingly, I swear) been referred to as an abandoned cement factory reclaimed by students.

One of the best places I visited on my tourist tour was Prinsentuin, a renaissance style garden, not yet in full bloom, but very lovely to look at all the same.

Then, it was pretty easy to get back to work on Tuesday - a lot of kids were still on holiday, we only had seven kids in the group at max throughout the day. A lot of schools, same with the preschool, were closed for two whole weeks in fact, so the whole period saw a lot less kids in nursery on average as well.