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.