De vrouwen springen

So my latest preparation for the trip has been to start learning Dutch. Thanks to Rosetta Stone, I now know how to say "The women jump," "The dog is white," and "The red car is old." All very helpful phrases, I'm sure. My favorite has been "sinaasappelsap," which is the word for orange juice (sap is juice). Cool. I think we should have the FedEx Sinaasappel Bowl here in the future.

Not having German language in my background means that Dutch is quite unfamiliar. I'm not too comfortable with all the "ach" sounds quite yet --- I feel too self-conscious. I'll keep working on it. But I also read not to compare the Dutch language to German. Not good.

Our group met last Sunday to talk more about details. We're getting black blazers, black rain/wind-proof jackets, and then I think we'll be set for our matchy-matchy uniforms. We chatted a bit about the culture, the politics, the economy, the religions, and major holidays in the Netherlands. We'll be there for National Windmill Day when they open up many of the 600 windmills in the country for tours. We'll also be there for the start of the Tulip Festival. And we'll also be there for the first catch of the herring season, called the Hollandse Nieuwe. It takes place on Scheveningen's Vlaagetjesdag, the Day of the Little Flags. How many fresh, juicy herring will I consume? Stay tuned....

Countdown to the Netherlands

Welcome to my Netherlands blog!

From April 28 to May 30, 2010, I'll be traveling with the Rotary Foundation's Group Study Exchange trip to the Netherlands. We'll be in Rotary District 1550 while we're in the Netherlands, so we'll mostly be in the southeastern area of the country. We'll stay with local families and visit Rotary clubs giving presentations about Indiana and ourselves, and we'll have time for cultural activities and tourist things, of course.

I'll be traveling with 3 other non-Rotarians: Kevin, David, and Heather, and our group leader, Dick, is our token Rotarian. The rules of the program were that you have to be between the ages of 25 and 40, not be in Rotary, and be in a professional career with plans to stay in it for awhile. Kevin is in commercial real estate, David is a lawyer, and Heather works for the city of Muncie.

While in the Netherlands, we'll have the opportunity to have vocational days---a chance to basically see what it's like to do my job over there. I plan to visit a university or two and visit their publications, marketing, and Web departments.

We have a lot of planning and preparation work to do before we leave in just over three months. We have to design a brochure, decide on our uniform (probably a blazer), order pins to pass out, and work on our presentation that we'll give at each club we visit. We're meeting once per month right now to work on all these details. I also know no Dutch, so I'd like to learn a phrase or two (at least to know how to order "one more" and to ask where the restrooms are).

Today we found out where we'll be each week:
Week 1 : Maastricht/Geleen
Week 2 : Venlo-Land van Gelre/Venlo-Maas en Peel
Week 3 : Oss/Oss-maaskant
Week 4 : Geldermalsen-Waalkant/Zaltbommel

Not sure how long we'll be in each place right now, but it's a good start. We'll be right next to the German and Belgium borders for awhile, so I hope we'll be able to visit those countries as well. I think we'll be 30 minutes from Cologne, Germany, at one point.

I plan to use this blog as my primary communication tool while I'm gone. I've been told that our schedules get quite busy during that month, but I'll try to update this at least every other day. And I'll update this during the next 90 days as well to let you know how plans are developing.

All for now --- tot ziens! (thanks, Google search!)
Jen