Last blog

Hello everyone *waves* . As you might have guessed by the title of this blog, this is my last time writing here. I am writing this from the comfort of my own house, with my parents and my boyfriend right next to me (finally). In this blog I will tell you all about my last couple of days in Cambridge and my flight home. Since I am writing this from the computer at home, the last couple of pictures will be uploaded later.

Monday 16/11
Today was the first day of my last week at the Elderflower Kindergarten. Though I knew this, of course, it only really hit me when I got a couple of drawings from the same Sunbeam as last time. It was a peaceful day without too much problems. In the morning I cut some apples again (surprise!) and for the first time I actually cut my finger. It was just with the tip of the knife so it was only a very small dot but I did say 'au'. So the children who were near me immediately looked up from what they where doing and asked me what was wrong, and wanted to see where I had cut myself. Since it was my last Monday, Beate asked me if I wanted to make the bread dough with the children, and so I did. 

Tuesday 17/11
As every Tuesday we started with a walk, this time through a bit of rain. Beside the rain it was a nice walk and we played some games and climbed some trees. During my break I discussed with Beate when it would be the best time to hand out the little foxes I made to the children. We had already agreed on the Wednesday (last day that all 14 children would be at school) but we were debating on when was the best time. The afternoon was spent inside because of the rain, so we did more drawing and finger knitting and things like that. After all the children went home we had a meeting where we discussed all the children, five minutes per child. At least that is what we intended to do, but for a lot of the children we failed miserably. Beate told me after the meeting that there would be a parent evening tonight about the what the Steiner Curriculum was, so I asked David if it was okay for me to join as well. Since it was no problem, I decided too stay at the school and wait for 2 hours. Beate gave me some articles about Steiner education and subjects that linked to it, so I read those until it was time to go to the parent evening. The parent evening itself was really useful and I learned quite a lot. I also got the email address of a girl who went through all the classes within Steiner education and was now doing a PhD on Education. I thought it would be very helpful for me to get in contact with this girl. In the end I was at school for 13 hours before I went home again. The wind was very strong so it was quite hard to get back again.

Wednesday 18/11
The wind really didn't settle down over the night and this made the day so much more challenging. The weather was stormy and all over the place, and so were the children. Besides that it was challenging it was also a very emotional day. I handed the little foxes to the children and got a book full of drawings back, as well as some gifts from the parents (a Cambridge calendar, and a little wooden angel). It was really heart-warming to see how much the children liked the foxes, and were playing with them throughout the afternoon.

Thursday 19/11
Just like yesterday this day was really hard. There was a lot of noise and already heaving a headache didn't make it easier. Today I also gave the foxes to the staff members, and their reactions where just as heart-warming as yesterday's. This made my day a bit more bearable.

Friday 20/11
Since this was my last day, I decided to go to the woodlands with the Elderflower children since I hadn't seen this yet. It was a nice day, walking through the woods, but it was also really tiring. Everything was new for me, the children were everywhere and it was quite cold. So by the end of the day I was drained from all my energy. It was nice to see the children running, climbing trees, finding sticks for the shelter they where making in the middle of the woods and just enjoying being outside.

Saturday 21/11
Today was the Advent Fair and the last day for me at the Cambridge Steiner School. I must say that it was a wonderful day. The school was decorated, there where activities you could do throughout the school, lovely food and some stalls with local products. I bought some presents for people back home, decorated a biscuit (and ate it) and just enjoyed being there. It was also quite funny to see that every parent I saw (from the children I knew) came to me to thank me and to say that I would be missed and that their child would miss me the most. The dad of the boy from the Czech Republic kept his word and took some pictures of me and his son. So I will end up in their family album. Every time I saw some children from Elderflower, they would run up to me and started to hug me, or hang on to my legs or arms. Though it felt wonderful it also made me sad, because I knew that, at least for the near future, I wouldn't see them again. In the end I helped to tidy up and cycled back for the last time.

The rest of the days I relaxed a lot. Monday I went to the pictures with Hanna and friend of her to see He named me Malala and on Tuesday I went to the pictures with Beate and Anita to see the Lady in the van and to eat some dinner afterwards. Wednesday I sold my bike, packed my suitcase and cleaned my room so I was all set and done to leave on Thursday. My flight left in the evening so I was home just before midnight and I slept like I hadn't slept in a very long time.
 

Though my journey was an amazing experience that I wouldn't have missed for the world, I am also really happy to be home again. To be able to hug my parents and my boyfriend and just not being on my own again. The Dutch is still a bit hard, and I have to stumble a lot, but I'll be fine in a couple of days.

So this is the end of my journey that started on the 26th of August and ended on the 26th of November. I hope to see you all again soon!

Love, 

Nina