Consulates suck
Posted on June 12.
I found a place in Amsterdam for 2 nights and went up there on Tuesday. My hosts were great and I got to explore around Amsterdam for a couple days which was nice. Hitchhiking there I met two conspiracy theorists who drove me quite a ways (though they refer to themselves as "truthists"). They were pretty cool and tried to convince me that the moon landing and 9/11 were all fabrications. I got driven the last 30KM by a guy who was going to Amsterdam to take his vintage Porsche on a marathon for 5 days. Unfortunately he picked me up in his shiny Volvo rather than his vintage Porsche. Ah well.
Amsterdam has a lot of canals. It has more canals (I'm told) than Venice. Go figure. Amsterdam was tremendously touristy. Usually there is a tourist core to most big cities but Amsterdam was touristy through and through. It was nice though and I got to see some really cool stuff. In Amsterdam, squatting is legal (but there are rules). The house needs to be unoccupied for at least 1 year and you need to APPLY to SQUAT a house. ...?
Anyways, my hosts in Amsterdam were members of an anti-squatting organization. House owners hired the company who in turn found people (in this case my hosts) to stay in the house so that squatters can't live there. When a house is available they'll call you and give you 10 minutes to decide if you want to live there or not. Then you have to move in the next day, sight unseen. And if the owner wants his house back for whatever reason they only need to give you 2 weeks notice that you need to find a new place to live. Cheap rent though.
I went to the British Consulate twice while I was in Amsterdam trying to figure out my visa question. The first time the Consulate was closed (It's open from 8:30-12:30 then from 2:00-3:00). And the second time I was informed that the Consulate will only help British Nationals (my visa means nothing, which I kinda figured) and the visa office requires an appointment with a 5 week waiting list.
So I gave up and found a computer and sent off half a dozen emails to various offices trying to find the answer. So we'll see. On the plus side I had a nice walk through a huge park trying to find the Consulate. That, on the other hand, was quite nice.
Today is my last night in the Netherlands because tomorrow I've decided to press on to Germany. I met an American couchsurfer in Paris who lives in Heidelberg, Germany so I think I'll go see her first then perhaps head up towards Berlin.
We'll see.
//Edit
I forgot to mention this part. Feel free to ignore this if you like, it's about the Dutch education system and it's a bit of a rant.
The Dutch are very liberal about a lot of things (drugs, alcohol, prostitution, hitchhiking, etc) so this strikes me as weird.
At the end of Primary school in Holland you take a series of tests. Based on the results of these tests (and the recommendation of your teacher) you're put in 1 of 4 different secondary school curriculums. The lowest curriculum is taught mainly practical skills. Skills that use your hands such as woodwork, metalwork, cooking, etc. Very little math, language and such. As you get to the higher curriculums, you get less practical skills and moe theoretical skills (Maths, etc).
Also the lowest curriculum is 4 years long whereas the highest is 6 years long. To me it seems like the smart kids get the best chances and schooling and the less intelligent kids don't even get the chance to better themselves and are stuck in a labour job. Also vice-versa if there is a smart kid who really likes doing woodwork he isn't able to. To make matters worse, each curriculum has 4 "profiles" which is the set of classes you take. You have the option to take a few electives (like in Canada) but nowhere near the flexibility that you get in Canada. You choices are things like "Economy" (lots of math), "Culture" (lots of history) and things like that. In the end you've only got 4 types of students and very limited diversity. You wouldn't be able to take both Calculus and Cooking.
From what I've been told, the students also don't really associate with students in the other curriculums. They are all segregated to their own curriculum and they move through their classes together. Also the better teachers, naturally, teach the higher levels and the poorer teachers teach the lower levels so not only do the lower levels get a more basic education but they get a poorer one as well.
And now for the kicker, SIXTY PERCENT of Dutch children take the lowest level of education. Only 10% take the highest level.
I'm sure someone smarter than me designed the system so it must make sense but honestly looking at it from the outside it seems like a really fascist, segregationalist and stupid system.
Anyone have any ideas?
I found a place in Amsterdam for 2 nights and went up there on Tuesday. My hosts were great and I got to explore around Amsterdam for a couple days which was nice. Hitchhiking there I met two conspiracy theorists who drove me quite a ways (though they refer to themselves as "truthists"). They were pretty cool and tried to convince me that the moon landing and 9/11 were all fabrications. I got driven the last 30KM by a guy who was going to Amsterdam to take his vintage Porsche on a marathon for 5 days. Unfortunately he picked me up in his shiny Volvo rather than his vintage Porsche. Ah well.
Amsterdam has a lot of canals. It has more canals (I'm told) than Venice. Go figure. Amsterdam was tremendously touristy. Usually there is a tourist core to most big cities but Amsterdam was touristy through and through. It was nice though and I got to see some really cool stuff. In Amsterdam, squatting is legal (but there are rules). The house needs to be unoccupied for at least 1 year and you need to APPLY to SQUAT a house. ...?
Anyways, my hosts in Amsterdam were members of an anti-squatting organization. House owners hired the company who in turn found people (in this case my hosts) to stay in the house so that squatters can't live there. When a house is available they'll call you and give you 10 minutes to decide if you want to live there or not. Then you have to move in the next day, sight unseen. And if the owner wants his house back for whatever reason they only need to give you 2 weeks notice that you need to find a new place to live. Cheap rent though.
I went to the British Consulate twice while I was in Amsterdam trying to figure out my visa question. The first time the Consulate was closed (It's open from 8:30-12:30 then from 2:00-3:00). And the second time I was informed that the Consulate will only help British Nationals (my visa means nothing, which I kinda figured) and the visa office requires an appointment with a 5 week waiting list.
So I gave up and found a computer and sent off half a dozen emails to various offices trying to find the answer. So we'll see. On the plus side I had a nice walk through a huge park trying to find the Consulate. That, on the other hand, was quite nice.
Today is my last night in the Netherlands because tomorrow I've decided to press on to Germany. I met an American couchsurfer in Paris who lives in Heidelberg, Germany so I think I'll go see her first then perhaps head up towards Berlin.
We'll see.
//Edit
I forgot to mention this part. Feel free to ignore this if you like, it's about the Dutch education system and it's a bit of a rant.
The Dutch are very liberal about a lot of things (drugs, alcohol, prostitution, hitchhiking, etc) so this strikes me as weird.
At the end of Primary school in Holland you take a series of tests. Based on the results of these tests (and the recommendation of your teacher) you're put in 1 of 4 different secondary school curriculums. The lowest curriculum is taught mainly practical skills. Skills that use your hands such as woodwork, metalwork, cooking, etc. Very little math, language and such. As you get to the higher curriculums, you get less practical skills and moe theoretical skills (Maths, etc).
Also the lowest curriculum is 4 years long whereas the highest is 6 years long. To me it seems like the smart kids get the best chances and schooling and the less intelligent kids don't even get the chance to better themselves and are stuck in a labour job. Also vice-versa if there is a smart kid who really likes doing woodwork he isn't able to. To make matters worse, each curriculum has 4 "profiles" which is the set of classes you take. You have the option to take a few electives (like in Canada) but nowhere near the flexibility that you get in Canada. You choices are things like "Economy" (lots of math), "Culture" (lots of history) and things like that. In the end you've only got 4 types of students and very limited diversity. You wouldn't be able to take both Calculus and Cooking.
From what I've been told, the students also don't really associate with students in the other curriculums. They are all segregated to their own curriculum and they move through their classes together. Also the better teachers, naturally, teach the higher levels and the poorer teachers teach the lower levels so not only do the lower levels get a more basic education but they get a poorer one as well.
And now for the kicker, SIXTY PERCENT of Dutch children take the lowest level of education. Only 10% take the highest level.
I'm sure someone smarter than me designed the system so it must make sense but honestly looking at it from the outside it seems like a really fascist, segregationalist and stupid system.
Anyone have any ideas?
