Day 1

Our flight was 3 hours delayed from Cebu to Singapore, giving us only a two-hour waiting time in Changji airport.

Exploring Changi airport.

OMG! Singapore Changi Airport is way way way way more comfortable than Cebu's Airport.

I arrive at Netherlands. The weather is so cold I feel being placed inside the refrigerator. I am tired from my 13-hour flight, but fully rested. Maybe, it's jet lag. The first time I notice is the orange sun. It reminds me of Netherlands' national color.

We took a lot of pictures, even at the airport. Yes, we Pinoys are a bit vain that way. We love making pictures. But I'm the type of person who'd rather be the person behind the camera rather than before it.

We were welcomed by smiling faces-our host families. They lead us outside the airport to the parking lot and I'm baffled by the temperature. I've underestimated the temperature. It's five degrees. Probably as cold as the inside of the refrigerator. I remember back in the Philippines, the sun is so scorching there it sizzles when it touches your skin. Now I'm in another part of the world where the climate is so different.

I realize that the first challenge I need to overcome is to be accustomed to the coldness.

We gather at Tabitha school. It's going to be our meeting area for our whole Holland trip. There they prepared tasty snacks for us while they introduce to us the program and while we also introduced ourselves.

We, delegates introducing ourselves.

For the first  day at Netherlands, we went to visit the mills. there's a fare but I don't buy anything. We also go around Hoofdorp, We walk towards the long dikes built around Hoofdorp. We walk quite far and arrive at the center.



Hoofdorp mall isn't as big as Ayala or SM in Cebu, but it is full of people. We aren't able to go around much because of the limited time. Some of us have to go to the CR toilet and we find one in Burger King. Unfortunately, they charge half a euro for using the toilet. (WTH?)

This is Hoofdorp Center. I loved the Architecture. The unique shape and angle of the building fascinated me a lot.

At night, we have dinner at the De Block's house. We have Chinese. (We eat rice!) I hope that I could taste something typically Dutch soon. I'm really into being immersed with the culture. We finish dinner at 9pm but shockingly for us, it was as bright as twilight. Twilight usually happens around 6pm in the Philippines. I guess we can't count on the sun for telling the time.