Guido the Brès article

(This is the article me and Susan wrote for the Guido the Brès magazine where we went to school when we were in Canada, I hope you'll enjoy it!'

It’s harder than you might think, giving a short summary of our amazing time in Canada with you guys!

Your first impression of us Dutchies might have been a bit awkward, since we were standing in the front of the classroom and did not know what to say… But after the first day at school we already felt at home!
There were some things we had to get used to though, for example that there’s no canteen and some of you also noticed our fascination with the water fountains. And of course, the bumpy ride with the typical yellow schoolbus. We had more turbulence when we were on the schoolbus than on the plane! Another difference is that we Dutchies bring our schoolbag to every class, because our lockers are about 1/3 of your lockers. And let’s not forget about the toilets, ‘why are all the taps on?’ and the… unusual way of flushing. Also we really liked the announcements and that everybody plays sports together during the break, we should do that at our school!

Even though we liked school, we were excited when we went for some sightseeing to see typical Canadian spots. We were impressed by the greatness of some of the things we saw. Compared to the Netherlands, which often excels in ‘the world smallest’ things, Canada was the absolute opposite. Or… almost the absolute opposite. You have the second-largest country, second-highest building, North America’s second-highest mountain, but you do have the most Tim Hortons in all the world, a very important thing! For people who live in a country that doesn’t have mountains, high buildings or not even one Tim Hortons (we’re working on that one!), it’s pretty impressive.

'Canada = food = good (and A LOT!), but not to forget about the drinks…
WE LOVE TIMMIES!’

‘You can’t imagine how many clouds you can see when you’re on the CN Tower on a foggy day. Luckily we got to see some great views, we’ve seen Niagara Falls from the Skylon Tower and we also saw the Falls by night when we went in the sky wheel (with our host sisters).

Of all the experiences we’ve had, we’ve also learned a lot.
For example that the bond between Canada and The Netherlands is very tight, especially when it comes to churches. We’d like to thank our fantastic host families and we also want to thank Mrs. Joosse and other people for all the effort they’ve put into this! We were so lucky we were able to do this exchange and that all of you were so hospitable to us. We don’t know enough words to describe how thankful we are! Hopefully the friendships we made will last and we’ll meet again someday. We already are looking forward to that moment! But there’s Someone who made all this possible, Someone we all know, whether you live in the Netherlands or in Canada, who kept us save and made our trip to Canada something beautiful to remember; our God.


Susan van Esch (hosted by Eleanor Stieva) & Tessa de Jonge (hosted by Jordana VanderVelde)