When I left Rotterdam to sneak off down to Zeeland on Friday, I promised Mo I would do a new blog post this weekend. I didn't have quite as much work this time as last weekend so that made it possible...so I thought, anyway. Well, it's still been pretty busy with some roleplays to assess, lessons to plan and of course, keeping up with my self-imposed determination to do at least one module of the TEFL course I am doing.
It's strange to think I've been teaching English as a foreign language for ten years but have never had that particular qualification - others yes, but not a TEFL. Anyhow, better late than never and it's good discipline for the higher diploma that I want to follow it up with.
However, I digress. We did sneak out for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, even though the weather wasn't exactly encouraging. It was very foggy and visibility was awful, but Koos courageously negotiated the country lanes till we found ourselves at the Westerschelde estuary. We could hardly see a thing, and in the swirling mists the harbour looked eerie with the boats sitting on the mudflats. The only sound was that of a big ship's foghorn booming mournfully into the void. I really loved it.
These photos don't really do the atmosphere justice, but hopefully they give some idea of what it was like - the loneliness and the emptiness. Wonderful.
Then we made our way back along the road that hugs the foot of the big sea dyke, past the memorial to show where the seas had breached the old dykes in 1953 that cost the lives of so many Zeelanders, and on to De Griete near Terneuzen. Here we stopped at a small country café/pub and had coffee and appel gebak (my favourite) before wending our way home again.
It wasn't a major excursion, but it was a memorable one. Did me good too.
