Hello dear friends, I want to share with you my impressions about the Netherlands. I went there in 16th of September and came back in 5th of October. I and other 9 country mates of mine were lucky for not paying all expenses. We went there through exchange program between Kyrgyz and Dutch organizations. The main purpose of this exchange program is to develop both countries in all possible ways and in all spheres. Evidently organizations of both countries work in different spheres of Kyrgyzstan and the Netherlands.

My first impression about the Netherlands is- a big museum of modern country and new technologies. When we landed on Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam and got off the plane, we were amazed by the beauty and neatness of country. We were welcomed by ICCO exchange manager Daan Verbaan and other two Dutch friends whom we hosted in Kyrgyzstan in May and April months of this year. After greeting each other we were taken to Guesthouse which is situated in front of ICCO’s main office in Utrecht city. On the way to guesthouse Daan was telling us about the agenda of the day, but most of the students were busy with watching the huge amount of cars which were driving by our bus. There were many cars which we do not have in our country: Citroen, Alfa-Romeo, Porsche etc. After coming to Guesthouse, we went to have Brunch (Breakfast and Lunch, case when one has them at once), then we slept. Evening was very beautiful. By the way I forgot to tell you about the Ghanese students who came to Netherlands through the same exchange program. I met two nice Ghanese girls: Sarah and Gloria during my brunch and their lunch time. They were very sociable and curious about the Kyrgyz student and me. During evening I noticed how all my friends were observing their surrounding very carefully by paying attention to every detail. In the evening Kyrgyz and Ghanese students took initiative and began to get acquainted with each other, later came all coordinators of groups and joined us.

The next days were interesting and informative. We were informed about our projects, were given contacts of other students and program coordinators in case we’ll get lost or have troubles. Then every body went to his/her friend’s house.

My friend’s name is Inge. I hosted her and another Dutch girl Loes in my house. Her house was situated in Reusel town; it was very cozy and practical. Living and talking with her family members and friends was really challenging and interesting. Her parents wanted to ask me a lot of questions, but it seems the lack of English and carefulness kept them asking questions. Her sister and boyfriend were really fluent at English and social people, so I enjoyed the conversations with them. The first day when I came to her house Inge’s parents asked a question about our national dishes during the meal time. Luckily there was a dish of Chinese rice, so I told them about our national dish PLOV, and demonstrated how we eat it with our hands, they were surprised seeing it. And naturally, they asked the following logical and curious question: “Do you eat all your dishes and meals with your hands?”. My answer was: “No, only plov.” So, the next day of mine was a real challenge: I had to go to back to Utrecht city on my own. On a way to Utrecht there were two cities: Eindhoven and Dembosch. Inge gave me a train ticket, some money for bus and a very detailed instruction of my route. That day was exiting. I was going somewhere alone, I was very much exited about it, but wasn’t afraid. I met a responsible person for my projects (visiting organizations and learning their activities), her name was Pia. She took me to my first organization; it was a church in the Center of Utrehct, a very high and symmetrically constructed building. The name of the church was Dom. I never had visited any church before in my life, so it was interesting. There I had to meet the church workers and get acquainted with their philanthropy activities and learn how they do it.

To be continued….