Sinterklaas

My internship is over....It was an amazing internship and I loved working for television but it was hardworking and I worked more than 50 hours a week! And the lack of sleep was taking up my health. Last week I had to go to the doctor because I thought I had a throat and ear infection, well I did have a throat and ear infection and she gave me antibiotics. I had to stay for a week in bed...but I'm stubborn so the next day I went to work again. I managed to drag myself through the day. But now I'm still sick so next time I better listen to the doctor...LOL...
Well now I have three months of doing....nothing...well I have to do loads of homework but I haven't got a job for three months...the idea drives me nuts so I think I will try and find a job for 1 day in the week. Right now I am writing for several magazines but it's not like I am going to make money out of that.
Anyway today it is Sinterklaas, which is a dutch anual event.
All Dutch children know that Sinterklaas (the name is a corruption of Sint Nikolaas) lives in Spain. Exactly why he does remains a mystery, but that is what all the old songs and nursery rhymes say. Whatever the case may be, in Spain he spends most of the year recording the behaviour of all children in a big red book, while his helper Black Peter stocks up on presents for next December 5th. In the first weeks of November, Sinterklaas gets on his white horse, Peter ("Piet") swings a huge sack full of gifts over his shoulder, and the three of them board a steamship headed for the Netherlands. Around mid-November they arrive in a harbour town - a different one every year - where they are formally greeted by the Mayor and a delegation of citizens. Their parade through town is watched live on television by the whole country and marks the beginning of the "Sinterklaas season".
The Dutch are busy too - shopping for, and more importantly, making presents. Tradition demands that all packages be camouflaged in some imaginative way, and that every gift be accompanied by a fitting poem. This is the essence of Sinterklaas: lots of fun on a day when people are not only allowed, but expected, to make fun of each other in a friendly way. Children, parents, teachers, employers and employees, friends and co-workers tease each other and make fun of each others' habits and mannerisms. Another part of the fun is how presents are hidden or disguised. Recipients often have to go on a treasure hunt all over the house, aided by hints, to look for them. They must be prepared to dig their gifts out of the potato bin, to find them in a jello pudding, in a glove filled with wet sand, in some crazy dummy or doll. Working hard for your presents and working even harder to think up other peoples' presents and get them ready is what the fun is all about. (http://www.thehollandring.com/sinterklaas.shtml )