It’s a little bit hard to find an adequate way to celebrate ANZAC Day when you’re not in Australia, New Zealand, or Turkey. So I decided I’d aim as close as I could without a BBQ, pub or two-up in close vicinity, and aimed for the Verzetsmuseum – Resistance Museum of Amsterdam. Wrong war, I know.
Some of the photos below may be distressing to some viewers. Would you like to know more?
We’re coming to the end, it’s nearly all over for this semester. Given that this was the last full lesson, there was a lot to pack in. It’s also nearly Kongininnedag! So we commenced practicing our familial relations using none other than the Royal family.
We watched the Queens’ abdication speech, and then answered questions on it. Her Majesty speaks at a good, measured pace, which is perfect for learners! It’s really helpful!
We each have our own copy of the sixteen verse, Dutch National Anthem; Wilhelmus van Nassouwe . (Note that the first letter of each verse spells Willem Van Nassov. It’s important if you’re Dutch.)
There was one last look at the text book, to dash our way over chapter eleven, and learn responses and reactions. You see, one of the things that gives you away as a foreigner is when people tell you information of news you tend to just go “Oh!” So we figured out what some acceptable responses would be, and then practiced them on each other!
For the second half of the lesson we played an ingenious board game which had us all asking questions of each other and revised everything we’d learnt so far.
With the next lesson came “The Test”.
It was a remarkably easy test. Which makes the fact that I only got 84% even more mortifying. But I shall recover, and now I know what I need to work on.
We ended the test by writing (simplistic) stories about people in photos. It was a nice way to round it out, come down from exam nerves, and see how far we’d all come.
After break we played another board game that was designed to test our skills and revise our knowledge. It was all very relaxed, and we laughed and joked around quite a bit. I think my favourite stuff-up for the evening was literally translated as “Are you without sauce?”
We relaxed, we laughed, I think we realised that we aren’t really going to see each other again. We went from a class of 12 down to 3 people.
But at the end of it all, I have a basis for further learning, and I have a nice clean stiff white piece of card with my name on it that proclaims that I have completed Nederlands 1!
Sometimes you need to be reminded to walk in a new direction. I know we fall into the trap of going the way we know. It’s a safe, it’s known, you know what to expect around each corner. Sometimes you need to force yourself out of that rut, and make a change! So today, we went off to appreciate Spring in Rembrandt Park.
We were repaid for this decision in a myriad of little ways. Starting with this beautiful family who were out enjoying the sunshine!
Who’d have thought this day would come upon us so fast? We flew out of Sydney a year ago. It’s one of those strange sets of circumstances where it simultaneously feels like we’ve been here forever, and like we only just got here. Time has passed in the blink of an eye, yet has taken so long for some events to pass or come to fruition, that we thought they’d never arrive. We’ve learnt and grown so much, and yet, there is still so much further to go.
As my first semester of Dutch language class draws to a close, I realise there is still a long way for me to go. I try hard not to feel inundated or intimidated, and remind myself that I’m still learning and refining my use of the English language every day. Some days I’m a better self-motivational speaker than others. I plug on.
This post has been brewing around in my head for a while. I guess because of the circles I travel in on the internet it comes up a bit. Since becoming a featured blog on Expats Blog I figured the universe was telling me I should chip in my two cents worth as well. Post something that would be easy to find, which sums up how we’re working at fitting in and finding friends.
As I will be mentioning in an upcoming post, we’ve been here a year now. That year has been full of adventures and unexpectedness. Some things were fun and worth the wait; Other things we knew would pass if we just gave them enough time and space. Getting up each day and living life helps.
In a lot of respects we had it easy. Well, easier than most. We moved to a country with a very similarly relaxed attitude to the one we had been living in, we moved with a job, we moved to extended family, and we moved to a country where they speak our language even though it’s not their own. We also had the support of our friends and families back home, which has been invaluable.
Making friends is still tricky though. As is purported in the NYTimes article I linked to above, we are both past the stage in our lives where we are in the circumstances to be making new “Best Friends Forever”.
It’s up to you to make the time and put the effort in to new people and friendships, in the knowledge that they don’t have to let you into their lives. They already have established friends and social circles, it’s you who have to fit in. Or not … But everyone we’ve met has been so welcoming, so friendly, so willing to accept us and make time for us. I’m very grateful that the Dutch are as easy going and friendly as they are!
ghoti industries 