Well… I started my Inburgeringcurses yesterday… and…. and…ya. I’m doing the type where you sit there with headphones on and go through the lessons on an individual basis (Talenpracticum). I’m also apparently taking a bit harder exam then the normal one given, don’t ask, I don’t know, all I know it’s called the “staatsexam”. I have to finish these courses and take my test with in the three and a half year mark of living in the Netherlands other wise I can be fined. I have to “work with them” on this, yes that was in the letter they gave us, well me actually not Frank since HE doesn’t HAVE to do this! (Jealously showing).
I’ve been given two books to follow along on the tapes and also for homework purposes. Great no problem… so yesterday I head off to my course, which is on the other end of the city basically and it would take longer by bus then by bike, and I get there 10 minutes early. Being the good pupil. Well that was a waste of time since you can’t even talk the secretary until your allotted time. PERFECT since I needed to ask questions. So I waited and watched people come and go, and waited, and watched more people come and go…. finally the teacher came and got me. I felt so special… or rather singled out since she flat out announced this was my first day and I had to sit at the front of the class…. great considering there were already two other people there and I had to sit in between them. To give you an idea of how much space you have, try fitting the large eggs into the carton that is marked small. Hmmmm yes… comfortable. So then she starts to speak Dutch to me, I’m sure the blank gaze I gave her was the dead give away that I didn’t understand. Ok.. I did understand but I wasn’t going to make my head hurt by making sure I was translating it properly in my head. I was then given Lesson 2 or for you smart ass already know Dutch people Les 2. HEY!! WHAT HAPPENED TO LESSON 1?? I guess since I did SO well on the pre-tests for someone who has no clue with the language I can skip lesson 1. When I say well, I mean I actually got some answers right on all 3 tests that I had to do.
Now I’m settled in my seat and I have my two pretty red books in front of me, she sets me up on Lesson 2 and shows me the earphones I’m supposed to use. I don’t think she was amused that I took out a kleenex with a dab of antibacterial cleaner on it to wipe them down. And I settle in for my first lesson! WHOOHOOO!! Here’s your example of what I listened too, and repeated for an hour…
Ik woon in Amsterdam.
Ben u student?
Ja, ik ben student.
Ik studeer Engels.
Hè, dat is mijn taal.
Now… here’s the thing… luckily I understand what I was reading and repeating, but nowhere was there a translation or the teacher offering a translation. I pretty much could have been repeating Greek and not having a clue what it meant. Now this is pretty basic and most people can get the just of it, but at the end of this I had to listen to some sentences and write them down…. ok…. um…. That wouldn’t be a problem if it was what we just studied, but it wasn’t… needless to say I guessed on most and got nearly all wrong. Not impressed by that. I did however do the listen for “i” sound as in pit and the “e” sound as in pet part perfectly. Trust me it was harder then you think.
Once I got home I had about 6 pages of homework to do. I had to take the word given and write the plural. No problem, except again I didn’t know what I was reading and I want to know the English word so next time I’ll remember. My homework that should have only have taken 30 minutes took and hour because of all the translating I did on top of the original work. Oh and I’m still not done, I still have 2 more pages to do. *sigh* Well it’s a matter of “suck it up buttercup” because I don’t have a choice but to do these courses. So I might as well just get it done and over with now.
Oh and for anyone questioning why I took the classes this way and not in a regular class setting, I’m on the job hunt. So if I get a job I can easily switch these classes to the night and not worry about losing out on lessons. Plus these classes are fairly flexible so I can change times even for the day if I can’t make my normal time. That’s the only reason why I did it this way, otherwise I would have opted for a normal class room setting.
I have classes now every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday for only 2 hours a day. I’m not too sure what’s going to happen when I leave in March to go back to Canada for a visit. Maybe I can double up on the lessons so I don’t fall behind. The bike ride is about 15-20 minutes depending on the wind. Oh that reminds me I need to get a rain cape, I have a jacket but it doesn’t cover my legs and it’s so bloody annoying having wet pants!
Other then that, New Years was an experience I don’t think I’d like to repeat. At least not when I have Stoney still around. The fireworks were great but they left the poor dog shaking for a week and unable to go outside and go to the bathroom properly. I had to drug him the night of the fireworks and even then it really didn’t help too much. The Dutch LOVE their fireworks, and well our neighbours obviously do too since it was 4 am by the time they put out the lovely bonfire in the middle of the parking lot and stopped setting them off. The thing with the fireworks is that hey started in November and continued right through until the 3 day in January. After nearly two months of it you just get tired of listening to them. The fun of watching them is gone.
I think next year I’ll find out what my aunt in Italy is doing and go visit her with Stoney!! I know she loves him since the last time she was in Canada she gave him a bath…. and I heard about it until she left to go back to Italy…God love her 😀
A Canadian in clogs 