Well, I passed the A level Dutch exam at James Boswell Instituut, and can now continue onto B1. This is a good thing, since I already signed up for B1 and I think the city has already paid my tuition for it :-)
I went into (and out of) the final exam quite confident that I would pass it. I'd gotten the highest score on the written midterm. Then we found out Wednesday that half the class had failed, and I only passed by a few points. It felt like I'd dodged a bullet without even knowing it was there at the time. Sheesh. I think the main thing I learned was to stay within my realm of comfort on the written test. If I'm not sure what preposition to use, I should think of something else to say :-P
It's given me incentive to improve my study habits in B1, realizing how hard the A test was. The B1 test to advance to B2 will be even harder. Class starts in about a week - we only get a 4 day weekend between A ending and B1 starting. But after 2 weeks of class we get a 2 week vacation, which I really do feel like I'm going to need.
3 people who rarely (if ever) did homework failed the exam. One of them missed enough classes to fail on the attendance criteria of attending 80% of classes. But she also failed the exam. 2 more barely failed, which was something of a surprise, since those two had been doing homework and trying hard. It sounds like grammar was their main problem.
Dutch grammar is hard! And we learn most of the rules for it at the A level, which makes it difficult to keep all the rules straight. The dutch love to change word order in various ways depending on whether you're using a main clause, a dependent clause, a question, a modifier at the beginning of the sentence, past tense, future tense, command tense, reporting what someone else said, using a modal verb (can, shall, may, must), etc. It gets confusing. Presumably we get more comfortable with all of that in the B levels.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Healthcare
Well, I'd heard all sorts of things about the quality of mandated health coverage. Ranging from "It's just as good as in the US" to "you die while waiting to see a doctor" to "god hates government mandates".
I definitely didn't die while waiting. I signed up Friday morning with the local doctors' office, and was able to make an appointment to come in that afternoon. Both visits I waited about 15 minutes past my appointment time, which is pretty similar to the docs in the US, except they don't automatically have a nurse checking blood pressure and such, followed by another 15 minute wait.
My doctor speaks good english, at least in a medical setting, and seemed to know exactly what to do to check me out for pericarditis (and any lung problems while she was at it). I was given the all clear on that account, and she suggested that intercostal muscle soreness from the flu and a bit of coughing was making it a bit painful for me to breath normally. As a result I was compensating for that by breathing abnormally, and basically hyperventilating a bit, causing the excessive light-headedness. She suggested breathing "lower", which actually helped. Still having the usual asthma crud, but that's manageable.
She checked out my jaw pain a bit and decided it's probably muscular in origin. Told me to come back after the weekend if things haven't improved, or call their emergency line if needed. Well, the jaw pain didn't get better, so I went in for another appointment today. I could have gone in yesterday but would have to miss Dutch class and a final exam, so I opted to wait.
The doctor poked and prodded a bit more, ruling out teeth grinding, etc, and pinpointing the likely misbehaving muscle (the masseter) and prescribed a high dose of ibuprofen (advil) for 10 days, to be taken even if the pain seems to be getting better. And to make another appointment if it's still a problem. So I'm taking a pain killer and waiting for my chewing muscle to heal. And she also told me to avoid very hard foods.
The doctor's office is located on the south end of our neighborhood, and is in a small medical complex building. Downstairs is the doctors' office (4 doctors working each day on average, closed on the weekend), and an apothecary. Dutch apothecaries should not be confused with American drug stores - they only have drugs and medical paraphernalia in apothecaries. Upstairs is a dentist, and some other medical type offices. It looks like registering with a neighborhood doctors' office here requires living in the same neighborhood, unless that's impossible. So most people probably live within walking distance of a general practitioner, which is pretty awesome.
Picking up the drugs was also very easy. My doctor sent the order to the apothecary via computer, and I just walked across the hall and picked it up. It was so WEIRD not getting charged anything for it. I half expected to get tackled by (the non-existent) security personnel as I left, for not paying. Also no line waiting for the drugs, very fast. The employee I spoke to spoke "a bit" of English well enough for everything to go smoothly.
So in my experience, the Dutch health system works quite well for visiting a GP, both in quality and in speed. I've never been impressed with all the whining back home against government mandated healthcare, and I'm even less impressed now after seeing that a big chunk of it works just fine over here.
I definitely didn't die while waiting. I signed up Friday morning with the local doctors' office, and was able to make an appointment to come in that afternoon. Both visits I waited about 15 minutes past my appointment time, which is pretty similar to the docs in the US, except they don't automatically have a nurse checking blood pressure and such, followed by another 15 minute wait.
My doctor speaks good english, at least in a medical setting, and seemed to know exactly what to do to check me out for pericarditis (and any lung problems while she was at it). I was given the all clear on that account, and she suggested that intercostal muscle soreness from the flu and a bit of coughing was making it a bit painful for me to breath normally. As a result I was compensating for that by breathing abnormally, and basically hyperventilating a bit, causing the excessive light-headedness. She suggested breathing "lower", which actually helped. Still having the usual asthma crud, but that's manageable.
She checked out my jaw pain a bit and decided it's probably muscular in origin. Told me to come back after the weekend if things haven't improved, or call their emergency line if needed. Well, the jaw pain didn't get better, so I went in for another appointment today. I could have gone in yesterday but would have to miss Dutch class and a final exam, so I opted to wait.
The doctor poked and prodded a bit more, ruling out teeth grinding, etc, and pinpointing the likely misbehaving muscle (the masseter) and prescribed a high dose of ibuprofen (advil) for 10 days, to be taken even if the pain seems to be getting better. And to make another appointment if it's still a problem. So I'm taking a pain killer and waiting for my chewing muscle to heal. And she also told me to avoid very hard foods.
The doctor's office is located on the south end of our neighborhood, and is in a small medical complex building. Downstairs is the doctors' office (4 doctors working each day on average, closed on the weekend), and an apothecary. Dutch apothecaries should not be confused with American drug stores - they only have drugs and medical paraphernalia in apothecaries. Upstairs is a dentist, and some other medical type offices. It looks like registering with a neighborhood doctors' office here requires living in the same neighborhood, unless that's impossible. So most people probably live within walking distance of a general practitioner, which is pretty awesome.
Picking up the drugs was also very easy. My doctor sent the order to the apothecary via computer, and I just walked across the hall and picked it up. It was so WEIRD not getting charged anything for it. I half expected to get tackled by (the non-existent) security personnel as I left, for not paying. Also no line waiting for the drugs, very fast. The employee I spoke to spoke "a bit" of English well enough for everything to go smoothly.
So in my experience, the Dutch health system works quite well for visiting a GP, both in quality and in speed. I've never been impressed with all the whining back home against government mandated healthcare, and I'm even less impressed now after seeing that a big chunk of it works just fine over here.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Tussentoetsen
I love the way that word sounds :-P It just means midterms, though in the case of our language class it's not used in grading. Just assessment, so we know what to work on. I passed mine with flying colors. Woohoo! Now we have another test today, just one week later. Today is writing, and Monday is speaking. I'm pretty sure it's just another progress test (our schedule is a bit weird because we started later that the other classes), but there's no final test on the schedule anywhere.
I made it to class yesterday, but skipped Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday. Pretty sure I have pericarditis again. Ick. Sometimes when I get a virus, it gets into my joints and pericardium (sac around the heart) and everything gets inflamed. In the joints it mostly just hurts like hell, but in the pericardium it causes extreme physical exhaustion. Like, I get out of breath if I stand up. Seriously. I've stocked up on Aleve and taking a big dose for a week or so, which seems to be helping a bit now - it's supposed to remove excess fluids. But my jaw really hurts on one side and is getting worse, so going to try to go to the doc tomorrow. Need to get signed up with the local clinic first :-P
Just 2 weeks of class left! Can't believe how fast it's gone, and how fast we're learning. Sometimes my head wants to explode, but things seem to be sticking pretty well so far. My book for the next level arrived. I leafed through it, then showed the author names to my fiance: "Are these girl names?" He said they were, and asked me why. Well, the primary color in the book, other than black type, is pink. Ugh :-P It seems like a good book though. No word lists, but it has a compilation of grammar tables in the back, which is something I wish our current book had too.
I made it to class yesterday, but skipped Thursday, Monday, and Tuesday. Pretty sure I have pericarditis again. Ick. Sometimes when I get a virus, it gets into my joints and pericardium (sac around the heart) and everything gets inflamed. In the joints it mostly just hurts like hell, but in the pericardium it causes extreme physical exhaustion. Like, I get out of breath if I stand up. Seriously. I've stocked up on Aleve and taking a big dose for a week or so, which seems to be helping a bit now - it's supposed to remove excess fluids. But my jaw really hurts on one side and is getting worse, so going to try to go to the doc tomorrow. Need to get signed up with the local clinic first :-P
Just 2 weeks of class left! Can't believe how fast it's gone, and how fast we're learning. Sometimes my head wants to explode, but things seem to be sticking pretty well so far. My book for the next level arrived. I leafed through it, then showed the author names to my fiance: "Are these girl names?" He said they were, and asked me why. Well, the primary color in the book, other than black type, is pink. Ugh :-P It seems like a good book though. No word lists, but it has a compilation of grammar tables in the back, which is something I wish our current book had too.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Flu :-(
I gots it. I had it yesterday too, but I also had 2 of my midterms yesterday. I went to class anyhow, though it was made more exciting by my first bus arriving 7 minutes late, and my train leaving 2 minutes early. WTF.
I missed the train, but found another one going to central Amersfoort 15 minutes later. From there, I found a 2nd train going directly to central Utrecht. I ended up in a different part of the Utrecht train station, but tracked down the bus area, and managed to catch a bus and get to class only 15 minutes late. Fortunately the speaking exam was first, and we were doing it two people at a time. I arrived when the first pair was still in the class room taking the exam.
I think I did fairly well, given that our topic was "clothes shopping" versus easy stuff other people got like "talk about yourself" and "talk about your family." The writing was a lot easier than the speaking, and I finished with 10 minutes to spare after checking over my answers.
I'm skipping class today, on account of feeling like crap due to flu and the lovely asthma that always comes with it. The flu part isn't too horrible (yet?) but the asthma is pretty bad. I get exhausted from sitting upright for too long :-P Fortunately I have a nice couch to sprawl on while studying.
We went to 2 libraries on Saturday. The first (closer) one had a good selection of non-fiction for inburgerers, but the fiction was all angsty teenage emo crap. We chatted with the librarian, and she told us the more central Zonnehof branch had the biggest selection. So we went there, and that library is huuuge. A ton of novels for adults learning Dutch up on the 2nd floor (3rd floor if you're American). I only went through 1 of the 6 or so bins before finding three novels that looked good and declaring the mission a success.
I started reading the shortest of them, "Hittegolf" (Heatwave) by Rene Appel. It's 60 pages, but is written with nearly every sentence on it's own line (though organized into paragraphs), so would be about 30 pages if written in a normal format. It's based on a best-selling Dutch novel of the same name, but with very simple language and all in the present tense (except when people speak/think about the past). Present tense has the potential to be annoying, but it works very well in a mystery/thriller of few words ... it's actually pretty sexy. I don't understand all the words, but enough to understand what's happening at each point.
I missed the train, but found another one going to central Amersfoort 15 minutes later. From there, I found a 2nd train going directly to central Utrecht. I ended up in a different part of the Utrecht train station, but tracked down the bus area, and managed to catch a bus and get to class only 15 minutes late. Fortunately the speaking exam was first, and we were doing it two people at a time. I arrived when the first pair was still in the class room taking the exam.
I think I did fairly well, given that our topic was "clothes shopping" versus easy stuff other people got like "talk about yourself" and "talk about your family." The writing was a lot easier than the speaking, and I finished with 10 minutes to spare after checking over my answers.
I'm skipping class today, on account of feeling like crap due to flu and the lovely asthma that always comes with it. The flu part isn't too horrible (yet?) but the asthma is pretty bad. I get exhausted from sitting upright for too long :-P Fortunately I have a nice couch to sprawl on while studying.
We went to 2 libraries on Saturday. The first (closer) one had a good selection of non-fiction for inburgerers, but the fiction was all angsty teenage emo crap. We chatted with the librarian, and she told us the more central Zonnehof branch had the biggest selection. So we went there, and that library is huuuge. A ton of novels for adults learning Dutch up on the 2nd floor (3rd floor if you're American). I only went through 1 of the 6 or so bins before finding three novels that looked good and declaring the mission a success.
I started reading the shortest of them, "Hittegolf" (Heatwave) by Rene Appel. It's 60 pages, but is written with nearly every sentence on it's own line (though organized into paragraphs), so would be about 30 pages if written in a normal format. It's based on a best-selling Dutch novel of the same name, but with very simple language and all in the present tense (except when people speak/think about the past). Present tense has the potential to be annoying, but it works very well in a mystery/thriller of few words ... it's actually pretty sexy. I don't understand all the words, but enough to understand what's happening at each point.
Saturday, January 8, 2011
New Year, New Post
New year's eve in our neighborhood reminded my of the night videos from Operation Desert Storm. Like, non-stop lights and explosions and smoke so thick we couldn't see across the street. It lasted at that level for 2 full hours. Some of our neighbors decided to burn the fireworks boxes after using them ... I'm glad there's idiots here too, not just in the US. Fortunately the box that exploded was in an upright position on the fire, and the fireworks went up instead of, say, up the nose of one the idiots.
I started back to newbie Dutch class last week, and it looks like the Russian girl dropped out. She's missed more than 20% of the classes now, so can't pass. I'm still making good progress with my speaking and listening. I went to the library last night with Astrid, and didn't have any problem. The librarian mention she had a British colleague that managed to learn Dutch in 6 months, and both her and Astrid thought I was well on my way to doing the same. Woohoo!
There's a lot of people that stay here for years without learning Dutch (EU still people don't have to until applying for permanent residency), which I just don't understand. Sure, you can speak English at your job and most shops and talk to family and fellow ex-pats, but it seems so limiting. Like you're only living half the life you could be living. I don't get it :-P
So I got signed up with the Utrecht province library system, which just involved showing a photo ID and a random letter from the bank with my name and address on it. And 42.50 euros for an unlimited yearly subscription (and 3.50 for a waterproof satchel with shoulder strap). But that includes up to 10 books borrowed at a time, and free CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray. I could have gotten it free through the city because I'm inburgering, but it's a small price so I'm not bothered about it.
The library closest to me is less than half a mile away, though it's a smallish one. There's a huge one south of downtown Amerfoort that has a huge selection, including a decent amount of novels for adults learning Dutch. I checked out three this morning. There's a closer library with books for Dutch learners, but all the novels were for children and angst-infested teens. Ugh.
I signed up for B1 lessons at James Boswell Instituut last week, after emailing my inburgering contact to get the info needed to have the NVA billed instead of me. It was easy ... also ordered the textbook. I'm taking the morning class, since I can get a ride with Jan and get there just a bit early, then take the bus and train home quickly afterward. I'll be home in time for an afternoon nap, and making dinner will be waaay easier. I had to get a new OV (public transit) card, since the regular one can't handle off-peak discounting on the trains.
Riding the train sounds pretty easy. I just put my card near a reader when entering the train station or on the platform before boarding, then do the same thing after I get off. Apparently conductors have a card reader to make sure card-using passengers have swiped in, when they walk through to check for tickets. I'm going to give it a try on Monday. A classmate living nearby is be taking the same train at the same time, so it shouldn't be too scary :-P
I started back to newbie Dutch class last week, and it looks like the Russian girl dropped out. She's missed more than 20% of the classes now, so can't pass. I'm still making good progress with my speaking and listening. I went to the library last night with Astrid, and didn't have any problem. The librarian mention she had a British colleague that managed to learn Dutch in 6 months, and both her and Astrid thought I was well on my way to doing the same. Woohoo!
There's a lot of people that stay here for years without learning Dutch (EU still people don't have to until applying for permanent residency), which I just don't understand. Sure, you can speak English at your job and most shops and talk to family and fellow ex-pats, but it seems so limiting. Like you're only living half the life you could be living. I don't get it :-P
So I got signed up with the Utrecht province library system, which just involved showing a photo ID and a random letter from the bank with my name and address on it. And 42.50 euros for an unlimited yearly subscription (and 3.50 for a waterproof satchel with shoulder strap). But that includes up to 10 books borrowed at a time, and free CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray. I could have gotten it free through the city because I'm inburgering, but it's a small price so I'm not bothered about it.
The library closest to me is less than half a mile away, though it's a smallish one. There's a huge one south of downtown Amerfoort that has a huge selection, including a decent amount of novels for adults learning Dutch. I checked out three this morning. There's a closer library with books for Dutch learners, but all the novels were for children and angst-infested teens. Ugh.
I signed up for B1 lessons at James Boswell Instituut last week, after emailing my inburgering contact to get the info needed to have the NVA billed instead of me. It was easy ... also ordered the textbook. I'm taking the morning class, since I can get a ride with Jan and get there just a bit early, then take the bus and train home quickly afterward. I'll be home in time for an afternoon nap, and making dinner will be waaay easier. I had to get a new OV (public transit) card, since the regular one can't handle off-peak discounting on the trains.
Riding the train sounds pretty easy. I just put my card near a reader when entering the train station or on the platform before boarding, then do the same thing after I get off. Apparently conductors have a card reader to make sure card-using passengers have swiped in, when they walk through to check for tickets. I'm going to give it a try on Monday. A classmate living nearby is be taking the same train at the same time, so it shouldn't be too scary :-P
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Belgium
Christmas Day #1 went very well. We made it to Friesland with no problems, and walked around the village with Jan's dad while waiting for Jan's sister to arrive. The canals had seriously frozen over up there, and half the town was skating on it. It's a HUGE canal, but had a sold 5-6 inches of quality ice all the way across.
Walking on it was a bit scary at first - we don't do ice in Seattle :-P We saw dogs running along with skaters, skaters pushing strollers, and even a small three-legged dog pulled along in a moving box. There was also a little kid (5 or 6) sitting on a wooden folding chair being pushed along by his mother. Apparently kids learn to skate with a chair, to help keep their balance (and provide a ride home when their little legs get tired). The ice creates an easy way to get over the canal without taking a ferry or driving a long way, as well as a nice path to the next town.
We had a lot of fun with Jan's family, and they loved meeting my mom for the first time. They were very impressed by how much my Dutch has improved since the last time they visited us. I was able to get the gist of almost all of the Dutch conversations, and even translated for my mom :-)
On Christmas Day #2 (we get two Christmases!) we ran out of food and figured the Chinese restaurant would be open, so went there. They were serving amazing 6 course Christmas dinners. It took about 3 hours, but the food was great and it was fun and relaxing to chat for a while. We probably should have made a reservation, but they were able to squeeze us in.
Monday we drove down to Brugge in Belgium, but the GPS decided to take the scenic route, which was a bit over three hours driving. A one-lane two-way road with snow and blind corners was involved. By the time we parked and walked to the center of Brugge (all the center parking lots were full), we were past ready for lunch and ate at a really bad restaurant. We finished around 2pm and decided to save the chocolate museum for Tuesday and do a bit of sight seeing instead before heading to the hotel. Very cool old buildings every where.
The hotel was in Oostende on the west coast of Belgium, a block away from the North Sea. Nice hotel, awesome dinner, typical over-developed resort town.
We drove back to Brugge in the morning and got to the Chocolate Museum shortly after it opened. It was surprisingly crowded, but mostly enjoyable and informative. Jan took photos of me and mom standing next to a solid chocolate Barack Obama. There was also a good quick live demonstration of how to make pralines, with samples, and a shop to buy more in.
We found a great restaurant nearby for lunch, then went in search of chocolates to smuggle back across the border. We got a kilo of assorted chocolates on one of the main streets, then headed home. We decided to skip Antwerp due to having our Looking At Old Stuff quota nicely satisfied in Brugge, which turned out to be a good idea anyhow because it was raining pretty hard when driving past Antwerp. Fortunately the Dutch-Belgian border is poorly guarded (there's just a sign next to the highway saying you're in a different country now), so the chocolate-smuggling operation was easy.
Walking on it was a bit scary at first - we don't do ice in Seattle :-P We saw dogs running along with skaters, skaters pushing strollers, and even a small three-legged dog pulled along in a moving box. There was also a little kid (5 or 6) sitting on a wooden folding chair being pushed along by his mother. Apparently kids learn to skate with a chair, to help keep their balance (and provide a ride home when their little legs get tired). The ice creates an easy way to get over the canal without taking a ferry or driving a long way, as well as a nice path to the next town.
We had a lot of fun with Jan's family, and they loved meeting my mom for the first time. They were very impressed by how much my Dutch has improved since the last time they visited us. I was able to get the gist of almost all of the Dutch conversations, and even translated for my mom :-)
On Christmas Day #2 (we get two Christmases!) we ran out of food and figured the Chinese restaurant would be open, so went there. They were serving amazing 6 course Christmas dinners. It took about 3 hours, but the food was great and it was fun and relaxing to chat for a while. We probably should have made a reservation, but they were able to squeeze us in.
Monday we drove down to Brugge in Belgium, but the GPS decided to take the scenic route, which was a bit over three hours driving. A one-lane two-way road with snow and blind corners was involved. By the time we parked and walked to the center of Brugge (all the center parking lots were full), we were past ready for lunch and ate at a really bad restaurant. We finished around 2pm and decided to save the chocolate museum for Tuesday and do a bit of sight seeing instead before heading to the hotel. Very cool old buildings every where.
The hotel was in Oostende on the west coast of Belgium, a block away from the North Sea. Nice hotel, awesome dinner, typical over-developed resort town.
We drove back to Brugge in the morning and got to the Chocolate Museum shortly after it opened. It was surprisingly crowded, but mostly enjoyable and informative. Jan took photos of me and mom standing next to a solid chocolate Barack Obama. There was also a good quick live demonstration of how to make pralines, with samples, and a shop to buy more in.
We found a great restaurant nearby for lunch, then went in search of chocolates to smuggle back across the border. We got a kilo of assorted chocolates on one of the main streets, then headed home. We decided to skip Antwerp due to having our Looking At Old Stuff quota nicely satisfied in Brugge, which turned out to be a good idea anyhow because it was raining pretty hard when driving past Antwerp. Fortunately the Dutch-Belgian border is poorly guarded (there's just a sign next to the highway saying you're in a different country now), so the chocolate-smuggling operation was easy.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Merry Christmas!
I haven't posted much lately, mostly due to being a lot busier with school. I've also had more opportunities to chat with people, so less need to chat here.
I've had about 4 weeks of classes now, and it seems to be making a huge difference. On my first inburgering visit, I couldn't say much and understand approximately no spoken Dutch. On a visit last week, my fiance, the NVA woman, and another Dutch woman were pretty impressed with how much of the conversation I could follow in Dutch, and my ability to express myself in Dutch. I still used "I don't understand" quite a few times, but at least I could say that in Dutch too :-P
That most recent meeting was for getting a local mentor to help me integrate into the community. She lives two blocks away, so that's really convenient. We speak Dutch mostly, and have done a couple shopping trips in the area. Next week I requested a library trip, since I want to get a card. Two of the branches in Amersfoort have materials for people learning Dutch, such as books for adults written using words that newbies will understand at various levels. Groovy. I could get a free card via the NVA while I'm inburgering, but it's only 40 euros for a full subscription for the year. The closest branch doesn't have the newbie Dutch materials, but the two that do are right on bus lines, not to mention close enough to ride my bike to.
I also got a year's subscription to Start!-krant, which is an almost-monthly paper with current events, written in basic Dutch. It's a higher level than I'm at, but I can understand most of it. The main thing is that it helps get me familiar with Dutch grammar and other fun stuff that comes more naturally with repetition versus memorization.
Last night I had my first dream in Dutch, which was a bit weird. I haven't started thinking in Dutch yet though, except briefly when planning what to say :-P
My mom arrived on Monday from Seattle, so we've spent most of the week exploring Amersfoort and Kattenbroek, and shopping. It's been very busy in the shopping areas, but not as crazy as the US. So far we've introduced Mom to oliebollen (doughnut balls) and stroopwafels (very thin layers of cookie-type stuff with syrup between). She likes both, though has vowed to never again have only oliebollen as dinner.
We're planning to head up to Jan's parents for Christmas dinner on Christmas day #1. We have 2 days of Christmas in the Netherlands. Sweet! Monday we're headed for northern Belgium. Jan tempted us with the description of a chocolate museum down there, complete with an unguarded 6-foot high solid milk chocolate egg. We're pretty sure it'll fit in the car. We're also going to stay in a nice hotel on the Belgian coast for one night, then hit some historical sites in Antwerp on the way back.
I've had about 4 weeks of classes now, and it seems to be making a huge difference. On my first inburgering visit, I couldn't say much and understand approximately no spoken Dutch. On a visit last week, my fiance, the NVA woman, and another Dutch woman were pretty impressed with how much of the conversation I could follow in Dutch, and my ability to express myself in Dutch. I still used "I don't understand" quite a few times, but at least I could say that in Dutch too :-P
That most recent meeting was for getting a local mentor to help me integrate into the community. She lives two blocks away, so that's really convenient. We speak Dutch mostly, and have done a couple shopping trips in the area. Next week I requested a library trip, since I want to get a card. Two of the branches in Amersfoort have materials for people learning Dutch, such as books for adults written using words that newbies will understand at various levels. Groovy. I could get a free card via the NVA while I'm inburgering, but it's only 40 euros for a full subscription for the year. The closest branch doesn't have the newbie Dutch materials, but the two that do are right on bus lines, not to mention close enough to ride my bike to.
I also got a year's subscription to Start!-krant, which is an almost-monthly paper with current events, written in basic Dutch. It's a higher level than I'm at, but I can understand most of it. The main thing is that it helps get me familiar with Dutch grammar and other fun stuff that comes more naturally with repetition versus memorization.
Last night I had my first dream in Dutch, which was a bit weird. I haven't started thinking in Dutch yet though, except briefly when planning what to say :-P
My mom arrived on Monday from Seattle, so we've spent most of the week exploring Amersfoort and Kattenbroek, and shopping. It's been very busy in the shopping areas, but not as crazy as the US. So far we've introduced Mom to oliebollen (doughnut balls) and stroopwafels (very thin layers of cookie-type stuff with syrup between). She likes both, though has vowed to never again have only oliebollen as dinner.
We're planning to head up to Jan's parents for Christmas dinner on Christmas day #1. We have 2 days of Christmas in the Netherlands. Sweet! Monday we're headed for northern Belgium. Jan tempted us with the description of a chocolate museum down there, complete with an unguarded 6-foot high solid milk chocolate egg. We're pretty sure it'll fit in the car. We're also going to stay in a nice hotel on the Belgian coast for one night, then hit some historical sites in Antwerp on the way back.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Happy Sinterklaas!
December 5th is Sinterklaas. Basically a Christmas variant prior to the usual Christmas on the 25th. But it has different traditions, some of which are well, really weird :-P
First there's Sinterklass who is basically Saint Nicholas, but might have some pagan Odin overtones. He's an old white dude with a beard and red robes, but wears a pope-type hat and carries a big shepherd's crook around. The hat and/or clothes always have a cross on them. He gives present to children.
Then there's the "Black Petes". This is white people wearing poncy 17th century clothes complete with flat velvet(ish) hat with feather, brightly colored tights, poofy velvet(ish) shorts, and a doublet. Oh yeah - they also put on blackface, red lipstick, and curly afro wigs. I think they'd get arrested if doing that in the US :-P Apparently Black Pete used to be a name for the devil, and but Sinterklaas enslaved the devils and put them to work. The current politically correct explanation is that Black Petes are black from going down chimneys. This doesn't quite explain the afro wig or lipstick.
Anyhow, we saw a Sinterklaas and a flock of Zwarte Pieten flocking around the local shopping area last month. The Black Petes seem to especially enjoy hamming it up - and at least half are women, though they all dress the same. Last week, on my bus to Utrecht, most of the neighborhood kids coming home from class for lunch were dressed as Black Pete - all of the boys and a majority of the girls. Though instead of black face, they had some of mom's concealer or spray tan on to darken their faces. Really it was more of an Orange Pete look.
We had some nice Sinterklaas Eve snow. The start of it (while at the shopping area) was damn near a blizzard. It took half an hour to get out of the parking lot: 3 entrances, 1 exit :-P We finally made it home and got a few inches of snow, which is now melting.
It was VERY cold last week so I'm glad it's finally warming up. Walking nearly a mile after sunset with a strong wind in 20 degree weather is NOT FUN. My hands were numb by the time I got on the bus, and red and wrinkly for a while afterward.
The snow was nice though ... first the canals got a layer of ice, then got covered by a layer of snow, and it was very pretty.
First there's Sinterklass who is basically Saint Nicholas, but might have some pagan Odin overtones. He's an old white dude with a beard and red robes, but wears a pope-type hat and carries a big shepherd's crook around. The hat and/or clothes always have a cross on them. He gives present to children.
Then there's the "Black Petes". This is white people wearing poncy 17th century clothes complete with flat velvet(ish) hat with feather, brightly colored tights, poofy velvet(ish) shorts, and a doublet. Oh yeah - they also put on blackface, red lipstick, and curly afro wigs. I think they'd get arrested if doing that in the US :-P Apparently Black Pete used to be a name for the devil, and but Sinterklaas enslaved the devils and put them to work. The current politically correct explanation is that Black Petes are black from going down chimneys. This doesn't quite explain the afro wig or lipstick.
Anyhow, we saw a Sinterklaas and a flock of Zwarte Pieten flocking around the local shopping area last month. The Black Petes seem to especially enjoy hamming it up - and at least half are women, though they all dress the same. Last week, on my bus to Utrecht, most of the neighborhood kids coming home from class for lunch were dressed as Black Pete - all of the boys and a majority of the girls. Though instead of black face, they had some of mom's concealer or spray tan on to darken their faces. Really it was more of an Orange Pete look.
We had some nice Sinterklaas Eve snow. The start of it (while at the shopping area) was damn near a blizzard. It took half an hour to get out of the parking lot: 3 entrances, 1 exit :-P We finally made it home and got a few inches of snow, which is now melting.
It was VERY cold last week so I'm glad it's finally warming up. Walking nearly a mile after sunset with a strong wind in 20 degree weather is NOT FUN. My hands were numb by the time I got on the bus, and red and wrinkly for a while afterward.
The snow was nice though ... first the canals got a layer of ice, then got covered by a layer of snow, and it was very pretty.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!
No one celebrates it here of course. I'm going to try to make a turkey day dinner for Jan, since he's never had one. Just have to find turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin :-P
I've had three days of class so far and I'm loving it. We're starting with the basics but moving very fast. We're expected to learn the new words on our own, with a dictionary in our various languages, and then we learn how to apply them to sentences in class. We do a -lot- of listening and talking in class, which is great.
Dutch classes at JBI have 8-16 students, and ours has 10. I like small, since it makes it easy to get to know each other. 2 are from China, 1 from Egypt, 1 from Russia, 1 from Poland, 1 from Kazakhstan, 1 from South Africa, 1 from Indonesia, 1 from Colombia, and 1 from the US (me)! Everyone happens to speak passable English, so the instructors use English to explain new words or more complicated concepts. Most of the first lesson was in English, but by the third lesson most instructions were in Dutch, and understandable.
Most of us speak some Dutch already. Some have been here for several years, but were in English-language school or working at a job that didn't require Dutch. Only one showed up in class speaking no Dutch at all (from China to study communications) but is keeping up with things well enough. We all have prior university education, except for two who are learning Dutch so they can go into regular university classes.
To speak Dutch well enough for a job or university classes, we have to be at the B2 level. The JBI classes for level A, B1, and then B2 each last about 2 months, and are scheduled to start a week or two after the previous level ends. If all goes well, I'll be speaking acceptable Dutch by June 2011 :-) That's 6 months at the intensive rate, but 12 months at the normal rate. Both rates are designed for people with university education or qualified for a university education. It probably takes a lot longer with the ROC classes, but I don't know how long.
Both of the teachers for the class are very experienced and enthusiastic. One wrote the book we're using, and the other is very good at focusing on pronounciation. I've been using my electronic translator (Franklin 1870 with Dutch-English Bookman card), and it's been great so far. The only words I haven't found aren't on Google Translate either. The teachers focus on regular speech ... rarely formal, and with a lot of commonly used slang instead of too-proper terminology.
There's a big computer lab in the building, plus a separate language lab for speaking and listening. I don't have any homework to do today while waiting for class to start (got it done yesterday), so I'll check out the computer lab instead.
I've had three days of class so far and I'm loving it. We're starting with the basics but moving very fast. We're expected to learn the new words on our own, with a dictionary in our various languages, and then we learn how to apply them to sentences in class. We do a -lot- of listening and talking in class, which is great.
Dutch classes at JBI have 8-16 students, and ours has 10. I like small, since it makes it easy to get to know each other. 2 are from China, 1 from Egypt, 1 from Russia, 1 from Poland, 1 from Kazakhstan, 1 from South Africa, 1 from Indonesia, 1 from Colombia, and 1 from the US (me)! Everyone happens to speak passable English, so the instructors use English to explain new words or more complicated concepts. Most of the first lesson was in English, but by the third lesson most instructions were in Dutch, and understandable.
Most of us speak some Dutch already. Some have been here for several years, but were in English-language school or working at a job that didn't require Dutch. Only one showed up in class speaking no Dutch at all (from China to study communications) but is keeping up with things well enough. We all have prior university education, except for two who are learning Dutch so they can go into regular university classes.
To speak Dutch well enough for a job or university classes, we have to be at the B2 level. The JBI classes for level A, B1, and then B2 each last about 2 months, and are scheduled to start a week or two after the previous level ends. If all goes well, I'll be speaking acceptable Dutch by June 2011 :-) That's 6 months at the intensive rate, but 12 months at the normal rate. Both rates are designed for people with university education or qualified for a university education. It probably takes a lot longer with the ROC classes, but I don't know how long.
Both of the teachers for the class are very experienced and enthusiastic. One wrote the book we're using, and the other is very good at focusing on pronounciation. I've been using my electronic translator (Franklin 1870 with Dutch-English Bookman card), and it's been great so far. The only words I haven't found aren't on Google Translate either. The teachers focus on regular speech ... rarely formal, and with a lot of commonly used slang instead of too-proper terminology.
There's a big computer lab in the building, plus a separate language lab for speaking and listening. I don't have any homework to do today while waiting for class to start (got it done yesterday), so I'll check out the computer lab instead.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Taalcursussen (Language Classes)
Today I start language classes, in about 6 hours. Jan drove us to my bus stop near the university on Saturday, so I would recognize the stop when I got close to it. We also walked from the bus stop to the building with my class, since it's a bit of a windy path through a residential neighborhood. Most of it is alongside a canal on one side, and back yards on the other side of the path. Nice and scenic, with lots of ducks - we even saw one albino duck!
The part of campus the building is on is "only" about 100 years old. The university itself has been around since 695 A.D. As an American, the concept of buildings and institutions that old is a bit overwhelming. We just don't have the context for it back in the US. There's newer buildings too, but most of them do an acceptable job of mimicking the style of the building from 1912. For some reason there's a huge square in the middle of the buildings filled with gravel. A little weird, but Jan thinks it might be used for riding horses.
On the way home from our exploratory outing, we stopped at Blokker (a local for small home items) and bought a reusable water bottle. I should probably find something I can take for a snack, since I'll be out of the house for 6.5 hours or so. Jan has class tonight as well, lasting til 9 or so, so I'll take the bus home instead of getting a ride with him after he gets off work.
Looking forward to meeting people! It sounds like the people taking classes at the James Boswell Institute are the more educated type, with less educated folks getting classes at the local ROCs (community colleges). People posting in foreigner forums had indicated that both the students and the teachers in the ROCs are typically lacking motivation to learn or teach Dutch, and those classes make slow progress. So I guess it's lucky for me they have separate classes for the more educated, but it's disappointing that motivated but uneducated students get stuck in those ROC classes.
The part of campus the building is on is "only" about 100 years old. The university itself has been around since 695 A.D. As an American, the concept of buildings and institutions that old is a bit overwhelming. We just don't have the context for it back in the US. There's newer buildings too, but most of them do an acceptable job of mimicking the style of the building from 1912. For some reason there's a huge square in the middle of the buildings filled with gravel. A little weird, but Jan thinks it might be used for riding horses.
On the way home from our exploratory outing, we stopped at Blokker (a local for small home items) and bought a reusable water bottle. I should probably find something I can take for a snack, since I'll be out of the house for 6.5 hours or so. Jan has class tonight as well, lasting til 9 or so, so I'll take the bus home instead of getting a ride with him after he gets off work.
Looking forward to meeting people! It sounds like the people taking classes at the James Boswell Institute are the more educated type, with less educated folks getting classes at the local ROCs (community colleges). People posting in foreigner forums had indicated that both the students and the teachers in the ROCs are typically lacking motivation to learn or teach Dutch, and those classes make slow progress. So I guess it's lucky for me they have separate classes for the more educated, but it's disappointing that motivated but uneducated students get stuck in those ROC classes.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Cards!
On Thursday I recieved my bank card, OV card, and letter to get my residence card in the mail. w00t! I'm feeling extra Dutch now. The OV card is for public transport. I'll start using it Monday when Dutch classes start. The residence card is quite cool, and I can use that instead of my passport as ID. Which is nice, because ID is required if police ask for it, and passports are just a bit too clunky.
I also got my book for class on Friday. I leafed through it and could understand most of it. Fortunately it looks like a practical approach of using Dutch versus memorizing rules and such.
Now that I have my resident card we can get a refund for the cost of the language class. We emailed my inburgerer to let her know we're ready for another appointment. Still have trouble believing there's free, quality, Dutch language classes :-P Sweet.
I also got my book for class on Friday. I leafed through it and could understand most of it. Fortunately it looks like a practical approach of using Dutch versus memorizing rules and such.
Now that I have my resident card we can get a refund for the cost of the language class. We emailed my inburgerer to let her know we're ready for another appointment. Still have trouble believing there's free, quality, Dutch language classes :-P Sweet.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Birthday Partay
We had Jan's birthday party on Saturday, and his parents and sister came over. Parents came over around 2pm and we had coffee (of course!), and pie and chatted for quite a while, then got out some snacks: cheese cubes, sliced sausage, crackers, and some antipasto stuff. His mother showed me a book they had ordered with his sisters wedding pictures from a few months ago - instead of driving away in a special car after the ceremony, they rode away on a special bike, with the the husband pedaling and her sitting sideways on the rack on the back wearing a wedding a dress. Very Dutch!
One slightly different thing about the birthday party was that Jan's parents each also wished me a happy Jan's-birthday, after wishing him a happy birthday. His mother also gave me first triple cheek kiss. Right-left-right I think. She understands my American-ness and doesn't expect triple kissing in return :-P
His sister came over near 5pm, bringing a lot of food and two presents for Jan. The big one was a table-side wok set for 6 people, with a big hotplate and 6 little wok pans. Apparently this is a fairly common thing to do in the Netherlands, and was a ton of fun. The food his sister brought was stir fry ingredients, similar to the US except for the addition of potato balls. Potato balls are pretty common in the supermarkets, and are just chunks of potato that are small enough to cook quickly.
After dinner we had more coffee and chatting, and they left a bit past 8pm. I'm pretty sure Jan gets his naughtiness from his father. He's usually very reserved, but once in a while teasing his wife in silly ways.
Today I'm hoping my transit card, bank card, resident card letter, or language class book arrives. So many cool things to wait for :-)
One slightly different thing about the birthday party was that Jan's parents each also wished me a happy Jan's-birthday, after wishing him a happy birthday. His mother also gave me first triple cheek kiss. Right-left-right I think. She understands my American-ness and doesn't expect triple kissing in return :-P
His sister came over near 5pm, bringing a lot of food and two presents for Jan. The big one was a table-side wok set for 6 people, with a big hotplate and 6 little wok pans. Apparently this is a fairly common thing to do in the Netherlands, and was a ton of fun. The food his sister brought was stir fry ingredients, similar to the US except for the addition of potato balls. Potato balls are pretty common in the supermarkets, and are just chunks of potato that are small enough to cook quickly.
After dinner we had more coffee and chatting, and they left a bit past 8pm. I'm pretty sure Jan gets his naughtiness from his father. He's usually very reserved, but once in a while teasing his wife in silly ways.
Today I'm hoping my transit card, bank card, resident card letter, or language class book arrives. So many cool things to wait for :-)
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Busy Days!
We had a storm come through on Thursday, which is also Saint Martin's Day here. It's the Dutch equivalent of Halloween, though the kids sing certain songs for candy instead of threatening to throw eggs. The weather was hideous though, and only one pair of children came to the door - during a brief torrential downpour with a very wet mother trying to cover all three of them with an umbrella.
Jan had his birthday, but we didn't go out to dinner as planned because I spent the same day with a stomach virus doing really awful things to me. His parents and sister are coming over today for a celebration, and have something mysterious planned for dinner. Jan picked out pie halves for his birthday - it's traditional for the birthday boy to host his own party and provide the food.
We made it to the inburgering appointment yesterday ... barely on time even though we got to the general area with half an hour to spare. Finding parking was a nightmare. Next time we're going straight to a parking lot that isn't too far away and just planning on a bit of walking :-P Anyhow, the appointment went wonderfully. First the woman explained the process (which I already understood pretty well) and suggested I take intensive classes and aim for taking the State Exam at level B1 or B2. From what I understood, the minimal level needed for inburgering, A2, isn't sufficient for getting a job or anything. Basically just survival Dutch.
Because I have no resident card, they can't pay for the classes for me yet, but she said they'd arrange a refund of the class fees as soon as my card comes in. Jan signed me up for the class online while we were there and paid a bit over 1000 euros. It's a 3 month course with 100 hours of class time scheduled. It should get me to the point where I could pass the A2 exam, but instead of taking that I'll go onto B1 and B2 classes. City funding for the classes might end in a year or so, hence it's good to do it now. It also turns out that not all cities partially fund the classes, so I'm lucky to be in a city that does :-)
We also ordered my book online. I mentioned the price to Jan (only 30 euros!) and the woman said a lot of people complain about how expensive it is. We told her what I was paying for law school books (about $2000 per year), and she was a bit appalled. The only downside to the classes is that they're in Utrecht at Utrecht University, instead of a local community college. So Jan ordered a bus pass for me, and I managed to find a decent bus route. One that goes directly from here to there with no transfers and about a 10 minute walk at each end. The only downside is that it's a route designed for commuting to work, so mostly leaves from here in the morning and leaves from there in the evening. My classes start mid-afternoon, so it'll get me there 2 hours early, but classes get out about when Jan gets done with work, so I can ride home with him :-) I can use the 2 hours to study somewhere I suppose. It's either that or take 2 buses and 1 train to get there.
The websites for the bus companies aren't the greatest. Getting a schedule for a route requires doing virtual backflips around the site for a while, and some of the times get cut off by other crap on the website and are impossible to see. Maybe they just don't like Firefox.
Anyhow, the classes start in about a week! Very fast (almost too fast), but it's either then or wait until February. I'm tired of waiting :-P
Jan had his birthday, but we didn't go out to dinner as planned because I spent the same day with a stomach virus doing really awful things to me. His parents and sister are coming over today for a celebration, and have something mysterious planned for dinner. Jan picked out pie halves for his birthday - it's traditional for the birthday boy to host his own party and provide the food.
We made it to the inburgering appointment yesterday ... barely on time even though we got to the general area with half an hour to spare. Finding parking was a nightmare. Next time we're going straight to a parking lot that isn't too far away and just planning on a bit of walking :-P Anyhow, the appointment went wonderfully. First the woman explained the process (which I already understood pretty well) and suggested I take intensive classes and aim for taking the State Exam at level B1 or B2. From what I understood, the minimal level needed for inburgering, A2, isn't sufficient for getting a job or anything. Basically just survival Dutch.
Because I have no resident card, they can't pay for the classes for me yet, but she said they'd arrange a refund of the class fees as soon as my card comes in. Jan signed me up for the class online while we were there and paid a bit over 1000 euros. It's a 3 month course with 100 hours of class time scheduled. It should get me to the point where I could pass the A2 exam, but instead of taking that I'll go onto B1 and B2 classes. City funding for the classes might end in a year or so, hence it's good to do it now. It also turns out that not all cities partially fund the classes, so I'm lucky to be in a city that does :-)
We also ordered my book online. I mentioned the price to Jan (only 30 euros!) and the woman said a lot of people complain about how expensive it is. We told her what I was paying for law school books (about $2000 per year), and she was a bit appalled. The only downside to the classes is that they're in Utrecht at Utrecht University, instead of a local community college. So Jan ordered a bus pass for me, and I managed to find a decent bus route. One that goes directly from here to there with no transfers and about a 10 minute walk at each end. The only downside is that it's a route designed for commuting to work, so mostly leaves from here in the morning and leaves from there in the evening. My classes start mid-afternoon, so it'll get me there 2 hours early, but classes get out about when Jan gets done with work, so I can ride home with him :-) I can use the 2 hours to study somewhere I suppose. It's either that or take 2 buses and 1 train to get there.
The websites for the bus companies aren't the greatest. Getting a schedule for a route requires doing virtual backflips around the site for a while, and some of the times get cut off by other crap on the website and are impossible to see. Maybe they just don't like Firefox.
Anyhow, the classes start in about a week! Very fast (almost too fast), but it's either then or wait until February. I'm tired of waiting :-P
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Inburgering Progress
Well, still no resident card. But Jan finally called IND and they said my card has been ready since Sept 9th, but the distributor hasn't gotten around to sending it to the Utrecht office for us to pick up. ETA: 4-8 weeks. Bureaucracy (in) action!
The call was triggered by another notification of an appointment with the local integration agency. The last one turned out to be largely pointless because they didn't want to proceed without my resident card, in case I was just pretending to be someone with the same name and face whose passport I'd stolen, for the devious purpose of getting integrated without being required to.
Jan then called the integration agency to let them know I'm still cardless for the foreseeable future. After much discussion, they called him back to say that bringing the acceptance letter would be sufficient, so we don't have to reschedule again and wait a couple more months.
So hopefully on Friday my Dutch abilities will be assessed and I'll be informed of where I can take classes suitable for my current Dutch abilities and past education level. Or they'll change their mind about letting me integrate before I get my resident card, and we'll get annoyed and go shopping while we're in the city center anyhow.
The call was triggered by another notification of an appointment with the local integration agency. The last one turned out to be largely pointless because they didn't want to proceed without my resident card, in case I was just pretending to be someone with the same name and face whose passport I'd stolen, for the devious purpose of getting integrated without being required to.
Jan then called the integration agency to let them know I'm still cardless for the foreseeable future. After much discussion, they called him back to say that bringing the acceptance letter would be sufficient, so we don't have to reschedule again and wait a couple more months.
So hopefully on Friday my Dutch abilities will be assessed and I'll be informed of where I can take classes suitable for my current Dutch abilities and past education level. Or they'll change their mind about letting me integrate before I get my resident card, and we'll get annoyed and go shopping while we're in the city center anyhow.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Electronic Translators
My mom and step-dad wanted to get me an electronic handheld translator (vertaalcomputer), and they sent me the Franklin Explorer 12 Language Translator FR-TJS12. While decent for traveling as a tourist, with a nice selection in the phrase book, it had a very limited vocabulary. Even very simple, basic words are missing. The FR-TJS12 is about as big as my passport, though thicker, and seems sturdy enough. It has far fewer words than my small-ish hardcopy dictionary.
I did some research, and as far as I can tell, every multi language translator has few words in it. The more languages, the fewer words per language, so one catering just to the languages you want is likeliest to be the most useful and affordable. A multi-language model would be practical for someone vacationing briefly in several places in Europe. The price is typically around $30.
Finding translators that have a lot of words in just two languages is not very easy, unless you're interested in Spanish. Finding Dutch-English ones is quite hard.
The first I looked at was the ones be Ectaco. Then I read about their customer service problems, and ran away screaming. They do look like good products on paper, but if there is a problem with anything (like the translator arriving with a dead battery), getting it replaced will be a nightmare. They also call them "talking" bilingual dictionaries, but forget to mention anywhere that some languages aren't available with that feature. Thai is one that doesn't talk, and I found a list of emails from one poor guy getting jerked around by Ectaco customer service for a couple years, saying they'd be adding an update for Thai speech. Does Dutch talk? I have no idea. I haven't been able to find a review of that particular model. Not that I care about the speech functionality, but it makes it hard to trust any of their claims. It also isn't clear if the irregular verb feature is available in both languages or just English. Prices start at the high end of the reasonable range, which is more than I want to risk.
iTravl is another one that looks good on paper and got horrible reviews everywhere I looked. Bad battery problems, bad speech, bad speech recognition, etc. And very expensive!
I finally settled on two items from Franklin that they don't sell directly from their website. The 1870 dictionary, with the BQN-2047 bookman card. The 1870 has been replaced with new dictionaries that do the same thing but cost more, according to the reviews. The one I bought (DMQ-1870) comes pre-loaded with various English language software: dictionary, thesaurus, crossword solver, idioms, quotations, etc. A slot in the back allows for the insertion of any Bookman card - so I could also get an English-French card for $20-40 in the future if I decide I want it. I like the Bookman approach, since it's expandable without paying to buy a new device. SMRT.
Dutch Bookman cards are not easy to find. In fact, I could only find the Dutch-English card at Dutch websites, and it may even be disappearing from those if/when Franklin stops making them. In fact, the first place I ordered it from, c-device.com, emailed me to let me know it was out of stock. They tried to talk me into buying their in-house product that would be available in a few weeks, but I didn't want to wait that long and was a bit wary of a product I haven't seen any reviews for. To their credit, they refunded the money very quickly once I made it clear I wanted a refund, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them in the future.
So I bought the 1870 and BQN-2047 from pcmedia.nl, a Dutch company located nearby. The 1870 is a little wider and longer than the multi-language model. The multi-language one might fit into pants' pockets when standing up, but the 1870 wouldn't. It's still small enough to fit into my coat pockets easily. It's also light weight and has a sold feel to it - not flimsy.
The screen of the 1870 is big, and has good resolution. About 12 lines of text fit in the display from top to bottom, and over thirty letters from side to side. This is much much much better than the multi-language one, which has a display for 3 lines of text under 25 letters each. The multi-language one is simply too small to get an entire definition in it, and looking up words and scrolling is VERY slow. Like 5-10 seconds every time. The 1870, on the other hand, is quite fast unless it can't find the word. When that happens, it will take a few seconds to search for similar words in case you misspelled something.
Unfortunately, the Dutch card only has conjugations of English words on it. So I can look up an infinitive form of a Dutch word (like gaan - going), but not a conjugated form (like gaat - goes). This is the biggest disappointment in the Dutch-English card for me. Looking up a conjugated word form is the best use I'd have for a dictionary, and I can't do it at all with this item. But as far as I can tell, no dictionaries have that function in Dutch. Oh, and there's no speech at all with the Dutch-English card. I'm not bothered by that really, but it's a bit weird. Perhaps Franklin will come out with improved cards some day :-)
I did some research, and as far as I can tell, every multi language translator has few words in it. The more languages, the fewer words per language, so one catering just to the languages you want is likeliest to be the most useful and affordable. A multi-language model would be practical for someone vacationing briefly in several places in Europe. The price is typically around $30.
Finding translators that have a lot of words in just two languages is not very easy, unless you're interested in Spanish. Finding Dutch-English ones is quite hard.
The first I looked at was the ones be Ectaco. Then I read about their customer service problems, and ran away screaming. They do look like good products on paper, but if there is a problem with anything (like the translator arriving with a dead battery), getting it replaced will be a nightmare. They also call them "talking" bilingual dictionaries, but forget to mention anywhere that some languages aren't available with that feature. Thai is one that doesn't talk, and I found a list of emails from one poor guy getting jerked around by Ectaco customer service for a couple years, saying they'd be adding an update for Thai speech. Does Dutch talk? I have no idea. I haven't been able to find a review of that particular model. Not that I care about the speech functionality, but it makes it hard to trust any of their claims. It also isn't clear if the irregular verb feature is available in both languages or just English. Prices start at the high end of the reasonable range, which is more than I want to risk.
iTravl is another one that looks good on paper and got horrible reviews everywhere I looked. Bad battery problems, bad speech, bad speech recognition, etc. And very expensive!
I finally settled on two items from Franklin that they don't sell directly from their website. The 1870 dictionary, with the BQN-2047 bookman card. The 1870 has been replaced with new dictionaries that do the same thing but cost more, according to the reviews. The one I bought (DMQ-1870) comes pre-loaded with various English language software: dictionary, thesaurus, crossword solver, idioms, quotations, etc. A slot in the back allows for the insertion of any Bookman card - so I could also get an English-French card for $20-40 in the future if I decide I want it. I like the Bookman approach, since it's expandable without paying to buy a new device. SMRT.
Dutch Bookman cards are not easy to find. In fact, I could only find the Dutch-English card at Dutch websites, and it may even be disappearing from those if/when Franklin stops making them. In fact, the first place I ordered it from, c-device.com, emailed me to let me know it was out of stock. They tried to talk me into buying their in-house product that would be available in a few weeks, but I didn't want to wait that long and was a bit wary of a product I haven't seen any reviews for. To their credit, they refunded the money very quickly once I made it clear I wanted a refund, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy from them in the future.
So I bought the 1870 and BQN-2047 from pcmedia.nl, a Dutch company located nearby. The 1870 is a little wider and longer than the multi-language model. The multi-language one might fit into pants' pockets when standing up, but the 1870 wouldn't. It's still small enough to fit into my coat pockets easily. It's also light weight and has a sold feel to it - not flimsy.
The screen of the 1870 is big, and has good resolution. About 12 lines of text fit in the display from top to bottom, and over thirty letters from side to side. This is much much much better than the multi-language one, which has a display for 3 lines of text under 25 letters each. The multi-language one is simply too small to get an entire definition in it, and looking up words and scrolling is VERY slow. Like 5-10 seconds every time. The 1870, on the other hand, is quite fast unless it can't find the word. When that happens, it will take a few seconds to search for similar words in case you misspelled something.
Unfortunately, the Dutch card only has conjugations of English words on it. So I can look up an infinitive form of a Dutch word (like gaan - going), but not a conjugated form (like gaat - goes). This is the biggest disappointment in the Dutch-English card for me. Looking up a conjugated word form is the best use I'd have for a dictionary, and I can't do it at all with this item. But as far as I can tell, no dictionaries have that function in Dutch. Oh, and there's no speech at all with the Dutch-English card. I'm not bothered by that really, but it's a bit weird. Perhaps Franklin will come out with improved cards some day :-)
Monday, November 1, 2010
Language, Education, and Tolerance
As a warning to not take anything I say too seriously, I've only been in the Netherlands for three months, and I don't get out much. I live in a quiet residential middle-income neighborhood. I'm blond-haired, blue-eyed, and pasty white. My experience may radically deviate from that of other immigrants in the Netherlands.
Today I was reading an online newspaper article from back home (Seattle) discussing the experiences of a couple families that had recently immigrated from Bhutan. It was an Uplifiting Piece, as newspapers are wont to publish when it's been a slow day. Family X moved from Bhutan 2 years ago, the teenage daughter loved having opportunities and was gaining confidence in speaking English, and her mother was regularly attending language classes.
Three people had made comments: 1) Teenage girl is hawt. 2) Fix the real problem and end the instability in Bhutan in an unspecified manner, with the implication that emigrants should fix their unstable countries instead of fleeing persecution. 3) Why's the mother taking so long to learn English? Why aren't they speaking only English at home to learn it faster?
It's comments like those that make me an apologetic American. I am an American and I'm not ashamed of being an American, but I would like to apologize for my idiotic fellow-Americans that simply do not know better, can't be arsed to educate themselves about a subject, and are convinced their first gut reaction is right regardless of any contradictory evidence with which they are presented.
Learning a language does not happen overnight, even when immersed in it. People take classes because classes help, a lot. Not all people learn at the ideal speed of gaining competence in a year. Older people immigrating from third-world countries have probably not had much experience with a formal education, and their brains are not accustomed to having a lot of info shoved at them all at once.
I had three years of Spanish classes and still don't speak it as well as I speak Dutch after 15 months of Rosetta Stone and 3 months of Dutch TV. Let's face it, most language instruction in the US follows the same formula, and doesn't work very well without a LOT of studying and rote memorization. Of course, that's the American attitude toward education in general: we've been using rote memorization for decades, and even if it doesn't work very well at least it's familiar so let's keep doing it.
So why did Idiot #3 think someone should speak sufficient English after a year or so? Probably because she has no experience learning a language and doesn't like non-European immigration and it was the only part of the article that was even vaguely vulnerable to criticism. Speaking only English at home? Give me a break! I'd go nuts if we only spoke Dutch at home. First of all, I can't communicate sufficiently for us to handle the essentials of living together. Second of all, it's enough to deal with a new country and culture and crappy TV programs without adding more stress by not being able to talk to anyone in a meaningful (or therapeutic) manner. It's probably 100 times worse for people coming from a non-western country after living in a refugee camp for a decade or two. Immigrants -want- to learn the language. We also want to adjust in a manner that doesn't sacrifice our sanity.
Based on posts I've seen both on American and Dutch sites, it's not uncommon in either country to be unhappy with immigrants that are slow about integration. But individuals' tolerance toward immigrants seems quite a bit higher in the Netherlands. For starters, the government takes proactive steps to encourage and help immigrants learn Dutch. Nearly free language classes! Integration appointments where someone talks to you about the process and what happens, and what's expected of you as an immigrant.
Both countries have the same expectations of immigrants, but they are approached very differently. In both countries, there is a widespread social expectation that immigrants will integrate to some extent. In the US, there is no official requirement that immigrants try, and no official support. There are no taxpayer funded classes available to the majority of immigrants. In the Netherlands, there is. The Netherlands provides immigrants, especially poor ones, an essential opportunity that the US does not.
What's the likely effect of these different policies? Immigrants in the Netherlands learning Dutch quickly and able to work productively. Immigrants in the US unable to speak much English after decades of living there, and maybe able to work in an ethnic restaurant or martial arts studio, but more likely living in poverty and raising their children in poverty, surrounded by poverty, and starting a cycle that is difficult to break in the so-called Land of Opportunity.
Which brings up another issue: how people treat immigrants on an everyday basis, versus rants on blogs and newspaper sites. Speaking non-English in public in the US often results in various levels of hostility, even if racism isn't a factor. Here it usually results in someone speaking English to me, or smiling politely and apologizing to me before leaving ("sorry" is the same in both English and Dutch). Worst case scenario, they keep talking to my fiance then pause so he can translate for me.
Why so different? Maybe because Dutch society is more tolerant in general. More likely because all Dutch people under the age of 60 or so and over the age of 12 were required to learn a second language in high school. And while they know it's possible to learn a second language very well, they also know that it's not easy and it takes time. Ignorance results in ignorant reactions.
Today I was reading an online newspaper article from back home (Seattle) discussing the experiences of a couple families that had recently immigrated from Bhutan. It was an Uplifiting Piece, as newspapers are wont to publish when it's been a slow day. Family X moved from Bhutan 2 years ago, the teenage daughter loved having opportunities and was gaining confidence in speaking English, and her mother was regularly attending language classes.
Three people had made comments: 1) Teenage girl is hawt. 2) Fix the real problem and end the instability in Bhutan in an unspecified manner, with the implication that emigrants should fix their unstable countries instead of fleeing persecution. 3) Why's the mother taking so long to learn English? Why aren't they speaking only English at home to learn it faster?
It's comments like those that make me an apologetic American. I am an American and I'm not ashamed of being an American, but I would like to apologize for my idiotic fellow-Americans that simply do not know better, can't be arsed to educate themselves about a subject, and are convinced their first gut reaction is right regardless of any contradictory evidence with which they are presented.
Learning a language does not happen overnight, even when immersed in it. People take classes because classes help, a lot. Not all people learn at the ideal speed of gaining competence in a year. Older people immigrating from third-world countries have probably not had much experience with a formal education, and their brains are not accustomed to having a lot of info shoved at them all at once.
I had three years of Spanish classes and still don't speak it as well as I speak Dutch after 15 months of Rosetta Stone and 3 months of Dutch TV. Let's face it, most language instruction in the US follows the same formula, and doesn't work very well without a LOT of studying and rote memorization. Of course, that's the American attitude toward education in general: we've been using rote memorization for decades, and even if it doesn't work very well at least it's familiar so let's keep doing it.
So why did Idiot #3 think someone should speak sufficient English after a year or so? Probably because she has no experience learning a language and doesn't like non-European immigration and it was the only part of the article that was even vaguely vulnerable to criticism. Speaking only English at home? Give me a break! I'd go nuts if we only spoke Dutch at home. First of all, I can't communicate sufficiently for us to handle the essentials of living together. Second of all, it's enough to deal with a new country and culture and crappy TV programs without adding more stress by not being able to talk to anyone in a meaningful (or therapeutic) manner. It's probably 100 times worse for people coming from a non-western country after living in a refugee camp for a decade or two. Immigrants -want- to learn the language. We also want to adjust in a manner that doesn't sacrifice our sanity.
Based on posts I've seen both on American and Dutch sites, it's not uncommon in either country to be unhappy with immigrants that are slow about integration. But individuals' tolerance toward immigrants seems quite a bit higher in the Netherlands. For starters, the government takes proactive steps to encourage and help immigrants learn Dutch. Nearly free language classes! Integration appointments where someone talks to you about the process and what happens, and what's expected of you as an immigrant.
Both countries have the same expectations of immigrants, but they are approached very differently. In both countries, there is a widespread social expectation that immigrants will integrate to some extent. In the US, there is no official requirement that immigrants try, and no official support. There are no taxpayer funded classes available to the majority of immigrants. In the Netherlands, there is. The Netherlands provides immigrants, especially poor ones, an essential opportunity that the US does not.
What's the likely effect of these different policies? Immigrants in the Netherlands learning Dutch quickly and able to work productively. Immigrants in the US unable to speak much English after decades of living there, and maybe able to work in an ethnic restaurant or martial arts studio, but more likely living in poverty and raising their children in poverty, surrounded by poverty, and starting a cycle that is difficult to break in the so-called Land of Opportunity.
Which brings up another issue: how people treat immigrants on an everyday basis, versus rants on blogs and newspaper sites. Speaking non-English in public in the US often results in various levels of hostility, even if racism isn't a factor. Here it usually results in someone speaking English to me, or smiling politely and apologizing to me before leaving ("sorry" is the same in both English and Dutch). Worst case scenario, they keep talking to my fiance then pause so he can translate for me.
Why so different? Maybe because Dutch society is more tolerant in general. More likely because all Dutch people under the age of 60 or so and over the age of 12 were required to learn a second language in high school. And while they know it's possible to learn a second language very well, they also know that it's not easy and it takes time. Ignorance results in ignorant reactions.
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Neigborhood
Cities are divided into districts. I'm fairly sure there's voting for representatives and such based on district. I live in Cats' Pants. Well, Kattenbroek, which literally means Cats' Pants, but was probably chosen because it's someone's last name. Or possible named after a tavern in Belgium.
We're fairly far from the center of Amersfoort, and this neighborhood was only built about 20 years ago. It was an entirely pre-planned neighborhood and is set up nicely with an open-air shopping mall (winkelcentrum) on one edge. The roads are nice and wide and divided with trees in the middle, and there's never traffic problems. Well, sometimes teenagers ride their bikes side-by-side in the road where the bike lane ends, but we turn onto our street after a couple blocks so that isn't too unbearable.
Every neighborhood has multiple elementary schools, and there's usually high schools/ROCs in neighboring neighborhoods at the very farthest. The closest train station from our 'hood isn't in walking distance, but is in easy bike-riding distance. There are also bus stops in walking distance.
The page explaining the design for Kattenbroek is here. Translated to English thanks to google translate. The hype on it in pretty well-founded. The architecture is always interesting, usually in a good way. Some of the color combinations are a bit odd or dated, but never boring or dull :-P There's a lot of small parks scattered around and it's a pretty kid-dense 'hood.
It's also a nicely mixed-income neighborhood. When looking at houses, funda.nl would list the percentage of low and high income residents. Every neighborhood in the cities we looked at has a moderate low income population, but rarely a very high low-income population (usually in areas with a lot of high-rise apartments). This is significant because it helps avoid the slum problem that happens in the US. So Kattenbroek is about 1/4 high income, 1/4 low income, and 1/2 in between, which looks good both on paper and on the street.
Most people take care of their little front gardens, which is usually just a few square feet. Of course, if they get too unruly, the front door is blocked, which probably helps. All in all it's a very nice atmosphere, though sometimes it feels a little too orderly and quaint :-P
We're fairly far from the center of Amersfoort, and this neighborhood was only built about 20 years ago. It was an entirely pre-planned neighborhood and is set up nicely with an open-air shopping mall (winkelcentrum) on one edge. The roads are nice and wide and divided with trees in the middle, and there's never traffic problems. Well, sometimes teenagers ride their bikes side-by-side in the road where the bike lane ends, but we turn onto our street after a couple blocks so that isn't too unbearable.
Every neighborhood has multiple elementary schools, and there's usually high schools/ROCs in neighboring neighborhoods at the very farthest. The closest train station from our 'hood isn't in walking distance, but is in easy bike-riding distance. There are also bus stops in walking distance.
The page explaining the design for Kattenbroek is here. Translated to English thanks to google translate. The hype on it in pretty well-founded. The architecture is always interesting, usually in a good way. Some of the color combinations are a bit odd or dated, but never boring or dull :-P There's a lot of small parks scattered around and it's a pretty kid-dense 'hood.
It's also a nicely mixed-income neighborhood. When looking at houses, funda.nl would list the percentage of low and high income residents. Every neighborhood in the cities we looked at has a moderate low income population, but rarely a very high low-income population (usually in areas with a lot of high-rise apartments). This is significant because it helps avoid the slum problem that happens in the US. So Kattenbroek is about 1/4 high income, 1/4 low income, and 1/2 in between, which looks good both on paper and on the street.
Most people take care of their little front gardens, which is usually just a few square feet. Of course, if they get too unruly, the front door is blocked, which probably helps. All in all it's a very nice atmosphere, though sometimes it feels a little too orderly and quaint :-P
Friday, October 29, 2010
Language
A requirement of inburgering (integration) is learning Dutch, unless you're coming from the EU basically. It must be learned to some degree within 3.5 years of entry, and is also a requirement when applying for permanent residency or naturalization.
There are 6 CEF levels of Dutch: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, going from easiest to most difficult. The civic integration exam tests for A2, which is required to pass.
Failure to pass at A2 can mean a fine if you haven't been trying to learn the language, an extension of time to learn Dutch, or a waiver of the requirement if learning disabled and unable to learn Dutch better. No mention of people getting deported! Yay!
There's another test, the Staatsexamen NT2 (State Examination) for people that need to prove they can speak Dutch well enough to work in certain jobs or study in certain programs, and can also be used for residency purposes. Level 1 corresponds with B1 and level 2 corresponds with B2. The NT2 looks pretty similar to some aspects of college entry exams - showing that you can read and understand, explain what you read, and communicate ideas, as well as listening comprehension.
The official websites describing these tests are all in Dutch of course, except for a main page if you're really lucky. translate.google.com is your friend if you want more in-depth data. Some use frames however, which means the entire site shows the same URL for every page, and clicking on links to frames won't result in getting a translated page, making for mucho cut and paste. I hates frameses. To be even more clever in withholding useful information from non-Dutch speakers, sometimes the relevant information is contained in video clips in Dutch. Google translate doesn't help with those :-(
Dutch courses are available for very cheap. But not until after you've been accepted as a resident. There are also loans available if going to the equivalent of an accredited school, which can be used for related expenses like travel and childcare. Some of the course costs can be refunded to you when you pass the exam. Groovy!
In addition to private language companies, Dutch can be learned at most, if not all, vocational schools (called ROCs). ROCs are somewhat similar to community colleges back in the states, but in addition to providing classes and certifications for adults, also provide vocational training for children aged 12 and up on a vocational education track.
At my incomplete imburgering interview, I was informed that the location where I would be taking classes depends on my Dutch abilities and education level. So it sounds like you might not just end up taking classes at the nearest ROC. I'll find out one of these days. Or weeks. Or months.
A few sites I glanced at indicated that it takes approximately one year of regular classes (5 hours in class per week) to attain the A2 level of dutch, or a year of intensive classes (15 hours in class per week) to get B1 or B2.
I'm tempted to go for B1 or B2, since I'd like work in law eventually. I'd probably be stuck with work involving international law unless I want to go through law school again since the first time was quite horrible, but would probably need good Dutch to communicate with my overlords/employers. The problem is that intensive courses are basically full time jobs if you're studying properly, which is 1-2 hours of studying per hour spent in class. Which would make it difficult for me to work at the same time, especially in a full time job. Well, impossible with a full time job. I don't have the stamina for 13 hour days, not counting travel.
But I need to start working soon, since law school, aside from being horrible and mostly useless, left me with a lot of student loan debt. Unless being in language classes in a foreign country is sufficient to put my loans in deferment. Guess I'll find out!
There are 6 CEF levels of Dutch: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, going from easiest to most difficult. The civic integration exam tests for A2, which is required to pass.
Failure to pass at A2 can mean a fine if you haven't been trying to learn the language, an extension of time to learn Dutch, or a waiver of the requirement if learning disabled and unable to learn Dutch better. No mention of people getting deported! Yay!
There's another test, the Staatsexamen NT2 (State Examination) for people that need to prove they can speak Dutch well enough to work in certain jobs or study in certain programs, and can also be used for residency purposes. Level 1 corresponds with B1 and level 2 corresponds with B2. The NT2 looks pretty similar to some aspects of college entry exams - showing that you can read and understand, explain what you read, and communicate ideas, as well as listening comprehension.
The official websites describing these tests are all in Dutch of course, except for a main page if you're really lucky. translate.google.com is your friend if you want more in-depth data. Some use frames however, which means the entire site shows the same URL for every page, and clicking on links to frames won't result in getting a translated page, making for mucho cut and paste. I hates frameses. To be even more clever in withholding useful information from non-Dutch speakers, sometimes the relevant information is contained in video clips in Dutch. Google translate doesn't help with those :-(
Dutch courses are available for very cheap. But not until after you've been accepted as a resident. There are also loans available if going to the equivalent of an accredited school, which can be used for related expenses like travel and childcare. Some of the course costs can be refunded to you when you pass the exam. Groovy!
In addition to private language companies, Dutch can be learned at most, if not all, vocational schools (called ROCs). ROCs are somewhat similar to community colleges back in the states, but in addition to providing classes and certifications for adults, also provide vocational training for children aged 12 and up on a vocational education track.
At my incomplete imburgering interview, I was informed that the location where I would be taking classes depends on my Dutch abilities and education level. So it sounds like you might not just end up taking classes at the nearest ROC. I'll find out one of these days. Or weeks. Or months.
A few sites I glanced at indicated that it takes approximately one year of regular classes (5 hours in class per week) to attain the A2 level of dutch, or a year of intensive classes (15 hours in class per week) to get B1 or B2.
I'm tempted to go for B1 or B2, since I'd like work in law eventually. I'd probably be stuck with work involving international law unless I want to go through law school again since the first time was quite horrible, but would probably need good Dutch to communicate with my overlords/employers. The problem is that intensive courses are basically full time jobs if you're studying properly, which is 1-2 hours of studying per hour spent in class. Which would make it difficult for me to work at the same time, especially in a full time job. Well, impossible with a full time job. I don't have the stamina for 13 hour days, not counting travel.
But I need to start working soon, since law school, aside from being horrible and mostly useless, left me with a lot of student loan debt. Unless being in language classes in a foreign country is sufficient to put my loans in deferment. Guess I'll find out!
Language II
I'm breaking this into 2 parts because my super long posts look scary.
In addition to classes, there's other ways to work on Dutch. The first one I used was Rosetta Stone. This was very useful in getting basic vocabulary, tourist Dutch, and eventually understanding sentence structure quirks. I completed level 1 and 2 before moving over, and some of level 3. It's not perfect, and lacks the focus needed for inburgering versus vacationing, but it was still the best option for getting started before moving over. Somewhat expensive, but still far cheaper than classes, and I think the instructional method using photos, real dutch speakers, and repetition worked far better than the type of instruction I received in high school and college language classes. I also liked being able to do as much as I wanted, when I wanted. But I found my brain getting tired after spending more than 1 hour at a time using it.
After getting here, hearing people speak Dutch has been useful. But I can't work or take classes yet, so I don't spend a lot of time out and around Dutch people in general. When my future in-laws come over, they often speak Dutch to my fiance, but not enough to really help in learning words. Though it is a good way to see progress in my listening comprehension, when I can tell what they're talking about. I learn some words here and there when we translate them for each other.
More useful is watching television. Something I'm good at! One approach is watching an American or British program and reading the subtitles containing the Dutch translation. There are a lot of shows in English, and quite a few basic channels that only have English shows. I don't know if this would be helpful without the basic Dutch vocabulary I got from Rosetta Stone. You need to know enough Dutch to detect which subtitled word corresponds with which English word, which can be a process of elimination. So if the subtitle "Dertig jaar in de toekomst" comes up on the screen and I hear "Thirty years in the future", I can deduce that "toekomst" means "future" because I know what the other words mean already and they don't mean future.
Another way to learn is by reading Dutch things. I suggest starting out with simple things using simple language. My first attempt was a Dutch version of one of my favorite British novels, but even with a dictionary I can't keep up with the satire-filled and colorful prose, since that type of writing tends to get translated into similarly colorful Dutch prose, which can be just as abstract as it is in English, making literal translations very difficult. On the other hand, reading part of the manual for our dishwasher was easy with a dictionary. Newspapers are also pretty straight forward, not to mention more interesting that dishwasher manuals.
When being interrogated at my inburgering meeting, I realized my ability to listen to Dutch was not as good as I thought it was. I couldn't parse a basic sentence, even though I know I can read fairly complex sentences, especially if I have some time to analyze the words I don't know off-hand. So I've started listening to some Dutch television programs too. I prefer the cooking shows, since I've gotten a good food vocabulary by going to the grocery store and restaurants. That basic food vocabulary makes it easier for me to distinguish one word from another on the cooking shows, and seems to be improving my ability to understand spoken Dutch in general, even if I'm not learning new words.
I suppose I could get out and talk to people in Dutch, but I didn't even like doing that in English. Though I am looking forward to meeting people through classes or work one of these days. WHEN I GET MY STUPID RESIDENT CARD!!! Ahem.
In a few days I'll have an electronic Dutch-English dictionary as well, which should help a lot with reading things and communicating with the in-laws. I think I'll save future info about electronic dictionaries for a future post, however. It's not nearly as straightforward as it should be :-P
In addition to classes, there's other ways to work on Dutch. The first one I used was Rosetta Stone. This was very useful in getting basic vocabulary, tourist Dutch, and eventually understanding sentence structure quirks. I completed level 1 and 2 before moving over, and some of level 3. It's not perfect, and lacks the focus needed for inburgering versus vacationing, but it was still the best option for getting started before moving over. Somewhat expensive, but still far cheaper than classes, and I think the instructional method using photos, real dutch speakers, and repetition worked far better than the type of instruction I received in high school and college language classes. I also liked being able to do as much as I wanted, when I wanted. But I found my brain getting tired after spending more than 1 hour at a time using it.
After getting here, hearing people speak Dutch has been useful. But I can't work or take classes yet, so I don't spend a lot of time out and around Dutch people in general. When my future in-laws come over, they often speak Dutch to my fiance, but not enough to really help in learning words. Though it is a good way to see progress in my listening comprehension, when I can tell what they're talking about. I learn some words here and there when we translate them for each other.
More useful is watching television. Something I'm good at! One approach is watching an American or British program and reading the subtitles containing the Dutch translation. There are a lot of shows in English, and quite a few basic channels that only have English shows. I don't know if this would be helpful without the basic Dutch vocabulary I got from Rosetta Stone. You need to know enough Dutch to detect which subtitled word corresponds with which English word, which can be a process of elimination. So if the subtitle "Dertig jaar in de toekomst" comes up on the screen and I hear "Thirty years in the future", I can deduce that "toekomst" means "future" because I know what the other words mean already and they don't mean future.
Another way to learn is by reading Dutch things. I suggest starting out with simple things using simple language. My first attempt was a Dutch version of one of my favorite British novels, but even with a dictionary I can't keep up with the satire-filled and colorful prose, since that type of writing tends to get translated into similarly colorful Dutch prose, which can be just as abstract as it is in English, making literal translations very difficult. On the other hand, reading part of the manual for our dishwasher was easy with a dictionary. Newspapers are also pretty straight forward, not to mention more interesting that dishwasher manuals.
When being interrogated at my inburgering meeting, I realized my ability to listen to Dutch was not as good as I thought it was. I couldn't parse a basic sentence, even though I know I can read fairly complex sentences, especially if I have some time to analyze the words I don't know off-hand. So I've started listening to some Dutch television programs too. I prefer the cooking shows, since I've gotten a good food vocabulary by going to the grocery store and restaurants. That basic food vocabulary makes it easier for me to distinguish one word from another on the cooking shows, and seems to be improving my ability to understand spoken Dutch in general, even if I'm not learning new words.
I suppose I could get out and talk to people in Dutch, but I didn't even like doing that in English. Though I am looking forward to meeting people through classes or work one of these days. WHEN I GET MY STUPID RESIDENT CARD!!! Ahem.
In a few days I'll have an electronic Dutch-English dictionary as well, which should help a lot with reading things and communicating with the in-laws. I think I'll save future info about electronic dictionaries for a future post, however. It's not nearly as straightforward as it should be :-P
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Food
I'm a picky shopper, when it comes to food. No gluten, no MSG (E621) or its close relatives. Not much lactose. Avoiding these foods was challenging enough back home, and now I have to read labels in Dutch to avoid them.
Fortunately gluten-free foods seem fairly easy to find here. Both the Albert Heijn and the C1000 grocery stores nearby have almost half of one side of an aisle devoted to gluten free items that would traditionally have gluten. So I can get gluten free bread and pasta easily, as well as bread and pastry mixes.
MSG, however, is pretty common. And apparently unpopular enough that companies have started using the same trick I've seen for many years in the US: call MSG something (anything) else. The EU has E-codes for food additives. E620-629 are MSG and its fellow free glutamic acid co-conspirators in causing me migraines. But there's also gistextract (yeast extract) in quite a few items, which is just free glutamic acid from a different source. A pre-made salad I bought at AH had this in the salad dressing, and actually listed it as one of the ingredients from a biologisch (organic) source. ... Don't worry, I keep a supply of safe dressing at home :-P
One thing different here is that there are a lot of pre-packaged pre-seasoned/prepared meats ready to throw on the stove or in the oven. About half of them have MSG, even where it usually wouldn't in the US. So I ate a lot of MSG my first week or two. Potato salad usually has it too, which I was eating until last week. I guess I started buying it before learning MSG's E number, and once I learned it, assumed I'd checked for it on previous visits. Jan found it listed during a trip to the store :-P
I found out that brewer's yeast has free glutamic acid, which makes my current folic acid supplement pretty useless for stopping migraines because the base is brewer's yeast. Oh, and I started drinking sake a month or two before moving over, and this also uses a yeast creating glutamate. I've been drinking 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup most days.
So basically I've been making myself sick in various ways since I got here. I decided to write about food today because I spent most of yesterday in a migraine state, and am still feeling pretty funky today. On the plus side, wine is still safe (negligible glutamate) but I like sake waaaay more than wine. And I have a few bottles of sake left in the house :-(
At least eating out is less problematic. Chinese restaurants aren't addicted to it here. Any fast food restaurant that also exists in the US should be avoided if MSG is unwanted. I found out it comprises three ingredients in a Burger King crispy chicken burger. Gotta make the processed sludge taste good somehow I guess :-P
Italian food over here seems identical to back home. Though the local Italian place also does some french food (no objections here). The Chinese food is quite a bit different though. There's still sweet and sour, spicy, and a few other things, but orange or lemon sauces are uncommon, as well as breaded and fried meat chunks like you'd find in the US with a sweet and sour dish. But it's still pretty good. Instead of a hot fudge sundae, the default dessert is a "dame blanche" which I think is french for "white lady". Ice cream, chocolate fudge.
Bottled water is also a bit different. When asking for it, the waiter wants to know if you want "blauw" (blue) or "rood" (red). Blue is uncarbonated, red is carbonated. The color-coding seems pretty consistent - even in the Ikea restaurants.
Speaking of Ikea (pronounced ee-kay-uh here) "frites" are typically eaten with mayonnaise here, rather that ketchup, though both always seem to be available. The Ikea version of mayonnaise, called "fritessaus" (french fry sauce) is pretty nasty.
I've been doing a lot of cooking since arriving, since while Jan is working full time, I'm at home waiting for my resident card full time so I can work or take Dutch lessons. I've been making lean proteins and vegetables mostly, sometimes rice to go with dinner. We have a "combivent" in the kitchen, which is a combination oven and microwave. Except the microwave half doesn't work - the wiring seems to be disconnected. Jan's going to fix it One Of These Days :-P I haven't missed it much, except when reheating leftover rice on the stove.
Fortunately gluten-free foods seem fairly easy to find here. Both the Albert Heijn and the C1000 grocery stores nearby have almost half of one side of an aisle devoted to gluten free items that would traditionally have gluten. So I can get gluten free bread and pasta easily, as well as bread and pastry mixes.
MSG, however, is pretty common. And apparently unpopular enough that companies have started using the same trick I've seen for many years in the US: call MSG something (anything) else. The EU has E-codes for food additives. E620-629 are MSG and its fellow free glutamic acid co-conspirators in causing me migraines. But there's also gistextract (yeast extract) in quite a few items, which is just free glutamic acid from a different source. A pre-made salad I bought at AH had this in the salad dressing, and actually listed it as one of the ingredients from a biologisch (organic) source. ... Don't worry, I keep a supply of safe dressing at home :-P
One thing different here is that there are a lot of pre-packaged pre-seasoned/prepared meats ready to throw on the stove or in the oven. About half of them have MSG, even where it usually wouldn't in the US. So I ate a lot of MSG my first week or two. Potato salad usually has it too, which I was eating until last week. I guess I started buying it before learning MSG's E number, and once I learned it, assumed I'd checked for it on previous visits. Jan found it listed during a trip to the store :-P
I found out that brewer's yeast has free glutamic acid, which makes my current folic acid supplement pretty useless for stopping migraines because the base is brewer's yeast. Oh, and I started drinking sake a month or two before moving over, and this also uses a yeast creating glutamate. I've been drinking 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup most days.
So basically I've been making myself sick in various ways since I got here. I decided to write about food today because I spent most of yesterday in a migraine state, and am still feeling pretty funky today. On the plus side, wine is still safe (negligible glutamate) but I like sake waaaay more than wine. And I have a few bottles of sake left in the house :-(
At least eating out is less problematic. Chinese restaurants aren't addicted to it here. Any fast food restaurant that also exists in the US should be avoided if MSG is unwanted. I found out it comprises three ingredients in a Burger King crispy chicken burger. Gotta make the processed sludge taste good somehow I guess :-P
Italian food over here seems identical to back home. Though the local Italian place also does some french food (no objections here). The Chinese food is quite a bit different though. There's still sweet and sour, spicy, and a few other things, but orange or lemon sauces are uncommon, as well as breaded and fried meat chunks like you'd find in the US with a sweet and sour dish. But it's still pretty good. Instead of a hot fudge sundae, the default dessert is a "dame blanche" which I think is french for "white lady". Ice cream, chocolate fudge.
Bottled water is also a bit different. When asking for it, the waiter wants to know if you want "blauw" (blue) or "rood" (red). Blue is uncarbonated, red is carbonated. The color-coding seems pretty consistent - even in the Ikea restaurants.
Speaking of Ikea (pronounced ee-kay-uh here) "frites" are typically eaten with mayonnaise here, rather that ketchup, though both always seem to be available. The Ikea version of mayonnaise, called "fritessaus" (french fry sauce) is pretty nasty.
I've been doing a lot of cooking since arriving, since while Jan is working full time, I'm at home waiting for my resident card full time so I can work or take Dutch lessons. I've been making lean proteins and vegetables mostly, sometimes rice to go with dinner. We have a "combivent" in the kitchen, which is a combination oven and microwave. Except the microwave half doesn't work - the wiring seems to be disconnected. Jan's going to fix it One Of These Days :-P I haven't missed it much, except when reheating leftover rice on the stove.
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