After two weeks of Dutch school (10 more to go) I find myself drowning in Dutch. I am still stuck reading (out loud): De Walvis and De Piraat; and so far, cannot pride myself just yet as I can only grasp a handful of words like: Walvis-Whale, Piraat-Pirate, Zeepaardjes-Seahorse, Dolfijnen-Dolfin, een-one, er leefde eens-there once lived...
In my quest to learn Dutch I really wonder when I can incorporate these words in normal conversation: "So, you really have nice dolfijnens here in Belgium." "Oh! Look at that Piraat!" "What a cute zeepaardjes!"
Hmmm...I wonder when...but still, I will continue reading (with conviction): De Walvis en De Piraat (and no, this book is not a pop-up).
Another thing that made me say that I am drowning in Dutch is an incident that happened just this morning.
At the climbing/bouldering gym, I was reading a tarpaulin logo (reading signs out loud is something I try to form a habit of to practice pronunciation) AVVENTURA: Your Favourite Ski and Outdoor Shop. As I was mentally reading it, I was pronouncing "favourite" as "fah-voh-rit", which is the Dutch pronunciation. Immediately, I thought (and was quite confused): Is there a "Your" word in Dutch (and I could feel my head "The Matrix"-cally scanning my database for the Dutch possessive pronouns that we've learnt in class. It was only a couple of seconds later that I realized that the ad wasn't really in Dutch. It was in English. I can only blame the 9am Belgian indoor climate. After that, I drank my coffee.
We had our first major exam last Thursday. Upon getting our results on Friday I was so disappointed with myself. One mistake!?! I felt really frustrated. So far, I haven't heard of anybody who perfected the exam coz I was 30 minutes late for class (some things never change) and I didn't really have it in me to ask...but one mistake?? I felt that I was not only a student in the class but I represented my country as well in that now 15 person class. I am the only Filipina and the best I could do was a 19 over 20? My best friend was the Valedictorian and the best I could come up with was a 19 over 20?? What impression would the other nations have about me and my fellowmen???
Hahaha...even that new girl, L, from Siberia (who is now in the carpool with me and Mr. And Mrs. Count Dracula) got a 13! IF I had interpreted her language correctly. And she doesn't even speak English! Only Russian and German.
In class we have mastered the art of sign language and pictionary since most speak only a handful of English. I speak only a handful of Spanish, one Italian word, 7 French words, and no Russian--only the accent. They say that music is the universal language but please, let us not go there.
So I didn't initally know where L was from. I only know she is the only person in class who doesn't understand English AT ALL. So I asked her in Dutch, which has now become our "common" language, what her country was. Actually, if we had more time, we could devise a way of understanding each other with the use of Dutch numerics (een, twee, drie, vier...) as our lessons become more and more complicated and learning the language completely at the end of the "semester" has become bleaker and bleaker...
But still...I should not lose hope.
Anyway, I found out that L comes from Siberia. I was shocked! I asked her what the temperature was in Siberia. She didn't know how to say it so she wrote it on paper: -50 (celsius).
Huwaaaat???? Do I thank my lucky stars now that my near death experience here was a measly -5 degrees with wind?? For a moment there I became ashamed of myself. I always find it amusing how when I tell people that in my country 22 degrees is already cold they become quite shocked. Ha! It becomes their turn to be amazed.
I told her that it's common in the movies that Siberia is depicted as a place being really cold. Ofcourse, I told her that in the simplest English I could come up with. But I don't even know why I'm bothering as she doesn't understand it at all. She understands me more with my eyes and hand gestures. If I spoke in Visayan I bet she couldn't tell the difference. Hmmm...come to think of it, maybe I should try it. hehe *wink*
And well, I found out that they still go to school in Siberia and it's rare that classes get suspended in the 1 meter of snow. Go figure how they used to go to school in her time. But in the summer they are blessed with temperatures that go to a whopping 2 degrees! Woopie.
I should stop whining and look forward to spring.
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