Uitdaging Aanvaard

I get a day off today, a day when I don't have to go anywhere or see anyone. I need it too, because there's been a lot of new people and things to take in. I've been doing my inburgeringscursus so I can take my exams. I wanted to improve my Nederlands with some formal lessons and get all of the other information I'll need. The thing is, the Dutch I taught myself with television programs and Youtube videos and through the help of my friends was good enough by the time I started any formal lessons that the teaching staff are now all in agreement that I belong in a higher level class. Yesterday I was allowed to sit in with that class and see if I felt at home there. I mentioned something about wanting more of a challenge, and the woman teaching that level felt that I belonged there too. So what did she do? She gave me a challenge. I have to admit, I balked a little because until now I just breezed through the material for one level below. I was able to prove to her that I belonged in her class and that I would be able to keep up. I'm in the Nederlands als Tweede Taal classes, or "Dutch as a second language".  I'm leveling up, and it's the level of Nederlands required if I ever want to continue with any kind of higher education here later. In more immediate, practical terms, it improves my ability to communicate with the people I deal with in daily life. The better my Nederlands becomes, the easier my life will get.

All of that said, it's been like trying to drink information from a fire hose. There's a lot coming at me all at once and I'm just thankful for all that I was able to learn on my own. There are also a lot of new people, new faces, new names to remember. The people in my class are from all over the world, and it's fascinating to talk to them and find out about their lives and countries. In the lower level classes my classmates didn't speak English or very much Dutch. It was hard to communicate across that kind of language barrier. We tried, and I think we did a pretty good job of the basics, but there wasn't a lot of meaningful verbal communication possible. In the new class many of the people there speak English and all of them speak reasonably good Dutch. Communication is possible. I am learning about the world from them, and the insatiable curiosity in me rejoices at being blessed with the opportunity. They tell me what life is like for regular people where they come from. I am constantly made aware of our shared humanity as they describe familiar situations and what they miss most. It's usually the food and the music and wishing things worked the way they did back home. Normal people are just normal people the world over. They love their kids. They miss their folks. They're working hard to make a life here just like I am.

With the people in this class, Nederlands isn't even their second language but their third or fourth. Maybe I've found the other overachievers, and they're all even bigger overachievers than I am. It makes me think that I might try learning another language once I master Dutch. I should be able to safely put that off for a few years because at the present moment I am being made painfully aware of how much further I have to go in learning Nederlands. I'm just thankful that I seem to be holding my own in a group of people who are all smarter than I am if their collective mastery of multiple languages is anything to go by. I find myself wondering where we will all end up after we finish the course and part ways. With the drive I see in them, I think they're going to be the ones who successfully integrate into their communities.