Why do you take Dutch lessons? You have a Dutch lover now? – Hahaha… I don’t need a Dutch lover as an excuse to learn Dutch! I’ve got you, Karel, Quinten and Dutch speaking ex-boyfriends to practice with! – Always at your service to help you practice. Good luck with the lessons! – That’s very sweet, O! Thank you!

Had my first Dutch lesson today. So excited! It’s been a while since the last time i was sitting in a class room as a student. I speak English well and (poorly) French, read Arabic and know a little Japanese, now i’m learning Dutch. To be honest, I envy Stefan so much because he speaks at least five languages very well!

Why Dutch? I don’t know. I took my chances, that’s all. But i know the next step is to learn Swedish. I didn’t really plan it, but i was there at Erasmus Huis and i saw the brochure. Just like everything else I’ve done, it’s all happens at the right time.

I met the other students at the lobby. All girls. And we’re kind of wondering what to do since the class should be started soon but we didn’t see any staff there. Our class is special because it’s in the evening for two and a half hour, twice a week.

Three girls were already there sitting on the bench watching the news in Dutch on TV. One of them moved aside to let me sit with them, then we introduced each other’s names. Then we kind of start digging on our back ground. One is going to study in Rotterdam, the other one is doing it because of the job, while me and the last girl are only doing it for fun. But for me, it’s now definitely I’ve got more books to read!

Then more people came when it’s time for us to go to the class upstairs. The class room is big enough for 22 students. There were five men, 15 women and i don’t know about the other two whom were not attending the class that evening. They are nice, so far. But i could also tell who i’d like to stay away from.

One of the men sitting few chairs away on my left side is someone whom i don’t really know well. He gave too much information already about his own life, without us even bother asking him to. He seems so insecure about himself. He and few other students have always found their way to faire du bruit when the teacher is speaking in front of the class. I don’t like it at all.

But I was doing it OK, although i kept forgetting what is twenty-two in Dutch and sometimes i used French accent when speaking Dutch! Just like on my flights to and from Japan, the passengers talked to me in Japanese but i kept replying in French! Or on my cruise from Italy to Greece, I replied in Spanish when that old lady was talking in Italian!

Well i think the Indonesians are quite blessed to have this kind of flexible tongue, especially those who speak the national language, Bahasa Indonesia, without being influenced by any ethnical accent. It’s easy for us to speak any language.

I was not too surprised about things that i might find in the class. I did my preparation well. I understood quite well what the teacher said. I got help from Karel, Quinten and Jan. Thank you guys!

Can’t wait to come to the next meeting on Thursday!