Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands

[shermarama]

I started some Dutch lessons last week. They originally put me in the complete beginners' class, since the assessment for levels was mostly done over the phone and I clammed up at anything beyond 'ik kom uit Engeland', but after two two-hour lessons of that, it was clear (and best of all, clear to me) that I wasn't in the right place. I do know

Comments

[feanelwa]

Don't people misjudge it sometimes and fall through?

[shermarama]

The rules for the Elfstedtocht are that the ice must be a minimum depth of 15cm all the way round the course, including bits you have to walk round if there are safety concerns. I don't know about more generally, but it must happen.

[noondaydemon]

Thanks for the post: really good read!

I got more than an inkling about what skating enthusiasm's like in Holland!

[shermarama]

Apparently the estimates of it happening this year, according to the committee that organises the event, go no higher than 15%, but the betting odds at bookies are much better.

[mzdt]

quite frankly, it's for things like this I load up the friends page, these days... ;-)

[shermarama]

It's good having somewhere to record the new stuff like this. Some people in my office are bored of the same speculation every year, but I'm not yet...

[x_mass]

I'm getting a hint here that your never coming back to Britain, - which doesn't surprise,

[shermarama]

I'm not sure I'd say that. I'm enjoying being here and I'm not particularly missing Britain right now but I don't think that means forever. Then again I already think I'd be more likely to move to another new country if I left, rather than returning to the UK.

[ghoti]

Cool!

I'm sure if you practised, you'd get to be at least as good as Judith at skating. She is slow but confident, I expect it's the confidence where she wins, and she gets upset if someone wants to hold her hand, she wants to do it herself. Of course, whether you want to or not is another matter entirely.

[shermarama]

Confidence is what I have none of when skating, and I don't know how I'd get any. Without it, going skating isn't practice, it's just an exercise in being scared of falling over. It's probably never helped that the first time I ever tried it, I was already most of my current height and was certain I was bad at all sports.

[ghoti]

How about if you had the kind of skates with two blades? I don't think there's any obvious way to get an adult the kind of physical confidence a two year old girl has though (she's three now, but she first went on her second birthday).

Of course, she also does a lot of roller skating/skateboarding which is going to help.