Lees het gedicht.
ik
wil alleen
maar weten
wie ik ben.
how appropriate. i read these words on the first page of the first lesson, during my first day of class. "i just want to know who i am." it feels as though i'm on the verge of transformation. of discovering a new side of myself. i've been crawling around on my hands and knees and i'm about ready to break free of my cocoon.
learning a new language is like going through childhood all over again. i feel as though i've been listening to my parents for three years, and i'm finally ready to utter back full sentences. i'm finally going to primary school...i have my spelling tests (my favorite part of the day!). i write stories about who i want to be when i grow up. i get to play fun computer games. and i'm making new friends!
there's the class clown who cracks jokes at every opportunity he can, there are the goody two-shoes who know all the answers, there are the slow students who take exams over and over and never quite catch up...do we ever grow out of these roles no matter how old we become?
one of my new friends is from China. his name is Atuo. he is the most motivated person i have ever met. he is so anxious to learn dutch. he only works one day of the week. and on the other days? he's studying dutch. mornings, afternoons, evenings...he says the only time he breaks is to eat and sleep! even our teacher was encouraging him to take it easy--we all need time to learn a new language! even despite his over enthusiasm, i'm thankful to have him with me. he really wants to help me to understand and i enjoy his company. and boy can he talk!
i learned some new things about Chinese culture today. he says that chinese people eat while they talk. it's ongezellig to be quiet while you're eating. he really had no problems eating and talking at the same time. (but really he did more talking than actual eating!) if you want more than one child you have to pay a lot of money to the government to keep each additional child. he left his home to go to school. ever since he first went to primary school, he moved into his school with all the other classmates. he would only go "home" on the weekends. he seems to care a lot about the economy and whether it's doing well or not. he says that knowledge is the most important thing. knowledge is China's religion.
the most beautiful part of my day was overhearing our teacher read through Atuo's story that he wrote, using all of our new vocabulary of course. he wrote about how he was so thankful to meet me on his first day. he hopes that one day he can have a job like mine, doing something meaningful...i don't know why, but it brought such joy to my heart to hear this! it's like i was given a best friend charm to wear on my necklace: one of the highest honors a girl can receive!
at one point during our koffie pauze my new friend was going off about how he sometimes doesn't understand why he's doing everything to learn dutch. it's such a small country and so many dutch people already speak english ... even some dutch people look at me incredulously when i tell them i'm learning their language. some may think, "why bother"? but i am determined to put my whole heart into learning this language. why now? there is a huge part of me that is just feeling more at home here in amsterdam, and i am simply desiring to communicate more deeply with my Dutch friends in their mother tongue. but i also feel that i am here for "such a time as this." i don't know what all that means, or even how long my time here will last. but even more than that i'm tired of doing things half-heartedly. i want to be fully engaged with my present reality.
but today i discovered that dutch holds a key to forgotten corners of the world. a door to a people whom english has ignored. today i was able to communicate with someone from the other side of the planet. what, or who will come next? someone from Turkey, Morocco, Croatia?
i never thought i would be so glad about going to school again.
i'm like a giddy school girl!
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