Dutch

I have decided that I am going to learn to speak Dutch. Why, you may ask? Well, I don't really have a good reason except I want to learn a foreign language and last night I was surrounded by five native Dutch speakers and the idea just occurred to me and it seemed like a good idea. I mean, it's not as useful in the US as Spanish, but it might be just unique enough to set me apart.

I need to figure out how I am actually going to learn. My friend Mac (who is American and does not speak Dutch) suggested I just “hock up a cat.” My friend Claire has now taken to randomly switching to Dutch while speaking to me and has told several others to do the same. Claire and I were walking back to the ship today when we ran into a couple of others and they only spoke Dutch the rest of the way back because they found it amusing. I actually followed a little bit. I mean, I certainly did not know a lot, but I think they were talking about popcorn. That's a useful thing to understand.

I am being serious about wanting to learn. I learned a couple of words today including the word for cookie and an expression of frustration. I would write the words on here, but I have no idea how to spell them. I work with enough Dutch people that I think I could get some help and it would be useful to know. Stay tuned for updates!