En!!! Twee UITSTEKEND dingen gebeurde! Twee!
Met twee verschillende mensen, ik sprak Nederlands...in volledig conversaties. Twee!
Okay, so what that means is: today, I went to Muiden and its castle with a good friend of mine, and I had TWO whole amazing conversations with two different Dutch people, speaking Dutch! Geen Engels! Seriously.
Like so: My friend and I are leaving the castle, and we're walking back to the busstop to use our strippenkaart and take it back to Amstel, and to walk from there. And as we're leaving, we run into a little outdoor market we had discovered on our way toward the castle, and it ran until 5pm, so we decided to come back afterward (so we could catch the castle in the light, and not feel time-constrained). They had hot cider (FIRST cider we've seen in the Netherlands) and crepes and pestos and breads...and musicians and antiques and winter plants and children's crafts and toys and candles and beads and Christmas decorations and hats and scarves and all sorts of things! Lots of fun. And so then we go in and buy some things, and she gets a crepe, and we're oogling over the food and we eat samples and are tempted to buy some fresh cocoa and then, we're leaving and the Sun is firey blood red brilliant piercing rays of blinding, and they're everywhere and it's beautiful, and it makes the graffiti under the overpass by the busstop literally shimmer and shine and it's like firey moonlight on water, the way it reflects soooo so brightly.
Op het Muidenmarkt
And then a Dutch person is walking toward us with a stroller and two kids outside of the stroller (one in), and we are about the cross the cute little bridge by the cute little outlying Muiden houses, and she says to me:
(these conversations all happen really quickly, by the way!!!)
'Mag ik jou een vragen?' (May I ask you a question?) She is smiling and her eyes are so nice.
I say, 'Ja! Okee.' (Yes! Okay.)
Haar: 'Waar is het Muidenmarkt? Ik vind het niet.' (Where is the Muiden market? I can't find it.)
Ik: (pointing) 'Het is...daar.' (It's over there.)
Haar: 'Maar het markt...niet de Muiden winkels.' (But the market...not the stores in Muiden.)
I'm agreeing at first: Ja, ja. But when she's adamant we're talking about different things, I say:
Ik: 'It weet het niet.' (I don't know.)
Haar: 'O...ja, ik wil naar het Muidenmarkt gaan.' (Oh...yeah, I want to go to the Muiden market.)
She begins to move away.
Ik: 'Het buiden markt? Het is rechtdoor.' (The outdoor market? It's straight ahead!)
I point where I pointed before, where she hadn't believed me--she had thought I was speaking about the wrong thing.
Haar: 'O! O...ik zie het! Dank je wel!' (Oh...oh, I see! Thank you very much!) Her smile lights up her face with kindness and friendliness and gratitude, and it's a great feeling inside. It's an out-reaching smile, and it makes me glad we spoke.
A Dutch person stopped me and asked me for directions...and beamed when she knew where I was talking about, and thanked me.
A Dutch person stopped and asked me for directions...in Dutch.
Het kasteel van de tuinen
Second story:
My friend and I need to take the bus back to Amstel, and we know the stop where we got off--but obviously if we got on the same bus, it would just continue to take us further along the line, and not back in the opposite direction; the direction from which we came.
So. I see someone standing in a busstop (a different one from the one we exited at, but next to it), and I approach. I consider asking if ze speaks English, but decide that's a silly question (ended up not being so silly).
Ik: 'Sorry...where is the busstop that will take us to Amstel?' (I say 'sorry' and 'Amstel' with a Dutch accent.)
Haar: 'You want the busstop for Amstel?'
Ik: 'Ja.'
Haar: 'O...' (She turns around and reads a sign listing all the busses at that stop & their destinations.) 'Een honderd zeven en vijftig gaat naar Amstel.' (157 goes to Amstel.)
Ik: 'Okee, okee.'
Haar: 'Ja...' (She continues to read and is speaking to me the whole time. She's talking about where they go, the different busses.)
Ik: 'Kan ik hier wachten?' (Can I wait here?)
Haar: (she's clearly confused) 'Ja, hier misschien. Een honderd zeven en vijftig stopt hier.' (Yeah, maybe here. 157 stops here.)
Then she indicates toward a busstop or two that are a block-ish away, on the other side of the parking lot we're next to, and says some other things.
Ik: 'O, het bus komt daar?' (Oh, the bus comes over there?)
She says some more things. I catch the word 'hier' (here).
Ik: 'Hier?'
Haar: 'Ja.' (She nods.)
Ik: 'Maar...het bus kunt hier niet stoppen...het busses naar Amstel zijn...' (But...the bus can't stop here...the busses toward Amstel are...)
I don't know the Dutch words for what follows, so I indicate with my hands:
'On the other side of the street.'
Haar: 'Ik weet it niet. Hier of daar...' (I don't know. Here or there...)
She makes a helpless hand gesture--*this is one important thing about the Dutch that differs from Americans. They will keep talking to you until they help you, even if the problem is not likely to be resolved in the near future. I love it, because it shows their interest and genuine care*
Ik: 'Okee, okee. Ja. Ja, ik ga daar; ik probeer daar. Dank je wel!' (Okay, okay. Yeah, I'm going to go try over there. Thank you very much!)
She keeps talking to me.
Ik: 'Ik probeer.' (I shrug, like it's no big deal.) 'Dank je wel!'
She says some more things I don't understand, but she's earnest, and I think, she must think--geez, this ridiculous person, why can't they understand anything I'm saying? This person isn't getting it at all! But, I'm understanding what I can understand, and the parts I'm picking up on tell me she's not sure which stop, but one of them should work. She must be aggravated inside, but she wants to help still.
Ik: 'Okee, okee. Dank je wel!'
Frustrating but exciting conversation! And she pointed out the other stops. My friend says she's glad she has me with her, because she'd have no idea what was just said, or earlier with the other Dutch person :) Big compliment. It meant a lot!
My friend and I head toward the other stops. One of them is perfect, and a bus comes in the next 5-10 minutes, and it goes perfect right to Amstel.
Kasteel ingang
Also, we went to a castle, like I said. This time, unlike the ill-fated time I attempted to direct my parents toward De Haar castle in Vlueten outside Utrecht, it went according to plans! We go to Amstel, pick up the bus as we arrive--just as my notes said we should (right bus, right direction)--it takes 2 zones and 15-20 minutes to get there. We get off and Muiden is SPECTACULAR. Like every other place (except Vleuten) I've been in the Netherlands, I plan on living there. Also, I've found the perfect house for myself. Some old people live there now. It's nautical and cute. Anyway. And we go to the castle, and it's open, and there are pamphlets in Engels, and we go in, and there are gardens, and oh, well it's lovely, and it's cute inside. Small, and lots of little costumed children running around everywhere, beating each other up for other small children (the 'girls'). Beautiful sky. Sometimes it looked like there was zero atmosphere, it just felt so...empty, naked free, spaceless. There was a particular tree that, the way it was situated and right against this perfect sky, it looked so...spaceless. Like there was a vacuum around it, like it was inside zero air, zero anything. It looked like it occupied...just, an alien space. It was amazing, crazy amazing! I also spoke Dutch to some other people.
Little children fighting in costume & with swords!
Those are my stories.
Love,
Miranda.
p.s.
The castle as we're leaving
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten