THE NURSES OF AMSTELVEEN
The nurses of Amstelveen took care of me. They were patient, understanding, compassionate, gentle. We, expats, foreigners and non foreigners, complain often about the Dutch Health System and we all have different experiences but I have to talk about mine because it was excellent.
Regardless of what happens in the future, I am thankful and I know I am lucky because I had the opportunity to take care of a medical problem in a good hospital, with a wonderful team including doctors and nurses. One of the nurses apologized while she was trying to explain in English the medication that I had to take at home and I told her: Please, don't apologize. We are in The Netherlands. I should be talking Dutch already as my 9 years old reminds me every day but I am still a beginner.
My neighbor Louise, a retired History teacher, is helping me, she is taking time from her free time to teach me her language which I appreciate enormously, Duolingo is helping me too but the crying owl telling me every day that he/she is disappointed when I miss one day of learning is stressing me out and my interaction with Dutch people or Dutch speaking people are very limited: "Mag ik alstublieft warme chocolademelk met slag room hebben?"
I will keep learning because is the right thing to do. To learn Dutch, to learn about the history of the country, to learn and to understand, and to be part of this society without letting my personalty and my own history to disappear, to go away. We are all part of this country while living here. Let's learn from each other. Let's understand each other. Let's help each other. Let's row in the same direction to move forward. Together. Samen.
January 24th, 2024
WEBSITES WERE I LEARN DUTCH
I will keep adding more websites to share with those who are learning or improving their Dutch.
Please feel free to email me if you want to add more resources into this list.
Regardless of what happens in the future, I am thankful and I know I am lucky because I had the opportunity to take care of a medical problem in a good hospital, with a wonderful team including doctors and nurses. One of the nurses apologized while she was trying to explain in English the medication that I had to take at home and I told her: Please, don't apologize. We are in The Netherlands. I should be talking Dutch already as my 9 years old reminds me every day but I am still a beginner.
My neighbor Louise, a retired History teacher, is helping me, she is taking time from her free time to teach me her language which I appreciate enormously, Duolingo is helping me too but the crying owl telling me every day that he/she is disappointed when I miss one day of learning is stressing me out and my interaction with Dutch people or Dutch speaking people are very limited: "Mag ik alstublieft warme chocolademelk met slag room hebben?"
I will keep learning because is the right thing to do. To learn Dutch, to learn about the history of the country, to learn and to understand, and to be part of this society without letting my personalty and my own history to disappear, to go away. We are all part of this country while living here. Let's learn from each other. Let's understand each other. Let's help each other. Let's row in the same direction to move forward. Together. Samen.
January 24th, 2024
WEBSITES WERE I LEARN DUTCH
I will keep adding more websites to share with those who are learning or improving their Dutch.
Please feel free to email me if you want to add more resources into this list.
- Duolingo
- Loecsen
- Zeer Goed Dutch
- Nederlands leren
- I-Languages
- Verbix
- Goethe-Verlag
- Digital Dialects
- Dutchgrammar.com
- Livemocha
- Dutch101
De Naturalis (Leiden, NL)
FAMILY AND FRIENDS
I am in Amstelveen. I live here and here I met some wonderful people that became family.
Uttam and Bhaswati are from India. They drove my son to school many times, they took care of him, they cooked for him, they welcomed him home and they were always there for me, and for him. They were, they are my sister-abroad and my brother-abroad. Mijn broer en mijn zus.
Yumi and Itsumi came from Japan. They also cooked for us. Itsumi rode her bike many times under the rain to take care of my son, to play with him, to listen to him. Clemence came for France. She was a nurse in her country and she took care of my son's knee when he felt down from his bike. She has a peacemaker, and two children, and a life, but she drove to my house to take care of my son. And she drove me many times around Amstelveen to bring me wherever I need it to go. She came with me to the hospital to hold my hand and to tell me that everything was going to be ok. And she was right.
Silvia was an Art/Theater teacher in Venezuela. She played and painted with my son while I was doing grocery shopping. During winter, during a period where he was coughing and not feeling well because of a cold, because of asthma, because of life.
Defne from Turkey cooked for me and for my family after my surgery. She took time from her time to care about someone else.
Rosalie is from The Netherlands. She made me a scarf and she told me I want you to know that God is with you. We share the same faith and I love her because she cares and she doesn't ask anything in return. Never. Ever.
The Netherlands is a country where many faiths are allowed and respected or at least that is what I feel. I don't feel judged by anyone and I try not to judge because I love people, no matter what their faith, skin color, background, profession, or past is, specially past because past is something we can't change. We can and, I think, we need to move forward looking into the right direction. And the right direction is different for each of us. That is why we need to respect each other. Even if we don't understand other people's decisions, we need to respect them.
These friends became family because family means caring. A friend is not someone that you know for 10, 20, or 30 years. A friend is someone who cares and who knows your strengths and your weakness and it doesn't judge you. A friend is someone that is there for you while everything goes well but specially when everything doesn't go so well.
Thank you Itsumi. Thank you to all of you! Dank u wel!
January 22nd, 2024
Uttam and Bhaswati are from India. They drove my son to school many times, they took care of him, they cooked for him, they welcomed him home and they were always there for me, and for him. They were, they are my sister-abroad and my brother-abroad. Mijn broer en mijn zus.
Yumi and Itsumi came from Japan. They also cooked for us. Itsumi rode her bike many times under the rain to take care of my son, to play with him, to listen to him. Clemence came for France. She was a nurse in her country and she took care of my son's knee when he felt down from his bike. She has a peacemaker, and two children, and a life, but she drove to my house to take care of my son. And she drove me many times around Amstelveen to bring me wherever I need it to go. She came with me to the hospital to hold my hand and to tell me that everything was going to be ok. And she was right.
Silvia was an Art/Theater teacher in Venezuela. She played and painted with my son while I was doing grocery shopping. During winter, during a period where he was coughing and not feeling well because of a cold, because of asthma, because of life.
Defne from Turkey cooked for me and for my family after my surgery. She took time from her time to care about someone else.
Rosalie is from The Netherlands. She made me a scarf and she told me I want you to know that God is with you. We share the same faith and I love her because she cares and she doesn't ask anything in return. Never. Ever.
The Netherlands is a country where many faiths are allowed and respected or at least that is what I feel. I don't feel judged by anyone and I try not to judge because I love people, no matter what their faith, skin color, background, profession, or past is, specially past because past is something we can't change. We can and, I think, we need to move forward looking into the right direction. And the right direction is different for each of us. That is why we need to respect each other. Even if we don't understand other people's decisions, we need to respect them.
These friends became family because family means caring. A friend is not someone that you know for 10, 20, or 30 years. A friend is someone who cares and who knows your strengths and your weakness and it doesn't judge you. A friend is someone that is there for you while everything goes well but specially when everything doesn't go so well.
Thank you Itsumi. Thank you to all of you! Dank u wel!
January 22nd, 2024
USEFUL DUTCH SENTENCES
Goede morgen.
Good morning.
Goede avond.
Good afternoon.
Goede nacht.
Good night.
Spreekt u Engels?
Do you speak English?
Spreekt er iemand Engels hier?
Does anyone here speak English?
Ik spreek maar een klein beetje Nederlands.
I only speak a little Dutch.
Ik spreek niet erg goed Nederlands.
I'm not very good at Dutch.
Hoe gaat het?
How are you?
Goed, dank u.
I'm fine, thank you.
Heel leuk u te ontmoeten.
I'm very glad to meet you.
Ik heb al zoveel over u gehoord.
I've heard so much about you.
Het was leuk u te zien.
It was nice seeing you.
Het was leuk u te ontmoeten.
It was nice meeting you.
Ik versta het niet.
I don't understand.
Ik begrijp het heel goed.
I understand perfectly.
Begrijpt u?
Do you understand?
Verstaat u mij?
Do you understand me?
Ik versta u als u langzaam praat.
I understand you if you speak slowly.
Dat is beter.
That's better.
Wat zei u?
What did you say?
Een prettige dag.
Have a nice day.
SOURCE: Transparent.com
Good morning.
Goede avond.
Good afternoon.
Goede nacht.
Good night.
Spreekt u Engels?
Do you speak English?
Spreekt er iemand Engels hier?
Does anyone here speak English?
Ik spreek maar een klein beetje Nederlands.
I only speak a little Dutch.
Ik spreek niet erg goed Nederlands.
I'm not very good at Dutch.
Hoe gaat het?
How are you?
Goed, dank u.
I'm fine, thank you.
Heel leuk u te ontmoeten.
I'm very glad to meet you.
Ik heb al zoveel over u gehoord.
I've heard so much about you.
Het was leuk u te zien.
It was nice seeing you.
Het was leuk u te ontmoeten.
It was nice meeting you.
Ik versta het niet.
I don't understand.
Ik begrijp het heel goed.
I understand perfectly.
Begrijpt u?
Do you understand?
Verstaat u mij?
Do you understand me?
Ik versta u als u langzaam praat.
I understand you if you speak slowly.
Dat is beter.
That's better.
Wat zei u?
What did you say?
Een prettige dag.
Have a nice day.
SOURCE: Transparent.com
©2024 Porto-Giese Illustrations. All rights reserved.
