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Yon is a good man
"Yon is a good man... A crazy man but a Good man"
"♫ Lo de do de do ♫... I'm a bit crazy"
"My English is a no good."
This is all the English I will hear on the average morning. Last week I began my job here at Mennorode, and so far all I've been doing is minor garden and maintenance work (de-weeding the garden areas, scraping weeds and moss out from between the brick paths, mowing the lawn... Things of that sort) and I am generally on my own for most of the day. However when I am with a person it is usually this one man who does the painting for the entire conference centre (which I don't yet understand how that is a year round job, but maybe weather is harder on the paint out here in the Netherlands, who knows... I have also yet to learn his name as I still have trouble distinguishing dutch words from names). The only unfortunate part about this (or perhaps fortunate depending on how you look at it) is that he doesn't really speak any English. On the average day it is unlikely that I will hear any more than the above three phrases of English exit his mouth, even though it's clear he wishes he could say more. Occasionally he can figure out one word, but they are very basic one, like "door". Unfortunately, until the day that I conquer this language comes, all I can offer is in return is a pleasant "Goedemorgen", the occasional "dank u wel" with a little "Ik versta het niet" thrown in when hand gestures aren't quite enough for me to understand. Even though he kind of understands me from time to time when I speak English, perhaps this is just another reason for me to learn Dutch as quickly as possible.
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