Dutch in Translation

"We are not housewives."   This is what I tell my students when they talk about missing the good old days back in their country, not having to be in charge of the house. I say,  " We are not housewives.  We are house managers!"  House managers? What the heck does that mean?! A house manager keeps the house in pristine shape and the meals yummy enough to have the husband/wife coming back happily from work every day. (My darling keeps saying, while having dinner, "This is delicious, I should recommend you!" To what I always reply, "Please don't!" )  A house manager runs this activity as a side business because he/she must focus on figuring out who he/she is, what he/she is doing in this country, and how he/she will prevail in reaching a blissful spiritual state. How can one seize such a tough and arduous goal? There are many ways, I suppose. In my experience: During blue periods, make sure you have wise friends to talk to. You feel

Time to prepare for the second and third inburgering exams!      In a previous post, I recommended three sites where you could practice the reading test. (If you haven't read it, click here .) Today I will share the sites and material I'll be using to practice luisteren and  Kennis van de Nederlandse Maatschappij. 

This is what I learned from visiting my country after almost two years: Life tricks us and nothing will ever be the same.    Why would I say this? Well, after thinking about how to explain it in a way that would be understood, I couldn't find the words. Don't panic! I did find an image. Visualize this:

So here we go... What is the famous "inburgering"? Well, according to Wikipedia , " ...   the foreigner is obliged to learn very basic Dutch and basic knowledge about Dutch society... " There are different levels of exams, it all depends on what you want it for. From now on, let's call it integration exam.