Like I said, the Dutch carry on their lives in an odd blend of Dutch and English. If you were given an assignment of any sort, it would never occur to you to do it in any language other than English. But most of them slip easily between the two languages. Note that the one above starts in Dutch, and then finishes in English (with an odd spelling or two).
My hosts here at Noordepoort have been very hospitable. I got a tour of the campus this morning. The campus is a single building (Noordepoort has some 15 buildings scattered around Groningen--I was in the one that handles law and business), about twice the size of Ivy Hall. Then I was treated to lunch with Estrelita's department. I got to sample a genuine Dutch lunch including soup (vegetable soup with meatballs--please don't ask me the Dutch name), croquettes on bread, and carnemilk, which is sort of like buttermilk.
In the afternoon, I sat in on a couple of classes--a citizenship class and a civil law class. Classes are packed. Everyone in the Netherlands is required to obtain a diploma or certificate of some sort beyond high school. And the students are young--17 or 18. The fact that they're young and attending classes involuntarily showed, especially in the citizenship class. The students were a lot more engaged in the civil law class. Who wouldn't be? They were discussing the concept of contractual consideration--in Dutch, recht en plicht (literally, right and duty.)
Goede nacht! (Like it would kill you to use google translate.)
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