I guess I'm like one of those older people who have been around in the world for, what they believe to be, a considerably long time and feel that their knowledge is unique. Yes, yes we old people can talk and talk. * snores * Ok I'm not that old although I do believe that I am digressing from the topic.

We were somewhere deep in the heart of the Netherlands in the province of Gelderland, I believe. I'm an American who had the opportunity to visit the country on two occasions thus far and henceforth offering my views and observations of life there. In the evening I admired how many took the time to relax. While some were sipping Grolsch, Heineken or Dommelsh at an outdoor café, others were in their homes preparing for dinner. While riding through the neighborhoods I admired how open the houses were. One could see people preparing and sitting down to dinner as if by clockwork but not at all by stress. I could almost here the words "Eet Smakeelijk" (Bon Appetite, Enjoy your meal), ring like an echo throughout the town.

Although so many were sitting down to eat at around the same time there were some stragglers on their bicycles heading home.

Bicycles. An integral part of the real Dutch experience. Something that one will even find evident if they stay around Amsterdam. It makes logical sense considering that the land is flat. I was in admiration of the accommodating bicycle paths everywhere. It was cool to see whole families on bikes. I must admit that some Americans may be surprised to see that the Dutch do not really find bike helmets that necessary. I personally think that reducing the complexity of things makes it more desirable. One does not "dress" a certain way to go cycling in the Netherlands. A bike is a mode of transportation not necessarily an object of recreation. It does offer one explanation as to why one tends to see less obesity in the Netherlands than here in the States.

During my most recent visit in December and January, I did notice that the Dutch were pretty hardy people. There were still large numbers of people on their bicycles in the bitter cold on their way to work or school. I guess that makes sense considering that, as I had mentioned before, cycling is a common mode of transportation.

Considering the time frame of the bicycles invention, I'm sure it would be most interesting to find out how it was integrated so thoroughly into Dutch society over the years. Unfortunately I am not that well versed in Dutch history yet so I am not qualified to delve into such a topic. For one thing I'm sure it would be wiser if I were fully fluent in Dutch before trying to learn more of the history on my own.

I am such a novice at the language that I very often don't speak the words and phrases that I do know because of embarrassment. It's very difficult to learn a language as an adult but since I am fortunate to be bi-lingual, (tri-lingual almost if I could improve my French), I predict that I will not take too long to master the Dutch language…

Or will I? Dutch has many similarities to English and so many words are actually the same. On the surface it not would seem like such a daunting task if one is perhaps looking at a word list. Just grab your word list and now proceed to verbalize the "English looking" words on the page. Here's a simple one, morgen , which means morning. One of the toughest sounds for us foreigners to make is the Dutch 'G' sound. Yes people, for some reason long ago someone there that the g and ch sounds require one to gargle slightly. I am not a linguist so I couldn't even begin to compare the intricacies of Dutch pronunciation. That added to the fact that I can't speak it. * lol * Once one begins to master the pronunciation then there's the grammar. *She gets an immediate headache at the mention of grammar *

English is a difficult language to learn also because of our seeming irregular grammar. From what I've studied so far of Dutch, there are so many exceptions to every grammar rule that one has taken the time to master. Sometimes I get all the words correct but m sentence is just wrong because I didn't add a het or de or something.

Hopefully my linguistic struggles with Dutch will be ancient history as I become a master. One of the things I am looking forward to is the ability to understand the multitude of Dutch jokes. As many of you are well aware, verbal humor is very difficult to translate. I always feel bad for my companion as he has to decease laughing hysterically to try and explain the joke to me, only to have it come out all wrong. So to be nice I laugh much harder than I should. (Yes, I'm so nice)

Well I think this ole lady has talked enough for now. More next time from the wannabe Dutchie. *waddles off, old lady style *