The title of this blog sounds horrendous, doesn’t it? That Dutch word ‘geslaagd’! If you expel the ‘g’ from the back of your throat, it sounds as if you are…well… to put it mildly, hoiking up something nasty, or even worse. However, far be that from its meaning, which is that you, or I in this case, have passed an exam.
I finally did it! I took my Dutch boating theory exam on Thursday after months of learning the sometimes confusing and often complicated rules, regulations and practices of waterways. It involved everything from safety measures, technical knowledge, weather conditions and waterways signage to manoeuvring in various different conditions, bridge height calculations and the meaning of lights, symbols and other boating accessories. Sheesh! I swear I’ve never had to work my poor old brain so hard, not only to know the factual details, but also to work out things like how to moor up a boat with a left (or right) turning propellor, when the wind is coming at you from various different directions, and you have a bow thruster (which we don’t have). To prepare, I did practice exams almost every day, but I still wasn’t confident, so it was with huge relief that I passed!
Of course, it helped to have had some practical experience on the canals and rivers, but questions involving sailing, night-time conditions and using a bow thruster were difficult because they were complete unknowns. I was glad we could use a pen and paper during the exam because I could draw little boats doing different manoeuvres and work out the answers that way,
And then there was the added puzzle of the language. Now, my Dutch is limited to very standard usage. I can read, write and speak using very normal communication without frills or idioms. Give me a letter to read from one of my service providers and that’s easy. Ask me to write business emails or speak to people about missed deliveries, problems with an account or arranging appointments, that I can do, albeit clunkily, but the figurative language they often use in these official tests had me scratching my head on many an occasion (picture Val with a big ? over her head). Add to that a few ‘trick’ questions, and you have a recipe for confusion. So, I knew I’d never ace the test and the fact I passed with a respectable score was, for me, like winning gold.
And now what? Well, this being the Netherlands, I’ve had to order and pay for a health declaration before I can order (and probably have to pay for) my license. But once I’ve got all that, I’ll be fit to fare for many a year. Isn’t that great?
Other than this milestone, April has been pretty intense in other ways too. I’ve had one of those waves of work which have meant long days at my laptop and little time for fun in the sun. These waves are good for my bank balance but not for my garden and boat! However, it’s settling down now and I’ll be able to get outside again more. An outdoor Val is a much happier creature than the indoor version. That said, we are off to the Haute Marne soon for some French flavour, so I’ll probably post an update from there too. There will still be work involving laptop time, but it will be in France, and the French ambience will make it easier. 😄
Enjoy your weekend allemaal!
