I’ve taken Level One of Dutch, and Level Two will welcome me in February.  But registration hasn’t been open.

Yesterday I decided to act.  I went to the website of CVO Gent – my school.  But there was no English translation for the massive amount of information.  Google Translate would have taken approximately forever. Clearly Level One has only provided me with the basics.  There’s a long road ahead … one that I am happy to embrace.

I should have written down exactly how I would register for the next course, but I didn’t.  That’s okay.  As I get older (somewhere in the vicinity of 55) I’ve become far more gentle with myself.  Mistakes are held lightly.

My phone calls to the school yesterday were met with a minute of ringing and then a dead line.  “Odd.  They must be really busy.  I’ll walk down there tomorrow.”

So this morning I set off on the half-hour stroll, armed with questions.  As I turned the corner of the CVO building, I was greeted with approximately what you see in the picture – a locked gate.  All the windows were dark.

Hmm …

And then I got it – all the schools were closed for two weeks – kids, teens, adults.  That’s why no one answered the phone.  I smiled in wonder.  There’s so much I don’t know in my new home. Perhaps this will be so for months, or years. That’s all right. I signed up for Belgium … all of it.

I’m here to stay