My landlord, Maritje speaks no English and my Dutch is not at a conversational level - I dropped the little that I was studying some weeks ago, before my computer died and still haven't picked it back up again. I can sometimes figure out what is being said, but usually not. She stopped by yesterday to tell me that one of the neighborhood young adults was killed by a car over the weekend and that there would be an in home activity down the road on Saturday and that we were invited. We get through these types of conversations with the help of google translate, my Dutch English dictionary and lots of giggles at poor translations.
So, we will get to see our first in state.
Meanwhile, a short digression. Here in the Netherlands, kids live with their parents until they can afford to move on. So, this kid was 24. Most kids stay in their parents' home even while attending university or trade school. In a lot of ways, the idea that your kid can continue to live with you if he/she is contributing to the household, until he/she is ready to move out makes more sense than attaching an arbitrary age to the leaving home and becoming an adult idea. I think that it leads to a more sensible transition to adulthood than sending an 18 year old away to an environment that allows them to not learn budgets, or responsibility, but 'treats them as adults.' I just don't see most kids as using college to truly transition to adulthood. But, maybe I am looking at it wrong.
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