Yesterday I just had my first Dutch class – it was an intense 3.5 hours!

Yup, that’s right. Starting from this month I will be learning Dutch for reading archives. It is an intensive course – a private tutoring session with the instructor.

So what got me thinking into learning Dutch? This is because of a conversation I once had with Eric Jones, who is also a member of my dissertation committee. A social historian of the female underclass in the Dutch East Indies, Dr. Jones managed to inspire me to learn Indonesian history seriously and learn one of the key methodological tools for that – surprise, surprise, the Dutch language.

It’s certainly challenging to juggle this with other activities – especially writing and research – but it’s certainly worth doing. Also, it’s good to have something else other than my own dissertation project to make life more productive and balanced.

Expect more to come.