Come on mate - carnival these days is just about getting drunk for 4 days, nothing more than that. I would not even mind that so much if at least people were polite about it..... As for the Dutch lanugauge - not really got a choice now with a little one on the way [rofl] My work will also pay for Dutch lessons which is good. The main problem though is time. I very much want to have some lessons, but my work is so busy its stupud. After 50+ hours a week its hard to try and fit in some language lessons. After being here for several years I do understand a lot - its just that speaking Dutch is quite hard, plus people always speak back in English!