Hans Haijtema lives in Amsterdam and teaches Dutch. He has been teaching at Taalhuis Amsterdam since the beginning of 2020 and he says he’s very happy to work here with so many creative language lovers. His hobbies are soccer, Dutch literature and historical topics (slavery, decolonization of the Dutch East Indies, the Second World War). He also loves picture books such as the work of the late Czech illustrator Miroslav Sasek. Although he’s partially color blind, he enjoys his colorful watercolor drawings. Hans’ favorite word is the Dutch adjective ‘loodgrijs’. He likes the combination of the ‘o’ and ‘ij’ vocals because of the ominous sounds. The word puts drama in descriptions of for example gloomy cloudy skies that we often have in winter in the Netherlands.