Last week, a friend posted on a Facebook group a link to an article entitled "You know you've been in The Netherlands for too long when..." An interesting premise, I thought, and became immediately intrigued. Come to find out, it was an extensive list (to 100) of things that you supposedly start noticing/doing after, as the title so clearly says, spending too much time in the Netherlands. Now, I don't completely agree with all of them, but there were a couple of them that stood out that I thought would be fun to share.
1/ You have a bike
2/ You even know how to brake using retropedaling
20/ You never go out without your bike lights (for nighttime riding)
Well duh! Being a Resident 101 mandates a bicycle. Extra points if you carry at least one or two other people on board with you, as well as all of your shopping. The retropedaling thing doesn't apply to everyone but it is pretty common. In my case it's more of a necessity because my hand breaks don't work. For me, it's either pump the pedals backwards or fly high speed into a canal.
4/ Eating 7 slides of bread for lunch doesn’t scare
you anymore
5/ By the way, you stopped eating warm lunch. You
just eat bread
My friend told me that, with all the bread and cheese, as well as the obsession to put mayonnaise on everything over here, that it's a good thing I didn't start a diet when I came here. Anyway, there is so much awesome, fresh bread at the stores and, even better, at the fresh food market every couple of days. The Dutch are big on simple, cold lunches, which is fine by me. But, it's pretty true, there's a lot of bread. The most common lunch I've seen is a couple of sandwiches that consist of two slices of bread and a piece of cheese. It's great because these are definitely my two favorite food groups. :)
14/ As soon as the sun pops out, you make a barbecue, even if it’s 10°C
outside
So true! As soon as the sun came out (finally by the way!) People moved everything outside like it was midsummer. It was such a welcomed relief after overcast for awhile. Our house began eating and studying outside whenever we got the chance.
18/ You still don’t know how to speak Dutch. But your English has
improved
Obviously this was geared towards the non-native English speakers (see previous post).
26/ You don’t even bother to ask “do you speak English?”, you just speak
English right away
At first, this might sound inconsiderate. But it's definitely a trend I've been noticing. You need to understand that, as much as you try (and I mean I really do try) to speak in Dutch to somebody, the second they get even a hint that you might speak English, they switch right over. If you say "pardon" with too much of an accent, the checkout person will immediately switch to "have a nice weekend" or "would you like a receipt." It makes things easier, but it doesn't make learning Dutch very simple.
I usually just go along with it when somebody's talking to me in Dutch, hoping I'm interpreting their inflections right, but I eventually have to break down and admit my ignorance if they go on for more than a couple of sentences. Nodding and smiling only gets you so far. I tried it at the library the other day until I realize the man was actually trying to kick me out of the room so his class could come in.
27/ When you go to the cinema, you are ok with being
told where to sit
28/ And you wouldn’t dare sit anywhere else
54/ You can drink beer in the cinema
This was a weird one for me, I'll admit. We were in the biggest theater I've ever seen and still had assigned seats. There was hardly anybody there! What was odd was that one of the girls in our group, who bought her ticket at the same time, was assigned to a different row. We chanced it but we saw another group of people get ousted by some other people for sitting in their seats. They also sell beer at the theater, which I thought was interesting. But they also serve it in some university buildings so I guess it's not that strange at all.
29/ You have finally accepted the fact that Gouda is cheese
I have discovered my love for Gouda. The only thing is, everything is Gouda. So much Gouda! When we went to London last week we bought cheddar cheese as a treat.
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| Super popular cookie-like things. Crispy outside with syrupy inside. Also come served fresh at the market and many people like them warmed up. |
This one was also new to me. In many public places, toilets are privately owned by companies so you have to pay to go in and use them. This was also the case in Germany.
50/ Your windows have no curtains, and you don’t
care
51/ If your windows have curtains, you don’t use
them, and just don’t care who might be looking at you
Yeah, the Dutch, they're not real big on curtains. It's normal to walk down the street and be able to see into everybody's business. Which is great for a nosy person like myself. :)
56/ You can ride your bike in the rain, wind and even snow
That doesn't, however, make it easy or enjoyable. And, I warn you, no matter what direction you're traveling, it will blowing in your face. It's nice that there aren't hills in the Netherlands, but the wind often makes it feel like you're constantly climbing a mountain that's also suffering from an ongoing earthquake.
58/ You can ride your bike wearing skirt (if you’re a girl), a suit or
even high heels (if you’re a girl)
Yup, it's always an appropriate time and you're always in the appropriate attire to ride a bike. I don't know how they do it.
61/ “Alstublieft and dank u wel” are the only Dutch words you know
I know more than this but these are definitely the staple. You try too many more and people catch on that you don't know what you're talking about. A lot of people that I know who are studying here from other countries only know these two phrases.
64/ You go to the market and you only buy the stuffs that fit in your
bike
Valid point, but you'd be surprised about how much you can fit on a bike. Especially if you have one of these...
A few weeks ago I saw a guy transporting a piano in one of these things!
82/ You know that the wind blows in your face regardless of the
direction in which you are biking
See! I told you so!
92/ You know that the Netherlands doesn’t have a special dish. They just
fry everything
Not completely true but there are these things all over the cities, simply called "The Wall" where it's like a vending machine that is open late and opens out into the street full of hot food. The "kroket" is something that a Dutch girl made me try as a traditional Dutch food. It was fried all full of some substance that tasted meaty and was kind of creamy. The most information about its contents that I can get is that I don't want to know what's in it and "nobody every asks."
98/ You still don’t speak Dutch but watch silly Dutch TV shows like Take
me out and Single
I don't know what these shows are but I do enjoy listening to the Dutch chatter away on the radio in between the "Top 40" songs that are playing in the kitchen.
100/ You are used to people bumping into you abruptly on the street, yet
never saying sorry
This makes it sound rude, but I don't think that's the case. It's true that there's not a lot of eye contact on the street with people you don't know but I agree with how my Dutch friend put it...Dutch people don't initiate conversations and interactions with people they don't know, but they're very receptive and friendly to it should somebody else start.
A couple of others I feel necessary to add...
1) The condiment of choice is mayonnaise
2) The stairs are all so narrow, tiny and steep
Seriously though, I don't understand how the country
with the tallest people in the world has such tiny stairs. I often fear for my life when I'm trying to climb down them.
These are just some casual observations that I have notices throughout my time here. Some took some getting used to but I'm sure I'll probably miss them when I go home!
