Sometimes I feel sorry for American tourists that visit the Netherlands. Not always, there are times when I’m cycling and a tourist (and a lot of those are American) hops onto the road without even looking to see who’s coming, forcing me to swerve across the street, while avoiding other cyclist, causing a chain reaction of road rage. Also, don’t think that I’m being too harsh, because I’m counting on enraging half the States by the time I learn how to drive (when I’ve actually mastered the skill it will be okay, but who knows how long that might take). Anyway, one of the times I feel most sorry for American tourists is when they go grocery shopping.
I didn’t want to give away any spoilers, so here’s a very happy woman doing groceries in Holland, Michigan.
You see, in the States there is a certain luxury when you’re doing your groceries. You get your basket, walk up to the register, pile your stuff on the belt and pay while someone else packs your bags. The confusing part in the Netherlands is that it sneaks up on you. You get your basket, walk up to the register, pile your stuff on the belt and pay while you’re at the same time supposed to pack your own bags, that you should have bought before you got to the register. No one is packing your bags for you. I feel a lot of sympathy for those tourists that go through this the first time. As a teenager, this was the worst part of doing groceries. By the time I started packing, a big line had formed behind me. I would get nervous by having all these people wait on me, packing bags and getting my wallet out at the same time. Of course, the nervousness would cause my wallet to burst open and spray coins all over the place, so after picking them up, I’d carelessly pack my bag, throwing the eggs in first and piling cartons of milk on top of them, getting more and more nervous by the minute and walking home with broken eggs, leaking cartons and enough to cry about for the next two weeks. That’s why I feel sorry for those who didn’t even see it coming.
It didn’t help either that half my basket was filled with the stuff you use to fight acne.
Whenever you dive into a new culture, you start noticing differences. Visiting Missouri might thus be described as the attempt to be a cannonball in American culture. To understand a country and its culture, history is all important. Whereas American culture so often seems rooted in a struggle for freedom and the idea to start from scratch; Dutch history, too, could bring forth a view on the culture of The Netherlands. Describing important historical events from my home country can perhaps clarify the culture differences this blog revolves around. Of course, I’m no historian, so this short history is not pretending to be complete, even though the entertaining goal is attained through facts, rather than my own opinion. Where further information could be interesting, I have provided links to wikipedia pages. The one on the bottom is not to be skipped, though. This is the story about a people that are known for their tolerance, their cooperative and exploring nature and the fact that they liked their country so much, they made more of it. As the saying goes: God created the world, but the Dutch created Holland.
Even though archeological findings indicate human activities emerged around 2,500 B.C., the interesting part of history starts with the Roman Empire – as always. Even though The Netherlands were seen as a useless swamp, some cities still show remains from Caesar’s friends (my university uses ‘Lugduno Batava’ in its seal; the Latin description of the city of Leiden). After the Romans left, small communities start to develop and stay quiet for over a thousand years. Around the 12th century, these communities start coordinating the maintenance of the dams and dikes they had built to keep their feet dry. Some scholars still believe this necessity-based regulation still shapes today’s cooperating-government model (I just forgot which ones, so there’s no reference here). What is sure, however, is how this local coordinating can be seen as typically Dutch. As a Belgian girl once told me, the Dutch ‘have quite a fetish to regulate everything and then talk about it for hours, until everyone will agree’.
Say all you want, Belgians, but it keeps our feet dry.
Things get really interesting around the 1550’s. Protestantism catches on in Europe and the local communities have developed into several provinces (Holland being the most important one), who work together as a republic. When the Spanish king wants to raise taxes and force Catholicism through the rebellious Dutch throats, they pull off a classic puberty move: they shut the door, mock in their room and do exactly the opposite of what they were told. In practice, they rise up against the Spanish, even when their cities are besieged for months, and announce Protestantism to be the official religion, while allowing other religions to quietly exist. This draws the attention of the Pilgrim Fathers and other groups in search of freedom.
They called it freedom, but this is clearly a picture of the siege of Leiden.
While William of Orange (and his offspring, after he’s murdered) fights off the Spanish, the rest of the country starts developing rapidly. As they are acquainted with water, the Dutch have a superior fleet that swiftly discovers the whole world. The Dutch East India Company and the Dutch East India Company introduce new trading mechanisms throughout the world, including globalization and stock exchange. Their trade and colonial business expand the economical range of the republic to the east coast of North and South America, Australia, India, Japan, Indonesia and South Africa, some of which are official colonies, up until WWII. At the homeland, cultural live really flourishes, resulting in memorable names such as painters Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and early scientists Huygens and Leeuwenhoek.
An overview of the Dutch Empire, as provided by wikipedia
By the time the United States had announced its independence, difficulties arose among the Dutch. Internal quarrels combined with the imperial forces of Napoleon lead to both occupation by the French and later the start of Dutch monarchy when sovereignty is gained back. Being occupied is never fun, but at least the French gave us the metrical system; a blessing that’s hard to measure, even with those wonderful standardized indicators. After 15 years of renewed independence, the Belgians decided to go their own way and should still regret that decision. The last constitutional change occurs in 1848, when the current Dutch constitution is written. Even with all its colonies, the superiority that was evident in earlier ages never comes back.
While WWI skips The Netherlands, Germany doesn’t care much for its neutrality when May 1940 comes around. The barely equipped Dutch soldiers fight for all their worth, but nostalgic defense tactics like flooding the battlefield prove useless against paratroopers and the rigorous bombing of Rotterdam. German occupation lasts from 1940 to 1945. After WWII, the world as we know it takes shape. In the Dutch case, you can take this quite literally, as a new province is added after drying the land in the middle. Alongside with increasingly rapid economical growth, the sexual and social revolutions take place. This, again, is where Dutch tolerance regains its name and its current reputation. In hindsight, the years 1970-2000 are years without major problems and of flourishing. The murder of an upcoming populist politician in May 2002, even when just an incident in the bigger picture, is generally marked as the moment where the country lost its innocence and joins the Western world in all its problems and new millennium struggles.
This is nowaday’s shape of The Netherlands. The highlighted area is our newest province.
As I said, Dutch history could perhaps provide a deeper view on culture. I think this is still the case. Some of the characteristics I have highlighted above match cultural expressions. There is a pride amongst Dutch, comparing the relative small size of the country with the big role it has played in the Western world. Between people, businesses and all sorts of stakeholders, there is a constant need to cooperate, compromise and talk things out. Labor strikes are very rare, as are huge demonstrations. Trade and globalization are still ever present in Dutch thinking and economy, as is their stubbornness demonstrated in the straight-forward way they communicate. More on Dutch culture can be found here in bullet points on wikipedia (while reading it, I agreed with all points, all the while finding it hard to believe these points are that noteworthy).
Drawing from personal experience or the bullet point list, what strikes you most about Dutch culture?
Extra:
A video clip that recently became popular and explains both the difference between Holland and The Netherlands and today’s constitutional organization:
I don’t know what you’re doing today, but I’m doing something special. I try to never let political issues or opinions feature on this blog, but today I’m breaking my own rule. I’ll excessively show you my political preference and take you to a ballot wonderland. Remember those annoying people that take a photo of their ballot? Take a quick look:
The picture is a bit shaken, because I thought it might be illegal to take a picture. That wasn’t the biggest fear, but I was seriously afraid people would know I’d put it on Twitter (which I did, but I would be ashamed if anyone found out).
That’s the Dutch ballot. Whatever you thought it was, please tell me in the comments. I’ll try and explain why it looks like a Norwegian crossword puzzle. We have about twelve political parties, who fill up the 150 seats in the House of Representatives. By picking a name, you vote for the party that person is with, and if that person would get enough votes on his own, he might actually jump a few places.
This is the result of last September’s elections. Those two parties with 41 and 39 seats are respectively the right-wing party and a moderate left-wing party, who are actually working together now. Normally, parties along the right-left spectrum might try to form a coalition (76 seats at least), but these last elections turned out to be pretty polarizing. If you are ever eligible to vote in the Netherlands, I recommend ChristenUnie. Not only will you be rooting for the underdog, you’d also be voting for the only party that mixes christian values with common sense and pragmatism (not to be confused with trading values FOR pragmatism).
Europe as a whole is different from the US as a whole. Also, the US can be divided into many different areas, all with their own habits and cultural differences. I know this. Americans know this. Still, when people are interested in where I come from, Europe seems to be taken as if it were a country. Depending on how much time I spend with those people asking me questions after I answered them, I might correct them. Because I’m not just from Europe. I’m from the Netherlands. It may seem like they’re similar to states, but that resemblance is only true in crossing borders and using money. In a lot of other prospects, for example the empirical one, they’re countries. Like the US and Mexico.
It’s not that I don’t understand the confusion, it’s that I feel I should clarify I don’t know what gas prices in Europe are. I’m guessing Polish gas prices are lower than Dutch ones, even if only because Poland is closer to Russia. Valid argument? I wouldn’t know. Also, do we have a president in Europe? Yeah, several. In fact, Europe has its own president. Several countries have their own, some adding the more important role of a prime minister in there too and among the countries within the European Union, we have at least three monarchies (that’s kings and queens). I love the questions, keep ‘m coming, but sometimes I feel some people see me as a European citizen. Just to make sure: there’s no citizen in Europe that feels that way.
What part of your identity do you feel mostly connected to?
What part of your identity do you not like being reminded of?
As some of you may know, half of the Netherlands is below sea level (thanks for the PR, Al Gore!). So is my hometown, Leiden. We never experience an earthquake, there is no danger of tornadoes and forest fires are nowhere to be found. All that’s of any danger is a breaking of the dikes (and dunes). We therefore don’t have any ‘severe weather’ shelters everywhere, like you can see in a lot of places when visiting Missouri. One of the things that I found most interesting, is that most shelters normally function as bathrooms in public places like airports and grocery stores.
What I wonder is: what happens when severe weather breaks out? Apparently you all run into the bathrooms. Do men and women go into their normal, seperate bathrooms? What about a twelve-year old boy that’s shopping with his mother? If you’re there for a while and you have to use the restroom, is that frowned upon? Every time I see such a sign, I think of the mess you’ll have if you’re trapped in there with a crowd of people for over a few hours. All better than unexpectedly being caught by a tornado, but still. Must be heartbreaking to be trapped in a grocery store bathroom and to get hungry.
I wrote this somewhere in January, but the timing for publishing it is rather unfortunate, seeing the aftermath of tornado storms in the Midwest this week. I don’t mean to underestimate or play down the effects a tornado can have on a society.
Americans, could you stop driving that many big cars, so the sea level won’t rise that fast?
I have come back to the Netherlands last Wednesday. Air France decided not to take me (although they were happy to fly my bag, apparently), so I had to go through New York instead of Paris. If it helps me avoid the French, I’ll be happy to. There’s snow everywhere here, which is not my favorite kind of weather. Maybe I’m just spoiled, because the Missouri winter turned out to be sunny and warm. Besides the sun, there’s two things that are missing in this lovely country of mine:
Every time I looked down in the sink, I wondered how my fingers would look if I dared. I bet I'm not the only one.
When visiting Missouri, I never have a drink without ice. Because I can.
It’s the thing that crushes your leftover food and the things that keeps your drinks cold. Whereas the latter might be a pure luxury and could be replaced by the plastic surrogate I have lying around in the freezer, that first thing I will dearly miss.
It’s most obvious when I’m at my parent’s and cooking. After you’re done making a meal, you are left with tips from green beans, the rotten parts of a green pepper, a bit of an avocado and more of the sort. When you have a magical sink, you turn on the faucet and make the sink’s belly roar. When you don’t, you take out the veggie box, walk outside (on wooden shoes in my case), dump the contents in the outside container, walk back in and then scrape the inside with a kitchen roll before you rinse it off. For some reason, this magical sink idea never lifted off in the Netherlands. I cannot imagine someone liking the manual process over the fully automated crushing of leftovers.
Did you see you can officially like me on Facebook now? If so, why haven’t you done that yet?
Is there something else you think I might be missing (miss Missouri not being a thing)?
Remember last time I was mid-air, wrote you a blog post and scheduled it in February? Yeah, that was fun (wait, no). Well, surprise! I’m mid-air right now heading back from Saint Louis, Missouri to Leiden, The Netherlands. I’ll be talking about my arrival and the culture shock on Friday probably, just like I did last time. While visiting Missouri, I have prepared a lot of exciting things to do and show for the coming months, one of them will be introduced in a bit. As I was the only one liking my monthly recaps, I have decided to replace them for a video blog once a while. Hope you’re as excited as I am. At least you’ll get to hear my funny accent.
It’s weird to go back. I have tried to take a lot more pictures than I did last summer, I’ll try to capture my adventures in my coming blog posts, but I cannot describe in either of them the feeling I get when I’m driving on the highway and a semi-truck passes me, painted in all kinds of colors. The way Walmart feels at midnight if you’re used to grocery shops that close at 9pm. How people wonder whether my shoes are comfortable, because all they normally wear is white tennis shoes. The fact that you cannot drive for five minutes or more without seeing an American flag SOMEWHERE. Billboards that scream political messages that make you feel utterly uncomfortable. Signs telling you to leave your gun in the car. How Starbucks employees cannot pronounce my first name right, but keep trying. How people here want to hear from you, even if they see you for just for a few minutes. I’d suggest trying all the differences for yourself. Send me an email when you’re coming over and I’ll show you around. Until August, I’ll be happily blogging along. See you on Friday, folks!
Help me schedule next August: what should I be doing?
Also, I have taken the bold step of creating a Facebook page. You can express your likes by channeling them into the button on your right. Please.
Okay, I know this blog is based on the premise of me visiting Missouri (or just any state, but well, there’s the title and all…), but I really liked this youtube clip. It’s actually an American doing the same thing I do. He came from Seattle to Groningen to see the bicycles. I have seen American tourists take pictures of the bicycles here. I have heard them complain how you cannot just cross the street without looking first to see if you’re about to be run over by some riding a bicycle. Somehow, the guy in the next youtube clip is noticing something quite extraordinary about Groningen. He is riding his bike through the city center and cannot get over one thing. If you guess what it is, you win a prize. Also, notice how he’s the greatest danger on the road. If you’re not used to cycling in Holland, maybe filming it is one step too far. For those of you who would take pictures of a bicycle shed (it happens), make sure you check out 3:30. Thanks to Jelle for sending me the video and Mario for shooting it.
Already the last Friday of November (time flies), so another casual Friday. First of all, I’d like to share some of this month’s number with the stakeholders (that’s you), then I’ll tell you what other blogs I have found and would like to share and finally, I will explain what has been going on at my other blogs.
First of all, Novembers most popular post by far was the episode with the school bus. Also, Google has now found my blog and is getting me visitors that were actually looking for ‘sweaty old men’, ‘school bus commercials’ and ‘are men lazy on television’. I’ve got an audience that is hard to pin down. Luckily, some googlers found me on the exact words ‘visiting Missouri’. That was a proud moment. In blogs I follow: check out Me 2.0, who writes some of the craftiest sentences I have seen and Dances with Chaos, who turns out to be of a rare breed: she writes about her kids while actually being funny.
On my other blogs, things are getting better and better. As they have a better targeted audience, I get visitors from google all the time (how about someone looking for ‘people stuck next to obnoxious people on a subway’, I really love analyzing search engine terms), but from what I can tell, they could never have found what they were looking for. The most popular post on the other English one has to be 5 things that aren’t romantic in real life. The Dutch one has been thriving under the little side business I’m doing and gets quite some visitors every day looking for ‘Sinterklaasgedichten’. Check it out, I’d say.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I may have forgotten last Friday was the last of the month, so I decided to switch the two. You’re now reading last Friday’s post and if you want to read today’s, I’d like to refer you to the matter I posted last Friday. This month was the second month this very blog existed and I’d like to review it with you. The best viewed post in October was without a doubt the Episode with the guns. As expected, I have to say, because it’s bound to stir up some emotion. I was glad to see it did and people got involved in a little discussion. Feel free to add to it. Also, I have been digging deeper into the blogging community and added some links in my blogroll. I especially recommend the Guide to women, which is both hilarious and a fantastic view on life and relationships. Life in hashtags handles life in Tenessee, which is only one state away, so read it.
Lastly, I want to talk about what’s going on on my other two blogs. The one in Dutch is growing steadily, but only updated once a week. For those of you wondering: my book is at approximately 20%, hoping to get to 40% before the end of November. The other one is growing faster (updated three times a week, just not while having tests), with popular posts such as Hashtag bashing (not to be confused with Life in hashtags) and Thank You. Take a look, comment and enjoy.
For now: are there any topics that you’re dying to see written about?
What was your favorite post this month?
