Those crazy Dutch… part 1

I’ve had the chance to live for many years outside the borders of my own country, Romania, in fact I’ve lived more than half of my life in contact with different cultures, habits, having to speak in a tongue that is not my own. An experience I consider to be a privilege. And what all of these years have thought me is never, ever, take “what they say” for granted, you know, the stereotypes. It’s stupid and it’s always wrong.

So there I was, around 4 months ago, armed with the knowledge that I don’t know shit about Holland, in the middle of Holland, at an elevation of no more than 13 meters and surrounded by Dutch people and a lot of ducks and other water creatures. Time to open my eyes and learn something. And so I did, walked around Arnhem, almost staring at people, a bad habit of mine, and there was the first cultural lesson. If you make eye contact, while walking in the park or on a quiet street more likely than not people will say hi to you. Time for a quick note, we’re talking about Arnhem here, not Amsterdam or another bigish city. Note ended. So, the Dutch are friendly…, what else…

And so I walked and keep on walking and learning and being amazed. And while I am still walking around the crazy Dutch people I wanted to write some of the things that catch my eye. I do this for myself, so I won’t forget and I do this for my friends who might be interested to see things through my eyes.

And as I mentioned my friends, I want to make it crystal clear that by crazy Dutch I mean crazy in the best possible way. Just that we are clear and I don’t get beaten to death at work tomorrow with a keyboard or strangled with a mouse cord. If they used a wireless mouse that would be something to see, though..:).

Anyway, this week, each day, I will write about one thing I find strange, different, cool and so on. Keep on reading.