Apart from my Dutch diaries I will be updating you on all the little things of the Dutch culture that I find intriguing, confusing, admirable or amusing! Hopefully with some photos to boot!
Dutch Courage:
As I sat coldly curled up on Wassenaar beach at 10pm waiting to see if there may be some falling stars, as suggested by a friend's host family, I saw something else fall. Not stars but people. Not so much falling but jumping... into the sea. Yet, it was freezing!? This group of crazy Dutch people then emerged triumphantly from the black waves donned only in skimpy shorts and bikinis! Amazing.
Apparently it's traditional on NYE to take an inevitably more freezing dip into the North Sea. I resolved then that if I was in Holland on December 31st then I'd try it. I thought I'd have a little swim on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Noordwijk, a warm up if you like. Not sure I'm cut out for it...
Cycling:
Call me an ignorant British tourist but I am finding it difficult to adjusting to the European way of travel. I mastered biking on the right side of the road but I just can’t seem to look the correct way when crossing over one. It’s led to a few unfortunate incidents. My difficulty at crossing the road is actually enhanced when utilising the traffic light system since the style of my bike is such that to brake I have to backpedal, there is no handbrake. This means not only do I find it awkward to stop when it’s red but also to get my pedals in the correct position in order to set off when the light goes green. Indeed to adjust I can only move forward so I end up drifting slowly into the pedestrian crossing or swerving heavily from my lack of momentum!
The latter issue is enhanced oh so greatly when using the bakfiets. When steering that kind of machinery performing turns on the Roman-style roads of the Netherlands is a task I’m not sure I’ll ever get the hang of. And finally, sand. I plainly cannot cycle through it without losing control of my front wheel, how do you prevent the sand infecting your tyre? It’s a challenge. But even after all my moaning I must admit I am getting slightly attached to the thrill of cycling in the Netherlands.
A Birthday Party!
A time of celebration, congratulations are certainly in order! But who do you need to congratulate? Surely not everyone needs to be congratulated on the birthday? Surely just the person whose birthday it is. Well not in the Netherlands as I discovered when some more guests arrived at a birthday party I was at recently. The new guests all circled the room offering their hand and I naively assumed it was simply a greeting. However as my turn came round all I was greeted with was a ‘Gefeliciteerd’. Congratulations to me, the daughter of a good friend of his. Congratulations on your neighbour’s birthday, your friend’s, brother’s, mother’s, son’s. A strange concept. I simply cannot imagine this becoming part of the English culture where I think even to congratulate the mother and father is considered a little formal. Indeed it would probably only be done on a significant birthday.