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Notes
from the Dutch Desk.
Spijkenisse,
April 17, 2000
Some
comments from expat. employees of De Nederlandsche Bank. A
Greek lady: ”Sometimes
the Dutch behave almost aggressively. A little more modesty wouldn’t be wrong.
The Dutch are very direct. In the UK they try and hide the more sharp edges.
It’s funny that Dutch people eat so much dairy-produce. Never have I seen so
many adults drinking milk at lunch.” She
finds also some good things about this country: “Finding
a place to sleep in Amsterdam is tricky but I did succeed and I find it a
tremendously nice city. The town is very compact, something I didn’t expect.
The network of roads is fantastic and there are few cars. (With which some would
not agree with.. Ed.). Especially nice in the Netherlands is that I find that
people are always trying to improve themselves. For instance: So many people
speak English. The other day even a beggar went over seamlessly from Dutch to
English”. A
gentlemen who has both the German and the Norwegian nationality says: “Norwegians
and Dutch resemble a lot in mentality, also in work surroundings. Also in Norway
usually people don’t stay every day till very late hours in the office. I find
it striking however that the Dutch handle their money very conscientiously, in
some cases till in the extreme. One of the disadvantages of life in The
Netherlands is the food. I can’t say that I’m very enthusiastic about the
typically Dutch kitchen.” A
lady from the former DDR: “I
like it that I can escape the crowds of Amsterdam at the end of a working day. I
live in Zaandam (about 10 km from Amsterdam). Though I like it to visit
Amsterdam and go out during the weekend, I find the town too busy to live in.
However I miss the bread of Germany. They have many more kinds of bread and it
is nice and solid. In Holland you take a slice of bread in your hand and
immediately after that nothing is left.” (And
that is what we Dutch often don’t like in the German bread, it’s too
compact, Irish soda bread, that’s delicious, and we have good bread ourselves
of course, she didn’t find the right bakery obviously… Tj.) Spijkenisse,
April 7, 2000 The
Dutch are famous or maybe notorious for our drugs policy. People travel here
from all over the world as so called “drugs tourists” Be aware that you may
be offered drugs. For instance: when you come to Amsterdam and you leave the
Railway Station and you look maybe not too respectable, you will be asked in no
time: Would you like to buy some weed, some pills, some hash etc. However:
in this country it’s legal to buy soft drugs from the age of 16 in so called
“coffeeshops”, you can recognise them from the word “coffeeshop” on the
window and in addition a picture of a green leaf of the hemp plant. Hard drugs
are illegal however. T E-B for People Going Global Countries with their own PeopleGoingGlobal pages, many more to come. Australia Austria Britain Canada China Denmark England Finland France Germany India Italy Japan Mexico Netherlands New-Zealand Northern-Ireland Russia Scotland Singapore South-Africa South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Thailand Tonga UK USA Wales Countries without their own PeopleGoingGlobal pages can be found in the continent they belong to. |
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