So, I’ve been reading various blogs lately…

especially those that have something in common with me:

1) Losing Weight/ Using Weight Watchers

2) Expatriates / “Love Immigrants”

3) Stepmoms

4) People who are funny (huh?  does that mean I think I’m funny?)

Something I find very interesting are “girls” like me who live in another country basically to be with the one they love (OK, I didn’t come here for that reason, but I am here NOW because of the one I love. 

I like to read the different viewpoints.

I like to get confirmation on things, even if they are not nice things being confirmed (Amanda’s run-in with the doctor’s assistant being one example).  I like to hear about people changing and adapting to the culture.  I  like to hear about what is important to KEEP from their own culture.

I sometimes make “fun” of the Dutch to my lovely boyfriend.  Not too seriously and not too harsh because he is DUTCH after all.  It’s simply not nice to be too harsh about my observations over the last 12 years.  Nearly every Dutch person that I become somewhat close to (there aren’t many)  actually agrees with the things I say / have observed.

One of the things I heard in the beginning all the time was “not possible” .  This is a Dutch favourite.  This actually means more like “not probable“.  You go to a shop and say:

“Do you have this item in Red in size 44?”

“If it’s not on the racks, we don’t have it”

“Could you check in the back [call another shop/suggest something not completely out of the ordinary] for me?

“No, that’s not possible.”

“Not possible?”

“No, not possible.”

*look of total confusion covers face*

Really you could insert “not possible” into any situation.  It happened a lot.  Then I moved to the Hague where it didn’t happen so much.  I wondered often if it was because there was such an elite percentage of foreigners/expats there.  All the ambassadors.  The Queen herself.  Big Wigs from the Oil companies.  Members of Parliament.  The service level was SO good and I really loved it there.

It’s different in Arnhem.  Although it’s not BAD, it’s just different.  Well, we also don’t go out as much either so maybe I can’t compare very well.

Then there is the shrug-your-shoulders-I-don’t-know-not-my-job look.  You know, when dealing with something very important like the hospital, or the government, immigration, town hall, that sort of thing.  One person tells you one thing, another person another thing, you want answers.  Ultimately you will get this shrugging.  No one really enjoys doing more than their “job”, you’ll have to check with Jan-Jaap who’s on holiday for 3 weeks.  Lately I’ve been shrugging in gest with the One I Love and we’ve been laughing about it.  Hard.

My favourite -the cluster-fuck.  Lack of queueing.  I mean it would be asking WAY too much to have people actually stand DECENTLY in a queue and wait their turn.    Once I was at Schiphol, standing in one of two queues at the ABN AMRO bank machines.  There was one person in front of me.  The woman who was aan de beurt in the other queue suddenly went to OUR machine when it was free, cutting off the woman in front of me.  Feeling quite feisty I said something to her.  She told me she was “in a hurry”.  Oh.  I guess the rest of us aren’t.  Go ahead Miss Look Like Everyone Else KLM Stewardess.  You are WAY more important.  I was riled up.  She was riled up.  So much so that she forgot the €10 she took from the machine.  Yes, €10. 

That was a more civilised situation.  I imagine that was because most of us who WERE queueing, were not Dutch.

I suppose I could go on and on about my experiences here, but I also want it to be clear that I’m very positive about the Netherlands.  No where is perfect. This is more “home” to me than I’ve every felt anywhere else (Well, I REALLY enjoyed Portland a lot!!).  This is the longest I’ve lived anywhere for this long.  There are SO many things I love about here - many “things” are actually feelings.  The feeling I get when I see families bicycling together on a sunny Sunday afternoon.  The feeling of security that I have, that I can always go to the doctor, no matter what.  Driving through a city on the motorway and still seeing fields of cows and sheep.  Driving through tiny villages and truly taking in the landscape.  There are no mountains here and that IS a “negative”, but I can GET to the mountains pretty quickly if need be.

There’s only ONE thing.  I truly wonder if I would have made more friends by now.  I do think I LET the culture and language hold me back (which is silly, I speak the language and I’m pretty much integrated…).

Just some randomness for a Wednesday morning

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