All Things Holland

Ok, so i've been slacking. I haven't been looking into Dutch things for a week or two and haven't posted anything in the meantime. So today I thought I would go into the Dutch "tolerance" idea. When people say Amsterdam, we think Red light district and legal marijuana. But... Despite it being legal there, you almost never see a Dutch person getting high. You see TONS of foreigners smoking out in Dutch “coffee shops” (“coffee shop” means marijuana; “cafe” means coffee) but it’s pretty rare to see a Dutch person there. The legalization is tied to a very Dutch concept called “gedoogbeleid” which is difficult to translate but means permissiveness-because-there-are-bigger-fish-to-fry. (Or don't sweat the small stuff when something bigger is out there.) The Dutch live below sea level, so they have plenty of dams & dikes keeping the water out. To relieve pressure on this system, a little water always trickles through – that’s okay as long as they can keep the flo...

Depending on where you are from, people make automatic assumptions about you. I've been thinking about this and it is true with countries as well, maybe more so. So are unfounded, most are out of date but they are there non the less. Canada = maple syrup, hockey, "ay?" Britain = bad teeth, drive on the wrong side of the road, BBC, Queen France = arrogant, "french girls", fancy food Russia = vodka, cold, supermodels, communism USA = "everyone should speak english", fast food, sports Germany = Hitler, blonde haired blue eyed Why am I doing this article? Here is the tag line. Netherlands = accepting (look the other way), tulips, wooden shoes, windmills, color orange, (recently) soccer. Here are a few facts about the Netherlands. 1) You already know they are known form their Beer. Heineken and Amstel. 2) Cheese. A county full of cows has good cheese. They are known for Gouda cheese. The cheese is named after the region it was made in, hence Gouda. 3) Flowe...

I'm trying to only post pictures or videos of things that I personally have taken or know I am allowed to post, so from now on I'll be linking you to things. Apeldoorn is the name of a Dutch town that is the home to Centraal Beheer the largest Insurance firm in the Netherlands. Sometimes it is just refered to as Apeldoorn. I found them the other day because of this photo . What you are looking at is the back of a bus. Imagine dozing off for a second only to awake seeing that! Their advertisment "Even Apeldoorn Bellen" translates to Just call Apeldoorn or Let's call Apeldoorn. There advertising campaign has been going on for the last 15 years. Almost all of their commercials are quick humorous spots followed by their catch phrase. Here are two that I enjoyed. This one isn't in Dutch but has Dutch subtitles and it's about two cleaning ladies. Click . The other one doesn't have any words and is about a dog and a boat. You'll see what I mean. Click . T...

I've finally gotten around to posting some pictures from my Blauvelt NY trip. This first couple of shots are from the Baylor Massacre historical site that I posted a couple of weeks ago. Just thought I would prove that I know what I'm talking about and not making this stuff up. Notice Cornelius Blauvelt in the center! This site was where the soldiers were buried with the mill stone on top of their grave. It's located right of the road in a small little park. I found it interesting that people walk their dogs or drive past this daily without thinking of the terrible thing that happened to these men and that this area in effect is a graveyard.

My parents went on a trip to California recently. They talked to people about my interest in Dutch things and the man they were talking to mentioned that I should look up Holambra, Brazil. So I did. This is an excerpt from a website I found ( http://www.v-brazil.com/tourism/foreigner/holambra.html ). Add this to the list of places that speak Dutch outside of the Netherlands and places I would like to visit. The town is on the South-East side of Brazil near Sao Paulo. Holland, in Portuguese, is Holanda. A city built jointly by Holland and Brazil should, then, be called Holan + Bra = Holanbra. However, Portuguese orthography requires that, before a "b", an "m" must be used. Hence, Holambra, a piece of Holland in Brazil. Or Hol land- Am erica- Bra zil. In 1948, after World War II, Holland was not so rich as today; many families, particularly from the countryside, didn't have bright perspectives in their country, and wanted to emigrate. Brazil was the option for som...

Yesterday I was made aware that I need to be careful putting pictures up here due to copyrights and all that stuff. Thankfully, blogger has some websites that it claims are safe so here it goes. The Dutch have trucked out some serious artists, most during the 19th century. I'm not much of an art connoisseur, so thank you internet. Vincent van Gogh - Born in 1853 in southern Netherlands. He was a Post-Impressionist painter who battled mental illness his whole life. Famously cutting of his ear and mailing it. The story goes that he cut off a portion of his left ear lobe and put it in an envelope which he gave to a brothel wench and told her to "Guard this object carefully." To the left is his most famous painting entitled Starry Night. He also painted many self-portaits. Again, I'm no expert, but he seems to have a very distinct style. An expert described it as blots of colorful paints when placed next to each other trick the eye into seeing movement. He painted th...

Today I thought I would start an ongoing portion where I tell you about semi-famous to famous people who are Dutch. Some you wouldn't have guessed and others you already know. First off are Movies..... ( Her picture here ) I could only find one big name. Famke Janssen - Born in Holland. Best known for her roles as Xenia Onatopp in Goldeneye and Jean Grey in X-Men. She recently appeared as Liam Neeson's wife in Taken. Interestingly, her first name means little girl in West Frisian and she speaks (besides Dutch) English and French. All the rest of the Dutch actors and actresses are not main stream enough to be recognizable.