keepsakenetherlands

Hello! My name is Marieke and I am from Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, Amsterdam is widely known as a lawless city, where soft drugs and prostitution are legal. And indeed, we do have the coffee shops, where you can choose from various kinds of drugs and where coffee is the only thing that’s not served. And indeed, we have the louche red light districts, where girls offer their services, where you can buy all kinds of sex toys and video tapes, and where you will find odd statues in the streets. I can assure you that the coffee shops and the red light district are thorns in Amsterdam’s flesh, because these areas only attract tourists who come here solely for this kind of entertainment, and don’t pay any attention to everything else that Amsterdam has to offer.

However, Amsterdam has more! We have great museums, and whether you’re
interested in art, anthropology, cats, medieval punishment, shipping or
history – we have a museum that will meet your interests! The Anne
Frank House, Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum are world-famous, but why not visit the Cat Cabinet, the Tropenmuseum or the Filmmuseum? You can shop
in the famous Kalverstraat, but why not look for bargains and see Amsterdam natives in their natural habitat at the Albert Cuyp market? And if all this makes you hungry, you can eat as exotic as you like; from Ethiopian to Malaysian and from South African to Peruvian.

Amsterdam is a very old city that was established on the banks of the river Amstel. Its first inhabitants build a dam in the river and settled themselves there, naming the village after the dam in the river: Amstelredamme. This was later corrupted into Amsterdam. In the 16th and 17th century Amsterdam became very rich; merchants settled here and the famous ring of canals with its beautiful mansions was built. Amsterdam was also home of the VOC – the sailing company that imported spices from Indonesia. Throughout the ages Amsterdam has grown into the largest Dutch
city, with 850,000 inhabitants. If you’re interested in the history, make sure you don’t forget the Amsterdam Historical Museum on your trip, or visit them online at http://www.ahm.nl/. Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands and houses no less than over 50 different nationalities. The city has truly become a peaceful and colourful meltingpot of people from all over the world.

If you come around April 30th, make sure to take part in the Queensday celebrations. On this day, everyone celebrates the Queen’s birthday – an interesting thing is that it’s not the birthday of the current queen (Beatrix) but of her mother, Juliana. On this day, the whole city of Amsterdam turns into a huge flea market with musicians and street cafés, and many people will be dressed in bright orange – the national colour.

Something very impressive is the National Remembrance Day on May 4th.
At eight o’clock, there is a open-air service with laying wreaths by the Queen and her son, crown-prince Willem-Alexander, on Dam Square in Amsterdam. There are two minutes of silence to commemorate the deaths of innocent people due to violence and war world-wide. The next day, May 5th, is Liberation Day and commemorates the liberation of the Netherlands from the German occupants on May 5, 1945. There are usually music concerts in town.

Sinterklaas is the national Dutch Santa Claus, who brings gifts for the children that have been good. He usually arrives in a steamboat with his servants (Zwarte Pieten) in mid-November, which is an event that is broadcasted nation-wide on the radio and television. From then on, children may put their shoe in front of the chimney before they go to bed, and at night Sinterklaas comes and leaves a gift or some candy for them by having Zwarte Piet climb down the chimney. On the evening of December 5th, which marks the day of death of Saint Nicholas, the children sing traditional Sinterklaas songs, drink hot chocolate and eat traditional candy such as marzipan and gingerbread nuts. Then Sinterklaas and one of his Zwarte Pieten visits them and leaves a bag full of gifts. The next day, he silently heads back to Spain where he, according to the legend, resides during the rest of the year and wraps gifts for the Dutch children. Children who have been bad, run the risk of being taken back in the bag to Spain to help Sinterklaas buy and wrap gifts for next year. Adults also celebrate Sinterklaas; they buy little gifts or their family or friends and wrap them nicely, or shape the wrapping in a
certain (funny) form. I.e. if the person who the gift is for is a soccer fan, the gift may be wrapped in a soccer ball. Anyhow, the gifts and ‘surprises’ (funny wrappings) traditionally come with a teasing little poem about the addressee, which obviously must be read out aloud. Hence, Sinterklaasavond (the eve of Sinterklaas) is always a jolly time for everyone.

Christmas is celebrated by attending the night mass on the evening of December 24th, followed by a drink at home. Sometimes gifts are exchanged before going to church, or afterwards. December 25th and 26th are bank holidays, on which most people visit relatives or friends and have dinner together. Many people cook something special for Christmas. New Years Eve on December 31st is often celebrated with relatives and friends as well. Sometimes people do something nice together, such as having a fondue or playing games, or people watch the news overview of the past year or a traditional Dutch comic monologue about the past year by popular Dutch comedians. Traditional on New Years Eve are the ‘oliebollen’ – doughnut balls sometimes filled with apple or raisins. When
the clock strikes midnight and the new year has begun, people wish one
another a happy new year, drink to the new year and then go outside to
watch or let off fireworks and to wish their neighbours a happy new year
as well. January 1st is traditionally a day to visit relatives or
friends (or to call them) and wish them a happy new year.

For fun, many people play a sport, and soccer traditionally is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. The town you originally come from always houses your favourite soccer team. In the north, you can see some very old traditional sports such as ‘fierljeppen’ (leap over ditches with a stick), ‘klootschieten’ (throwing balls) and ‘zwientikken’ (chasing pigs). In summer, people enjoy going to the beach (Zandvoort and Scheveningen being the most important beach resorts!) or to a lake to swim and sunbathe. Bicycling and swimming are second natures for the Dutch, who learn to ride a bicycle or swim when they’re barely three years old.
Most people cycle from and to work or school, but that doesn’t keep them from making long bicycle rides in their spare time. Iceskating is very popular, and most people learn skating at a very young age. Skating on frozen lakes and ditches is not always possible, but there are enough ice-skating rinks. In summer, camping (either with a mobile home or a tent) as well as barbecueing are very popular. People just sit down, have some food and drinks and enjoy themselves. Many people take courses such in painting, playing an instrument or pottery-making. As for myself,
I enjoy going on long walks or bicycle rides, or relax on the couch with a good book!

Playing outside is very popular with young children. They play games such as hopscotch, hula-hoop, marbles, hide-and-seek and tag. A very popular game that gets children giggling is ring and run – ring at a door, run away and watch from behind a tree the puzzlement on the resident’s face. To earn some extra pocket money, children play bob a job – they will ring doorbells and ask if they can do something in exchange for a little money. In Dutch, the expression for bob a job is ‘heitje voor een karweitje’, which rhymes and literally means ‘a quarter [1/4
guilder, 25 cents) for a chore’. Usually children get some money to wash a car.

There is no such thing as typical Dutch cuisine, but we do have some very Dutch foodstuffs. Take liquorice, for example, that comes in all shapes and flavours (minty, salt, sweet) and that no foreigners like. We Dutch eat kilo’s of ‘drop’ (as we call it) every year. ‘Stroopwafels’ (thin waffles with caramel filling between them) are the best Dutch cookies. The (very dark) wholemeal bread tasts best with butter and ‘hagelslag’ – chocolate sprinkles. Dutch supper dishes are usually quite filling – they should be, because of our harsh winter climate. Great
traditional Dutch dishes are ‘hutspot’ (hotchpotch, mashed potatoes with mashed carrots and onions), ‘boerenkool’ (mashed kale with mashed potatoes and a smoked sausage) and thick ‘erwtensoep’ (pea soup) traditionally served with rye bread and bacon. A traditional Dutch meals consists of soup, then boiled potatoes with vegetables and meat, and then a dessert. A dessert can be pudding or ice cream, but is more likely to be yoghurt or ‘vla’ (some kind of custard). Fresh strawberries with sugar or ice cream are popular in summer. Traditional Dutch pastry, ‘vlaai’, comes from the southern province of Limburg and usually holds fruit such as abricots or cherries. And if you walk on a Dutch market, then be sure to stop at a stall where fish is sold. Raw herring usually comes with raw onions and is eating by sliding it down your throat without chewing – quite a sight! Personally, I’m a vegetarian and I like cooking exotic things. Dutch cuisine also contains many Indonesian dishes such as babi pangang (pork in a sweet-sour sauce) or nasi goreng (fried rice). If you’re looking for a good restaurant while you’re in the Netherlands, try an Indonesian (often referred to as ‘Chinese-Indonesian’) restaurant and order a ‘rijsttafel’ (literally: ‘rice table’) – you won’t be disappointed!
The Netherlands are also famous for its cheeses. We have a wide range of cheeses: plain cheeses from immature to very mature, and cheeses with herbs such as cumin, nettles, mustard, et cetera. Wholemeal bread with cheese is the most popular lunch bag content!

There are a few misconceptions that people have about people from the Netherlands.We don’t wear wooden shoes, that’s the most important thing! You are likely to see people wearing wooden shoes either on farms or in tourist places. We’re not all drug addicts, as our drug policy may suggest – in fact, we have very low drug addiction rates compared to other countries. We’re not afraid to be very open towards others, which often makes people think we’re insolent, but we don’t mean to! We like complaining about the weather and the government, like all others. Many of us dislike the fact that the foreign press has labelled us as a group of lawless people that use drugs, fight a constant struggle against water, perform euthanasia on terminally ill or elderly people, and perform abortion on unborn children. It’s important for the foreign press to understand that this doesn’t represent the average Dutchman or Dutchwoman, and that there are very strict rules to these delicate matters, which is something the foreign press rarely writes about and which is something I very much regret, because this way people get the wrong impression of us. However, it is true that we’re a very tolerant country, taking in many refugees every year. Unfortunately, the country is almost bursting with people – 16 million of us now, no end in sight and we’re running out of land!
What makes me proud is that every person in the Netherlands is allowed to have his/her own opinion, that it’s a free country with the right to be who you want to be. I’m also proud of the fact that such a small country can have so many diverse people and such a rich history. If you’re ever speaking of my country, please don’t ever refer to it as ‘Holland’. It’s the wrong name! The name ‘Holland’ means the two provinces of Southern Holland and northern Holland, and we have nine more provinces! The only correct name is the Netherlands. If you have more questions… please contact me!

Of course the Netherlands are widely known for its windmills. You will find the most beautiful old and traditional windmills in Kinderdijk, but there are also modern windmills in windy places such as by the sea. Nowadays the windmills are used to gain energy, whereas in the past they were used to impolder land. There are also mills that are used to make flour, and there even is a mill where mustard is made! If you’re interested in the Dutch history of land and water, you should definitely pay the ingenious Deltawerken in Zeeland a visit; this series of storm surge barriers was built after a disastrous storm flood killed thousands of people in 1953, and now protects the islands of Zeeland from the water. Apart from these landmarks of land and water, you will also find buildings and monuments of historical interest, such as beautiful picturesque villages (if you would like to see one that is not yet invaded by tourists, I suggest you go see De Rijp), stately cities and medieval castles. In the Netherlands, you can see the homes where famous painters Rembrandt and Van Gogh lived, where Anne Frank hid from the nazi’s, and where Willem van Oranje (forefather of our Queen) was killed. In short: even though we’re a tiny country (half the size of the American state of Maine!) there is enough to see and do to keep you busy for a few weeks!