It's hard to believe I have been living in Holland for over a year. My excuses for not yet learning Dutch are starting to run out, and in some ways I feel like it is time to move on. Don't get me wrong, I like Holland. Amsterdam is a beautiful, picturesque city; the canals, architecture, and parks are truly stunning. I enjoy my friends, my work, and my colleagues. I ride my "Oma fiets" (translation: Grandma Bike) to work most mornings along the Amstel river, and am amazed by the peacefulness and beauty of the scenery. However, the splendor of the surroundings isn't enough to convince me to get too comfortable.
I like this country, but I haven't necessarily fallen head over heels for it. The typical Dutch cuisine is nothing to write home about, and no matter how many times the virtues of honesty and directness are rattled off to me, I will never get use to what I perceive as plain old rudeness. (Hasn't anyone heard the motto "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"?!)
I also feel the Dutch are preoccupation with other people's business; this is described best as a nasty offspring of "citizen's arrest". I have been scolded more than once by a random passer-by who felt the need to tell me what to do. "Don't walk there", "don't ride your bike here". What I love most are the lectures on my need to learn Dutch and to integrate properly into society. Admittedly, I realize you can't truly discover a culture until you speak its language; however, my five year old self doesn't like to be told what to do-- particularly by a complete stranger.
Above all, I am a foreigner here, and will always be. I have friends who have lived here almost a decade, speak perfect Dutch, heck some are even married to a Dutch native, and they still feel like outsiders. Considering the current political situation in Holland, being a buitenlander isn't something to be necessarily proud of.
Once upon a time, a foreigner in Holland may have been an exotic curiosity; however, the novelty of our kind has seemingly worn off.
P.S: The last thing I wanted to become was a bitter expat. (I have met far too many of those---complaining about every aspects of their adopted land and comparing it to the picture of perfection they call home.) I haven't become one of them, have I???
P.P.S: I promise the next entry will have you packing your bags so fast you won't even have time to shout " Holland here I come!"
