Dutchisms

One of the best parts about living abroad is the opportunity to observe the delightful, and sometimes funny, cultural differences that exist in your new country. I've been generating a small list of items called "Dutchisms", over the past four months, to help me remember a few of our typically Dutch observations. Writing about these cultural differences is not meant to be a judgement or criticism of the Dutch culture; it is simply my account of the way things are done around here!

• The Proper Way To Drink Tea: The Dutch love their tea. Especially mint tea, which is on the menu in every cafe and restaurant and consists of fresh mint leaves plunged into piping hot water. However, in Dutch culture, there is only one proper way to drink tea and that is by drinking it from a glass. Serving tea in china, porcelain, ceramic or plastic cups just won't do. Dutch are adamant that the glass enhances the flavour of the tea. I'm still trying to figure out a way to have a sip of tea while holding a glass (most times without a handle) that is filled with steaming hot water!
  

• A Direct Way of Speaking: Overall, we have observed the Dutch to be generally reserved; however, their manner of speaking is nothing but reserved and can come across as shockingly direct and abrupt at times. For the Dutch, their directness and lack of subtlety is considered a positive personality trait, but for us overly sensitive Canadians this takes some getting use to. That being said, once you grasp the fact that Dutch directness is nothing personal, you come to appreciate conversations that get to the point quickly without first going through a series of conversational rituals.
  

• Open For All To See: Another apparent "Dutchism" is the fact that Dutch people very rarely close the curtains/blinds in their homes. When taking a stroll through the neighbourhood at night, it's very common to be able to look straight into someone's living room or bedroom as you walk past. This is especially the case with ground floor suites where windows are at street level. Even though the room is open for all to see, you still feel like a stalker taking a quick glimpse into rooms where families are cooking, eating dinner, or watching TV together. Coming from a household where my Dad reminded us every single night to close the curtains because, in his words, "we don't live in a fishbowl", this is one cultural difference I'm having a hard time getting use to.
  

• Bragging Rights: In many parts of the world, but especially North America, it seems you are given automatic bragging rights when talking about how much money you spent on a home, car, piece of furniture or clothing. There is a general mentality that spending more means purchasing something of more value or better quality. In the Netherlands, that does not seem to be the case. Bragging rights are given to those who have saved the most money on their purchase. Dutch will more likely brag about the items they found on sale or how little they spent on a recent purchase. This also explains the endless specials, discounts and promotions offered at the various grocery stores. It's a marketing tactic that works very well here!
  

• Washing Patterns: In my ignorance, I only ever thought there was one general way of washing dishes and floors. That was until I moved to Holland and my eyes were opened. I have always washed dishes by filling up the sink with water and soap, using a cloth, brush or sponge to wash the dishes in the soapy water, and then rinsing the dishes off with running water or in the second sink before placing the dishes on the dish rack to dry. In the Netherlands, the more acceptable way to wash dishes is to ALWAYS rinse off the dirty dishes in the first sink, followed by cleaning them in the second sink filled with soapy water, and finally placing them on the dish rack to dry without washing the suds off. The idea is that you never want to get your soapy water dirty with dishes that haven't been rinsed first. Washing the floors follows a similar pattern. You always have two buckets of water, one with soapy water and the other bucket with plain water for rinsing the mop or towel once you have wiped the floor with it. That way your soapy water never gets dirty. While I understand the logic and have adopted this practice for washing our floors, I still can't get used to the idea of letting dishes dry with suds on them.

• The Art of Cooking Rice: Professional chefs may disagree with this process, but the Dutch have a way of cooking rice which I think makes a lot of sense. This topic has less to do with cultural differences and more to do with the fact that I think it's genius and wanted to include it in this blog post! Instead of spending time measuring the exact amount of rice and water portions, Dutch people cook rice by putting the desired amount of uncooked rice in a pot and filling it up 3/4 full with water (like you do when cooking pasta). In this scenario the water will never be fully absorbed, so in order to determine when the rice is finished, a simple taste test is followed by draining the rice in a colander and putting the drained rice back in the pot until it is served. Time saved. No need for measuring spoons. A sure proof way of cooking rice without burning the bottom of the pot. Who wants to argue with that?

With very little hesitation, we have started to adopt many of these "Dutchisms" as a way of integrating into our new surroundings and I'm sure there will be many more we will come to know and love during our time in the Netherlands.

For all you Dutchies out there, do any of these cultural observations sound familiar?