If someone asked you if you wanted to walk eighteen-plus kilometers in the dark through wind, hail, and rain, and warned that you wouldn’t be finished walking until close to one o’clock in the morning, what would be your response out of the options provided below? A. You’re joking, right?B. No thanks, but good luckContinue reading “Eighteen kilometers at Night”
Category Archives: Dutch Culture
Do the Dutch invite you to dinner?
I love having people over for dinner. It gives me an excuse to clean up my house, break out the cookbooks, plan a tasty menu and create the atmosphere for a lovely evening with friends. In the U.S, we spent a good deal of time having friends over for dinner or eating dinner at theirContinue reading “Do the Dutch invite you to dinner?”
Cows before Easter
This morning I awoke to the bellow of cows. At first it made no sense. How could I hear cows through our bedroom window? We don’t live on a farm. We live in the city center of Schagen next to the main square. But my mind accepted these bellowing cows with the same ease inContinue reading “Cows before Easter”
What is an Hour to You?
In California, as in many other states in the U.S, it’s hardly a thing to drive an hour to visit a friend. In fact, friends an hour to a two-hour’s drive away are considered to be living relatively close by. This makes sense in a country where an hour commute just to get to workContinue reading “What is an Hour to You?”
Family Night in Prison
If I were to tell you one of the highlights of our summer vacation was spending a night in prison, would you think I’d completely lost it? But I’m getting ahead of myself. Our vacation started out well enough. We arranged to stay at a house in Haarlem for five days and had done theContinue reading “Family Night in Prison”
The Passion Dutch Style
When you’ve lived in a country long enough–even if you tend to live in a bubble or under a rock–eventually local cultural phenomena infiltrate your consciousness. As Easter approached this year, I had one of those moments where something that had vaguely hovered on the periphery a few years in a row suddenly punctured my littleContinue reading “The Passion Dutch Style”
Sunday Ride: Now and Then
When we were kids, my brothers and I were periodically subjected to my father’s long Sunday drives after church. If my father was still alive, I think he would recall these drives as the foundation of our interests in architectural style. My memory to date is that I hated them: the three of us kidsContinue reading “Sunday Ride: Now and Then”
The Smile
I’ve lived in Holland, or The Netherlands, for four years now. It didn’t take me all that time to recognize the smile, but now that I have seen its many permutations, I feel its about time to write about it. The Dutch are used to being straight forward. Its one of the traits you will readContinue reading “The Smile”
Rothko at the Gemeente Museum
Can an artist portray emotions of happiness, fear or ecstasy through the sole use of rectangular shapes of color? Can they do so without explanation or words? That is the question that came to the forefront Saturday afternoon during a visit to the Gemeentemuseum to view the Rothko exhibit I have to admit, his large swaths ofContinue reading “Rothko at the Gemeente Museum”
Havana, Deventer, Apes and Cousins
When I was in my mid-twenties, I worked for a short stint as a museum travel program assistant. Although most of my hours were spent in a tiny office doing paperwork and taking reservations, on a few occasions I actually got to travel. The most exciting of my journeys was to Cuba with two dozen wealthy clients,Continue reading “Havana, Deventer, Apes and Cousins”
kristininholland 