Posted on 04 April 2010 by joost
Over here, we like things neat and tidy. We have institutionalized everything we can think of. This includes junk mail. If you don’t want to receive junk mail, in .nl we have an official sticker you can stick to your letterbox. It’s called a NEE/NEE sticker and you can get it in city hall.
Posted on 18 January 2010 by joost
A true hate it or love it dish, nieuwe haring is not for everyone. This Dutch sashimi is a staple of our diet, and has been for many centuries. Nieuwe haring, also called maatjesharing and Hollandse Nieuwe, is herring from the Skagerrak (or thereabouts), conserved with salt and eaten with pickles.
Posted on 16 January 2010 by joost
Did you know that the roses you bought last week were auctioned in Netherlands? Even if you bought them half-way across the globe? It’s true: much as we are huge in dairy, we are huge in flowers as well. We not only grow them here, we are the largest fresh flower marketplace in the world.
Posted on 13 January 2010 by joost
You might not know it, but world-famous Miffy was born in Utrecht, Netherlands. We call her Nijntje and she is in fact a fictional character. Nijntje is a rabbit and she appears in children’s books of the same name. Millions of children across the world adore this little rabbit, and many adults do too.
Posted on 10 January 2010 by joost
We have lots of flat land in .nl and most of it is unoccupied. So what is it good for? Well, plants and cows! We have so many cows here that we’ve become of the largest dairy exporters in the world.
Posted on 07 January 2010 by joost
As a sea-faring nation, there are many, many, many boats in Holland. As it happens, there is also a lot of water. It follows that our waters are teaming with boats, especially in summer. It seems everyone and their uncle has a boat–and to an extent that’s true. Even yours truly once owned a boat. Granted it was small, but definitely sailed.
Posted on 05 January 2010 by joost
Netherlands is called that way for a reason. The country is very, very, very flat (i.e.; nether). In fact, about half of it is below sea level. And big parts of it used to be sea, but we drained the sea out. What you’re left with is polders. We would like to think of them as a typically .nl invention.
Posted on 31 January 2009 by joost
“When it freezes outside, the Dutch melt” – anonymous foreign visitor. That pretty much sums up what happens when the temperature outside drops below freezing. All the water we have freezes, and we must, must go outside ice skating.
Posted on 31 August 2008 by joost
Netherlands is flat. Real, real flat. Not only the country, but also the minds of its inhabitants. We really don’t like things ’sticking out’, be they people, cars, mountains, sore thumbs or, as I will discuss now, salaries. It makes us uneasy. We’re not used to that.
Posted on 25 August 2008 by joost
Do I know first-hand about the situation regarding primary education? No (not yet). I will have to draw from personal memory and it’s been a while. On the other hand, things have stayed pretty much the same. How does primary education work in .nl?