An ethnographer I am not, but if nothing else then I’m enjoying some ‘mini ethnography’ — noticing for myself the differences in custom and culture in this country. There are various things:

To return to my previous cycling theme, I have observed Dutch folk cycling in the following combinations:

• with a second, empty bike held steady with one hand
• with a passenger: often delicately sat side-saddle upon the bike’s luggage rack, chatting away with the cyclist as they travel
• while chatting on the phone
• while writing text messages
• heading for the station, pulling trolley luggage along with one hand
• in one notable case: with one small, very blond child sat in front, one small, very blond child sat behind, while on the phone!

Excepting the final two examples, I have seen all of the above numerous times since arriving. For someone who’s only been in town for seven weeks, I’m impressed by the variety — and the nonchalence with which it’s all done.

This blog can’t entirely be about cycling, though. What else?

Food is mostly similar here: a sandwich and soup is a very common lunchtime choice, for example. Like England, NL is tea-oriented: Earl Grey is commonplace, and the local supermarket stocks more varieties of rooiboos tea (honey, citrus, spice…) than the one back home! (Incidentally, I’ve been asked in a slightly incredulous tone: “Do the English really drink their tea with milk?” Wonderful.)

Imports from the UK: hot chocolate and stock

I’m missing two UK food items. Firstly, the Dutch don’t seem to have the concept of ‘stock’ that we do in the UK, so products such as Oxo cubes aren’t about. Additionally, low-sugar hot chocolate mix has proven impossible to find: hot chocolate mixes exist, but they are few in number, so ‘speciality’ (e.g. low-sugar) versions don’t exist.

I have a theory about the lack of chocolate mix: I’m putting it down to Chocomelk, a very tasty (and unhealthy) local drink. You can probably guess its nature from the name! It’s delicous, so I can see why instant hot chocolate is less popular here.

One of the things I love about Europe is the café culture, particularly the way that most cafés have a set of seats and tables on an outdoor terrace. I was surprised, though, to note the determined  clientele using these terraces right now, during the coldest part of the year! They wrap up in coats and scarves, and go for it — perhaps with gritted teeth. More than anything else, this puts me in mind of the (stereotypical) determined Englishman who goes for a paddle and maybe an ice cream at the seaside, whatever the time of year. “We’re at the seaside, it’s what we do.”

Finally, I continue to be humbled every day by how fluent in English almost everyone is — and even more humbled by how readily they will switch languages for me, a foreigner who moved here with barely a word of Dutch. Last week, I apologised to a receptionist for my lack of Dutch as she struggled for an English word: “No,” she said, “it’s my problem” — and she meant it.