One of the inspiring things about people in the Netherlands is observing their spirit. This is indeed the nation of hard workers with many individuals so desperate to do things on time that sometimes they go as far as being unnecessarily nervous about time. In Dutch, you ask "Hoe laat is het?"(How late is it?) when you want to ask for time!! and that speaks for itself.
I was amazed that morning of January 1st by the beach, watching hundreds of people doing the traditional "swim in freezing water" or perhaps the politically correct version "Start the year fresh". Back in the office after the holidays, I heard a Dutch friend quoting his expat wife: "You Dutch people always like to do things the hard way as you are so committed to endure pain".
That might be true. Everyday when the freezing breeze convinces me to change my way from the bike storage to the bus stop, I see people cycling with red noses, frozen ears and tearing eyes, enduring the cold and cycling fast and even the rain won't deter some of them.
That was my share of positive thinking under the gray sky of the Netherlands. I have my share of frustrations though: Why do you have to say "Het is vijf voor half een" (meaning it is five minutes before half of one o'clock) instead of simply saying 12:25??!!
Good to have you back! Here in Rhode Island at local beaches every Jan. 1, groups of men (and a few women) take 'the Polar Bear Plunge,' Tradition! One year, a TV person asked, on camera,
"Are you marginally sane, or what?"
There must be some anthropological/psychological reason for all of this. I have no idea---
Posted by: Theresa McQuaid | February 06, 2009 at 05:46 PM