When the Dutch queen – who’s Argentinean – emigrated to the Netherlands, an interviewer asked her to describe the Netherlands. With a cute Spanish accent she answered in Dutch: ‘’the Netherlands is tea with one cookie and big windows without curtains, so that everybody can take a good look inside.’’ In my opinion she hit the nail on the head, but the Dutch weren’t so happy with her answer. That’s not because of the part about transparency and openness of course. Dutch people are known to be stingy. Ask an expat and he’ll confirm. The term ‘’going Dutch’’ wasn’t picked out of thin air you know. But ask a Dutchman if it’s true that Dutch people are stingy and he will most likely say: ‘’No, we’re misunderstood!’’ Are the Dutch really just misunderstood? Let’s have a closer look.
Category Archives: Society
20 things I hate about Moroccans
I love Morocco, absolutely love it. I love Moroccans too. I think I made that very clear in this post. They’re warm, fun and lovely. But they also make me want to kill myself. Or them. Am I talking about all Moroccans? Of course not. But it’s a fact that patience is very often required when dealing with the Moroccan crowd. Here are some reasons why dragging along a punch bag may not be such a bad idea.
The perks of being a shy introvert
Are you an introvert? And a bit shy too? Shoo! Quick, read a self-help book, practice some dialogs in front of a mirror, enroll in a self-promotion course (yes they exist) and hopefully nobody will notice you’re actually a cowardly weirdo. Phew! Saved from social destruction, because coming across shy is something you wouldn’t even wish for your worst Zionist enemy.
It’s in the brain
When I was thirteen I had a friend with issues. We had a blast together, but after a while she became dangerously depressed. It was hard for me to have a suicidal friend. Even harder was to understand why she was suicidal. She could never explain what was wrong. Everything became clear after a while; her depression had a clear cause and it was not a chronic depression. Continue reading