Dutch Culture - peculiar characteristics of the Dutch!!

Living in Rotterdam - the cultural city of Netherlands for some time now, I stand witness to some of the best known characteristics of the Dutch..some things are apparent, some need an observing eye. Nevertheless, along with the language learning, here is a full chapter on the Dutch ways for all you people out there :-

• One sees more number of hats, T-shirts, and other merchandise in the Orange colour than he/she may have seen anywhere else all his/her life. This becomes all the more evident on the 'Koninginnedag ' (Queen's Day), and 'Zomer Carnaval' (Summer Carnival).

• Its a pleasant surprise to see atleast one bike (bicycle) per household..an excellent way to ensure low fat and climate consciousness at the same time.

• The Dutch are very good planners - the way they plan their weekends, summer vacations, work etc is a great learning for all

• They also appear to be quite laid back, and four weeks of vacation in a year is considered to be quite normal.

• Summers are to be enjoyed and winters just to stay indoors - practised to the extreme limits here. Celebrating life is the way to live.

• Never deny the right of way to the pedestrian. Traffic rules are to be strictly adhered to, even when nobody is watching :)

• One actually leaves a voice message on the phone after the beep. And you bet, one has to always check them out.

• Basic health insurance is a right of every individual, add-ons are the icing on the cake.

• One often starts dreaming about the social security benefits and pensions before actually starting out to work.

• Dont know what would have happened if coffee wasnt invented yet!! If you dont drink coffee, you may well be an E.T

• Taking an appointment is the way to meet up - even with your own family.

• As soon as you start out with broken Dutch, the other person will start speaking to you in English..and off goes your determination to learn Dutch.

• All official papers are always in the Dutch language - even when you are filling up your expat arrival form.

• Credit cards are not accepted at most shopping centres and supermarkets.

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Getting a Driving License in Netherlands for knowledge migrants

After having registered with the Dutch Gemeente, and settled for an accomodation, the next big thing is travel. Getting a car driving license in Netherlands for an expat is considered to be a very difficult and at the same time a very expensive proposition. There is lots to be done, right from attending theory classes, to taking driving lessons, to giving practical tests etc..and yet there is no guarantee that one will surely pass the difficult Dutch license test.

But if one falls under the knowledge migrant category of expats, getting a driving license becomes both easy and inexpensive.

It can be done by a simple process called exchanging your old (the driving license from your native country) driving license with a Dutch one. I know you all are waiting for me to spill out the beans fast..so here it goes:-

1. The first and the foremost thing is to have one's 30% tax ruling document in place. This can be collected from one's office HR department.

2. Go to Gemeente (town hall) with this document and residence permit. There one needs to purchase a form called "Eigen Verklaring" which is a health form. It costs around 20 euros. One has to fill up this form (it asks some basic health questions) and then post it by simple mail to CBR. The address is mentioned on the envelope. In case one answers "yes" to any of the health questions, he/she needs a doctor's certificate for it.

3. Within 3 weeks one will then receive a confirmation from CBR that he/she is qualified to drive in Netherlands and does not have any health issues.

4. On receiving this letter, again go to the Gemeente. This time take along all the docs i.e identity proof, 30% tax document, CBR letter, old driving license, 2 passport photos and 50 euros as the fees. In case one wants this old driving license back again, this needs to be explicitly mentioned in writing to the Gemeente. This letter should be addressed to the RDW.

Note : Remember to keep a copy of the old licence until the processing is complete.

5. If all goes positive, one will get a letter from the RDW within 3 weeks stating that the driving license application has been approved and that the license can be collected from the Gemeente. It will also state from where you can get the old driving license back.

6. Collect your Dutch driving license from the Gemeente.

Note :

They are very specific about the passport photos. The face must be in the center, and with a mid grey background. Dimensions: length (crown to chin) 26-30mm, Width 16-20mm. Must not exceed these dimensions.

All in all, its not such a tough process. It takes a little while long but then its much better than taking tests to get the dutch license.

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Have you seen a frozen lake?

Just check out the pics of the lake behind my house..it got completely frozen on one chilling morning in Jan. The locals told me this had happened after a long time..7 years to be precise. Needless to mention how excited I was to witness this phenomenon.

Birds chirping happily on ice.

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First European Snowfall!!

Snow clad mountains have become the signature statement of the European continent. Also made famous by the Yash Chopra style of romantic movies, almost always with the Swiss landscape..it is the bloodline of the Indian movie Industry - Bollywood.

Therefore, its natural to feel the longing to witness the first snowfall. My wait finally came to an end and how..It was a bright sunny morning in the end of January this year. It was a holiday. I woke up with sleepy eyes and stood near my window looking out on the road ahead (something I do each morning). At first I thought its a dream but wait..I wasnt sleeping, I was very much awake and could hear the soft thud of the snow flakes against the car bumpers. And I was so excited..you bet!!

I rushed to tell my hubby and we both came out of our house in an instant..enjoying the silky cotton touch of perfect white snow, taking it in our hands

and feeling it, and then playing with it.

It was an altogether different experience witnessing snow fall, on a sunny morning, with a clear sky. But here it was , for all of us to see. I was delighted beyond words and spent the next one hour clicking snaps and getting soaked in the experience.

I could see people walking by, on the pavement, least bothered by the beauty of the scene around them. I guess they had seen enough :) Only the children on the street with their innocent curiosity shared our passion for the snow. I believe for a child every experience is a new one and if one takes on life with that attitude, one will remain a modest student all through the life..letting the nature teach from its wonderful book.

So, then that is the story of my first snow fall, with a bit of philosophy thrown in :D

Do share your own such experiences too in the comment section.

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New Look - New template!!

Dear Readers,

You must have already noticed, I have changed my blog template, and added subtle colours to enhance the orange feel. Also, I am trying to add more elements to my side bar. Let me know your thoughts on it..

I am also thinking of digressing from the dutch learning post for some time, and concentrating on the other flavours of the expat life..Will come back to it later.

So be with me on this ride..happy reading!!

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Expatriates Ring

Just added my blog on the Expatiates ring!!
Expatriates in the Netherlands
Powered By Ringsurf"

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Learning the Dutch Language - Part II

This is Part II in a series of posts on learning the Dutch Language. Check out Part I , and Part III to be with the flow.

When I decided to learn dutch, the first thing I thought of was to google about it. And google threw at me a staggering number of links related to my search word. It was up to me to filter out the useful ones. Nevertheless, I was not one to duck under the challenge offered by the world's most powerful search engine :D

Here is a gist of the most important online tools, from the point of view of learning the language from scratch. There are innumerable sites out there for learning dutch , but take my 2 cents for it - be selective in what you follow, take a few and thoroughly research them.

This list is not an exhaustive one, let me know if you have 'stumbled' across others as well.

• The Dutch Grammar - Attempts to provide the complete dutch grammar, tenses, articles et al; and succeeds beautifully.
• The dutch way - A useful site which lists out all possible objects, colours, fruits, veggies in their dutch equivalents.
• Interglot Dictionary - As the name implies, its a comprehensive dutch dictionary
• Babel - An online translator
• Verbix - One of the best online verb conjugator
• Wordlist - An online tool that spells out dutch words for you.
• Acapela - A unique site that pronounces the dutch word for you, in an accent you can choose.

Hope this information proves to be useful for the beginners in Dutch!!

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Learning the Dutch Language - Part I

This is Part I in a series of posts on learning the Dutch Language. Check out Part II , and Part III to be with the flow.

Dutch is the official language of the Netherlands. It is spoken by more than 22 million people all over the world as their native language. Most native speakers of Dutch live in the Nethelands, Belgium and Suriname. I remember reading somewhere that its the toughest language to learn after Mandarin.

Some quick facts about Dutch from the theoretical point of view:

• In the written form it is very similar to English language but the pronunciation is markedly different and that is the toughest part of all - to get the pronunciation correct..and learners can be easily distinguished from the native speakers on this very front.
• The Dutch Grammar is very similar to German than English.
• The Dutch vocabulary is also Germanic in origin.
• It includes words of Greek and Latin origin.
• The language is written using the Latin alphabet.

Now, some quick facts about Dutch from my point of view :D

• When you hear Dutch for the first time, it seems to be a guttural language and it is true so.
• It is the only language I know so far, that has about 18 vowels - long, short and diphthongs.
• It is interesting to know that the Dutch people use the present tense to depict everything - even the past and the future.
• There are more exceptions to the rules than the rules themselves. And, to learn the language properly, one is expected to learn all the exceptions by heart too!!
• The peculiar pronunciation of the letter 'G' and the letter 'R' sets the Dutch language apart from all the other languages. You have to listen to it to believe me.
• Sometimes you just need to speak a couple of words to make yourself understood rather than long sentences that are often used in English.

But nevertheless, its an awesome language to learn and therefore I was inspired to grab a Dutch teaching book as soon as we settled down. More on my journey into the "Dutch Ocean"

in my next post.

If you have also been learning another language, it will be fun to share your experience with others - the comment section is all yours!!

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Sugary Affair!!

One might get a shock (I have a sweet tooth so I was pleasantly surprised) seeing the amount of sugar consumed directly or indirectly by the Dutch. Right from the evergreen chocolates, then comes muffins, cakes, cookies, candies, licorice, honey bites..one can go on and on. I get a feel that some mouths have started to water already!!

The sweetened taste comes in almost all the food items, one wonders why then do they drink black coffee and not the mormal milk variant..Old habits die hard as they say.

The sugary effect is though very well evident in their "meethi" (gujarati for sweet) language and patient nature. According to a research, the Dutch consume the highest number of chocolates in a year. I am not sure how could one verify this research as goes with all the others, but to me it seems true.

Nevertheless, I simply love the sweeteners; relish and then gym it out is my philosophy :D

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Expat's Day out

The importance of the social media and the internet in the modern world is well known. An online identity is as important as one's offline presence. And, there are many ways to make your presence felt on the internet, to know others and to learn from them - such as linkedin, facebook, twitter(current rage), digg, reddit, blogging etc.

The reason why I am writing this is that the best way to know more about a new place and to get assimilated in its culture is through the internet.

Before coming to Rotterdam, as soon as I got my visa, I searched out for the expat forums on Netherlands. And to say that google did not disappoint me is an understatement. Expat forums are nice to be a part of, one gets a feel of the place before coming and its the best way of making new friends in a new country. Some of the useful and active forums that I found are Expatica, ExpatForum, Expat Focus etc.

Then comes the information portals, news sites, and City sites.

All of them provide a wealth of information. One should make it a point to regularly visit these sites and be a part of such forums. Finding like minded people and expanding your social circle is very important specially if one is in a new place.

Personally, I found all of them very useful. Whether its questions about flat hunting, nearby supermarkets, tax queries, or inviting people home for a chitchat - seek and you shall find!!!

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Christmas Party at Brussels, Belgium - III

This is part III (last part) in a series of posts about my Belgium Trip. Check for part I and part II.

The best place in Brussels is the Grand Place or the Grand Square. Its also the most admirable in terms of architecture. Not going into many details, it will suffice to say that you will miss the liveliness of this place when you are back home. Many of the tourists that we saw here were a part of some or the other tour group but its always more fun to carry one's own guide book and a fruit juice can..Believe me, you can see the whole of Europe in this way!!

Next on the list was Atomium, Royal Square, Royal Palace, Spanish Square, the Japanese tower, and the Museum of Royal Arts..It was all a lovely treat specially the Atomium that resembles the 9 atoms of the Fe molecule magnified 165 billion times.

When it comes to shopping, the only thing I would like to state is that if you want a better offer and quality, its always nice to go looking for shops in the interior of the Grand Square. One can get a good bargain from them rather than buying things from the main market.

Apart from chocs, Brussels is also famous for antiques, handmade laces,confectionery and fashionable clothings. Since the conic character one associates with Belgium is Tintin, so if you are a Tintin fan, then Boutique De Tintin is the place to be, as it has a lot of merchandise including Tintintoys, clothes et al.

It was time to go back home now..Thanks to Belgium for the lovely time!!

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