Tropical duckling Dutched Pinay struggles to acclimatize to the recent high temperatures in the Netherlands.

Help! This heat wave is killing me!

Good lord, for a tropical duckling born in the equatorial islands, you'd think I am over-reacting. No, I am not. I feel awfully hot, asphyxiated, and sticky. I feel like I am a chicken roasted under the burning fire and my fats are slowly dripping off from the hot oven grill. It would have been nice if it were true, then I would have been 3 kilos lighter, but its not.

My new fashion protocol at home: beach attire. Windows and doors too are all open. Still, I am sweating, like I just stepped out of a sauna.

While writing this, I have beside me a cold glass of bitter lemon drink. I made sure to add a thin slice of lemon and some light ice cubes. The drink looked so ravishing. It gave me a sudden rush of saliva fill in my mouth, and I know, just by looking, this drink won’t last me a minute before I march over to the kitchen for my next refill.

My thirst seems to be unquenchable lately; I think I can drink a reservoir of bitter lemons.

A couple of days ago, I did a business presentation somewhere in the Randstad — don't you just hate it when your audience is all dressed up in summer clothes while you are stuck in your long sleeve business suit?

The real annoying part is, when people, even the ones you meet in the lifts and hallways, strikes up the dramatic weather topic — whew, it is so hot today, eh?, totally mindless of the fact that you are actually dressed in a suffocating business suit and obviously being bothered by heat. Ugh, is that being gullible or just being completely unsympathetic?

That afternoon I came home sweating profusely like a pig. I just had to do something. I feel like I am losing my sanity from the heat.

Thirty minutes later I heard a turning of the key sound coming from the front door.

"Oops... " Chuckles the Dutchman with a sneaky grin displayed on his mouth as he walks into the living room. “Am I lost in a nudist camp?”

"Oh yeah, you bet you are!"

I argued with him that besides the ritualistic five minutes jump-in-the-cold-shower, we are definitely in dire need of something else to cool us off at home. Even at night, I can't sleep well as it was too stifling.

But like any other Dutch person, he answered back albeit rationally, "Why would you need an air-con or fan when summer days are in fact very short in Holland? And, even during summer, it is not always this hot?"

"But it has been very hot for weeks!" I cried in a shrilling, miserable tone.

"Oh, come on, stop now with this gezeur [whining], you sound like you never had sun all throughout your life?"

"Can't you see? I have had enough with this heat!"

Instead of being compassionate, the Dutchman laughed sarcastically. He was very much entertained that a tropical duckling like me has the gall to complain about the heat in the Netherlands.

32C was once a normal and friendly temperature for me, but then, I was used to living in a different country with a different climate. My body temperature was used to it. Secondly, the air-con is a standard appliance in most tropical countries, even at home.

Oh well, I guess my body temperature have sharply adjusted to the climate here in Holland. And unlike the tropics, most Dutch homes do not have the air-con as a standard home appliance. Houses here too are designed for winter and not for summer.

I never really understood this in the past... but I often times criticize many westerners who were not dressing up properly during summer, especially when they are visiting tropical countries with temperatures rising up to a scorching 35C. I thought it was all about the freedom of expression and taste — I am free; it’s my freedom to flash my flesh anywhere and anyhow I want it. But I realized it's really about the heat.

Yes, the oppressive heat, which I now can totally relate.

This tropical duckling, sadly, has finally acclimatized.

Roll on the thunder...

Click here to write to Expatica or go to Dutched Pinay's full blog.

28 July 2006

[Copyright Expatica 2006]

Subject: Dutched Pinay, Summer in Holland, Life in Holland