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01/10/2008Survival tools for the Netherlands

Here is a light-hearted look at the essential tools for integration into Dutch society.

The Netherlands: famous for cheese, clogs, windmills and red light districts. However, there is so much more to this country, and its people, than meets the eye. As an expatriate, you may simply be able to watch the strange goings on in Dutch society from the sidelines. If your partner is Dutch, the chances are you have little choice about your involvement in some of the bizarre traditions and habits of life in the Netherlands. Here is a light-hearted look at the essential tools for integration into Dutch society.
 
Bicycle
Entrance into Dutch society demands the purchase of a bike. The Netherlands is flat and inundated with cycle paths. There are no excuses for not joining the masses and getting on your bike. 
 
You gain intermediate cyclist status if you can stay upright whilst transporting a full beer crate fastened to the back of your bike, at least two children sitting in fietszitjes front and back and a saddlebag containing your weekly shop.  The award of advanced cyclist is bestowed upon those achieving this in pour
ing rain and gale force winds whilst conversing on a mobile phone. Most Dutch cyclists have advanced status by the time they leave secondary school.
 

 
                         
Potato masher
No winter is complete without stamppot. This is one of the staple foods (the other being erwtensoep or snert) of the Netherlands during the colder months. Stamppot is potato and vegetable mashed together. The vegetable varies but is usually cabbage, spinach or carrot. I suggest the use of a little imagination to concoct a desired colour or taste. Red cabbage, for example, can produce a rather festive pink feast.
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