7 typical Dutch things I do NOT understand as an American living in the Netherlands

hi everyone i'm ava and i'm an american living in the netherlands and you know something that just never gets old something that people love asking you when you move abroad and the locals just want to know one thing they want to know how it's going with you what do you think of their country i kid you not i get this question every single time almost okay every single time you know nothing ever happens all the time but quite often when i meet someone for the first time they'll ask me oh my god so you live in the netherlands what is that like so it's it's understandable of course dutch folks want to know what you think of their country as an outsider it's probably the reason you watch my videos anyway the thing that i wanted to talk to you about today were the things that i just still don't get after two and a half years of living in the netherlands now these things aren't huge things but they are things that i you know wonder about and i also wonder if dutch folks think about this because they stand out to me so one of those times when someone asked me you know what i thought of the netherlands i i did stop to think well you know there are some questions that i have and as an american living in the us i probably don't look at my own culture and my own language for instance in the same way so hope you enjoyed this video on things that i've noticed as an american in the netherlands about things that i just don't get starting with number one the omafeeds so folks in the netherlands love to bike there were bison people it's just a thing it's part of the life here embrace it i didn't know how to bike properly until i moved to the netherlands and now i bike everywhere and now i love my bike and it's a really great relationship that continues to grow and flourish between me and the bicycle i never thought these words would be coming out of my mouth but now i'm a huge fan of my oh my feets i had to get an oma feeds because i wanted a bike that looked dutch like i was all in didn't matter that i didn't use back brakes before because the omafitsa typically just have back brakes they don't have front brakes like the really really like traditional simple bear kind and you also sit up straight on them love the omafites but why why on earth is it called an omafeet i have never seen an oma which means grandma in dutch on and on my feet i have only seen people my age on it on my feet i've maybe once or twice seen an older person but it it doesn't it doesn't make sense because well wouldn't you expect grandmas to be using a grandma bike i don't i don't get it and if you are dutch do you get it moving on to thing number two the dutch are obsessed with their omafitsa but there are other things that the dutch folk seem to really really like that i don't quite get and they're like specific obsessions so the next couple of things that i'm gonna talk about have to do with that so let's start with a really random one and i've been wondering about this lately because as some of you might know i just moved but you know combine this moving process with me watching dutch tv i've come to realize that dutch folks are obsessed with a specific type of home and i'm not just talking about like old homes because i get that you know i love living in the netherlands because even if i don't live in an old place this apartment also happens to be old with a lot of old problems but that's for another video but um yeah i moved and then i really liked that even if i thought well i'm not going to live in a old apartment probably or if i do great but at least i get to see these beautiful old buildings and i really enjoy that but but but why is every dutch person obsessed with the yada dertac house that is something i really don't get it these are the homes or like apartments buildings that were built in the 30s their buildings that are built before then and if you are a lover of old homes then you could love those buildings too but really there is this obsession for this specific type of home that i just don't get i mean it's nice but so are the other old homes and the new ones are cool too like i've been to rotterdam now plenty of times cool new buildings there's a lot of great architecture in the netherlands i don't get this obsession with this one specific type of home like you'll never hear a dutch person say oh my god i really want a yada teen home like a house that was built between i don't know 1910 and 1920 so in the teens in the 1900s like you'll never hear that but i watch this show very dutch uh well there's also an american version so i shouldn't say that but the show is called cop zonderkaike like buying without actually having seen the home it's a great great tv it's also made in a very dutch way i if you don't watch it i recommend you do but if you're dutch chances are you already watch it but on this program you really see people going crazy for this like yada dare talk home and they don't just say oh i want an old home sometimes they do but often they'll just name this like very specific house just saying something i don't get but it is definitely a cultural phenomenon number three that i wanted to talk about is also a dutch obsession and this is going to be one of two food items that i talk about in today's list and of course i have to mention licorice because i don't get the dutch obsession with licorice it's one thing if some people in the netherlands like licorice but it is so important here in the netherlands like it is a big part of dutch culture and if you don't believe me the dutch consumed the most licorice in the world like more than four pounds per person per year that's a lot and also it baffles me that the dutch licorice which is salty in nature is what the dutch folks prefer because it's not like they don't like sweet things i mean they love putting taco slack on bread for breakfast but that's something i get like who doesn't want chocolate sprinkles on their bread for breakfast or lunch or just whenever like there's never a bad time for chocolate sprinkles here in the netherlands but drop i don't get oh yeah the dutch word for licorice is throat i don't think i said that already but if you go to a supermarket you will learn that word pretty quickly because there is a lot of drop to be found in the candy section i used to think i wasn't a picky eater until i moved to the netherlands because i don't like raisins but in the u.s you hardly come across raisins because it's really one of those things that as an american you could like or dislike so often people choose to leave it out just to be safe but here in the netherlands raisin's everywhere and then there is trop so i feel like i've always been picky when people have these like snacks around i'm like oh no i don't like that and i don't like this i mean but it's luckily dutch folks realized that outside of the netherlands it's not everyone's cup of tea but here in the netherlands it's loved so much that you can actually make a cup of tea of licorice on a related note i've noticed that dutch folks seem to be obsessed with this other food item namely peanut butter now that i get a bit more because peanut butter is delicious but i don't get the amount of peanut butter dutch folks seem to consume like to the point where you know in the us americans are famous for having these huge cereal aisles people make fun of them all the time like and i've always heard this from internationals in the us that the cereal aisles of the us are just like filled with cereal and people freeze in the cereal aisle because there's just too much to choose from and they don't know what they should pick so that's like an american problem i have a problem here in the netherlands with peanut butter there's just so many varieties to choose from and i don't get that because there i mean there's drop that you'll see everywhere in the supermarket and then there's peanut butter again it's delicious but it just seems to be that dutch folks have chosen this food item kind of randomly but they eat a lot of peanut butter here hello everyone this is editing ava what the ava in the video forgot to tell you is that the dutch obsession with peanut butter extends so far that there are actually full stores dedicated to peanut butter in the netherlands yes you can go get your peanut butter here at the pindakas vingle see told you dutch folks seem to be obsessed with peanut butter also another thing i wonder about why is it called peanut cheese in dutch pindakas pinda bean peanut gasping cheese i understand that peanut butter is also equally weird but then why peanut cheese it's it seems even more far removed moving right along this particular thing that i don't get actually affects my life because well you'll see in just a moment dutch folks are obsessed with being sporty and active all the time and when they go on holiday they also want to be sporty and active and holidays should be sporty and active and they like going camping and they like roughing it why i don't understand my girlfriend is the exact same way because she is dutch and she loves to camp and she loves being active and sporty and on holidays we have to be active and sporty and i am like where's the wine i find this so interesting because every time we go on holiday we have to kind of find a good balance because she does enjoy being active and sporty and i'm just not a sporty person i am active i i don't just sit around and i'm not the type of person to drive my car everywhere not saying that's a bad thing it's just not something that i do because i don't have a license so that's a different story but i am pretty active in my everyday life it's not like i'm a lump but yeah dashboard just love these extreme things like there is a elf state it's oaks where if it freezes and then they like to skate in the freezing cold through 11 cities like this this is such a dutch thing or they really love biking everywhere like not just you know commuting biking but also like sporty biking and i mentioned the camping and it's a lot this item on the list has to do with a beloved and popular dutch holiday king's day formerly known as queen's day when the netherlands had a queen who retired isn't that lovely but now it's king's day and king's day is a time to celebrate dutch folks have off everyone is partying we're really excited this year that we can celebrate king's day we haven't been able to to we look at that look at me really integrating but the dutch folk haven't been able to celebrate king's day to its fullest for the last couple of years so this is an exciting moment you know something i don't get about king's day no not the monarchy although monarchies um no not the fact that you're celebrating the king's birthday i love a holiday i get it it's fine it all happens but on king's day besides the partying and all the tom bush eating that happens one of the things that also happens is that there are lots of flea markets everywhere just on king's day normally you are not allowed to have flea markets outside your house you don't typically see garage sale signs around but on king's day you're allowed to and needless to say i don't get it what is the relationship between this king and his birthday and flea market why and literally everywhere they're going to be flea markets kids are selling things people are selling things and it's a great time to buy stuff for your home stuff you need stuff you don't need but why on king's day it's not like the king is looking for a discount like is the royal family really into this i i don't understand why is it why is this a thing how did it even become a thing and the next and final thing i want to talk about today is why do dutch folks always leave their curtains open this i really don't get because i mean of course i live in the city but from time to time i want my privacy now you would think okay maybe dutch folks leave their curtains open or they don't have curtains so they make sure to do all their private stuff in rooms and places of the house that other people can't see false absolutely not true i have seen the funniest things happening behind people's windows not behind their curtains because they don't exist now of course many people do have curtains so i find that this whole dutch people don't have curtain stereotype is i think i expected more of the no curtain nests here in the netherlands but they are curtains and they also sometimes have these like little films that they put on the windows so you can't see inside so of course some people do do that but oftentimes they don't and i for one love walking around and taking a nice peek into people's homes i'm sorry it's just i can't resist there are no curtains so but i really don't get this because sometimes i've seen the funniest things one time i was walking near fondue park with a couple of friends they were visiting and i don't know if i told the story but it's so funny that i feel like even if i have i have to share it again so i was walking near fondue park and i happened to just glance at someone's apartment i mean their apartment buildings everywhere so it wasn't like i picked a particular apartment i just happened to turn my head and there i see this woman butt naked on the ground floor ground floor apartment near fondue park in amsterdam this is a huge tourist destination a lot of people are just passing by even if they're not tourists but no she just didn't care she was there but naked i mean she wasn't facing me thankfully because that would have been awkward but she was just there but naked and then she was like putting on some pants and i mean go go her like good for her you know body positivity and all that but i was just a little taken aback because i don't think this would be something that i would immediately want the world to see but hey here in the netherlands anything can happen so those were some things that i still wonder about after two and a half years of living in the netherlands now of course as usual if you have something to say about anything that i mentioned earlier feel free to drop a comment down below and of course until next time [Music]

Channel: Dutch Americano

Views: 26,395

Keywords: typical Dutch, Dutch things, American living in the Netherlands, American in the Netherlands, American expat, American expat in the Netherlands, moving to the Netherlands, funny Dutch things, Dutch stuff, Dutch culture, typical Dutch things

Id: 2Sn7xO5-Hqs

Length: 14min 34sec (874 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 13 2022