Who are the Dutch?

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Who are the Dutch?

It is very nice to travel and to get to know the history, the landscape, and the flavours of another country. It is easy to enjoy a museum, to visit a church or an old historical place. But it is difficult to get to know the soul of a people. For me, the Dutch still have the same mysterious air of when I arrived three weeks ago.

I observe the people... most of them with the white skin, blue eyes, and very tall. The immigrants have also brought different races and colours to this country—Arabs, Africans, Asians. I like to listen to the people talking in their strange language and try find out what they are saying. I ask myself, "What they are they thinking, how do they act, what values do they have. After all, what is this culture?

I believe the Dutch are really contradictory people, as Holland itself seems to be. A country full of history and art. In a certain way, the Netherlands is a poetic country in its architecture, its mills, its flowers, its bicycles. On the other hand, freedom and vanguard are very important here. Who goes to Amsterdam becomes impressed with the naturalness that the people deal with sex and drugs. For sure, this is a cultural aspect that is sold to the tourists. It is what makes Amsterdam unique and therefore so attractive. In the other cities of Holland, this liberal air is not so strong.

By talking with people who have been here for more time, I try to understand their impressions of Dutch people. All the men say Dutch women are much more independent. And I don’t have doubts about this. Dutch girls do not like to receive flowers, and they are not romantic at all. Isn’t it contradictory? Women don’t to like to receive flowers in the country of tulips? And what about Dutch parties? Some people says the typical Dutch party is a group of men smoking and drinking together, while women are meeting in another place. Particularly, in the parties where I have been this wasn't the case. I had a lot of fun.

In general, I think that the Dutch can deal well with friendships between male and female friends without obligation to being lovers. The Dutch men do not suffer the same pressure that Brazilians do, that have to seduce girls. The relations among men and women are equal here.

I’ve heard they are. They are not people as opened as the Brazilians are, in general, but I don’t think they are so closed as the Germans, for example, who are famous for being very cold. I’ve heard also that Dutch are very frank people, who do not hesitate in saying the truth. I do not doubt this, because it is visible in commercial relations. Here, they do not know the principle that the customer is always right. They are gentile, but they do not make many concessions and are not very affable. They leave it very clear that if somebody does not like something that they do not need to buy it.

Young Dutch adore electronic music. I was surprised when I knew that here it is very common to remix Brazilian music called “bossa nova” dances. What is most played in the discos is electronic music. On the radio stations, the preference is pop, most of them American. Typical coffee-shops are very common here, but not all of them sell marijuana. It is very common to see bars occupying the sidewalk with tables and chairs, generally very colourful, giving an idea that this is a place of enjoyment.

Small bars and restaurants with international cooking are everywhere and in every city. The food is sufficiently cosmopolitan. They appreciate curry sauce, originated from India, where in London it is already considered national food. In Holland, the Stroopwafles, a kind of cookie with several different fillings are very typical, as well as muffins. They also love croissants, both sweet and as a salty snack. The Dutch cheeses are famous. On the weekend, the markets of cheeses pop up all over Holland and they are really delicious. The most famous one is the Gouda.

Because of the proximity to the sea and the amount of rivers, the Dutch cooking also has a lot of seafood. One of the typical fish is the arenque, eaten with onion, and sold in the streets. Like in England and Germany, the potatoes are very typical, mainly fries with a mayonnaise sauce which is also sold in the streets.

The Dutch dress themselves in a very careless way. Some foreigners complain that the girls don’t know how to dress nicely, don’t use makeup, and do not take care of themselves. We should not generalise, because they dress themselves and portray an image that is different from other places, even from here. There it is fashion to be relaxed and pretend that you are not interested in these things. The young girls wear wider pants, mix different colours, wear dribbled dresses and skirts with a sort of hippie look. The men's hair stays uncombed, they wear chequered shirts with the collar unbuttoned, a style from the 70s, which they think is neat. This is the Dutch way of being, independent and liberal.

Its area is seven times smaller than Rio Grande do Sul. However, about 16 million inhabitants live there (1.6 times bigger than RS). Violence almost does not exist. Theft can happen, but without physical aggression. Rotterdam is considered the most-dangerous city of the country.

population	16,132,185
unemployment of active population	2.2 %
violence of any type per year	5.0 %
healthy people	80.4 %