Orange Fever!

When it comes to sports, the Dutch love ice skating and swimming a lot, but what we love most is soccer. Not so strange considering all you need for soccer is flat land and a ball, and we have lots of that (flat land and balls). In the Netherlands soccer is the most played game. Kids play it on the street and go to soccer clubs, and a lot of grown-ups play amateur soccer. When you climb a church tower in the Netherlands and look down on the roofs around, you will see many soccer balls laying there. Also, grabbing and throwing a soccer ball back over the fence to the neighbours is a popular past time activity for those who do not play soccer themselves. I'm no hero with the ball, in fact, I suck at it. As a kid I tried a soccer club for about two months and then I gave up because the ball refused to listen to my feet. Also, I am no good at the soccer conversations that people have here. I don't get it at all, they drop names I never heard of before, and heated discussions about the best player or team seem trivial to me.

Traditional Dutch Legion outfits

During the championships this changes radically. Something amazing happens in the Netherlands when our National Team gets together to play ball. Supporters and hooligans of rival teams take off their club colors, and people like me who never cared about soccer turn into soccer enthusiasts, joining discussions about team tactics and star players like experts. This knowledge seems to be nested somewhere deep inside Dutch DNA, because suddenly we know it all and our view on the game is always the most sensible. Like a Dutch reporter once said, during the Championships our country has 16 million coaches.

Orange Fever at its peak

In a few weeks the World Championship Soccer will be played in Brazil, and it is in this period that the transition of the Dutch takes place. Like a caterpillar that changes into a butterfly, the average Dutch person will change into an Orange legionist. While our team is selected from the best players we have and goes off to training camp, the dutch citizens also prepare for the exciting times that are coming. The closer the date of the first match, the more enthusiastic we become. This phenomenon is called Orange Fever. It starts slowly, with some Orange t-shirts and funny stuff in the supermarkets, and slowly it grows on us. People start to put Orange stuff in their cars, hang Orange flags in their streets, television commercials are more and more Orange themed, and the first new Orange soccer songs are made. And then, suddenly, Orange Fever strikes hard. People start painting their cars Orange, some paint their houses Orange, and in the supermarkets there is not a single product to be found that is not Orange. Orange cheese, orange macaroni, orange deserts, orange toiletpaper with the smell of grass, there is no ending to it.

Orange toilet paper with the smell of soccer field grass

After this transition, the Dutch are no longer an ordinary people, but we are known as the Orange Legion. With our orange uniforms and armed with funny stuff we are ready to cheer our team to the finals. All we care about is winning the championships, or, at least win the match against our rivals, the germans. We are proud, and we should, because we have done amazingly well in the past championships for a country with just 16 million inhabitants. We came in second in the world championships in 2010, and we have high hopes for the next. When the games are played, we all get together and watch the match, big screens are raised in bars and on squares, and from every open window you can hear the sounds of the match on the tv´s. When we loose, we are all sad. But when we win, the whole country goes crazy and we celebrate in the streets.

Orange Camping

Part of the Orange Legion travels to the hosting country for local support, and we create a small Orange invasion there. People stay in tents and trailers on the Orange Camping, and when our team plays they all march to the stadium in full orange gear. They sing songs like `Go, Holland, Go! Don´t let the lion stand in his underwear!´ and ´Viva Hollandia!´ If our team plays well, they will be honored in Amsterdam during an amazing celebration. The team will be driven around on a boat on the canals, and the party will reach ultimate heights. And when everything is over, the summer vacations start. The Dutch who go abroad to the mediteranian beaches will have great conversations with the people from other countries. They will shout ´Holland!´ and give a thumbs up, and show their respect by dropping names of dutch players. We proudly nod, even the people like me, who normally don´t know shit about soccer, and could care less about it.  

Dutch Quisine

While many (European) countries have their own delicious specialities when it comes to traditional cooking and dining, the Netherlands are somewhat exceptional. The Germans have their Schnitzels and sausages, the Belgians have their fries and waffles, the Greeks have their souflaki, the Spanish their paëlla, the Italians their pizza and pasta, the Hungarians their gulash, the French have about everything and my guess is the other European countries also have their own tasty meals. The Dutch however don't really have anything comparable. When we go out to dinner in the Netherlands, we choose between Chinese, Italian, Greek or Turkish restaurants. If we have more to spend we might go to some fancy place where they serve the French stuff. When we have even more to spend we go to some weird designer place that has stuff on the menu that we don't even know what it is, unless you are a specialist yourself.

Carrot Mash Pot

The only real Dutch speciality where we actually sit down for to eat it is stamppot (mash pot). We cook potatoes and vegetables and mash them together so it becomes an easy to swallow mush. We put gravy on it so it goes down even faster, and that's it. It is tasty, it really is. But no one goes to a restaurant for this. That is why there are no Dutch Cuisine restaurants around. Another thing that we like to eat, and have done so for many years, is fries. Not fries with a burger or anything, just fries. Covered in a lot of mayonnaise. We eat them from a little plastic tray with a little plastic fork that breaks on the fries that are a fried a little too long. But, eating fries is not really Dutch, since it is the Belgian national dish. The Belgians don't eat it from a tray though, they eat it from a pointy paper bag. The tray was our idea, and a good one too, since it prevents your fingers getting all covered in the mayo when you try to reach for the ones in the bottom of the bag.

Fries with mayonnaise, a romantic dinner for two

Like in many places in the world American fast food like MacDonalds and Burger King is becoming more and more popular in the Netherlands. A lot of people might think that fast food is an imported concept, but that is not true at all. In fact, the Dutch could be considered the founders of fast food. The best known and most popular dutch eating habits is way faster than a burger. Our fast food doesn't even demand you to sit down for it. We eat it while walking, or standing next to a garbage can ready to throw our napkin in as soon as we are finished. A great example is the Dutch tradition of a "croquette from the wall". This tradition goes back to the beginning of the 20th century and is still very popular today. You go to a wall where fried croquettes are kept warm, you throw in a euro and you open one of the little doors and get your meal. Dining this way doesn't cost you more than three minutes, and you can do it while walking to catch a bus or a train. Another great thing about these croquettes from the wall is that it also can be used for hilarious jokes. Before closing the little door after you got your croquette, you can put something back instead. Like someone's plastic teeth. The next visitors will have a good laugh when they see them behind the little door for sale for just one euro.

Croquettes from the wall

This superior efficiency brings us to our most famous national dish. While the Americans put so much effort in designing their fast food restaurants to be as efficient as they can be, with pre-made burger meat and pre-cut fries, drive-throughs and garbage cans that you can throw stuff in from you car window, the Dutch have already reached ultimate perfection many centuries ago: Eating a herring. You just go to the nearest herring cart, say whether you want onions on it or not, hold it by the tail and eat it. You don't have to wait until its cooked, we eat our herring raw. And it's not only tasty but healthy as well!

Best meal of the world, a nice fresh herring

      


    

Liberation Day

On May 5th we celebrate Liberation Day in the Netherlands. On this day we were liberated from the Nazi occupation by the Americans, British, Polish, Belgian, Dutch and Czechoslovak troops. It is amazing that it took so many allies to free this small piece of land. The south-east of the Netherlands, where I live, were already liberated by the British and American forces, so we also have a Liberation Day somewhere in September. However, our National Liberation Day is gaining popularity over our local Liberation Day.

Liberation Day concert in Den Bosch

Like many countries we had a huge post-World War 2 baby boom. A big part of that is the result of the Liberation day party in 1945. On documentaries on television we have seen it was a wild party. And when we asked grandma about Liberation Day when we were kids, all she would tell us was stories about getting chocolate, chewing gum and cigarettes from the American soldiers. About the drinking and whatever happened after that she remained silent. One would say that a lot more could be told about the party of the century, but either because of shame, or because of memory loss due to excessive alcohol use, or maybe because of a secret oath they all took on the day after Liberation day, nobody could tell us anything. All we ever noticed was that uncle Joop or aunt Katrien looked very different from the rest of the family, but hey, that's what a war can do to people.

Liberation Day on May 5th 1945 in Amsterdam

On Liberation day we celebrate our freedom. Bands play music everywhere, and people go out and have a good time. Since everyone has to go to work the next day, the party will never be as wild as Kingsday. Also we don't wear orange, and really have no clue why not, but for some reason it just doesn't feel right.  

Our Prime-Minister Rutte lighting the Freedom Fire

  
Liberation Day is a national holiday, but for some reason we do not all get a day off, most people have to work like on any other day. I was lucky though, I did have a day off, and I spent most of it in bed sleeping and dreaming. Afterwards I took a nice walk in the sunshine by myself, no one nagging, no drama, no stress. Now that is what I call freedom! 

My bed, where I spend a big part of Liberation Day 2014

Remembrance of the Dead

On May 4th the Remembrance of the Dead is held in the Netherlands. Originally it was a day ro remember and honor those who have died in the War. In the 1960's it was broadened to honor civilians and soldiers who died in all wars that happened since World War 2. Flower wreaths are being placed at war monuments and at the graveyards of the allied forces who died liberating the Netherlands. We do not honor all who died. Even though the last world war ended almost 70 years ago, people here are still sensitive about including the Germans in the ceremony. In 2012, the mayor of a small village planned to also honor the German soldiers who died in the war, but there were protests and law suits to prevent that. It's a good thing we do not include all the wars that happened before WW2, because with all the quarrels we had in Europe and in the Dutch colonies we wouldn't manage in one day; we would have Remembrance Week.

Remembrance Day Ceremony on the Dam Square

The big ceremony takes place in Amsterdam, where the king and queen place flowers at the National Monument at the Dam Square. Veterans are present, wearing their uniforms and medals, and there is a big crowd gathered. After a few speeches, and a poem read by a kid who won the national liberation poem contest, we have 2 minutes of silence. In Amsterdam, and in the rest of the country, we keep our mouths shut, trains stop, radio broadcasts stop, even websites go black for these two minutes. It is important to remember this when you live in Holland, because if you are sitting at a busstop and you don't understand why people suddenly stopped complaining about the weather, you will be frowned upon if you ask them during these minutes of silence. A few years back the ceremony in Amsterdam went terribly wrong when some drugged up guy started yelling. Someone else then shouted the word "Bomb!" and everyone panicked. About 63 people were wounded in the stampede. The guy was arrested and since then is known as the Damyeller. Together with the Tealightholderthrower who once threw an empty candleholder at the Queens golden coach, they dominated the news media for years.

Our King and Queen on Remembrance Day, where our Queen wins the funny hat elections

After the two minutes of silence the National Anthem is played, and for some reason we have no issues with singing the lyrics that the founding father of our country is of German blood. When the ceremony has ended, we go home and watch television, where they broadcast movies about the war, and we take our rest for next day, when we celebrate Liberation Day.