Category Archives: Cultural differences

How the Dutch can be second when America comes first

It has been quite a month (or three). I’ve learned to recognize myself as a ‘slow processor’ and now finally dare to say to people: “Sorry, can I get back to you? I need to think that over.” For the past few weeks I have written many half-finished stories, blogs and articles and nothing got […]

Dare to be proud

Recently I read a blog from a friend in the Netherlands, in which he admitted to be proud of himself. It got me thinking. I think here in the US people easier admit to be proud than in the Netherlands. There is an expression in Dutch that literally translates as: “Act normal, that’s crazy enough.” […]

See the moon shines through the trees…

Nine years, plus three before our family move. That’s twelve years in the US.We’ve been married 19, so most of my married life I spent in the US. Kind of cool, now I think of it. I dream in English, feel like I belong here and miss only my family and friends.I keep forgetting about […]

The Thanksgiving Orphans

It was November, we had been here for about 10 months now and I was still learning about the differences between my familiar culture and my new one. I couldn’t believe my eyes seeing the enormous turkeys filling the cooling places in the supermarket. I pointed it out to my husband: “How does that even […]

When home is truly where the heart is

One more sleep and we are off: on vacation as what often is referred to as ‘going back home’. This makes sense: we are from the Netherlands and that will be our vacation destination this year. Both sets of parents live in the Netherlands, as do siblings, relatives and friends. Does that make it home? […]

No lunch? No problem! A delicious home-made solution.

It is summer on the island. This means loads of tourists in the down town area. This also means that you don’t want to go into town if you don’t have to, especially between 9am-9pm. Around 8 am, my husband noticed we were out of bread. I had done most of the groceries yesterday and […]

Got to eat your veggies!

I remember the first time in the big US supermarket: the shiny apples, yellow bananas, tomatoes in different shapes and colors and then, those things. Big, green, yellow, orange, brown and everything in between. It looked like a fall display on a classroom table. Shaped like melons, pears, even a bit like a humongous acorn. […]

How to satisfy your cravings and look good at the same time.

Sometimes you just have a craving for something. Without reason. Today was such a day. Actually, I had been craving ‘boterkoek’ for a few days now, but just didn’t get to make it. Because, of course, I always seem to have an intense desire for that what is impossible. Had I lived in the Netherlands, […]