Vagabond Urges wrote in yesterday’s post, The Secret to Europe, about greetings in Paris shops. He observed that when a customer comes in, he or she greets the person behind the counter. Who then reciprocates and things go on from there. If you don’t start off with a greeting, you get the cold shoulder. As an American, he had to get used to that.
So I started thinking about different greetings. Continue reading
Posted in Language
Tagged communication, Cultural Differences, cultural etiquette, greetings, Netherlands, Paris, stores, United States
This post doesn’t live here anymore. It has emigrated to my new blog:
The Big No-No: An Outsider on American Fascism,
where it resides under the title:
“What Is Good History Education: Civil War Battles or Why They Were Fought?”
Photo: allvoices.com
Posted in US Politics
Tagged America, American, Amerika, Amerikaans, Dutch, election financing, money, Nederland, Netherlands, politics, politiek, United States, verkiezingen
Photo: Harderwiek
Posted in US Politics
Tagged America, American, Amerika, Amerikaans, Dutch, election, Nederland, Opinion, party platforms, politics, politiek, presidential election 2012, United States, Verenigde Staten, verkiezingen
Photo: csmonitor.com
I have always respected most religious beliefs. Sure, I put my foot in my mouth occasionally, but I have no problem with religion in itself. I can see how there’s a human need for spirituality of one kind or another, and that some of us have a bigger need for it than others. However, there’s supposed to be a separation between church and state in this country, and when that idea is so blatantly trampled, when religion interferes with science, education, politics and human rights to the degree it does here, then the respect is clearly not mutual, and I don’t feel as obligated to be religiously correct. Continue reading
Posted in Religion, Science, Society
Tagged America, creationism, education, gays, Global Warming, homoseksualiteit, homosexuals, House Science Committee, Netherlands, onderwijs, Opinion, religion, science, statistics, United States
Well, it’s the Fourth of July, Independence Day here in the States. I just saw a post by an American blogger friend in the Netherlands, who posted some beautiful landscape photos of Tennessee for the 4th. I’ll do the same. Not of Tennessee, because it’s one of the few states I haven’t visited yet, but just from all over.
Click on the first picture to see them bigger. Enjoy. Happy 4th. Continue reading
Posted in Nature, Photography
Tagged July Fourth, photography, travel, United States
Okay, for those of you who think I’m too negative about America, let me confuse you again.
Do I seem schizophrenic to you? Well, that’s because I am. Not clinically, but being Dutch in America, I can’t help being in a permanent schizophrenic state of mind. Depending on what I’m Continue reading
This is the fifth post in a series about American high school students’ impressions on a presentation about the Netherlands in World War Two. Click here for the introduction to said presentation.
This is the fourth post in a series about American high school students’ impressions of a presentation I gave on the Netherlands during World War Two. Click here for the introduction to said presentation. Continue reading
Posted in High School, Holland, World War Two
Tagged America, Bezetting, Dutch, education, German occupation, Headwaters School, history, Khabele School, Nederland, Netherlands, onderwijs, tweede wereldoorlog, United States, World War Two, WWII
Photo: http://www.members.home.nl
This is the third post about impressions of American high school students of a presentation I did on the Netherlands in World War Two. Click here for the introduction to said presentation.
Posted in High School, Holland, World War Two
Tagged America, Anne Frank, Dutch, education, Headwaters School, history, Jews, jodenvervolging, Khabele School, Netherlands, onderwijs, tweede wereldoorlog, United States, World War Two, WWII
This is the second post in a series about American high school students’ impressions of a presentation about the Netherlands in World War Two. Click here for the introduction to said presentation.
My son B.’s ninth-grade class is learning about World War Two right now, so I offered to give a presentation about the Netherlands during WWII. Not because, in itself, the Netherlands’ history is so important in the big picture, but because I suspected that otherwise the students probably wouldn’t learn too much about how it was for Europeans to be occupied by the Germans.
The demography and geography of the different countries in Europe may vary greatly, but the stories of German occupation, resistance, and living in constant fear and uncertainty have much in common.
And, of course, the occupation of countries, the killing of Jews and the constant intimidation and terror all over Europe is what American soldiers were fighting, even though they may often not have been aware of it, since they were mainly in battle situations against other soldiers. But when they were fighting for freedom, this is what it meant.
image from justbathroomsigns.com
The first time I visited America, at age 18, I visited my great aunt and her husband in Bakersfield, California.
The evening I arrived, we went out to dinner at an Elk Lodge and after we had finished our meal, my great aunt asked me if I wanted to join her in the restroom. I replied that I wasn’t really tired, but she insisted.
We Dutch are world-famous for our directness, so American conversations require a whole new set of skills. In my previous post, I wrote about an example of what Americans say and what they mean. There’s a lot of that. I have figured most of it out by now–at least I think I have. But that doesn’t leave me any less mystified.
Take “That’s interesting”. Continue reading
Another post in the “Weird Things Americans Say” spirit.
When my brand new American boyfriend T–now my husband for 18 years–first spoke to his parents on my phone in the Netherlands, he ended the call with telling his parents he loved them, apparently in response to them telling him the same.
That was weird to me. My parents and I had never Continue reading
I opened my oven drawer yesterday, and was immediately reminded of a language misunderstanding I had years ago. Continue reading
(For my Dutch-English translating and proofreading business, please go to my D-E Translating WordPress site. Thank you.)
Welcome to my blog.
I’m a 57-year-old Dutch immigrant. I didn’t come to America for a better life. My life was just peachy in the Netherlands. I came here for love — no other reason. I met my American husband while on vacation in Scotland. He tried to get a job in the private sector in Holland, but since he could only speak two languages — neither of them was Dutch and English really didn’t count, because everyone in the Netherlands can speak English –that wasn’t going well. So I moved to America. To the Rio Grande Valley first, and after twelve looooong, hot years we moved to Austin, where we’ve now lived for almost twelve years as well.
I love living in Austin but I’m chock-full of criticism of America in general. The Rockies bring me to tears, but so does the health care system. I’ve adopted Thanksgiving, but not the Pledge of Allegiance. If I seem elated and unbearably grouchy in sometimes dizzyingly quick succession, this is why.
I love the usual: my husband, my children, my friends and our pets. I hate heat, willful ignorance, bone spurs, spiders, and walking or cycling in place.
I collect raft books and I’ve developed a weird obsession with the bottoms of bridges.
When I lived in the Netherlands, twenty-three years ago, I loved hot tea, wild camping in Great Britain, gardening, reading for days on end, and I walked and cycled everywhere. Now that I live in a pretty darn hot part of the U.S., with kids who have to be driven everywhere by car, I love reminiscing about hot tea, wild camping in Great Britain, gardening, reading for days on end and walking and cycling everywhere…
My blog is a crazy—some might say completely unhinged–collection of posts about any of the above-mentioned issues and then some. Nothing is sacred. I blatantly ignore all American no-nos. Which means I talk politics, religion, I don’t idolize teachers and I swear (though not that much — well, maybe a bit more than usual since November 2016).
As you read my posts you might laugh, seethe, weep or shrug your shoulders. If you like a post, great. Let me know. If you hate a post, great, let me know. I like to think I’m always right, but don’t let that stop you from telling me if you disagree. We Dutch love a good debate.
If you want to know more about how I got here and an overview of how that’s been, visit my About page.
Otherwise, have at it!
(In my posts, I refer to my husband as T, my 21-year-old son as B, and my 18-year-old daughter as R.)
Posted in Writing
Tagged America, Amerika, Barbara Backer, Barbara Backer-Gray, blogging, Dutch, emigrant, immigrant, kultuurverschillen, Nederland, Netherlands, Opinion, resident alien, United States, Verenigde Staten
When I was in school, it seemed that only private religious schools made the kids learn the Dutch national anthem. The rest of us never learned, and so we didn’t get much further than the first two lines, and nobody cared.
This is an almost 20-minute video, but the information Robyn O’Brien gives is important to know. Coming from Holland seventeen years ago, I felt like almost everybody here is allergic to something. My husband would jokingly say, “Oh sure, the Dutch are never allergic,” thinking it was just another of my everything’s-better-in-Holland observations, but seriously, there didn’t seem half as many people allergic to stuff in Holland as there are in America. Now it turns out this might be true. So there, hubby! Continue reading
Posted in Food, Healthcare, Technology
Tagged agriculture, American, Amerikaans, anencephaly, corn, FDA, genetical engineering, landbouw, mais, milk production, Robyn O'Brien, United States, Verenigde Staten
If I could go to dinner anywhere in the world tonight, where would I go? And with whom and what would I eat? Well, since I’m in my Dutch immigrant blog mode, I think I’d beam myself up and over to Holland, to the Saturday market in Amersfoort or Utrecht or Amsterdam. Yeah, I know it’s only Thursday, but it’s Saturday there whenever I want it to be. If I can beam myself anywhere, it can also be any time.
I’m sitting in the passenger seat of my Honda Odyssey minivan, with my feet up on the dashboard. I’m parked in front of the theater in the east side of town, where my 11-year-old daughter has her acting class every Thursday evening from 6 – 8:30 p.m. It takes us about an hour to get there because it’s rush hour, so my daughter took her laptop with her to work on a “book” she’s writing while we’re driving. Now I’m using it while I wait for her to be done. Continue reading
Notes From a University Student 4
The registrar, after telling me that the courses I took in middle and high school in Holland didn’t count, had then turned around and given me credit for a few, so in the second summer session I took two history courses, all the courses I needed to have a minor in history.
I couldn’t be a librarian, but after these two five-week courses I could conceivably teach history in high school.
The first course was World History, for 90 minutes a day. World History is also taught in high school here, but you can get around it, and anyway, in high school it’s usually also just one semester.
Since history isn’t taught properly in high school, you have to take it again in college, where it also isn’t taught properly, because how on earth can you teach world history from Mesopotamia to the present in one semester or in a five-week summer course?
Notes From a University Student 1
I had been asked to be a bridesmaid.
This was a big test: could I do it? Could I stand in a row with five American women, in front of a church congregation, without being the odd one out?
Yes. I would just have to do it. I would just have to forget my Dutch sense of individuality and put on a dress that I was ordered to wear – the exact same dress that five other women would be wearing – and walk for several hours in high-heeled shoes of someone else’s choice.
I would have to ‘have my hair done’ – in a style, at a time, and at a location determined by others – and I would have to ‘have my nails done’ with a polish that was handed out at the bridesmaids’ luncheon.
Apparently having good company for your birthday is not enough when you go out to eat. In many restaurants the personnel sings a song for the celebrant. And everyone in the restaurant will know about it. The waiters meet near the kitchen and start clapping as they walk to the birthday person’s table. Often they sing and clap their very own house-birthday song: Continue reading
High School Report 6
High School Report 5
Posted in High School
Tagged achievement tests, America, American, Amerika, Amerikaans, education, exams, high school, kwaliteit, middelbare school, onderwijs, quality, testen, United States, Verenigde Staten
High School Report 4
There is often a change in the daily planning at the school because of “activities”. During football season there’s a game against another school every Friday night. The South Texas schools are divided by size. Since our school is tiny, we play against other tiny schools. Sometimes these are very far away.
High School Report 3
Posted in High School
Tagged America, American, Amerika, Amerikaans, curriculum, education, Football, high school, middelbare school, onderwijs, sport, sports, United States, vakken, Verenigde Staten
High School Report 2
Posted in High School
Tagged America, American, Amerika, Amerikaans, education, kwaliteit, onderwijs, quality, United States, Verenigde Staten
High School Report 1
For the students the school year begins on Wednesday (sic), August 16. It ends on Tuesday (sic again), May 28. The Christmas vacation began on Thursday, December 21 and ended on Monday, January 8. More than two and a half weeks. Instead of autumn break there’s Thanksgiving in November, which means three days off, and sometimes a whole week. At Easter only Good Friday is a holiday. Instead of Easter break there’s Spring Break in March. For the rest there’s a long weekend in September for Labor Day.
Posted in High School
Tagged America, American, Amerika, Amerikaans, education, hours, kwaliteit, onderwijs, onderwijs uren, quality, school jaar, school year, United States, Verenigde Staten
In the late 60s Richard Proenneke built his own cabin in the Alaskan wilderness with only a few simple tools. He spent most of the rest of his life there. Sam Keith fleshed out Proenneke's diary of his first 16 months, when he was making his home by a lake. I love these kinds of books!
An old Oji-Cree healer and her nephew canoe down a river in Canada, away from the world of white people. They both have to come to terms with their past. The woman has lost most of her tribe and the young man is traumatized from his recent experience in the Belgian trenches of World War One. My second book by Boyden. Can't say enough about him.
An incredibly comprehensive history of everything related to slavery in the Southern United States, from the beginning of the colonies to the end of the Civil War. Over 700 pages and I took over 30 pages of notes. I will be sharing over many posts to come!
Hamid's debut novel. I love this author. A young man in Lahore, Pakistan, is the victim of love, drugs, obsession, the class system and his complete lack of self-awareness.
A golem, created in Poland and brought to life on a ship to America, and a jinni who was trapped in a flask a thousand years ago and released in New York -- the most unusual immigrants you'll ever meet.
The only part of her life a Korean woman can control is her body, so she withdraws into it. Harrowing.
Autobiography lightly disguised as a novel about the son of Southern migrants growing up on the streets of Harlem, New York City, in the 1940s and 50s. Written like you're hearing the whole story in a bar. Quite a feat.
The story of a man struggling to make a living in Morocco. No plot, no clearly defined characters, but fascinating in its authenticity.
Pakistani man tells an American about his experience as a college student and employee of an assessment firm in America years ago. Smart, nuanced and pretty darn honest considering the unreliable narrator.
Wow! The answer to the inane platitudes about how all parents love their children and how children should always respect their parents. The protagonist must come to terms with his deeply flawed immigrant parents in order to change himself.
Seven short stories about life during the Kim Il-sung regime, by a writer who still lives and works in North Korea, were smuggled out of the country and translated. Mind-boggling stuff.
A 15-year-old autistic narrator wants to know who killed a neighbor's dog, and ends up much further out of his comfort zone than he planned. Wonderful read!
In politics, education, religion, agriculture, business--it turns out that dumbing down has been here from the start.
Fifty years of Istanbul seen through the eyes of a street vendor who migrates to the city as a young boy. It's also a window into the complicated dance between men and women in Turkey.
Hey, don't laugh, at least I'm trying.
A Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with six other people on a tiny island off the coast of Maine all winter in 1873. A woman in the present researching the Norwegian immigrant is cooped up with three other people on a tiny sailboat. What could possibly go wrong?
A man stuck between two worlds in more ways than one. Fascinating!
Historical novel about early contacts between first nations and the French in Canada. Beautifully written story that doesn't pull any punches. I bought his other two novels right away.
Beautifully written. By my children's favorite English and Creative Writing teacher! It's got rave reviews and we're all very proud of her.
Suki Kim is a Korean-American journalist. She poses as an evangelical Christian posing as an English teacher at a school for the sons of North Korea's elite. Her experience and the information she manages to get via writing assignments are incredible. Definitely a lot more eye-opening that any CNN special.
This. Explains. Everything!!!
Why has Islam not undergone a reformation like Christianity? Why is it so easy for Islamic extremist groups like IS to recruit young muslims? What would it take for Islam in fundamentalist Islamic countries to enter modernity? Does the West have a role to play?
Amazing! A man wanders endlessly through a dreamscape, becoming other people, himself in the past, everything is fluid. Kafkaesque disconnect between people and their different needs.
A multi-layered novel about the history of Libya. A fast read, but one you can repeat and find something new each time.
Twelve Americans go missing in Burma/Myanmar during a tour. Touching and hilarious, but mostly hilarious.
The most unusual murder mystery I've ever read. Incredible writing. It haunted me for days.
The quote on the front mentions that these stories are exhilerating. I couldn't disagree more. They are almost unbearably painful to read, and yet I couldn't put them down. Very well done, apart from the third story, which is written in the second tense. Please let me know if you know of ONE story that works in second tense.
Rants, essays, and diatribes.
Fascism, Nationalism and Authoritarianism in U.S. History
He was in India. I was in Ireland. Now we're in Paris. New posts every week.
Making Sense of a Vexing and Perplexing World
Cogito Ergo Sum
daily gadfly
Understanding the psychology that drives our politics
A daily selection of the best content published on WordPress, collected for you by humans who love to read.
Longreads : The best longform stories on the web
making sense of the news one week at a time
The Art and Craft of Blogging
Words by RRN
The journey of a Graphic Design graduate
Explore Scotland through my stories, photos and videos. She's a beauty!
Wanderers on two wheels!
Quintin Lake's photographic Journey walking around Britain's Coast
Adventures in the world of history
Amsterdam days and nights
196 countries, countless stories...
Postcards from afar: Immersion Travel, Cultural Travel. Currently in... Singapore!
Adventures in absurdity
navigating a world of noise as a quiet soul
Art + Photo + Words
art design & oddities
Historian, Folklorist, Writer, Re-enactor, Museum Professional. Follow me on Twitter: @stuartorme
“I have tried my best to keep my country alive by writing about it.” - Nuruddin Farah
Trimming the bush of life...
een amerikaanse schrijft over liefde, ouderschap & volwassen worden in nederland
I write books--cuz I love words. Sometimes they love me back.
the past in pop culture
a place to showcase
When will we ever learn?: Common sense and nonsense about today's public schools in America.
Rising from the ashes of domestic violence
a chronicle of recollections
There are 5 sisters. She's the middlest.
Visual Arts from Canada & Around the World
Resident Alien -- Being Dutch in America 