Pro Choice

The church near my house, the Noorderkerk, has been defaced with “pro choice” spray painted on the doors of the church.
Abortion is legal here, and is generally considered a woman’s right to chose. Although the law guaranteeing that was granted by a narrow majority we don’t have the radical pro-life movement picketing abortion clinics [...]

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Before and After Meme for Expats

From A Touch of Dutch
Before:
Before you knew you’d be coming to the Netherlands, for whatever reason you originally came to the Netherlands, truthfully how much did you know about the country?

Honestly? Next to nothing, I’d transited Schiphol once and I knew there were windmills.

Did you learn about the Netherlands in school when you were growing [...]

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Abdication Rumours

There is speculation in the Dutch and Belgian media that Queen Beatrix will announce her intention to step down from the throne in favour of her son Prince Willem Alexander. I vaguely remember an earlier discussion about this, possibly when Willem Alexander married in 2002, and Queen Beatrix gave the answer that he should be [...]

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Multatuli

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It’s a modern sculpture but of a man who lived 150 years ago. Multatuli was born Eduard Douwes Dekker back in 1820.
He defied his father who wanted him to join the merchant navy, and became a civil servant in the colonial offices in Indonesia. After more than a decade in service he began to protest [...]

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Tulip Watch 6

One tulip, a prodigy, has flowered, as have all the grape hyacinths that I don’t remember planting.

It does look like the ones on the packet. I wonder when the others will pop up.

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Happy New Year

The build up for new year celebration has already started. I’m sitting in my apartment (hurrah for days off work) and I can hear fireworks already being let off around the city.
Fireworks are a big part of new year celebrations in Amsterdam, and from midnight there will be huge fireworks let off all across the [...]

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Sinterklaas Celebration

I saw Sint last week, standing around a carpark being interviewed. It seemed somehow so wrong.
Sint, or Sinterklaas, arrived a couple of weeks ago and on Wednesday will be delivering candy and gifts to good children across the country. Naughty children will be put in a sack carried by his helper Zwarte Piet and taken [...]

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St Martin’s Day

Today, 11 November, is St Martin’s Day. Traditionally children in Amsterdam go door to door, and they’ll sing a song. At the end of the song you’re supposed to give them sweets.The song is odd, and really doesn’t have much to do with St Martin,

Sint Maarten, Sint Maarten,
De koeien hebben staarten,
De meisjes hebben rokjes aan,
Daar [...]

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Congratulations

The flag and schoolbag hung outside a house indicate that a child in the house has passed their exams. You see it around this time of the year, which is when school finishes, and occasionally later in the year when university finishes.
I’ve seen a few of these around the local area, congratulations to all [...]

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East meets West

I went to a very odd concert last Saturday, in the Westerkerk. It was a combination of 20th Century organ music with Gagaku, traditional music from the Japanese court. I’m not sure it was a good idea.
I really enjoyed the Japanese music, the instruments used are ancient and alien. At one point in the peformance [...]

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