Nevertheless, I don't feel very "Dutch". I work in an American/international environment, i.e. I speak English at work and with most other people I meet. So I feel a little disconnected sometimes, but not necessarily in a bad way.
Also, I think I haven't picked up a lot of traits or habits of the people living here. I DO feel at home though, albeit in a "temporary"-kind-of-way.
Many of the little oddities and different behaviors which struck me as weird when I first moved here have become normal to me. I don't even notice them anymore...(Well, I still cannot believe that so many dog-owners let their canines take a dump right on the sidewalks. Freaking dog-shit ALL over the place, I can tell you...So I guess some things stay annoying and noticeable, hehe.)
What occurred to me today is this though:
The Dutch seem to have an innate disdain for curtains. This seemed very, very strange to me for a long time. You literally walk down the street and look into everybody's windows. People having breakfast or dinner, watching TV, playing with their kids. Especially weird at night, I think, when you can see everything in the lit-up rooms.
I've been wondering for two years why the Dutch apparently have ZERO need for privacy. The no-curtain-policy just struck me as odd.
But, GET THIS! I'm sitting here right now, typing and eating dinner with the curtains open and the lights on. I've turned Dutch on the curtain issue! Woa. And I like it. It's nice to not shut the world out.
My Dutch neighbors don't strike me as particularly voyeuristic anyway. Everybody is minding their own business...with the curtains open though...
A writer for McSweeney noticed the open-curtains, too:
The others tend to live in tall skinny houses of four or five stories with pointy roofs and great big windows that have no shutters and, often, no curtains. The Dutch have nothing to hide.Apparently, neither have I.
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