Intro to this section
To make sure we stay positive about our adoptive country, I started making a list of POSITIVE things about it. So go on, let's show the world the nice things about living here.
If you want to add an item, click on '0 comment', type your text and save it. Don't forget to leave your name with your comments!
1/ My man
Best thing to come out of any country (Laure-Anne, 
)
My man is also a wonderful thing about Holland (Geneviève, 
)
2/ Cycling
I am not what you would call a practising cyclist, but I can see the attraction from a safe distance. Don't try to get me on one, though. Too much chance of rain, flat tyre, panting and sweating. (Laure-Anne, )
A complete lifestyle. Cheap, clean, silent, convenient, efficient, funny, good for health (Vincent, 
)
Everywhere is accessible by bike (Amanda & Julian, 
)
3/ Effectiveness
You can say a lot about the Dutch, but they really don't mess when it comes to getting things done. (Laure-Anne, )
4/ Technology
Where else do you have map stations on the street? Chose your destination, press OK, et voilaaaa: you have a free colour map of the route to take, all for free! (Laure-Anne, )
5/ Tall, blond hair, blue eyes
Aaaah, good old batavian, nordic genes. It's like the country's full of supermodels. Oh, and if (like me) you are a short-arsed, brown-haired, brown-eyed, big-boned Walloon, you'll even pass as exotic! (Laure-Anne, )
6/ Petting zoos -AKA kinderboerderijen
They're huge, they're everywhere, they're free + you can go in the enclosure with the animals! I recommend it anyday, with or without the kids! (Laure-Anne, )
7/ Herons
I still get very excited when I see one, and boy, are they a frequent occurrence. (Laure-Anne, )
The herons are fine indeed, but the diving Great Crested Grebes in the canals, frequently with their offspring on their back, are just sublime, taking into account that these birds were almost invisible 30 years ago in city centers!(Leo, ?)
8/ Windmills
I find it special that there are windmills all over the place, and that the locals don't even bat an eyelid at them. (Laure-Anne, )
9/ Old historical city centres
Delft, Gouda, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Leiden, Alkmaar, Groningen, ... You name it, any city in The Netherlands (short of having been bombed in WWII) has a breathtaking city centre. This could be to do with the fact that they were so loaded in the 17th century, which happens to be a centry of very pretty buildings. (Laure-Anne, )
Amsterdam, one of the most beautiful and best cities on earth. Good thing that the Germans only destroyed Rotterdam ... (Vincent, )
10/ Policemen
So smiley and polite and helpful, even catch you doing something you really shouldn't do... One of them actually apologised to me for telling me off (mildly) for a driving licence about 2 years out of date. Makes you wonder, though, is politeness a skill reserved for the police in Holland? Bit like a secret weapon? (Laure-Anne, )
11/ Public transport
Easy and speedy public transport (Geneviève, )
Trains - Coming here from Britain it makes a pleasant change to actually have access to a rail network with clean modern trains, which run on time most of the time, or if not are bizarrely either precisely five, ten or twenty minutes late. If someone can please explain how they manage to ensure that the trains are punctually late I would appreciate it. (Ralph, )
12/ Proximity to water
Be it canal, sea, or lake (Geneviève, )
Water everywhere. Nature is a bit weird here ... well, it's nature under the control of human work. It seems that there not a single piece of land in this country which has been left to a "random" development. Even if it is "natural", it has to conform to some standards, to some form of discipline ... But the result is interesting. Netherlands, really an unusual place. (Vincent, )
Canals are a wonderful thing, offering homes to coots, ducks, and providing the local heron with something to stare at for hours on end, being overwhelmed wth water-lilies and terrace-boats in the summer, and offering young children and wildlife manifold skating opporunities in the winters of yore. More importantly, they offer hours of entertainment - as you watch the tourists try to park their cars by the canal side - and your boss another excuse to be late for work. (Ralph, )
13/ Flowers
Beautiful fresh-cut flowers year-round, and for cheap! (Geneviève, )
14/ Dogs welcome
A small-to-mid-size, well-behaved dog is welcome everywhere (this may be a negative to some, but a positive to me!). (Geneviève, )
15/ Sun light
The way the sun shines here (when it does), it make everything look like a Rembrandt or Vermeer landscape- gorgeous. (Geneviève, ).
The skies in The Netherlands are simply breathtaking. (Laure-Anne, )
16/ Loempia
Loempia stands on every corners of Rotterdam. (Geneviève, )
17/ Bread
The bread- all of it, the delicious full-grain truly brown bread, with a slice of yummy Dutch cheese! (Geneviève, )
18/ Garden gnomes
Wow! Those microscopic gardens packed with tacky garden ornaments. You just have to love them. (Laure-Anne, )
19/ Clearly marked deviations
Their deviation road signs are actually very, very, very clear. Even I don't get lost for days when I follow them, and I am uber-navigationally challenged. (Laure-Anne, )
20/ Safety and crime
I can walk round at night in city centres and I don't feel even slightly threatened. Try doing that in Paris, Brussels or Birmingham... (Laure-Anne, )
21/ English spoken
They all speak SUCH good English. There was this Irish guy organising Dutch conversation classes for expats, and he could not for his life find Dutch people who didn't speak English. I think he stopped after 3 years or so. (Laure-Anne, )
22/ Cows and sheep
I love the cows here: all sorts of colours and patterns. I particularly like the Laekenvelders (with the big stripe). In , they tend to be just black-and-white. Oh, and the black and brown sheep. I hadn't really seen so many of them anywhere else. I even saw a pink goat in a kinderboerderij the other day (Laure-Anne, Belgium)
23/ Culture of tolerance
Culture of tolerance. Bla-bla-bla the Dutch immigration Theo Van Gogh etc.. this is not a perfect place but as a matter of fact, this is certainly one of the most advanced countries in the world on that topic, and for a while - for example, where else were all religions tolerated in the XVII century ?. Where else can you freely smoke your pot if you like it? (Vincent, )
24/ Melting pot
No, not the coffee shop, I mean the international atmosphere. (Vincent, )
25/ The mad entrepreneur spirit
I think that nothing is impossible for people who extended 1/3rd of the country land, taken from the sea ... Crazy Dutch ! If I had a tough and challenging job to outsource, I would be confident to give it to that kind of guys ... (Vincent, )
26/ Quality of life
Just amazing. Everything here seems to be easy, planned, efficient, organized, clean... Working hours, work ethic, home-work commuting, ... This looks like civilisation at its best. (Vincent, )
27/ Food
To me the food in the Netherlands, is one of the great things about this country because it is literally so lethal. Croquettes, Mexicanos, Frites with Frite-saus, sate, and cakes which feature bright pink icing which surely must contravene some health and safety directive, if not good taste. All absolutely fantastic stuff, but then again I am British. (Ralph, )
28/ No ageism
The Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) is the first to have a company of professional dancers 'over the age of forty'. Unfortunately, this year (2006) this company of veteran dancers was disbanded. However, I think it is amazing that Jiri Kylian had the courage to form a company that showed that it really is a crime to stop people doing what they enjoy doing just because they are viewed as being 'too old'. (Ralph, )
29/ Healthy
Most Dutch people look, well, healthy. Sooo healthy you'd think they're straight out of some Yakult advert. Is it the 2 liters of milk they drink per day? (Laure-Anne, )
When I arrived here, I could not understand how the Dutch looked so healthy on their diet. I presumed it was because they cycled everywhere, or because they were genetically very lucky, or because the winters, which seem to stretch from August to June are so cold and wet that all that food is burned off through shivering. But then someone pointed out the awful truth, the really awful truth. The gyms are alwyas full, apparently. I should mention that I have not been in a gym since I left school and have no intention of setting foot on one, ever again, but from what I have heard, between the hours of 18.00 and 21.00, the young Dutch like nothing better than to waste time on treadmills, aero-cycles and other equally tortuous devices. The poor dears... (Ralph, )
30/ Cleanliness
Streets tend to be really, really clean. (Laure-Anne, )
31/ Decadence
For some reason the Dutch do like to do things that are clearly very unhealthy such as eat the food, smoke, and sunbathe on the four days of the year when you can actually go to the beach without an overcoat. (Ralph, )
32/ Office buildings architecture
Not to anybody's taste, but I really like the hyper modern architecture of newly built office buildings in business centres. Take the World Trading Centre in Amsterdam: the ING and ABN buildings are really, really impressive. I also like (I must be the only one) Rotterdam's dead centre. Each building has a strong identity. (Laure-Anne, )
I am not sure I agree on this at all. To me the architecture in this country is too practical to be exciting. For the most part, the big office blocks are well ... big and blocky, and no amount of Colorcote steel or glass is going to disguise the fact that they are actually terribly functional. Personally, I like modern buildings that are wholly impractical, unmaintainable, and which completely upset the balance of a city's architecture, as long as I don't have to work in one of them. (Ralph, )
33/ Motorway surface coating
Ever driven from Belgium to Holland on a rainy day? You have a 2-meter visibility in Belgium, and as soon as you hit the Dutch road, it's like the waters are parting for your car. Aaaah, the Dutch are even great surface coating designers. (Laure-Anne, )
30/ Fashion
Anything goes. I heard a story from an expat. about how when she arrived here, she was shocked by how cold and wet it was, so she went out and bought a coat, a second-hand lime-green fake fur (at least I hope it was fake). This is the fantastic thing about this country, you can actually get away with wearing some very bizarre outfits, such as bright-red chinos, ultra-violet white cotton jackets, and snake skin shoes that are so long, you would not be able to reach the bar in an English pub (fortunately they have at-table service in most Dutch bars). All absolutely fantastic stuff, and certainly more interesting than the average high street. (Ralph, )
35/ Little mice with clogs on
They do exist apparently and are clearly a wonderful house-hold pet. Unfortunately, to see them you have to live in a windmill on old Amsterdam, and be prepared to suffer the most enormous hangover. (Ralph, )
36/ School for virtues
A good thing about living in this country is how virtuous it is possible to be. In order to cope with an alien set of manners, poor customer service, and homicidal secretaries, one needs to take a more relaxed attitude to life, and learn the virtues of patience, tolerance and understanding. (Ralph, )
37/ No dubbing
I love that you can see a movie in its original version (i.e. not dubbed). I cannot stand the French habit of systematic dubbing. Am sure that's why most Dutch teenagers reach adulthood perfectly bilingual in Dutch-English. (Laure-Anne, )
38/ Interior design
Most Dutch homes make me blush with our humble deco. Walking into a Dutch home can feel like a furniture show-room, with lots of deliberate arty touches, calculated colour schemes and really tidy. The only drawback: am scared of using the very expensive design furniture in case they sue me for damages. (Laure-Anne, )
39/ 'je' not 'u'
For the French speakers among us, I am talking about the 'tutoiement', about the fact that you can address a complete stranger as 'je', and be on first-name basis with a complete stranger. It's at odds with some Flemish regions where you say 'u' to your parents, and even your pet (am that's a fact!). (Laure-Anne, )
40/ Public toilets
I should preface this by saying that I don't actually spend that much time in publi
c toilets, but this does deserve a mention. Most public toilets on railway stations, and in department stores are pretty similar, all very functional, white tiles, and very clean and tidy, except for the ones at Leiden Centraal station, which are quite tatty. However, the toilets at Den Haag Hollands Spoor, or rather the gentlemen's toilets are a little more civilised featuring an array of grooming products, fresh flowers by the door and complimentary mints. Indeed, this probably represents the very pinacle of civilisation. (Ralph, )
Same at the ladies' in Holland Spoort. Little known fact: the ladies' toilets at Holland Spoor have won the 'Best public toilet in The Netherlands' award a few years running - how's that for trivia? (Laure-Anne, )
41/ Drop
I have not stooped to the level of 'The Dutch I Presume' which includes 'cheese slicers' and 'drop' as examples of Dutch icons. (Ralph, )
Ooops, Ralph, looks like you just have (stooped so low). I find drop (the black, anise-flavored sweets) is really worth a mention. It is typically Dutch, and a good 'inburgeringstest'. I now proudly master the zoete ones. OK, the salty ones still elude me. I guess you need to have lived here for over 5 years to overcome the gagging reflex. (Laure-Anne, )
42/ Nijntje - aka Miffy
Easily the best Dutch export since, like, ever. The Japanese tried to steal the design with Hello Kitty, but there's only one Nijntje. Here's some little facts about her: a/ she's a female; b/ Dirk Bruna wrote the books as bed time stories for his one-year old son, c/ she's supposed to live in the Dutch dunes. I have a glow in the dark knuffel-Nijntje that I take everywhere with me. (Laure-Anne, )
Oh Nijntje! I agree. She's cute, simple, and a fantastic thing to send home to my nephew and cousins. I love how the beach at Hoek van Holland is divided in Nijntje characters! Or at least it used to be. I was tanning in the Nijntje boat section last year! (Geneviève, )
43/ No office cubicles
There's no cubicles anywhere. My building may just be a block, but it's a block where everyone gets an office, not a cubicle, and where every office gets one of its walls made of floor to ceiling windows. There's truly something to be said about a 2.5m by 4m window on the 16th floor. I might have to share this with one more person, but at least I don't get as vitamin D deprived here as I did in Canada! And you know what, being able to close my door when I'm having a bad day, or when I'm having a sensitive phone conversation- really, who thinks a cubicle is a good idea, anyway? Certainly not the Dutch, and I give them kuddos for it! (Geneviève, )
44/ Cookies with the coffee
That free cookie with your coffee deserves its own mention. And I love how there's usually a big basket of them in a meeting room and there's always that one tactless collegue who paws at the little bags to guess the shape and make of the treat inside and throws back the ones that don't pass muster- that's good for making me feel bad I'm not the idiot being picky about cookies in front of the firm's partners! Even better when the idiot is a partner so I can feel superior to them too! (Geneviève, )
45/ Library on the beach
Library on the beach- now that's brilliant. I don't know if they copied it from another place, but the national library system opens up library branches on the main beaches in the summer, as a way to bring the books to the people when and where they are most likely to be reading. You can walk in from the sand in your wet bathing suit and get kids' books, magazines, papers, short novels- all available free of charge to anyone on the beach, and I think that's grand. (Geneviève, )
46/ Long holidays
6 weeks paid vacation. Coming from a country where 2 is the norm, I certainly don't underestimate the value of lenghty paid vacation. It not only avoids having employees use sick days as vacation days, but it keeps everyone much happier. (Geneviève, )
47/ Tulip fields
Tulip fields you see in bloom when passing by train. I like simple pleasures, and sudenly seeing a field of purple, red, yellow, pink, white and orange all of a sudden appear after a bend... wow. No one should ever grow so blasé as to not appreciate the beauty of mass-produced flowers. So pretty it looks fake! (Geneviève, )
Indeed, tulip fields are fabulous. Nothing like flying above Holland in spring time. (Laure-Anne, )
48/ Inner courtyards - aka binnenhofs
Inner courtyards. I happen to live on a second floor apartment which has views in the back on a private courtyard. It's quiet, secluded, and beautiful. There's modern art on display, Christmas lights in the winter, and little kids play safely away from the nastiness that could be downtown Rotterdam. I love that there's so many of these secret gardens in the big cities. Sure, you can't always see them, but knowing there's such pretty things hidden away makes me happy. (Geneviève, )
49/ Snertrein
Not that I've ever been on (much to my dismay), there's a tram in Rotterdam devoted entirely to serving pea soup and showing the sights of Rotterdam. Isn't that the best? Just pay the fair (more than a regular tram ride) and get a bowl of hot pea soup in the winter. It's painted with silly pictures of people surfing green peasoup waves! And in the summer, it apparently turns into an icecream tram! How weirdly appealing. (Geneviève, )
50/ Cinemas
One of the most decadent experiences is to actually visit a traditional cinema. Unlike the multiplexes, some still allow smoking, serve beer and all the traditional snack-foods like bitterballen, and also, for those who are truly idle actually have at-seat service, so you don't even need to queue for popcorn and the like during the interval. This to me is the mark of a civilised society, although I think there might have been a good reason why they actually put a stop to smoking in most cinemas, but I cannot think what it was. (Ralph, ).
I agree. I love Dutch cinemas. Well, the ones I have been to anyway. The Lumen in Delft is great, so is the Apollo. I love that the seats are really big, that the room is not packed (well that could be down to my choice of movies), and you have an interval in between for loo break and beer refills, and that your beer gets served in a GLASS glass, and not in some paper beaker. (Laure-Anne, ).
51/ Getting a mortgage
It's so easy to get a mortgage in Holland and even for 110%. You just go to the Hypotheek Advisor and choose the cheapest product, like in a supermarket. (Oscar, 
).
52/ Sinterklaas surprises
Here's how it works: around 5 December, you invite some friends around. Each has to buy a present for another person at the party (picked previously at random). You are supposed to wrap the present in something creative that you made yourself, and write a poem about the present's recipient (preferably in Dutch for an extra challenge. Shouldn't be difficult, everything ends with 'en'). The combination of tacky presents, terrible DIY and bad poetry just makes me shiver with anticipation. Laure-Anne ().
53/ Plenty of places to take the children for free
e.g. garden centres with play areas: you can sit and have a cup of coffee and the kids have great fun in the play area. (Dawn, )
54/ Poffertjes and stroopwafels
No comment, just very very very good. (Jeremy, )
55/ Calvinism
I have been converted by their enlightened Calvinism. (Anees, 
/)
56/ No aristocracy
Might sound British, but it's definitely a very good thing about Holland (Anees, /).
57/ Queen on her bike
The Queen of Holland rides her bike to the supermarket. Well, Albert Heijn, but still (Anees, /)
58/ Birthday cakes
The cakes people give out for their birthdays. (Brian, 
)
59/ Urban planning
The routing of bike paths is different here, winding through parks and green spaces instead of simply sticking to roadways. Somehow they even get permission from owners of expensive homes to allow paths that "intrude" right behind their private and expensive properties. For the country with the highest population density in all of Europe, it's amazing how long I can commute and not even realize I'm in a city. (Nikki, )
60/ Happy campers
Their love for camping in the outdoors seems disproportionate to what I've seen in other countries. Camping doesn't seem to be just for the poor. I've met some highly educated professionals camping in the French Alps and a former coworker here says it's their hobby to take the caravan and the fiets and go off for the weekend. (Nikki, )
61/ Appreciation for nature
Quite a few Dutch have told me the best stress management is to "get out in nature," a phrase people from other cultures have never told me so frequently. I suppose reclaiming the land and water management and their great landscape art could also be seen as an appreciation for nature too. (Nikki, )
62/ Post-natal care
Maybe epidurals are not common here, but at least you are given options of giving birth at home, at the hospital or a birthing center. Kraamzorg (at home baby and new mother nursing services which include light housecleaning and babysitting of sibblings) after the birth is a real perk. (Lucie, )
Socials, information exchange and activities for expats in and around Delft. We have drinks in Delft every 2 weeks, and members also meet for sports (squash, football), board games, poker, restaurant nights, baby-sitting, etc. 
1/ E-mail us on delftians@gmail.com, answering the following STANDARD QUESTIONS: 
