Officially unemployed...
That is what I am.
This is the first day of both my pregnancy leave and unemployment.
I decided I am going with pregnancy leave for now.
In about 16 weeks I will start calling myself unemployed (-:
I promised Lies a picture last Monday, so here it is: the socks she knitted for baby (shown by our SnB Amsterdam mascotte) and the matching hat I made after she kindly sent me the rest of the yarn she used.
(Notice the blue wall in the background, another sneak preview of an almost finished room...)
Went shopping yesterday, a.o. to my favorite store: HEMA!
Here is one of the things I got from the new spring collection of socks
(and yes, Ms. Bugheart and Katymac, I got you some as well)
Even though I read Ms. Bughearts blog before going into town, I completely forgot to get her some roll-ons for her egg-cozies )-:
(read here if you want to know if egg cozies have armpits to keep fresh... I love her blog)
Oh well, another excuse to go to HEMA again soon.
And now for something completely different:
I was recently thinking about being Dutch and what that means (inspired yet again by the now almost famous Ms. Bugheart) when something happened that made me wonder if being Dutch can be something to be ashamed about. Scary thought. Here is what happened:
I fell. Flat on my face. Walking to the tram stop. Imagine me with my big fat belly diving into the pavement. Not funny. Lots of people noticed, I SAW them watching me. Noone came over to help me get up (which is hard with the mentioned big fat belly). When I reached the tram stop, noone asked if I was ok. They all looked away.
Why is that? They didn't care? I was walking again so I was ok? They thought I was emberassed? (I was, but still...)
Also, you all have seen the pictures: there is NO denying of my present physical state. Still, noone has ever given up their seat for me in the tram or bus. Only my mom and a colleague I happened to be traveling with, but that doesn't count.
What do you guys think? Is this a typical Dutch thing? Are the Dutch selfish and rude?
And, most importantly, is the fact that we are famous for our acceptance of other/different people (think gay marriages etc.) only the result of our NOT CARING for others, as long as they don't hinder us?
Something to keep you thinking over the weekend...
posted by Annemarie @ 31.3.06
8 Comments:
You are not the first noticing this. Nothing to be cheerful about... I think it is worse in the big cities, but it is a trend.
:-(
The picture is great, though.
sweetie, i hate to bring this to you... but to me the answer is a big resounding YES.
all this famous tolerance of the dutch is pretty close to - if i leave you alone, you will leave me alone. this combined with a horrendous fear of getting involved, of having to *do* something that they're not sure will be paid back... a trading people's nightmare!
on the whole, dutch people are currently quite scared of losing their certainties [for now, i won't go into the why's of this] and they keep extremely to themselves, just to be sure.
in my last experiences in the netherlands, i was kinda lucky if no one elbowed me aside in their haste to be first, or at least to be anywhere before someone else got there. the good news is, abroad this is quite unusual behaviour.
there's lots of things i like about my fellow countrymen and -women, but their rudeness is missed... um, like a tootache!
oh, and just to show i'm still dutch - i completely forgot to ask you. how *are* you doing since you fell?
oh, i am fine... the knee is itchy from healing and my ankle hurt for a day or two. nothing serious, except for the disappointment in the dutch. i mean, i kinda knew already that we are not the nicest people in the world, always taking the seat farthest away from someone, putting your bag on the seat next to you so noone will sit there, pushing people who want to get off back in the train in our hurry to get a seat, but i guess i was still hoping that if someone was or could be hurt we would show more interest.
luckily, in the past week, i have heard some great examples of the opposite. when my brother-in-law fell from his bike (also nothing serious) not one, but three different cars took the trouble of stopping to ask if he was ok. he does not live in amsterdam, but in a smaller city which used to be the no. 1 city of crime in holland for a long time, so i am hopeful...
somehow i missed the whole bottom part of your blig entry last time i checked! i think i got all distracted by HEMA
and socks that i lost it...
oh oh how distressing
that you fell...
i am so mad that
no one helped you!!!
it may be a big city thing...
i am trying not to be mad
at my adopted country...
i do remember
that the rudest people
i ever interacted with abroad
were in the netherlands...
but then i met you
and everyone loved me
after i was friends
with you.
;)
take care of yourself! i will send your little dutch trio package soon!
oh and the word verifications
that we have to type in
to leave a blogger comment
always look like dutch words
to me.
oh and one more thing
(now i am stalker-commenting girl)
do the europeans use egg cozies?
no one seems to know what they are here
but i grew up with them...
i mean, not like we used them
all the time but
enough that we had a set.
do you need egg cozies?
i have... ahem... some.... ahem
to spare!
Hey Ms. Bugheart. We do know what egg cozies are over here. Especially Lies (-:
She just made one for a Ducth TV person / author during a live radio show, where SnB Utrecht was invited. See http://www.lies.typepad.com/knitting/
Even though I know what they are, we don't have any, so send them over if you want to (-:
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