the dutch attitude toward children

having been here in amsterdam for about 6 weeks i feel like i can talk about the dutch attitude toward children. of course, these are only my observations from the varied, albeit limited, interactions with dutch children. they seem to be much more laid back with their children than mainstream america (of which i am not a member)

take child safety for instance - it is much more like when i was growing up than the current american attitude. although almost all children are transported by bicycle, i would have to estimate that no more than 5% of them wear helmets, and even that might be generous. i have seen infants in car seat buckets clipped onto bikes. i have seen slumped over sleeping infants being propped up in their bike seat by their mothers, leaving them with only 1 hand to bike with. lots of children ride on the backs of bikes, my own included, without bike seats. toddlers ride their own bikes amongst traffic.

i am pretty certain that water wings are nonexistant here. playground equipment is much more 'dangerous' than at home.

they are also less closely monitored here. i am not sure if that is just a function of city life - playgrounds being more crowded than i am used to, and therefore, less supervision? maybe i have just become adjusted to small town midwestern playground rules since hanging up my city slicker badge? for instance, i was in a crowded playgrount at Artis, the amsterdam zoo. a toddler boy climbes up on a platform where my 2 kids are and pushes them both off and into the sand below. the child's mother was not obvious to me - certainly not hovering over him like i see so frequently at home. i told the child not to do that but i am sure he didn't understand a word i said.

they are also very fond of children being children. they don't seem overly scheduled with lessons and activities. they are allowed to play freely in the park on a daily basis - i see the regulars in a local park by me all the time. they don't seem overly apologetic when something bad happens. at library storytime one day one toddler just walked over to another and pushed her roughly down to the ground. at home that would illicit apologies from one mom to the other and a reprimand to the child. here it went unnoticed, as if nothing had happened, while both mothers obviously saw what happened. i ran into a mom that i recognized from the park at the school david will be attending for a few weeks (more on that topic shortly). upon mentioned why we were there she wondered why i would send him when i didn't have to and then said something about he should attend school if he wants to, as if it should only be his decision to go or not.

they also have very flexible work hours which allowes them much more time during the week with their children than in the US. our neighbors across the street for example - both parents work approximately 4 days a week (with rather flexible hours) which allows them to be home with their kids after school for 3 days of the week. they also have something called daddy's day in which a man can stay home 1 day a week to be with his children. they also have much more vacation from their employers and can easily take days off to accomodate kid's school schedules.

i enjoy seeing a much more laid back attitude toward parenting - simply enjoying your child and letting your kids explore and play without parental hovering. i was never a fan of water wings anyway.

some sort of game thing happening today

so apparently, there is a world cup qualifying match today here in amsterdam - the netherlands vs scotland. they should take a census of scotland because i think every male between the ages of 20-60 is here in amsterdam. they started pouring into the city yesterday, clad in kilts, and ready to drink. and today, everybody not wearing a kilt is wearing orange, the official color of the netherlands, and also ready to drink.

more later when we snap some pictures of the mayhem.

a trip to Amsterdamse Bos

we had a wonderful time at the Amsterdamse Bos yesterday. the Bos is a very very large woodland area situated between Amsterdam, Amstelveen and the Schiphol Airport. it took us about 50 minutes to bike there - mike with the kids in the bakfiets and me on the solo bike. i know i haven't said much about the bakfiets yet, more on that later.

we started at Boerderij Meerzicht, a massive pancake house which boasts 43 types of pancakes, or pannenkoeken in dutch. luckily we got 2 savory pancakes in addition to 2 sweet ones - which after a while was sugar overload. pictured is the pancake making setup - a rotating conveyor belt which takes the pancakes through the oven. as they come out they are flipped and allowed about 20 seconds in the hot pan before taken out.

luckily we went on a weekday because looking at the amount of seating they had and the deli number system for retrieving you pancakes, it looked like it was possible to wait a very very long time for the delicious circles of syrup and powdered sugar.




i read that no visit to the Bos would be complete without a visit to Ridammerhoeve, a beautiful organic goat farm. with a brilliant blue sky as a backdrop the kids got to wander around the goat pens and feed the young goats from bottles. there were roosters and chickens everywhere as well as some pigs and cows.

the place had a very nice playground and tons of seating - i imagine it is very crowded on a nice saturday afternoon. i would have loved to sample the goat's milk cheese from the shop but we were so stuffed from our pancake lunch that we passed. however, the kids were not too full to try some goat's milk ice cream. they said it did not taste of goats at all.

hair musings

all dutch males, regardless of age, need a trip to the barber.

not your typical dutch customer service

a few years ago mike flew into Schiphol airport for a meeting in Rotterdam. upon arrival his bag never appeared. to complicate the issue, he was departing via a different airline the following day. he instructed bmi airlines to hold the bag and he would pick it up himself. well, who knows what happened because i got a phone call from the concierge at The Intercontinental Hotel in Amsterdam saying they pulled my luggage (mike was flying with my case at the time) out of a taxi's trunk. the man getting out of the taxi was not mike (the concierge described the man to me) and did not claim the bag as his own.

that left me with the task of trying to arrange getting this bag to mike, who was without a working cell phone in europe. there was no way for mike to get from Rotterdam to the airport via Amsterdam in time to get his plane even if i could have reached him. i knew that mike would be heading to the airport, go over to bmi baggage claim to get his case, and then go to Aer Lingus for this flight to Ireland. the poor thing had already spent at least 2 days in the same clothes he traveled in and would be very anxious to get his stuff.

after a few phone calls with the concierge, he offered to take the train to Schiphol (which was on his way home) after work and attempt to rendezvous with mike in the airport. upon telling this story to some people they have told me that this is NOT an example of dutch customer service, which although i have yet to experience, am told is non-existant in this country, at least on american terms. i told the man what mike's travel plans were and thanked him profusely for doing this.

you can imagine, if you have ever tried to meet up with someone in a crowded place like an airport, that it can be challenging - even with the aid of mobile phones, of which half of this party did not have.

a little while later i get a phone call from mike in the airport. the conversation went something like this:

me: do you have your bag??
mike: yeah.
me: what? really?? what happened?
mike: i was walking through the concourse and heard my name over the intercom and some guy handed me my bag.
me: you have no idea what i did to arrange this! what did you say to him?
mike: i gave him the loose change in my pocket. gotta go, my flight is boarding.

clearly my efforts were not being fully appreciated! seriously, after orchestrating this via several phone calls and the efforts of this total stranger i expected a little more freaking gratitude! but, he didn't really know any of the story so i cut him some slack.

so, why do i bring this up today? well i managed to actually get out and go for a run today and found The Intercontinental Hotel (which is actually only a few blocks away). i walked in and asked one of the 3 men in front of me if they had a concierge named Chris Lith and there he was, standing right in front of me. i told him who i was and his eyes got wide. i thanked him again and i actually got a little misty-eyed from thinking about the kindness of a total stranger. i also verified that he got the Amex gift card i sent him - which i have wondered after these few years.

so there you go, an atypical dutch customer service story to warm your heart.

random bits #2

we finished up another great week here. i am really amazed at how well we can get around and that i almost always know where i am in this city. although, i really dont know many street names since they tend to be complex like Raadhuisstraat, Eerste Constantijn Huygensstraat, and Gills van Lendenberghstraat. not exactly numbered streets and avenues.

spring is absolutely here in the netherlands. it is consistently in the 50's every day, bulb flowers are blooming, tree buds are opening, and the cafe's have all put their tables and chairs outside. the rain continues but we have actually had several completely clear and sunny days.

we took the first sunny day opportunity to go to the Artis, the amsterdam zoo, only a 5 minute bike ride from our place, and got membership cards. they pay for themselves on the 3rd visit so it seemed well worth it. the zoo is nice, not fabulous, but has a variety of nice animals and playgrounds. it also has an aquarium and a planetarium included in the admission price. i looked up some reviews of the zoo on tripadvisor and some people HATE it because some of the animal enclosures are small - especially the large cat exhibits. i am surprised at how close you can get to some of the animals. they have a great large bird habitat and you can have large heron swoop over your head at regular intervals.

upon arrival here i didn't thing that dutch people were all that friendly or happy but i have come to change my mind. they may not be as loud, boisterous, or smiley as americans but i have come to find they are very welcoming and friendly. i met one of our neighbors today - she came out of her house when she saw me through the window putting my kids in the bakfiets. within 30 seconds of meeting her she offered to have my children come over any time to play with hers when i need to run out and run errands. solo grocery shopping, here i come! she invited me over for a drink tomorrow and a playdate for the kids. major score!

i have made some friends with women of the american women's club. everybody has just been so friendly and welcoming - it's just so nice to experience. it makes me think of how i treat others at home and how important it is to reach out to people who seem like they need a friend.

we are faring well during mike's extended trip back to the US. and even though i have been minorly sick off and on, we are still getting out daily and enjoying ourselves greatly.

vla - car wax or dessert topping?

so i bought some vla today - it is in dairy section of the grocery store. sold in liters like milk and drinkable yogurt. bizarre name, don't you think? vla? that seems more like what you might say after you tried it and just thought it was ok. like of like 'meh'.




turns out, it's pudding! kids loved it.

reason #1

reason #2 is because they are cold.

reason #3 is because it is a murky brown color.

reason #4 is because occasionally they fish bodies out of them.

but reason #1 not to swim in the canals is because all houseboat waste water, and i do mean ALL, goes directly into the canals.

access denied

two drunken yet friendly spaniards tried to let themselves in the house today @ 11:30am. luckily i had the door locked but sometimes i am forgetful since i have never been a door locker. i talked to them from the large peek-a-boo window i have in the front door. they were trying to get me outside so i could take a picture of them. sorry boys, you try to open my door and you want me to open it willingly? i think not. finally i shoo'ed them away by passing them a beer through the window.

needless to say, although i will, the door is going to be locked full time now.

the stop/go bus

this Stop/Go bus runs past our street - about 50 feet from our front door. i just found out it stops in front of the library. we took it home from the library today - it's like a private city tour for 1 euro/person and naomi is free!

all about food shopping.

we've been here in amsterdam for almost 3 weeks but i've gone to the market a thousand times already. pictured here is our local Albert Heijn market (the photo is from wiki but i believe it is the Waterlooplein store - the same one i shop in). i have to admit, the first large shopping trip i did was very stressful. the first 2 times i shopped i went to a very small market and picked up milk, cereal, bread, cheese, and yogurt. but the first time i went to really fill up the refrigerator was less than pleasant. i went at 5pm on a friday which was a big mistake - the place was insanely busy and i felt like i should have had a big sign on me that read 'caution - shopping in a foreign market. stand back'. i think i went through the entire store twice before i found the eggs, which were not in the refrigerated section.

i am a label reader so you can imagine this is impossible when everything is written in a language you cannot understand. so not only do i not know what is in what i am buying, sometimes i am not exactly sure what i am buying at all. the meat department was the worst - is this ground beef? or is it pork? or maybe they grind up other things i am not aware of? i asked somebody for help to make sure i was getting what i thought i was getting. chicken was easy enough.

Albert Heijn has a reputation for being 'the expensive' supermarket but i found their prices to be pretty reasonable. there is an Aldi pretty close by as well as a Dirk that i am going to try out, too. but i really like the AH for its convenience - and generally i am not a convenience type eater - but i am living by different rules here. i love the premade dutch pancakes - warm it up in a skillet for a minute, slap some nutella on it, and roll it up. YUM! they also have a great variety of premade sauces that resemble something homemade. since i am now responsible for most meals in our house, i am appreciating the easy to make food choices i now have.

they also have a decent selection of organic foods! score!

one bad thing about grocery shopping is having to pay in cash - they only take cash or dutch debit cards.

they give out 'football' trading cards when they hand you your receipt. i googled Albert Heijn trading cards and found an ebay link. http://preview.tinyurl.com/c32ywg
people will sell anything on ebay. but the smell when you open the trading card package is really strong and likely highly toxic. i always turn my head when i open a package. formaldehye anyone?

by now i am an expert at our local Albert Heijn. i even have my own Bonus card for sales. i load up the bakfiets with 4 or 5 bags of groceries (plus the kids). thankfully i have only 1 bridge to go over on my way back with the bakfiets fully loaded. some kind person helped me push the bike the 10 feet i couldn't make it at the crest of the bridge the other day. but at the top i hop back on and we fly down the street in our crappy dutch bike. fun times!