9 Unexpected things about the Netherlands that you didn’t know about

After living in the Netherlands as an expat for the last couple of years I have learned a lot. While there are many typical things about this country that everybody knows about, here are some of the most unexpected things about the Netherlands I have recently discovered.

The salty liquorice

A very shocking thing I discovered when I moved to the Netherlands was a full aisle in the supermarkets dedicated to liquorice. Unfortunately, I have never before been a fan, so I never felt the need to try them. However, at some point, one of my colleagues brought a bag to work. Then, he told us, hey do you want to have some liquorice? Initially, I said no, but a few hours later the mid afternoon hunger hit and I decided to give it a go.

As a child, in Spain, I had tried liquorice before. Back then, it was either this red or black thin thing that chew on. Eventually, it would soften and you would end up with something slightly sweet and bitter. Rather than sweet, Dutch liquorice is salty.  In my opinion, it also tastes terribly wrong.

Butter and chocolate sprinkles with milk for lunch

Continuing on the topic of food… Evidently, Dutch people are handsome, tall and fit. However, their eating habits are kind of special. For example, the most common type of food, or snack, for lunch is bread with butter and chocolate sprinkles. And it is not real chocolate, as these things are mostly sugar. Also, in my opinion, it is something quite strange to have for lunch, if you ask me.

In addition to these sprinkles, an important part of locals will have lunch with a glass of milk. What the hell? I don’t know about other countries but unless you are having a latte or a cappuccino, I would say that adults don’t have milk outside breakfast, right?

More unexpected things about the Netherlands: they love board games and quizzes

Something that I found quite interesting when I moved here is how much Dutchies love their board games. For example, now that Christmas are almost here, most people will have their work dinner. There, most likely you will be forced to partake on a quiz. Or a competition of board games. If this is a work event, it will most likely depend on how are the people you work with. On the other hand, if you are going to a birthday celebration, be sure, there will be either board games or quizzes. And now, talking about birthdays…

Congratulations on your friend’s birthday!

In my opinion, the weirdest tradition I have always witnessed in this country is related to birthdays. Hypothetically, let’s say you are at someone else’s B’day party. Then, someone arrives. In this situation, the first thing this person will do will be to congratulate everyone on the birthday of their friend, their son, their father or so. And then, they will go and say happy birthday to the person who is actually celebrating their birthday. That is beyond strange if you ask me.

Half the country will be offended if you say Holland and not the Netherlands

In my opinion, I think that most countries refer to this country as the Netherlands or Holland. Basically, for us it is the same. Although I know that these terms are also interchangeable in France or Belgium besides Spain, saying the same here in The Netherlands is a great offense. Turns out, Holland is just a part of the Netherlands. Because most cities in the country are in either the provinces of “North Holland” (Amsterdam, for example) or “South Holland” (The Hague or Rotterdam), this region included a massive part of the local population. Unfortunately, you will still find people from other regions that will be deeply offended by being considered part of Holland.

Home births

I had been here for a couple of weeks only when someone made a comment about giving birth at home. Then, my colleague understood through my horrified facial expression that this was not the case in Spain. Since then, I have had other people telling me the same things. Because, you know, why would you need to go to a hospital for something that is natural. There should not be any problem. Well guys, up until this mentality started to change, the Netherlands was the country with the highest neonatal mortality rate in Europe. Luckily, things are changing in the past few years, now more women deliver their babies at the hospital and the mortality rate has decreased so… There’s still hope!

Bus/tram/train drivers are comedians in disguise

So… I am not very good at languages. I have been living in quite a few countries and I speak four languages but for some reason, the fifth is presenting a massive challenge. An example of a situation when this is a problem is while I am traveling. Even though everybody speaks English, they will speak Dutch through the speaker system. And sometimes, everybody around me would start laughing. Basically, they will all be cracking a smile or straight up laughing while I look around confused. After asking what was going on the first time it happened, I was surprised. Then, it happened again. And again. Nowadays, I have accepted it as something that happens often and as another Dutch quirk.

One of the main unexpected things about the Netherlands, or Dutchies: No filters

They are extremely straightforward. For years, I have been told I am extremely direct speaking. Nothing around these guys. I just fit in. In occasions, their straightforwardness can be clearly confused by rudeness. And to be honest, I don’t think they care about giving this image. In any case, if you come to the Netherlands, either as an expat or as a visitor, you have been warned.

A funny, and scary for the first time, tradition every first Monday of the month

A few years ago, before I moved to this country, I had a Dutch boyfriend, now ex. Once, we went to visit his parents when an alarm started to sound. And I am not talking about a “someone hit a car” kind of an alarm. More in the lines of, let everybody now the Nazis are back to kill us all. Even though I think that Dutchies have kept this through the years to scare expats and tourists once a month, every first Monday of the month they will ring the alarms of the country. Officially, they test them to make sure they still work. Because let’s be honest, we are obviously going to be attacked by the Soviet Union, so we need these alarms. Right? They are officially in place in case of (A) attack, or (B) other disasters. However, does anybody know what to do in case these sound in another day? Aha, we are doomed.

Finally, I hope you enjoyed this small listicle. Have you lived in the Netherlands? And if so, do you know of any other unexpected things about the Netherlands that I still don’t know of? Let me know in the comment section and here you have a nice pin to share the love.