More Warning Signs That You Are Becoming Dutch

Warning Signs That You Are Becoming Dutch - Part 2

Have you been living in Holland for a while? Do you think you might be becoming Dutch or do you think you might actually be Dutch? Here is part two of our warning signs to look out for.

You Might Be Becoming Dutch If…

(Part 2)

1) You are familiar with and have used the two tone sigh.

2) You enthusiastically overextend the word ‘Goedeeeeeee’ until you’ve figured out what time of day it is and whether you should end with morgen, middag or avond.

3) You consider ice cream toppings on bread a healthy breakfast.

4) You are no longer impressed by windmills.

5) You have a calendar hanging in the toilet which contains the birthdays of all your friends and family.

6) Your throat no longer hurts when you try to pronounce any Dutch words containing the letter G.

7) You regularly use the Dutch word ‘dus(‘so’) to communicate a wide variety of thoughts and emotions, without feeling the need to put it into a full sentence.

8) You no longer pause to consider what a frikandel is made of before eating it.

9) You know what a kroket is and know to avoid the orange ones.

10) You’ve started making your own sandwiches to take to the office (but often eat them on the train).

11) The Albert Heijn layout has started to makes sense.

12) You have used your bicycle to transport one or more of the following: an item of furniture, a mattress, a suitcase, a crate of beer, another bicycle, newly purchased electrical equipment, the weekly shopping or other large objects.

13) You consider 15 degrees celsius warm and will happily have a barbeque under such conditions.

14) When you speak Dutch the Dutch actually reply in Dutch.

15) You are aware that it is ‘The Netherlands’ and not ‘Holland’.

16) You no longer freaked out and start to panic in front of your friends when the emergency alarms are tested at the start of the month.

17) You are able to eat more than two oliebollen in a day.

18) You own, have owned or know someone who owns a caravan.

19) You’ve started using strange sign language to indicate when something is ‘lekker’.

20) You never lose hope about the Elfstedentocht.

For more warning signs that you might be becoming Dutch check out part 3.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

34 Responses

  1. Lauren Daniels says:

    I’ve been away from The Netherlands for just over 2 years now, after living there for just 2 years and I still understand most of these and from part 1. It will never go away – Ik ben ontzettend trots op het :)

  2. Deefian says:

    So now I’m both Dutch and English? What kind of wizardry is this?! :'(

  3. Invader Stu says:

    Lauren Daniels – Once you become Dutch there is no going back.

    Deefian – The most powerful kind

  4. Esther says:

    I’m Dutch and everytime I read your blog it makes me giggle or even laugh out loud. Because if anything, Dutch people do know how to laugh at their own silliness haha

    A few things I’m guilty of:
    I’m convinced hagelslag should be it’s own foodgroup.
    I have a birthday calender hanging in my bathroom/toilet.
    My parents own a caravan.
    And last week when it was unusual warm (around 15 degrees!) I made a facebook status about being in the mood for a barbecue LOL

    Oh and voted btw ;)

  5. VallyP says:

    Yep all of the above….so I must be integrated, yes?

  6. ellie says:

    Many of these went over my head since I don’t live in Holland (correction . The Netherlands, excuse me). But I do a lot of business in The Netherlands … the one that made me laugh outloud was considering ice cream toppings on top of bread as a healthy breakfast. YES! Heehee.

  7. Invader_Stu says:

    Esther – I’m very glad you guys can or I might be in a lot of trouble.

    VallyP – I would definitely say so :p

    Ellie – I’ve never encountered any other country that that puts sprinkles on bread for breakfast :)

  8. mary says:

    Ticked the boxes on nearly all of those! And now I understand why there is a pen attached to the toilet wall in the house I just moved into. Well done Stu!

  9. Margit says:

    Love it, I used to live in Zuid Limburg, and recognize quite a few things, but what is the two tone sigh, please?

  10. Lynda says:

    My parents immigrated to the States when I was two years old, and all of this still sounds normal to me, especially the toilet calendar!

  11. Daniel in NYC says:

    Verse haring, dubbelzoute dropjes, gezellig koekje bij de koffie. Al 38 jaar in NYC maar het klinkt allemaal nog bekend!

  12. Jo says:

    Guess I still have a ways to go since I cannot for the life of me imagine the sign language that go with lekker. 7 years and counting….but I have to admit my work day is all in English -probably why I am not “Dutcher” after 7 yrs. :))

  13. Layla Ruzgar says:

    I have sat and giggled & giggled through some of these blog posts but particularly this one!
    The orange kroket…tasted once and I cannot let another near my mouth orange or not.
    2 Olliebollen…CHECK just a few days ago. Got told a story about a Belgian woman eating 5 in 10 minutes, how is that humanly possible?!
    Albert will never make sense but alas a free tea makes it all ok!

    And don’t talk to me about the emergence alarms…I experienced them just a few days after I moved here last year. I messaged my Dutch boyfriend…”If I’m not mistaken, I can hear a bloody war alarm” He replies with ‘oja, I forgot to tell you about that!’ I hear “Oja’ a lot!

    zo…

  14. amsmama says:

    OMG I can check off all these, we even bought a caravan! Great post, im still laughing…and having an identity crisis!

  15. Andreia says:

    Oh-uh…