I am proud at being Orange

Making fun of people is one thing Dutch really love! We have our own word for a person who does that in public for his job: Cabaretier - also know as a standup comedian. We know quite some (in my opinion ) good cabaretiers, like Hans Teeuwen, Youp van 't Hek, Guido Weijers.
A condition that jokes are funny, is that you are not involved in them. Making fun of people and positive stories doesn't go together. Simply, because that's not funny. What is funny, is when people make stupid mistakes, when they say odd things or when they are convinced of A but act like B.

Yesterday I have been to a performance of Greg Shapiro, who is a comedian as profession. He calls himself the American Nederlander. He has lived here for a long time and is maried to a Dutch woman. Therefore he has quite some experience with the Dutch and our culture.  

Besides because I'm Dutch, I also thought it could be interesting to go to his performance to get inspired for my workshop Dutch Habits & Traditions (which by the way, will take place 14th of April again). In his show 'Pride to be Orange' he tries to go a bit further besides the normal prejudices like cheapness, (non) openness. What he did in quite a good way is to turn negative prejudices into a positive light. Like, the reason we keep the cookie tin closed after serving 1 cooky, is not being stingy, but it is for YOU - to keep the contents fresh, in case YOU want more. Isn't that sweet of us!

He also discussed the 'inburgerings cursus' (integration course). Man, what are some of those questions difficult!! Why do immigrants have to know all those things like 'where does nutmeg come from?' I really don't have a clue. But yes, other questions really made me proud if you look at our history, all the entrepreneus, painters, writers. And yes, we created our own land: Flevoland. Not that everybody is really proud of that provence, but besides that, it is new land!

I'm already looking forward to Koninginnedag, 30 April. I will wear ORANGE, with PRIDE!

Belgium, so close but so different

We have the same history back in 18th/19th century. Just a couple of hours by car and you're there already. We both love beer, we both make fun of each other.

The differences between the neighboring countries are bigger than you think
We talk the same language, but we don't understand each other. In terms of power distance, difference are enormous. And that's exactly the area in which I made a huge mistake:


I had the nice opportunity again to organize a workshop for my work. The participants of the workshop were a reflection of the organisation and the whole footprint. This means a variety of cultures together in one room. I had prepared everything very carefully: an interactive program, clear objective, drinks/snacks, energizing movie to prevent the after-lunch-dip, everything. At least that's what I thought... Everybody received a badge on entry. A badge with their name, location and position. Although positions are not very important to me, this day I learned for Belgiums they are. I indicated a 'director' as a 'manager'.  Ouch! As mentioned in my previous post, Dutch are not that strict in power distance and openly show disagreement with their superior. In Belgium, the most powerful will receive most respect. From childhood the Dutch get the oportunity to express their opinion openly. Unlike the Belgiums, who learn to esteem older generations. Belgians are hierarchical set and it seems to be very important to show your function. Of course, the higher, the more important to express it.


Identification with the culture is very important. Even though they seem similar

Typically Dutch, or is it just me?

I work for an International company. Our parent organisation is located in US and our affiliates are spread out across Europe. When I joined this company close to 1 1/2 year ago, I was really faced with myself; I didn't agree immediately with everything my manager said and I wanted myself to keep to my calendar. I had a serious tight one of course. No no no, Joëlle, wrong!! You may have different ideas than your manager has, but you don't pronounce it. At least not in countries like Hungary, Poland, Czech or Romania. And of course it is important to be in time for meetings and it is important to you that people are in time, but your schedule must not be a reason to end a discussion with a senior, although people have to wait for you. We are one and a half year later and it is still difficult for me. Or are these situations difficult for all Dutchies?

As mentioned before, my colleagues are spread out over the world. In my department we try to see each other at least once a year. We know each other from calls and emails. We have a slight idea of the other characters, but nobody is really aware of all cultural differences. You can imagine, that brings along quite some hilarious situations. Put an American and a Romanian in one room and of course discussion clashes. I don't mind. Although both are my seniors, I saw this one coming and I interupt them to explain the different situations. Luckily they where happy with this intervention. But none of the others in the room even had the intention the spend some time on this little incident. Was it me who came in between or was it a typically Dutch reaction?   

Every day a face such situations and everytime I ask myself again: Is this typically Dutch, or is it just me?