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Don’t Come to the Netherlands! It’s a Trap!

Ola Abou
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Don’t Come to the Netherlands! It’s a Trap!

Are you planning to come to the Netherlands? Well, don’t.

Is it considered early for someone who has spent a month in the Netherlands to review the whole Dutch experience? Yes, probably, but I’m going to do it anyway. First impressions can be deceiving, but with a keen eye you can always get past the superficial in a couple of weeks and that’s precisely what I’ve done.

So, what’s the whole fuss over this country about? And why is it that people mindlessly fall in love with the Netherlands in just a few days? Well, there’s just something about the Netherlands, isn’t there? It’s not a secret though, we have heard it all: the beautiful canals, the museums, the friendly locals, the magnificent weather, and the list goes on.

But I think now is the time for an unbiased opinion, and a reminder to never judge a book by its cover. So, hold on to your nationalism, tie up your ego, and keep your Pandora’s box of xenophobia open, because we are about to count down the reasons you should NOT come to the Netherlands:

1. Foreigners:

We are not talking about the New York Upper West Side kind of foreigners. This is real talk, foreigners who do NOT speak English as a native language or at all! (Don’t you just hate that?) The Dutch might find them interesting, but is there anything truly interesting about a Syrian artist waiting several hours in line to get his painting displayed in an art gallery in Utrecht? Creepy!

2. International Cuisine:

Can someone please remove the word cuisine from the dictionary? It doesn’t even sound English! Why can’t people just eat normal food, like a proper meatloaf? Why is it always Asian or Mediterranean? No matter how small the Dutch town you are planning to visit is, chances are you will run across a Greek or a Chinese restaurant. It’s just ridiculous.

Even the Dutch version of the white Asparagus soup looks Asian contaminated!

3. Animal Lovers:

We get it, the Dutch love animals. A Dutch person living in the suburbs is likely to have up to four animals (excluding cats and dogs). Do you really want to feel bad about the amount of time you’ve spent figuring out ways to get rid of your daughter’s hamster? These people will rub it in your face. They introduce you to their ponies before introducing you to their spouses!

4. Daylight:

It’s awful, especially at this time of the year. If you think the Netherlands is the ideal place to binge watch and follow all the TV shows you have been skipping, think again! The sun here is up from 3 AM until 10 PM, so if you were thinking about spending more than a few hours on Netflix, think again! The time difference might even have deprived you of the great wisdom of The O’Reilly Factor (had the show not been cancelled).

5. Environmentalists:

The Dutch all simply have green thumbs, period! The people plant in sand for heaven’s sake! They utilize solar and wind energy! Three words: why the fuss? Has anyone ever died from eating supermarket greens over the homegrown variety? Have solar energy panels ever done any good to the planet rather than just sabotaging views from airplanes?

Is that what a garbage container should look like? Easy on the greens!

Don’t come to the Netherlands.

There! Now you have it, the cure to the brainwashing to which we all have been subjected. Still want to come to the Netherlands? Just stay away. Three tablespoons of COVFEFE after every meal will do just the trick. 

Flag Day (Vlaggetjesdag) is coming to Scheveningen again!

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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Flag Day (Vlaggetjesdag) is coming to Scheveningen again!

Never heard of Flag Day? I hadn’t either until I moved to the Netherlands. It’s not the biggest festival in the Netherlands (although, within between 150K and 200K visitors each year it is certainly not small) but if you’re in Scheveningen or you like herring, then it’s a pretty big deal. Flag Day, or Vlaggetjesdag, is the official heralding of the return of the New Dutch herring season. Of course, it’s ultimately much more than that.

New Dutch Herring. Credits: Wikimedia Commons

 

A History of Herring

Based in Scheveningen, the historic roots of Flag Day lie with the famous Dutch herring. Originally the celebration occurred around the departure of herring ships out to sea, but since fishing techniques have changed, the festival simply celebrates the return of New Dutch herring. Although its history goes back as far as the 18th century, the modern iteration of the holiday in Scheveningen is a post-WWII event with the first edition dating back to 1947. Making the upcoming Flag day of this 17th of June the seventieth edition!

Here’s 1954’s edition:

Flag Day aka Vlaggetjesdag: All about traditions

Although Flag Day is now also a commercial event and loads of the Dutch herring is actually caught by English vessels in front of the coasts of Denmark and Norway, Flag Day continues to be one of those very few day at which Dutch heritage is abundantly celebrated by traditional stuff. Think about it, we’ve got King’s day which is more about boozing in an orange shirt. And then there’s Sinterklaas and the cheese market in Alkmaar.  But apart from that? Not so much! So ‘Vlaggetjesdag’ (consider yourself truly a master in the Dutch language if you can pronounce that one perfectly) is a day full of folklore and nice old traditional Dutch stuff. Thereby making it one of these days not to be missed if you life in the Netherlands and are originally from abroad. 

Vlaggetjesdag Flag Day
And yes! Traditional Dutch outfits will be present! (Source: buitengewoon Scheveningen)|

 

Flag Day: The Festival Activities

The festival consists of a wide variety of activities. Join in with Old Dutch children’s games for example . Plenty of well-known artists are performing. Go on board of traditional boats. There’s a mustache competition (!). Watch old crafts. Visit old fire engines. And of course chill on one of the many sun terraces. For a complete overview of all what there’s to do that day just click here (it’s in Dutch, but the pictures are a give-away 😉 )

Another highlight of it all is the first ever herringparty! It’s actually on the Friday the 16th before Flag day itself when on the end of the afternoon the ‘first bite’ will be performed as to kick off the herring-party. More info on that here.

And then there are some activities in the run-up to ‘Vlaggetjesdag’. So this week is for example also the time for ‘Graaitijd’. Graaitijd used to be the period that the ships would be well prepared for setting out to sea and catching that national fishy treasure. But now it’s more of a party week, with festivities being held in the Keizerstraat. More info is to be found here. (in Dutch)

Another highlight of Flag Day at Scheveningen, though peculiar enough not on Flag Day itsself, is the yearly herring auctioning of the year’s first barrel of herring.

 

The preview for this year’s auction 😉 All in Dutch so lekker gezellig

The Flag Day Auction!

The auction, which consists of a barrel holding approximately 45 herring, takes place a day before herring sales start in the rest of the nation (Wednesday!), and the money from its sale always goes to a charitable goal. This year the income from the Flag Day auction will go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. 

This edition, the barrel went to a group of young entrepreneurs from Veenendaal, who call themselves the ‘Gentlemen of the Fish’, as you can read here. The gentlemen paid €65,000 for the first fishy!
 
Last year the Sperwer Groep won the auction with a bid of €90.000, with proceeds going to Stichting Het Vergeten Kind. The record for a barrel stands at €95,000, paid up by by a staffing agency in 2012.

Curious to check it out for yourself? Or just want to eat some herring? Then make sure to visit the Scheveningen Harbour on Saturday, 17 June from 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM. And if the lure of herring isn’t enough, just know that it’s completely free to visit!

 

Free Money?! – Living and working in Rotterdam might earn you 50 bucks

Noah Bloem
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Rotterdam’s city council has just announced it will provide a one-time payment to the low-income working population of the city. Anyone citizen working in Rotterdam under the threshold of earning 130% of the minimum wage is eligible to the €50 gift from the municipal government.

A financial gift for those working in Rotterdam

The initiative, which will cost the municipality €2,3 million, was created by the political party Leefbaar Rotterdam and is being supported by its coalition partners, the CDA and D66. Leefbaar’s Ronald Buijt claims the move is being made because the difference between the low-wage salaries of those working in Rotterdam and those benefitting from welfare is too low. He stated that that the working population should be better rewarded. Currently, a citizen under welfare could cost the state up to €1,400 while the monthly minimum wage for a citizen aged 23 or older is currently only slightly above €1,550, on which taxes must still to be paid.

working in Rotterdam

Heavy Criticism Abound

The move comes amongst heavy criticism, however, from parties like the VVD and PvdA, who claim the move is a publicity stunt just before elections (yes, there we go again!). While Leefbaar Rotterdam denies this, the argument certainly holds weight. While Leefbaar Rotterdam make a compelling case to argue that welfare benefits and minimum wage for those working in Rotterdam are too close, the one-time gift of €50 is unlikely to create a significant impact in fixing this issue for an individual and the €2,3 million cost to the local government seems a high price to pay for a gesture of goodwill.

The VVD’s Antoinette Laan also points out that the money could be used elsewhere, going so far as to say that “[Leefbaar’s initiative] is throwing away money for a present.”

So what do you think of all this? Should you be way better off when working in Rotterdam then when you’re on welfare? How’s welfare in your home-country?

AmsterScare: Car rams Central Station – 8 wounded, 2 serious.

Bobby Salomons
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It happened just before 21:00 (9PM), the sun setting on Holland’s capital, the city’s busy railway station gradually cooling down after cycling through hundreds of thousands of passengers on a single summer’s day. The broad streets towards the canal-region still buzzing with a stream of tourists, the buses and trams working overtime to make their schedules, watchful eyes in uniform making sure everything’s alright.

A pair of officers approach a small, black vehicle to ask the driver why he’s parked at a spot that’s off-limits. And then it happened.

The engine roared and the car took off at speed, flashing by pedestrians, hitting some, and then with a loud crash that disturbed the peace in this otherwise calm city came to a halt against a concrete barrier. Just for a moment everyone feared the worst – how many seconds till it blew up? How many men in vests were going to step from the vehicle and add us to the list of Paris, Brussels and Berlin?
As it turned out – none.

 

Scary but not what it looked like.

It was soon apparent that something had gone totally wrong, but not intentional, and that the driver had most likely become unwell and lost control of his vehicle and steered it into the concrete barrier just a little further ahead from where he was approached by police. Unfortunately, tragically, it injured nearly a dozen people – two of which were seriously injured, a handful of others could be treated on the spot. But this was no intentional deed, no terrorism, no attack on the liberal city, the Venice of the North. It was just a tragic accident. But that’s not what international media were hoping for.

The irony is that Amsterdam is sometimes referred to as “The Free Press Capital of the World” – including annual awards for the most outspoken, daring and courageous journalists who risk everything in trying to get the word out where others don’t. But that didn’t quite spare the city from being thrown to the dogs who’s blood curdling howl can be heard as soon as any blood spills. “BREAKING NEWS!”; “Latest developments” – Tweet after Tweet, Facebook emoticons spilling like tears over the mass media posts online, on TV and on the radio. There was something terrible happening in Amsterdam and by God, they were going to tell it all! The guts, the suffering, all the anger! If it happened in Amsterdam, it could happen anywhere! Hide now and cry in silence!
And then – nothing.

 

Trending: #IAmsterdam, #DJT, #MakeAmericaGreatAgain.

The angry button bashing till fingers were raw by excited journalists may have spilled more blood than present at the accident scene. Terrorism experts were canceled from going on the air – “Maybe next week, Steve”; Geert Wilders backspaced the Facebook rant he was ready to launch upon his followers, Donald Trump still busy trying to spellcheck the obvious grammatical errors in his Tweet berating the Dutch for being so soft on Muslims.

Our Muslims, we might add. Who belong here. They’re our fellow countrymen. And we’re not sad about missing the media attention, the trending hashtag “#IAmsterdam” or seeing our city or nation-flag plastered over people’s Facebook photo. Actually, we’re glad – it was just an accident.
We hope that everyone involved heals real soon and to the fullest, we’re sorry for the experience but we hope that all those affected can still look back at the city with a good feeling. Because, should the day come, rest assured that we will be there for those that need our care and protection – Amsterdam’s credo “Valiant, Steadfast and Compassionate” is there for a reason. But we wholeheartedly hope, it won’t be necessary any time soon.

For now, enjoy the sunshine, enjoy the city, open your heart – be happy. Amsterdam wants you to.

Catcalling to be Banned in Rotterdam

Noah Bloem
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Some time ago, Amsterdam took the decision to ban catcalling, and Rotterdam is about to follow suit with another ‘catcalling ban’.

84% of Rotterdam Women Harassed

A recent study showed that some 84% of women in Rotterdam between the ages of 18 and 45 have had to deal with catcalling or other forms of public sexual harassment. Many of the women surveyed even changed their behavior because of it, deciding to avoid certain neighborhoods or wear different clothes.

Ah this classic vid:
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1XGPvbWn0A[/embedyt]

Catcalling should not be acceptable

The Rotterdam alderman Joost Eerdmans spoke to the NOS, stating very clearly that “The fact that women feel so limited in their freedom that they must dress differently or avoid certain neighborhoods is unacceptable.”

In order to combat the issue, Rotterdam’s city council has now decided to enact a new law to ban cat-calling. Currently, offenders will be let off with a warning, but once the law is enacted next year the act of catcalling or other forms of verbal sexual harassment will be punishable for up to 4,100 euros or 3-months jail time. Amsterdam has already enacted a ban on catcalling and The Hague’s city council is also discussing the law. 

Obviously, the main problem with such a ban on catcalling is how to enforce such legislation. I mean some douchebag could easily just say some tire was deflating when a girl accuses him of ‘saying’ pssssssssssst. Offenders would have to be caught in the very act of hissing and such.

So what do you think of this catcalling ban? Is this a step in the right direction or is this way too much attention for an obnoxious but still small problem? And how should such a ban be enforced?

The Proliferation of Dutch Microbreweries

Noah Bloem
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The Proliferation of Dutch Microbreweries

When I arrived back in the Netherlands four years ago, the variety in beer selection was rather underwhelming. Only a handful of Dutch microbreweries existed, so it’s no wonder they were difficult to find. The most exotic choice at my local Albert Heijn was an Erdinger Weissbier, and let’s be fair, as the world’s largest wheat beer brewery, Erdinger isn’t exactly uncommon.

Still delicious, if not exotic.

The massive selection of unique brews available to consumers in countries like Belgium or the United States simply wasn’t available. Despite being neighbors and cultural cousins to one of the world’s most prominent homes of beer production, Holland had yet to hop on the microbrewery bandwagon.

So Many Dutch Microbreweries

But that time has since passed and the Dutch have seemingly thrown down everything else to dive into the world of microbrewing. Today there are almost 500 active breweries in the Netherlands and the overwhelming majority have been founded in the past two decades.

It’s growing at an alarming rate. Seriously, in the time between the start of my research and the publishing of this article, there have been eight new Dutch microbreweries opened. Maybe more by now. I’ve had to change the numbers in this article six times already. Six. It’s inconvenient, but considering all the new beer, I can accept the minor annoyance.

Holy Crap, There’s More than 5 Beers Available!?

Goliaths like Heineken and AB InBev still hold the vast majority of Dutch beer production, but unlike a decade ago, it’s no longer the only available choice. Dutch microbreweries like Brouwerij ‘t IJ, Brouwerij De Molen, Oedipus Brewing, and Brouwerij Noordt are frequently found on bar menus.

Simultaneously, and unsurprisingly, there is a rise in craft beer cafés. It’s not just old bars expanding their inventories, but new bars that specialize in variety are popping up all over. In Rotterdam five years ago, for instance, the only place I knew that sold more than a handful of different brews was Locus Publicus. Now we have Bokaal, Holy Smoke, and Proeflokaal Reijngoud just to name a few.

Ah the Brouwerij ‘t IJ ostrich. So majestic. A true example for Dutch microbreweries to follow.

Beer Tourism Just Isn’t the Same Anymore

Of course, the upsurge in Dutch microbreweries, and consequently the rise in diverse beer availability, means that beer trips to Belgium and Germany no longer hold the same value for the Dutch. That’s not to say that the lack of speed limits in Germany and the absolute chaos of urban planning in Belgium don’t make the trip worth it, but it’s just not that special anymore.

Let’s be fair though, Belgium will always hold the beer reputation, but at least we’re coming closer to becoming brothers in beer. Let’s just be happy that Dutch microbreweries are sinking their claws into this nation and that we’ll be able to enjoy their presence for a long time to come.

 

Eggcelent Table Manners: Learning to eat a soft-boiled egg

Tiffany Leung
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I had an epiphany recently — and instantly felt that special feeling of embarrassment that accompanies the discovery of doing something quite culturally out-of-place when acculturating to life in a new country. It seems I missed the lesson on table manners pertaining to egg eating, which must have been ineggscusable: I’ve been eating a zachtgekookte eitje, a soft-boiled egg, totally incorrectly. Sadly, it seems I have repeatedly and mistakenly tried to eat it like a hard-boiled egg, when in fact its seat in a dainty eggcup confers it special status to be eaten with a cute little spoon, scooping out its soft and delicious insides.

Just have some salt and pepper ready and you have all the tools for eating a zachtgekookte eitje

All for one and an egg for all

My lack of egg-related table manners stimulated me to reflect on my insidiously growing love of eggs in a balanced and nutritious diet (eggs have recently made a comeback, after all). In childhood, I frequently consumed the rather boring but sufficient and straightforward hard-boiled egg or scrambled eggs. In young adulthood, I appreciated more the sunny-side up and over-easy eggs that my partner made as a part of a hearty Saturday morning brunch. Later, I experimented and made soy eggs, which would accompany my homemade ramen noodle miso soup. And now, as I eggspand my horizons — Dutch-style,* natuurlijk — through trial and error, along with sheepish observation and realization, I’ve come to appreciate the elegance and tastiness of eating a heerlijk soft-boiled egg with its soft and gooey white and yolk.

Ethical eggs

Interestingly, in the U.S. there are numerous labels for various egg types, which might mean next to nothing when definitions can be inconsistent and open to liberal interpretation and enforcement is lacking. The idea, after all, is that these egg labels signal the consumer that the farmer is treating laying hens humanely (think: cage-free, free-range, or pasture-raised eggs) or that there is an implication that there are added health benefits of certain eggs, which may not be fully scientifically proven (think: organic or omega-3 eggs). The state of California passed a proposition to reduce crowding in henhouses a few years ago, but this contributed to an explosion in the cost of eggs produced from laying hens raised in complying farms: the sticker price for a 12-egg carton routinely cost more than USD$6.00 (or 5.36€ using the conversion rate as of this writing). Hopefully not all claims eggsist solely for marketing and profit at the consumer’s expense.

But I’ve noticed that The Netherlands might not be an eggception: I still see omega-3 and organic eggs in the grocery store; there are also rondeeleieren at the local Albert Heijn that can be purchased at a premium of 2.79€ per 10-egg carton, although these eggs seem to come from a production system that seems somewhat more ethically grounded and sustainable. Amazingly also, The Netherlands turns out to be a major egg producer and exporter, boasting about 32.7 million laying hens in 2011 (compared to only about 13 million in 2014 in the state of California, which has a population more than twice the size of The Netherlands).

“Make sure to get my good side.”

What an eggsperience!

So why this eggsilirating fascination? Despite egg pricing and the ethical and policy questions around humane and sustainable egg production, I still appreciate the simplicity and budget-friendliness of going to the weekly Grote Markt on Fridays in Maastricht, where I can purchase a 10-egg carton for only 1.50€ from a local farmer. Plus, I truly believe that Dutch eggs are more fresh, flavorful, and, frankly, more beautiful. After all, who doesn’t love the deep orange hue of the yolk in a soft-boiled egg? (I’ll concede this probably excludes vegans and certain types of vegetarians, advocates of laying hen rights, and people who just don’t like to eat eggs.) Nonetheless, the orange beauty of a soft-boiled egg-yolk might just be reminiscent a festive orange-colored Koningsdag celebrating the King of Oranje.

The bottom line: If you haven’t already eggsperienced a zachtgekookte eijte, I encourage you to do so and to eat it with proper Dutch manners. I’m eggstatic to hear what you think!

Easter eggs at Maastricht’s Grote Markt
Photo by Tiffany Leung

*Over the course of writing this piece, I learned that the origins of the eggcup for soft-boiled egg consumption and associated table manners do not actually originate in The Netherlands. Still, there is some interesting history behind its creation here and here (I admittedly haven’t yet confirmed historical accuracy of these sites). And of course, since Martha Stewart has a feature video and once published a special magazine issue dedicated to eggcups, it must be a truly magical domestic relic to behold.

Sugar Daddies in Football: Not what the Dutch need?

Bobby Salomons
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Although Ajax made the Uefa Cup final and Feyenoord have just won the Eredivisie, Dutch football has another new thing to thunder through news headlines – Roda JC is putting its new sugar daddy, Aleksei Korotaev, on permanent hold. Are they breaking up? Did slutty Roda find someone better? Did Aleksei cheat on Roda JC after promises of a long and happy family life?

How it began

Roda JC, though fairly unknown outside of the country, has had a fairly rich club history both inside Holland and in Europe, winning the KNVB Cup twice (League Cup), becoming runner-up in the Eredivisie once, and even once defeating A.C. Milan in San Siro itself!

But, like most of Dutch football, things began to decline in 2000. There have even been several attempts to form a ‘super club’ with other local associations (Fortuna Sittard, MVV and VVV) in what would be “FC Limburg”, the home province of all four clubs. Although the club made the KNVB Cup finals in 2008 and managed to narrowly avoid relegation in 2009, the merger attempt still fell apart and it doesn’t do any club – or business – good to flunk a merger. Sponsors don’t like it nor does the Dutch Football Association (KNVB).

Believe it or not, this is what saved Roda JC! The infamous “Indische Keuken”!

Roda JC’s Financial Troubles

In early 2010, Roda JC was having serious financial issues, but found a helping hand in the local government of Kerkrade – who agreed to sponsor the club if it rebranded into Roda JC Kerkrade. The offer seemed to be a miracle lifeline for the club, but that hasn’t proven true.

Roda JC struggled badly in the coming years, leading to degradation. Further failing business efforts built another debt – €6,5 million outstanding with no party involved willing or able to fill that void. Things looked grim up until a successful businessman showed up, Frits Schrouff (77) of Heuschen & Schrouff – a European market leader in Asian (non-)foods – kept the club standing on its feet. They weren’t suddenly rich, but at least bankruptcy was out of the question.

The Arrival of Aleksei Korotaev

Then came a man that made Roda JC’s little heart pound with love; a handsome Swiss-Russian billionaire by the name of Aleksei Korotaev swept this little Cinderella off her feet and promised her great fortune and success. He was shown to the press at a meeting during which the club’s comissioners were having an obvious man crush on the well-spoken, but very modest investment banker.

For the first time in a long time, Roda JC dared to dream of a  brighter future. Perhaps they would qualify for European football again, maybe even the Champions League! Maybe, if things went well, a baby or two? And there was cash, there was real cash that Roda was given without question and she went out shopping – and came back with 9(!) new players. Things seemed rosy and perfect now, what could go wrong? 

Fast cars, jets, and promises unfulfilled: ADO’s Tragedy

It’s a repeating pattern in Holland, and throughout Europe: men and companies with endless pocket money to spend are ready and willing to date clubs that have been badly treated by current or previous lovers. The kind of clubs really looking for some attention and safety. You could call them easy, but you could also call it being abused.

ADO (Left) and Roda JC (Right) enter the field together for a match. ©FaceMePls/Flickr

ADO Den-Haag, the pride of the Hague, reeled in a Chinese billionaire – Hui Wang of United Vansen. The club has not been doing well either for a long time and was thrilled to find an Asian businessman with a fat wallet – unfortunately Wang had no intentions of actually letting the club be a club and paying the bills as the club deemed necessary. Wang began introducing new people of his own accord, which the club refused. He skipped meetings and then refused the bills – even the annual contribution to the KNVB needed to play.

Needless to say, ADO’s dreams and relationship with Wang came crashing down pretty hard – the judge stepped in and ruled Wang unfit to handle the club. His majority shares are now in hands of an independent party set by the court. ADO is hurt and not ready for a new relationship.

Vitesse’s Cinderella Story

Vitesse, who despite recently winning the KNVB Cup, have also experienced a rough ride on the money train. The club was purchased by Eastern European billionaires who, despite paying the bills, have kept the club turning in circles. One of the problems surrounding the club is a tie to England’s Chelsea F.C.

Both the first sugar daddy of Vitesse in 2010 and the new owner (Chigirinsky) have strong ties to Roman Abramovich – and the Russian oligarch rules the club by proxy. The KNVB has already researched these ties, but investigations keep coming up inconclusive. Unfortunately, serious allegations exist that Vitesse serves as a Chelsea back up, taking in and selling players as Abramovich and Chelsea demand.

How does it all impact Roda JC?

Lastly, of course, we come back to Roda – to whom the news was just broken. Her new lover Aleksei is not all he seems, or so it appears, after being arrested in Dubai (Oops!). The investment banker was caught in the country paying a bad cheque and has been in the slammer since February – barely a week after his smashing introduction at Roda – and all his accounts have been frozen. Things aren’t looking great. Even now Aleksei is still awaiting on a decision that could see him serving several years of jail time.

Right now Roda has frozen its relationship, especially through investor Schrouff who still owns 99%, and will be looking into matters. In a way they were lucky that the ownership hadn’t been approved just yet. But needless to say, Roda JC is inconsolable and uncertain – is this the end of its newfound hopes and dreams? Of course, there’s always a chance, but it just doesn’t help the club to see another failure added to the list.

What now?

In the end we can conclude that, so far, almost all ‘outside meddling’ in Dutch football has either mediocre success – such as Vitesse – or, more likely ends with a lot of misery and broken hearts. Just like real relationships, it seems that the “Sugar Daddy” principle isn’t real love or understanding, it’s a contract that serves a purpose for both sides with different objectives. Someone is going to get hurt and ultimately, nobody wins.

Perhaps, some day soon, a Dutch club will find a reliable major sponsor or investor – and the Dutch will thunder back into European football. But until that time, let’s all get together and complain about fast, rich men in business suits and go home before we get too drunk and fall for the next guy in a Ferrari. The fans and the clubs deserve it.

Meet the DutchReview Crew – Abuzer van Leeuwen

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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Meet the DutchReview Crew – Abuzer van Leeuwen
Name: Abuzer van Leeuwen
Where are you from?

Rotterdam! (Or the Netherlands, damn these questions are already vague)

Which city are you currently residing in?

Leiden

What do you do outside of being a writer for DR?

Doing even more DutchReview stuff! You think this website runs itself? That and playing with my kitty – eating – faking being sportive and laying on the couch while telling myself to improve life.

Why did you start writing for DutchReview?

The Netherlands is such a peculiar country and gets a lot of attention despite the puny size of this little nation. And then there’s also the image of being this open and tolerant country while at the same time Dutchies are about ready to go to war to decide on the right shade of black for ‘Zwarte Piet’ – so this interesting divide got me writing. I also felt, together with Frank Kool, that the Netherlands could use an English language news outlet that also did opinionated takes on current events – and then DutchReview also allows for you to shamelessly insert lame jokes.

What did you want to be when you were little?

An Astronaut, turns out that your parents are flat out lying when they say ‘you can be everything you wanted’. To kids reading this now, YOU CAN’T BE AN ASTRONAUT. Second to Astronaut was professional football player, that career also didn’t work out – luckily, in this case, my parents made it abundantly clear that I never had the makings of a varsity athlete. Third option? Running some English language website on the Netherlands, my parents also told me that was just a stupid dream, but in all fairness, this was back in the nineties and internet didn’t exist really.

What’s your favorite thing about the Dutch?

The cycling, sounds cliché but it is so easy and chill. Not to mention cheap and fat burning. Also a nice and often overlooked thing is that the Netherlands is filthy stinking rich, being born here helps. The Dutch directness also makes things easier sometimes, although admittedly blunter as well.

What’s the weirdest encounter you’ve had with Dutchness?

Probably when living abroad and meeting other Dutchies. After spouting out some Dutch phrases that must sound horrible to other people, the question immediately turns to where you can drink proper cheap beers and where to haggle a good cheap bicycle – perhaps accompanied by something about ‘how lazy and inefficient’ the local bureaucracy is doing things (but I lived in Italy, so that might be it). But being largely/halfly Dutch I might just miss all kinds of great encounters with Dutchness.

Read more of Abuzer’s stuff right here

 

DutchReview crew, Abu is that guy standing

 

Reach & Teach: a grassroots approach to integration in the Netherlands

Amalie
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Every week, a group of almost 40 people meets in The Hague to chat, illicitly borrow chairs from classrooms, and share knowledge. This is the work of a student-led non-profit called Reach & Teach.

The groups are made up of university students, asylum seekers, and holders of residence permits. The aim? Language and cultural exchanges through lessons and social activities. Ultimately, Reach & Teach wants to help people integrate into the Netherlands. It’s an example of the can-do spirit in Dutch academia and society, and shows small actions can have big effects.

I interviewed Josephine Abdellatif (18), who is responsible for Reach & Teach’s external communications, to tell me about the organisation, its successes, and their plan to walk 40km to raise money and awareness.

 

How did Reach & Teach start?

About a year ago, Elsa Put [21], who now Chairs Reach & Teach, decided she wanted to do something to improve integration [read an interview with Elsa here]. So she started talking to people about the idea. She learned about another organisation at the University College Amsterdam, Right2Education. They really helped get us set up, giving ideas for starting up and structure.

 

What’s the idea behind Reach & Teach, how does it work?

We have about 10 guest-students and two teachers per class. The language lessons take place twice a week (per level) in this format. People are able to learn and socialise during and after class. Then, there are our events. Here, each student is paired with a volunteer ‘buddy’, so they can chat and get to know each other informally. We organise these events about once a week.

 

Image result for reach & teach leiden
Knowledge-exchange.

The beauty of this initiative is that it’s two-way; it allows the asylum seekers (guest-students) to learn from volunteering university students (teachers). But also the other way around. Both will learn something and both feel heard.

Also, this set-up helps fight social isolation. There isn’t enough attention for the mental health of refugees and migrants; they have a lot of stress and need people to talk to. Happier people can learn more as well.

Our Chair, Elsa, said the following in an interview for Leiden University:

“The ‘refugee’ label […] strips you of your identity: you are no longer a doctor, a student, a mother – you are only a refugee. With Reach & Teach we want to get rid of that label. This is why we focus not only on language lessons, but also on the social aspect of integration. […] Most refugees I have spoken to stress that they want to be less isolated.”

We all need friends, to help us along and to learn from. Reach & Teach provides a space in which to make them!

Of course, we rely heavily on donations – books and other materials cost money. That’s one of the ongoing challenges. But we’ve learned so much in setting up this organisation. From an organisational perspective and from the people we’ve met. We’re really grateful for that.

 

Was there ever a ‘YES! This is going to be a success’-moment? What was the process like?

 

Life’s a picknick, sometimes.

The process was tough, but gratifying. Like I said, we received help from Right2Education. And Leiden University granted us rooms for our lessons, so that was one less worry. Still, there were some stressful times.

But there isn’t really ONE moment I could point to, more a series of challenges we overcame. Finding funding, enlisting student-teachers, timetables and venues for language lessons, social events…

If I had to choose though, maybe the moment lessons started?

Since March, lessons have been up and running, for more than 70 people. It’s an amazing to stop and realise what that might mean. We’ve heard so many positive things from our guest students. Seeing the progress made at our weekly events, it’s clear that all that hard work was so worth it.

 

 

Will all of the people that you ‘Reach & Teach’ stay in the Netherlands?

Of course, that’s not certain. They might not be granted asylum, or they might go on to a different country. However, most who join Reach & Teach will probably stay; they’re usually ‘status holders’, who stay in one place longer and therefore have more incentive to join us. They may ultimately aim to take the citizenship exam.

Either way though, there are people here now. They want to socialise and learn, not sit around staring at a wall.

We need to be pragmatic about integration, and kind about people. Reach & Teach provides that, in an accepting and social environment.

 

Any projects lined up for the future?

 

Yes. We will walk 40 km on the night of 17 June, as part of the ‘Nacht van de Vluchteling’ – Night of the Refugee. It’s a sponsored walk to highlight the extreme distances travelled by refugees fleeing violence.

If you want to, sponsor our Reach & Teach team, please do so via this link. We’d really appreciate it and it’s for an amazing cause! The proceeds go to emergency help for refugees and the internally displaced.

 

Finally, tell us a bit about the people behind the organisation.

We’re seven Board Members, all International Studies students at Leiden University.

Elsa is our Chair and responsible for internal communication/coordination. Ilinca does PR and Soraya is the Academic and Teacher Coordinator. Hannah is our Treasurer and Head of Acquisitions. Student Coordination is done by Teba, and Chiara is our Events Manager and Buddy Coordinator. And then there’s me, Josephine – I do the External Communications.

Back row, from left: Elsa Varela Put, Ilinca Bogaciov, Soraya Shawki, Hannah Eriksen, Josephine Abdellatif. Front Row: Teba Samarai, Chiara Jancke.

We’re holding elections now for new board members. So it’s exciting to see what next year brings, but Reach & Teach is definitely going to continue!

 

 

Want to help Reach & Teach?

Lesson materials and activities cost money, so any donation is welcome!

Transfer to ‘Reach & Teach’ at NL03 ABNA 0571 3106 21. 

 

 

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