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5 Tasty Hotspots in Rotterdam

Noah Bloem
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5 Tasty Hotspots in Rotterdam

Looking for delicious hotspots in Rotterdam? Say no more…

KUA  Taco bar

Good Mexican food, now that is something we haven’t reviewed yet on DutchReview. And to be fair, there aren’t that many proper Mexican places in the Netherlands around  (and some seriously suck). So when we heard good stories about the KUA Taco bar we just had to check it out. It’s located in Rotterdam’s Hoogstraat, a street which we used to avoid but it now has seen quite a couple of good hotspots opening up the past few years. This is exhibited by the opening of KUA a few months again ago, in what used to be just some Latin place.

After Margerita’s everything gets better
Early in the evening, pretty crowded when we left

And they did a fine job! Daniel the owner (viva! A real Mexican!) has a fine eye for detail and style and it shows in the decor. I really felt like taking a small holiday to Mexico! Especially the mural with the kitty is mesmerizing, something to strive for in your own living room.

Of course, the taco’s are what matters the most – and boy those didn’t disappoint! Especially the mixed Pulled Taco platter gave you plenty of choice and variety, especially considering it’s only 15 euro’s, and I almost couldn’t eat anything else after that. But for review purposes (and gluttony) I had an extra one, the Taco de Alambre Chilango, and that was the most savory of all!

This one – peppers are hot as **** but also delicious
Chorizo with cheese – YES PLEASE

Anything else to recommend? There was a combination of melted cheese and chorizo as a starter (Choriqueso!) that couldn’t disappoint and the Margarita’s were awesome too – go for those if you’re not in the market for straight-up tequila.

Mescal!

Affordable, exotic, tasty and fun times!

Address: Hoogstraat 28A, 3011 PP Rotterdam

Website | Instagram | Facebook |

PS 1. Don’t do that extra taco people, it nearly killed me 😉
PS 2. Don’t mess around with the Jalapenos as well, that’s some hot stuff!

Gys

Gys is located along one of Rotterdam’s trendiest roads, the Nieuwe Binnenweg, and it certainly fits the bill. Specializing in organic, healthy food, the restaurant also has a dedication to sustainability. The decor fits the bill perfectly, with many of the hanging lights doubling as self-sustaining ecosystems.While Gys also has venues in Utrecht, each location has its own unique menu. The menu is laden with vegetarian and vegan options as well, so it’s perfect for the herbivores among us.

Our visit started with drinks, of course. In this case, a beer and a wine from the Gys brand. 100% organic and quite tasty to boot. Of course we went with the ‘proverij’ voor a starter, which consisted of a handful of different dishes, including a vegan kapsalon, beet soup, and grilled vegetables. The star of the dish, however, was the tempeh, which was absolutely phenomenal.

For the main course, I opted for the meatless loaf, a vegan meatloaf with a basis of beans and lentils. It had a lovely texture and the pairing with pearl barley was perfect. And Gys certainly aren’t stingy when it comes to portions, so you certainly don’t have to worry about going home hungry.

Last, but certainly not least, is dessert. Unfortunately, I was much too full at this point in the meal to order a large dessert, and so opted for the brownie, which was simple, delicious, and just the right amount of fudgy.

Address: Nieuwe Binnenweg 182, 3015 BJ Rotterdam

Website | Instagram | Facebook |

 

Burgerij

Right there in the Botersloot street (adjacent of the ‘Meen’) are a couple of nice places popping up. One of these is the Burgerij. This place has everything one can wish for: great hip decor (even for a burger place which normally is already quite fancy), big and tasty burgers, sunshiny terrace and – how very Dutch of us- a price-quality ratio to die for!

The Burgerij is originally a small chain of burger places in Belgium, they’re franchising out to the Netherlands now. With places in Amsterdam and Zwolle opening up and they’re also attending plenty of festivals.

I went for the ‘Italian’ burger on the menu, the Dolce Vita which was executed perfectly! Nice and crispy bun, crispier than usual and the burger was well-sized and prepared.

They’ve also got a permit to be open until late, a nice drinking menu – combine all of this with their nice terrace and interior and you’ve got a winner for almost every time of the weekend (don’t do burgers at breakfast though, think about your heart).

Address: Botersloot 24,  Rotterdam

Website |  Instagram | Facebook |

 

Noo. Me.

Almost right next to the Burgerij sits another tasty new establishment, and luckily they aren’t selling any burgers there. Noo. Me. is a next generation Asian restaurant, which doesn’t go by the rulebook when it comes to cooking from a certain country. The Laksa and dumplings especially were to die for and extremely reasonably priced. When we asked what made these noodle soups so much better than our own homely efforts they told us that not only do they make everything from scratch (so no supermarket noodles) but also that they’re broths have been sitting on the stove getting delicious for more than hours at an end.

Noo. Me can boast both a nicely designed interior and an outside terrace, their ice-tea cocktails were something to look forward to on a hot day.

Their Laksa’s, Pho’s and dumplings taste even better when you find out that they’ve got pensioners working in the kitchen. The owner told me they wanted to fulfill a social role and ‘profit’ from all the knowledge of the older generations – this way everybody profits, and it’s such an ingenious way of thinking that it makes you wonder why there aren’t places doing this.

Address: Botersloot 18A,  Rotterdam

Instagram | Facebook

Hotspots in Rotterdam: Biergarten Rotterdam

Fair enough, the Biergarten in Rotterdam can hardly be called a hidden gem of Rotterdam. For years now this urban garden next to Rotterdam Central is one of the places to be. Many of you probably have been there once or twice, pounding away those half a liter beers with your colleagues after work, and why wouldn’t you? I mean look at the glorious vibe present on a random Thursday:

One would expect burgers and bbq-food to find their way to Biergarten’s Menu, and yes they’re nicely present – as well as some stews and salads. So a wide variety of choices available besides the obvious beers. But they had some pretty snacks as well, perfect to go with a beer. We tried the calamari, shrimp croquettes, and the nachos. Especially the nachos were something to behold, with pulled pork and cheese omnipresent! So come for the beers, but don’t leave if you want something to eat.

Address: Schiestraat,  Rotterdam

Website |  Instagram | Facebook |

 

Know any hotspots in Rotterdam we should try? Feel free to tip us off!

5 great places to eat in the city of Rotterdam.

Three things about the new US ambassador to the Netherlands: Pete Hoekstra

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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Three things about the new US ambassador to the Netherlands: Pete Hoekstra

Who is the new US ambassador to the Netherlands: Pete Hoekstra?

It’s been a while since Donny Trump thought about his third favorite country in the world: the fantastic Holland! But finally something did happen on the orange-front, Trump nominated a new ambassador to the Netherlands! He’s even got a Dutch name, Pete Hoekstra, so this must be good news right?

A humble first look at our new US ambassador to the Netherlands: Pete Hoekstra (seems like a different century when we wrote about his predecessor).

#1 Pete Hoekstra is from the Netherlands and loves Groningen

Like so many others from Michigan and its neighboring states (shout out to our fans there!), Pete Hoekstra is originally of Dutch descent. When he was three years old he emigrated, obviously with his parents, from the fair city of Groningen to US.

Pete Hoekstra
What’s not to love?

Reportedly he still speaks a bit of Dutch and is still very fond of Groningen (just like us, read about it here and here).

 

#2 He’s mainly about diplomacy, conservatism and anti-radical Islam

A quick look at his Wikipedia-page and twitter-feed shows us a few things. He’s got a political science degree (better than just being related to Trump) and tweets a lot about international relations and radical Islam, lately, a lot of his attention has been going out to the rift in the Middle East with Qatar and Saudi-Arabia.

His voting record is largely conservative which is consistent with his congressional district and we normally would respect such a thing. However, there are some substantial indicators that he’s also very anti-gay – so let’s see how that works out (not particularly looking forward to it though). He also fumbled with a weapons of mass destruction story, just like the rest of America in those days.

Sadly, when it comes to Trump, Pete Hoekstra also uses ‘whatabouttism‘:

 

#3 Pete Hoekstra is known in the States for the Debbiespenditnow ad

In 2012 Hoekstra campaigned for the Senate against a Democrat named Debbie, of course, we’re used to some ‘peculiar’ political commercials from the US of A, but this #Debbiespenditnow ad is something ‘special’. We can’t believe we missed out on this one until now, judge for yourself:

Yeah, looks a bit racist right? Well, that’s what the rest of the civil world thought that as well. Especially when word got out that they used the tag ‘yellowgirl’ in the source code of the accompanying website. This sparked a fair bit of controversy in the US, in what was also a very ineffective campaign in the end by Hoekstra.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6fvey0rdCg[/embedyt]

Luckily, there was some good coming out of all this – namely this Funny or Die sketch (not sure if it’s actually funny btw)

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A8jNdWfQ5c[/embedyt]

So that’s it for now about the new US ambassador to the Netherlands: Pete Hoekstra. I honestly started research for this article this early morning with an open mind, but I’m not very happy with what I found out. What do you think of the man? Anything I missed – feel free to pitch in!

One last thing:

What to do with returning jihadis to the Netherlands?

Frank Kool
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What to do with returning jihadis to the Netherlands?

Here’s a fun piece of trivia: do you know which country on the Western hemisphere has the highest amount of citizens leaving to join ISIS? The answer may surprise you, because the winner of this sad contest might be none other than Trinidad and Tobago. Trini-what? That’s okay, few would be able to point it out on the map, but this tiny Caribbean nation has the highest number of ISIS fighters as compared to the whole of the population. Though only around 100-130 Trinibaging fighters have sworn allegiance to the black flag of the world’s most hated group, this comes from a total population of only 1.3 million people.

Which brings us to the question that more and more people in the West are asking themselves: now that ISIS is losing territory left and right, what are we going to do with the returning jihadis? Though exact figures are difficult to find, The Netherlands has seen somewhere around 200 of its citizens leave for Syria and Iraq. Most of them have probably already been killed in battle, but an unknown number may soon return.

Nope, nope, nope!

As a society, we have to decide what to do about this. There are two extremes here, which we could define as the Dutch dilemma known as knuffelen of knuppelen.

 

Approach #1: Knuffelen (‘hugging’)

Some have thought the unthinkable and say that we should show nothing but love and kindness to those back from the ranks of ISIS. Rather than answering hate with hate, we should forgive and by doing so, convince would-be terrorist that they have no need to fight us.

Cynical people will call it ‘virtue signaling’ (doing the morally right thing in order to show that you are better than others), but crazy as it sounds, it might just work. These kinds of passive-aggressive forms of resistance have shaped societies in the past, just ask Martin Luther King or Mahatma Gandhi.

Though people can be drawn to this approach out of moral principles, some would also argue that taking a soft stance would encourage doubting ISIS members to abandon the organization. Kill with kindness, as they say.

 

Approach #2: Knuppelen (‘blunt force’)

Do you know what’s sweet? Strawberries with powdered sugar. But also revenge. Especially revenge!

I still like you, but it’s just hard to win a War on Terror with you. source

Rather than turning the other cheek, most people want to see the Syrië gangers (lt.: ‘Syria goers’) either dead or in jail. Though the Dutch judicial system has already begun prosecuting Dutch jihadis in absentia, a jihadi can still only be sent to jail when enough evidence of their guilt has been presented. And even then, they return to society after a few years.

For those who want to go full Machiavelli on the hate-beards, there is always the option of deadly force. The British and the French have already sent special forces into the desert with lists of ISIS members they want to have executed. Though this may not be the most moral road to take (or strictly legal one, for that matter), it is an appealing alternative to seeing radicalized islamists return to Europe. Earlier we mentioned the examples of MLK and Gandhi, but this should come with a foot-note: their non-violent resistance only won because their opponents turned out to have a conscience after all. The British yielded to the Indians, while US society abandoned segregation. ISIS has repeatedly stated in the past that their violence is not a response to the West bombing the Middle-East, they fight us because in their eyes, we are infidels.

So which is the way forward, knuffelen or knuppelen? A middle road seems hard to find here, but answers will have to come up soon. In the wave of terrorist attacks that came over Western-Europe in the past few years, The Netherlands has until now stayed safe. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Finding (and killing those cavities at) a Dutch Dentist in 5 steps

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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Finding (and killing those cavities at) a Dutch Dentist in 5 steps

Whether it is your conscience that is nagging you or your mom calling you from abroad, sooner or later it is wise to visit a Dutch Dentist. With all that stroopwafel and black licorice eating going on in this country it might be wise to make it sooner instead of later. But where to start? Let’s walk you through 5 steps in order to get your mouth and teeth in great shape.

* If you came here because something is hurting like ****, better skip step 1-2 and go straight to 3 

#1 Convincing yourself to go to a Dutch Dentist

Let me tell you something personal, and I hope my mom isn’t reading this, I once didn’t go to a dentist for 3 years. And I’m positive that almost half of you people reading this had a similar stint of non-attending. You all know how it goes, you’ve lost touch with your old dentist and moved countries and bang! Before you know it it’s 3 years later and those stories by your Dutch co-workers about their routine check-ups every 6 months sound like the wise thing to do. And you know it as well, going to a dentist is important – especially since you want to have your teeth at the age of 89.

Skipped routine dental check-ups

Old school scared of the dentist? A good dentist can help you overcome those fears.

Did I convince you? Good, you’re going to seek out a Dutch dentist! And you’re in luck as well because Dutch dentists belong to the top of the world and prices are relatively low here!

#2 Finding a Dutch Dentist

Ok, but how to find one? Sure you can ask co-workers or friends if they know a nice one and if you’re located in some village in the ‘Achterhoek’ you might want to go for the local one. Maybe your criteria are more important for finding a Dutch dentist. So what would those be?
– Open for emergencies (when rollerblading at age 43 goes wrong)
– Speaks proper English
– Open after office hours
– Is this practice any good? (more on that later)

Then, simply phone a dentist and ask to join his or her patient list (just hope that they’re open for new business). Why isn’t pricing a factor you ask? Well, the prices for dentists are semi-controlled by the government so prices for procedures are more or less the same anywhere. Taking that into account you might just seek out the fanciest dentist for expats there is in town.

Me going to the dentist

#3 Found one! Intake time

Yeah! Found a dentist in Amsterdam! Good job! What now? It’s 2017 and things might be a tad bit different then when you hobbled along with your mum back in the 80s. I went to Tandarts Jordaan and checked out how a state of the art dental practice like this is all about nowadays.

‘Sure I floss every day – totally’

They had a 10-step process to fully check everything going on inside there, you know the deal: old fillings (got em), wisdom tooth (needs to go, I know) and my gums which are just so-so (more on that later). Also doing some ‘light’ photos right on the spot, something which I never saw before.

Dentist: ‘And because of these instant pictures I can see that you never floss’

I liked the fact that the dentist from Tandarts Jordaan really took his time to explain what was going on. (and it wasn’t bad, can still eat stroopwafels!)

In case it isn’t all good-to-go your dentist will provide advice on possible follow-up appointments needed, based on the findings of the initial check-up.  You will receive a schedule with indicative costs (so no scary unexpected costs) for the follow-up treatments after your first visit, to ensure that you know what is required including the costs which allows you to discuss these with your insurance company.

 

#4 Dutch dentist: Treatment time!

Perhaps even more vital than a check-up or intake is the actual treatment of your mouth and teeth. Make sure you’ve got a good Dutch dentist for this, heck forget good – just go for the best and fanciest looking out there (and if you’re a hurry, an emergency dentist in Amsterdam)

So why should you pick a nice looking one with awesome equipment and great service always? I hear you thinking, wouldn’t that be way too expensive?

Well, actually – no

Because all the dental pricing in the country is the same, a dentist can not be more expensive than others. So go for that nice looking and English speaking clinic with multiple dentists!

 

#5 Don’t forget to floss! 

One of the things I hear from internationals in the Netherlands is how they like how their Dutch dentist is always looking out for them. The better dentists in the Netherlands focus on preventing tooth decay and such instead of racking up the bill by making you come back for more treatment when it’s getting nastier.

So as the cliché goes, don’t forget to floss!

PS. I also learned at the dentist that mouthwater is completely and utterly useless

 

We worked together with Tandarts Jordaan on bringing you this article on Dutch dentists.

The name kind of gives it away, but it’s a dental clinic in the Jordaan. For years now a good portion of their clients are internationals, so you’re in safe hands with them.

Dutch dentist
There only 2 of these toothsaving machines in the country

They’ve also got state of the art equipment and highest standards when it comes to service and hygiene, because why settle for anything less?

Check out this of their clinic right here:


Address: Westerstraat 176 

Website | Instagram | Facebook

 

 

Spy Game: Russian Intelligence vs. the Netherlands

Bobby Salomons
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Spy Game: Russian Intelligence vs. the Netherlands

The Cold War is long over, but Russian intelligence is just as active as ever, with its wiry tentacles even stretching into the Netherlands.

There was a time where none in Holland worried about the prospect of war. Or terrorism. Those were the years between the fall of the Soviet Union and the 9/11 attacks. Today, however, reality is different, terrorism is common throughout Europe and the world. So far, Holland has been lucky to avoid any major strikes, both due to fate and effort. But there’s another factor in play: Russia is back with a vengeance. And according to the Dutch Military Intelligence Service (MIVD), Russian intelligence are the biggest threat to Dutch national safety.

The Russian Comeback

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia fell into disarray and became somewhat of a laughing stock under Boris Jeltsin. Nobody in Europe feared the Russians any longer – those days were over and it would all be okay. Some people even believed that with the passing of time Russia would join NATO and/or the European Union. We were wrong.

After Vladimir Putin, a high ranking former KGB-officer, came to power he began to rebuild Russia’s lost military power and its pride. Step by step he reconstructed, with painstaking detail, all that Russians saw as an ideal of themselves and what the West feared, a pressing force looming over Europe from the East. And one of the greatest parts of this is threat is the Russian intelligence.

Today Russia is, in the very least, a regional super power – holding a grip over much of the political stability of Eastern-Europe and expanding her efforts elsewhere, such as in Syria. One of their efforts is hybrid-warfare.

Russia is also continuing to obstruct the Dutch led MH17 investigations

Hybrid-warfare – The New Battlefield

Hybrid-warfare is a combination of military tactics and strategies – instead of all meeting up on a giant battlefield and tarnishing each other until one man is left standing, countries are making efforts on all possible playing fields including cyber warfare and media manipulation. And with its decades-long experience as part of the Soviet Union, Russian intelligence is ahead of almost everybody in the game.

Russia is making painstaking efforts to win the cyberwar. With hacker groups like APT18 and Fancybear, Russian intelligence is waging a harsh and brutal war on the digital efforts of other nations. The United States, for example, witnessed hacking of the Democratic National Committee-servers during the 2016 elections, Denmark reported recently that Russian hackers had successfully penetrated their systems and Dutch authorities have also warned of Russia’s efforts on Dutch networks not long ago. Whether or not they successfully did so has not been announced, most likely for intelligence reasons.

Russian intelligence also opened a massive media war, fighting back any information it regards as undesirable, usually by means of disinformation or launching “trolls” onto ‘Russophobic’-articles that will suddenly see spikes in likes on comments that defend Russia and criticize the hypocritical, warmongering West. Most of the commenters have completely private profiles with pixelated photos, few posts and friends, and IP-addresses that lead back to Russia’s St. Petersburg, where a large office permanently stations hundreds of ‘paid trolls’ that comment 24/7 with countless fake-accounts.

Such activity was also clearly visible after the massive crash of Malaysian Airlines’ MH-17 over Ukrainian soil, which killed roughly two hundred Dutch citizens and dozens more from elsewhere. It was soon clear that a Russian-made BUK missile had downed the aircraft either by Russian forces stationed over Eastern-Ukraine or by Russian-backed rebel groups.

Russian intelligence fought back swiftly, spreading disinformation articles all over the web, wiping away accusations as propaganda and claiming that the actual culprit was a Ukrainian MIG, though many independent reports have later debunked such claims.

The Funeral Procession in the Netherlands of MH-17 victims.

More recently, pro-Russian news outlets have claimed that German NATO soldiers raped a woman in Lithuania and have also begun laying out claims that certain Baltic cities were originally Russian and have no historical basis in Europe, flaming fears that Russia may be willing to escalate efforts as it did in Crimea – now annexed by the Russian Federation.

Dutch Efforts Against Russian Intelligence

Though Holland doesn’t have a massive military force, it is one of the most digitized nations on the globe and has much to lose from hacking as well as media disinformation. The Dutch military is making efforts to set up its own hacking groups and, with Dutch knowledge and IT capabilities, could be an effective addition to Western efforts to fight back.

Overall military efforts and expenditures for the Netherlands are vital for its protection and well-being as the country has simply neglected its military for almost two decades. Regardless of the ‘threat’ from Russian intelligence, the nation has much to compensate and too much to lose to risk it. In the end, a military is a lock on the door and while the chance of someone burglarizing your house is relatively minor, you’ll be happy you had a good lock on the door or maybe even an alarm system to deter them if they do decide to come.

Perhaps, in a strange way, the Dutch should be thankful to the Russians for waking them up from their pacifist dreams. Reality is knocking on the door, and its name is Moscow.

Four Possible Reasons Why the Dutchies are Happier Than All of Us

Ceren Spuyman
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Four Possible Reasons Why the Dutchies are Happier Than All of Us

 

So, What Is Up With The Dutchies Anyway? – Four Possible Reasons Why the Dutchies are Happier Than All of Us

 

Probably as a result of being Turkish, my first encounter with the Dutch happened outside of their natural habitat, in the Southern coast of Turkey, at a holiday resort while growing up. Until my recent years, my knowledge about this peculiar lot was limited to their funny sounding language, extreme height and ‘Hunger Games’ style queuing etiquette’s (thank you resort open buffets). After that, many years have passed and out of the blue, I was marrying one.

This didn’t happen overnight, I’ve certainly had enough years of experience the field of the joys and the challenges of being with a Dutchie. So, what’s up with the Dutchies anyway?

 

Great fashion sense, indeed

As I was going through my then-boyfriend’s closet of orange items -which includes an orange shirt with personal embroidery that says ”100% Dutch” in small letters, an orange curly wig, several orange t-shirts, orange framed sunglasses and an orange football jersey amongst other things-, it got me thinking: do they know something that we haven’t discovered yet?

Happy Dutch!

Does smearing some pindakaas on a toast on a daily basis is the reason why they are so carefree? Or does it have something to do with all the Hagelslag (basically just chocolate sprinkles) that they have been pouring on a bread from baby years to well into adulthood? If it makes Dutch kids the happiest in the world, why wouldn’t it work on adults too?

I can’t say I have found the ways to their happier mindset but I have my suspicions.

#1 They wander around the Globe

Dutch people travel. A lot. Because they can! With a minimum of four weeks long paid annual leave why wouldn’t they? Good for the world tourism, bad for trying to find the right time for a get together when everyone is in town and not somewhere else in the world.

 

#2 They like to move it, move it!

You can’t live in the Netherlands and not bike. Biking everywhere and doing that every day does not only cause them to get shapely buns of steel, but fresh air and cycling is actually pretty good for triggering the release of those endorphins which means: well…happiness! On top of that, who can still be stressing about their failed exam or a bad day at work when you had to bike for half an hour enduring the typical Dutch weather of wind and rain?

I know how you feel buddy.

#3 They are family people

Dutchies value their family time. In fact, it is fairly common to be unreachable during dinner hours. In this day and age, if you can step away from your iPhone for that long, it has to be love. Also, family get togethers, visitings to oma en opa are not seen as chores but a fun valuable time spent together.

 

#4 They just wanna have fun

Last but not least, party life! The Dutchies are known for their talent in the music industry. Just take a look at the world famous DJ’s in the world, most of them are Dutch! Having that much talent coming from a tiny country like The Netherlands, it is safe to say that there is always some music festival happening somewhere. From one festival to another almost every weekend, you’ll sure have a good old time.

I may not have found out all of their mysteries yet, but I know I am up to something. For now, I have more important things on my mind: Should I have one broodjes, or two broodjes – for the gezelligheid?

 

There are both very ugly people and very beautiful people in this world

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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There are both very ugly people and very beautiful people in this world

Sometimes when you see some horrible stuff going down on the internet, or society in general, it’s easy to lose faith in compassion and human decency. Anonymous internet racism is one of those things, but luckily faith in humanity is also instantly restored when you see the reactions of real life people when they this non-Dutch speaking Muslima asks passersby in the Amsterdam Vondelpark to translate some messages for her.

It’s English-spoken (from Youtube/Parool):
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wn0BUEsHNgg[/embedyt]

It’s made by Issa Shaker and Bendrif Anass with the hashtag #delete_it, in order to raise awareness of online hate messages. 

Storm’s coming! Panic at a Dutch beach

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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Storm’s coming! Panic at a Dutch beach

We Dutch take pride in being a so-called sober, down-to-earth people. Unless apparently when there’s an unexpected storm coming up. So here you see some Dutchies running from the Zandvoort beach like there are some Independence-day-aliens invading:

Courtesy of Mark Schrader/ Twitter 

Rutte Rules Out Dual Citizenship For Dutch in Brexit Britain

Ross McQueen
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Brexit has created uncertainty for Dutch citizens in the UK. Could dual nationality have solved that?

The situation for EU27 nationals living in the UK has been precarious since the Brexit referendum in June 2016. It became even more so when the British government failed to match the EU’s proposals on the future status of citizens’ rights.

Rather than guaranteeing the rights of UK-resident EU citizens as they are, Theresa May’s government proposed a scheme allowing EU citizens to apply for a new ‘settled status’ after 5 years of residency – a status which meanwhile strips them of their right to vote in local elections. It is a bit like making someone reapply for the job they’re already doing, but for less pay.

Lester Burnham is invited to reapply for his job in American Beauty

I’m a Dutch national, get me out of here!

There have been well-documented cases in the past of Dutch citizens struggling with the UK’s underprepared Home Office bureaucracy. While some have scrambled to apply for Permanent Residency (something they have never previously needed as EU citizens), others have been considering applying for British citizenship.

Into this quandary waded Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. On Monday, he pointedly reminded Dutch citizens that the Netherlands does not offer dual citizenship. Therefore, anyone who acquires another nationality – whether UK or anywhere else – will lose their Dutch passport. The justification for this is outlined on the Dutch government’s website:

If you have more than one nationality, it is not always clear what your rights are. For instance, your country of origin may require you to do compulsory military service. The Dutch government wants to limit dual nationality as much as possible. If you have only one nationality, it will be clear what your rights are.

Trading in your Dutch European Union fast-lane passport for a sad, blue, slow-lane British passport, with which you can probably do little other than live in the UK, is therefore clearly a step-down. The surge in British applicants for other EU nationalities is a sign of just how little value many UK citizens now place on holding a British passport.

One more option off the table

Dual Dutch-British nationality would provide reassurance to Dutch nationals currently living in the UK. It would allow them to enjoy the best of both worlds: the ability to live in the UK after Brexit while maintaining their EU citizenship, effectively meaning their status is secure. Despite receiving a petition with 22,000 signatures calling for a government rethink on the issue, Rutte made clear that this is not going to happen.

What do you think? Should the Netherlands make dual citizenship an option for all its citizens? Or is Rutte right to limit it?

Epic last second train jump will get you a fine now

Abuzer van Leeuwen 🇳🇱
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Epic last second train jump will get you a fine now

Woke up at 7.39, searching for a spot for your bicycle took 2 minutes more than usual, mad dash through the station, make it to the platform, whistle goes and epic jump into the train. HUZZAH, maximum efficiency and all that jumping you learned in life finally paid off! But since the NS might just hate us, they’re going to fine you 230 euro’s for these Hollywood-moments!

You every morning

Don’t jump on board after the final whistle

For a while now the NS has been nagging about people jumping on board after the final whistle. Stating that is causes delays and dangerous situations. Approximately 43% of the conductors encounter a dangerous situation on a daily basis, with more than 54% of the people on a platform still boarding after that final whistle. Three people were actually fined yesterday at Schiphol trying to board a train. And it’s a hefty fine with 230 euro’s that is.

Of course, the fines are handed out by the conductors who can choose to look the other way – and that money for the fine is going to the state treasury and not to cut down the costs of those expensive train tickets.

Do they have a point?

Of course, the NS rightly points out that jumping onto an almost moving heavy train is something that might not be completely safe. And think about the people already standing there, baby carriages and people with cycles. And then there are also people holding the door for others while they are dashing in, sometimes causing the train to break down and causing delays.

 

Thanks internet, just what we needed

But if they’re really expecting people to just stand there when the final whistle goes for those 10 seconds then they’re sadly mistaking, it’s in our DNA to make that train right? Not to mention that NS trains frequently leave up to a minute earlier than scheduled, or at least not in sync with the station clocks.

Anyways, what do you think? Will you stop dashing for a train or go for the epic jump every time?

 

 

When you try to catch your train by a shoe-in – but life will have none of it #fail #ns

Een bericht gedeeld door DutchReview (@dutchreview) op

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