6 Surprising Revelations on Moving to Amsterdam

1. You'll hear 'punt en el' several times a day on the radio and television. Punt En Elle is not a company who spends a fortune on advertising. It is the Dutch equivalent of 'dot com', or '.nl.' 
2. When you go to the theatre, do not expect a full bar. G&Ts, vodka martinis, whiskey and coke will not be served. Instead, expect tea and coffee and best of all, FREE wine and beer. 
3. The population of Amsterdam is 1.6 million people, about the same size as Birmingham in UK.  We've been used to living in London, which has a population of 13.6 million people. For a comparably smaller population, Amsterdam cuts it as a world class city, especially in terms of culture and business.
4. Amsterdam is amazingly child-friendly. There are 28 parks, the land is flat and therefore it is easier for children to walk. There are family friendly events on for children, museums are free for children under 12 years. Even supermarkets are geared up for children with mini trolleys for children to push around or play areas. 
5. There are 29 ways to say 'goodbye' in Dutch 
6. It's not at all like living on a permanent hen/stag weekend. The Red Light district forms only a few streets and we've not actually been there since we moved here. There is so much more to Amsterdam than the Red Light District. Honest.

Winter in Amsterdam

Winter in London is centered around Christmas. Music, adverts and decorations can be found from mid October, if not before. Everywhere you look, you are urged to buy food, buy presents and buy clothes for Christmas. There isn't much else to do, really, just shopping, the cinema and, well, maybe brave the countryside for a walk if the weather permits. This is my experience, so please forgive me if your life is full of winter fun which I have not yet discovered.

So how do things differ in Amsterdam, compared to London? 

1. Less Consumerism

Firstly, there is the coming of Sinterklaas in mid-November. His presence doesn't mark the start of crazy merchandise buying as the gifts favoured are home-made and low key. The festival climaxes on 6th November. See Sinterklaas for more information. 

2. Ice Skating Rinks

There are lots of ice skating rinks! They're brilliant as kids love them and it's a lot of fun to skate. 

Ice skating rink at the Gelderlandplein

Ice skating at the Museumplein

3. The General Good Feeling

This may sound like a cliche, but with the sparkly lights everywhere, the cafes and pubs and general friendliness without the 'sell, sell, sell' vibe. 

4. Cycling whatever the weather

Being outside more than you would be doing normally and doing a bit more exercise is great for lifting your mood and getting vital vitamin D during the winter months.

5. Christmas Markets

I've heard great things about the Christmas Markets. We've only visited two, so I can't claim expert status on this one. The first one was great as it was predominantly food. Freshly fried chips out of a fryer on a bike, amazing tarts made from preserved raspberries, real American cupcakes (bit out of place, but still popular with the kids), oysters and a champagne bar. There was a lot to see, smell and stimulate all the senses. There was also a solar powered merry-go-round blaring out Portishead, which was a novelty. 
The second market we went to was in a 'Castle'. It was nothing like the castles we've visited in France or England. More like a large-ish house. See below picture.

The market was a bit dissappointing too. There was an ice skating rink, a bouncy castle and a merry-go-round. There were a few interesting stalls, but most were selling clothes, candles, tat. Not much home made craft or food. 

Maybe they're more impressive in Germany.

6 Weeks in Amsterdam

I wanted to document how it felt to have been here for 6 weeks. I still laugh when I see the shop called, 'Sissy Boy' and cream called, 'Slag', but I'm not laughing as much. The surprising is becoming normal.

It took me 6 weeks to take out my UK store cards, library cards and memberships for local London shops/softplays. I have Dutchified my purse.

We have our health cards, Museum Card, Albert Heijn (supermarket) bonus card, air mile card and local library cards. It also took me 6 weeks to put my UK mobile away and predominantly only use a Dutch number. Riding a bakfiets is mostly not a problem now, I even let my 7 year old sit on the back of it today. I'm becoming braver about cycling and am traveling further on my bike.

Most days are OK, but occasionally, I have wobbly moments triggered by something which seems too alien, or pushes me a bit too far out of my comfort zone. For example, activities which I didn't have to think too hard about, like a trip to the supermarket, become challenging as I frequently can't find what I'm looking for. The most missed events are genuine conversations with old friends and family. It's very easy to take those for granted when you're used to them. It's now been 6 weeks since I had a good laugh with a close friend. 

My Dutch is embarrassingly poor. I've tried listening to some language discs and clips on Youtube. The children are picking up the odd word here and there, but I realised today that we had been here for 6 weeks and didn't understand when someone asked what their name was in Dutch or how to say basic phrases. I've been told it can take 3 months for the children to pick up Dutch. Our first three weeks here were spent only speaking English to each other, so I must remember to be patient with it all. 

Sport

Teenagers and Sport

There are no teenagers lingering around on street corners in Amsterdam. You often see them whizzing past you on a bike, holding a hockey stick or wearing sports clothes. There are very few teenage pregnancies too. 

Which makes me come to the conclusion that the teenagers are not bored. They are playing sport or studying for exams. A test is taken at school each academic year in secondary school/high school. If that test is failed then the student repeats the year. 

Sport is big in Amsterdam. Firstly, most people cycle to wherever they're going and it doesn't count as sport. There aren't very many fat people here. It's been surprisingly very easy to sign the children up for sporting activities of our choice. 

I spoke to one parent tonight while watching my daughter do gymnastics. He said there is too much to choose from and the problem is that the parents end up ferrying their children from one activity to another. 

In London, we couldn't find football or gymnastics for either of my children. There are waiting lists, the organisers don't return your calls, the activities were only on Saturday's. A myriad of reasons why swimming had been the only activity my children had done for some time. Oh, and tennis. In Amsterdam, one email and they can do it. You can pick your day, there is an activity nearby. So Ava is loving gymnastics and we've managed to sign Aaron up for English speaking football on a Sunday morning. The gymnastics takes place in a huge gymnasium, see the below link. Aaron's football takes place on astro turn, in a very well kept ptich and with an indoor provision available if the temperature is below 0 degrees. Happy days and healthy kids. 

http://www.turnace.nl/

Being Vegetarian in Amsterdam

It's surprisingly not too bad to be a vegetarian in Amsterdam. I'm really impressed with the amount of vegetarian food alternatives in the supermarkets. 

There are whole isles full of tofu, quorn and veggie food. I felt very happy about that and became very relaxed about the food I was eating. Until a few days ago, when a friend mentioned that the cheese and bread had renet and pig fat in them.  I really hadn't realised. I'm so used to being able to eat most cheeses and all bread in the UK, I didn't think to check. So I raced home and pulled all the cheese out of the fridge. Yup, it all had, 'stremsel' in. Bugger. Had to give it all away and go in search of vegetarian cheese.

Vegetarian Cheese

There's no animal rennet in soft cheese, such as mozerella. I've also been able to buy Cathedral Cheddar and Leerdammer cheese has no animal rennet in it. Bio cheese (organic cheese) apparently also doesn't contain animal rennet.

Eating out is not great, but then it's often not so great in UK, so I'm used to always having the pasta option. We've been out to an Indonesian restaurant, which was great. 

Bread is not straight forward either. Some of the breads contain 920 L cysteine, also called 'broodverbeteraar', which is mostly made from pig hair. Particularly baguettes and pastries. Luckily, I have a bread maker and will be buying kosher bread from now on.

Animal products are also sometimes used in the production of wine and filtering clear apple juice too. It's a bit of a minefield, really. I think once you know which brands are 'safe', it's not too bad. 

Amusing Food

Mr Bean biscuits

Bastard Sugar

Slutty Food

Plop

Midget Golf and Black Pete

It's difficult to fully understand if the sentiment behind 'midget golf, maybe it somehow lost in translation? Using 'Google Translate', I typed in 'midget' and the Dutch interpretation is....'midget'. So, midget golf is for those who are height challenged? I'm not sure as no one was playing on the pitch when we visited. Aaron below has obstructed the letter 'T', but nonetheless, I think you can clearly see the sign.

The Dutch language still uses the term, 'gehandicapten', where in UK it is not sociably acceptable to describe those physically less able. 

And as for Black Pete, or 'Zwarte Piet', that's a whole different story. I've been reading about it as my brain just can't fathom how a whole country can enjoy dressing up as Zwarte Piet in this day and age. Pete is apparently Sintaklaas's helper, who goes down the chimney to deliver presents. That is why he is black as he is covered in soot. Except, he's not covered in soot. Only his face is blacked-up. The guys who dress up as 'black Pete' also make their lips big and red, put an afro wig on and wear gold hoop earings. And their clothes are very clean, with no soot on. But it's all jolly and fun. Apparently.  I would feel very uncomfortable if I was Afro Caribbean and was surrounded by these Black Pete's.  The tradition only started in 1930's, so it's not really very old and interestingly materialised at the same time as fascism. 

Unlike the UK, where it is no longer acceptable to call people 'black', we refer to Afro-Carribeans. Here, people are definitely 'black'. The sales guy in the bike shop described someone's skin as being 'darker than this black pen here, really black' and seemed to be quite excited/gleeful about the concept. A conversation with a Dutch mum took a slightly interesting turn when she described her concern over schools just for blacks. I can't wonder whether the whole black Pete story has led to many Dutch people being, dare I say it, racist.

I am yet to witness any black Pete's as there is a date in early December dedicated to Sintaklaas and his Piet's, My husband's office have kindly invited me and the children along to the Sintaklaas and Zwarte Piet party. I promise I will post the photos. In the meantime, the shops are full of little chocolate Sintaklaas and Pieten. Even Playmobile make a special model to celebrate the event. http://www.fonq.nl/product/playmobil-sinterklaas-en-zwarte-piet-4893/41602/?gclid=CMyLg4u8xLoCFcJb3godr3EA2A

In the run up to Sinter Klaas, I'll keep this blog updated with our experiences as they happen.

10 November

Here's a picture my daughter picked up in the supermarket to colour in.

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2686/Binnenland/article/detail/3529346/2013/10/18/Sinterklaasorganisaties-bereid-uiterlijk-Zwarte-Piet-aan-te-passen.dhtml

17 November

So today is the day Sinter Klaas arrives in Amsterdam with his Pete's. We went to see the parade today. It didn't seem sinister, the Pete's were very jolly, giving out sweets, playing music, dancing and walking on stilts. The only part which I felt uncomfortable with was the costume. As my 7 year old daughter observed, 'there are a lot of people from Africa here today'. She already sees people with a different skin colour as not belonging, being from a different country, they couldn't be Dutch people to her because of their skin (which was blackened with face paints).

. 

We are now in the thick of the SinterKlaas and Black Pete celebrations. The customs vary, but many parents choose to select days on which children can leave their shoes out over night, near the fireplace (or radiator, if there is no fireplace) and Piet leaves presents in the shoes to be found in the morning. It's a lovely tradition and I haven't noticed any malice or negative associations with Black Pete. He is a jolly, generous, joking kinda guy. 

I consoled myself with this, maybe it's not so bad after all, as Black Piet is very much loved by the children and they enjoy his e antics too. But the reality is this. When I took my children to school yesterday, there are dozens of these little golliwog type charactors hanging from the ceiling. In the classroom, there are dozens of books with illustrations of these little Black Pete charactors, which all look the same and are caricatures of an Afro Caribbean person, with the big red lips and gold hoop earrings. 

I was really shocked to look up at the blackboard and see two, pictures that had been completed by the children (aged 4 - 6 years) of Black Pete. I will try and capture a photo, but I find it disturbing how much emphasis is placed on creating a black caricature like this in an educational environment. I actually felt really claustrophobic and sick to see this pictures staring down at me. Like they were a symbol of everything racist I have grown up fighting against. My inner moral compass urged me to tear them down. But, the pictures had been completed by two of the children in the class. I'm looking forward to taking my kids out of that environment, when the start a different school in a few weeks.

Spot the Piet's on the blackboard of my son's classroom. They were drawn by some of the children in his class.

In retrospect, I can now understand how the Piet character is very jolly and a generous chap, much loved by the children and parents alike. It is therefore difficult to dislike the charactor. The charactor is not the problem though. It's the blacked up faces, the painted red lips and the gold hoop earings and what they symbolise. I can understand how the familiarity of Piet blinds people to how he may be offensive. However, in the UK, we lost golliwogs and the little guy on Robinsons jams. No one really missed it, we moved on. We also no longer talk about 'handicapped' people, but people with disadvantages.