This is a heartache. I am a quarter Dutch from a family immigrated from the Frisian Islands, to become laborers here. My great-grandfather spoke English with a heavy accent. The modern Dutch (as you can hear) are quite fluent in English. On a flight returning from Zambia, the connection point was Amsterdam. Some younger men were in seats across the aisle, conversing in impeccable American English. As we were in the landing pattern, they shifted to Dutch. I was not expecting that. (But now that I cudgel my brains, it seems they were wearing airline flight deck uniforms. English is the international language of aviation. I just hadn't expected they would be so accent-free. There were others on board who were German, speaking German in such an exaggerated accent---all round vowels---it would have been more at home in a comedy sketch.)
I hope and pray for the Dutch. They are a people who, when they needed farmland, decided to take it from the sea, instead of from their neighbors. That is just a suggestion of the truth behind the stereotype of the "stubborn Dutchman."
There are enclaves in Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten if you are interested. I have visited all of those places, and the Dutch people there are fantastic, also, those "former Dutch" still do their Dutch dishes...OMG!!!!!! Something to think about!!!!!!!
The town of Lynden in Whatcom County was settled by Dutchmen. When I was young, we would go to a bakery there which had the most delicious and soft butter cookies. That's not what we called them of course ("Dutch cookies!"), but it is a reasonable description. Sometimes, we would get rusks. My maternal grandmother was a first generation Dutch daughter, and her cooking was absolutely wonderful. My mother learned from her. Nothing else ever so good.
In good Dutch fashion, the town was built on a slight highland above the farming fields...so that any flooding of the Nooksack River would not harm the town. The river was restrained by a dike.
On the topic, I am now reminded of an old adage: "Never separate a Dutchman from his gin!" I am slightly partial to gin...though in gin & tonics, which is a British (tropical) invention. I'm inclined to think there has been more commerce between the Netherlands and Great Britain than we are accustomed to think.
This is a heartache. I am a quarter Dutch from a family immigrated from the Frisian Islands, to become laborers here. My great-grandfather spoke English with a heavy accent. The modern Dutch (as you can hear) are quite fluent in English. On a flight returning from Zambia, the connection point was Amsterdam. Some younger men were in seats across the aisle, conversing in impeccable American English. As we were in the landing pattern, they shifted to Dutch. I was not expecting that. (But now that I cudgel my brains, it seems they were wearing airline flight deck uniforms. English is the international language of aviation. I just hadn't expected they would be so accent-free. There were others on board who were German, speaking German in such an exaggerated accent---all round vowels---it would have been more at home in a comedy sketch.)
I hope and pray for the Dutch. They are a people who, when they needed farmland, decided to take it from the sea, instead of from their neighbors. That is just a suggestion of the truth behind the stereotype of the "stubborn Dutchman."
There are enclaves in Aruba, Curacao, and Sint Maarten if you are interested. I have visited all of those places, and the Dutch people there are fantastic, also, those "former Dutch" still do their Dutch dishes...OMG!!!!!! Something to think about!!!!!!!
The town of Lynden in Whatcom County was settled by Dutchmen. When I was young, we would go to a bakery there which had the most delicious and soft butter cookies. That's not what we called them of course ("Dutch cookies!"), but it is a reasonable description. Sometimes, we would get rusks. My maternal grandmother was a first generation Dutch daughter, and her cooking was absolutely wonderful. My mother learned from her. Nothing else ever so good.
In good Dutch fashion, the town was built on a slight highland above the farming fields...so that any flooding of the Nooksack River would not harm the town. The river was restrained by a dike.
On the topic, I am now reminded of an old adage: "Never separate a Dutchman from his gin!" I am slightly partial to gin...though in gin & tonics, which is a British (tropical) invention. I'm inclined to think there has been more commerce between the Netherlands and Great Britain than we are accustomed to think.