Tag Archives: netherlands

Chatroulette!

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

The video above (via alt1040) explains Chatroulette better than I would.  My experience with it has been mixed, but it reminds me a lot of the old BBS/ICQ free-for-all 10 years ago.  I’ve read metaphors comparing it to TV zapping with people, but I think it’s more akin a people player in shuffle mode.  Some of the nice people I’ve found (after nexting all the flying male body parts) included:

  • A bored Filipina (at 3 a.m. her time) asking what music was I playing (Nortec Collective, of course).
  • A Dutch law student with a great sense of humour.
  • A German dude interested in banking for development (we were chatting about Muhammad Yunus)
  • Random male stranger asking questions on existential philosophy (my conclusion is he had watched The Matrix too many times).
  • A Texan in his 50’s very interested to know my views on the Mexican drug violence situation.
  • A French literature student just interested in a chat, also with a really nice sense of humour.
  • A young Indian female doctor waiting for her night shift to start who gave me a couple of nice suggestions of Indian indie after I mentioned I collect “local rock” from all over the place.

Serendipituous, yes. Extreme, sometimes (but you can also next them or even better report them, jerks!). An interesting study of the human condition, absolutely.

Differences between Belgians and Dutch

  • Dutch tend to be louder, Belgians more subdued.
  • Dutch humour is in-your-face, Belgian humour is sarcastic-rebellious.
  • Dutch tend to be protestant, Belgians tend to be catholic.
  • Dutch like salmiakki (salt licorice), Belgians don't know it.
  • Dutch diet includes more frituurs, Belgian diet has more vegetables.
  • When speaking Dutch people in the Netherlands pronounce the G's like Spaniards and the R's like Americans, Belgians just speak with interesting and varied intonations. Or as they say, in Belgium Dutch is a language, in the Netherlands Dutch is a throat disease.

Belgium and the Netherlands, so close but so different

I did a lightning trip to Amsterdam yesterday, and was really surprised at the slight but definite changes at the border between Belgium and the Netherlands, even though they’re both part of what is generally defined as the Low Countries and I had made the same trip before. Below some that I could think about:

  • Languages: Suddenly people only speak English and Dutch in the train, German and French disappeared (except for the tourists, of course).
  • Landscape: Much more channels, bridges and water surrounding you.
  • Infrastructure: The train stations look newer. Funnily enough, they also look somehow dirtier.
  • Architecture: We went past a few windmills, and there are some definitely distinctive elements of architecture that are not found in Belgium. Brussels is more Frenchified, the Netherlands looks somehow, well, I don’t know how to explain it… German/Nordic maybe? We also passed in front of a couple of mosques.
  • Bycicles: I expected that to be part of the Brussels landscape, but it isn’t. In the Netherlands in general but in Amsterdam in particular bikes are everywhere.