I can’t believe it’s Dutch, episode 1: Eurodance

(This is the first in a series of posts about ‘unknown Dutch treasures’ – themselves usually well-known, but not the fact that they originated here, in this tiny country. Enjoy!) I made a ‘citizenship kit’ for Walid a while ago, to give him some background to life in Holland. (And also so I wouldn’t have to explain cultural references over and over again.) It contained, among other things, a list of songs and movies by Dutch artists that were popular when I grew up.

And what would you know? Some of those were the same songs he grew up with. He just never knew they were Dutch. Now I wouldn’t say they are the greatest legacy of the Dutch people for the rest of the world, but I bet it made a lot of people happy. Do you remember this one?

No Limit by 2Unlimited (aka Ray & Anita), early nineties.

Or this one?

We like to party by the Vengaboys, late nineties.

I thought you would. All Dutch!

Weird, or just different?

Today is municipal elections-day here in the Netherlands. Happy voting everyone! And don't forget that 'whatever is true, the opposite may also be true.' Then vote with your heart, not with your fear.

“Rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?”*

(Background: I’m currently in training to become a Social Science teacher, and am therefore doing an internship at a high school in a city close to Amsterdam. The teacher I am interning with is currently working on Human Rights and the United Nations.) The teacher has just spent two hours explaining and discussing the genocide that took place in Rwanda in the mid-90s. The class of 15-year olds is all out of concentration. In anticipation of this, the teacher has brought the film Hotel Rwanda, for a bit of on-topic ‘relaxation.’

After several horrifying scenes of death, murder and a narrow escape for the protagonist and the many, many people he is trying to save, the hero of the story has a moment of quiet alone with his wife. They are on the bed together, talking, and holding each other.

The class has been watching in silence so far. Then one boy says:

“You should never have sex at a moment like that! You just KNOW something bad will happen right then and you will be standing there with your pants down.”

I guess we all learn what we most need to know.

*(The title is a beautiful Bushism).

Video for thought

Sometimes I just can't believe this is still going on.

How can you tell…

… that you’re back in Beirut? It’s when you run into 11 people you know in the first 6 hours after leaving the house. It’s when you wake up from the sound of construction works and the smell of foul. It’s when you can have a cup of tea in a hidden place on the seaside. It’s when you walk past a bar called ‘Starbuzz’ that has all its TVs tuned to the ‘Fashion TV Arabia’ channel, including the one underneath the floor in the entrance.

It’s when you can’t think of anything else to do except go for lunch, go for coffee, go for dinner, and go for a drink – and you don’t even mind. It’s when you agree to meet people and they don’t show up, but it doesn’t matter because others do. It’s when you see an ad for ‘Philippina woman wanted to help 55 year old man in small house’ right above a poster for the weekly Filipina Disco; Sunday from noon to 7pm.

It’s when you wonder why everyone stares at you until you realize you’re the one sticking out again. It’s the sound of honking cars is louder than your own thoughts. It’s when you can satisfy your craving for both donuts and saj 24/7. It’s when there’s always someone saying ‘you didn’t eat enough, have some more’. It’s when you see a billboard for diet pills that promise to ‘cut the fat and burn the calories’ with free delivery, so you don’t need to move to get them.

Beirut, it’s good to be back (even if it’s only for a short while).

P.S. I have some trouble uploading pictures to my blog, but if you click on the light-blue parts of the sentences you will see examples of what I am talking about.