Becoming Dutch

A windmill in Leiden: Typical Dutch symbol

‘When in Rome, do as Romans do’ is quote that has origins in year as far away as 387AD but it still holds good for people who move a lot between different places. Taking a cue from that wise saying I too started following some of the practices that the people in Netherlands do. Knowing all the things I have tried, will neither be interesting to you nor will it be easy for me to explain. Some things change without the conscious knowledge of the person who is the object in which change has found a place. Here are changes in my thinking that have brought me close  to being a Dutch…

1. Bread and Cheese are my new bread and butter

2. Bread and Cheese can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the snacks in between. You can literally live on those two things.

3. Warm food is for lazy people. Eat it cold.

4. Bikes are my new cars. And one is not enough.

5. Locks are more important than bikes.

6. Who told you to go to bicycle shop? Get a repair kit and fix it yourself.

7. A small plateau is mountain.

8. It’s alright to greet strangers.

9. Coffee shop is not only for coffee. Wanna gave coffee.. go to a cafe or a restaurant.

10. Divide and then pay in a restaurant.Don’t be generous and pay for everybody 🙂

11. Sunlight is a rare commodity. Enjoy it while it lasts.

12. A day is not for only one type of weather. Expect anything from sunshine, to snow, rain and hail.

13. No meeting without coffee. Coffee is starter as well as dessert.

14. Working everyday is not good. You must take a vacation for at least two continuous weeks.

15. Drug addicts are ok. They are harming themselves.

16. Don’t say that Dutch is related to German(although it is).

17. Want to meet someone? Don’t you dare to drop by without appointments.

18. Living together is a status in itself along with single and married.

19. The traditional Dutch cuisine is Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, Greek etc.

20. It is easy to keep your partner happy…you see, flowers are not so costly.

21. Tea with milk is too English. Try without milk. Sugar is not a necessary thing.

Saladdiction

My lunch and dinner for last and next one week

A little over 1 month ago, I met a guy who uttered those terrible words that had the power to ruin anybody’s day. For my own sake, I will not repeat those words here 🙂 It will suffice to say that he directly questioned the over accumulation of extra fat tissue around my basic skeleton- a point that I am only obliquely mentioning over here. If I were to become devil’s advocate- me as devil against that guy- I would have fiercely replied to his not-so-rightly-said and totally-unjustified remark by elucidating a fact, so apparent to naked eyes, that his own structure indicated that the living tissue refused to stick onto his bony skeleton due to some malnutrition disorder. Geometrically speaking, his profile view(side view) would have given an impression of only a thin straight line. Considering what he himself represented, even a slightly thicker profile of anybody else would have ignited the same response from his totally-incomprehensible-speech producing vocal cords. Fortunately, I stayed calm and tried to avoid his inappropriate remarks. As funny as it sounds, I did try to talk to him even after the remarkable incident 😉 but his behavior was far from amiable. No longer did I feel good when I saw him and over the next few days, his aloofness further strengthened what was already a mild form of repulsive attitude towards him. It might be a wrong impression but he seemed to me a guy filled with immense proud for something that I was not able to see around or in him.

Later, I did give a thought to what was indicated by that person above and realized it won’t hurt if I lost few pounds. I also checked again what I was eating for last few days. Turns out, I was eating a lot of carbs in the absence of proper food and thereby adding unnecessary weight to my body. In response, I started a new food plan: eat salad, egg and mushroom and occasionally some bread. That should help to compensate for the carbs consumed in excess. Thankfully, it is very easy to get salad and other things in my plan over here. After following that plan for a week, I feel lighter and better. Perhaps, his remarks were not so bad. I should, probably, thank him to make me think over this issue. However blunt he was, the end result is in my favor 🙂 A proof of my balanced diet is shown in the picture.