Yesterday I was listening to the radio on the way home from class. There was a guy being interviewed by another guy. 😀 sorry, I don’t remember his name…Dutch names don’t tend to stick in my brain. Anyway, one of these two guys had just written a book about America. He called it Mijn Amerika (my America). He said he named it that so as not to offend people…that he was only talked about his personal experience. I respect that, and he didn’t say where he’s gleaned this personal experience. But I always find it little bit confronting to hear people talk about my home country (especially the Dutch)…I get a bit protective. I know the US is really going through some stuff…maybe that’s making me feel extra sensitive about it.
The truth is, even though I live a totally integrated Dutch life and really appreciate how organized the Netherlands is, I also really miss where I came from. There are a lot of things I miss. There are the typical things, like the food, familiar places, and the weather (oh my goodness, the weather). But there’s also something I can’t explain. It’s an intangible thing…I can’t say it’s home, but it’s like a deep soul feeling. A feeling of warmth, familiarity and also I guess, belonging that I feel when I’m there….that I’ve never really felt in the Netherlands.
So, when I hear two Dutch guys with their ABN Nederlands* coldly analyze a pick apart the US, part of me just cringes, and I’m like ‘how dare you talk about my country that way, you snot’ But there’s another part that thinks…’well, this is how I talk about the Netherlands, so I guess we’re even.’ When you don’t grow up somewhere, your perspective is just different. Nothing is a given, and everything is up for analysis 😉
But that being said…my America is completely different from his 😉
…and involves a lot of baking!
*ABN is the dutch version of the Queen’s English. aka, snooty Dutch 😉 typically spoken by people with een hoger denkniveau. haha okay, now I’m just ranting…that’s another Dutch term that makes me crazy. Anyway… find out more at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_Language_Union