Dutchisms: The middle n

Before I start ranting about the lack of logic on the 'middle n', I have to explain that us Dutchies tend to lose letters when speaking. And generally we lose the 'n' at the end of words, or middle ns in compounded words. And as often happens, spoken language becomes written language and vice versa.

However quite a few years ago, some new official rules for the middle n were launched. The general rule was, if the first word in a compounded word can only be singular in this situation there is no middle n. Makes sense, right? For example Koninginnedag (Queen's Day) does not need a middle n, as there is only one queen. (Of course it's now Koningsdag, but.. details).

However a word like pannekoek, became pannenkoek (pancake). And that is where you lose me. After all, every single pancake can only bake in 1 pan at a time. Are there more pans in the world? Yes of course, but one pancake come from one pan. Zonnebloem, however, remained the same. Because yes, 1 sun. But really the sun is a star and we all know there are plenty of those, so..

It is another rule I simply can't explain. Logic is not part of the Dutch language. When in doubt.. Do what feels best. 

Next time, I'll discuss influences from other languages, there's a lot to talk about!,

Easter traditions

Everyone ready for Easter weekend? I couldn't think of any actual big Dutch Easter traditions that are commonplace through the whole country. Except for one, and that is the Easter branch. In most houses you will find a branch (usually twisty, a willow or a hazel) decorated with brightly coloured Easter eggs, Easter bunnies etcetera. My mother planted one branch in our garden after our first Easter in the house and it has since grown into a fairly ginormous bunch of branches, so every year I pick the nicest and take them to my place. You pay big bucks for them in the store, so I am more than happy for my mum's little plantation

Pruning and branch cutting in process

Branches everywhere

The finished product.

And some other decoration around my house (yes I am a sucker for cheap deocration crap)

Hope you all have a lovely Easter! 

Thank you

I want to take this day, this moment, to say a heart felt and profound thank you.

Thank you to all the people in my life who make me laugh.

Thank you to all the people who let me retreat to my island when I can't muster the energy to be around them, but also drag me off it when I need not to be alone.

Thank you to the people who take care of me when I can't do it alone.

Thank you to the people who offer to hear me out.

Thank you to the people who offer me advice without telling me what to do.

Thank you to the people who are literally on the other side of the world but feel like they are beside me every day.

Thank you to the people who have taught me how to be a better friend, a better daughter, a better sister, a better me.

Thank you to the people who accept me and my flaws, and who don't try to change me, but maybe smooth my edges.

Thank you to the people who know how to push me, and do so, sometimes without even knowing.

Thank you to the people who hold me back when I push too hard.

Thank you to the people who inspire me.

Thank you to the people who show me how fortunate I am.

Thank you to the people who stuck around through the good, the bad and the ugly.

Thank you to the people who gave me a second chance.

Thank you to the people who have entered but also left my life, you represent life lessons, you represent a part of me.

Thank you to all the people I don't personally know but who have touched me through their words and actions.

Most of all, thank you to my parents. I could never properly express how much your love and care means to me. Tucking me in on the sofa when I don't feel well, bringing me flowers out of the blue, spoiling me like a princess even when I really don't deserve it and making my life that little bit easier in every way you can.

Thank you.

Happy Easter

Easter stands for chocolate. Chocolate Easter bunnies, Easter eggs and so on. I love watching 'Chocolat'. Since I have been making bonbons myself, I wanted to make my own Easter eggs as well. And last year I finally found the mold I wanted, and thankfully Santa brought it for me at Christmas.

So I went nuts. I made six flavours. Cinnamon, amarula, caramel, dulce de leche cream, coconut and just white chocolate.

It's a process. A messy process. And now I am just glad there are no food related holidays for a while! (mostly because I really don't want to clean my kitchen 6000x per week anymore)

Enjoy a little photo spread of the chocolate love. Happy Easter!

A Tale of Two Cities: Gouda's Delicacies

Gouda is obviously globally known for one thing: cheese. When people from abroad ask me where I'm from I often say: "Gouda, you know from the cheese?!" And I am yet to encounter someone who has no clue. Of course what I call Gouda cheese is not necessarily what you may find in your local store. And no America it is definitely not what you find at your local Kroger (or something), where anything yellow with small bubbles is labelled Gouda. Or worse, Gooda (yes, I saw it with my own eyes).

True Gouda is made following a set recipe and aging process. While I don't generally eat proper Gouda, my favourite cheeses are from around Gouda. And all from proper cheese farms. Not factories. And I realise I am spoiled rotten, because there is so much cheese to choose from in so many cheese shops! I have two faves. 

Located in the mall nearby my parents' house, all the cheese you can imagine a 10 minute walk away. And you are always allowed to try a slice!

De Kaasspecialist in winkelcentrum Bloemendaal

(www.dekaasspecialist.nl/winkels/plaats/Gouda)

In the city there are many cheese shops, but this one is the least touristy. (though they did ask me once if I was enjoying visiting Gouda. I answered them in a flat Gouda accent. Pfff)

't Kaaswinkeltje (www.kaaswinkeltje.com) on the Lange Tiendeweg

Of course Gouda is known for more than just cheese.. There is also the world famous siroopwafel. It's often written as stroopwafel, but the truest Gouda stuff is called a siroopwafel. There are three places in Gouda where I would advise you to go. 

First the original baker, bakkerij van Vliet at the Lange Groenendaal. It houses a little bakery and a tearoom and you can even book in a little tour to see how siroopwafels are made!

The next place is a tiny little shop at the Agnietenstraat. Situated between the Hema sausage shop and a Vietnamese food thingy, they often bake your giant siroopwafel on order. And (depending on the size of your head of course) it is the size of your head! They also sell (and sometimes give) 'snippers'. The baked left over dough bits. My childhood in a little bag!

The final location is a true hidden gem. A little out of the city centre on the Goudkade 1, there is a Praxis(building goods store) and the previous owner of the second location bakes siroopwafels there on Saturdays, and they really are the yummiest. And if you venture there, a proper Dutch windmill is right around the corner! 

I didn't go there today but I'll leave you with a photo of the windmill (on Saturdays amiller is there to give you a tour (if you let me know in advance I'll bring my dad with me, he's the best in telling about the mill))

Of course we don't live on cheese and siroopwafels alone. In the Naaierstraat is a chocolaterie 'Puur' (Pure) where they have amazing home made chocolates! (I didn't go in and tempt myself)

Last but not least, there is also the Punselie factory. Punselie cookies are available in Dutch supermarkets but they are definitely from Gouda. Here you can book a tour too.

The building is located at the Spieringstraat 121, it's not the prettiest part of the street but worth the stroll.

Next week I'll introduce some of Groningen's foodie stores and places. If you have any requests of what you want my to (dis)cover, let me know!

Dutchisms: foreign influence

Language has been evolving for so long that there is no language that doesn't borrow words from another language. An obvious example would be English, but today I'll look at slightly more surprising languages. 

To start: Yiddish.

There are quite a few words that have found their way into every day Dutch. Some might be more common in Amsterdam or to people whose (grand)parents grew up in/around Amsterdam.

To start: Mokum. Amsterdam's nickname! Makom = city.

And these are things I say all the time: tinnef (tinnoef:rubbish), versjteren (to ruin), ramsj (rubbish, usually cheap crap), mazzel (either: lucky, or as a greeting when leaving 'de mazzel'), kapsones (hybris), jatten (from jad=hand, means stealing), achenebbisj (poor, run down).

German also has crept into every day language. Some words that I use are so common, for a long while I didn't even realise they were German! 'überhaupt'= in any case (hard to translate though), 'sowieso'= anyhow, 'schmink'= face paint, and 'schwalbe' = dive (as in football) (it also literally means swallow(noun)).

There are also words that are used quite a bit in every day language but can't be seen as official Dutch words: zum Kotsen = literally to throw up about, so not cool; unheimlich = uneasy, scary;  umlaut; streber = overachiever; spitzen= en pointe balletshoes;  spachtelputz = type of wall plaster; schadenfreude; angstgegner.

A lot of words in Dutch find their origin in the french language. In fact there are so many I could write about it for weeks on end. So I will just pick a few that I think are interesting or the most wel known. 

The two most commonly used words that are french but were 'dutchiefied' are portemonnee and paraplu. Portemonnee comes from porte monnaie, to carry money and you guess it, it's a wallet or coin purse. Paraplu comes from the french parapluie. For the rain, or more, against the rain. An umbrella! There are two words that have differed in spelling in the dutch language over time from french to dutch back to french: Bureau (either desk or station (as in police station, not train station)) and cadeau (present). In a 'we need to be more Dutch phase' these words were to be spelled buro and kado. Which, to me, still looks ridiculous. 

Some other french words we use: Coulant = benevolent; decolleté = cleavage; fouilleren = frisk search; gêne = shame (as in 'I know no shame'); monteur = mechanic. And so on and so forth, many words in English also stem from French. All these languages are married and have had many babies ;-)

Another area of great influence on the Dutch language is Indonesian.

Amok = from amuk: trouble (to cause trouble); matteklap = mataklap, from mata galap: bat crap crazy; piekeren = from pikir, to worry; senang = happy, content; pakkie-an = from pakaian (clothing: responsibility (mostly used as 'this is not my responsibility')); and many more.

As you can see, our language is as international as we like to think our country is. Maybe it's also the reason we speak so many foreign languages, we're bound to already know some words!

Dutchisms: vowels

Dutcies love their vowels. LOVE. We prefer to stick as many together as we possibly can. 

This of course leads to monstrosities of words such as zeeëgel (sea urchin), which isn't pronounced that differently from zegel (seal (or stamp)).

Most often it happens with plural forms though. 

Some examples..

Koe (cow) - koeien (cows), and koeien loeien (cows moo), and koeien eten gras om te groeien (cows eat grass to grow).

Are you vowel-ed out yet?? 

There also is bloei-bloeien (to bloom) and so on and so forth.

The plural of zee (sea) is not 'zees' but zeeën, and the plural of bij (bee) is not bijs but bijen.

Naturally we like to let vowels disappear too. Thanks for your effort, but in the plural, you are no longer needed: vuur-vuren (fire-fires), boom-bomen (tree,trees), which is not to be confused with bom-bommen (bomb-bombs).

You see, it is a weird language Dutch. And these rules are simply inexplicable for non native speakers. I mean, I don't even know the why, I just.. Learned it. 

Next week, I will talk to you about the mysterious and confusing "middle n". Why is it zonnebloem (sun flower) but pannenkoek (pancake)? 

A Tale of Two Cities: Hamburger fun

Hamburgers, you think.. YUMM. Alas, I'm not talking food. I live on the Hamburgerstraat. Not named after the food, no big burger restaurant resides here, no, professor doctor Hamburger was a man. 

His full name is Hartog Jacob Hamburger and he was born in Alkmaar in 1859.

He arrived at the univeristy in Groningen in 1901 after other academicpursuits. Professor doctor Hamburger introduced something called osmotic pressure which is used in health science. 

(while I know my orthopedics, this is beyond me)

From 1913 till 1914 he was rector magnificus of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen when the university celebrated its 300 years existence (we just finished celebrating 400 years last autumn!).

He continued on to contribute to science until his death in 1924.

Kind of cool, to live on a street named after such a smart guy!

Net time I will look at some of Gouda's most famous contributions: cheese and stroopwafels!

Frustration Station

I have started and deleted this post many times today. Because I don't want to throw a pity party, but at the same time I am a pressure cooker about to burst. And just like a pressure cooker at that point, I need to vent.

I have been incredibly frustrated lately. I want things, that I know I physically cannot do. And rationally I can tell myself that there is no point in wanting these things, but as many times, the heart wants what the heart wants.

I miss working towards matches, draining myself to the point where my legs turn to pudding, I miss training for a reason. Another reason than training by myself to try to not fall apart even further. There is no reward.

My ribs started rattling in November, but as painful as that might be, it oddly doesn't bother me nearly as much as my knees. It hampers me in my every day life, but it doesn't feel as an unsurmountable obstacle. But my knees.. Especially the right one. And just as I decided to try and come up with a crazy goal, something to work towards. But even before I could try to think of something, my knee decided otherwise. Between exercises I was shaking my legs, to loosen up my muscles and poof! My kneecap decided that being in place was too mainstream and flipped out of place (and thankfully it flipped right back too). Freaked out was my first reaction, sad the second. This was not supposed to happen anymore. 

Later that night, as the icing on the cake, my left knee just gave way. One second I was standing, the next I was trying not to flop to the ground. If you know me, you know I did it with my eternal grace: limbs flailing about and a few f-bombs and other ladylike terms. And now I am no longer sad. I am downright angry. Not constructive, won't solve anything, but I am angry at my body. Pressure cooker about to explode. And I want to run it off. Or erg it off. Or body check someone off a ball. And I can't. 

So here I am.. Firmly parked, and waiting at Frustration Station.

Dutchisms

Dutch is a glorious language. Fairly difficult to learn for non-native speakers in a lot of ways, but filled with simplicity in others. Every week I'll introduce something from the Dutch language that warms my heart.

This week, a saying or idiom. There are many sayings that translate well into different languages, or are just the same (eq. The apple does not fall far from the tree). However, there are quite a few that are uniquely Dutch. 

One of these is: "Nou breekt toch m'n klomp". It is used when something just baffles you so much it leaves you speechless. Translated into English it is something along the lines of 'Now that just broke my wooden shoe in two'. And admittedly if I was wearing wooden shoes (which FYI barely anyone does in the Netherlands anymore, usually only old farmers) and it were to break, that would leave me fairly stumped. Wooden shoes are sturdy, they don't just break!

Another one that finds its origin in something quintessentially Dutch is: "jezelf in de nesten werken". It means 'to get yourself into trouble' and it originates from one of the Dutch symbols: the windmill.

A "nest" is a pit that forms in the wood of the turning mechanisms of a windmill if the mill has been kept in the same position for too long. When this happens you can no longer turn the mill to face the wind and you are in proper trouble!

Next time: our love for vowels which leads to words as zeëegel. Which you musn't confuse with zegel. 

A Tale of Two Cities: Gouda and Groningen

Wandering through Gouda this afternoon, I once more realised how jaded you become about your home town. And that is a shame really, as I grew up in a wonderful city and live in an equally lovely city now. So through a series of blog posts I will take you by the virtual hand on a tour through my two cities. Off the beaten path, looking for the gems that make my cities to what they are.

In this first installment, I will take a look at the area I grew up and especially the two neighbourhoods where I lived (and still live part time now): the 'Hoevenbuurt' and the 'Groenhovenkwartier'.

In 1963 the city limits of Gouda were changed to include the polder Bloemendaal and in the following years the difficult process of construction began. (Apparently building on peat is not ideal ;-)).

Between the yellow lines you can see what would become the 'Hoevenbuurt'. (photo courtesy of 12hoeven.nl)

The second neighbourhood where I lived, and my parents still live is the 'Gaardenbuurt'. They didn't start building there until the early nineties. Before that time it was a witlof/endives plantation.

(photo courtesy of Gouwenaartjes on facebook)

As far as growing up goes, this area is perfect. 10 minutes by bike from the city centre, 10 minutes in the opposite direction and you really are in between the farms and fields.

Next week I will write a bit about the area where I live in Groningen and after that the tour of the gems of my two cities will truly begin

Motivation Monday

As morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela says it so beautifully in the movie 'Invictus':

"they are just words, but the helped me stand when all I wanted to do was lie down".

And that is exactly what the poem 'Invictus', by William Ernest Henley, after which the film was so aptly named, means to me. That little or big push when I'm down in the dumps or just overwhelmed. And a reminder that things for me, are really not that bad, and many others suffer worse.

Invictus (William Ernest Henley)

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years 

Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishment the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

Ten things about me, which may surprise you

Time to get to know me a little bit better

1. Fears

I don't have many fears but I am absolutely terrified of snakes and rollercoasters. And owls, I can't deal with owls.

2. Cheese

My love for cheese is well documented. However, I don't like ALL cheese. Old hard cheeses are generally not my thing.  

3. Jobs

When I was younger I wanted to be an architect or interior designer, before that a (helicopter) pilot and when I was really young, the chief of the fire brigade. Because chiefs get to ride shotgun. 

4. Sports

I love sports of all types, from ski jumping and biathlon to rugby and tennis, plus everything in between. However not many people now I fenced for a couple of years. So don't tick me off when there are swords around. 

5. Food

I have two weird food allergies; my body does not agree with carrots and beets.

6. Oddities

I consider myself a down to earth Dutchie. There is a Dutch saying 'be yourself, that's crazy enough'. But despite all my Dutchness, I am horribly, incredibly, enormously supersticious. I spit over my shoulder, I throw salt over my shoulder if I spill it, am eternally knocking on wood, and I've been carrying around my lucky peseta for years and years.

7. Collections

I collect boxes. Not cardbord boxes, but cute little boxes. Wood, stone, lava even. 

8. Wishes

I would LOVE to fly in an Apache helicopter. In general I want to fly in a helicopter, but Apaches fascinate me. My love for helicopters comes from watching Airwulf as a kid. 

9. Name

I'm really weird about my name, because people rarely actually call me by my name. It's usually some variety or just terms of endearment (which are usually also quite odd, as my borther and I call each other 'Paat', derived from paard, which means horse.)

10. Bucketlist

Despite not being able to run anymore, I still really want to do an extreme marathon one day. Lets chalk it up to 'hope is last to die'. Well or "de-nial not just a river in Eqypt"..

Anyway, those were a few oddities from me, about me. 

Mea culpa

I have woefully neglected my poor poor blog. Busy life, laziness etcetera. Y'all know the drill. But now I'm on the sofa with a massive case of the terror flu, it's a nice thing to pick up again. No promises about how well I'll keep up ;-).