[Amsterdam].. Going Dutch

People find themselves in Amsterdam for many reasons. Travelers on transit only get to see the airport on transit, socialites go for the never ending international festivals, wanderers love it for the canals, bridges and bicycles, foodies go for the deep fried food, experimenters go for the legal cannabis, beer lovers for Heineken experience, cultural buffs go for the historical Anne Frank, Van Gogh and Rijks museums, …the list goes on. Amsterdam really has something for everyone. It is after all the melting pot of world cultures. Despite being one of the expensive cities in the world with the worst weather, it attracts over 14 million tourists every year. By the time I hoped on the bus to Amsterdam, travel fatigue has already kicked in, I wasn’t exactly excited, that is of course, until I arrived.

A proper Dutch reception

I arrived at dawn to be received by the picturesque scenery of lights pouring from old Dutch houses, reflection from the canals and the buzz of the bicycles. I remember thinking this is the most beautiful city in the world. I was in total awe that I took not one but three free walking tours (FWT). I’ll admit though, a FWT is one of the few things that do not break your bank account in Amsterdam.

things you notice on walking

streets of Amsterdam

bicycles

If you walk through the streets of Amsterdam long enough, you will of course get lost from seeing identical canals and bridges, you will be honked by bicycle riders and that is if you survive being knocked over.  After the merciless introduction, you’ll start to notice things, most of which you can find nowhere else in the world.  You’ll notice that most houses are the same, tall, narrow, colorful façade, Dutch style, gables adorned with a hook at the very top, somewhat crooked they might differ in color and width, but they are essentially similar. These are traditional houses built centuries ago when practicality came before aesthetics. The houses may look crooked but they were intentionally made to lean forward because this feature together with the hooks allows them to hang a rope on the hook and pull large objects through windows of the different floors. Why not just use the elevator? Well, the houses are too narrow that they only have narrow winding staircases. Why not just expand the house for comfort? Good question with a direct answer, it would simply make the house much more expensive since property was valued on width. As you can tell the Dutch are a no non-sense, frugal bunch of people. Don’t be deceived by the pretty façades, you’ll be very surprised by the normalcy of the other sides.

Dutch facade

Dutch houses

Turns out Dutch pragmatism extends to virtually every other sphere of life, in rather radical ways. Cannabis may be legal in some countries but it is rare to find a country where both cannabis and prostitution are legal. They know better than to condemn natural needs especially the youth, instead they acknowledge them and monitor them. To make their point, they even have a statue to honor prostitutes.

prostitute's statue

 The result? Higher initial sex age and low drug addiction rates compared to the rest of Europe. Such laisses faire and pragmatist attitude sums up how Amsterdam became a major trading hub attracting people from all over the globe. It’s easier to get along when you speak the same language, in Amsterdam, that language is not Dutch, its money.

narrow winding staircases

It doesn’t matter where you come from or what your religion is, you are warmly welcome in Amsterdam if you speak money. During my time there, the new Church, an active church on Sundays was being used for the Marilyn Monroe. It might sound morally wrong but it makes a lot of sense economically. Their love for money is what keeps them working while the rest of the world is taking selfies. In the Holland golden age, while the rest of the world was painting religion and still life, they painted everyday scenes of people working; who has time to pose for portrait while you could be earning money. This appetite doesn’t mean they will pickpocket you, no they won’t waste their energy on change money when they can earn more with sexier crimes like tax evasion. The Dutch-money relationship is perhaps the most romantic to be documented. That leaves an obvious question, Why? Because money buys lots of things in the Netherlands, a wider house, a richer social circle and even some things that can’t be bought elsewhere. There was once a time when money bought you a place above the law and even forgiveness of sins.

'Dutch woman working'

Dutch pragmatism goes hand in hand with discreetness. Don’t expect people to be nice just because you are a tourist. The time and energy to sort you out can be better directed towards money. If you find this cruel, you are not alone, the Protestant church built the  Begijnhof court to shelter religions women from the cruel world.

Begijnhof court

Discreetness stretches all the way to naming conventions. No they didn’t think twice on naming the New Church, Nieuwe Kerk which guess what, means New Church. They didn’t even meander around to name their city Amsterdam.  The city, started out as Amstellodamus village, deriving its name from the Amstel River and the dam built in 1220 to avoid floods from the South Sea. It eventually became Amsterdam.

Even East Africa is represented

To a huge extent, discreetness and pragmatism has served them well. As a result of what appears as tolerance, Anne Frank’s family found shelter in Amsterdam from the Nazi, at least for a while to produce ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’. You don’t find North Koreans in most countries, but they even have a restaurant in Amsterdam. On the other, this atmosphere doesn’t inspire creatives who thrive on isolation and idealism.

Anne Frank

The culture shock I experienced in Amsterdam was real. Most African societies are the opposite, we try as hard as we can to be nice even when we can’t afford to. We don’t have a lot of money yet we are not enslaved to it. The only aspect we like about money is spending it, not earning or saving it.  

That aside, I was also surprised because the Dutch people in South Africa, are generally prosperous and not afraid to show it. Open minded and tolerance don’t come to mind when I think of apartheid and all the racial tension going on in South Africa. What even more intriguing is that apartheid developed at the same time Jews were welcome in Amsterdam. Then I remembered, money is always the deal-breaker for the Dutch.