Dutch word of the month club
It has recently dawned on me that I’m living in a country that speaks a different language. Amsterdam is a strange city regarding language. Almost every Dutch person I meet is highly fluent in English, in part because TV and movies over here are subtitled and not dubbed and because everyone learns it as children. Also, Amsterdam is so geographically small and such a tourist destination that you have tourists in most parts of the city. So English is often the default language on the street. I’ve seen this at work a few times, where two Dutch people will strike up a conversation in English and talk for a while before realising each other is Dutch and switching to Dutch. I wonder how many cities have a language culture like this?
Anyway, the upshot is that I often forget that Dutch people mainly speak Dutch. And so starteth the ‘Dutch word of the month club’.
This month’s word: Fiets
Amsterdam is pretty much over-run (in the best way) with fiets that all look like that. There are complex systems of bike lanes that have their own traffic lights. Everyone gives way to bikes, even pedestrians at crossings. It’s awesome! And everyone rides fixed gear bikes because it’s totally flat. Before moving here my only experience of fixed gear bikes were in pictures of Williamsberg hipsters. I think they look much much nicer than the ugly, futuristic mountain bikes that you sometimes see people riding in Wellington. But here there is nothing ‘cool’ about them necessarily, everyone rides them. I think the stat is that on average each person in The Netherlands has two bikes.
Also, some people sing while riding their bikes. Johanna and I haven’t bought a bike yet (soon!), so we walk. It’s weird having fiets after fiets (oh yeah) going past you with the rider singing. As it’s getting colder I see more and more bike riders riding with their hands in their pockets, to keep their hands warm. Also, bike riders don’t yell at pedestrians who step in their way. Instead they just tinkle on their bell. Very civilized. I’M WALKIN HERE!
Amsterdam central station: home of fiets
When buying a bike you have a couple of options. The most humorous of which is to buy a bike off a junkie for 10 bucks. Because there are bikes parked EVERYWHERE in Amsterdam, junkies like to steal them and sell them. In fact, I’m told there are organised bike thieves who go around in a van at night stealing bikes off the street. Fiets burglars. But buying a stolen bike just seems like an invitation to have the bike stolen off you. Also, I think those junkies should lay off teh crack.
We will continue saving, until one day we too can be robbed by junkies in a van.
Also, for added Dutch cycling hilarity, Johanna has to ride one of these for her job, with three kids in it. French kids. These kind of bikes are kind of dangerous because they’re massive and hard to turn. It looks a little like:
