10 Dutch Culture Shocks in the Netherlands | An American’s Perspective

You outsiders keep insisting on removing/changing our traditions.
We didn’t invite you, you can stay home if you dont like our ways.

Dressing up in costume is not racist. Coloring your face is not racist. Racism is a general hatred toward a specific group. It is a state of your heart and your intention. Those people do not seem to have a hatred in their heart. Now if this parade where to have these well-dressed characters with a noose around their neck that would seem racist to me. You might be a racist if you do something derogatory or you create a continual hyper focus on any nit-picking thing to the point of losing the seriousness of hatred towards black people or white people or any people.

Those things are not rac¡st, pointing out what is characteristic of different cultures or races in a healthy fun way is not bad 😉
People should stop being so insecure and being offended that easily 😂

At the risk of sounding "blunt" a lot of your issues would maybe not have been such problems if you researched those things before coming here. Things like having a GP or our housing crisis are all well established concepts here. We do not automatically cater everything to people that do not know them yet. So I understand that might be jarring.

Floors; really confused me with that one. Floors are a substructure of a building. What you mean is floor coverings ie, carpets, laminates, rugs and such like.

David. Google 'Black & White minstrels', UK television. We had the same problem as 'schvartse pete'. The problem with Father Christmas generally, is that you have some old guy creeping about kiddies bedrooms, with a bulging sack.😂

Black American here whose family is from a former Dutch caribbean island.

Zwarte Pete is not comfortable for me. Knowing my family's history as well as the history of 200 years of Dutch participation in the slave trade is uncomfortable.

It is easy to say that it is not racist or racially insensitive when you have not personally experienced the effects of racism.

For me, seeing blackface is a reminder of people in power saying it is legally okay to persecute and belittle people with different skin. To me, it is a character and an unflattering mimickry. The origins of zwarte pete were during a time where many people of different skin color and origins were not treated as humans with rights. It is easy now to say that this wasn't the intention, but if that is how many people of color feel, then it is a problem.

Making comparisons does not make it any more acceptable, in my opinion. I am glad that many people have moved towards smudges instead of full-on blackface. I think that this is a decent compromise that allows for the Dutch culture to be upheld respectfully while allowing people of color to maintain their dignity.

I understand that my experiences and opinions are subjective, but I also think they shape my morals and logic when it comes to racial discussions.

Blatant racism! Rude especially to Black people. This is just the airplane and airport! I will NEVER again use their airline KLM!

You heve a lot of prejudices

This is a an unhappy man, who understants nothing about dutch culture. b.v six culture enz

A lot of Dutch food feels like comfort food to me, so I like it 😊 however, the best food in the Netherlands is Indonesian food for sure 😂

Hanki panki shanghai is not meant racist.

Yikes. I couldn't stand uncovered windows. Medical system sounds terrible, too. Public urinals, gross!!

A lot of triggered comments I see, thanks David, Ive lives in the NL 5 years and agree and can understand all your points. 😊

Being proud of an tradition, doesn't mean we can't be sensitive to how it appears to others. Already the tradition of Zwarte Piet has been moved in the direction of just 'Piet'. And the truth is the children doesn't care about the colour of piet. They only have to ware enough make-up to get not recognized by the children. The makup does not have te be black. On the other hand Zwarte Piet wasn''t considered Racist. The black face was not considered an issue, it was much more practical so you won't be recognized by your kid. Sinterklaas has important helpers, as do santaclaus. Black face versus midgets (colour, versus grow disability)? Where do fantasy turn in to discrimination? Who is to decide it is fantasy or discrimination? Is it the meaning of the oerformer or the perception of the observer? As said an tradition, doesn't mean we can't be sensitive to how it appears to others and adept the tradition. It will tajke time. Be aware.... you can feel that its racism, but that does not mean someone is a racist. Nice to see and learn about those culture shocks. And Trump is to me not a culture shock. We have that people also in the Netherlands. The shock is that people vote for him, inspite of all the lies and fake news. And yes on the democratic site there are also problems. Note: that from Dutch perspective the Democrats are still on a the very right and conservative sight of the political spectrum.

For the Dutch, Donald Trump is the biggest chock. A lunatic! A Adolf Hitler 2.0

The USA is a Failed State!!!

David, as a native Angeleno of Asian descent I find it fascinating to have found your channel about your living experiences abroad. I have a ton of questions, the first of which have to do with food and diversity in the Netherlands. Coming from San Francisco with so many choices related to food, are there decent ethnic food options in Amsterdam?

I need to work in the Netherlands as a doctor, literally half of my patients that I see everyday don’t even need to be seen! Sometimes they just come to talk.

I wouldn't even visit this country. I'm a Jew and will not forget how easily so many dutch people extradited Jews during the Nazi occupation including Ann Frank and her family they died in Bergen Belsen and did it for a ransom of 7 gulden(dutch pounds) not a very large sum. And the fact that many people are stingy. Now I know the scots, they are very calculated but more generous than the English and other nations.

What about the women? How do they go to bathroom in Amsterdam? no woman wants to use a urinal.

Hi David I have the same picture behind you. Ikea special. lol

I was born in Holland and emigrated to Canada at 7 years old. I love Zwarte Piet. It brings back such wonderful memories for me and my family. I know now that it is racist but I still have those nice memories being a kid in Hollland.

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This is so interesting David! Thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm looking forward to visit the Netherlands next week :) best regards from Austria, Iris

Oversensitive Americans are always crying
Our cultural traditions are not your business

You Americans are way to oversensitive, grow a pair or just leave the country
Its not racism, you don't understand the history behind it

Zwarte Piet is not racist and here is why. Zwarte Piet has many faces. On one hand, he is cheerful, funny, acrobatic, and wears colorful clothing. On the other hand, he can also be frightening. He punishes naughty children with a rod or takes them away in a sack.

The frightening aspect of European Sinterklaas traditions is influenced by the Islamic slave raids in Europe. These slave hunters live on as bogeymen. The differences in the appearances of these bogeymen in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria can be explained by the different forms of slave raids in each region. Below is a description of the relevant type of slave raids and their manifestation in the Sinterklaas tradition for several regions.

Ohh boy, the good old Black Pete discussion. In the probably most accepting country of the world you should look further than the black Pete. This wasn't even a topic until the rest of the world needed to have an opinion on something they heard somewhere in the news. I'd say let the Dutch ppl decide instead of the New York Times. As a Dutchman I find Halloween too scary for Children and is Krampus in Austria a creature straight from hell, but then again, if I didn't grow up there and didn't have the full experience, who am I to judge their tradition?
However, since it seems to offend some fellow Dutchmen, I'd say it should be banned and we should move on. Just to make sure we don't get as divided as the US.

I'm a bit late to the party, but telling people to exaggerate their illness is just bad advice.
If you need to exaggerate your illness to see a doctor, you don't need a doctor (yet). You just clog up the system and take the place of someone that actually needs to see the doctor. Just tell your employer that you'll take sick leave for one or two days and stay in bed. You'll be fine in a coulple of days. If not, then the doctor will gladly see you.

Quite frankly, you don’t have the right to move to a foreign country and call their traditions “racist”. This is where you are applying your American, specifically Californian views, to a tradition that may not make sense to you, but it does to them. The intention behind the Zwarte Piet celebrations does not come from a place of hate. That is quite clear. It may not appeal to you, but it is not violent and not hateful.

The birthday song is not taught in school. Its just a joke. I have a lot off black friends and they have never find black Piet racist. Being direct is the only good way to communicate.

Imagine foreigners coming to America and objecting to using deer to pull Santa's sleigh. Bad for animal rights, you know. Ficticious, well I already heard someone saying that it is not OK to ride a horse (like Sinterklaas does) for animal right infringement. But, I propose to make Blacke Pete orange and Sinterklaas ride a bike. Everybody happy and we can end this nonsense.

how would it feel "i dont know..." exactly! you dont know, stick to what you know.

Blackface Zwarte Piet has been denounced in the Netherlands by now. We have understood that in this day and age it is completely unacceptable and also not very believable to paint our faces black and claim it's not racism because it's... tradition? I'm glad we got rid of this shameful tradition.

Actually for healthcare in America as a women, is the same thing. People will ignore your health problems unless you're almost dying. Wish it wasn't true, but it is.

When it comes to curtains, Im like the dutch. The only time i draw curtains is when I'm sleeping.

TTT ist echt mein Lieblingsforma4! Danke Jungs ❤

if u don´t like us and our traditions, fck off then.
houdoeee

You got it wrong when it comes to Sinterklaas. You say nobody knows where Zwarte(black)piet came from. But that's not true, we (dutch people, as children) learn that the Piet came down a chimney indeed and there's no question about that and we never saw them or they were never meant as "black people", this is just what people in last years make from it and try to ruin our not so many traditions, please think about that. We already do not have a lot of traditions and it hurts me seeing people making this something else entirely.
I'll try to explain what we learned and what it actually means. The piet would crawl to the chimney to surprise children with a present in the morning, when the evening before the children put something for the horse of Sinterklaas (like Santa and his sled, someting like that) we were told Sinterklaas walks with the Piet(s) on our roof to bring present through the chimneys indeed, it is actually and always has been meant very innocent and very much like Santa and his elfs, the only difference is that this are no elfs but people becoming black from the soot from the chimney.
Please people do understand that this is meant this way and very innocent and also pretty hurtful that it is made out to be racism when it never was and I am a Dutch woman and always learned this in this innocent way, there was never any question of these being people with dark skin. This is just what people make of it these days and it is very sad😢

I can tell you, if a Dutch person puts you in their schedule for over a few months, he doesn’t like you. You call him a friend, but he doesn’t consider you the same. I can meet up with my clients within a week. My friends can come today or tomorrow. I’m sorry, you seem a bit boring and average. That might be the reason. No offense.

You are not originally from California. You have a strong Chinese accent, comrade. Dont lie.

Once the debate started I realized how Black Pete can be seen as rascist. Unfortunately not all people agree. And that song is idiotic imho.

A lot of people in the comments apparently weren't taught "honky tonky shang hai", but I definitely was. We'd try and sing 'happy birthday' in different languages, but because nobody could speak chinese we used those fake chinese-sounding words. It didn't occur to me that it was racist until I was an adult.

Now apply the same logic to the black Dutch in the Carbean like Curacao painting their faces white to play Sinterklaas. Is that rascist ? there goes your logic. lol

just watch the Sinterklaas documentairy and the european history going back hundreds of years. Its mostly ignorance of history, even the Dutch dont know

Describing Sinterklaas as "an elderly white person" SENT me 😂😂😂 but you are very right in your observations and then some. Most dutchies are completely oblivious to things like systemic racism etc but its very rampant here as well, most of all towards arabs. Dont let your comments fool you haha. Anyways, fun vid, good watch!

Thank you sharing your experience David! Really appreciate you talking about these topics, racism included.

You live in the biigest non-dutch city in The Netherlands. You got almost every point wrong. Travel in our county and experience the True Nederland.

Zwarte Piet is a reference to the More kingdom that was in Spain during the middle ages. Sinterklaas also comes from Spain (the real one lived in Turkey, but we were occupied by Spain..) so the tradition of honoring the Mores didn't change but society did and now it is seen as racist.
Also I never even heard that hanky panky song. I have a 25 y.o. and a 3 y.o. If at any point my youngest would come home having learned that from a teacher the school will have a huge problem with me.
Not that there isn't any racism here, idiots are everywhere, easily used by demagogues