My Netherlands adventures with the language genius

Long time no blog, guys! A few of you actually asked me when I would blog about the Netherlands. I had been meaning to, but it takes a lot of brain cells. However, I will try my best to give you guys some interesting tips and stories.

Here are some of the things that surprised me quite a bit about the Netherlands:

The number of bikes

The moment I arrived to Rotterdam, I saw AN INSANE AMOUNT of bikes. I think there were at least several hundreds. Biking is extremely common in Rotterdam/the Netherlands. I’d say you’ll see a biker every 10 seconds (not exaggerating). They have their own designated bike lanes, but you still need to pay a lot of attention if you’re trying to cross the streets.

Have you ever seen so many bikes before?

Expect A LOT of walking

Similar to Paris, I don’t think the streets were designed for cars. If you go to Amsterdam, you’ll see a lot of roads that look more like square, rocky tiles. It’s not exactly a smooth surface, and the streets are crowded. It’s extremely difficult for cars to go through a lot of streets, so even if you want to be driven somewhere, it’d probably be like a 25 min walk vs a 20 min car ride in the city center. Hence, if you want to go to the Netherlands, either be prepared to bike or walk a lot. If you are not a fan of either, then it’s probably not a good idea for you to go.

Their English is amazing

We struggled a lot in Paris, but we were pleasantly surprised by how fluent everyone’s English was in the Netherlands. It seemed like 90-95% of the people we encountered spoke like an American. They are able to switch to Dutch and other languages very seamlessly. If you are afraid of not being able to communicate in the Netherlands, do not fear. As long as you can speak English, you’re basically fine 95% of the time.

They are very tall

I’ve never seen such tall people in my life. Apparently, people from the Netherlands are the tallest on the planet. The average height is around 186cm, and it’s very common to see guys above 190cm. I, as a tiny Asian girl who is 158cm, felt like a midget. The doors are also so big.

They love doors

Speaking of doors, I’ve also never seen so many doors in my life. Sometimes, entering the bathroom means you’d open three doors. One door, and then there’s another door (I guess in case people entered by mistake?), and then that’s where the sink will be for people to wash their hands. Then, to actually go to the toilet, you have to open another door. I found it very strange since in North America, we usually just have one door, and then a bunch of stalls lined up next to each other.

Note: The doors are also incredibly heavy because they’re actual wooden doors and not cheap plastic stuff.

Even if it’s above 0, it’s cold

As a Canadian, if the temperature is above 0 degrees Celsius, we consider this to be warm. However, in the Netherlands, the climate is much wetter, and their 0 degrees feel far colder than our 0 degrees. There is more moisture in the air, but it also feels like you’re being surrounded or covered by a layer of wetness. Do not expect the dry cold that you might be accustomed to if you’re from Canada.

So why did I choose to drop by the Netherlands?

Well, the main reason for me going to the Netherlands is because I wanted to meet my translators, Yuna and Dreamer! I had known Yuna and Dreamer since 2017ish, but we didn’t really become friends until maybe around 2019?! It was mainly because of work. I was managing them at the time, and I would often message them to see how they were doing. Gradually, we began to talk about deeper things, and became very close online buddies.

However, as most of you know, I’m not exactly the most responsive person on Discord UNLESS I have to message you because of work. So we would only chat maybe every few months, but our conversations would be very deep and meaningful.

Since it was the first time I was going to Europe, I wanted to drop by to pay them a visit! Coincidentally, both Dreamer and Yuna are best friends in real life and lives in the same city.

Dreamer and Yuna met us at a spot near the Rotterdam train station. It was a breakfast spot, and was very nice and cosy. I think I already had the girls on social media, so I already knew roughly what they looked like. But I must say I was surprised by how tiny they were. I think I’m the tallest one out of us three. HAHAHA.

Even though I had met and spent a few days with them, I don’t even know how to describe their accents! Dreamer and Yuna speak so many languages. They’re from a city called Curacao, and it’s a Dutch Caribbean island. I think they speak Papiamento, Dutch, English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and also Taishanese.

Dreamer’s Dutch is better than Yuna’s, and she also speaks Spanish. I don’t know how this woman remembers all these languages. It’s so hardcore. I mean, not only do you need to speak it, you also need the vocabulary!

Dreamer ordered using Dutch, and I had no idea what she was saying. Yuna speaks Dutch as well, but she’s more comfortable with English.

We were so excited and happy to meet each other for the first time. It was also an interesting experience for Jasper since he hadn’t met many people from Discord before.

I was really glad that we had such a good time. We took the train to Amsterdam as a day trip, and it was great having some locals take us around.

Dreamer joked that if she wasn’t comfortable, she wouldn’t come out the next day. But I, being the talkative person that I am, made sure she was very comfortable so she’d come out again. Woohoo!

Dreamer is a very outspoken and fun lady. Meanwhile, Yuna is very soft-spoken and sweet. They’re like the perfect combo. We had a lot of girl talk, and Jasper was quietly listening since he had no choice. 😛

In Amsterdam, we saw some nice architecture and scenery. We probably walked at least 2-3 hours if I combined the time we spent walking from place to place.

The main two places that left a very strong impression on me were the Anne Frank Museum and the red light district.

We were able to go to the place where Anne Frank was hidden and lived during the Holocaust. It was so sad, but also a very unique experience since I was actually in the same building and going through the same staircase and passing by the same things Anne would’ve seen.

In the museum, they told us not to take pictures because it would be rude, so I don’t have any images to show you guys. But they removed the furniture, so the rooms were largely empty except for the displays along the wall. We were all given an audio translator device so that we could walk around and listen to the narration.

It was very sad, but I would recommend it if you’re interested in WWII and the Holocaust.

We also went through the red light district, and Dreamer told us that the ladies would stand on display to attract clients.

Imagine seeing live mannequins wearing extremely little. I personally found it extremely enticing and eye-opening. But there was a sign that said no pictures or videos, so sorry guys. Here’s a picture of the area before we walked through the streets:

The red light district is straight ahead

Me and Dreamer were admiring the ladies left and right. They look so sexy!! I was very envious of their voluptuous bodies. (Personally, I have the butt but not the chest. Ugh). They were on display, so obviously I’m not going to NOT LOOK.

Meanwhile, Yuna and Jasper were just focusing on the front. In fact, Jasper was like a monk. He didn’t even look at all when there were sexy ladies everywhere!

I asked him, “Hey, how come you’re not looking?! They’re so sexy?!”

Jasper responded in disbelief, “You want me to look?!”

I declared, “Well, I’m going to keep looking!”

Then me and Dreamer proceeded to checking out the ladies. I wonder how much it would cost though.

Some of them didn’t try very hard and were kind of playing with their phones instead of making eye contact with potential customers. I think they need to pay more attention if they want to get business!

I asked Dreamer and Yuna why there were no Asians, and they said it’s probably because it’s extremely frowned upon for Asians to be standing on display so openly. Perhaps they’re afraid someone would film them and they’d be found online.

But nowadays, I think it’s smarter to use Onlyfans if anyone wants to go down that route.

We also went to drink some cocktails on this cold night. Dreamer ordered a drink called, “As cold as my heart is”. I thought the names were so creative! Haha.

Guess which one is as cold as your heart? </3

We spent a lot of time talking about our upbringings, future plans, and men.

Anyway, because it’s been over a year ago since the trip, I don’t remember that much. I’m going to talk about the next day now.

The next day, we explored Rotterdam since that’s where we were all staying. Dreamer and Yuna took us around. The problem is I can’t remember what those places were called. Aiya! We saw the cube house that’s quite famous. Apparently it costs 500k euros to get one unit. We were able to go inside one of them to explore like a museum, and it’s SUPER TINY.

The cube houses

I think unless you’re very small, you’d feel very cramped and uncomfortable. There’s basically no space. I’m surprised people would be willing to pay so much for such a tiny amount of space. If you’re tall, you wouldn’t even be able to stand up straight!

We also had some frites and my favourite was the bitterballen!!! OMG. It’s SO DELICIOUS. I love them the most. It’s made of potatoes, but there is some meat filling inside. Here’s the link on Wikipedia. I would highly recommend it if you are a meat eater.

We also got some pancakes, but they were going to cover it all in sugar. We asked for it to be separated so we could dip it ourselves instead. I was so glad. When I saw the amount of sugar they would’ve used, I almost fainted! It’s insane! Look at this!

Bitterballen and the sweet pancakes are in the background. They wanted to cover the pancakes with all the icing sugar! *faint*

Overall, it was a great trip. I am so happy I got to meet Dreamer and Yuna. I hope to meet them again in the future!!

P.S. This post took me over a year to complete.