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5 Ideas For The Empty V&D Locations Posted by Sten on Mar 4, 2016
Earlier this week, I explained what happened to V&D and how the company went bankrupt. A real shame, and maybe it is a bit early to think about this, but every day these buildings are closed and unused is a day of opportunity lost in many city centers in the Netherlands, so let’s check what…
Het Schrikkeljaar – 3 Questions Answered About The Dutch Leap Year Posted by Sten on Feb 29, 2016
Every four years – except century years, unless they are divisible by 400 – we have a schrikkeljaar (leap year). 2016 is one! Today, it is one of the rare schrikkeldagen (leap days), and this has implications of course! Also in the Netherlands… 1. Waarom houden we schrikkeljaren? (Why do we have leap years?) I think this video explains perfectly why…
How V&D Went Down Posted by Sten on Feb 29, 2016
Vroom & Dreesmann, or V&D is as Dutch as klompen, or cheese. Every medium to large city in the Netherlands has a V&D in its city center. They sell everything from writing utensils, books to clothing, pans and food. Well, I should rephrase this. Because something bad happened to V&D. As you might already guess from…
The Dutch Version of the Correspondents’ Dinner Posted by Sten on Feb 15, 2016
Last Wednesday, February 10, the Dutch press held their version of the US Correspondents’ Dinner at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam. The idea is to copy the Correspondents’ Dinner and have the “President” of the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte, make fun of himself, his fellow politicians and the press. So comparing to President…
Can You Say This Correctly? – 2: Innocent Goedgemutste Smoothie – ei, ij, ie, -je, -pje, -tje Posted by Sten on Feb 9, 2016
One of the hardest things about learning Dutch is pronunciation. Whether it is about the ui-klank (the “ui” sound), the G-klank (the “G” sound) or other sounds you might have a hard time with. This series, called “Can You Say This Correctly?”, is about providing a speech example that I recorded. I will give the Dutch text, a translation…
4 Things To Know About Maastricht Carnival! Posted by Sten on Feb 9, 2016
1. The Vastelaovendsleedsje 2016 Every year, a Vastelaovendsleedsje (“Carnival song” in the Maastricht dialect) is chosen. This year, it is Confetti by the carnival band de Zes Köp (“The six heads” in the dialect). However, it is not played much during Carnival! Just today, while walking around a few hours through Maastricht, I heard one song many times over: De Körk by Fabrizio: The text…
Koninklijk Muntenhuis – Will It Stay? Posted by Sten on Feb 1, 2016
Every country has a currency, and so every country needs a place where that money is made. In the Netherlands, coins are made by a company called Koninklijke Nederlandse Munt (KNM) or the Koninklijk Muntenhuis. Paper bills are made elsewhere. Despite this important role, the KNM might become superfluous very soon… So let’s have a closer look. Where does KNM come…