What are the biggest Dutch culture shocks¿

Typical sandwich with cheese. Dutch people kind of just get straight to the point. In the first years I didn't have an agenda. How do you plan your day? How do you know what you're gonna do? That was a huge joke. Hey this is David and welcome back to my channel. Culture shocks happen when we experience a culture that is different from our own and that's the beautiful thing about this world. So I was curious what are some of the biggest culture shocks internationals, foreigners face when living in the Netherlands. Let's find out. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you David for inviting. Well first question is where are you from? I'm from Poland. From Poland and how long have you been in this country? It's been three years now. Three years. What brought you to the Netherlands? Love brought me. So I'm a love emigrant. My husband is Dutch. Your husband's Dutch. You've been here three years. So the question for you today is what are some of the biggest culture shocks that you've experienced since coming to this country? I love the word shocks because shocks can be positive and sometimes surprising. So what was really a nice shock if I can say. It's a country of full of bikes, cycling. And I even brought today this guidebook and you can see the bikers. So positive shock was that I can get everywhere by bike. I've come from the city that is quite huge and country that is bigger. So commuting by bikes it's not the most convenient one. And here you can go everywhere by bike, which is healthy, efficient, no traffic. And yeah, you can see so much more. So that's been a positive shock. The bike culture here, you bike everywhere. Yeah. Okay, what else? People are very friendly. That was another positive aspect. You are just on your streets with the neighbors and they just say hi to you. And they smiling a lot. So I think that was really a nice thing too. That you are as a newer, a new person in the country. You're like, people are friendly. That's nice. I'm curious about that. So that's a positive shock because back home in Poland, is it different? I think it's maybe not in common that on the street, just the neighbors that you don't know will say hi. Okay, so people say hi here. You find that friendly. Yes, definitely. Okay, what else comes to mind? With the shocks, I think it's always the weather. In that sense, here are like two or three seasons. I'm used to four seasons and much more sun and less rain. So that was a shock that so much rain is here. And anything else that comes to mind when it comes to culture shocks? Culture shocks? I think it's maybe not also the communication, but in that sense, how direct people can be. Or actually the funny shock, lunches. So basically, I'm used to go for lunches, longer lunches, having a warm meal and spend more than 15 minutes. Whereas I noticed that here in this tiny country, lunches are very efficient, typical sandwich with cheese, or maybe even a milk. So that was a huge shock. Yeah, well, tell us more about these Dutch lunches, because you work for a primarily Dutch company now. For a Dutch organization. So how does lunch look like? So you can see the differences between the Dutch colleagues and the internationals. So the internationals are having more variety with the meals or going outside, whereas Dutch will stay most of the time inside the building and having their own sandwich. So Dutch lunch is a sandwich. It's a sandwich. A simple sandwich, all about efficiency. And simplicity. Simplicity. Or Calvinism. Calvinism. Well, thank you so much for sharing. Thank you. Hey, thanks so much for joining me today. First question is, where are you from? Australia. And how long have you been living in this country? Five years in August. Yeah. Okay. And so the question I have for you today is, what culture shocks have you experienced living in this country? So I think the one that everyone always talks about first is Dutch directness. And so to be fair, in person, Dutch people, yeah, okay, they can be a little bit direct. But yeah, I haven't noticed it that much personally. But I've also lived in half a dozen countries. So for me, moving to another culture is just very... And adapting is just a very normal thing. But I think where it really shows this Dutch directness is particularly in written communication or emails. The first time I got an email from a Dutch person, I actually sat and thought for a second, are they being intentionally rude? Or is it that, you know, are they just being direct like a Dutch person would? And the answer is they're just being direct. I don't know any Dutch person that would be rude on purpose in an email. It's really highlighted in emails because they will... English people like to type out a lot. They have long sentences. They like to say everything nicely, just like in a roundabout way. And they always thank you for everything and blah, blah, blah. Dutch people kind of just get straight to the point. If they want you to do something, they'll just directly come out and ask for it. And if there's something they need you to fix, they'll just directly tell you what's wrong with it and what they want you to do with it or something like that. Or if there's a deadline, it's, you know, please. Well, not even please. It's just like, this must be submitted to us by whatever date or whatever time. Whereas what you might be used to, it's like if there is a deadline, kind of, you know, you throw in something a little bit more friendly. But Dutch people, they get right to the point. And it is done by X date. So, yeah, I suppose, you know, that's also like an... I suppose in reverse, that would also be an English culture shock for people going to English-speaking countries as well. Because if you put a deadline in an email, for example, it will be three sentences leading up to, and this has to be submitted by this date. Sorry for the inconvenience, blah, blah, blah, kind of thing. I actually had a friend, a Russian friend. And she was doing an internship for an NGO. And she communicated with her boss by email every day. And she got increasingly irritated because she felt that her boss was being extremely rude to her all the time in every email. And she wrote like a really angry email back one time. And her boss kind of called her up, completely taken aback, being like, I'm so sorry. Like, I didn't realize you felt this way. What was it about my emails that you didn't like, kind of thing. It sounds like that's also the challenge with email communication, right, versus in-person communication. A lot can get lost in between the lines. Yeah, that's true too. Okay, so thanks for sharing that. What else comes to mind when you think about culture shock? Planning, yeah, that's another thing, actually, a whole other thing. It's funny because, you know, when I arrange things with my friends, I guess, in Australia or whatever, we are mostly, most of the time, do things just spontaneously. But with Dutch people, it's often, oh, you know, let's go out for dinner next month. And then they'll pull out their agenda and be like, oh, you know, I'm free on the 15th and the 16th. But if you want to go the week after that, it has to be on a Thursday or a Monday because I have all of these things going on. And I'm like, yeah. Everything needs to be planned in this country. People are used to their agendas or calendars, scheduling, everything. Whereas what you're used to, it's more being more spontaneous. Yeah, so if I say, let's go out for dinner in a month, the way I'm used to doing it is, I'll call you like, you know, two or three weeks later. And then we arrange something then. And it will be like, oh, yeah, I'm free on Monday. Let's meet up kind of thing. Is that more the culture in Australia? Yeah, you can do things more spontaneously. Yeah. Okay, cool. Well, thank you so much for sharing. Thank you so much for joining me today. Thank you. First question is, where are you from? I'm originally from Brazil. Brazil. And how long have you been in the country? I've been in the country for a bit more than four years now. Four years. What brought you to the Netherlands? I wanted to pursue my career abroad. So I applied for some master's in Europe. I got a scholarship in the Netherlands. So I was very excited to do my master's here. Okay, so for the master's, your career. And the question I have for you is, what are some of the biggest culture shocks that you've experienced since arriving to this country? I think some of them were regarding communication. And as I'm Brazilian, also time management. So going for time management first. Yeah, as I studied here, right, I had many Dutch colleagues, right, friends. And then when I was studying with them, for me, it was impressive that they would have everything planned out, right? They would have like agendas. And then sometimes have the dance. There are days fully planned. And for me coming from Brazil, right, it was very impressive, right? Because the things would be planned to the minutes, right? So you could, for example, in Sao Paulo, you cannot have such precise planning because of public transport, right? That sometimes it might take longer or less. Or also culturally, for cultural reasons. While that here, it's worked like super well, right? So it took me a while for me to join this crowd, you know? Like in the first years, I didn't have an agenda. Dutch friends will find it like super funny. They will be like, how do you plan your day? How do you know what you're gonna do? The agenda piece, right? And it makes sense because in Brazil, things aren't as, well, you could say efficient, right? When it comes to time. Here, things are more spontaneous. And so the agenda. So now do you have an agenda? Now I have an agenda. Online one, can share with my boyfriend, everything. So yeah, it works for the life in the Netherlands. Okay, so you've adapted and adjusted to life here. Yes. When it comes to time, more or less. What about communication? Yeah, so for communication, the communication style here is more direct, right? So in Brazil, communication is more contextual, right? So you can communicate, let's say, a bit more if you like, by your facial expressions or like your gestures, right? Or like by the context itself. While here, people tend to communicate more clearly, right? Like what they want, what they expect. And there is no around the bush. So what you're saying, you actually mean it. It's what actually it is. So you know where you stand, right? While in Brazil, the communication is more indirect, right? There is more context to it. So yeah, it was also fun to explore. The Dutch directness. And after four years, what do you think now about this Dutch directness? So I was already a bit used to it because I lived in a different country in Europe that was also more direct with the communication. So it wasn't like a big surprise. But it's something I either like I appreciate or I don't mind. It's not like a challenge per se. I think I learned from it, right? Because it's not something I was used to. But yeah, we can always learn from each other, I think. That's a good perspective to have. Culturally, we're all very different. And you've been here four years. So it sounds like you've gotten used to it now. Yes, it's fun. Thank you so much for sharing. Thank you for having me. Dutch directness, sandwiches, agendas. I can definitely relate. Now, culture shocks are normal. They happen when we experience a culture that is different from our own. And that's the beautiful thing about this world. Now, I'm curious to hear what have been some of your biggest culture shocks in the Netherlands. Leave them in the comments below and take care.