You've forgotten about hallways. In the US the front door puts you right into the living room whereas most Dutch homes have a hallway where you can hang your coat and which acts as an 'airlock' keeping the heat inside in winter when you open the front door. Also pretty useful for privacy- whoever's at the door can't look straight into your living room.
To me, being from Holland, the front door opening into the living room is by far the weirdest thing here in the U.S. I got used to many things being different. But that door.... I'll never get used to it.
Exactly. that is bc the dutch thinks practically and not wasteful like greedy capitalist. Like insulation in america is a joke but here even in old homes you have reason why things are built different like you said about the hall. In America they stopped trains so cars would be used more, less insulation you use more energy so the oil co. make more money. Dutch they call cheap but they are just logically practical. I love it.
Yes, it is in the building code that there has to be a hallway. In that hallway you will find a 'meterkast', a closet that contains the water, gas, electricity meters, the telephone, cable tv and internet connection. A toilet cannot have a direct connection with a room or kitchen (hygiene, smells, sounds), so usually they are situated in that hallway as well. The basin in the toilet is there for washing your hands only. Washing other body parts or drinking, should be done somewhere else. The simple fact that Americans call it 'the powder room' makes me think that people could use it to check or apply make-up, disgusting thought.
As an Internet Services mechanic, I visit a lot of people. In the last five years, I rarely saw Buddha statues. I don't think it's as pervasive as you seem to think.
Stairs are made as compact and space saving as possible, because Dutch houses probably are typically smaller than in America, and we want to use the valuable space in the most efficient way. In bigger, more expensive houses you will most likely also find wider and straight stairs. The see-through curtains are called 'vitrage' or 'glasgordijnen' (glass curtains). They are kind of see-through, but not entirely clear. They make the view kind of blurry and it is difficult to actually see what is behind them. Their purpose is to let the light come in while still providing some privacy. During the day, that is. At night we close the thick curtains. Having the curtains or blinds closed during the day would make the house become very dark, and it also looks a bit awkward and unfriendly from the outside. So the glass curtains provide a good compromise for letting the light flow in while still maintaining some privacy. The toilet 'with the 'shelf' as you describe it is called a 'flat-flusher' and is indeed typical for the Dutch market, and it has pro's and con's. The normal type is called a 'deep-flusher'. Basically a flat-flusher is more comfortable, but a deep-flusher is more hygenic. There is also a broader choice in deep-flush toilets. Btw the flat-flushers are becoming less popular. The small sink in the toilet has a very distinct purpose, namely: to wash your hands when you're done! I am a bit shocked to hear that this apparently is not a common thing in America. It's all about hygene. The toilet is the best place for the birthday calender, since it is the place where you are most likely to actually look at it ;-). The 'achterom' is there for basically two reasons, and follows from the tendency to build blocks of clutered together houses (terraced houses). As you mentioned, the shed is usually at the back, so that is where you leave and enter the house when you are using your bike. When two rows of houses are build side by side, the fire dpt demands a so-called 'brandgang' (firebreak) inbetween the two rows of houses to be able to fight a possible fire at the back side of the block. This brandgang then also provides the access to the back entrance. Btw 'Achter om' literally means 'around the the back'. The Dutch may often have more than one bike; the Americans often have more than one car lol 🙂.
Forgotten the glass curtains i thought she ment in-betweens and i don't got those thicker curtains, She does't says they don't have any sink in the toilet she's shockt about the small sizes and there is most of the time onely cold water and not hot water tap. The small size is also because of small houses and avalible space, the cold water is because warm water is wastefull lots of times you'll be waiting for at least twenty seconds
The thin curtains are there to spread the light, sunlight diffusers. They illuminate the entire room behind them, or else the light would only be at the window and the rest of the room stays relatively dark. Plants also appreciate them, and Dutch houses have far more plants and flowers than those in the US. The alley around the back is required for access by the fire department and for access to the back garden, you are also supposed to keep your waste containers in the back garden and roll them to the street not going through your house. Apartment blocks (build after 1950) are required to have a bicycle/storage room easy accessible from the street or back alley.
American homes either have full bath (toilet, sink, and bath/shower) or half bath (just toilet and sink). Since the footprint of American homes tends to be bigger the half baths all have a descent sized sink (easily big enough to get BOTH hands under the water stream). I remember my oma upgrading from an ancient rundown house in the Jordaan (the walls were cracked and you could see daylight in places, there was no insulation and there was just a heater in the kitchen, anly one toilet in the house, not shower or bath)... they moved to "Nieuw West" a section built in the 1930's. This house was MUCH more modern as it had a "full bath" (toilet, sink and shower). All of them were absolutely tiny, but compared to their 18th century run-down property it was sheer luxury. There was the ubiquitous "central heater" in the family room. The heat had to flow into the central corridor that was just big enough for a small dining table off to the side, two small bedrooms and a galley kitchen. They moved out of the Jordaan mid 1970's about a decade before it was "rediscovered" and people with deep pockets started to buy up these old rental properties. It takes serious money to strip these to the bones, fix structural issues, and then bring plumbing, electrical, and insulation to 20th century standards. When I was "back home" this past December, the rental properly was an older retrofit, and had the shelf toilet. When making #2... it makes the smell SO much worse. Definitely need to use the "courtesy flush" right way to get ride of the "load" right away. I grew up with them, but definitely don't love them :-)
I know several people (me included) who discovered that something was medically wrong with them because they could "study" their poo on the poo-shelf...I would never wanna do without one!
Arjan Lubach made a program about the Buddha trend in Dutch houses and why this can be problematic. For most people they just like the esthetic, and because they are not religious themselves they don’t have a stance for or against it. Buddhism in general has a positive image, because most people know very little about the religious aspects it has in many countries.
No, it has a positive image because its adherents typically are typically highly educated and highly socially succesful foreigners who assimilate well into Western countries if they migrate there. It doesn't affect us how Buddhism is practiced abroad, it matters only what its impact is in the West. We associate the Buddha with highly advanced oriental cultures just like we associate Mohammed with barbarism.
@@classicallpvault8251 Buddism is often associated with peace here in the west. I think that is the main reason people have this Buddha art. In history lessens I never heard about agresive Buddhists.
An other reason why people have multiple bikes (at least this is common in Belgium, I don't know if it's the same in the Netherlands but I suspect it does) is students have a bike in the university city and one at home at there parents because we go back and forth very often in the weekends and it's more convenient to have two bikes than transport the bike by train.
Also lots of people have two bikes in order to get from their home to the train station, and from the train station of another town to their place of work.
I have had several different bikes. Each with their own use: a regular bike (my dads old bike) for the every day trips to school, stores or work, a sports bike which was a gift from my uncle when he bought a new one, another regular bike with extra carriers for when I delivered newspapers which was used that I bought cheap from the local bike shop, a BMX bike for cruising around the neighbourhood when I was a kid, an ATB that I got from a very happy client at the job I worked at. Now I have two: my uncles old bike. I got that one because he doesn't use it anymore and my mothers E-bike.
My brother got about 8 bikes, aquired during his life 😬 : 3 road bikes, 2 mtbs and 2 or 3 city/tour/commute bikes ! I myself have 3-4 : an e-citybike, a road bike and 2 junk/pub/station bikes . I really don;t like big on-street windows though ..
The Netherlands is a very densely populated country, so we need to use space efficiently, which, amongst other things, means not wasting space with wide and long staircases; steeper narrower staircases take up less of that precious space
You talking about stained glass is really interesting. My parents live in a home build in 1932, it had stained windows when build it was originaly constructed, It got destroyed during the war, but my dad grew up in the village the live in now and its very connected to it. He managed to dig up some old pictures and such of the building from before the war. They're currently working to restore the original stained glass, as far as posstible at least.
Stained glass is mainly used in houses built before WW2. I have lived in a 1930's house as well and it too had stained glass, both above the outside windows and in the en-suite sliding doors. And in the door between the entry hall and the corridor as well. Their disadvantage is they usually leak.
What is real d*** shame is them young millennial homeowners demolishing these old unique stained glasses. Why but an old house of you don't like what's in there. Go live in a Vinex home then, you fools!
The windows you can open in two ways are a German design. Older Dutch homes with windows not yet replaced often have tiny little windows that can create small openings above larger windows. The tiny ones are called "Bovenlichtjes." To ventilate the house without draught I often use only the bovenlichtjes. No powered ventilation system required. Works perfectly.
I always watch a British tv show called: Homes under the hammer. And in that show it happens several times that a house that is visited has stained glass windows. So this is not only a Dutch thing. It is something typical for the thirties of the twentieth century. But it is very beautiful to me. And I am one of the few people born and raised here that closes the curtains as soon as it gets dark. I just don’t feel safe and at ease when everybody can see me.
The 'see-through' curtains are called 'vitrage'. Say: Vee-trah-zjuh, in the French way. Many Dutch words are in fact French. The 'achter-om' was (in the past) also the door for the maid, or to drop off deliveries. I am Dutch but live in the US since 1996. i find your video fun and comical, thank you for the entertainment.
The vitrage is also just one way see-through. You can look out, being it kinda blurred, but you're gonna have a hard time looking in. So still private.
So the buddha thing is actually a but of superstition haha. We usually just see it as a tranquil and calming accessory to the home. And your wife getting it as a gift is typical. You don't really buy a buddha, you get it from someone. It's often a house warming gift 😂 don't ask me where or how it started but that's what I know haha
Must be for the younger types cause i'm 50 and i believe i ve seen one only once in a home and i'm pretty sure they where buddists. Or at least the enterior had that whole vibe and they where from azian descent. I believe they where from vietnam originally. I migth have seen an older small bronze one that was purly decorative but when they moved 20 years ago it wasn't in their new house.
@@arturobianco848 oh no quite the opposite actually. Fun fact it was my mom that even told me this because I had the same question when I was a bit younger and saw my family gifting a buddha to my aunt xD This has been a running thing in pretty much any adult's house I've seen. As in my parents (50+), my aunts and uncles (50-ish), their friends all around the same age. Younh people rarely even have a home nowadays, including myself at 26, so if I ever manage to even receive a buddha from my family then I'll know I'be made bank somehow in this housing market hahaha. At this point 30+ becomes the norm to still live at your parents place xD But yea def not a younger generation thing haha.
Buddha's date back to the hippie era, with meditation and contemplation. The Beatles and most of all John Lennon took Buddhist India as inspiration. Nowadays they symbolize spirituality without strict religion. And for many they are meaningless decoration. Heathen sculpture is not popular in the US. Even Christian isn't, they will question the house owner about their believes if they see an Orthodox icon or a Catholic crucifix. Freedom of religion are words in the Constitution, not shared value.
@@dutchman7623 Eeeeh I'm not completely sure what you mean with the buddha dates back to. It's technically a buddist symbol and I do agree that to many it's a meaningless decoration. Do you mean that that's how they got popular here in the netherlands? Also as an atheist activist I know and do agree with the US absolutely not having these in their homes hahaha. Hell Atheists are still seen as satanists there without actually knowing what the satanic church actually stands for xD I mean a large portion of the country doesn't even believe in evolution because 'the bible says... " xD But yea I just gave the info that I know as other generations have told me haha.
The "achterom" is the result of the typical housing building style which is a bit different from the US. Instead of square city blocks, or blocks are narrow and on the long sides there is a closed row of houses. The rows are separated just enough to have back gardens between them, and the "achterom" can run between that. In the US I think it is more typical for houses to be separated from eachother so you can walk around your house to get to the back garden. Just like the narrow and steep stairs, it can be explained by the fact that our cities are much more tightly packed, as land with building permit is (artificially) scarce and thus very expensive. You would not want (or cannot afford) to waste area with large stairs or your own private path to reach your back garden, you get small stairs and a shared path.
Buddha statues are weirdly a very common gift haha. Especially when someone lives on their own for the first time, it's seen as a sort of lucky symbol. And the luck giving features of the Buddha statue don't appear when you buy one yourself, so it's good to keep the gifted one around, I'm not making this up, this is what a lot of people believe haha
Hi Ava, nice remarks again. Dutch stairs: According to the Dutch building rules (Bouwbesluit) in the 1980-ties and 90-ties the minimum for a staircase was horizontal part 185 mm, a foot is about 300 mm, and the riser minimum was 210 mm. So they built this minimum. Then after years of negotiation and studying they changed the Bouwbesluit the staircase measurements changed into: horizontal 210 mm, and the vertical 185 mm. This under loud protest of the building companies, it would take too much space and would be too expensive. In the latest version of some years ago, they changed it back into the original horizontal: 185 mm, vertical 210 mm. In public buildings like hospitals and townhalls you find stairs lwith steps: 300 mm / 180 mm. In common area's in appartment buildings the horizontal step must be 240 mm. The minimum measurements of a toilet are 920x1220 mm (2x20 mm stuco). So that's what you often get.
The windows you can open in two ways are actually even more popular in Germany. I lived there for a while and I have not seen a home without such windows.
I took living in a home with stained glass for granted for years untill I realised that apperently not every home (even in the same street as I live) has them. It's so beautiful! We even have the sliding doors. My father has replaced the glass in the door to the living room also with stained glass (he made the pattern himself).
These sliding doors had more functions than just separate the front and back room. There is a well known phrase that says "optreden tussen de schuifdeuren". A place between the opened sliding doors to give a performance to the local family or some other occasion. And to keep the two rooms apart, the stained glass would help in some more privacy than just colorless window glass.
In American TV programs about houses, I always see that behind the front door you immediately have the living room, and not a hall like in the Netherlands, is that correct? It seems very impractical to me, because it can also be cold in America!
Of course it's correct. Why would they pretend the houses are different than they are? The difference is because of history. European houses stem from the longhouse; a big hall in which the entire extended family lived. Over time long houses were extended with private rooms for the leading family, while everyone else still lived in the main hall. Given more time there were more and more rooms added with specializations like cooking, and for other family members to have private areas, and the hall kept shrinking. Until now it's just an entrance that is still seen as somewhat public while the rest of the house is more private. Hence why we often invite people into the hall, and then invite them into the living room again. In the US meanwhile the history is the colonizing past. New immigrants didn't have a lot of material to work with, nor time to make more than minimally required. Often your first house was a simple cabin, with a few small rooms. A entrance would've been a luxury only indulged in by richer people in established cities. I guess people just got used to the idea of stepping right into the house so much that most people wouldn't question it. Also, many homes are build by big developers who build entire neighborhoods of the same houses. There's little incentive to build more complex and expensive houses when most buyers/renters wouldn't even have the idea of an entrance hall.
Buddha statue, yes. Religious no. If I’m anxious, I just look at the Buddha to say to myself: if he can be relaxed, I should be able too. The doors and windows you mention are German invention as far as I know. There are two types of curtains. The see through during day and the thicker, not see through behind them during the dark.
The proper name for an "achterom" is a "brandgang". It's main purpose is for fire crews to be able to access the back of the house in the event of a calamity. People often use it differently.
In addition to the flat shelf toilet (vlakspoel toilet), Dutch powder rooms (including public toilets) have a 'toilet borstel' toilet brush, to erase marks. We were in Canada and we only saw water bowl toilets (diepspoel toiletten). We have not seen any toilet brushes: in the water bowl toilets the chance of leaving marks seems to be much lower (excuses for this little disgusting detail).
It has to do with health in the past. You are able to inspect your excrement, and a mother that of her kids, with a plateau pot. Infections and parasites could be spotted immediately and we had medication to stop and cure it. We Dutch almost eradicated all wurm infections until the 1980's when they had a comeback. Be aware that those infections are very common in certain areas of the world. Hygiene (especially for kids) is very recommended.
Hi Ava! Did you forget the "fietspomp" that everyone has to have (plus the "rema" tube patch kit?), the coat rack sort of behind the door to the outside, the rack for shoes and the fact that every room has a door (no open arches between rooms). I think you might emphasize the "schuur", because most Americans don't have one.
What about a deep fryer… I was so surprised when I moved to the US (California 25 years ago) I had a hard time to buy a deep fryer and found out almost nobody had one, nor that you could fine “frituurolie.” Perhaps that is why I ran into so few Belgiums in the US. While I has once a case when I was buying a printer in a computer store, I was helped by a fellow was Dutch too but we only found out at when was paying….
@@nswinoz3302 exactly… why haven’t the Dutch exported them yet. I had to wait 18 months for my first Kroket in San Francisco. There was an Indonesian Independence Party on union square…. And they sold kroketten, claiming that there were originally Indonesian… I am fine with that… they were very tasty, almost as good as my moms… ;-)
I love your chanel ❤ I'm so interested in Dutch culture and Dutch everything and you add lots of insights for me 😍 thank you! That tiny sink with the freezing water ahhhh 😂 love from Saudi ✌️ ❤
I think it happens to be that your partner and your friends are into that buddha stuff. It sounds like everyone in NL has some kind of buddha relics in their houses, which is wrong. It is a choice if you like that kind of interior or not . Regarding the windows and homes in common. Most recent window-designs do have triple layered glass. But a big different between US and NL homes are the build quality. The most residential homes in the US are almost build only out of wood with a concrete foundation. As what I saw with my own eyes is that all the houses in the American 'burbs" even don't have maintained gardens (only the big mansions). It almost looks like these homes are build directly on the grass without any gardening or planning whatsoever. Triple garages and as much cars in front of these garages are the most important things, which I understand because you have to use a car for everything stuff. And last but not least is the fact that all power and phone lines are above the ground which creates a spider web of cables running everywhere to these external fuse-boxes. These are my things I find in the US homes but not in NL homes and neighborhoods in NL. Have a nice weekend Eva and partner.
We walk up the stairs with only the ball or the front of your feet, not your whole foot, thats so awkward, that is why we have no problem with steep or narrow stairs. And i also have buddah's in my home, but all are given, cuz when you buy them yourself it's bad luck
If you are interested, a friend of mine, Jac Splinter, gives courses in making stained glass windows in Nijmegen and also makes them himself. If that’s too distant, he probably knows people in Utrecht as well. One of Europe’s first (Thai-) Buddhist temple’s by the way is in the city of Waalwijk. A cousin of mine was a member of the board there, to straighten the financial things out after the founder had left it in a mess several years ago.
In typical Dutch (and actually rather strange) house design, the living room often is at the front with a huge window with a view of the street. Anybody passing by in the street who's nosy has a view into your living room. And the kitchen is at the back of the house with a view of the garden (achterom). This is considered normal and a lot of people walking by who are nosy are invited to have a look into your living room if you don't have curtains. I guess that is why Vitrage (Glass Curtains - Glasgordijnen) is very popular in the Netherlands. It blocks the view into the living room and gives some privacy without obstructing daylight from entering.
En wonen in betonnen dozen Met flink veel glas, dan kun je zien, hoe of het bankstel staat bij Mien en d'r dressoir met plastic rozen. het Dorp Wim Sonneveld (trans) And live in concrete boxes With a lot of glass, you can see how the sofa looks at Mien and her dresser with plastic roses
@@HB-mj2jz could be, but I often found it weird having the kitchen at the streetside. I always tough it as a compromise to narrow frontspace like in the houses of Jeruzalem build in the early '50. Space was needed for the stair to the upperlevel. The crappy houses are nowaday architectual heritage.
A *lot* of homes have the kitchen in the front. Personally I hate a living room at the street-side, so I'm happy to have a home with the kitchen at the street, and the living room at the garden :-)
We got a small ugly Buddha statue. It was a gift from someone so we kept it. Those tilting and turning windows are regular standard windows. You will see them all around Europe. The display platform in the toilet is very usefull for inspection of your products to see if the colour is off and you might need to see a doctor. Or to take a sample if your doctor asks for one.
@toilets: I don't know anyone who still has a 'shelf toilet'. I don't even know if they're still being sold. I think it's a thing of the past, yet it often crops up as something 'typically' Dutch. @curtains: Dutch like looking out into the street. Not only to see what's the traffic, but especially what the neighbours are up to. 😝 @bikes: once I had a city bike and a sports bike, now we (4) all just have one. And while the bicycle market may be 'saturated' (is it?) bike theft is perhaps also high because bikes are EXPENSIVE these days! It seems like simple bikes do not exist anymore. Then you have the e-bike that costs as much as a small car, and fatbikes that are impossible to insure around Amsterdam (if not equipped with anti-theft gps) because the chance of them being stolen there is almost 100% (!!!).
Buddhas are typical of what I would call "Dutch garden center chic" - just like big letters spelling "L O V E" or "Family" and heart shaped objects that you can hang on door handles and coat racks. It has no meaning, it is vapid fashion.
I've seriously never seen a budha in anyones home, except my brother maybe who has all kinds of eastern stuff, and it clearly means nothing. Probably a city thing... I think people just see it as a 'gezellig' jolly fat man without a beard and red suit. Please... stop saying we don't care about privacy...an open window is to let light in, not an invitation to be rude. We just expect people to have a minimum of self control. Stop staring into people's houses....
The "achterom" (back alley) is mandatory due to fire regulations. If there's a fire the firefighters need to be able to attack the fire from the outside if the fire happens to be in the back of your house.
@@lws7394 that's what it's mainly used for. Fortunately we don't have many fires. Although, one time my neighbours were deepfrying stuff in their shed and, yes, the entire shed went up in flames.
@@Dutch1961 today the building code doesn’t normally require an alleyway for firefighting or fleeing, but it is required to have a shed “buitenberging” accessible from the street and/or shared hallway. With current code for new built homes, you are not allowed to (need to) pass through your home with your bike.
I got a Budda. It was gifted by my Uncle who went to Nepal on a hike. They came back with budda's for everyone. Mine was the only one still in one piece. So its sitting here for already over 20 years.
The no-curtain thing is only in the areas that were predomintantly protestant. This isn't a thing in the more catholic oriented areas (say below the rivers). And also, my crappy bike is for when I go places that doesn't have a safe bike parking, so the train station or the pub. I do my work commute with my nice bike, because my workplace has a fietsenhok that only employees can access.
1. Buddha-beeldjes 2. steile, smalle trappen 3. draai-kiepamen 4. wc's met een inspectieplateau 5. een klein wasbakje in de wc 6. de verjaardagskalender 7. glas-in-lood 8. een achteringang 9. meerdere fietsen per persoon
In the olden days, property tax was being calculated based on the width of the building. Hence the narrow stair case as it was considered waste of money to make them wider, as it would mean would mean more property taxes.
Stairs take up a lot of space and building houses was way more costly here than in many other areas as we first had to “polder” the land (turn it from water / soggy land into dry land) and then make a foundation with foundation piles. So to reduce costs and to limit the area of the house, stairs were made to take up at least space as possible. Please note that today many houses need to have their foundation redone (funderingsherstel). For an average house consisting of a ground floor, first and second floor, the foundation repairs can come to €100,000. Something you won’t “see” in your house, but needed nevertheless.
4:50 Our Dutch friends delivered newspapers in the morning. This was done pretty much like it was done in the US up to at least the early 1990's A kid, (I was 14) would have the papers delivered to their house. They fold up the papers, then head out to the paper route. Once a month you had to go around and collect money from your customers. Sometimes people wouldn't play, which sucked because the paper boy had to eat that cost. For revenge they would take their TV remote (I guess there was national standard) and in the early morning they would turn on the TV and turn the volume up to full blast. I wish I could do that. I had one customer who repeatedly stiffed me. He happened to be a high school teacher and a couple of years later I had to take one of his classes. I was very strongly tempted to say, "You owe me money." I think it was about $15, but I never did anything. I was worried he might screw with my grade.
I love my Amerikaanse huis from the 60's. It has a shared "achterom" with neighbors. It's a shared alley way to our driveways that are at the back of our homes. I live in the suburbs just outside Philadelphia PA. PS You sound like you're from Utrecht when you speak ☺️ and I'm from Noord-Brabant.
Hi, maybee you want to have deeper look into why the "Dutch" don't have curtains. This is not in the complete Netherlands custom. It had to do with the believe. If you were protestant or calvinisme, by having your curtains open they stated there believe and showed " they didn't have anything to hide. In the south part of the Netherlands the main believe was Katholiek therefore you won't see this as standard. Please fact check me and add any parts i missed, could be more nuanced.
My Buddha is pure decoration. The stairs is probably because Dutch homes are smaller than American homes. Interesting you're talking about the lack of curtains in the Netherlands, while I was under the impression a lot of American bedrooms don't seem to have curtains. At least that's what I get from tv. I need my curtains. I don't like people peeking in.
Stained glass was very much in vogue in the 1920ies and 30ies. Must have been a Jugendstil / Art Deco thing (both did stained glass). The Netherlands had a major building spree during that time, with many cities breaking outside their old walls, and most of those buildings are still standing. In fact, they are very desirable in the Dutch housing market, because this is the last period in which there were "extras" added to buildings instead of the purely functional cubes of later periods. Like the stained glass. And houses from that period still have stove pipes to the principal rooms, another bonus.
I think I heard you say "my wife is a white Dutch person" ... That's a real American way to specify someone. We normally don't use a color for that (because ... who cares?). Better would be "my wife is Dutch". Unless you were talking about her hair-color.... When I was young I lived in Amsterdam. We were with 7 kids and each had a bicycle. We lived in a flat at the 3rd floor and because the bicycles in our neighborhood were often "missing" (stolen I guess), we had to carry our bicycles up the stairs to our own front door in the stairway and park it there.
I remember a stairway clogged with bicycles from my first appartement in Amsterdam ( 40 years ago) the staircase was straight and steep and there were no parking racks in the street.
You didn't mention the wash-hand in the bathroom, or in the kitchen, that funny little scraper that you use to get tomato puree (etc.) out of the bottom of the tin! So many small but distinctive things in Dutch homes!
I am native Dutch and I have never seen a Boedha in any home I have visited in my country during my entire life.... Literally: none. So it really says something about YOUR friends and family in The Netherlands and nothing about our culture :) Also the steep stairs are all about space. When you have little space like we do in The Nethgerlands a steep stairway in your home simply saves space so you have more room to live in. It is that simple.
As a dutch person, I've seen a LOT of Buddhas in people's houses. Also if you've been to any tuincentra you will often see a section with a lot of buddha statues, they are really popular over here. Although it could be a regional thing, but personally I would definitely say it's a dutch thing.
The Buddhas: I think it is just where you live. Here in the south there aren't Buddhas. Here are lots of little dwarfs. In the garden, between the plants or on the grass, near the door. Those who have a (very) little fish pond in the garden often have a small dwarf with an angle on a stone at the fish pond.
Buddha -> check, was also a present Window that can open completely sidewards or just a litte bittle (by turning in different directtion); check Achterom -> check Toliets -> check Pretty good list
Hi, Ava... thanks for the video. About Dutch houses, about 150 years ago it was quite common in Dutch cities that one family occupied one room in a house, a situation that on a regular basis led to outbreaks of contageous diseases. In those days sewers and drainage of streets were also uncommon, to give you an idea about the hygenical wasteland people lived in. Since change in Society never goes fast, it took many decades to improve that situation and the building regulations enforcing that change. Even after WW2 Bathrooms were considered luxury, so people were used to wash themselves in the kitchen, bathing there on Saturday. They did that with cold water, warm water was not available from the tab. Gradually even that improved, but from a minimalist point of view. The same with "stairs"... since houses (appartments) weren't big from the beginning, I can still remember rules for public housing of 20 sq.metre for one person, the stairs was regarded as a neccesary waste of space, one didn't use it on a regular basis over the day anyways, that's why they traditionally are steep and narrow, taller people bumping their heads.... and usually have a closet underneath. BTW, the "achterom" is more common in rural area's of the netherlands than in the cities. I for instance live in a city, have a garden with exit, but it isn't used as a "achterom" for obvious (burglary) reasons. I hope to see your next video soon!!
in those days waste was gathered at the street in considerable piles. And when the city garbage collection was established there were protest. the poor people considered it theft of income, because the sold the waste as menure to the farmers around the city. Also in those days the houses were so vermin ridden that in summer people could not sleep in the houses, but slept on the street ( probably hugging their privet waste piles). "koninkrijk vol sloppen" by Auke van der Wou is an interesting reading on this subject.
Our steep staircases are evolved like this due to limited groundspace. Because the Netherlands is very dense, ground space is very expensive. So if you want to have as much livingspace as possible, you make everything that is not meant for lving as small as possible.
Funny for a genuine Dutch guy to see what you came up with, f.i the stained windows, it reminds me of my saying "you can only grow when you realize that you can only reason from your own frame of reference". We here never actually have thought it special, but for Americans it will be. The ones you refer to, are mainly form let's say early 1920's to around 1940. But you can also see a lot of stained glass in the whole of Europe in buildings from the tim Art Déco/Art nouveau was booming, although that was onlt the real "posh" buildings, and in The Netherlands it was all over the place, even rented houses (and form arhcitecture more the "Amsterdamse school" ! Keep up the good work! I enjoyed it
A small correction because I have often noticed in the Netherlands that they speak of Dutch windows. In reality, this tilting window technology was invented in 1937 by the German Wilhelm Frank.
I am seeing them now in the US on higher end builds where the owners are looking for the Euro-Style windows with this flexible use, but also triple pane glass and due the bank vault like locking mechanism, it really seals well when closed. As you pointed out Germans designed and perfected them... steadily they have become the norm throughout much or Europe.
In my opinion more typical dutch window is one with that spacing handle on the bottom. So you open your window normally and can fixate your window in a certain angle. The Draai/kiep windows are a trend of the last years.
The narrow stairs in old houses has originally to do with taxes. The grachtenhouses are a good example. The owner had to pay for the width of the house (which had something to do with the amount of glasses, but I fotgot the details). But to have the maximal amount of space and pay as little as possible one would build a narrow tall house, with as little stairspace as possible. Mind you that in the golden age the Dutchies were a lot smaller. And for some reason that trend never faded
It has to do with the fact that Amsterdam was rich, but at war as well. All citizens together had to pay for the city wall and its defenses. Narrow, deep, plots are the most efficient. Less public spaces like streets and canals were needed. Building up is more cost effective than width. Ground floor was for business, one up for the family, higher up for the kids and house servants, who could do with cheaper, steeper, stairs. Amsterdam was the Manhattan of the 17th century. Even the millionaires did not have a private carriage, they rented one when needed, like taxi's. So no need for a coach house or coach gate. They even rented a ship when the family moved to the country house for the summer, because they had to transport so much that road transport wasn't efficient. Leaving luxurious stuff in the summer house was not done, because of constant threat of war. Everything had to be within the city walls when war or a siege would come. Simply imagine the costs needed to built a sturdy twenty feet high wall around a US suburb, man it with soldiers and canons, and a wide moat in front of it. Even Americans would get a more compact life.
No Buddha Yep Steep stairs '30s house Yep Toilet shelf Yep little sink Yep Birthday calender Yep Stained glass as decoration before our windows No No achterom Yep 2 bikes one regular one electric.
Haha, a crappy bike. That’s true! I have a proper bike for long distances, people can have electrical bikes for very long distances (like to the beach where on some days parking could be a problem), a bike for sports (a mountain bike or a race bike like Tour de France) and a “kroegfiets”. The last one is the crappy one, which can be stolen or damaged and not wining about it (spend €10 for another crappie one). I was quite attached to mine, pimped it with paint and stickers, a true work of art. But it happened I was so drunk, someone called me on the phone, tried to pick up the phone while cycling drunk. Most of the time all went well, but I also fell a couple of times. I was more worried if my bike was oke then myself. I didn’t feel anything thanks to the beers 😂…the next day I counted the brews. Next time I did it again 😂
It's not even uncommon to see toilets without a sink. My rental appartment (built 1964, completely overhauled in 1995 with central heating and double glazed windows - sanitary facilities were reconstructed last time in 2015) does not have a sink in the toilet. My grandparents rental home from the same housing council, same area, and also same era of construction had a very spacious toilet on the bottom floor but no sink. This is not a fluke. I am talking about highly standardised high volume building - the exact same house design my grandparents lived in can be seen at least 80 times in this town and they all originally came without a sink in the bathroom and worse, with the nearest sink in the kitchen 2 doors away. A piss-poor design choice (pun intended).
#1 No buddha in my current or former home, nothing against it, but i live in the on less populated country side with fewer expats/tourists, atleast to my personal impression. #2 Firsthome has diagonal stairs with the steps evenly placed that you almost can basically can run up/down, and/or slinding down the handrail, both heavily discouraged ofcourse #3 Similairly with #2, my childhood home had the 'dutch-door' as mentioned, which was, as stated, ideal for letting the air flow in/out, yet keeping the dog inside, when it was nessacary at the time. #4 Whilest the old house we had opaque curtains would already block a 'direct' view onto the street, one of my favourite memories was a large evergreen hedges that would completly obscure it all together, and rememering i was bummed out when they were removed for 'no reason', unaware that for certain tree/soil types this was only efficient for 'few years', the exact specifics ellude me at the moment. #5 Whilest we didnt have a (colored) stained glass perse, altough for the longest time we had a nice framed door with translucent glass, with partial frosted depicting of a deer within a forest. Which until recently, i didnt knew that it was a carry over from my fathers family home, a large single familiy house which was teardowned / rebuilt as a duplex #6 Whilest we had the space, (more then sufficient), to go through the offical front doors, after having built out the new kitchen, early in my memories, in order to limit warmth loss during winter times, we had to go around back, going through a smaller hallway, which was awkwardly' placed behind the kitchen, combined with a divider wall with our neighbour, effectively creating a alleyway. When coming home from school and our parents having the keys werent there yet, we would trying to chimney shimmy up/down along both walls, one case were we didnt have the keys, my brother would shimmey up from the wall, over the flat roof of the kitchen, onto the open window of my parent room. # 7, initially we had our bikes in the 'open' on private terrain, then stored inside the 'Bike-Shed' with a hobby room and storing extras, and used as dog-house connected to a dog-run on the outside BTW , due my father being abit workahole, our former house went through alot of remodeling through out my time there, so i believe its more rememberable then memories of other type of experiences
The bathroom is ridiculously small so only a ridiculously small sink will fit in it. I never use it because the "real" bathroom (what we call a bathroom instead of a toilet) is next to it so I wash my hands there. So it is only for guests...
Interesting to hear about the Buddhas. I was adopted by first generation immigrants to the US from Holland. My parents both spoke Dutch, their families spoke Dutch, I was surrounded by Dutch culture in the US, Both parents have returned to Holland many times and hosted Dutch relatives visiting the US. And I have never heard of that! Granted, my parents’ families were both very involved in the Christian Reformed Church. So I don’t know if it’s something that was lost in immigration, or if it was a religious difference. My mom finds Buddhas problematic religiously and didn’t allow them into her home.
About the staircases in the US. Where I lived in Michigan we had a pretty steep staircase, to me it felt like typical Dutch staircases and very narrow too. When I visited family near Hackensack, New Jersey, much to my surprise, they had a "Dutch" staircase, just like ours in Michigan. So I think it depends on where you live and how old your house is. I don't know if you travel much outside of the randstad or visit friends in newer suburbs, but in smaller newer cities, with modern houses you'll find less steeper and wider staircases. Also, staircases in newer appartment buildings in Netherland are not as steep and narrow cause of building code. So it's all relative and pretty much the same. The thin curtains are called vitrage and is mainly there to block the sun a bit, when it shines directly inside, to not kill the plants and when you want to watch tv without blocking the light completely, and also to stop the cold from coming in during winter. Nowadays every house should have double or triple layered glas with an anti uv coating. But still we use vitrage because it makes it prettier for window watchers like you, and when inside you can see them but they can't see you until nighttime. Then it's vise versa.😊
Dear Eva, In an other video I saw in the back a whitish tin. It's called a "broodtrommel". Just to keep the bread fresh. That's all. But what every dutch household will have are one or more "koektrommels". When we are having guests, of course on invitation only :-), while drinking coversation coffee, we present cookies from these tins. As soon as every one has their share we quickly put the lid back. Not to keep you from having more, but simply to keep 'm fresh. More or less.
Careful with you half cracked open windows and your cat ... Lots of cats will try to get out and jump in the cap, get stuck and ...unfortunately die ...
1. For some strange reason, these Buddha's are seen as ornaments. IMHO this is disrespectful to Buddhists. 2. The Netherlands is / are densely populated. Land comes at a premium. Hence the custom to squeeze in as many 'things' as possible. Old homes in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, etc. as a result have steep and narrow stairs. More modern homes, 1960's and later, are built in different ways. 3. These windows [draai-kantel-raam ~ tilt-swing-windows] have also a safety aspect to them; As the window opening sits at the top, children cannot climb / fall out. 4. Net-curtains are / where fairly common; They are part of 'doe maar gewoon dan doe je al gek genoeg'-culture. Don't ' stand out, average is safest/best', The other aspect goes back to living is small houses; More light entering the home = a more spacious experience. 5. Toilets: The toilet bowl you are referring to stems from the earliest of toilets; They were introduced by doctors. At the time examining excrement and urine were important aspects of diagnosis... Hence this shape of toilet bowl. BTW: The big ADVANTAGE of this type of toilet: Your #2 won't plunge down and wet your bum, with this type of WC! Stained glass: Usually pre-1950's homes. At which time big surfaces of glass were very expensive and smaller strip were much more affordable and ornamental. 6. Achterom = backdoor. In traditional communities neighbors come around the backdoor. The front door is seen as a formal entryway [for prominent persons such as clergy, head of school etc.] 7. Bikes = the dutch use the bike as a mode of daily transport; elsewhere it is a sports thing. Hence the difference. Cycling as a sport requires a different type of bike; See 'oma-fiets vs sportfiets'.
I think for most Buddha is a trend and a statement like "Hey I'm into meditation and all that, I have a Buddha - see". And then they meditate 3 times in their life, but the Buddha stays forever.
Dear Eva, I was raised Catholic (I'm 64 now), but I am no longer Catholic! I have respect for all religions, but I myself adhere to the 'universal faith': that means that I believe that all faiths come from one and the same source!!! But the translation was lost along the way. Let me explain: I tell you a story, you tell it further, that person then tells it further, and so on! After about 20 people, I ask the last person to write down that story. I bet this story barely resembles the original story I told you??? Well, in my opinion this also happened with the 'holy message' and over time it was split into different faiths, resulting in extremism (which you can find in different faiths, unfortunately!). I hope people get what I mean? So this is why I really do not understand all these wars about religion!!! All that hate because somebody believes something else (that is what they think) while in itself they are all the same (only some things/words/phrases got lost or changed in translation). Silly human beings!!! Because Buddhism is a philosophical movement and stands for 'benevolence', I am most inclined towards it. But not all of it, things that you could also find in other religions, I think. I NEVER hate anyone!! I just hate circumstances. Although I can dislike someone, of course. I have respect for everyone, no matter what that person looks like, what nationality they have, what gender they have, and so on. I have been a vegetarian since I was a little child and believe in The Soul of people and animals (for me, eating animal meat (including fish/mussels, etc./poultry, etc.) would be the same as eating human flesh, because of that soul) but my husband does eat meat and the son (29) eats some meat but also veggie or vegan balls (which are our favorite meat-substitute), sometimes. I usually only eat a lot of vegetables and potatoes (or pasta, rice ea), I do not eat meat-substitutes every day. I eat eggs less than I used to, and milk, I have developed a slight lactose intolerance over the years, so I have, largely, switched to plant-based products. But I did use this foods in the past because one didn't have to kill animals for this, you know? But it really doesn't matter to me that others eat meat/fish or other things, follow a different religion or other things! "Everyone their own opinion" is my motto. Just have respect, that's all. And yes, I got Thai Buddha statues, as gifts (those bring luck if you get them, not when you buy them yourselve!), and like them!!! So now you know why people have a Buddha, or more, in their house!!! - Like somebody (f.i. Treintje1001) said in a comment already: space savers are very necessary (like those steep stairs). You should go to China, Japan e.o. and look in houses there, you will be amazed HAHAHA!! The richer one is, the wider one makes the stairs, haven't you noticed this yet, Eva? I did (you can see that in a lot of videos on youtube!). I also love wider stair-steps to be honest because I'm clumsy and rather unstable but when there is no space ..................... and when you are not rich you can not change this ;-( - Indeed, there are 'kantelramen' (=tilt-windows) that you can also simply open. And like I said in an other comment, we NEED to air our houses (damp = mold!!). - Again, go to an Eastern country and go to the toilet-room and bathroom there, your eyes will pop out!! (Look it up on youtube!!). In Europe there are different toilets, with little bowls, with big bowls, hanging ones, others with support, in color, some toiletrooms have a sick, others do not. So, you can't generalize. The same with what you can or can not find in that toiletroom! Some have books or magazines in there, some have calenders with jokes on them in their toiletroom and so on. - OMG, love stained glass!! But it's not affordable for a lot of people and those windows are not very well insulated (bills!!!). I would love it for the inside doors but, not affordable! Europe is known to have respect for old buildings, etc., that is not the case in America and that is why Europe attracts so many American tourists HIHI. - Some of those American houses, in some parts of the country, do also have such a entry like you mentioned, in the back of their garden (just a door or a shed, garage). But of course not everyone has this. And some houses have a back-door, I saw those in American houses too, most come out in the kitchens of the houses there! So that is also very handy. - Lots of people have also more than 1 car, Eva!!! Father has 1, mother has 1 and every child has one, and then .......... there is no parkingspace enough and they all complain about that! So it would be better if they all had a bike instead of a car each, also much healthier do you not think ;-)!!!!! Some bicycles have gears, others are electric and both can make riding more comfortable for the cyclist. Then there are also 'bakfietsen' (= cargo bikes), for transporting kids, animals or groceries. There are also 'ligfietsen' (= recumbent bicycles), tandems, etc. Much choice, no? Love to all who have a good and warm heart, Pinkie
Hahaha those Buddha statues were like this huuge trendy item a few years ago (and kinda still are apparently), didn't know that that was an especially Dutch trend! I thought we got all our trends from America these days! Also the stairs, I think it's just the Dutch being cheap, windy stairs take up less space, and space is expensive over here!
Dear Eva, Stairs, or just steps, and also stepladders, have an ideal height of 19 or 20cm. This is the most comfortable way of lifting your feet in a forward motion to a next level, without looking where you go. This has been very deeply designed for your comfort. Also blind people do not have to worry about where they are going because of this standard. It has been well thought out. And since you don't need a wide staircase when walking up and down on your own, why bother with a wide staircase? "We" are custom to live in small houses and the floor space is much more important than getting up or going down to other levels with two people next to each other. If someone is descending you just wait your turn to go up. It never is that crowdy in a dutch home. The only drawback is that when moving house you might find it hard to get bigger furniture to the next floor. But we thought of that too. All houses will have a so called "verhuisraam", a window on the 2nd or 3rd floor, constructed so, that it can swing open all the way up or sideways, to enter bigger things that would not fit the narrow staircase. Ja, daar is over nagedacht. By the way, you are most welcome here sweethart. Love to hear those stories and findings in good old Holland. 😇
I have 1 small buddha in my house. I got it in 1996 as a present from a Chinese worker when he went home to China after working together on a project for a year. But I would never buy a Buddha myself. About the curtains. My wife want always the curtains open, and I want them closed. But we are together now for 30 years, so compromises have to be made 🙂 The 'glas in lood' windows and doors are beautiful. And yea, we live with 3 people in my house and there are 7 bikes in the shad. And now I am looking to buy a old bike from 1920, 30 or 40 as a hobby. So it wil be 8 🙂 Thanks again for your video.
Bhudda - check (just a statue), narrow stars - check (take up less space, and work fine), windows - check, curtains - yes (never use them), toilet -no shelf (any more) Never gets clogged up!, Verjaardagscalender - check, stained glass - no, achterom - check (rural), more than 1 bike - check.
Another thing: in the Netherlands, the fuse box of a house is pretty much always in the hallway or kitchen (older homes). While in the USA/Canada they are often somewhere on the outside, or in (seemingly) random places in the house. It is so weird to me that the fuse box would be outside the house, where just anyone could access it, including intruders! Here in the NL, if you want to cut me off from power, you either have to already be inside my house, or you have to cut off power to the entire neighborhood XD
Hahahaha, I also have a Buddha in my home, and it was also gifted by a friend. I think it's quite popular cos although we don't practice (or necessarily believe) in Buddhism, most of us just kinda jive with the Buddhism vibe. :)
Budha's were a few years a go "a la mode". It's over now. When I was young in the 50th and 60th we could park our bikes without locking them! No one stole things that belonged to others. Now everything gets stolen. Just the "globalising". Many people of other civilizations have other habits, other norms and values. And we're with sooooo many now! Times change and not allways for better....
Hello Dutch Americano, many Buddha statues have only become popular among Dutch people in the last 10 years as a result of holiday trips to Southeast Asia. Yet that is not the only explanation. People have become more open to Eastern religions after the strong de-Christianization of the Dutch population. The Xenos Retail Chain has responded to this as a trendsetter. As for the so-called "Kiep-Kantel-Ramen" are not a (typical) Dutch invention, but from Germany, where it has been frequently used as an option since the emergence of plastic frames.
1. Buddha is usually not seen as religious, but more 'spiritually' (peace/forgiveness); also, christianity is not prevalent anymore, so Buddha's are not seen as threatening the main religion. Buddha's should be received as a present and not bought, according to some superstition. 2. Narrow stairs save space; people were not so large (so the shoe size are not a problem) and in The Netherlands still are at average not as 'stout' as in the US. Have as much 'room' size, save on stair size ... 3. Airing your rooms/houses has as much to do with fresh air as with preventing moisture build-up and mold. 4. Curtains: part of Dutch protestant culture (main stream) was once to 'show off' tour wealth, having been chosen as God's own, as well as your virtue (we have nothing to hide, everyone can look in). 5. Toilets: shelf toilets are a thing of the past; calendars are still very usual. 6. Stained glass: definitely something out of the past and to be preserved or reserved. 7. The 'alleyway' (achterom in Dutch) is a luxury. The main entrance once was reserved for the grown-ups and visitors. Kids with muddy boots etc. were not supposed to enter the house through the front door.
Buddhas: The believe is that a buddha brings luck to the owner, but when given to you by someone.. This last part is not always known by dutch people. ((also, think back to our VOC era.)) Narrow / Steep Stairs: My mom doesn't come to visit me because the stairs are too steep. :D
Most has already been said. As an expat you have to remind yourself that many 'typically Dutch' things are actually typically Randstad, or even city specific. Not so the flat flush toilet. They are a thing in Germany too. And though it is illegal to sell them in the USA, it's not illegal to own or install them, and they're readily available in Canada. 😊 I'm not up to date with the status of Buddha or gifting habits in Holland, but it may have started with the Laughing Buddha that Dutch government employees who were stationed in the East Indies bought there from Chinese toko's. (These would've ended up mostly in Den Haag.) You may know this, but the Laughing Buddha isn't Siddharta Gautama - the historical Buddha - at all. It is in stead Budai, a 10th century Chinese travelling monk famous for his smiles, jolly disposition and generosity and benevolence. His fame has spread through most of Asia. To Chinese Buddhists, he is the future Buddha, and in Japan, he is one of the seven Lucky Deities. He is named Budai after the cloth sack he carries - his real name is Qieci - from which he hands out sweets to the children, food to the hungry, rice to the poor and medicine to the sick. To most of those civil servants, he would've been little more than an exotic ceramic to liven up the corner table and remind them of the years spent overseas, but to those that took the time to learn who he was, the resemblance with Sint Nicolaas, the most popular saint in the Netherlands (patron of children and the poor, but also of prisoners and sailors, and as the latter the patron of the city of Amsterdam) must have been striking, especially with the sack. Finding something so recognisable and close to heart was sure to strike a chord. As the patron of contentment and abundance, he would be the perfect gift for a new home, and obviously his (nick)name is easily mistaken for Buddha, especially if you speak neither Chinese nor Nepalese, so... 'Luchten' isn't just for fresh air, though we do love that, but opening the window for 10 minutes every day is recommended to let humidity out of the house, which has a notably positive effect on your heating bill. And did you notice that toilet sinks are always too small? Possibly not, but I'm a man. Better yet, I'm Frisian, so my hands aren't exactly lady-sized. My mom, when I visit her, keeps complaining that I should sit down when I pee, and I keep telling her to get a bigger sink. The achterom has dual roots. On the one hand, the city houses of the rich used to have the 'koetshuis' at the back, opening on a not so posh but still wide enough street. On the other hand, farmhouses in the Netherlands are traditionally entered through the kitchen, which is turned toward the 'erf' and the barns and stables where people work. The front door and living are turned towards the road and were only used for weddings and funerals and receiving special guests. All the rest sat, ate and talked at the large kitchen table. This wasn't just to prevent dirtying the livingroom with working clothes, but also saved on heating. Since most of the heating (like cooking and boiling water) was done it the kitchen anyway, this was the best place to be.
As an american who has lived in The Netherlands for past 24 years, Thank you universe, I say this while rubbing the head of my Buddha. The larger one, the teacher, that lives on my cabinet of dreams. Little fat Buddha is on my desk. Like a focal point to bring you back to earth so you do not become too full of yourself. Buddha represents peace, harmony, happiness and intelligence to many in the western world. I and my friends all had one also in america. If I practice anything it is to be more like Buddha but I am human so get irritated by ignorance and ppl who do not take the time to think and wonder before speaking. Just take this as some good old good advice. Think, wonder and enjoy it all bc humans are bats shit crazy. haaaa all of us. Life is a trip, a journey and most of all learning experience to end with love. THINK about the houses and why they have steep stairs. Simple logical answer is..In the old days especially living along the canals which were highways for boats, all the products needed to survive and to make money with taxing import export. Since big part of the country is created by creating land from water ..you did know this right?? this logically means the cost of land is high so they built up bc you cannot tax the sky. Which also leads to skinny houses so you must have steep stairs. Ppl were shorter then. You can see this in the old barn doors and some old houses in the country. Very low roofs, door and windows. Waste not, want not. I think you can see that when you walk into those houses. Not enough room in the hall. Right? After this I could not watch anymore bc you are not a serious person. I know you can grow and do not take this as mean. It is just advice to do better bc you do have the brains to do better. Rock on The Netherlands is a wonderful place to live and the history is rich with knowledge. Check it out.
Stairs are narrow to save (expensive) space. Buddha’s are a weird way of showing you are spiritual or open to other cultures. Closing curtains suggest you have something to hide. Also it looks more inviting to visitors if they can see you are actually at home. The toilet shelf is a life saver, as a doctor I can tell you it is good to inspect your stool and notice abnormalities such as blood. Early diagnosis can save your life. Stained glass was all the rage in the 1930s. Achterom is silly, agreed. Unless you store your bike at the back. Bicycles? We are 17 million cyclists. Just as all Americans are motorists.
Thanks for the video again. I'm Dutch. I don't like the shape of of the toilet bowls either. Before taking care of the necessary business I like to place a bit of paper around the the floushy-hole-thing. Not very sexy tot talk about, but well ment. I hope I didn't mess up my English too badly. All the best to all !! :)
You are correct about these Buddhas but it also used to be that people had two goose statues behind their windows. I think people found gezellig, for me that was truly embarrassing.
Yup more than one bicycle makes sense. I have still have my old crappy bike, even fixed it up to be working again reasonably well by reusing parts from a scrap bicycle someone else was going to dispose of. That one is now the bicycle I use if I need to use the bus stop during the weekend or evenings since the stupid new route plan cut our town out to save a whole 2-3 minutes on the entire trip. The middle of nowhere along a public road isn't the best place to park your fancy bicycle and expect it to still be there after a weekend even if you lock it properly. I suspect the lock I use on that bicycle might even be more expensive than I spent on buying the used bicycle 10-15 years ago. For just about anything else I use my ebike whether that's getting groceries, work, fun rides, etc. But for me to get groceries depending on the town I pick it's either 13 minutes at max speed for a nearby small town with a Poiesz or 20-30 minutes for the other towns or the city with more options. So to get cold stuff home timely and to cut back on trip time with strong wind it's very welcome. Now I just need to check the rain forecast and plan the trip around the rain or put on rainproof clothing. I also know a few people that actually have and use 4 bikes every week: - 1 good normal bicycle or ebike - 1 racing bicycle, the light kind of frame with a derailleur and all that fiddly stuff - 2 "stationsfietsen" (station bikes, basically cheap simple but working bicycles) They have one at home to get to the station and then another one at their other regular train station to get to the final destination And stained glass windows are fairly common, people often preserve them now as well when improving the insulation of buildings. A single layer of glass isn't the best insulation and especially older stained glass will deform and develop drafting cracks over time. In the past they were often replaced with normal glass but now I'm seeing a lot of people that actually have their stained glass windows taken out temporarily and then gets encased in glass on both the inside and outside and some vacuum insulation too probably. The whole thing then gets put back into the original location.
Older houses (specially the smaller houses) have small and narrow stairs due to space, we have 2 of them as well (our house is from '42 or '43, if we would make those stairs normal and wide we have to redo half the house, to costly... We did add an extra grip on the side and bottom, but I am always sideways on the stairs). I hate those "kantel" ramen, the windows that you twist and opening on the top, very dangerous if you have cats (they can get stuck in them and die a horrible death, make sure you have protection on those (easily bought by a big online petshop!!!) I love stained window's, grew up in a home with them. Our house does not have them, would be nice now that you mentioned it... Maybe get those in time :) Would not be old windows but is an older house, would fit nice :)
Interesting! I had to stop looking to your video at some point, though. The intensity of the way you are talking is just too much for me. Now I may be having some sensitivity problems due to post-COVID things. So that is my problem. But I would ask you to ask some people you know about the tone and speed of the message you ar trying to bring. And how effective that is. I think your message would come across much better in half of the speed, to start with. But probably it is just my problem, sorry.....
Another reason for more bioes than people is the "stationsfiets", a (usually old crappy) bike people leave at a train station (often one near their work/school) so they can also bike from there. E.g. I could bike from home to the local train station, lock my bike up there, then take the train to a station near school/work where I can then unlock my "stationsfiets" to cycle from there to school/work. (Because a regular bike in the train is a hassle, costs extra, and isn't even allowed during peak hours; foldable bikes are allowed but aren't as pleasant to cycle on and require folding and unfolding).
You've forgotten about hallways. In the US the front door puts you right into the living room whereas most Dutch homes have a hallway where you can hang your coat and which acts as an 'airlock' keeping the heat inside in winter when you open the front door. Also pretty useful for privacy- whoever's at the door can't look straight into your living room.
Dutch homes are required to have a hallway, it's in the building code.
To me, being from Holland, the front door opening into the living room is by far the weirdest thing here in the U.S. I got used to many things being different. But that door.... I'll never get used to it.
@@2zwaantjes Same here! Not all homes in the US have it, but plenty do
Exactly. that is bc the dutch thinks practically and not wasteful like greedy capitalist. Like insulation in america is a joke but here even in old homes you have reason why things are built different like you said about the hall. In America they stopped trains so cars would be used more, less insulation you use more energy so the oil co. make more money.
Dutch they call cheap but they are just logically practical. I love it.
Yes, it is in the building code that there has to be a hallway. In that hallway you will find a 'meterkast', a closet that contains the water, gas, electricity meters, the telephone, cable tv and internet connection.
A toilet cannot have a direct connection with a room or kitchen (hygiene, smells, sounds), so usually they are situated in that hallway as well. The basin in the toilet is there for washing your hands only. Washing other body parts or drinking, should be done somewhere else. The simple fact that Americans call it 'the powder room' makes me think that people could use it to check or apply make-up, disgusting thought.
I don't know about the Buddha statues. They sell them at Action and stuff and people like to buy them. I don't think there is anything to it
That's why it's on the list
As an Internet Services mechanic, I visit a lot of people. In the last five years, I rarely saw Buddha statues. I don't think it's as pervasive as you seem to think.
Voor veel mensen is die boedha gewoon een beeldje van de action
Stairs are made as compact and space saving as possible, because Dutch houses probably are typically smaller than in America, and we want to use the valuable space in the most efficient way. In bigger, more expensive houses you will most likely also find wider and straight stairs.
The see-through curtains are called 'vitrage' or 'glasgordijnen' (glass curtains). They are kind of see-through, but not entirely clear. They make the view kind of blurry and it is difficult to actually see what is behind them. Their purpose is to let the light come in while still providing some privacy. During the day, that is. At night we close the thick curtains. Having the curtains or blinds closed during the day would make the house become very dark, and it also looks a bit awkward and unfriendly from the outside. So the glass curtains provide a good compromise for letting the light flow in while still maintaining some privacy. The toilet 'with the 'shelf' as you describe it is called a 'flat-flusher' and is indeed typical for the Dutch market, and it has pro's and con's. The normal type is called a 'deep-flusher'. Basically a flat-flusher is more comfortable, but a deep-flusher is more hygenic. There is also a broader choice in deep-flush toilets. Btw the flat-flushers are becoming less popular. The small sink in the toilet has a very distinct purpose, namely: to wash your hands when you're done! I am a bit shocked to hear that this apparently is not a common thing in America. It's all about hygene. The toilet is the best place for the birthday calender, since it is the place where you are most likely to actually look at it ;-). The 'achterom' is there for basically two reasons, and follows from the tendency to build blocks of clutered together houses (terraced houses). As you mentioned, the shed is usually at the back, so that is where you leave and enter the house when you are using your bike. When two rows of houses are build side by side, the fire dpt demands a so-called 'brandgang' (firebreak) inbetween the two rows of houses to be able to fight a possible fire at the back side of the block. This brandgang then also provides the access to the back entrance. Btw 'Achter om' literally means 'around the the back'.
The Dutch may often have more than one bike; the Americans often have more than one car lol 🙂.
Forgotten the glass curtains i thought she ment in-betweens and i don't got those thicker curtains,
She does't says they don't have any sink in the toilet she's shockt about the small sizes and there is most of the time onely cold water and not hot water tap. The small size is also because of small houses and avalible space, the cold water is because warm water is wastefull lots of times you'll be waiting for at least twenty seconds
She did. o research on anything..this is an airhead rant.
The thin curtains are there to spread the light, sunlight diffusers. They illuminate the entire room behind them, or else the light would only be at the window and the rest of the room stays relatively dark. Plants also appreciate them, and Dutch houses have far more plants and flowers than those in the US.
The alley around the back is required for access by the fire department and for access to the back garden, you are also supposed to keep your waste containers in the back garden and roll them to the street not going through your house.
Apartment blocks (build after 1950) are required to have a bicycle/storage room easy accessible from the street or back alley.
American homes either have full bath (toilet, sink, and bath/shower) or half bath (just toilet and sink). Since the footprint of American homes tends to be bigger the half baths all have a descent sized sink (easily big enough to get BOTH hands under the water stream). I remember my oma upgrading from an ancient rundown house in the Jordaan (the walls were cracked and you could see daylight in places, there was no insulation and there was just a heater in the kitchen, anly one toilet in the house, not shower or bath)... they moved to "Nieuw West" a section built in the 1930's. This house was MUCH more modern as it had a "full bath" (toilet, sink and shower). All of them were absolutely tiny, but compared to their 18th century run-down property it was sheer luxury. There was the ubiquitous "central heater" in the family room. The heat had to flow into the central corridor that was just big enough for a small dining table off to the side, two small bedrooms and a galley kitchen. They moved out of the Jordaan mid 1970's about a decade before it was "rediscovered" and people with deep pockets started to buy up these old rental properties. It takes serious money to strip these to the bones, fix structural issues, and then bring plumbing, electrical, and insulation to 20th century standards. When I was "back home" this past December, the rental properly was an older retrofit, and had the shelf toilet. When making #2... it makes the smell SO much worse. Definitely need to use the "courtesy flush" right way to get ride of the "load" right away. I grew up with them, but definitely don't love them :-)
@@tlee4218 Not necessary.
I know several people (me included) who discovered that something was medically wrong with them because they could "study" their poo on the poo-shelf...I would never wanna do without one!
Arjan Lubach made a program about the Buddha trend in Dutch houses and why this can be problematic. For most people they just like the esthetic, and because they are not religious themselves they don’t have a stance for or against it.
Buddhism in general has a positive image, because most people know very little about the religious aspects it has in many countries.
No, it has a positive image because its adherents typically are typically highly educated and highly socially succesful foreigners who assimilate well into Western countries if they migrate there. It doesn't affect us how Buddhism is practiced abroad, it matters only what its impact is in the West. We associate the Buddha with highly advanced oriental cultures just like we associate Mohammed with barbarism.
@@classicallpvault8251 Buddism is often associated with peace here in the west. I think that is the main reason people have this Buddha art.
In history lessens I never heard about agresive Buddhists.
An other reason why people have multiple bikes (at least this is common in Belgium, I don't know if it's the same in the Netherlands but I suspect it does) is students have a bike in the university city and one at home at there parents because we go back and forth very often in the weekends and it's more convenient to have two bikes than transport the bike by train.
Also lots of people have two bikes in order to get from their home to the train station, and from the train station of another town to their place of work.
Yup i also have 2 one to go the pub and a regular one. Well regular one is now old enough to become the main pub bike.
I have had several different bikes. Each with their own use: a regular bike (my dads old bike) for the every day trips to school, stores or work, a sports bike which was a gift from my uncle when he bought a new one, another regular bike with extra carriers for when I delivered newspapers which was used that I bought cheap from the local bike shop, a BMX bike for cruising around the neighbourhood when I was a kid, an ATB that I got from a very happy client at the job I worked at. Now I have two: my uncles old bike. I got that one because he doesn't use it anymore and my mothers E-bike.
My brother got about 8 bikes, aquired during his life 😬 : 3 road bikes, 2 mtbs and 2 or 3 city/tour/commute bikes !
I myself have 3-4 : an e-citybike, a road bike and 2 junk/pub/station bikes .
I really don;t like big on-street windows though ..
The Netherlands is a very densely populated country, so we need to use space efficiently, which, amongst other things, means not wasting space with wide and long staircases; steeper narrower staircases take up less of that precious space
You talking about stained glass is really interesting. My parents live in a home build in 1932, it had stained windows when build it was originaly constructed, It got destroyed during the war, but my dad grew up in the village the live in now and its very connected to it. He managed to dig up some old pictures and such of the building from before the war. They're currently working to restore the original stained glass, as far as posstible at least.
Stained glass is mainly used in houses built before WW2. I have lived in a 1930's house as well and it too had stained glass, both above the outside windows and in the en-suite sliding doors. And in the door between the entry hall and the corridor as well.
Their disadvantage is they usually leak.
What is real d*** shame is them young millennial homeowners demolishing these old unique stained glasses. Why but an old house of you don't like what's in there. Go live in a Vinex home then, you fools!
The windows you can open in two ways are a German design. Older Dutch homes with windows not yet replaced often have tiny little windows that can create small openings above larger windows. The tiny ones are called "Bovenlichtjes." To ventilate the house without draught I often use only the bovenlichtjes. No powered ventilation system required. Works perfectly.
The two-way windows are called kantelkiepraam
I first encountered that system in Switzerland.
I always watch a British tv show called: Homes under the hammer. And in that show it happens several times that a house that is visited has stained glass windows. So this is not only a Dutch thing. It is something typical for the thirties of the twentieth century. But it is very beautiful to me. And I am one of the few people born and raised here that closes the curtains as soon as it gets dark. I just don’t feel safe and at ease when everybody can see me.
The 'see-through' curtains are called 'vitrage'. Say: Vee-trah-zjuh, in the French way. Many Dutch words are in fact French.
The 'achter-om' was (in the past) also the door for the maid, or to drop off deliveries.
I am Dutch but live in the US since 1996. i find your video fun and comical, thank you for the entertainment.
Yup. Vitre = Window. Vitrage = Window stuff.
I know what you mean. Living since 1997 abroad. Always lovely to see these Dutch things.
The vitrage is also just one way see-through. You can look out, being it kinda blurred, but you're gonna have a hard time looking in. So still private.
So the buddha thing is actually a but of superstition haha. We usually just see it as a tranquil and calming accessory to the home. And your wife getting it as a gift is typical. You don't really buy a buddha, you get it from someone. It's often a house warming gift 😂 don't ask me where or how it started but that's what I know haha
Must be for the younger types cause i'm 50 and i believe i ve seen one only once in a home and i'm pretty sure they where buddists. Or at least the enterior had that whole vibe and they where from azian descent. I believe they where from vietnam originally. I migth have seen an older small bronze one that was purly decorative but when they moved 20 years ago it wasn't in their new house.
@@arturobianco848 oh no quite the opposite actually. Fun fact it was my mom that even told me this because I had the same question when I was a bit younger and saw my family gifting a buddha to my aunt xD
This has been a running thing in pretty much any adult's house I've seen. As in my parents (50+), my aunts and uncles (50-ish), their friends all around the same age. Younh people rarely even have a home nowadays, including myself at 26, so if I ever manage to even receive a buddha from my family then I'll know I'be made bank somehow in this housing market hahaha. At this point 30+ becomes the norm to still live at your parents place xD But yea def not a younger generation thing haha.
Buddha's date back to the hippie era, with meditation and contemplation. The Beatles and most of all John Lennon took Buddhist India as inspiration. Nowadays they symbolize spirituality without strict religion. And for many they are meaningless decoration.
Heathen sculpture is not popular in the US. Even Christian isn't, they will question the house owner about their believes if they see an Orthodox icon or a Catholic crucifix. Freedom of religion are words in the Constitution, not shared value.
@@KayVolkeringWell no hippys in my familie and i guess in our aquintances.
@@dutchman7623 Eeeeh I'm not completely sure what you mean with the buddha dates back to. It's technically a buddist symbol and I do agree that to many it's a meaningless decoration. Do you mean that that's how they got popular here in the netherlands? Also as an atheist activist I know and do agree with the US absolutely not having these in their homes hahaha. Hell Atheists are still seen as satanists there without actually knowing what the satanic church actually stands for xD I mean a large portion of the country doesn't even believe in evolution because 'the bible says... " xD But yea I just gave the info that I know as other generations have told me haha.
THE BUDDHAS OMG. We bought a house in the NL recently and the owners left a little buddha in the garden. I started noticing them everywhere LOL.
They say that buda's protect the house..
You shouldn't buy it for yourself.. and it should face the door...
( Well thats what most people believe )
Not sure if its most people never seen the things, its however probable the myth for those who gift them.
We often have 2 pairs of curtains.. the see through and a thick one !!!
But from the outside you might only see the see through one..
The "achterom" is the result of the typical housing building style which is a bit different from the US. Instead of square city blocks, or blocks are narrow and on the long sides there is a closed row of houses. The rows are separated just enough to have back gardens between them, and the "achterom" can run between that.
In the US I think it is more typical for houses to be separated from eachother so you can walk around your house to get to the back garden.
Just like the narrow and steep stairs, it can be explained by the fact that our cities are much more tightly packed, as land with building permit is (artificially) scarce and thus very expensive. You would not want (or cannot afford) to waste area with large stairs or your own private path to reach your back garden, you get small stairs and a shared path.
Do not forget that shared path is a i=fireescape path. Mandatory due to fire regulation.
The 'achterom' has a second, important function. It is a fire-escape. therefore the are also known as 'brandgang'
Buddha statues are weirdly a very common gift haha. Especially when someone lives on their own for the first time, it's seen as a sort of lucky symbol. And the luck giving features of the Buddha statue don't appear when you buy one yourself, so it's good to keep the gifted one around, I'm not making this up, this is what a lot of people believe haha
Do you know the flessenlikker?
I got one (now living in France). Nobody of our foreign friends had a clue of what the purpose is when we showed it.
hahaha, that is so great. It really seems a thing of the past though, I can't find them anywhere, although we used them a lot when I was growing up!
Hi Ava, nice remarks again. Dutch stairs:
According to the Dutch building rules (Bouwbesluit) in the 1980-ties and 90-ties the minimum for a staircase was horizontal part 185 mm, a foot is about 300 mm, and the riser minimum was 210 mm. So they built this minimum. Then after years of negotiation and studying they changed the Bouwbesluit the staircase measurements changed into: horizontal 210 mm, and the vertical 185 mm. This under loud protest of the building companies, it would take too much space and would be too expensive. In the latest version of some years ago, they changed it back into the original horizontal: 185 mm, vertical 210 mm. In public buildings like hospitals and townhalls you find stairs lwith steps: 300 mm / 180 mm. In common area's in appartment buildings the horizontal step must be 240 mm.
The minimum measurements of a toilet are 920x1220 mm (2x20 mm stuco). So that's what you often get.
The windows you can open in two ways are actually even more popular in Germany. I lived there for a while and I have not seen a home without such windows.
Indeed - we imported that from the Germans.
@@robertvermaat2124and especially the cheap plastic ones still almost certainly come from Germany
I grew up with a "dutch toilet shelf" and had to later learn to live with water splashing my hole when i dump 😂
Put some toilet paper in the hole first! Just mimic the traditional "vlakspoeler"... ;-)
I took living in a home with stained glass for granted for years untill I realised that apperently not every home (even in the same street as I live) has them. It's so beautiful! We even have the sliding doors. My father has replaced the glass in the door to the living room also with stained glass (he made the pattern himself).
These sliding doors had more functions than just separate the front and back room. There is a well known phrase that says "optreden tussen de schuifdeuren". A place between the opened sliding doors to give a performance to the local family or some other occasion. And to keep the two rooms apart, the stained glass would help in some more privacy than just colorless window glass.
In American TV programs about houses, I always see that behind the front door you immediately have the living room, and not a hall like in the Netherlands, is that correct? It seems very impractical to me, because it can also be cold in America!
Of course it's correct. Why would they pretend the houses are different than they are?
The difference is because of history. European houses stem from the longhouse; a big hall in which the entire extended family lived. Over time long houses were extended with private rooms for the leading family, while everyone else still lived in the main hall. Given more time there were more and more rooms added with specializations like cooking, and for other family members to have private areas, and the hall kept shrinking. Until now it's just an entrance that is still seen as somewhat public while the rest of the house is more private. Hence why we often invite people into the hall, and then invite them into the living room again.
In the US meanwhile the history is the colonizing past. New immigrants didn't have a lot of material to work with, nor time to make more than minimally required. Often your first house was a simple cabin, with a few small rooms. A entrance would've been a luxury only indulged in by richer people in established cities. I guess people just got used to the idea of stepping right into the house so much that most people wouldn't question it. Also, many homes are build by big developers who build entire neighborhoods of the same houses. There's little incentive to build more complex and expensive houses when most buyers/renters wouldn't even have the idea of an entrance hall.
Because the stairs take much more space? :-)
Buddha statue, yes. Religious no. If I’m anxious, I just look at the Buddha to say to myself: if he can be relaxed, I should be able too.
The doors and windows you mention are German invention as far as I know.
There are two types of curtains. The see through during day and the thicker, not see through behind them during the dark.
The proper name for an "achterom" is a "brandgang". It's main purpose is for fire crews to be able to access the back of the house in the event of a calamity. People often use it differently.
In addition to the flat shelf toilet (vlakspoel toilet), Dutch powder rooms (including public toilets) have a 'toilet borstel' toilet brush, to erase marks. We were in Canada and we only saw water bowl toilets (diepspoel toiletten). We have not seen any toilet brushes: in the water bowl toilets the chance of leaving marks seems to be much lower (excuses for this little disgusting detail).
It has to do with health in the past. You are able to inspect your excrement, and a mother that of her kids, with a plateau pot. Infections and parasites could be spotted immediately and we had medication to stop and cure it. We Dutch almost eradicated all wurm infections until the 1980's when they had a comeback. Be aware that those infections are very common in certain areas of the world. Hygiene (especially for kids) is very recommended.
Hi Ava! Did you forget the "fietspomp" that everyone has to have (plus the "rema" tube patch kit?), the coat rack sort of behind the door to the outside, the rack for shoes and the fact that every room has a door (no open arches between rooms). I think you might emphasize the "schuur", because most Americans don't have one.
rema? ik ken alleen de samson bandenplakset (dat rood-witte ding)
What about a deep fryer… I was so surprised when I moved to the US (California 25 years ago) I had a hard time to buy a deep fryer and found out almost nobody had one, nor that you could fine “frituurolie.” Perhaps that is why I ran into so few Belgiums in the US. While I has once a case when I was buying a printer in a computer store, I was helped by a fellow was Dutch too but we only found out at when was paying….
One word croquettes, The single reason for having a deep fryer. NSW in Oz
@@nswinoz3302 exactly… why haven’t the Dutch exported them yet. I had to wait 18 months for my first Kroket in San Francisco. There was an Indonesian Independence Party on union square…. And they sold kroketten, claiming that there were originally Indonesian… I am fine with that… they were very tasty, almost as good as my moms… ;-)
I love your chanel ❤ I'm so interested in Dutch culture and Dutch everything and you add lots of insights for me 😍 thank you! That tiny sink with the freezing water ahhhh 😂 love from Saudi ✌️ ❤
I think it happens to be that your partner and your friends are into that buddha stuff. It sounds like everyone in NL has some kind of buddha relics in their houses, which is wrong. It is a choice if you like that kind of interior or not .
Regarding the windows and homes in common. Most recent window-designs do have triple layered glass. But a big different between US and NL homes are the build quality. The most residential homes in the US are almost build only out of wood with a concrete foundation. As what I saw with my own eyes is that all the houses in the American 'burbs" even don't have maintained gardens (only the big mansions). It almost looks like these homes are build directly on the grass without any gardening or planning whatsoever. Triple garages and as much cars in front of these garages are the most important things, which I understand because you have to use a car for everything stuff.
And last but not least is the fact that all power and phone lines are above the ground which creates a spider web of cables running everywhere to these external fuse-boxes.
These are my things I find in the US homes but not in NL homes and neighborhoods in NL. Have a nice weekend Eva and partner.
Of course stairs are bigger in the US, people are 400lb on average there.
We walk up the stairs with only the ball or the front of your feet, not your whole foot, thats so awkward, that is why we have no problem with steep or narrow stairs. And i also have buddah's in my home, but all are given, cuz when you buy them yourself it's bad luck
going down some stairs is scary though... I also go sideways if the stairs are very steep
If you are interested, a friend of mine, Jac Splinter, gives courses in making stained glass windows in Nijmegen and also makes them himself. If that’s too distant, he probably knows people in Utrecht as well. One of Europe’s first (Thai-) Buddhist temple’s by the way is in the city of Waalwijk. A cousin of mine was a member of the board there, to straighten the financial things out after the founder had left it in a mess several years ago.
In typical Dutch (and actually rather strange) house design, the living room often is at the front with a huge window with a view of the street. Anybody passing by in the street who's nosy has a view into your living room. And the kitchen is at the back of the house with a view of the garden (achterom). This is considered normal and a lot of people walking by who are nosy are invited to have a look into your living room if you don't have curtains. I guess that is why Vitrage (Glass Curtains - Glasgordijnen) is very popular in the Netherlands. It blocks the view into the living room and gives some privacy without obstructing daylight from entering.
En wonen in betonnen dozen
Met flink veel glas, dan kun je zien, hoe of het bankstel staat bij Mien en d'r dressoir met plastic rozen.
het Dorp Wim Sonneveld
(trans) And live in concrete boxes
With a lot of glass, you can see how the sofa looks at Mien and her dresser with plastic roses
Not true. Lots of 80s and 90s houses have the kitchen at the front and livingroom next to the garden at the back. Including my house.
@@HB-mj2jz could be, but I often found it weird having the kitchen at the streetside. I always tough it as a compromise to narrow frontspace like in the houses of Jeruzalem build in the early '50. Space was needed for the stair to the upperlevel. The crappy houses are nowaday architectual heritage.
A *lot* of homes have the kitchen in the front. Personally I hate a living room at the street-side, so I'm happy to have a home with the kitchen at the street, and the living room at the garden :-)
We got a small ugly Buddha statue. It was a gift from someone so we kept it. Those tilting and turning windows are regular standard windows. You will see them all around Europe. The display platform in the toilet is very usefull for inspection of your products to see if the colour is off and you might need to see a doctor. Or to take a sample if your doctor asks for one.
Look at the fire stairs on the picture behind you. You would not find such steep and narrow stairs here, even as fire stairs.
@toilets: I don't know anyone who still has a 'shelf toilet'. I don't even know if they're still being sold. I think it's a thing of the past, yet it often crops up as something 'typically' Dutch.
@curtains: Dutch like looking out into the street. Not only to see what's the traffic, but especially what the neighbours are up to. 😝
@bikes: once I had a city bike and a sports bike, now we (4) all just have one. And while the bicycle market may be 'saturated' (is it?) bike theft is perhaps also high because bikes are EXPENSIVE these days! It seems like simple bikes do not exist anymore. Then you have the e-bike that costs as much as a small car, and fatbikes that are impossible to insure around Amsterdam (if not equipped with anti-theft gps) because the chance of them being stolen there is almost 100% (!!!).
Buddhas are typical of what I would call "Dutch garden center chic" - just like big letters spelling "L O V E" or "Family" and heart shaped objects that you can hang on door handles and coat racks. It has no meaning, it is vapid fashion.
I've seriously never seen a budha in anyones home, except my brother maybe who has all kinds of eastern stuff, and it clearly means nothing. Probably a city thing... I think people just see it as a 'gezellig' jolly fat man without a beard and red suit.
Please... stop saying we don't care about privacy...an open window is to let light in, not an invitation to be rude. We just expect people to have a minimum of self control. Stop staring into people's houses....
The "achterom" (back alley) is mandatory due to fire regulations. If there's a fire the firefighters need to be able to attack the fire from the outside if the fire happens to be in the back of your house.
I thought it was for access to the bike shed, with row houses ..
@@lws7394 that's what it's mainly used for. Fortunately we don't have many fires. Although, one time my neighbours were deepfrying stuff in their shed and, yes, the entire shed went up in flames.
@@Dutch1961 today the building code doesn’t normally require an alleyway for firefighting or fleeing, but it is required to have a shed “buitenberging” accessible from the street and/or shared hallway. With current code for new built homes, you are not allowed to (need to) pass through your home with your bike.
I got a Budda. It was gifted by my Uncle who went to Nepal on a hike. They came back with budda's for everyone. Mine was the only one still in one piece. So its sitting here for already over 20 years.
The no-curtain thing is only in the areas that were predomintantly protestant. This isn't a thing in the more catholic oriented areas (say below the rivers). And also, my crappy bike is for when I go places that doesn't have a safe bike parking, so the train station or the pub. I do my work commute with my nice bike, because my workplace has a fietsenhok that only employees can access.
1. Buddha-beeldjes
2. steile, smalle trappen
3. draai-kiepamen
4. wc's met een inspectieplateau
5. een klein wasbakje in de wc
6. de verjaardagskalender
7. glas-in-lood
8. een achteringang
9. meerdere fietsen per persoon
In the olden days, property tax was being calculated based on the width of the building. Hence the narrow stair case as it was considered waste of money to make them wider, as it would mean would mean more property taxes.
Stairs take up a lot of space and building houses was way more costly here than in many other areas as we first had to “polder” the land (turn it from water / soggy land into dry land) and then make a foundation with foundation piles.
So to reduce costs and to limit the area of the house, stairs were made to take up at least space as possible.
Please note that today many houses need to have their foundation redone (funderingsherstel). For an average house consisting of a ground floor, first and second floor, the foundation repairs can come to €100,000.
Something you won’t “see” in your house, but needed nevertheless.
Buddha's give you (happyness??) and protection, BUT: Buddha's only work if you got it as a gift. If you bought it yourself they do not work.
4:50 Our Dutch friends delivered newspapers in the morning. This was done pretty much like it was done in the US up to at least the early 1990's
A kid, (I was 14) would have the papers delivered to their house. They fold up the papers, then head out to the paper route.
Once a month you had to go around and collect money from your customers.
Sometimes people wouldn't play, which sucked because the paper boy had to eat that cost. For revenge they would take their TV remote (I guess there was national standard) and in the early morning they would turn on the TV and turn the volume up to full blast.
I wish I could do that.
I had one customer who repeatedly stiffed me. He happened to be a high school teacher and a couple of years later I had to take one of his classes.
I was very strongly tempted to say, "You owe me money." I think it was about $15, but I never did anything. I was worried he might screw with my grade.
The bike part is 100% right. My Electric bike i use to go to work. And my old bike to go to the café etc
1:00 the buddhas are a left-over from the time we had Indonesia as a colony. People took them home as souvenirs. It became a thing.
I love my Amerikaanse huis from the 60's. It has a shared "achterom" with neighbors. It's a shared alley way to our driveways that are at the back of our homes. I live in the suburbs just outside Philadelphia PA.
PS You sound like you're from Utrecht when you speak ☺️ and I'm from Noord-Brabant.
Hi, maybee you want to have deeper look into why the "Dutch" don't have curtains. This is not in the complete Netherlands custom. It had to do with the believe. If you were protestant or calvinisme, by having your curtains open they stated there believe and showed " they didn't have anything to hide. In the south part of the Netherlands the main believe was Katholiek therefore you won't see this as standard. Please fact check me and add any parts i missed, could be more nuanced.
My Buddha is pure decoration. The stairs is probably because Dutch homes are smaller than American homes. Interesting you're talking about the lack of curtains in the Netherlands, while I was under the impression a lot of American bedrooms don't seem to have curtains. At least that's what I get from tv. I need my curtains. I don't like people peeking in.
Stained glass was very much in vogue in the 1920ies and 30ies. Must have been a Jugendstil / Art Deco thing (both did stained glass).
The Netherlands had a major building spree during that time, with many cities breaking outside their old walls, and most of those buildings are still standing. In fact, they are very desirable in the Dutch housing market, because this is the last period in which there were "extras" added to buildings instead of the purely functional cubes of later periods. Like the stained glass. And houses from that period still have stove pipes to the principal rooms, another bonus.
The steeper the stairs the less room they take so you have more living space
Eva, you missed the hallway! In many US houses you walk straight into the living room, wich I cannot imagine over here ..
I think I heard you say "my wife is a white Dutch person" ... That's a real American way to specify someone. We normally don't use a color for that (because ... who cares?). Better would be "my wife is Dutch". Unless you were talking about her hair-color....
When I was young I lived in Amsterdam. We were with 7 kids and each had a bicycle. We lived in a flat at the 3rd floor and because the bicycles in our neighborhood were often "missing" (stolen I guess), we had to carry our bicycles up the stairs to our own front door in the stairway and park it there.
I remember a stairway clogged with bicycles from my first appartement in Amsterdam ( 40 years ago) the staircase was straight and steep and there were no parking racks in the street.
Buda's are seen as good luck charms.
You didn't mention the wash-hand in the bathroom, or in the kitchen, that funny little scraper that you use to get tomato puree (etc.) out of the bottom of the tin! So many small but distinctive things in Dutch homes!
I am native Dutch and I have never seen a Boedha in any home I have visited in my country during my entire life.... Literally: none. So it really says something about YOUR friends and family in The Netherlands and nothing about our culture :) Also the steep stairs are all about space. When you have little space like we do in The Nethgerlands a steep stairway in your home simply saves space so you have more room to live in. It is that simple.
As a dutch person, I've seen a LOT of Buddhas in people's houses. Also if you've been to any tuincentra you will often see a section with a lot of buddha statues, they are really popular over here. Although it could be a regional thing, but personally I would definitely say it's a dutch thing.
The Buddhas: I think it is just where you live. Here in the south there aren't Buddhas. Here are lots of little dwarfs. In the garden, between the plants or on the grass, near the door. Those who have a (very) little fish pond in the garden often have a small dwarf with an angle on a stone at the fish pond.
Buddha -> check, was also a present
Window that can open completely sidewards or just a litte bittle (by turning in different directtion); check
Achterom -> check
Toliets -> check
Pretty good list
Hi, Ava... thanks for the video.
About Dutch houses, about 150 years ago it was quite common in Dutch cities that one family occupied one room in a house, a situation that on a regular basis led to outbreaks of contageous diseases. In those days sewers and drainage of streets were also uncommon, to give you an idea about the hygenical wasteland people lived in. Since change in Society never goes fast, it took many decades to improve that situation and the building regulations enforcing that change. Even after WW2 Bathrooms were considered luxury, so people were used to wash themselves in the kitchen, bathing there on Saturday. They did that with cold water, warm water was not available from the tab. Gradually even that improved, but from a minimalist point of view. The same with "stairs"... since houses (appartments) weren't big from the beginning, I can still remember rules for public housing of 20 sq.metre for one person, the stairs was regarded as a neccesary waste of space, one didn't use it on a regular basis over the day anyways, that's why they traditionally are steep and narrow, taller people bumping their heads.... and usually have a closet underneath.
BTW, the "achterom" is more common in rural area's of the netherlands than in the cities. I for instance live in a city, have a garden with exit, but it isn't used as a "achterom" for obvious (burglary) reasons.
I hope to see your next video soon!!
in those days waste was gathered at the street in considerable piles. And when the city garbage collection was established there were protest. the poor people considered it theft of income, because the sold the waste as menure to the farmers around the city. Also in those days the houses were so vermin ridden that in summer people could not sleep in the houses, but slept on the street ( probably hugging their privet waste piles).
"koninkrijk vol sloppen" by Auke van der Wou is an interesting reading on this subject.
Our steep staircases are evolved like this due to limited groundspace. Because the Netherlands is very dense, ground space is very expensive. So if you want to have as much livingspace as possible, you make everything that is not meant for lving as small as possible.
The population wasn’t as dense back then, but building grounds extremely expensive as a result of inpolderen and foundation (piles).
Funny for a genuine Dutch guy to see what you came up with, f.i the stained windows, it reminds me of my saying "you can only grow when you realize that you can only reason from your own frame of reference". We here never actually have thought it special, but for Americans it will be. The ones you refer to, are mainly form let's say early 1920's to around 1940. But you can also see a lot of stained glass in the whole of Europe in buildings from the tim Art Déco/Art nouveau was booming, although that was onlt the real "posh" buildings, and in The Netherlands it was all over the place, even rented houses (and form arhcitecture more the "Amsterdamse school" ! Keep up the good work! I enjoyed it
Kennen ze Washandjes in USA?
A small correction because I have often noticed in the Netherlands that they speak of Dutch windows.
In reality, this tilting window technology was invented in 1937 by the German Wilhelm Frank.
That might be a regional thing. Around here they are usually called draai- en kiepramen (turn & tilt windows).
Dutch wouldn't call that this way. You only do that for imported stuff. On the top of my head, I do not know anything where we add Dutch in front.
I am seeing them now in the US on higher end builds where the owners are looking for the Euro-Style windows with this flexible use, but also triple pane glass and due the bank vault like locking mechanism, it really seals well when closed. As you pointed out Germans designed and perfected them... steadily they have become the norm throughout much or Europe.
Deutsch or Dutch, a mistake is simply made
In my opinion more typical dutch window is one with that spacing handle on the bottom. So you open your window normally and can fixate your window in a certain angle.
The Draai/kiep windows are a trend of the last years.
The narrow stairs in old houses has originally to do with taxes. The grachtenhouses are a good example. The owner had to pay for the width of the house (which had something to do with the amount of glasses, but I fotgot the details). But to have the maximal amount of space and pay as little as possible one would build a narrow tall house, with as little stairspace as possible. Mind you that in the golden age the Dutchies were a lot smaller. And for some reason that trend never faded
It has to do with the fact that Amsterdam was rich, but at war as well. All citizens together had to pay for the city wall and its defenses. Narrow, deep, plots are the most efficient. Less public spaces like streets and canals were needed. Building up is more cost effective than width. Ground floor was for business, one up for the family, higher up for the kids and house servants, who could do with cheaper, steeper, stairs. Amsterdam was the Manhattan of the 17th century. Even the millionaires did not have a private carriage, they rented one when needed, like taxi's. So no need for a coach house or coach gate. They even rented a ship when the family moved to the country house for the summer, because they had to transport so much that road transport wasn't efficient. Leaving luxurious stuff in the summer house was not done, because of constant threat of war. Everything had to be within the city walls when war or a siege would come.
Simply imagine the costs needed to built a sturdy twenty feet high wall around a US suburb, man it with soldiers and canons, and a wide moat in front of it. Even Americans would get a more compact life.
@@dutchman7623 you missed the cost of creating polders and foundations. Because that’s the heart of the issue.
Thank god you menrioned the birthday calender!😂😂😂😂😂🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱
No Buddha
Yep Steep stairs '30s house
Yep Toilet shelf
Yep little sink
Yep Birthday calender
Yep Stained glass as decoration before our windows
No No achterom
Yep 2 bikes one regular one electric.
Haha, a crappy bike. That’s true!
I have a proper bike for long distances, people can have electrical bikes for very long distances (like to the beach where on some days parking could be a problem), a bike for sports (a mountain bike or a race bike like Tour de France) and a “kroegfiets”. The last one is the crappy one, which can be stolen or damaged and not wining about it (spend €10 for another crappie one).
I was quite attached to mine, pimped it with paint and stickers, a true work of art. But it happened I was so drunk, someone called me on the phone, tried to pick up the phone while cycling drunk. Most of the time all went well, but I also fell a couple of times.
I was more worried if my bike was oke then myself. I didn’t feel anything thanks to the beers 😂…the next day I counted the brews.
Next time I did it again 😂
It's not even uncommon to see toilets without a sink. My rental appartment (built 1964, completely overhauled in 1995 with central heating and double glazed windows - sanitary facilities were reconstructed last time in 2015) does not have a sink in the toilet. My grandparents rental home from the same housing council, same area, and also same era of construction had a very spacious toilet on the bottom floor but no sink.
This is not a fluke. I am talking about highly standardised high volume building - the exact same house design my grandparents lived in can be seen at least 80 times in this town and they all originally came without a sink in the bathroom and worse, with the nearest sink in the kitchen 2 doors away. A piss-poor design choice (pun intended).
#1 No buddha in my current or former home, nothing against it, but i live in the on less populated country side with fewer expats/tourists, atleast to my personal impression.
#2 Firsthome has diagonal stairs with the steps evenly placed that you almost can basically can run up/down, and/or slinding down the handrail, both heavily discouraged ofcourse
#3 Similairly with #2, my childhood home had the 'dutch-door' as mentioned, which was, as stated, ideal for letting the air flow in/out, yet keeping the dog inside, when it was nessacary at the time.
#4 Whilest the old house we had opaque curtains would already block a 'direct' view onto the street, one of my favourite memories was a large evergreen hedges that would completly obscure it all together, and rememering i was bummed out when they were removed for 'no reason', unaware that for certain tree/soil types this was only efficient for 'few years', the exact specifics ellude me at the moment.
#5 Whilest we didnt have a (colored) stained glass perse, altough for the longest time we had a nice framed door with translucent glass, with partial frosted depicting of a deer within a forest.
Which until recently, i didnt knew that it was a carry over from my fathers family home, a large single familiy house which was teardowned / rebuilt as a duplex
#6 Whilest we had the space, (more then sufficient), to go through the offical front doors, after having built out the new kitchen, early in my memories, in order to limit warmth loss during winter times, we had to go around back, going through a smaller hallway, which was awkwardly' placed behind the kitchen, combined with a divider wall with our neighbour, effectively creating a alleyway.
When coming home from school and our parents having the keys werent there yet, we would trying to chimney shimmy up/down along both walls, one case were we didnt have the keys, my brother would shimmey up from the wall, over the flat roof of the kitchen, onto the open window of my parent room.
# 7, initially we had our bikes in the 'open' on private terrain, then stored inside the 'Bike-Shed' with a hobby room and storing extras, and used as dog-house connected to a dog-run on the outside
BTW , due my father being abit workahole, our former house went through alot of remodeling through out my time there, so i believe its more rememberable then memories of other type of experiences
Fortunately most 'vlakspoelers' (shelf toilets) are being replaced by toilet bowls in most places.
For me one of the most typical things in a Dutch home, is tha rediculously small sink in the bathroom to wash your hands in.
The bathroom is ridiculously small so only a ridiculously small sink will fit in it.
I never use it because the "real" bathroom (what we call a bathroom instead of a toilet) is next to it so I wash my hands there.
So it is only for guests...
Don't forget the guilt and clumsy attempts at cleaning up when you inevitably spill water in your hosts bathroom.
@@nagranoth_ true
Interesting to hear about the Buddhas. I was adopted by first generation immigrants to the US from Holland. My parents both spoke Dutch, their families spoke Dutch, I was surrounded by Dutch culture in the US, Both parents have returned to Holland many times and hosted Dutch relatives visiting the US. And I have never heard of that! Granted, my parents’ families were both very involved in the Christian Reformed Church. So I don’t know if it’s something that was lost in immigration, or if it was a religious difference. My mom finds Buddhas problematic religiously and didn’t allow them into her home.
About the staircases in the US.
Where I lived in Michigan we had a pretty steep staircase, to me it felt like typical Dutch staircases and very narrow too.
When I visited family near Hackensack, New Jersey, much to my surprise, they had a "Dutch" staircase, just like ours in Michigan.
So I think it depends on where you live and how old your house is.
I don't know if you travel much outside of the randstad or visit friends in newer suburbs, but in smaller newer cities, with modern houses you'll find less steeper and wider staircases.
Also, staircases in newer appartment buildings in Netherland are not as steep and narrow cause of building code.
So it's all relative and pretty much the same.
The thin curtains are called vitrage and is mainly there to block the sun a bit, when it shines directly inside, to not kill the plants and when you want to watch tv without blocking the light completely, and also to stop the cold from coming in during winter.
Nowadays every house should have double or triple layered glas with an anti uv coating.
But still we use vitrage because it makes it prettier for window watchers like you, and when inside you can see them but they can't see you until nighttime.
Then it's vise versa.😊
I have a very tiny buddha in my house, and I too think it's beautiful and very nice, but also kind of random, and that's why I like it!
Dear Eva, In an other video I saw in the back a whitish tin. It's called a "broodtrommel". Just to keep the bread fresh. That's all. But what every dutch household will have are one or more "koektrommels". When we are having guests, of course on invitation only :-), while drinking coversation coffee, we present cookies from these tins. As soon as every one has their share we quickly put the lid back. Not to keep you from having more, but simply to keep 'm fresh. More or less.
Careful with you half cracked open windows and your cat ... Lots of cats will try to get out and jump in the cap, get stuck and ...unfortunately die ...
1. For some strange reason, these Buddha's are seen as ornaments. IMHO this is disrespectful to Buddhists.
2. The Netherlands is / are densely populated. Land comes at a premium. Hence the custom to squeeze in as many 'things' as possible. Old homes in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Den Haag, etc. as a result have steep and narrow stairs. More modern homes, 1960's and later, are built in different ways.
3. These windows [draai-kantel-raam ~ tilt-swing-windows] have also a safety aspect to them; As the window opening sits at the top, children cannot climb / fall out.
4. Net-curtains are / where fairly common; They are part of 'doe maar gewoon dan doe je al gek genoeg'-culture. Don't ' stand out, average is safest/best', The other aspect goes back to living is small houses; More light entering the home = a more spacious experience.
5. Toilets: The toilet bowl you are referring to stems from the earliest of toilets; They were introduced by doctors. At the time examining excrement and urine were important aspects of diagnosis... Hence this shape of toilet bowl. BTW: The big ADVANTAGE of this type of toilet: Your #2 won't plunge down and wet your bum, with this type of WC!
Stained glass: Usually pre-1950's homes. At which time big surfaces of glass were very expensive and smaller strip were much more affordable and ornamental.
6. Achterom = backdoor. In traditional communities neighbors come around the backdoor. The front door is seen as a formal entryway [for prominent persons such as clergy, head of school etc.]
7. Bikes = the dutch use the bike as a mode of daily transport; elsewhere it is a sports thing. Hence the difference. Cycling as a sport requires a different type of bike; See 'oma-fiets vs sportfiets'.
I think for most Buddha is a trend and a statement like "Hey I'm into meditation and all that, I have a Buddha - see". And then they meditate 3 times in their life, but the Buddha stays forever.
Dear Eva,
I was raised Catholic (I'm 64 now), but I am no longer Catholic! I have respect for all religions, but I myself adhere to the 'universal faith': that means that I believe that all faiths come from one and the same source!!! But the translation was lost along the way.
Let me explain:
I tell you a story, you tell it further, that person then tells it further, and so on! After about 20 people, I ask the last person to write down that story. I bet this story barely resembles the original story I told you??? Well, in my opinion this also happened with the 'holy message' and over time it was split into different faiths, resulting in extremism (which you can find in different faiths, unfortunately!). I hope people get what I mean?
So this is why I really do not understand all these wars about religion!!! All that hate because somebody believes something else (that is what they think) while in itself they are all the same (only some things/words/phrases got lost or changed in translation). Silly human beings!!!
Because Buddhism is a philosophical movement and stands for 'benevolence', I am most inclined towards it. But not all of it, things that you could also find in other religions, I think.
I NEVER hate anyone!! I just hate circumstances. Although I can dislike someone, of course.
I have respect for everyone, no matter what that person looks like, what nationality they have, what gender they have, and so on.
I have been a vegetarian since I was a little child and believe in The Soul of people and animals (for me, eating animal meat (including fish/mussels, etc./poultry, etc.) would be the same as eating human flesh, because of that soul) but my husband does eat meat and the son (29) eats some meat but also veggie or vegan balls (which are our favorite meat-substitute), sometimes. I usually only eat a lot of vegetables and potatoes (or pasta, rice ea), I do not eat meat-substitutes every day.
I eat eggs less than I used to, and milk, I have developed a slight lactose intolerance over the years, so I have, largely, switched to plant-based products. But I did use this foods in the past because one didn't have to kill animals for this, you know?
But it really doesn't matter to me that others eat meat/fish or other things, follow a different religion or other things! "Everyone their own opinion" is my motto. Just have respect, that's all.
And yes, I got Thai Buddha statues, as gifts (those bring luck if you get them, not when you buy them yourselve!), and like them!!!
So now you know why people have a Buddha, or more, in their house!!!
- Like somebody (f.i. Treintje1001) said in a comment already: space savers are very necessary (like those steep stairs). You should go to China, Japan e.o. and look in houses there, you will be amazed HAHAHA!! The richer one is, the wider one makes the stairs, haven't you noticed this yet, Eva? I did (you can see that in a lot of videos on youtube!). I also love wider stair-steps to be honest because I'm clumsy and rather unstable but when there is no space ..................... and when you are not rich you can not change this ;-(
- Indeed, there are 'kantelramen' (=tilt-windows) that you can also simply open. And like I said in an other comment, we NEED to air our houses (damp = mold!!).
- Again, go to an Eastern country and go to the toilet-room and bathroom there, your eyes will pop out!! (Look it up on youtube!!).
In Europe there are different toilets, with little bowls, with big bowls, hanging ones, others with support, in color, some toiletrooms have a sick, others do not. So, you can't generalize.
The same with what you can or can not find in that toiletroom! Some have books or magazines in there, some have calenders with jokes on them in their toiletroom and so on.
- OMG, love stained glass!! But it's not affordable for a lot of people and those windows are not very well insulated (bills!!!). I would love it for the inside doors but, not affordable!
Europe is known to have respect for old buildings, etc., that is not the case in America and that is why Europe attracts so many American tourists HIHI.
- Some of those American houses, in some parts of the country, do also have such a entry like you mentioned, in the back of their garden (just a door or a shed, garage). But of course not everyone has this.
And some houses have a back-door, I saw those in American houses too, most come out in the kitchens of the houses there! So that is also very handy.
- Lots of people have also more than 1 car, Eva!!! Father has 1, mother has 1 and every child has one, and then .......... there is no parkingspace enough and they all complain about that! So it would be better if they all had a bike instead of a car each, also much healthier do you not think ;-)!!!!!
Some bicycles have gears, others are electric and both can make riding more comfortable for the cyclist.
Then there are also 'bakfietsen' (= cargo bikes), for transporting kids, animals or groceries. There are also 'ligfietsen' (= recumbent bicycles), tandems, etc. Much choice, no?
Love to all who have a good and warm heart, Pinkie
Hahaha those Buddha statues were like this huuge trendy item a few years ago (and kinda still are apparently), didn't know that that was an especially Dutch trend! I thought we got all our trends from America these days! Also the stairs, I think it's just the Dutch being cheap, windy stairs take up less space, and space is expensive over here!
Making such stairs is/was a special trade.
Not every carpenter was able to make the real size drawings to make such a staircase.
Well the trend is over.....😊
Dear Eva, Stairs, or just steps, and also stepladders, have an ideal height of 19 or 20cm. This is the most comfortable way of lifting your feet in a forward motion to a next level, without looking where you go. This has been very deeply designed for your comfort. Also blind people do not have to worry about where they are going because of this standard. It has been well thought out. And since you don't need a wide staircase when walking up and down on your own, why bother with a wide staircase? "We" are custom to live in small houses and the floor space is much more important than getting up or going down to other levels with two people next to each other. If someone is descending you just wait your turn to go up. It never is that crowdy in a dutch home. The only drawback is that when moving house you might find it hard to get bigger furniture to the next floor. But we thought of that too. All houses will have a so called "verhuisraam", a window on the 2nd or 3rd floor, constructed so, that it can swing open all the way up or sideways, to enter bigger things that would not fit the narrow staircase. Ja, daar is over nagedacht. By the way, you are most welcome here sweethart. Love to hear those stories and findings in good old Holland. 😇
I have 1 small buddha in my house. I got it in 1996 as a present from a Chinese worker when he went home to China after working together on a project for a year. But I would never buy a Buddha myself.
About the curtains. My wife want always the curtains open, and I want them closed. But we are together now for 30 years, so compromises have to be made 🙂
The 'glas in lood' windows and doors are beautiful.
And yea, we live with 3 people in my house and there are 7 bikes in the shad. And now I am looking to buy a old bike from 1920, 30 or 40 as a hobby. So it wil be 8 🙂
Thanks again for your video.
Bhudda - check (just a statue), narrow stars - check (take up less space, and work fine), windows - check, curtains - yes (never use them), toilet -no shelf (any more) Never gets clogged up!, Verjaardagscalender - check, stained glass - no, achterom - check (rural), more than 1 bike - check.
Another thing: in the Netherlands, the fuse box of a house is pretty much always in the hallway or kitchen (older homes). While in the USA/Canada they are often somewhere on the outside, or in (seemingly) random places in the house. It is so weird to me that the fuse box would be outside the house, where just anyone could access it, including intruders!
Here in the NL, if you want to cut me off from power, you either have to already be inside my house, or you have to cut off power to the entire neighborhood XD
Hahahaha, I also have a Buddha in my home, and it was also gifted by a friend. I think it's quite popular cos although we don't practice (or necessarily believe) in Buddhism, most of us just kinda jive with the Buddhism vibe. :)
Budha's were a few years a go "a la mode". It's over now.
When I was young in the 50th and 60th we could park our bikes without locking them! No one stole things that belonged to others. Now everything gets stolen. Just the "globalising".
Many people of other civilizations have other habits, other norms and values. And we're with sooooo many now!
Times change and not allways for better....
Hello Dutch Americano, many Buddha statues have only become popular among Dutch people in the last 10 years as a result of holiday trips to Southeast Asia. Yet that is not the only explanation. People have become more open to Eastern religions after the strong de-Christianization of the Dutch population. The Xenos Retail Chain has responded to this as a trendsetter.
As for the so-called "Kiep-Kantel-Ramen" are not a (typical) Dutch invention, but from Germany, where it has been frequently used as an option since the emergence of plastic frames.
1. Buddha is usually not seen as religious, but more 'spiritually' (peace/forgiveness); also, christianity is not prevalent anymore, so Buddha's are not seen as threatening the main religion. Buddha's should be received as a present and not bought, according to some superstition.
2. Narrow stairs save space; people were not so large (so the shoe size are not a problem) and in The Netherlands still are at average not as 'stout' as in the US. Have as much 'room' size, save on stair size ...
3. Airing your rooms/houses has as much to do with fresh air as with preventing moisture build-up and mold.
4. Curtains: part of Dutch protestant culture (main stream) was once to 'show off' tour wealth, having been chosen as God's own, as well as your virtue (we have nothing to hide, everyone can look in).
5. Toilets: shelf toilets are a thing of the past; calendars are still very usual.
6. Stained glass: definitely something out of the past and to be preserved or reserved.
7. The 'alleyway' (achterom in Dutch) is a luxury. The main entrance once was reserved for the grown-ups and visitors. Kids with muddy boots etc. were not supposed to enter the house through the front door.
Buddhas: The believe is that a buddha brings luck to the owner, but when given to you by someone.. This last part is not always known by dutch people. ((also, think back to our VOC era.))
Narrow / Steep Stairs: My mom doesn't come to visit me because the stairs are too steep. :D
Most has already been said. As an expat you have to remind yourself that many 'typically Dutch' things are actually typically Randstad, or even city specific.
Not so the flat flush toilet. They are a thing in Germany too. And though it is illegal to sell them in the USA, it's not illegal to own or install them, and they're readily available in Canada. 😊
I'm not up to date with the status of Buddha or gifting habits in Holland, but it may have started with the Laughing Buddha that Dutch government employees who were stationed in the East Indies bought there from Chinese toko's. (These would've ended up mostly in Den Haag.)
You may know this, but the Laughing Buddha isn't Siddharta Gautama - the historical Buddha - at all. It is in stead Budai, a 10th century Chinese travelling monk famous for his smiles, jolly disposition and generosity and benevolence. His fame has spread through most of Asia. To Chinese Buddhists, he is the future Buddha, and in Japan, he is one of the seven Lucky Deities. He is named Budai after the cloth sack he carries - his real name is Qieci - from which he hands out sweets to the children, food to the hungry, rice to the poor and medicine to the sick. To most of those civil servants, he would've been little more than an exotic ceramic to liven up the corner table and remind them of the years spent overseas, but to those that took the time to learn who he was, the resemblance with Sint Nicolaas, the most popular saint in the Netherlands (patron of children and the poor, but also of prisoners and sailors, and as the latter the patron of the city of Amsterdam) must have been striking, especially with the sack. Finding something so recognisable and close to heart was sure to strike a chord.
As the patron of contentment and abundance, he would be the perfect gift for a new home, and obviously his (nick)name is easily mistaken for Buddha, especially if you speak neither Chinese nor Nepalese, so...
'Luchten' isn't just for fresh air, though we do love that, but opening the window for 10 minutes every day is recommended to let humidity out of the house, which has a notably positive effect on your heating bill.
And did you notice that toilet sinks are always too small? Possibly not, but I'm a man. Better yet, I'm Frisian, so my hands aren't exactly lady-sized. My mom, when I visit her, keeps complaining that I should sit down when I pee, and I keep telling her to get a bigger sink.
The achterom has dual roots. On the one hand, the city houses of the rich used to have the 'koetshuis' at the back, opening on a not so posh but still wide enough street. On the other hand, farmhouses in the Netherlands are traditionally entered through the kitchen, which is turned toward the 'erf' and the barns and stables where people work. The front door and living are turned towards the road and were only used for weddings and funerals and receiving special guests. All the rest sat, ate and talked at the large kitchen table. This wasn't just to prevent dirtying the livingroom with working clothes, but also saved on heating. Since most of the heating (like cooking and boiling water) was done it the kitchen anyway, this was the best place to be.
As an american who has lived in The Netherlands for past 24 years, Thank you universe, I say this while rubbing the head of my Buddha.
The larger one, the teacher, that lives on my cabinet of dreams. Little fat Buddha is on my desk. Like a focal point to bring you back to earth so you do not become too full of yourself.
Buddha represents peace, harmony, happiness and intelligence to many in the western world. I and my friends all had one also in america.
If I practice anything it is to be more like Buddha but I am human so get irritated by ignorance and ppl who do not take the time to think and wonder before speaking.
Just take this as some good old good advice. Think, wonder and enjoy it all bc humans are bats shit crazy. haaaa all of us.
Life is a trip, a journey and most of all learning experience to end with love.
THINK about the houses and why they have steep stairs.
Simple logical answer is..In the old days especially living along the canals which were highways for boats, all the products needed to survive and to make money with taxing import export.
Since big part of the country is created by creating land from water ..you did know this right?? this logically means the cost of land is high so they built up bc you cannot tax the sky.
Which also leads to skinny houses so you must have steep stairs. Ppl were shorter then. You can see this in the old barn doors and some old houses in the country. Very low roofs, door and windows. Waste not, want not.
I think you can see that when you walk into those houses. Not enough room in the hall. Right? After this I could not watch anymore bc you are not a serious person.
I know you can grow and do not take this as mean. It is just advice to do better bc you do have the brains to do better. Rock on
The Netherlands is a wonderful place to live and the history is rich with knowledge. Check it out.
Stairs are narrow to save (expensive) space. Buddha’s are a weird way of showing you are spiritual or open to other cultures. Closing curtains suggest you have something to hide. Also it looks more inviting to visitors if they can see you are actually at home. The toilet shelf is a life saver, as a doctor I can tell you it is good to inspect your stool and notice abnormalities such as blood. Early diagnosis can save your life. Stained glass was all the rage in the 1930s. Achterom is silly, agreed. Unless you store your bike at the back. Bicycles? We are 17 million cyclists. Just as all Americans are motorists.
Thanks for the video again. I'm Dutch. I don't like the shape of of the toilet bowls either. Before taking care of the necessary business I like to place a bit of paper around the the floushy-hole-thing. Not very sexy tot talk about, but well ment. I hope I didn't mess up my English too badly. All the best to all !! :)
You are correct about these Buddhas but it also used to be that people had two goose statues behind their windows. I think people found gezellig, for me that was truly embarrassing.
Yup more than one bicycle makes sense.
I have still have my old crappy bike, even fixed it up to be working again reasonably well by reusing parts from a scrap bicycle someone else was going to dispose of. That one is now the bicycle I use if I need to use the bus stop during the weekend or evenings since the stupid new route plan cut our town out to save a whole 2-3 minutes on the entire trip. The middle of nowhere along a public road isn't the best place to park your fancy bicycle and expect it to still be there after a weekend even if you lock it properly. I suspect the lock I use on that bicycle might even be more expensive than I spent on buying the used bicycle 10-15 years ago.
For just about anything else I use my ebike whether that's getting groceries, work, fun rides, etc. But for me to get groceries depending on the town I pick it's either 13 minutes at max speed for a nearby small town with a Poiesz or 20-30 minutes for the other towns or the city with more options. So to get cold stuff home timely and to cut back on trip time with strong wind it's very welcome. Now I just need to check the rain forecast and plan the trip around the rain or put on rainproof clothing.
I also know a few people that actually have and use 4 bikes every week:
- 1 good normal bicycle or ebike
- 1 racing bicycle, the light kind of frame with a derailleur and all that fiddly stuff
- 2 "stationsfietsen" (station bikes, basically cheap simple but working bicycles)
They have one at home to get to the station and then another one at their other regular train station to get to the final destination
And stained glass windows are fairly common, people often preserve them now as well when improving the insulation of buildings. A single layer of glass isn't the best insulation and especially older stained glass will deform and develop drafting cracks over time. In the past they were often replaced with normal glass but now I'm seeing a lot of people that actually have their stained glass windows taken out temporarily and then gets encased in glass on both the inside and outside and some vacuum insulation too probably. The whole thing then gets put back into the original location.
Older houses (specially the smaller houses) have small and narrow stairs due to space, we have 2 of them as well (our house is from '42 or '43, if we would make those stairs normal and wide we have to redo half the house, to costly... We did add an extra grip on the side and bottom, but I am always sideways on the stairs).
I hate those "kantel" ramen, the windows that you twist and opening on the top, very dangerous if you have cats (they can get stuck in them and die a horrible death, make sure you have protection on those (easily bought by a big online petshop!!!)
I love stained window's, grew up in a home with them. Our house does not have them, would be nice now that you mentioned it... Maybe get those in time :) Would not be old windows but is an older house, would fit nice :)
Interesting! I had to stop looking to your video at some point, though. The intensity of the way you are talking is just too much for me. Now I may be having some sensitivity problems due to post-COVID things. So that is my problem. But I would ask you to ask some people you know about the tone and speed of the message you ar trying to bring. And how effective that is. I think your message would come across much better in half of the speed, to start with.
But probably it is just my problem, sorry.....
Another reason for more bioes than people is the "stationsfiets", a (usually old crappy) bike people leave at a train station (often one near their work/school) so they can also bike from there.
E.g. I could bike from home to the local train station, lock my bike up there, then take the train to a station near school/work where I can then unlock my "stationsfiets" to cycle from there to school/work.
(Because a regular bike in the train is a hassle, costs extra, and isn't even allowed during peak hours; foldable bikes are allowed but aren't as pleasant to cycle on and require folding and unfolding).