The 10 things you recognize when you move from a village to Amsterdam
At my parents' place in Brabant a Shetlander walks through the street twice a day. No joke. So moving to Amsterdam was quite a transition, you understand. In a village, you often have a garden; in Amsterdam, we have Vondelpark. I wouldn't lock my bike in Brabant, but you can try that in Amsterdam for five minutes, because after that, it's gone. Or what do you think about walking around the back? Also something like that. This is what you recognize when you say goodbye to the village and move to Amsterdam.
1. Not saying hi to everyone
Villagers greet each other with ‘hello’ or a nod. Well, try doing that on a Saturday afternoon in Kalverstraat. Good luck.
2. Reserving a restaurant on Tuesday
In a village, you can sabre the champagne if you find a brasserie that is open on Tuesday evening; in Amsterdam, you easily wait three quarters of an hour for a table at Spaghetteria on a weekday.
3. Cycling in pelotons
I always feel the Joop Zoetemelk vibe when I cycle through Amsterdam; it feels like the Tour de France here, man. Such a procession of cyclists who don't touch their brakes and overtake each other in the craziest ways. Never a dull moment.
4. Grocery shopping part I
In a village, you usually do grocery shopping for the whole week, by car. In Amsterdam, almost no one has a car, so everyone cycles around 6 PM to the nearest Appie to score food for one or at most two evenings.
5. Grocery shopping part II
There is no shortage of supermarkets here. It seems like there are four supermarkets built per head of the Amsterdam population. Because wherever you are, within a radius of 200 meters, there is always an Appie, Jumbo, Lidl or Ekoplaza nearby. Love it.
6. Grocery shopping part III
Do you know that joke about grocery shopping in a village later than 7 PM? Then you have the Lidl all to yourself, while in Amsterdam around this time it's hop-chop-top busy.
7. Famous Dutch people
Yeah, they live here in the wild. ‘HAVE YOU SEEN ANY CELEBRITIES?’ That used to be my standard first question when a girlfriend returned from ‘a day in Amsterdam’. Fortunately, I've gotten over that by now.
8. Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Thuisbezorgd.nl
Ordering food is quite well organized in Amsterdam. In a village, you might still get the shawarma guy to drop off that dürüm roll, but that's about it. In Amsterdam, the Uber Eats bike couriers (in peloton) cycle past you. Pizza, pasta, stamppot or bulgur salad; with their square warm-keeping backpacks, they race through the whole city for you.
9. You are addressed in English
And I get that, you know, when I get a cappuccino at a coffee shop on the Dam, but in other places in Amsterdam, to be honest, I find it a little too much when a Dutch person does that. That might just be my village sobriety.
10. Suddenly you have an accent
Yes, suddenly I turn out to have an accent. If you always swim in a Brabant pond, you don't hear it anymore, but as soon as you enter Amsterdam, that soft 'g' suddenly needs to be subtitled.
