Cultural awareness:
How to survive the Netherlands

Spouse Care: Cultural awareness: How to survive the Netherlands

Information for employers who care about their expats and the spouses experiencing life in the Netherlands

This part of the Spouse Care program offers the chance to get to know more about the Dutch culture. We address various topics from a Dutch perspective such as, time, family life, holidays, appearances, greeting & visiting the Dutch, cultural hotspots. 

Did you know….orange carrots were bred in the Netherlands in the 16th century in honor of the house of Orange. Before they were white, yellow, black, purple or red.

Test for Spouses: Are you Aware? 

that you can expect:

• at breakfast…… hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles on your bread)
• at lunch………….haring met uitjes (raw herring and onions)
• at dinner………. stamppot (vegetable mash)
• at New Year’s eve……oliebollen (Dutch doughnuts, but then a bit different)
• at any market……….poffertjes (kind of mini pancakes) 

that you can expect:

• the Dutch are very direct (you probably already found out yourself)
• the Dutch become extreme on King’s Day and want you to do the same
• Sinterklaas turns out to be another character than Santa Claus
• Shaking hands is a Dutch obsession, therefor The Dutch shake hands all the time!

 In this workshop the participants will find out how Aware they really are!

What more to expect: Topics during the morning program:

• The Netherlands in a nutshell
• Typical Dutch stuff
• Sports
• Family life
• VIPS/BN’ers

Optional:

1. At the end of the morning program: a typical Dutch lunch
2. Dutch design:  Enjoy work of some fabulous Dutch Designers. The Dutch Designers are amongst the best of the world and Dutch Design is found everywhere in Amsterdam. Not only in various museums and art galleries, but also in ordinary lives of Dutch people. To find out more about Dutch Design and to enjoy a beautiful walk through the center of historical Amsterdam, then you can choose to enroll this afternoon program.

Saskia Stuve

Saskia Stuve lived in the USA for more than ten years and experienced how it is to build up a life abroad, find work and adjust to a new culture. In combination with her expertise of the Dutch labour market this experience makes her a valuable trainer for expats and spouses.