8 facts about The Dutch

One of the most frequent questions I get is: "Where are you from?". When it comes down to my ethnicity I think we can talk for days. However my answer to this question is always plain and simple. I am from The Netherlands. That little country in Northern Europe, which I have grown to love a lot! 

Next to some of the facts I want to share with you about my beloved country I will also share some unedited pictures I took at a historical location in Rotterdam called Delfshaven. I was very fortunate to live nearby this area the past year.

#1: The Dutch were the first to legalize gay marriage. 

Since the year 2001 same sex marriage has been possible in the Netherlands. Men are able to marry men, and women are able to marry women legally. Now I don't know if many gay couples end up marrying each other in the end. But I think anybody should be able to tie the knot anywhere in the world when they want to. So yaay to the Dutch for this one! 

2#: Dutch men are the tallest in the world.

Dutch men average around 182.5cm, trusting some of the websites out there. Women average around 1.69cm. I can attest to this, we have a lot of tall people over here. Now and then I see someone walking by that is so tall that I ask myself if he/she has giants blood in them. Experiencing Japan and other countries, I see we stick out head over heels.

I am slightly taller than the average Dutch women. Most of my male friends are all above 1.80cm. The increasing height may have something to do with our health care, nutrition and the over consumption of dairy.

3#: The Dutch invented Gin.

We call it Jenever. Seemed like the British loved this alcoholic beverage, you might know it by the name Gin, as it became popular in Great Britain. 

Jenever originated in Schiedam, a city close to Rotterdam (where I Iive). I heard stories about the people from Schiedam saying that they are less intelligent than the rest of the people in the Netherlands, because of the Jenever factories fumes. Or they might have drank it too much, hahaha.

4#: The Netherlands is the lowest country in Europe.

Growing up I have always been told about the dikes keeping the water from flooding our country. A scary thing. Especially if you live in the west, where the population is most dense too. I live about 5 meters below sea level.

5#: There are over 1000 windmills standing from the year 1850.

I highly suggest you to visit Kinderdijk when you visit the Netherlands. It is a UNESCO World Heritage sight home to 19 traditional windmills. They are impressive structures. The more you learn about them, the more intriguing they get. Windmills have been used for many purposes. I also visited a sight with active windmills. Check out my video about it here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RW-hZ9EdNGY&t=110s

6#: Weed is legal.

 Probably you already knew about this fact. We have Coffee Shops in and around cities where you can get weed of any kind. However possessing more than 5 grams on the streets or more than 30 gram at home, cultivating it with over five plants and selling it to foreigners is illegal. However foreigners visiting Amsterdam and Rotterdam for weed are more lucky as they are able to get weeds legally there.

7#: There are more bikes than people in The Netherlands.

Yes, there are 18 million bikes in the Netherlands. And just around 17 million registered citizens.

8#: CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray were invented in the Netherlands.

Thank you Philips!

If you have any questions about my country, feel free to ask them!