Easter Eggs

Easter in the UK and the Netherlands are fairly similar. We all eat too much chocolate and paint eggs, but I did notice that they prefer branded chocolate here. You can buy chocolate eggs in a KitKat, Smarties or Maltesers box, but it's also possible to buy an egg which represents your favourite artist or cartoon character (Hello Kitty or One Direction, for example). Now you might think that these eggs are filled with mini KitKats or chocolate Harry Styles', but that's obviously too much work for Nestlé and Cadbury. Instead, you get a hollow - I repeat, hollow! - egg with a chocolate bar next to it. What a deception (I still buy it though.... chocolate = chocolate)!

Another English/American specialty is the Cadbury Creme Egg. Apparently Easter isn't complete without eating a Creme Egg, so my housemate convinced me to buy a box.

When removing the foil wrapping, you are again presented with a plain chocolate shell. This one is however filled with sweet white and yellow goo (well, it's fondant actually). It's tasty, but a little too sweet to my liking.

For my Dutch friends who asked about Easter and Summer Time - yes, we celebrate Tweede Paasdag (Second Easter Day) here but it's called Easter Monday. This weekend we also put the clocks forward one hour, so we're still one hour behind the rest of Europe! 

Conversation with a Brit #3

Lady: Where are you from?

Me: The Netherlands.
Lady: Really? Me and my husband want to move to Holland, because there are more jobs for him there. We need to start learning Danish.
Me: Dutch.

Lady: Ah yes, Dutch. We’ve been watching TV shows in Dutch so we can practice.

Me: That’s great, which shows?
Lady: Borgen – we understood quite a few words!

.......

Borgen is a Danish TV show...

The reduction game

I don’t know to what extent other countries do this, but British supermarkets reduce products that are close to their Best Before date. In my local supermarket, the best shopping time is 5.30pm – 2.5 hours before closing time. When you’re lucky you can find fruit, salads and meat for a fraction of the price. My favourite bargains come from the bread section where you can get fresh bread for as little as 40 pence! 

This moment of reduction is slightly less relaxed in Marks & Spencer, an upmarket supermarket. Around reduction time, the shop is flooded with people who usually don't shop there because of its prices. Their aim is to get as many reduced items in their baskets as possible. Now, I'm not averse to cheap food, so I happily participate in this game. It's great to do on a Sunday afternoon with friends or family! Here’s how to play the Marks & Spencer Game:

     1. Get in around 4.15pm (Sunday only);
     2. Spot members of staff with a sticker machine;
     3. Wait till they have stickered the products;
     4. Grab your discounted product before someone else does;
     5. Whoever has the most bargains in their basket wins the game.

My most recent Sunday session resulted in the lunch that you can see on the photo. Not bad, but could be better! 

Gender, sexuality and believe

I found a job. A real job for grown-ups. In England. And that means lots of documents to fill in. When I started applying for work I already noticed that the Brits want to know a lot of personal information. Besides standard questions about education and work, they also want to know about my disabilities and ethnicity - all in the name of equal opportunities. Fair enough, but now that I've actually found a job, they want to know a tiny bit more...

My gender, sexuality and believe? Well, I think I might be a transgender heterosexual Quaker?

An example of all the ethnic origins. I've never seen anything like this in the Netherlands. When will they start asking me questions about my favourite animal, TV shows and music?

Get behind the Hump!

Currently everything in England revolves around... England. At this moment, every self-respecting shop has a corner that's dedicated to British merchandise. Even the package of a dishwasher tablet company is decorated with the Union Jack... This is all due to several big events. The most special one is perhaps the Diamond Jubilee, which marks the 60 years of Queen Elizabeth's reign. It will be celebrated all over the country with street parties and the queen visiting some pretty shows (from the 2nd till the 5th of June). This event will be followed up by London 2012 - aka the Olympics - which is actually not really popular among residents. They are more interested in the well-being of England's football team at EURO 2012. Are they finally going to win this year? 

But first the nation has to support it's national pride at the Eurovision Song Contest: Engelbert Humperdinck. I'm a massive fan of the show and to be fair, the UK's entry is not bad this year. Even though the dear man is 76, he might score douze points! I'll be supporting Turkey, but I'm certainly going to wear the Engelburns and bowtie (download them here). What is your favourite Eurovision entry?

I had to add this image from the BBC. This should be enough reason to let England win! 

Conversation with a Brit #2

Guy: So do you understand Norwegian, since you are from the Netherlands?
Me: Not really. I suppose some words are more or less similar, but it's not like Dutch - German.
Guy: Fair enough, I thought that you'd be able to understand each other. Since you're both Nordic countries.
Me: Ehh....?

Just to be clear, these posts are not meant make fun of people. I've met many internationals over the past years and I'm sure I've asked very silly questions as well. It's amusing to talk about my fatherland with foreigners, but I'm stunned by the amount of people who have no idea where or what the Netherlands is!

Sun? Trousers off!

The United Kingdom is already known as the place where some inhabitants believe coats do not exist. Visiting any city on a chilly British winters night, you could be mistaken for living in a tropical country. Most partygoers tend to wear.... well, not an awful lot! 

At this moment, the sun is shining but the thermometer barely reaches 15°C. Many Britons have however decided that it's time to replace their daily winter outfits for something more summery. Coats are replaced by t-shirts and (white) legs are showed off in shorts or skirts. Do those people really think it is adequate to wear shorts come rain, sun, snow and frost? Some garments simply do not belong outside the wardrobe in this time of year.

I can understand that the Brits try to make the most of their summers, but it it's only March! Even the boyfriend has already been outside in shorts and a t-shirt, while I was still wrapped in my winter coat. His argument: “the sun is out.”

I’m not yet ready for all this nakedness on the streets!