Friday, November 28, 2008
Smoke under the water
There is an urban legend in Holland saying that Dutch people don't like bans, and the only way to let them follow a certain rule is to explain them its social utility.
I'm not sure if this is true, or if this is the case, but the smoking ban active in The Netherlands is definitely facing some comportamental problems.
It all started on July, 1th 2008, when also The Netherlands, one of the last Country in Europe to decide so, started to ban smoking tobacco from public closed places such as bar or restaurants.
In the Country of free Marijuana this sounded a bit weird (even if this is actually one of the few places where you could create some legal smoking rooms for almost all kind of smokers) and protests started as soon as the law was enforced.
On July, 15th dutch Café owners started to join a new religious movement called One and Universal Smokers Church of God whose worshippers are said to believe in the trinity of smoke, fire and ash and honour their god by smoking.
Dozens of bars owners asserted the Dutch constitution and European rules give it legitimacy under the right to freedom of religion.
But the government went on and the police started to give fines to those bars that let their costumers smoke inside.
Unfortunately the fine was not so high (300€ for the owner, nothing for the costumer) and it wasn't enough to persuade the bar owners.
What happened is that in many places owners put next to the door some collecting box, where costumers can throw some coins, to help pay for the potential fine.
In response, Health Minister Ab Klink decided to get tough.
In the future, he proposed, violations of the ban have to be treated as economic offences which would allow the authorities to impose fines as high as 16000€.
A lot of owners of cafes then started to strike, especially in the South.
Groups of cafe owners in cities such as Groningen, Tilburg and Breda have already agreed informally to ignore the ban.
Last weekend, cafe and bar owners in Den Bosch decided en masse to ignore it.
The war has started.
29 bars were sanctioned last weekend only in Den Bosch, while the minister announced that cafes which continue to defy the ban will be closed down for breaking competition laws (because they compete unfairly with cafes which are not breaking the law).
We'll see who'll win.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Voyage au centre de la Pizza (9):
Pizza romana
This week-end we've been visiting Rome, so it's finally time to update my brief compendium about pizza.
And finally, after two episodes (I, II) talking about not Italian pizzas, I can finally talk about a real one!
So...
Pizza in Rome is pretty different from the usual Napoletan pizza.
Its round pie is very thin and crusty, much more than its sister from Naples.
The dough is made by wheat flour, water, yeast, olive oil and salt (so not other American crap such as vegetable oil or high proteinic content flour) mixed together to give a very hard and steady dough.
One of the most tipical kind of pizza you can find in Rome is the so called pizza Napoli, guarnished with tomato, mozzarella and anchovies. The funny thing is that this kind of pizza is called pizza romana elsewhere in Italy, but not in Rome.
Then of course you can find all kind of toppings on you pizza.
Honourable mention the pizza al taglio.
This is pizza cooked in rectangular metal pans and sold in square slices.
The dough of this kind of pizza is usually more watery so to resist longer and not to become dry, and to be also re-warmed up without loosing any taste.
The pizza al taglio is actually sold all over around Italy (and nosonly) but in Rome it's very particular.
It's in fact prepared with the usual crunchy roman dough that makes it very tasty, with a thin ciabatta-like shape.
It's then usually sold by weight and not by slice.
So then, after two years in Holland I really enjoyed a (couple of) real good pizza.
And the pizza in Rome was pretty good indeed, even if I probably preferred the one al taglio.
Monday, November 17, 2008
15 Miljoen Mensen (Fluitsma & Van Tijn)
After the two versions of the song Het Land van (by Lange Frans & Baas B and Salah Edin) I posted a couple of months ago, here it is another dutch song telling about this Country.
This time it's a non-rap song from 1996. Here you can find the lyrics in dutch and this is the translation:
15 million people
Country of 1000 opinions
The Country of matter-of-factness
All of us on the beach
Rusk for breakfast
The country were nobody goes full out
Except when we win [in football]
Then we have an instant bout of passion
And nobody stayed inside
The country that hates finicking
No uniform is sacred
A son who calls his daddy Pete
A bike is nowhere safe
15 million people
on that little piece of Earth
You don't tell them what to do
You just respect them
15 million people
on that little piece of Erath
You don't put them in a straightjacket
You just respect them
The country full of protest groups
No manager who's really a boss
Where curtains are never drawn
And lunch is a bun with cheese
The country full of tolerance
Except for the neighbour
The biggest question will always remain
Where he gets the money for his rent from?
The country that cares for everyone
Not even a dog eats from the gutter
With snacks from the wall [FEBO]
And nobody who eats dry bread [nobody who is poor]
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Waterschapsverkiezingen 2008
It's been already two and a half years since when I became part of the (second) Italian diaspora.
And since a while I started to think if it was morally right for me to start being interested in Dutch politics rather than keep voting at my homeland elections.
The pragmatic me suggests that Italy needs more help than Holland, by looking how things were going on during the last 14 years; the idealistic me (which I tend to follow most of the times) claims instead that it's unfair to leave a Country in search of better opportunities abroad, but still wishing to interfere with its politics.
Moreover the pain-in-the-ass me states that technically I'm due to be represented here in The Netherlands since I'm paying taxes for this Country since a while.
So the metamorphosis started.
And the opportunity came by post.
We in fact just received an envelop with the ballots and the list of candidates to partecipate at the elections for the Waterschap.
The waterschappen (Dutch for water boards) are regional governament bodies in the Low Countries.
They are charged with defending The Netherlands from water by maintaining the integrity of the water defenses around the polders, managing water barriers (dunes, dikes, quays and levees), waterways, water levels and the water quality in their regions.
Having to do with water, you can easily feel the importance of these institutions (25% of the Country is below sea level, and three main rivers cut the land in many wet slices). In fact they are among the oldest forms of local government in the Netherlands, some of them having been founded in the 13th century.
Waterschappen hold separate elections, levy taxes and function independently from other government bodies.
There are 27 waterschappen in The Netherlands covering the whole territory. The Hoogheemraadschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht is the waterschap governing Amsterdam region and it's this the one we're going to vote for.
The general structure of these institutions consist in a general administrative body (elected by people), an executive board (elected by the administrative body) and a chairperson (appointed by the government), also called dijkgraaf, the Count of the dikes (cool, isn't it?).
Actually, asking around to some friends of mine it turned out that among common people nobody really cares about these elections and that it's just "another political charge".
Nevertheless I'll try to find out the differences between the candidates and start being interested in dutch politics.
Maybe also here there is someone that believes that Obama is tanned.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
The Abilene paradox
On a hot afternoon visiting in Coleman, Texas, the family is comfortably playing dominoes on a porch, until the father-in-law suggests that they take a trip to Abilene (53 miles north) for dinner. The wife says, "Sounds like a great idea." The husband, despite having reservations because the drive is long and hot, thinks that his preferences must be out-of-step with the group and says, "Sounds good to me. I just hope your mother wants to go." The mother-in-law then says, "Of course I want to go. I haven't been to Abilene in a long time."
The drive is hot, dusty, and long. When they arrive at the cafeteria, the food is as bad as the drive. They arrive back home four hours later, exhausted.
One of them dishonestly says, "It was a great trip, wasn't it." The mother-in-law says that, actually, she would rather have stayed home, but went along since the other three were so enthusiastic. The husband says, "I wasn't delighted to be doing what we were doing. I only went to satisfy the rest of you." The wife says, "I just went along to keep you happy. I would have had to be crazy to want to go out in the heat like that." The father-in-law then says that he only suggested it because he thought the others might be bored.
The group sits back, perplexed that they together decided to take a trip which none of them wanted. They each would have preferred to sit comfortably, but did not admit to it when they still had time to enjoy the afternoon.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Are Americans better then Italians?
Well, from a first glance, it would look like yes, they are. But maybe Obama is so good that he can even explain us that maybe it is not true. He said, just after being elected:
"Today the American people have made their voices heard, and they have said, 'Things are finally as terrible as we're willing to tolerate, to elect a black man, in this country, and at this time—these last eight years must have really broken you."
Yes, probably he is right. The situation in the U.S. is now much worse then in Italy, even considering Berlusconi and his mafia/massonic connections. At least, americans are much poorer then we are. Not because of our great way of doing economy, hell no, but because we have Europe to save our ass. God Save Europe. And we don't even realize that.... but this is another story. The point is that I am very happy of this election result, and I am very happy for my american friends, they can rely on the fact that they are not surrounded by completely helpless people, but it is still possible to change things. Nevertheless, I would like to strike a blow in favour of the Italians, and say that we are very far of having such an alternative and vote for somebody like Obama. Maybe if we could, we would also do it. Maybe.
Anyway, I am not sure that he will really change things as much as we europeans are expecting him to do.... but hope is last to die, so let's see if he can astonish us and change the western world in a different way of the one is happening now (the decline of America and the rise of the East, hopefully, but unfortunately unlikely, with the hand of Europe).
For the moment my main hope is that Europe will keep a look of what happened in the U.S. in the last 10 years and learn the lesson, and stop voting for right wing populistic non-political people.....
BTW, last glance to who has led U.S. in such a disastrous situation:
In a press conference held this morning on the White House lawn, President Bush formally asked the assembled press corps and members of his own administration if, in light of today's election, he could stop being the president now. "So it's over, right? Can I stop being president now?" Bush said after striding to the podium in a Texas Rangers cap and flannel shirt, carrying a fully packed suitcase. "Let's just say I'm done as of now. Presidency over." When informed by Washington Post reporter David Broder that his presidency would continue through early January, Bush stared at him quizzically, sighed, and shuffled silently back into the White House.
Poor him, would you please leave this poor guy alone, to run behind the cows and stop forcing him (hopelessly) to think???????
Monday, November 03, 2008
Vouwfietsen
This week I gain one more point on my Dutchness score.
After the aardappelstamper (a potato masher ment to be used to prepare the stamppot), the eiersnijder (an egg slicer) and the legendary kaasschaaf (a cheese slicer), now I'm proud to announce that I'm finally in possession of an awesome Vouwfiets!
Which is, as the picture shows, a foldable bike (I've got it as a birthday present: thanks!).
Here in Holland this kind of bike is often used by commuters like me: people that live in one city (Amsterdam) and has to go to work to another city (Utrecht).
So instead of having a bike in each city and leave them in the train station to wait (which is what I was doing before: home -> Amsterdam train station by bike, Amsterdam -> Utrecht by train, Utrecht train station -> University by a second bike) now I can easily fold up my bike and put in on the train.
Cool, isn't it?
The bike works amazingly!
Despite the fact that the wheels are small, the gear system is smartly done and pushing on the pedals is very easy and definitely not hard.
And the bike itself is not heavier than 11 kg, so it's handy to bring it around in a folded configuration.
A last thing I discovered googling around.
The word commuting ("fare il pendolare" in Italian) is translated as "forensisme" in Dutch. Which originates from the Latin word forenses (= of the forum, the Latin market) and apparently was used to refer peasant coming to the city market from Germany to sell their goods. Then it was taken over to name in general people from the countryside that use to work in Amsterdam.
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