Octagon Team Share Their Dutch Culture Shock

Meet the Octagon Team! We are a diverse team of expats living and working in the Netherlands. In this video, we will share our stories about the things that shocked us most after we first arrived.
#dutchculture #cultureshock #netherlands
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[@iljinjong1650]

I am dutch and that would be one of the craziest ideas, that some one else had to buy you cake for your birthday. That is just unthinkable. Never happend and will never happen.

[@JC130676]

I must say that this is pretty accurate. For example, the informality. I work at a company with a yearly revenue in the hundreds of millions and everyone is on a first name basis, up to and including the CEO. Before COVID we'd have dinners with groups of colleagues and during one of them the CEO mentioned he hates to be called "sir" because it makes him feel old. So when everyone went home, someone jokingly yelled at him "See you tomorrow SIR!" and he grinned and gave her the finger! The part about being early to the meeting is somewhat calculated as it gives you time to chat with whoever is hosting the meeting, feel out the mood, maybe lobby a little. The Dutch are strong believers in soft power. Why force someone to do what you want when you can convince or maybe even make them WANT to do what you want? And finally, the directness and (brutal) honesty. Most Dutch feel that you're not actually helping someone by sugarcoating things or even lying about them. The Dutch viewpoint is that if you're asking a question it's because you want to achieve a goal. "How is my Dutch pronunciation?"-> You want to improve your language skills. "Should I keep this blouse?" -> You want to look good. The answer you'll get may not be the one you wanted or expected but it'll be intended to help you achieve your goal, not to hurt or belittle. Think of it this way, if a piece of clothing really doesn't look good on you, wouldn't you want someone to tell you before going out in public and have people giggling and talking behind your back?

[@TaylorTheOtter]

In my experience, the stairs thing is just in cities. I've only seen it friends' houses in Utrecht, Haarlem and Amsterdam but never in villages. Also, the thing with breakfast is that we grew up with stuff like hagelslag. I wouldn't say we're obsessed with it but we don't know any better.

[@Widdekuu91]

A big difference is that in the USA, you have pancakes and syrup, but you then travel by car. We have a dubbele boterham with hagelslag and then we cycle for half an hour. Hence the reason our food is 'heavier' and has more dairy and fat.

[@TaylorTheOtter]

@@Widdekuu91 😧 as a fellow Dutchie I feel a little offended at you implying I'm American... Je weet toch dat Nederlanders de enige zijn die videos kijken over buitenlanders die naar ons land komen 😉.

[@Widdekuu91]

@@TaylorTheOtter Wanneer impliceerde ik dan dat je een Amerikaan was? Je schreef letterlijk 'we grew up with.' Ik bedoeld 'you travel by car' niet als jijzelf, maar als mens. 'In America you try to fit in" is een uitspraak die je kunt maken, zonder iemand te bedoelen, snapje?

[@parmentier7457]

Not only should you bring pastries to work on your birthday, even if you resign from work, you are expected to treat everyone with pastries. And often you also receive a gift from your colleagues when it is your birthday or when you resign. There is always a colleague who collects money.

[@robertrijkers4923]

size of the stairs.... wait did you all got a room in Amsterdam?

[@ru802000]

With regards to the food culture : i have never been a fan of the really Dutch dishes like hutspot or stampot. but there are foreign influances of past colony's. Like for example Surinam and Indonesia that give an entirely different dimension to the Dutch Cuisine. These cultures spend more time in the kitchen and take way longer enjoying it, eating at my grandparents house took the entire day and then you roll back home. Ofcourse we have way more foreign influances but these with the chinese where the first to come to Holland.

[@gerbentvandeveen]

In Nederland hebben we een gezegte. "Werkt om te LEVEN " En niet " JE LEEFT OM TE WERKEN ". Ik zelf werk van 6:15 tot 15:30. En op Zaterdag van 6:00 tot 11:00. Want er zijn meer huizen nodig voor jullie. Maar ik wil ook weekend, om 15:30 op vrijdag !

[@palantir135]

The small stairs are only in the older houses in the big cities.

[@computeraddic675]

Those stairs are typical in old houses in Amsterdam.And thats typical for people visiting the Netherlands and thinking that everything in Amsterdam is the same in the whole country. There is a lot of difference!

[@gardenjoy5223]

The stairs? lol She's never been in a house built after 1950. Limited experience to old inner city housing. The birthday cake! Yes. You provide something tasty to eat and we give you gifts and celebrate you. Not bringing a birthday cake to share with all, is considered to be real cheap and rude. Never occurred to me though, that this is a specifically Dutch thing. Thanks for letting me know.

[@williameason1194]

With stairs, 3 stringers with alternating steps, left first, right second, and so on. Between each stringer is 1/2 step. So you alternate. Between the left stringer and the middle stringer is a full deep step, then between the middle stringer and the right stringer is the next step. Each is just half way across the the stairway, but they allow a deep step at each level. You can rise in even less space than your present method, but with much more safety. 9 feet rise in 5 feet. The steps don't each go all the way across the stairway, just half. I am being redundant to try and describe the construction since I have no way to draw the detail. Basically it is two sets of stairs side by side with steps doubly spaced but alternating. I will visit the Nederlands sometime and see if you are practical enough to change those nasty steps to this method. You can thank me then.

[@jimmymars1249]

'Direct speaking to people' is recommended by a famous Brit.teacher living in another country not to be cited.which personally I agree with.But people rather give a clue to indicate the other way to have them follow what they need.

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

What else you can do with hagelslag..???? It is specially made for that purpose...you want to feed it to the birds???

[@MrMezmerized]

Icecream :-)

[@gardenjoy5223]

@@MrMezmerized Yummy, ice cream for breakfast. On my bread. That I didn't think of that before...

[@MrMezmerized]

@@gardenjoy5223 I assume you are kidding and understand I meant sprinkles on icecream.

[@gardenjoy5223]

@@MrMezmerized lol no. I didn't think of that. The lady was talking about breakfast. So when you typed ice cream, I was at a total loss and contemplated ice cream for breakfast. Which is something we should incorporate in our culture. Definitely. Then I envisioned ice cream on my bread and found it hilarious. I shared that with my husband, who explained to me, that - of course - you meant hagelslag on top of your ice cream. But by then my humorous vain was working at top speed. Hence my comment. It IS funny, isn't it. By the way, my brother swore at the age of 12, that hagelslag on bread with egg was delicious. And I myself found out that pancake with ice cream is delicious. The latter really is. See where I'm coming from?

[@Man-in-the-green]

Are you trying to be funny? You are not moonboy.

[@opoxious1592]

What a pretty Russian readhead ❤😍❤

[@maartjewaterman1193]

Sometimes I get so fed up with those so called culture shocks. Of course life in a foreign country is different from what you are used to. I myself lived and worked in Italy for several years and yes, things overthere work differently than in The Netherlands. I just accepted that as part of my life there and besides that, what is the use of telling them how different the Italian ways are compared to my country, if not asked abour? I would say: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do", and back then I did not even live close to that city.

[@dutchyjhome]

While staying in the Netherlands; you'll have to make a decision: Do you want to be entirely on your own, and maybe get to know a few other expats, then by all means stick to English. Do you want to mingle with the Dutch, get a good taste of True Dutch culture, and leave those other expats for what they are for a brief moment? By all means learn Dutch. Even though the vast majority of the Dutch population speaks more or less English, it really is Dutch which is the native language of The Netherlands. Dutch it is and Dutch it will be. To the Dutch it is like this: OK you speak English, so you do not take the trouble to learn Dutch, so you must be temporary here and you must be on your way out soon. We (The Dutch) lost interest in this person. Or: Hey well so nice of this foreigner to learn Dutch, he or she respects this country and its inhabitants and this person obviously wants to mingle with us: let's invite this person into our lives! English for us Dutchies is a way to talk to strangers whom want to stay stranger, or maybe to a person who really want's to learn Dutch but just arrived... Let there be no misconception about this: English is to talk to strangers and Dutch among friends! This is The Netherlands after all and our language is Dutch and absolutely not English, although to strangers we will talk English. By choosing English as a language, you choose to stay a foreigner ! And so doors stay closed for you! Doors that will open for you when you speak Dutch ;-)

[@hvermout4248]

The Netherlands are just another normal country. No culture shock. It's all the other countries that are crazy!

[@Paul_C]

Somehow ripping off a format created by a language teaching institute doesn't help when you start a new service. Furthermore My Website as a link in your About tab indicates a lack of understanding the basic skills needed to even start recruiting people. Ah well, another direction Dutch directness has.

[@aldrixalkemadus]

IN THE NAME OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS THIS VIDEO IS NOW OFFIOLE G E K O L O N I S E E R D

[@Widdekuu91]

Misschien moet je het volgende keer goed schrijven. Official in plaats van Offiole.

[@aldrixalkemadus]

@@Widdekuu91 thanks

[@Widdekuu91]

@@aldrixalkemadus Maar helemaal niet schrijven is nóg beter.

[@aldrixalkemadus]

@heleen b traditie is traditie

[@villavilla4798]

Je snapt er geen hout van hè. Groeten uit Holland 🇳🇱🧡

[@Ozymandias1]

Does Octagon only hire women?

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

Only rich people can afford to take a day off,,,working class has to plan weeks ahead to get a day off..

[@TheCountess666]

Most office employees can take a day off on fairly short notice i'd say.

[@Man-in-the-green]

So that’s why you are sitting on your fat arse looking at the stars?

[@eexaniouseksk7703]

Dutch best quality = rudness

[@gardenjoy5223]

You know that this comment of yours is actually rude?

[@gardenjoy5223]

@Majo Flinterman Except it wasn't rude. But you were kind of funny.

[@hunchbackaudio]

It's actually rudeness, or am I rude by correcting your spelling?

[@SideWalkAstronomyNetherlands]

That "directness" you mostly find in the west of the Netherlands, not in the real Dutch parts of the Netherlands, certainly not in the north-East... It is one of the reasons most Dutch do not like Amsterdammers.. They are found to be rude...

[@watermark086]

So you are saying that I am not living in the real Netherlands because I live in 'de Randstad' 🤣🤣🤣🤣 not only people from the randstad are direct, the whole Netherlands has that no no nonsense attitude :) for other cultures that can give a rude feeling, but it is not rudeness, but just honesty. And Amsterdam is not the only place in the West of our country 😉😉😉😉😉

[@gardenjoy5223]

My brother-in-law is from the North-East. What a mistake my sister made, marrying one of those. Never met more stingy people in my life. He bought a new washing machine, just when our old one broke and we didn't have money for a new one. He tried to make big money on selling us his old one. Such an ass. Hope this is rude enough for you.

[@watermark086]

@@gardenjoy5223 so because you have a ass of a brother in law everybody from that area is rude? I am not from the north east I am south east. And yes I am direct, but never heard I am rude.

[@gardenjoy5223]

@@watermark086 I wasn't responding to you. I found the comment of Wim V to be that of a real lul. So that's what I responded on. Trying to be as rude as I could, to accommodate. But yeah, that brother-in-law is a real 'gem'. No worries, I know lots of people from your region and love and like them. But this Wim V character. He reminds me of my brother-in-law.

[@watermark086]

@@gardenjoy5223 I am so sorry, now I get your comment. 🥰