Monday, July 9, 2012

Small town mentality

This is indeed a realistic view of the area where I live in. Just a few minutes bike ride away. Of course, I could also show a  picture of the ugly factory which is located a few minutes bike ride away in the other direction. Like all countries, we have the good, the bad and the ugly here. I guess it's my choice what I focus on.
This morning I spoke to someone at work about the fact that I've started blogging again. To me it's my way of broadening my horizon beyond the small town cuteness of Nunspeet. I never thought that moving within Holland would be such a culture shock. But it seems to be true that living in a small town also seems to lead to people living "smaller" lives. Less aware of the big wide world, and more focussed on each other and on little details. Knowing who ones parents are is much more important in small town than it is in big city. Or is that just a cultural dutch thing?
One of the questions old timers ask here is "van wie ben je er eentje",  or "who do you belong to". I even find myself doing that after a while! And it also seems that the dutch norm of  "being normal is good enough" is stronger here than it is in a city. One must not make an effort to rise above the rest, or be very ambitious. You can see that in the level of education that children are offered. Mediocre is fine, there doesn't seem to be much room for those who can do better. Conversations can sometimes limit themselves to gossiping about the neighbors instead of stimulating ones brain with different view points.
So blogging is a good outlet. I'm glad the internet is here, that I can read about other peoples opinions, and that I do have friends that stimulate my brain and make me realize the world is bigger than this cute little town.
Ok, whine over!!

1 comment:

  1. Small town mentality in NL is definitely different from the mentality of what one experiences in cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht... The bloggers there will not shed light on that topic as well as you just have. Thanks for sharing!

    I've been away from your blog for a few weeks and look forward to reading through, catching up, after I finally put an update up on mine too. Have a great weekend!

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