Worldly Chatter

I went to the market yesterday to pick up some vegetables for dinner. All I needed was celery and peppers but since the market is only moments away from where I live I took the walk despite the cold and rain we were experiencing. It wasn’t a horrid time out so I thought about walking about the center of Hilversum. I was curious about coffee to go.
I am sure my American readers can think of a dozen places to get coffee; Dunken Doughnuts or your favorite deli. My personal favorite was 7-11 coffee. The disposable cups with little plastic lids, for the serious drinkers there are the travel mugs ready to be used morning noon and night! I often got coffee at the deli on Sunrise highway in my New York town or the local gas station or Dunken Doughnuts in CT. When you are on the go it’s convenient and sometimes even better than the coffee you make at home. Yet I have to admit, I don’t see people around here with those little disposable cups like I did in the states. To be honest the only time I see it is when you are at a gas station on the highway somewhere where they don’t expect you to stay for more than a minute or so. Can I actually get coffee to go?
You see the atmosphere is different here in the Netherlands, in most European nations for that matter. In the UK everyone stops for tea or coffee, the French love to sit at their favorite terrace and drink and even the Dutch have their favorite places to stop for coffee or tea. They have koffie tijd, (coffee time) at ten in the morning where they literally stop what they are doing for coffee. In my ventures throughout Holland, whether it is in Hilversum or Amsterdam, when you want coffee you pick a place and sit to drink it as they automatically assume you will stay. A cup and saucer are delivered with coffee; a little spoon, one cookie and milk and sugar if you’d like. One place me and Dutchie love to get a good cappuccino is Hema. It’s a department store a lot like Wal-mart or K-mart. They have a small cafeteria where you can get sandwiches, little snack foods and drinks. People will walk in simply for the cafeteria without buying anything else. This idea that you are in such a rush that you can’t sit for coffee at some point during the day seems so alien to the people around me. Even though I lived on Long Island and CT that fast paced life was still in me. School, work, social life or whatever else came in to play life could get quite hectic. Did you really have time during the day to sit for twenty minutes to drink a cup of coffee when you could drink it while on the go?
This laid back mentality doesn’t just limit itself to coffee either. Dinner is eaten slower, a quick stop at a friend’s house isn’t exactly quick and shopping is definitely different. Dutchie didn’t like the busyness of New York life. We stopped for coffee in the city and while my mom was ready to take the coffee to go Dutchie wanted to drink and relax. Shopping was from store to store with no stop in between and the car seemed to be the only way to get around. Walking, taking a stop in between stores is a part of everyday life here. What is so important that you have to be on the go twenty four hours a day?
So back to the hunt for coffee! Mag ik een kop koffie? (Can I have a cup of coffee?) This was the phrase I went to town with. I stopped at Bagels and Beans for a cup of coffee and asked mag ik een kopje koffie? Sure enough she went for the cup and saucer! Mee nemen? (to take with) That’s when she looked at me with a perplexed expression and slowly put the cup away. She grabbed the disposable cup and lid and began to make my coffee. How happy I was! I paid the 1.60 and was on my merry way. Stopped outside to have a smoke and sip my coffee. The next place on my list! Bakker Bart is a bakery and is a few moments walk to the other side of the center. I walked in and tried to eye those little disposable cups. Sure enough they were there! McDonalds and a little deli type place where you can go in or order at the window. Dutchie says you can get coffee to go at the grocery store at the train station. So now I have four places where I can take it to go. Is it that odd that this American wants coffee to go? According to the expression on the women’s face it was. My accent tells the woman where I am from and it seems it all makes sense to her after a moment’s thought. I am a rushed busy American!
Since my first landing this is the first time I attempted to grab a cup of coffee to go in Holland and is not an easy feet by any means! I have become so used to the idea that you sit with your coffee that I almost forgot what it was like to carry around a cup of coffee while on a walk through town. Am I losing that New York minute I had? Once I came home I pondered the difference between life in the US and here. How fast paced the US can be and how there isn’t much time in the day to enjoy what is around us. My New York minute mentality is leaving me, I know this now. I knew it when Dutchie and I went back to visit the family. I felt rushed and drained by all the hustle and bustle. Where once I kept up nicely I now feel that it moves too fast, life needs to slow for just a moment so I can catch up.

culture shocks, American Expat, Europe, coffee, cultural differences, Netherlands