Are Dutch cold?

Jerry's mother worked with a Dutch, Mr. M. She took care of his flowers when he's not around.

He'll be returning to the Netherlands by the end of this month. So Jerry's mother organized a farewell party. Mr. M must be very friendly then because he valued his worker.

Jerry invited me so that there won't be a quite awkward moments. Jerry is always hesitant to speak English, what more to say to a foreigners. So, I'm there to help breaking the ice... sort of.

Well, I like exchanging ideas with people from other parts of the world.

I must admit, the first few minutes was awkwardly silent. I'm looking for any Dutch phrase that I know of. Nil! German? Some. Afrikaans? A bit. But then it's not Dutch. Fortunately, Mr. M is friendly. As we are having the humble party at a barbecue joint, he asked us "So we are having drinks and barbecue?" I replied, "Yes... kinda like our local braai..." Thanks South Africa.

It started with 'Jengkol'

He intended to bring some back to the Netherlands. We don't call the fruit jengkol, but the Indonesians do. Considering Indonesia used to be under Dutch, I'm using that advantage to break the ice.

"Ah yes, Indonesians call it jengkol. My former mother in law is part Indonesian..."

So our conversations include Dutch loanwords in Indonesian... koran, kantor, maskapai, kamar... kraan... (I credited my Indonesian knowledge to Indonesian YouTubers... thanks a lot guys... and Harry Bond J)

And then the geography... how the physical geography differs in the 70's. Isselmeer, Zuilder zee... Land reclamation. Polder...

Jerry asked him where in Netherlands is he from. Mr. M is from the southern part of Netherlands. So I said "That's must be very near to Begium!"

And our conversations continues with...

Flying with KLM Business Class and those little Jenever filled Delft Blue houses.

Schengen and non-Schengen area in Europe... A bit of the Royal Families. He was impressed of my knowledge on their Royal Family. And of course Princess Magriet/Canada relationship. Nazi occupation.

Time zone and Daylight Saving Time was also discussed.

Before parting off, he gave Jerry's mother a box full with foreign coins.

And who said Dutch are cold and calculative/stingy?

p/s Like Stu, Mr. M asked me if I travel a lot, since my general knowledge is quite impressive (not my own words). Nope, never. Never had a passport. I still don't have any passport. And my younger brother had his this morning.