- INTRODUCTION - YOU DON'T KNOW OZZ? WHAT?? PART 5 / 6 - MY TIME IN THE NETHERLANDS

After our stay in Thailand we returned to the Netherlands for a few years so that I could complete my schooling and receive a Dutch diploma before doing more travel. Thankful to my parents for making this decision as I would otherwise return to the Netherlands with little to no exposure to things like Dutch grammar, history and the metric system for example.

We moved back to the Netherlands from Bangkok, Thailand when I was 12 years old and I can remember that it was a big switch to living in Thailand. In the Netherlands there were a lot of things different. To begin with the food as asians have a diet that revolves around rice and in the Netherlands the kitchen revolves around potatoes. Which was a downgrade in kitchen as far as I am concerned…:) See the difference below.

Thai food:

Dutch food:

Other differences that come to mind where of course the language, the weather and the culture.
In the beginning I did encounter some difficulties with dutch grammar and spelling but swiftly caught on. Thankfully my parents always spoke Dutch at home so the spoken language was no problem for me.

The weather on the other hand took a lot of getting used to. I was used to having sunny days and playing outside whenever I wanted. Back in the Netherlands I had to get used to the horrible weather that we have, compared to Asia that is…

Thailand climate (temperature):

The Netherlands climate (temperature):

Leiderdorp:
We moved to a place called ‘Leiderdorp’ a town near the city ‘Leiden’.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leiderdorp

I went to a school called ‘Fisser ’t Hooft’ first in Leiderdorp and for further years in Leiden where I received my diploma. Thank god, because this is why we moved back to the Netherlands. :)

In Leiderdorp I gained a great group of friends and as we were all in the ages of 13 - 17 life was all about rebelling, curiosity and discovery. In our case this meant, girls, drugs, motorbikes, partying and sex!

I can remember that after saving the money that I earned whilst working for McDonalds I was able to buy my first bike:

Of course this bike was tuned far past it’s original 50cc engine. A hobby that many dutch guys had was tuning their bike to see who had the fastest bike in the hood ;)

I became a very fanatic player of foosball as this was played at every Dutch coffeeshop. Great game to compete at whilst chilling out with a big dutch skunk joint!

As you all know, the Netherlands has a lot more to offer than tulips and wooden shoes hahaha.

After 4 years in the Netherlands and after completing my studies, my dad came home one evening and sat us down at the table. He announce that the next move would be coming up in 2 months (I was 16 at the time). Guess where this move was taking us. I will give you a hint.

It was to a continent that we had not lived on before… Want to hear more? Tune in later this week for part 6 of my introductory story for you guys.

If you enjoyed my post please do not forget to help out by upvoting. You are also welcome to follow if you want to be updated on my future work.

Have a great day,

@Ozz