Easter eggs in the Netherlands weren't quite what I was expecting...

Before I go any further I need to confess something.
I don’t like boiled eggs, especially when they are cold. There I said it. Whew, I’m glad to have that out of the way and, I completely understand if you care to read no further.

You see, it seems boiled eggs are rather well-loved in the Netherlands. I am sure there are some Dutch folk who perhaps aren’t great fans of the boiled egg, some that even choose not to eat them but, to show this food open disdain – well that is an altogether different matter, especially during Easter.

From my very unscientific study of the subject I have gathered that boiled eggs form rather a significant part of Dutch Easter. So much so that, when I expressed my aversion to them to a Dutch friend of mine last week she was incredulous. “But, Easter isn’t the same without boiled eggs!”

Personally I prefer my Easter eggs to be made by the good people at Lindt rather than a farm-fresh chicken but, explaining this to my girlfriend’s grandmother was an equally thankless task. Mainly, I will admit, because I was doing it in Dutch which is not yet my go-to language for trying to express cultural nuance. But also I would venture to guess because she just wouldn't hear of it. She nodded sagely, somehow managing to get the gist of what I was saying and then proceeded to tell me how wonderful they are, “such a versatile food” and that perhaps I would like them better cut up and in a salad.

Needless to say, I thanked her for her advice and then quietly avoided the topic for the rest of the afternoon, turning her attention instead to the weather, which has been rather pleasant of late.

This leads me to something about the Dutch that I really do like. When I first arrived here last August, I was told repeatedly by my girlfriend to go outside because the weather was good. And, true to form, I didn’t really listen to her until the sun started to set just after four and it was too late to enjoy the weather. Now, that spring has finished stretching and is crouching down to jump on all of us, restaurants are dusting off their outside furniture, students are dragging couches out into the road in order to sit in the sun. People all around the city are coming out of hibernation and crowding into even the smallest patch of sun, sunglasses at the ready.

Back home in South Africa sunshine is something you often take for granted and so it is refreshing to see people really reveling in it. And, this summer it is a practice I intend to emulate.