My Bad

I have another forgotten story. During Tuesday Night Drinks, I wandered to the door with designs of going outside because the weather was surprisingly pleasant and the bar was crowded. My friend Mitra was entering the bar as I was exiting so I greeted her with a hug. A few feet behind her was a local who opened his arms for a similar hello (I assume as a joke, an admittedly funny joke). I obliged and as we were pulling away he swung his drunken arm too wide, hitting my beer and knocking it and its special glass to the ground. Beer went all over me and all over the floor and glass littered the entrance. He gave me a predictably strange look before picking up the glass and asking if it was his fault. Not wanting to foster any conflict in a foreign country (or really anywhere in the world over a simple beer thereby defeating the purpose of drinking beer), I said it wasn’t anyone’s fault and gave him a pat on the back. We went together (me soaked, he dry) to the bar and he bought another beer. His English wasn’t particularly good, one of the few times I have faced this challenge in Holland. He smiled and then said, “It’s your birthday party, no?”, with a hearty laugh.

“No, not my birthday,” I replied unsure of what the hell he meant.

“Oh, happy birthday”

“Thanks”

I have no idea what this meant or how it related to anything at all. Freaky Dutch.

This guy was completely sure that he did not cause the spill. Perhaps the most perplexing thing about the Dutch is how they are completely sure of themselves. I see this country as a decent place with a lot of problems, like America but without good food, music, weather, topography, and bathroom facilities. The people are generally rude but they don’t know it. In fact, they think of themselves as the most polite civilization on earth. They will tell you as much. The only thing they will concede is that the Belgians make better beer, not much of a concession considering half of Belgian is basically Dutch. Maybe they really are that good. Maybe it’s a self fulfilling prophecy. Maybe this philosophizing would make more sense at the end of the trip.