A few years ago I researched cosmopolitanism, which basically is a philosophy or worldview that emphasises the importance of recognising and respecting the diversity of cultures and identities that make up our global community. It is based on the belief that all human beings have inherent value and dignity, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, religion,…
Continue reading ➞ Finding belonging halfway across the world
In my last blog I wrote about "finding your kind of people". Based on the book "Belong" by Radha Agrawal. Today's blog is about nurturing your community: once you found your kind of people, how do you make them coming back for more? As with everything in live: you sow what you reap. The more…
In other words, how to create your personal community in the Netherlands? A big question or quest, for all expats arriving in the Netherlands. Although work related passion has let you to this country, most expats don't want hang out solely in the "expat bubble", where to find like minded Duchies though? How to create…
I have been writing about this subject before: the importance for employers of a team that can understand and work with people from different cultural backgrounds. If you are reading this blog you are most likely an expat in the Netherlands and you will know as no other that cultural competencies are a necessity to…
Continue reading ➞ Being culturally competent in the Netherlands
Intercultural competence cannot be reduced to a simple personality trait, or some abstract textbook knowledge. It's for a large part related to language, to the capability of managing conflicts, and to social responsibility. According to Edward Hall we can place these in the categories of context, space and time. These categories can help you interpret…
Levels of diversity Did you know that when we talk about diversity we often think about culture? Well cultural diversity definitely is one of the layers of diversity, but there is more to it than culture alone. Culture is actually the outer layer of the diversity paradigm, therefor it's very visible. No wonder this is…
The Netherlands hosts approximately 60.000 expats, also known as “the non-Dutch” and approximately 17.100.000 permanent residents, also known as “the Dutch”. When you Google: “what do expats think of the Netherlands” you get about 25 million results. When you Google: “what do Dutch think of expats” you get 138.000. That brings me to the question:…
Recently I had the privilege to interview Majed Zain Aldin. Majed is a stylish thirty something single guy, living in Den Haag. First impressions go a long way and looking at Majed I never would have thought he arrived in the Netherlands only about 10 years ago by himself with none of his family or…
Dialogue with the Dutch does not exist without the dialogue with the non-Dutch, and I am very pleased to publish the very first DWTND blog. For this blog I interviewed my good friend Maja de Garcia-Majdanac on the topic of raising kids in the Netherlands as an expat. Maja is Croatian, and she has lived…
When you work for an international or supranational organisation, in a team with people from three or more different cultural backgrounds, you might from time to time feel like you are in a jungle. Not only do different cultures have different work ethics, a work environment by definition creates its own do’s and don’ts on…
Dialogue with the Dutch 