#nomakeupselfie for Dummies/Dutchies

It has been bothering me for a while now, so it's time to speak my mind. The Dutchies across the pond really seem to be missing the point of the #nomakeupselfie trend on social media.

Even 93-year-old May and 81-year-old Brenda understood the concept despite never ever having heard of a selfie before. Alongside their barefaced selfie, the sisters donated £5 each to Cancer Research UK.

Since it started last week the #nomakeupselfie trend has surged through social media with users raising more than £8million in the UK within 6 days. Subsequently, Cancer Research UK is able to carry out 10 more clinical trials due to this #nomakeupselfie trend.

The idea is pretty (ha, definitely NO pun intended) simple. You take a #nomakeupselfie, text BEAT to 70099 (for the UK) and post your text message proving you have donated alongside the selfie. Easy peasy! Please see an example below:

So, what exactly do the Dutch fail to understand? Basically the whole idea behind the #nomakeupselfie! When posting their makeupfree photos they state that they "support people with cancer". Oh gosh really? How on earth do you support a cancer-patient by solely posting a photo of yourself with no make up on? If you text SELFIE to 4333 you donate €2,- to 'KWF Kankerbestrijding' (the Dutch equivalent to Cancer Research UK). But can any Dutchies please explain me how you feel you are helping cancer patients by just posting a photo of yourself?

And then the oh-so-hilarious Dutch men.... (please note the sarcasm here) These lovely creatures have jumped on the #nomakeupselfie bandwagon too and are now posting their photos with no make up on. Oh blimey what an effort! I'm starting to get a bit concerned thinking they wear make-up when no-one else is around because why else would you respond that way? Surely if the women aren't wearing make up for cancer awareness, then the lads should get involved by taking selfies wearing make-up instead?! British men already understand the idea behind 'Man up and make up', but the Dutch men are clearly terribly vein and are taking the micky. If you are to scared to put make up on, at least donate - since thats what it is all about?

In the UK we have already seen various men put on lipstick, mascara and blusher for their selfies to raise money for charity too.

RESPECT for these men!

To summarise the idea behind the #nomakeupselfie for the Dutchies once more. Ladies: take a selfie with no make up on and text SELFIE to 4333 to donate €2,- to KWF, post both photos on social media and nominate a couple of your girlies to do the same. Men: take a selfie with a looootttt of make up on and text SELFIE to 4333 to donate €2,- to KWF, post both photos on social media and nominate some of your mates!

My apologies if I have offended any Dutchies, but then you shouldn't have been so useless!

Liefs,

Dutchy xx

Stemfies

Being a politics undergraduate, I am gutted I can't vote for today's municipal council elections at home. As a Dutch citizen living overseas I am only allowed to vote for the Dutch House of Representatives and for the European Parliament, and thus not for municipal or provincial elections. But secretly it isn't the actual voting that I am missing today, its the new phenomenon of taking a 'stemfie'.

The idea of the 'stemfie' is that voters enter the booth, pick a candidate, take a photo of themselves and spread it on social media! Have a look at Pechtold's example below: 

I wonder who he voted for...

NRC (Dutch Newspaper) stated a couple of days ago the prediction that less than a quarter of the youth would be voting for the municipal elections today, which I find very disturbing. Too many people don't take advantage of the privilege they get to cast their vote in an election, but how can you have a successfully run democratic system without the support and votes of the citizens? Your vote is your choice, it is one of the most valuable, powerful things we own. So it would be stupid not to use it.

Elections have been suffering from low voter-turnout for a while now, so I find the 'stemfie' a great way of stimulating more citizens to vote - and clearly it is working! Apparently at 1.30pm today the amount of people having voted was equal to total turnout of the 2010 elections. 

I feel that it makes voting so much more fun, and it is a far better way of engaging the public rather than ideas such as compulsory voting. 

Hopefully the Dutch 'stemfie' will result in a world record voter-turnout!

Liefs,

Dutchy xx

Tastes of Home

After reading Guardian's article 'Tastes of home: what food do you miss the most' I started daydreaming about all the foods I would indulge in once I would be back in my home-country this Thursday.

It is basically everything you can buy at my all-time favorite supermarket Albert Heijn and retail shop Hema (gosh, how I miss those shops in the UK) - but I will elaborate a bit more with some mouth-watering photo's of the Dutch delicacies that make me dribble when thinking of.

Boterham met Hagelslag

The bread back at home is just the best, as are the toppings! Take a fresh slice of bread, smother it with a generous unhealthy amount of unsalted butter and then sprinkle a copious amount (ideally a pile) of the sprinkles on your bread. Ahhhh heaven. We have dozens of different types of sprinkles, such as chocolate flavored, fruit-flavored, licorice-flavored. You name it and we have it! Cannot wait to have hagelslag for breakfast. 

Frikandel! 

I am pretty certain that all Dutch people are obsessed with this fried snack. And the obsession is very contagious too. All foreigners I have introduced to this sausage are over the moon and are desperate to have another one. Please note that the ingredients of this delicious sausage is something we do not really like to discuss (think horse flesh, pork and chicken offal... brains..?)

Patatje Oorlog 

Fries, with satay sauce and mayonnaise! I can't even comment on this at the moment as I WANT TO EAT IT NOW! Apparently we love our chips so much that we eat over 41 million kilo per year. However, it isn't really the chips that I miss so much and desperately crave, but the satay sauce. It is delicious on fries!

Tompouce

An equivalent to the English Mille-Feuille/Napoleon, but so so so much better. The tompouce is truly iconic in the Netherlands. I love it so much that my stephmum even gave me a blow-up bed in the shape of a tompouce. see photo here

However, what I probably miss the utmost is the delicious food created by my incredibly talented brother, and served in Restaurant/Brasserie De Vierbannen. His scrumptious creations are a sight for sore eyes! I feel a separate post about this beautiful restaurant and excellent food is due soon....

Secretly I am also hoping that my dad reads this, and that it reminds him of my post in March 2013: Continental Food for a Homesick Dutchy - my dad's infamous paella on the menu on Thursday night? YES PLEASE!

Liefs,

Dutchy xx

Add caption

Lets stampede the Dutch stamp

This post is very much related to my Postman Dutchy post from June '13, but after having sent and received a couple of letters I feel yet again a bit disappointed with the ever-so-trendy Dutch.

Whether you like it or not, we will all have to fully adapt to the communication changes of the 21st Century. Letters are a thing of the past as we continuously use other methods such as email and social media to communicate with one another. And even if we do send an 'old-fashioned' postcard, we increasingly use websites such as Greetz and Moonpig to write it and send it for us! It has never been so easy, quick and cheap to be pen-pals than ever before. 

However, what really frustrates me is that the Dutch try to cope with this modernity. Why not just remember this nostalgic way of communicating by leaving the postbox as well as the stamp to its beautiful original format? Despite my often liberal or socialist political views, I am a staunch Royalist (eek, let's hope my granny doesn't get to read this post). I have absolutely no shame in admitting that I love the Dutch & British Royal Family and therefore I want to see pictures and images of them. All the time. Everywhere. On Everything! 

Yes, that includes stamps indeed.

It is a real rarity for the British to provide the public with stamps that do not have our beloved Queen Elizabeth's smiley face on it, but the Dutch on the other hand..... The Dutch are beyond excited to swap Queen B's/King WA's head for planes, animals, food, children's drawings.. you name it and the Dutch have it! 

Have a look at the extensive collection of the Dutch:

Stamps to encourage the Dutch to be more 'green'

A special valentines day stamp!

Christmas Stamps... 

Children's stamps!

Have you seen the shocking continuity yet in the above Dutch stamps? No? Ok. Let's see how differently the British treat this important little sticker:

Celebrating the great British Fashion on a stamp

A tribute to working dogs

Yay, the olympics/paralympics are on its way

A poppy for Remembrance Day..

Ok cleverpants, did you notice the difference? What appears on every British stamp despite its design, and is missing on the Dutch stamps? 

Our Majesty!!!

I know our new King WA's chubby face isn't a very pleasant sight, but how else are we going to get used to him instead of our ever-so wonderful Queen B? 

I must say, Alex looks significantly better
on a stamp than in real life!

Liefs,

Dutchy xx