Doe maar gewoon dan doe je gek genoeg Act normal, & that will be crazy enough Nine out of ten people in the Netherlands will"e this well-worn saying if asked to come up with a basic trait of the Dutch character. Expatriates who have been here for a while see it differently. For them, Dutch society is a weird & wonderful maze full of unpredictable people. At times Dutch people will ignore you politely; other times they will go out of their way to help you. You will get into trouble with the authorities for putting up a fence without permission but, in the late evenings, many family television channels broadcast pornography & advertisements for telephone sex into the privacy of your home. Even your best friends reach for their diaries to make a dinner date, because you don t just drop by without being invited. & when you buy them a present they will open it in front of you without batting an eyelid. A country & a people full of paradoxes. Or is there some kind of system behind it all? Han van der Horst paints a picture of Dutch society & the Dutch psyche that will help expatriates understand the country they are living in & will help them function properly at work & in their free time. The Low Sky Understanding the Dutch is the best guide to the Netherlands & its people. This latest edition has been completely reviewed & updated to do justice to the major social changes that have affected Dutch society in recent years.”