Isn’t it ironic

Originally sent as an email chronicle 1 May 2005


I’ve received a few emails from y’all mentioning that I haven’t sent a chronicle in quite some time so I figured I should send some news. I’ve been pretty busy lately with my research here in the Netherlands. I’ve started an experiment on captive Red Knots (my study species) that is taking all of my time. Hubby and I live in a town in the northeast Netherlands, but my birds are housed on an island in the northwest (in the Wadden Sea) – a 4 to 5 hour commute away. Thus I’ve been spending quite some time traveling/commuting. When on the island I’ve been in the lab working with blood and bacteria in a laminar flow hood (a piece of lab equipment that creates a sterile environment where one can work with bacteria and other sensitive media) – it’s about as sterile and “labby” as one can get without working on Ebola :-). The island is a nice place with really beautiful dune ecosystems and I do enjoy my time on the island, but the irony of my living and working situation at present (in relation to my reasons for coming to Europe) are not lost on me.
Those who know me well know that I have a somewhat dark and sarcastic sense of humor, and as such I love irony. My mother commented when I entered a PhD program that it was ironic how long I’d be in school considering that I chose not to become a medical doctor (MD) in part because I didn't want to stay in school so long. Of course she is right (mothers usually are). I also find it ironic that I chose not to stay on in my position at the University in my home city (in a molecular lab) because I didn't want to be stuck doing lab work all of the time. Right now I only work with live birds long enough to take a blood sample, the rest of my time is spent in a sterile lab. Furthermore, I moved to one of the world’s smallest countries, but now commute just about as far as possible (and through the only portion of the country without train service) on a regular basis. But then I guess I shouldn’t complain about the traveling as this journey through the countryside is the closest to fieldwork that I am getting! This is not to say that I won’t do any fieldwork or traveling in the future, I’m still optimistic that I will, and I understand the importance of working out new techniques in a lab before taking them into the field - but the theme of this email is irony :-).

Then there is the question of moving to Europe. Hubby and I decided to move to Europe in part because we felt that Europeans were generally more open minded and liberal than North Americans and we wanted to learn from European society for awhile. We could have gone to the midwest USA for my studies (where there was a strong possibility of fieldwork in Panama), but we decided that we didn’t want to live in a conservative rural community. Well, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side of the Atlantic… Here is irony for you, we now live in the northern Netherlands, a place which, unlike the large and multicultural cities that we grew up in, is very rural and much to our dismay at times very conservative.

Hubby is from Panama, and a year long battle with Canadian immigration for a visitor visa taught us that racism is alive and well (at least at the bureaucratic level) in Canada; however, when Hubby finally arrived in Canada he fit right in. The residents of my home city did not bat an eyelid at one more Latin American and even when he spent a month in a small town of about 500, he didn’t feel any racial tension. The story has been very different in the Netherlands. Here in Europe, there was no year long battle for a visa, but there has been racial tension. On one occasion Hubby asked a woman for directions and upon looking at him she hid her bags, pointed vaguely, and hurried away, obviously frightened. Hubby has also been followed at night by large white males who have hurled insults at him (most of which he didn’t understand) but that centered on calling him a “kebab” and “immigrant”. Even the academics with whom I work sometimes slip into referring to immigrants as “those people” who can’t integrate. We thought perhaps these were isolated incidents and that things were better in the more urban and multicultural south. But then the national and international news began to report on the firebombing of mosques and Islamic schools in the cities - so much for the pacifism and liberalism of the Netherlands. Racism and intolerance exists everywhere and it seems that the “dyke burst” (pardon the pun) for the Netherlands just as we arrived.

The “immigration/emigration situation” in the Netherlands is addressed in an article in the Globe and Mail (23 April 2005) entitled “It just doesn’t feel like Holland anymore”. The article discusses a recent exodus of Dutch people, troubled by the ways in which immigration has changed their nation. These Dutch emigrants are moving preferentially to Canada. Now there is irony for you! For one Dutch emigrant the problem in the Netherlands is that “Holland has let too many people in without attention to their ability to fit into Dutch society”. The citizens of his town now come in a variety of hues and hold a variety of beliefs and to him it just doesn’t feel like home any more. I wonder how this man will feel when he arrives in Vancouver (multicultural to say the least) and sees that several of the customs officers wear turbans and head scarves. In my first year in the northern Netherlands I could count the number of head scarves I saw on one hand. Only recently have head scarves emerged, and this “fashion trend” is a protest to the anti-Islam movement (a very good sign, I think).

The Globe article states that “The ethnic cleaning and mass migration of the two world wars left many European countries with one dominant ethnic group, so the presence of large numbers of visibly different people has alarmed and alienated many residents.” But the Dutch are traders who have come into contact with “buitenlanders” (foreigners) for centuries – que pasa? I suppose the answer lies in the distinction between foreigners as trading partners, and foreigners as active members of your country. According to the Globe, “the public reaction to the demographic changes has been nothing short of fury.”

But not all Dutch people agree with this reaction. Hubby and I have many Dutch friends who are embarrassed by their nation’s new found intolerance. Furthermore, many Dutch emigrants are leaving not because of the immigrants, but because of the Dutch reaction to immigration, which has “turned their country men into angry intolerant nationalists”. I can sympathize, although for different reasons. It’s shattering to discover that your country and your people are not as perfectly tolerant as you once believed. The emigrants leaving the Netherlands because of the Dutch response to immigration feel that “Canada is a place where the tension between immigrants and non-immigrants does not exist, because that distinction does not exist”. It is true that in Canada (and Panama) nearly everyone is an immigrant so the distinction between “us and them” is blurred and integration becomes less of an issue. In my experience (and I can only speak for myself) there is a very distinct line between the Dutch and the foreigners in the Netherlands - even in academic circles. This is not to say that there is no mixing, everyone works together and collaborations abound; however, in social situations there is a tangible “us and them” feeling. It is uncomfortable, it makes me feel guilty for not integrating more, and it is something I haven’t felt anywhere else.

I hope that Dutch immigrants seeking tolerance in Canada will find what they are looking for. In Canada they will be the foreigners and the tables will be turned. Like the Netherlands, Canada is known throughout the world as a tolerant nation and I hope that despite it’s own debates about immigration, it can live up to that reputation. I hope that Canada (despite somewhat inhumane visa laws) can be a place where all people can live in peace.

Culture and all that

Originally emailed as an email chronicle November 17, 2004

Recently I’ve been involved in a lively email discussion with friends about the joys and stumbling blocks of moving to a new country. Although I have relocated before (to Panama) that move was benign compared to moving to the Netherlands. There are several reasons for that, most notably that in Panama I had a local (Hubby) to show me the ropes, whereas in the Netherlands Hubby and I drifted for a long time before finding something to hold onto.
My recent discussions have centred on assumptions that expatriates make when they move to a different country. For example that the Netherlands is a laid back and tolerant place, or that people from Canada are polite and friendly. A wise friend of mine pointed out that these assumptions often lead to disappointment as a place (with all of its diverse characters) can never live up to a simple stereotype and thus expats feel as if they have been lied to.
Hubby and I have been disappointment and surprised by many things since moving to the Netherlands. For example, we had always heard that the Dutch had an excellent health care system, but here not even the basics are covered and even citizens must purchase health insurance. European funding of graduate students is another debateable point. Many have heard that students are paid well in Europe. It is true that school is considered more like a job here and that tuitions are lower, however, many undergraduate students still work at outside jobs to stay alive and graduate students are still asked in their interviews how they intend to pay for themselves (i.e. salary) and their research. What comes out is usually a balance much like in North America where some costs are covered by the supervisor’s grants and other costs by grants to the student and scholarships. Even graduate students sometimes work other jobs to make ends meet. Recycling is another issue. For years we had heard that the Dutch have one of the best recycling programs on the planet and yet in Toronto, in the USA and in Germany many more things are recycled than where we are living in the Netherlands (I cannot speak for the cities in the south).
Some things however, have lived up to reputation. The weather for example really is horrendous, people are very blunt and workers take more vacation and sick days than anywhere else I have ever been. Of course these things are not always pleasant. The bluntness takes some getting used to. Here are a few examples, a blond friend of mine asked for help with a new printing machine and was told that the reason she couldn’t figure it out was the colour of her hair. I was told that lab work is repetitive “stupid work” and thus I should like it. I still question whether these comments were made innocently or maliciously. The bluntness goes beyond interpersonal interactions, for example inner city schools in Amsterdam or Rotterdam with more than 50% foreigners are called “Zwarte Scholen” (literally black schools) even on television and Moroccans are often referred to as “those people” who don’t integrate well. Extensive vacations, short working hours and lots of “sick days” are also annoying, for example Hubby’s immigration papers were held up three months over the summer because of vacations. This wrecked havoc with our Canadian visa application (we still don’t know if Hubby can come for Christmas or not). However, another wise friend of mine pointed out that the vacations are not the root of the problem, but rather agencies are probably understaffed and can not compensate when people go on vacation.
I have also come to the conclusion that a lot of the “culture shock” that Hubby and I experienced comes from the fact that we are both city people and we have moved to a small town. Although small city in the north is only 2.5 hours from Amsterdam, to me there is a world of difference. Some of you will remember that I didn’t even like Hamilton (1.5 hours from Toronto with over 300,000 inhabitants), a much bigger city than small city in the north. Aesthetically, this town/city is a nice place with quaint streets and “cute” Dutch architecture, but I long for the diversity, the extremes of the city. I long for simultaneous connectedness and anonymity. I long for the feeling of being alone in a crowd (which is different from feeling alone and excluded from a social circle). I am quite sure that if Hubby and I lived in Amsterdam we would have integrated faster.
None of what I have said is meant as an attack on Dutch people or their culture. I am sure that many of you can describe similar disappointments and surprises moving to Toronto, or Panama, or Hong Kong. Things are different in different places and the world would be a boring place otherwise. This is just an examination (inspired by my recent email discussions) of what it is like to move to a new place (without a personal guide who you subsequently marry :-) ).