Did you hear the one about the Dutch and the Belgians?

I went out with my flatmate and his girlfriend, and another one of his friend's on Friday night.

I thought it was quite appropriate really since the weather was just so splendid. For the last week, Mother Nature just spontaneously decided to forgo any more continuous bouts of sunshine, and just went back to being.....well, normal actually. As always, continuous precipitation makes for such great atmosphere, so it was a great night for a few beverages. Yep, there's nothing I love more than getting out and about on a drizzly, damp night. Walking, cycling. It's a joy. It makes for an even better start to the weekend.

We met at his girlfriend's house, in the East.

Totally different side of town. Sometimes I can't believe how different the areas in Amsterdam are. Such a small city but so diverse. A couple of well known bars out there (Studio K is one we stopped past but it was sort of dead, so we moved on to Hotel Arena.), but I never really spent much time there, even though I lived a short stone's throw from there previously.

After a few drinks, we thought we would check out the night scene in the East side. It made me remember why I don't go clubbing.

I went to, nee, I PAID entry to attend a...(wait for it)...(cringe)....90's night. A European nineties night at that. I feel like I should divulge how much the entry fee was, but I feel doing so would actually make you choke in laughter, and that wouldn't be fair. What was I thinking? .... No, really. What, may I ask you, was I thinking?!

You know the songs;

"Sing Alleluia."
"Boom shake shake shake the room."
"Angels"

...

Then... the Euro dance trash onslaught. Sweet Lord, What was I thinking?

You know what was also great? Being so small to Dutch people, that when you get an over enthusiastic bunch of giant dutch dudes dancing (read: jumping around and sort of moving their arms simultaneously) right next to you, they don't even see you. And you get knocked about a bit. Love that.

But it wasn't all bad. I love a bit of people watching and it was good to get to know my flatmate and meet people in his life.

However, the pinnacle of the night was when I overheard this little slice of cultural insight out in the courtyard:

Dutch chick:.. so you know the thing about the Dutch and the Belgians, right?
Dude of unknown origin, but not European, I think: No, no, tell me!
Dutch chick: Well, Dutch people joke that Belgians are dumb, and the Belgians joke that the Dutch are tight with money.
Dude: really?
Dutch chick:Yes, because the Belgians speak dutch with a sort of farmer's accent, and the Dutch are the inspiration for that saying "Going dutch" to split the bill.

I love a good little friendly competition between neighbouring countries.