the difference between individual and nationality

how am i ever to tell the difference? i do not know either. what is dutch? what is personality? what is what?! i find myself assuming that the differences i come across become nederlander tags. what is not normal to me automatically becomes "normal" to dutch. i associate difference with identity, which is partially accurate, but on the other hand, slightly obscure.

i no longer keep a sketchbook. i find it a hassel to write in because i take far longer when i have to write than when i can type. plus, backspace is a blessed eraser. its so much neater and more efficient.

schoenen op de bomen, klein straats, en veel fietsen... -- reflection1

coming to the netherlands the first observations i'd made were quite ordinary. i noticed first the bicycles! oh what an army of fietsers! there are so many bicycles in this country! it's like polution! sometimes i wonder if all those bikes are accounted for or if some of them are abandoned, chained to the walls of amsterdam!
the streets appear a bit less relaxed here than in the States. autos have limited driving space and a lot more commotion to be aware of--mostly just bikers and pedestrian walkers, but still... its a doosy! i think if i was a permenant resident, i would prefer biking over driving because it seems to be a lot more relaxed!
as for the landscape! talk about paper flat! (i kind of like it because it makes biking less of a work-out and more of a leisure "stroll"). the trees here are whimsical. i've never seen trees so oddly shaped. fences of trees, stubby trees with very fine branches, over-weight trees with buldges and blubbers, trees that weep and trees that distort, intricate complex trees and plain ordinary youthful trees! the trees will never cease to amaze me.
and what is up with laced shoes hanging on some random trees branches? it reminds me of tim burtons, Big Fish. i kind of want to swing a pair of old sneakers up on the branches of the schoenen boom here in zwolle for old times sake.