Examentijd

The ‘examentijd’ (final exams period) has come to an end for secondary school pupils in the Netherlands. The ‘examentijd’ roughly takes place in May and June. If one graduates, it is customary to raise the Dutch flag together with the school bag. The photo shows that alternative flags are possible, however it is the first time I encounter one 🙂 (In this case the flag of the city of Amsterdam.)

Een Amsterdamse vlag hangt uit met tas na slagen voor het examen

Photo taken on Cornelis Anthoniszstraat – Amsterdam

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Nationale Borreldag

Today it is ‘Nationale Borreldag’ in the Netherlands. But of course we ‘borrel’ whenever we can, preferably catching some sunshine on an outdoor terrace. Along with the ‘borrel’ go ‘hapjes’: bites/snacks.

This photo (that I took last Monday on Amsterdam’s Schinkelhaven terrace) shows some of the popular options and has a funny spelling error. A ‘stengel’ is a ‘cane’ or ‘stalk’ (of a plant) and is used in the word ‘kaasstengel’ (a snack in the form of cheese (‘kaas’) flavoured sticks). A ‘tengel’ however is slang for a hand. So a mother could snap at her child: “En nu blijf je met je tengels van de kaasstengels af!”

For more info on ‘borrel’ check out Borrelpraat.

Borrelmenu op terras met drankjes en hapjes

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