I have a Dutch bucket list. I realised whilst writing my reverse bucket list that there are still some things I want to do whilst I am here in the Netherlands (not that we are planning on leaving anytime soon but I do have a Dutch bucket list).
Here’s my Dutch bucket list – with updates from five and six years later! These are not necessarily in order of priority.
1. Write a Book about a Life Lived Abroad
I have started and thanks to NaNoWriMo a few years ago I made some serious headway with my own musings on life abroad in the Netherlands. But there is still a long way to go.
June 2019: I have contributed chapters to Dutched Up!, Knocked Up Abroad and and Once Upon an Expat. So this is half checked off the list. I’m currently working on something for Happy Sensitive Kids.
June 2022: still a plan…..
2. A Writing Afternoon at Kasteel De Haar
We recently visited the beautiful Dutch castle of De Haar in Utrecht and I fell in love with the place. It conjured up images of sitting under one of the many majestic trees dressed in a long flowing white dress and a summer hat doing nothing but writing. And how I would love to do just that.
If only I owned a long, flowing white dress….
Maybe if spend many afternoons doing just this I might achieve the first item on my wish list in the process…..
June 2020: This is still a to-do. It will probably stay a to-do on my Dutch bucket list for some time to come.
June 2022: Guessing this will stay an eternal wish…..
3. Visit Giethoorn
I first read about the Venice of the North in an Access magazine and it stuck with me. However, I still haven’t quite chalked up an actual visit. Giethoorn is located in Overijssel in the Netherlands and the only way to get around is by boat or bike. Picturesque doesn’t begin to describe how it looks.
June 2019: Still never been, but I have since seen photos of Giethoorn in summer and it’s so incredibly busy. Think traffic jams but then with boats. I think I’ll plan a visit for winter.
June 2020: We have planned a potential visit for this summer, seeing as we’re staying in the Netherlands because of the coronavirus measures and all.
June 2022: Still not done. *sigh*
4. Boerenspellen
This is maybe a strange one, but I keep seeing signs for ‘boerenspellen‘ as we drive through farming areas and rural landscapes and it sounds like a lot of fun.
This is essentially traditional Dutch, outdoor games played in a farmer’s field. Think along the lines of pole vaulting over water, chain gang clog walking, farmer’s golf (picture big wooden clubs), wheelbarrow races, tyre rolling, tug ‘o war.
June 2019: I’m not able to tick this one off. But it’s still a wish!
June 2020: Still not done!
June 2022: We have now tackled a small part of this by playing farmer’s golf. Hitting a ball under a cow tunnel was an experience! Lots of fun, so highly recommend.
5. Cycle like a Local
I’m more of a recreative cyclist. And that at a push. I’d like to think nothing of jumping on my bike and heading off out. The reality is clambering in the shed, checking none of the tyres have gone down since the last outing six months ago, cursing because I’ve caught my leg on a pedal of one of the kids’ bikes, leave the shed in a foul mood and limp off to my destination.
My husband has been busy clearing the shed up the last few weeks, given the bikes an overhaul and is regularly going off on jaunts on his bike – and I am going to follow suit……
June 2019: We moved house in 2017. The shed is bigger. The distance to the local shops is bigger. In short, I am cycling almost like a local these days. My bike is regularly aired (though it’s still not showing its age of nearly 17 years) and I am proficient at filling my saddle bags and hanging bags off the handlebars.
June 2020: I think I can say that my cycling these days are local like and my bike has never seen so much use. There’s even been talk of a new bike, given that this bike is 18 years old and the rest of the family thinks it’s heavy and cumbersome. I have grown quite fond of the old gal.
June 2022: My antique bike is still going strong, at nearly 20 years old. And the good news is that I am still getting good use out of my trusty bike.
6. Drive
Following the transportation theme, I want to get out in the car. I have a fear of driving, and it won’t go away. It is one of those stupid, irrational things that has grown and become the norm. And it’s restricting. I even got behind the wheel with a driving instructor, got to the point where I felt confident enough to drive our car and then… I fell down the stairs and was out of action for a few months. And it all went to waste.
June 2019: I have made some serious progress on the driving front. It’s not totally how I want it to be, but getting behind the wheel at the drop of a hat is closer than it’s ever been before. Read How I Got Over My Fear of Driving in the Netherlands for more on this.
June 2020: Still on the bucket list. I was out and about in the car a fair bit. And then it stopped. Damn. I guess at the moment this is top of my Dutch bucket list.
June 2022: My driving adventure is still a tale summed up by sporadic. With long covid, I am less inclined to drive than ever as it all feels ways too much!
7. See Soldat van Oranje
Since having children going to the theatre hasn’t been a regular occurrence. In fact, it may have happened once when I went to see Billy Elliot in London for a lovely weekend away with a friend. Once in more than seven years. So I don’t really go out of my way to look at what is on in the way of plays or musicals but Soldat van Oranje has caught my eye.
I have a thing for war time stories, particularly Dutch ones. In school, I learnt a lot about the second World War from the British perspective, and later taking French A-Level, from the French view. Living in the Netherlands now I am learning how the war was through Dutch eyes.
June 2019: I have seen it! It’s brilliant and if you get the chance then go see it: Why You Should See ‘Soldaat van Oranje’
June 2020: It’s now been so long since I have seen it I’d like to see it again.
8. See the Dutch National Football Team Live
I have only ever seen the boys in orange on the television and I would like to change that. I figure now would be great time to do that seeing as they are playing their matches in Brazil.
*Stumbles off to look for loose change down the back of the sofa*
June 2019: Nope, not happened. I did see jong oranje lose to Belgium at Stadion de Vijverberg, but seeing the first team live is still on my list.
July 2020: This could have been the year, what with the Euros and all. But the coronavirus made sure that was postponed. I’d love to see the women in orange too!
June 2022: Funnily enough I mentioned again yesterday whilst watching the 2-2 draw with Poland in the League of Nations that I still have not seen the national team live. This needs to change.
9. See the Dutch Football Team Win a World Cup
This doesn’t have to be live. I would settle for watching the Netherlands lift the World Cup on my screen in the comfort of my own home, as long as I got to see it. Four years ago Oranje made it to the World Cup final and fell at the last hurdle. It was devastating, even for an adopted Dutchie like me. So far this World Cup they have surprised everyone, and I hope it continues…..
June 2019: As the women’s national football team is currently performing better than the men’s team I think our chances of lifting a World Cup lie there.
I watched the Dutch women’s team win the European Championship in 2017, albeit on the television. The World Cup starts next week and I have my fingers crossed…
June 2020: Maybe in two years?
June 2022: The winter World Cup is approaching. Is there hope? I am not holding my breath.
10. See an Elfstedentocht
Oh, this seems like such a wonderful event to witness – a 200 kilometre ice skating tour/race through eleven cities in Friesland. Once the temperature drops below freezing in the Netherlands on more than three says in a row there is a rising national fever in anticipation of the possibility of an Elfstedntocht. Unfortunately, the reality is that it has been many years since the last tocht took place (namely 1997) and I really wonder if I will ever get to see one. There have been a few years since I came to the Netherlands where the rumblings reach epic levels, and it looks like it is a remote possibility and then comes a big thaw and the hopes melt as fast as the ice. One year maybe it will happen.
June 2019: With global warming I think the chances of ever seeing an Elfstedentocht are getting lower and lower each winter. I have faced up to the reality that it’s never going to happen….. but I keep hoping.
June 2020: Winter? Ha!
June 2022: This is never going to happen.
Over to You
Have you made a bucket list for the country you currently call home? Have you recently revisited a bucket list you have made?
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