Next Stop: The Netherlands!
We know you love our ‘’Country of the Month’’ series, so here’s another fun interview with our CEO Özer Aydemir. In September, we wanted to highlight: the Netherlands!
The Netherlands is one of the most beautiful and popular countries in the world. With its soothing scenery, culture and lovely people, it is somewhere we must mention on our blog. And we can’t wait to share Mr. Aydemir’s experience with the Netherlands and Dutch people.
‘’Thank you for doing this interview with me Mr. Aydemir. Even though traveling abroad is a struggle for all of us at the moment, we still want to feel close to the places that have a special place in our hearts. We hope to have the days back when we could have traveled anywhere without the stress of the pandemic… So as you know, I wanted to ask a few questions about the Netherlands! ‘’
- How would you describe Dutch people?
‘’There are many ways to describe Dutch people. But I must say that they are highly educated and intelligent. I think I would describe them as:
- Intelligent
- Educated
- Chatty
- Hospitable
- Friendly’’
2. What is the Dutch culture like?
‘’Due to the fact that the Netherlands is a port area, they have known many different people and cultures throughout history. As a result of this, they have become a very successful society in trade. They are very chatty and also very friendly at the first sight. They are always very kind to someone they meet for the first time.
Also, apart from the countries in that region, the sensitivity of speaking the native language is very low. They don’t expect people to speak Dutch; they speak not only really good English but also other languages such as German and French. I would probably say that a good amount of Dutch people speak at least 3 languages. ‘’
3. What are the familiar specialties of Dutch culture?
‘’Hospitableness. Just like in Turkey, hospitality is at the forefront of the Netherlands. ‘’
4. What are the unfamiliar specialties of Dutch culture?
‘’Actually, that would be a pretty obvious answer, but cycling. The Netherlands has an unusual cycling culture. If you’re not living in the Netherlands and not used to living there, you must be very cautious. You might do something wrong at any second and violate the traffic rules. If you don’t be careful, you might accidentally hit a cycler. Normally, we open our car door with our left hand; Dutch people open their car door with their right hand: just to make sure there are no cyclers around to hit accidentally. ‘’
5. Where was your favorite spot?
‘’I went to the Netherlands both for work and a family vacation. Obviously, I recommend everyone to see the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. But other than that, one of the favorite places I’ve been was a farm outside the city center. Cheese and dairy is highly popular and delicious in the Netherlands. There are small farms where you can visit with your family for a small price. You can pet small cattle and spend some time with them. As well, you can taste the dairy products produced in that farm; you can purchase them if you’d like.
The Netherlands is not as moving as Spain but not as still as Germany either. It is just right in the middle. I have been to many cities in the Netherlands but I really liked Utrecht; a small city with a beautiful view. ‘’
6. Could you give us 3 reasons to work with the Dutch?
‘’They are well educated, fair and fun to work with. I worked with many Dutch people multiple times. People I worked with were all very valuable people. They are very fair; they would protect both your rights and their own rights.’’
7. Have you ever had any challenges while working with Dutch people?
‘’I don’t come across any challenges regularly but one time when there was political tension between Turkey and the Netherlands, one of the companies which we had a meeting with, cancelled the meeting due to political reasons. They refused to have a meeting with us. Since we are business people we thought it was an unnecessary action. That is why we had an unpleasant memory. Although that one time we had some challenges, we also built a close friendship with the Embassy of the Netherlands, Ankara. On the day of our demonstration for our MOS2S Project which we organized in our own office, we invited some of our friends from the Embassy and had a really lovely time. ‘’
You can click here to learn more about our MOS2S project!
8. What about Dutch food? Any thoughts on it?
‘’They make Dutch Fries (Patatje Oorlog) as fast food, though it is not my go to. I would say my favorite food is cheese. I enjoy eating and buying different kinds of cheese everytime I visit. ‘’
9. Could you count any favorite Dutch dishes?
‘’When we think of a main dish, the Netherlands cuisine would not be the first to come to mind. When we look at history, we observe that there has been migration from the countries such as Suriname and Indonesia which were under the influence of the Netherlands. It clearly led the cuisines of those countries to become popular throughout the Netherlands. I tried both of the cuisines and liked the Indonesian food better. Although it has its unique features, it is not as different from what I am used to. But of course as per everywhere, one can find any kind of cuisine anywhere around the country.’’
‘’One of the funny memories that I have about the Netherlands is that I bought one of those tulip bulbs to bring back home (Turkey) and raise it. One time I managed to have a beautiful tulip which made me participate in ‘’The Most Beautiful Tulip’’ competition. I received an honorable mention’’
Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more!
About Özer Aydemir
Computer engineer since 2002 and entrepreneur since 2007. CEO and Co-Founder of IOTIQ GmbH. Project leader for Eureka projects Insist, and I-DELTA; project member of BaaS, Demwatch, Insist, Mos2s, SecureGrid, Optimum, Pianism, I2Panema, Machinaide, and hopefully many others in the future.
About Mina Onar
Mina is the Copywriter of IOTIQ GmbH. Click here to visit our website.
