September 8, 2015
I had always heard that the Dutch didn't like the Germans, but I had proof of it today at lunch.
I lent my house to the purpose of a lunch to introduce a new couple, from the Netherlands, to Caunes. Over lunch, I used the word echt to mean "authentic", describing New York's neighborhoods. Echt is a word used in Yiddish, although it is spelled ehkt. When I used it, the wife in the couple cried out with pleasure:
You know Dutch!
--No, I don't, but I know the word from Yiddish and German.
Oh, it's not a German word. It's a Dutch word--
Hardly an argument worth having, I reserved my belief and thought I'd check the origins of the word after the lunch was over.
Sure enough, echt is a German word meaning genuine or typical, as well as being Dutch.
No wonder it's not easy creating one European Union.
***
One of the couples invited specifically to meet the new couple, as they'll soon be neighbors-- didn't show up. I'm not much inconvenienced, as all I've done is lent my space. The woman who organized the luncheon tells me that the couple is very reliable, that they always return e-mail and phone calls. So she thinks they may have gotten some bad news that obliged them to take off without time to give notice; or that one of them was hospitalized; or that a child of theirs with mental problems might have had a breakdown.
Two thirds of the way through the luncheon, the doorbell rings. And I'm sure I was not the only person who thought it might be the couple, arriving late. It was my plumber, so the mystery remained unresolved.
Just a few minutes ago, the phone rang. It was the wife in the couple, apologizing for missing the lunch.
The dates were never confirmed, she said by way of excusing the non-appearance.
I was not inconvenienced, I explained, but her apologies were owed to the people who cooked for eight, not six, I said, particularly our friend who organized the lunch.
Do you have her number? she asked.
Now that is the limit. There is such a thing as getting too comfortable.
***
The husband in the Dutch couple in the luncheon party used to work in advertising. It became so stressful, he dreamed of leaving the Netherlands and living somewhere else in Europe. His wife did, too, so they came to the Minervois. Their present house, in Cabrespine, is up for sale, and they think they have a good offer from a couple in South Africa of Norwegian descent.
However, each time they get close to signing, there's a problem getting their attorney to work with their buyer's attorney. They want to sell as soon as possible and have already committed to the house in Caunes. Boxes packed, they find it maddening that the South Africans are not more business-like.
Perhaps it's a cultural thing with South Africans, but in Holland we're very--
(--And here he stretched out his arms and made cutting motions with his hands.)
Strict about things like this. Although since I've lived here, I, too, have come to see things another way, and I'm more relaxed. Though because we want to move, I'm wondering why the South Africans can't be more predictable. It will happen when it happens, I guess.
I could not help thinking that a large part of the European-descended population of South Africa is Dutch, so it seemed funny to me to think that somehow, they "go native" and become unpredictable by the standards of Holland. Yet my Dutch guest's musings on the changes in his attitudes from the time he lived in the Netherlands to now, suggest once you move somewhere where the standards are different, you adapt if you want to survive.
***
I went to a lot of trouble to file a complaint about charges on my French debit card I could not recognize, a few weeks ago. I was particularly concerned about a single debit of 36,20 for a toll associated with Montelimar, in Provence, where I have not been.
Today, having to stop at the bank I found out that the "investigation" has been completed.
Madame Azema, the teller, told me that as all the charges were local and done with my debit card, the investigation had been closed.
The only thing I can do now if I want more information about why the Montelimar toll was debited from my checking account balance, is to file a complaint with the toll authority, a private company.
All I want to know is whether the debit represents several tolls aggregated, or is unaccounted for. At least if I know that several day's tolls are aggregated, I will have some sense of why the amount is as large as it is.
The bank thinks there was no fraud because the charges were within their definition of "local", and my card was used. So they closed the investigation as soon as I started it.
While my Dutch guest has adapted to France enough to live out the rest of his days here, whether I, as a temporary resident, will adapt to French standards remains an open question, though. Americans are used to a certain transparency in financial transactions, and I am very much an American in that respect, as much as I like other things about "la belle France".
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