The Dutch and a Geography Lesson

The Dutch people are very kind and hospitable, and this seems to be a consensus opinion among tourists. They are also very considerate about speaking in English whenever a foreigner is present, which I really appreciated. However, their traditional food is terrible--fried cheese, fried meat/gravy/mystery stuff ("croquettes"), fried potatoes with mayonnaise ("frites"), etc.

Tonight I went to a colleague's home for dinner (a delicious Chinese meal). I learned about the difference between Holland and The Netherlands ("low countries"), which are often used synonymously. Technically, Holland just makes up two of the twelve provinces of The Netherlands (North and South Holland), along the central west coast. Historically, Holland was the most powerful province and the cities there were important trading cities, so when others met the Dutch, they were usually meeting people from Holland in particular. By the way, the capital of The Netherlands is Amsterdam (in Holland), though the government is in The Hague, and the queen lives elsewhere. :)

This led to a geography lesson whereby each person present drew a map of their country and the prominent boundaries and cities within. Everyone present was from Europe, and hence had some sense of the other countries already (although I realized my knowledge of French cities is quite minimal), but they were quite unaware of the US states. They were flabbergasted when I drew a map detailed with names, borders and appropriate proportions of all 50 states.