One of my favorite definitions of culture is “Groups of people solving problems over time.”. It’s an interesting puzzle to take a glance at Dutch ‘problems’ throughout their history, and deduce from the solutions they found, what sort of culture is the result. Wikipedia, described the Dutch, in its first paragraph as ‘a seafaring people…
A Leiden canal under Holland’s ever-changing skies (Photo by Daniel Yett) This Monday, the UnTour bloggers (here in our suburban Philadelphia offices) have a certain lady in mind…..Sandy. As in Hurricane Sandy. We hope everyone is battened down properly, if you are in the large lady’s path. If by some chance, you find our…
A short video produced by Good Eye Video for Fonkoze – the bright, bold, and effective bank in Haiti that services the poor – won the 6th Annual doGooder Nonprofit Video Award for the best video by a medium-sized organization. We told you Fonkoze was among the contenders, but failed to tell you they won!…
A bicycle bridge in the background, just one display of the awesome infrastructure Holland has created for the bicyclist citizen. While biking has been prevalent in Holland since the advent of the bicycle, Holland has not always had the bike friendly culture is it now. That was a surprise. I had always been under the…
Jack, Lila and Jack (the grandson!) in where else? Holland! If there was only one family that could be the “UnTourists of the Week” for Holland, it might just have to be Jack and Lila Korvink. Jack and Lila come to the Holland UnTour by a slightly UN-typical route. Jack was born in Holland. As…
It was just a month ago that our loan recipient, Wash Cycle Laundry, won “2012 Best Laundry Service” from Philadelphia Magazine. This week, it won the annual Pacesetter Award from Gearing Up, a non-profit providing women in transition from abuse, addiction, and/or incarceration with the skills, equipment, and guidance to safely ride a bicycle for…
Hal Taussig, UnTours Founder, enjoying a bicycle ride, on a boat ride. This photo was taken on along the Rhine, on our Rhine UnTour in Germany, but Hal has been a Holland fan and bicycle advocate since he gave his last car away forty some years ago! When once asked if there was one UnTour…
Arial view of Leiden from LaPlace eating cafe on the top of the VD Department Store. Did you know that we have a wealth of Holland UnTourists who’ve had wonderful trips to Holland and shared it on UnTours’ own social network, UnTours Cafe? Here’s a sample: Patricia and Jay Edie have writing a wonderful Triplog,…
Photo by World Economic Forum Twenty years ago, due to the success of the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh and its leader and visionary, Muhammad Yunus, Hal was inspired to create the UnTours Foundation. Grameen put micro lending on the map: the idea of providing very small, short term loans to people living on the margins…
Perhaps the biggest culture difference that most visitors to Holland notice (in social behavior) is what some call the “Dutch directness.” Our Dutch team here at UnTours says: “They always speak their mind and ask questions that most would deem personal. This gives the impression they are rude or crude–attributes they refer to as openness….