Yeah, I make fun of the locals as much as anyone. Heck, I am the epitome of the locals (except for the closed-mindedness of some). I think it is mostly the older generation that clings to it so much, though.
I just have to tease you for mocking GR when you live in Kalamazoo!
Sue, I know exactly what you are talking about. I just can’t believe it happened to you in a bar! When people start getting uptight, I find it is best to be as shocking as possible. Gives people something to talk about.
Happy, I like Beltline Bar better than The Dungeon. But then, The Dungeon is an experience in itself.
Labrat, the Russ’ outside Holland don’t have the phones. I didn’t know any of them had them anymore! Holland is serious about being Dutch. Don’t forget the other slogan, Wooden Shoe rather be Dutch?
I married a non-Dutch so our offspring will be shunned.
I’m kind of surprised at the Dutch-bashing, too. I grew up in a predominately Dutch area myself (Manhattan, Montana–many Dutch people live in the nearby villages of Amsterdam (of course) and Churchill). It did give me a somewhat silly preoccupation with my lack of height as a kid (It felt like I grew a foot taller when I moved to Minnesota–I was always a short kid among all those Dutch kids, and suddenly I was at least average!) Then again, I think most of the Christian Reformed kids went to a private school in Churchill–pretty easy to avoid them. And, Montana is fairly religiously diverse, too–the Christian Reformed is balanced out by the Church Universal and Triumphant, etc., etc. :).
We were going to go to Holland, but we never made it…that whole emergency room incident I alluded to cut into our extra time. (And I didn’t mean to allude that the care was bad there in my post above. It’s just that it was very crowded with people in there for non-emergencies…earaches and stuff like that. I realize that is more of a symptom of America’s health care system rather than Grand Rapids itself, so I apologize for letting it color my view of the place.)
This is true. You can’t throw a rock in K’zoo without hitting a church or a car with a Jesus fish on it. And there’s even less to do here than in GR. (We do have a rather kick-ass airplane museum, though).
