The Dutch are a proud nation, and justifiably so. As locals may say “God made the earth, but the Dutch made Holland”. They have conquered the sea in order to make the best use of the area available to them. They simply dried the sea with the help of windmill. It is not something new for us knowing that some of parts in Netherlands are actually below sea level. Thus, a dike or ‘Dyke’ in Dutch, a construction which is normally found along the sea or a river to prevent against flooding, can be found everywhere in this country.
Two weeks ago, one of our lectures told us about the highest point in the Netherlands. Yet Dutch are still proud of it. They call it as “berg”, a mountain. In fact, it is only a hill with 321 meters above sea level, located in Vaalserberg, in the province of Limburg. Furthermore, their highest point should even be shared with other countries, Germany and Belgium, since the location is exactly in the border among the countries, quite close actually to Maastricht, my place now.
Obviously, the “Berg’ does not even exist in the Netherlands, but “dyke” is truly crucial. However, what I find amazing here is the fact that the number of people having family name like Van Den Berg is even higher than number of people having Van Dyke as family name.
Nevertheles, I’m enjoying my time here, in a very small but one of the wealthiest countries in the world.