| Author |
 Topic  |
|
LEMON TIME
Afghanistan
1295 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Oct 2006 : 13:52:59
|
| I REST MY CASE ON THIS TOPIC MANY THANKS. |
There is no god but Allah |
 |
|
|
Jack
Belgium
384 Posts |
Posted - 23 Oct 2006 : 13:56:28
|
Hello Anna,
You have a point about the behaviour of tourists. But I think you can see it in a more generalising view. If people are out of sight of their family, friends and out of the social control, lets say their day by day environment, it seems there is always a temptation to misbehave. Besides tourism, hooliganism is to me the same phenomenon.
Bdw, big parts of the Dutch society aren't that liberal; i refer to the (very) conservative reformed church and the societies in and around Urk... 
Babylon, you forgot something about that family. First they all go to the church in the morning LOL |
|
|
|
Babylon
Sweden
691 Posts |
Posted - 23 Oct 2006 : 14:02:06
|
quote:
Originally posted by anna
By the way, welcome back - i thought you said goodbye to us for good some weeks ago.
Well, I guess this place is kinda like my kitchen. Irresistable.
But atleast I stayed away longer than Kobo!
By the way Anna, do you feel personally insulted if someone critisize your country?
|
|
|
|
Babylon
Sweden
691 Posts |
Posted - 23 Oct 2006 : 14:07:05
|
| Right Jack, first the church! |
|
|
|
gambiabev
United Kingdom
3091 Posts |
Posted - 23 Oct 2006 : 14:15:27
|
Jack, I think you are right. Our lives are so stressful with work and bills to pay, family responsibilites etc.. that when you are away from home and all the expectations of you, you can reinvent yourself and be whoever you want to be.
I think it is acceptable to have a two week holiday from reality every now and again!   Aslong as noone is hurt by it.
In England I am very responsible: a teacher and mother of two daughters with puritanical parents. When I go to Gambia I feel freer,happier and more alive.
Hooliganism is about aggression. It is something different I think. |
|
|
|
anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 23 Oct 2006 : 15:10:15
|
Babylon, what gave you the idea that i would feel personally insulted? No way - I just have trouble dealing with prejudice in general, which is why I asked Lemon Time where he got his information from. I see now he thinks enough is enough.
Jack, it is absolutely true that there are less liberal groups in Holland, we have our own 'Bible Belt'. A long time ago I lived in this area (so that my children could play outside with their friends, play at football and be on their bikes.....), no working in the garden or cleaning the car on Sundays. After two years we fled back to the big city!
I think i like living without too many rules and regulations, i prefer to make my own while being careful not to hurt anyone(s feelings).
When i was in the Gambia i certainly felt freer (no work stress), happier and more alive - because i was with the one i love. He is now here and he loves the straightforwardness of the Dutch people that he works with and of his teachers that teach him Dutch in evening classes. Sometimes he is almost amazed at the ease with which one can find a place in our society if you show people what you are capable of.
Now let's go back to the topic: i always dress modestly and i do the same when i am in the Gambia. When i visited my partner's village for the first time i put on a long skirt and a longsleeved T-shirt and i found the women there almost barebreasted. Never mind, it has been said before. I don't think my behaviour at home is very different from my behaviour in Gambia (it might be true that i am in better mood there, just because i am on a holiday) and i have never found that anybody took offence to what i did, also not when i ordered wine when we came in for lunch (for instance). |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
|
|
|
LEMON TIME
Afghanistan
1295 Posts |
Posted - 24 Oct 2006 : 13:33:55
|
quote:
Originally posted by anna
Serenata, Lemon Time thinks Holland is Amsterdam's Red Light District (which in reality only consists of two beautiful old canals and their side streets), so never mind. I bet he would like to spend some time there, seeing that he gets excited over the Sun's page 3 -girls. I am sure he cannot be bothered with statistics.
Also he clearly likes to play the bogeyman - or else he wouldn't care to come up with this scary picture all the time.
Lemon time the bogeyman, |
There is no god but Allah |
|
|
|
anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 24 Oct 2006 : 19:04:41
|
| I like you better in this picture - i can now see you are a wise old (very old) man........ |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
|
|
|
inez
279 Posts |
Posted - 28 Oct 2006 : 23:57:49
|
hi everyone....been a long long time...
Anna, thanks for your postings, really enjoyed reading them and find them so true,I have experienced your country and just love the way how people are (at least in Amsterdam)open minded and free in very pleasent and mature way. It feels like people there are saying "live and let live". That is very rare in Europe these days...at least in Sweden where everyone are expected to say "right things" and be so correct when talking about prostitution and drugs (not alcohol)Everyone is against prostitution and drugs but it happens now and then that people loudest against it are taken with their pants down in wrong places or with their noses in powder. So why canīt this new covernment who always talk themselves warm about entreprenours make prostitution legal and get some tax money out of it at the same time that people in business will be protected. I am not saying that prostitution is good but it obviously exist and nobody can stop it by judging, it only results that women who are into it will get even more hurt when itīs forbidden.
When it comes to how to dress in Gambia I feel that there are more reasons than religion to wear long n loose dresses...it also protects against the sun and the heat, it doesnīt show that one gets so swetty...specially the first days. And itīs more practical to have a long dress while in crouded places like markets or buses and so on because itīs easier to feel comfortable if someones body is touching yours by accident and it isnīt your skin they have to touch.At nights or in clubs it feels better to wear jeans...so one will fit in n not look too much tourist I feel that itīs same than everywhere...dress the way that you will fit in and according to the occation and weather..like you do at home...hopefully
|
|
|
|
anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 29 Oct 2006 : 14:56:32
|
Inez, exactly! Nice to find that we see it the same way.
There is one thing i have to confess, though: i like loose fitting clothes, but i prefer my European ones. Not that i don't like the African dresses, on the contrary - i think they are beautiful. But i always feel a bit embarrassed seeing white (elderly and rather fat) women wear them, showing flabby arms and whatnot.
Oh, why is it that the African women always look so fresh, even though it is hot and humid, and nothing flabby about them? Maybe Sister Omega can tell us...... |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
|
|
|
Santanfara
3460 Posts |
Posted - 23 Apr 2007 : 20:15:57
|
quote:
Originally posted by anna
Babylon, what gave you the idea that i would feel personally insulted? No way - I just have trouble dealing with prejudice in general, which is why I asked Lemon Time where he got his information from. I see now he thinks enough is enough.
Jack, it is absolutely true that there are less liberal groups in Holland, we have our own 'Bible Belt'. A long time ago I lived in this area (so that my children could play outside with their friends, play at football and be on their bikes.....), no working in the garden or cleaning the car on Sundays. After two years we fled back to the big city!
I think i like living without too many rules and regulations, i prefer to make my own while being careful not to hurt anyone(s feelings).
When i was in the Gambia i certainly felt freer (no work stress), happier and more alive - because i was with the one i love. He is now here and he loves the straightforwardness of the Dutch people that he works with and of his teachers that teach him Dutch in evening classes. Sometimes he is almost amazed at the ease with which one can find a place in our society if you show people what you are capable of.
Now let's go back to the topic: i always dress modestly and i do the same when i am in the Gambia. When i visited my partner's village for the first time i put on a long skirt and a longsleeved T-shirt and i found the women there almost barebreasted. Never mind, it has been said before. I don't think my behaviour at home is very different from my behaviour in Gambia (it might be true that i am in better mood there, just because i am on a holiday) and i have never found that anybody took offence to what i did, also not when i ordered wine when we came in for lunch (for instance).
we fled back to big city . that is funny anna. |
Surah- Ar-Rum 30-22
"And among His signs is the creation of heavens and the earth, and the difference of your languages and colours. verily, in that are indeed signs for men of sound knowledge." Qu'ran
www.suntoumana.blogspot.com |
|
|
|
leokat
United Kingdom
123 Posts |
Posted - 24 Apr 2007 : 12:25:22
|
quote:
Originally posted by inez
...At nights or in clubs it feels better to wear jeans...so one will fit in n not look too much tourist
Hahahaha The thought of me: 40 mumble mumble err 6, fat, flabby, and white as a lily trying to 'fit in' at the club by wearing a pair of jeans is just so funny.
Personally, I think that older women trying so desperately to look younger than their years and 'fit in' with their much younger friends and boyfriends stand out like a sore thumb the length and breadth of the senagambia night scene.
|
|
|
|
inez
279 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2007 : 12:51:54
|
| Heheee...I just know that women almost always want to look younger. Maybe not when they are not yet 18 and try to get into a club, but otherwise. When I talk about fitting in, I mean that I donīt want get more attention than necessary. I wear jeans almost every day in sweden but in Gambia I feel itīs too hot most of the time. I wear jeans at clubs because I love dancing and tight jeans will keep my but on placeIf I wear something loose there it will be very shaky..hehee. But I wear jeans also to fit in other way, I donīt want to look like I came there yesterday and get lots of invitations from wrong people. By the way, in what age should people stop going to clubs? |
|
|
|
serenata
Germany
1400 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2007 : 13:52:25
|
quote:
Originally posted by inez By the way, in what age should people stop going to clubs?
No question - they should stop when they notice the dancefloor is too slippery for their wheelchair... |
|
|
|
anna
Netherlands
730 Posts |
Posted - 25 Apr 2007 : 18:23:53
|
Oh Serenata, people might take offence - didn't you know there are international championships for wheelchair-dancers?
I think a person should stop going to clubs when he/she feels out of place. Like that moment everyone is looking at you because they think maybe you have come to pick up one of your children. |
When an old African dies, it is as if a whole library has burnt down.
Amadou Hampate Ba (Mali) |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
Topic Locked
