"When I moved to the Netherlands a few years ago from the USA I deliberately wrote down the things that struck me as strange a few weeks into it because I knew I wouldn't remember later, and here are a few.

Bicycles are everywhere and are a far more common mode of transport than cars... yet no one wears helmets.

A Dutch person telling you "I speak a little English" is like Stephen Hawking saying "I know a little physics." I really had no idea it could be so easy to move to another country where you don't speak the language, and that's because the Dutch are so amazing at English (unlike other countries, for example, TV here isn't dubbed but instead in original language and just subtitled).

Big Bird is blue in Holland! I mean, they claim he's Pino, Big Bird's cousin, but I'm not fooled. You know he really just moved here to explore an alternative lifestyle."