If you have ever had a fifth of Yagermeister, you will never be able to withstand liquorice or the drop as you call it ever again...  I can´t even stomach the smell now.  Although those dutch cookies sound good...

Come stay with me, Teas and I´ll serve you these delicious wafers any time you want. (And drop for breakfast....   )

 I have been to Curacao and the people were wonderful, went to Aruba and they were not friendly..So are you Dutch hospitable?  Interesting, I learned my ancestors were part Dutch living in Northern Germany...

People from the Dutch Antilles are on paper Dutch but in culture as related as Thai. And of course are we hospitable, it´s only to whom!

I agree with the difference in culture between the Dutch islands and The Netherlands itself.

As for the mainland... Some of our Dutch customs are seen as inhospitable. For example, we like it when people make a call before they come (in general!) and not stand in front of your door without notice. In Turkey tend to pop up all the time, without calling first. So, my boyfriend was wondering why Dutch people like a call first, whether we don´t like guests or something. I explained that actually, when people call that they will be over in a few hours, we start cleaning the house like crazy, go to the store to buy a cake or something else nice to snack on, and also put some better clothes on than the crap we are normally wearing at home

A simpler alternative approach to the same social dilemna, involves,

1. keeping the house clean and tidy at all times,

2. keeping a small emergency cake in the fridge, for unexpected guests,

3. keeping company with people who care less for your clothing, but more with what you carry in them.

Unless it is a formal occassion, I would not bother announcing my visits to friends. Unless it is for a formal occassion again. I would not bother visiting others than my friends, anyway.

It´s just normal in Holland if you call first. Like "Hey, I´m in town, is it okay if I come by in 10 minutes?" I do keep a clean house but sometimes it can be a bit messy with clutter. I don´t mind my books laying all over the place, my opened post on the diner table, and my shoes in the living room. But when somebody comes by, all of that gets chucked in the closet

There are many people in the U.S. that are the same way.  It´s only respectable that you phone and let your friends even your family know your going to stop by.  What if their busy or not at home..a wasted trip can be avoided by just being courtious and phoning.  I understand the clean thing as well.  Although I do keep my house clean, I still like to do that last minute sweep.. As for cake, I have only made a cake one time in my life.  I don´t bake...so as long as I have pop (soda) even though I don´t drink it, in my frig and chips I´m doing ok..

 Well that´s good to know...I don´t think I would ever go back to Aruba.  You would walk into a shop and not even "hello, let me know if I can help you".  The people there were so put off...so I didn´t even drop a dime on that island.

Glad to the Netherlands is more friendly, even if your semi selected to whom your friendly too.

I already notice the difference when I go to Belgium. The shop employees in Holland tend to be friendlier than those in Belgium. Or maybe I just had the "luck" to run into the 20 employees in Belgium that are not nice The only nice ones I met where the Turkish owner of a clothing store and the owner of the hippy-style tea-bar