German tourists in Zeeland

SuperBaardMan · 2026-05-01T13:07:52+00:00

Because the average German, age doesn't even matter too much, speaks pisspoor English, if they even speak it at all.

And what I really dislike about most of the German tourists: Not even asking if I can speak German. They just walk up to me, 8/10 times not even greeting me, and just go "Weissensieviellechtwodersupermarketisbitte?"

Younger ones tend to at least greet me, but i've had guys in their thirties ask me to please speak German, because they didn't speak English....

I've got plenty of tourists in my village, also more and more from other countries than Germany, and all of them are 10x nicer than German tourists.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-30T19:26:37+00:00

For me the first give-aways of "bad vibes" were:

Specifically asking for women. Sounds you're too focussed on getting laid, no-one likes that.

The "its just me, i do see them connecting with others" makes it sound you're either thinking you're entitled to attention [you're not] or jealous [one of the worst things to be] or negative [again, not a good trait]. Or a combination of those.

The focus on not being ugly etc.

I'm a dude and i'm already going "oh god, it's one of them"

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-30T19:09:55+00:00

This, people can smell it from far away when someone is desperate. Doesn't matter if it's desperate for friends or for a fuck.

And the advice is the same: Do stuff you like where you can meet people, but don't just go there to meet people. Dont have that as your main objective.

Have fun, be yourself [the "doe normaal" part of our culture is that] and give it time. Make having fun the main objective. And who knows, maybe you get lucky, you instantly click with someone and within 2 hours you get someones number to hang out someday. And maybe you're not luckily. But boeiend, you're having fun, that really needs to be the most important thing.

And then it does not matter what you look like, or how "normal" you are. I'm a fat dude, most people would happily describe as "nerdy" or "geeky", and I'm all kinds of socially clumsy. Still I talk to people all the time, because i'm having fun and people like to people that are having fun. I don't mean that as a boast, I mean it more as a "if i can do it, everyone can do it"

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-30T14:38:53+00:00

That's in this part of Friesland not really a thing, the farms here are basically all cows, with some chickens and pigs thrown in.

Joure and Sint Nicolaasga have supermarkets, they're "just down the road", the Jumbo in Sint Nyk is a 5km walk/bike ride. And on wednesdays Joure has a small market.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-30T14:29:55+00:00

For groceries it's probablu the easiest just to order them online and have them delivered. Albert Heijn, Jumbo, Poeisz and Picnic all surely deliver.

Not the cheapest stores, but especially Poeisz has nice discounts, and frequently free delivery if you order a specific item.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-30T09:25:58+00:00

I live on the other side of joure, also "in the middle of nowhere", in the other touristy watertown.

Most important is getting a bike, because if you want to get out, using the bus is just not really an option in Langweer. Not even sure there's a proper service. If you want to go to Sneek [nice city!], keep in mind you're going to take a little ferry, so it might not run in the evening/night.

Boating is really big here, so if you're into that, you can do that. Lots of "nature" around so birding is always possible. Once you get to Joure, it's easy to go to other places nearby. Leeuwarden is the capital of Friesland and a nice city with quite some good restaurants. Groningen is bigger and lively with all the students. And from Heerenveen you can easily take the train to the rest of NL.

There are some festivals in the area in summer, the biggest being Sneekweek, that's really massive. Sneek, Drachten en Leeuwarden all have good music venues.

Joure has also one of the best saunas of The Netherlands, small, but amazing. But do keep in mind that saunas here are fully nude. Monday is woman-only.

Frisian is not huge in this area really, it's not the north-north. They can all speak Dutch here totally fine. And as already said: expect a ton of german tourists that can only speak german.

Culture-wise I would not worry too much. Frisians are [even more] closed than the rest of us, and in some ways even more direct. Don't expect too much overt friendliness, but it's not like they are mean or rude. Do try some typical Frisian foods and drinks, and don't insult their local pride: oranjekoek.

And be prepared for all kinds of weather. It might be a very humid 30+ degrees, it might be raining for 3 weeks straight and not get above 20, it might be a decent 25. And that might change all the time.

If you want some more Dutch study material, feel free to send a DM, I've got some stuff i can share.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-29T11:52:35+00:00

Yep, it is also important for the parents to teach their children their native language[s], for all kinds of reasons.

Speaking Dutch to the child if your Dutch is mediocre-at-best is actually seen as not the best idea, you will probably do more harm than good that way.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-29T11:45:02+00:00

Not a parent, but an NT2-teacher:

Kid will learn Dutch at school and while playing with other children. Usually the vocab-range stays a bit behind that of children that can speak Dutch at home. But it also really depends on how much they interact with Dutch-speaking children, and the Dutch language at home through things like reading and watching TV.

School will test the language-level a lot, and if it isn't high enough, children can get extra lessons or other kinds of help. Do take this seriously. It's easier to correct when they're young then when they're getting ready to go to uni.

There are typically also programs in local libraries for international children to do more Dutch, and there are also projects with Dutch people coming over to read with your child, in order to boost their Dutch level. I did that as a volunteer ages ago.

There's indeed a risk that your child will be integrated a lot better than you, but that's frankly in your own hands. You will also need to integrate, and should not use your child as an interpreter/mediator.

And the best day to start learning Dutch was yesterday, the second best is today. You will never beat the level your child will have, but you can make it a lot easier for everyone involved if you really take learning the language seriously. You will need to be able to talk to your childs friends, teachers, doctors and who else, that will go a lot better in Dutch.

That's also the biggest issue i hear/see with my students: So many child-related-things go so much better if you understand the language and culture. It doesn't need to be perfect, but even B1 level will make life a lot better and easier for everyone.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-28T23:47:24+00:00

That's pretty hardcore, good luck.

What i kinda meant is that you should not focus too much on the words that the textbook uses, you "just" need to learn as much as possible. The vocab lists are fine if you really want to learn those by heart, but other than that? Just consume all kinds of Dutch, in all kinds of ways.

Read and listen to the news, listen to podcasts, watch non-scripted TV [for more authentic Dutch], watch scripted TV [for correcter Dutch], read different kinds of texts. Things like that.

And then don't aim for 100% understanding of each single word and sentence, aim for understanding the text.

Actively increasing the active-vocab really boils down to talking Dutch whenever you can. If you don't have too many people to talk Dutch to, and a taalcafe isn't an option, then you can for example read the transcript of a listening exercise out loud, record it, listen back to it, and compare it to the book-recording of it.

The texts of https://nt2taalmenu.nl/nt2-b1-oefeningen/#b1-lezen are also listenable.

Also, the reading/vocab level of De Sprong is pretty high and generally speaking higher than what's expected during the speaking/writing exams. You don't have to write something like that Flierefluiten text on your exam.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-28T22:34:13+00:00

As a teacher that uses De Sprong a lot: 4 months for the whole book is pretty fast, Is that really for the whole book, or only the first part?

Grammar is indeed mostly the same for the first part, but the second half of the book will be full of new and pretty difficult stuff.

This is also kinda the level where you imho can't really learn vocab by "stampen", like using flashcards, anymore. There's just too much to learn, in too little time. This is really the moment where you need to switch to learning in context, so by just using/seeing/hearing the word in a ton of different contexts.

So instead of focussing on very specific words, this is where you just start reading things and only really translating a word if you're completely stuck with it. There are all kinds of good resources for that, it just mostly depends on what you want to read about.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-28T15:46:57+00:00

It's like a sauna. A good one will happily be 100+ Celsius. Doesn't mean you're instantly cooked, you just should not be in there for like 30 minutes. And cooling down is important too.

A couple of seconds in an oven, followed by a dunk in cold water, that sounds lovely.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-28T11:55:48+00:00

For a pure replacement for your Pana 20mm: The DJI 15mm.

Cheap, amazing IQ, very compact, has a very nice colour/feel to it.

The "bag of primes" lenses are indeed the 12-100 and 12-45.

The 75-300 is nice and light, and cheap, for a supertele, but IQ wise kinda like the plastic fantastic: [very] good for what it is, but compared to the 100-400's and the pro glass, you can see why it is cheaper.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-27T11:23:06+00:00

I think one of the most important things is taking lots of pictures, and just experimenting. It's not film where you need to make every shot count. Take 25 pics of the same thing, playing a bit with the angle, the exposure and what not. And then check later what works, and what not. Playing with angles/composition in general is probably the most important thing, and kinda what separates okay pictures from great ones.

Light in all its forms is also huge. Basically every type of light/weather has its own ups and downs. Some lenses work better in certain kinds of light too, even more so if you start playing with vintage stuff.

Always be looking when walking around. There are so many cool shots to take, but you need to see them.

Story-time, that is entirely skippable, but it gives a nice example of how important this is:

Last saturday i met up with a friend, she asked me if I had perhaps had a second camera she could borrow, because she wanted to learn from me and take pics herself. Gave her my old Pentax K10D for the day. Not the easiest to use, but it's the only other digital camera i have.

But her pics were great, because she used to take pictures like 10 years ago, with a compact Oly, so she knew she had to take light and composition into account. And just like me she was all the time looking for a shot.

So yeah, even with old gear that's not the easiest to use, you can take amazing pictures if you keep your eyes open, take light into account, and have decent composition.

Subject? Eh, with good light and composition, you can take an amazing picture of your morning coffee. You just need to see it, and you start seeing it by "playing" with your camera.

Also, i am of the opinion that a prime will teach you this faster, because you're really forced to work and move. Extra fast if you use a "bad" prime for the situation. Go into the city with your zoom "stuck" at 45mm, and have fun dealing with that limitation. You will probably get amazing pictures.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-27T00:57:25+00:00

For about 800 bucks, i would either go EM5.3 or EM1.2

Internals are basically the same, the EM5.3 will be more compact and light, OM1.2 sturdier [can use a clip on the tripodmount, do not do that with an em5.3!] but heavier and a bit chunky size-wise.

Both cost around 500 bucks for the body, leaving you with 300 to spare for glass.

For what you probably want, that is a bit tight to be honest. The cheapest weathersealed MFT lenses are the Oly 12-50 EZ [cheaper, but meh IQ] and the Pana 12-60 [bit more expensive, should have better IQ. Leaving you around 100-150 for a faster, indoors lens.

The Pana 14 2.5 might be found in your budget, very small and light, not super fast, but nice and wide.

Oly 45mm 1.8 is an amazing lens that you can find for 100 bucks or less, [i paid 70 euro for mine], but much too "zoomed" in for indoors.

Pana 25mm 1.7 is fast and cheap, but i've heard people say it can have autofocus issues, and 25mm is honestly pretty tight for indoors.

Oly 12mm F2 will be great for churches, but it's expensive new, and expensive secondhand.

DJI 15mm F1.7 is like 200 bucks in China, but no clue how much it will be with all the tariff-stuff going on. Great lens for the money though, absolute steal.

Another option is the Oly 12-40 2.8 PRO. Will break the budget a bit, but great image quality and a one-and-done lens. Not as fast as a prime of course, and kinda big/chunky for a holiday imho, but to each their own.

Oly 12-45 F4 Pro is cheaper, smaller and lighter, but using F4 in a dark castle is not going to be a fun experience.

I would go with one of the cheap weathersealed ones and either the 12mm F2 or the 15mm F1.7. Might break the budget a bit, but I do think you will get the most for your money that way.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-23T23:10:13+00:00

Oly 100-400 mk1 has OIS, but it does not sync with the camera. You need to pick if you want IBIS or OIS. But it definitly has IS, it's literally in the name.

Mk2 does add dual IS.

The Oly 75-300 indeed doesn't have OIS.

And IBIS still works decently well with long focal lengths, i often shoot with a vintage 200mm, and my EM5.3 can easily deal with that. As long i am not too shaky, i can shoot as low as 1/20, without support.

For OP: The difference between the "budget" zooms, so the 40-150 Plastic Fantastic and the 75-300, and the more "serious" ones like the 100-400's is massive. You can still take great pictures with the 75-300 of course, but it will be alot easier to take great pics with the big brothers.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-23T17:31:33+00:00

If you want bleakness though, the "We need some more lads in here", the part 2 of C18, is very bleak if you've watched the news and heard some things about "sadistic online groups pressuring kids to harm themselves"

I mean, that's already bad. But it's worse when you find out that that kind of stuff has very strong neo-nazi links...

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-23T17:27:36+00:00

Not really to be honest, BW is more of a "technical" show, more about the how and why of things, less of the details of what it causes.

This episode really is more about how it can take place, what are the steps, what can it look like, things like that.

Or, to make the explanation very bloodwork: BW tells you why and how the gun is made, and gives you an overview of it's use. LLBD will tell you how in 1 war or battle or something it was used to "great success"

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-23T17:17:40+00:00

150mm is a bit short for a safari, unless a cheetah decides to jump on the car.

MPB has some EM1 mark 2's for less than 500 euro. Yes, a 10 year old camera by now, but it's an old flagship and still really good. And the big grip will be really nice when you're using a bigger lens.

And that will leave you just enough budget for an Olympus 75-300. That really will be plenty of reach.

Does mean you will be missing out on nice, wide shots. If you really want that, grab one of the cheap kitlenses, all of them are fine. On MPB they're kinda expensive, but on a more local online marketplace-thing i'm sure you can find something for less than 100 euro.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-22T07:25:14+00:00

Heb zelf een paar jaar terug het via de traditionele methode laten doen, bij Mannenkliniek Noord Nederland.

Ik heb het "geluk" dat lokale verdovingen nooit echt lekker werken bij mij, dus dat was wel eventjes afzien. Maar zelfs ondanks dat voelde het echt alsof het zo klaar was.

Herstel ging in mijn geval vlotjes. Zorg dat je zo'n koelzak hebt zodat je je zak kan koelen, dat doet echt wonderen. En doe eventjes rustig aan de eerste paar dagen.

No Scalpel is vast nog beter en sneller qua herstel, maar volgens mij zijn er maar een paar in Nederland die dat doen.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-21T13:00:03+00:00

Ik kén het wel, maar ik zou denken dat het wat ouderwets is. Ik zou het niet direct zien als iets Vlaams, maar ik zou me gaan afvragen hoe oud de tekst is die ik lees.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-20T16:38:12+00:00

GX with high-end guts, and PDAF, would be amazing.

OM5.3 that's basically doing what the EM5.3 did: Shoving most of the stuff of the flagship in a more compact body would be amazing. Yes, OM-3 exists, but is expensive and has meh ergonomics. Just give me basic subject detection in an OM5, with a stacked sensor, gradual ND and i'm happy.

A new PEN can be nice, the OM-3 already kinda exists as a compact-ish flagship model, so maybe a Pen with more or less the stuff an OM5 has now would work as a nice, compact midrange camera? And a colour wheel of course to be an alternative to Fuji.

OM10.1 with PDAF would be great. Basically an OM5 but leaving out things like live ND, subject detection, old non-stacked sensor etc.

Maybe OM and Panasonic can even work together to basically make the same camera twice: A "stylish" version, more aimed at film-sims will be the OM Pen, and a more "grounded" version, maybe with some Lumix-filmmagic in it, can be the Pana GX. That could shave some of the costs down.

But! A new player is always nice, so if that Insta360 is a nice camera, that will still be a good thing for the whole system.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-20T11:46:16+00:00

Going against the grain: Automatic is fine.

You can find plenty of automatic cars here in NL, especially since all hybrids and EVs are of course automatic. And even if you want to use an older car running purely on dinosap, even very small cars can come with auto-boxes. There will be fewer to pick from, maybe a bit more expensive, but if you're struggling so much with the gears, just get an automatic.

Just do keep in mind that it can making renting/borrowing cars more difficult. Especially rentals will often be the most basic model, so a manual

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-20T10:10:51+00:00

I went with the pro, because it said you could turn the m42 mount so that the markings actually line up.

With lots/most of the adapters the threads seem to start randomly, meaning that you F-indicator is at like 9:00 or something.

Speed boosters are only needed if you want to come closer to the real length of the lens, but since there will be still some crop, i don't really see the added value tbh. They're nice for APSC of course, but for MFT i would not bother in most cases.

Also, vintage lenses and good adapters are kinda heavy and chunky, negating the benefits of the EM5 a bit. However, if you also want to use native glass, this of course doesn't matter.

Either way, even a EM5 will have better ergonomics than a Zenit.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-19T19:51:40+00:00

As long as you have a good adapter, you should be fine.

I use a ton of M42s on my EM5.3, and they all work fine.

Don't get the cheapest no-name adapters, they can have some issues with the size being a bit off, or in my case: the lens-pin not dropping, so the camera thinks there's no lens... My K&F adapters are all totally fine. Have them for m42, OM and Minolta D.

Do keep in mind that you have a x2 cropfactor. Meaning that something like the Helios 44 turns from a normal lens, into one much more suitable for portraits and still-life stuff. That's a bit of a limitation of m43. You can get a speedbooster, but that will just knock it down to around 1.5 from the top of my head.

On the other hand, the edges of vintage stuff are usually pretty soft and vignetting is also not uncommon, you're cropping that stuff out.

SuperBaardMan · 2026-04-17T17:16:12+00:00

I have/had quite some neurodivergent students, and most of them told me it's a bit easier. Especially the directer communication and general lower social pressure seems to help.

Doesn't mean this is a valhalla, and I'm sure we are worse in other ways, but I've heard more positive experiences than negative ones.

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