Gerrit is Oranje boven.
Today at Prinsjesdag I acquainted Gerrit because I asked him if I could take his picture. He didn’t understand my Dutch so switching to English, assuming him to be British, Irish or American I asked him where he was from. Barcelona was his answer, and the rest of our chat followed in Catalan.
Meet Gerrit, a pretty cool Barcelona youngster with that Dutch name. Why?
I asked: ‘ Puc preguntar per què té un nom holandès?’
Aha. His father being a Dutchman also explains his strawberry blond hair and the lovely freckles. Or is that racist, as was my former more celtic remark?
I explained ‘Oranje boven’ to him [taronja d’alt] and he was very amused and turned visibly proud.
Great chap, nice conversation.
We live in international times and I love it.
photo: Maurits Burgers – CC-BY-SA
Absolutely The Hague! 