Grown-up

On Monday evening, as usual, I cooked for Cato and Frits. This time we had two guests, Dries and Kevin. Dries is Cato’s grandson while Kevin is Dries’ friend. During the coffee time after dinner, we chitchatted over Dutch brands. When I referred to the household name Dutch Lady, they had no idea what it was. Dries and Kevin turned to their smartphones for answer. Staring at their phones, I decided to switch the topic to smartphones as it would be more interesting than Dutch Lady. Dries said that he had signed a two-year contract for the iPhone; in the second year he will have to pay €30 per month. ‘Wow, zo duur,’ I exclaimed in Dutch. ‘Ja, but that’s the cheapest package I’d found,’ he said. His words made me think of my earlier self. ‘That’s the most cost-effective one I’ve found,’ six years ago I said something similar to beg my parents for a Motorola E2. It seemed the ‘Derek’ in 2006 had a lot in common with these two Dutch boys in 2012. But is that a fact? Later Dries and Kevin moved the topic to part-time jobs, which are their resources of living expenses. As they told me, Dries works for a callcenter and Kevin works at a sports shop in the weekend; Dries earns around €500 euro per month while Kevin earns €140. ‘Are you jealous of Dries’ job?’ I asked Kevin. ‘No, not at all,’ he said, ‘instead I’m very happy that last week they extended my contract from three months to one year.’ I read the sincere gratification in his eyes, and I was surprised he had taken 6 years less than me to learn how to appreciate his own life. These 18-year-old Dutch are much maturer than I was at 18, when I still didn’t how to earn money and treasure what I had. Nevertheless, I’m happy I’ve grown up and known how to live comfortably with my antique Nokia 2330. Now I’m wondering six years later how these two guys would be. Look forward a talk then with them. Vid of the Week Do you still have no idea about Dutch Lady? Here is a short clip.