100 km from here
Have you ever set foot in a neighboring country and immediately thought, ‘How am I going to survive this?’ Or are you planning to make a trip, study, or even move to Belgium or the Netherlands for a longer period soon? Then this book is definitely for you.
Although Belgium and the Netherlands may seem very similar at first glance—they share a language, a border, and many cultural traits—in practice, it turns out that these very similarities often cause confusion. The closer people live to each other, the more pronounced the differences become.”
These differences show up in small habits, language, behavior, expectations, and visual culture. In villages, these differences are often the most noticeable. To prepare readers for a possible cultural adventure across the border, we—Kris, a Dutchman, and Iebe, a Belgian—decided to compile our experiences and insights into a book, presented in a humorous way.
To give structure to our experiences, we set ourselves a few restrictions, such as using a disposable camera. Each chapter is dedicated to a specific restriction. In this way, we create a nuanced and humorous portrait of what it means to be a villager ‘on the other side.’
