I was Dutch for one day. On July 6th being at the festival with a Dutch friend I gave in the temptation of painting my face in the colours of the Dutch flag.  

I got a bunch of interesting reactions:

– one belgian guy (with BE t-shirt and face paint) stopped me from the crowd and wished me luck. They just lost to Costa Rica Argentina and was hoping that we get a victory. I thanked him but instinctively told him that i am not Dutch. He asked: – where are you from / – Romania / – no man, tonight you are from Holland. TONIGHT YOU ARE DUTCH! And so it started….

– i stopped by the camping front-door tent for a while and a lot of Belgians were pointing at me laughing that I am not watching the game (it was during the game and Rock Werchter secured some huge areas for game watching).

– Pearl Jam was performing their 3 hours long show – and being pretty late I had to take my pregnant wife to the tent and then get back to Pearl Jam. Getting back I was facing all the people that left the festival, walking away from the concert – and I noticed several positive glares after seeing my painted cheeks and also 2 guys high fived.

– Pearl Jam was still on when I announced the penalty victory to my friends (I was the only one crazy enough to keep internet turned on on my phone) – and everybody started dancing and jumping around. I got hugged a lot.

– late in the night, all the things we’ve consumed during the day, led us to a burning desire to eat some junk food. Belgians and Dutch almost speak the same language – I had a Dutch flag on my face – and I asked for “french fries with mayo” – everybody laughed 🙂

Disclaimer: I don’t usually watch football but I felt really proud of being Dutch for one day.

Hup Holland Hup!