I’m doing a small series of blog swaps.

First up is Tiffany. She does crazy things like me and sign up for things that push her to her limit – like write 31 blog entries in 31 days (except since she has three blogs, she ended up writing 79 entries in a month) and she freelances for Demand Studios just like I do. More specifically:

Tiffany is an American who moved to the Netherlands for love in December 2008. She lives in Utrecht with her husband and their dog. In addition to chronicling her adventures on her blog Clogs and Tulips: An American in Holland, she also works as a freelance writer and runs her own company, Little Broadway.

Please enjoy her post below:

Sesame Street and Bicultural Relationships

“What did you say about Big Bird?” My husband asks as we walk through the train station.

“I said ‘I love Douwe Egbert’s coffee’” I giggle. “I just saw an ad poster for it. I didn’t say anything about Big Bird!”

Funny that Big Bird should randomly come up – I had just had a conversation revolving around the same topic with a friend via Facebook. She declared that she would be starting her work day at the daycare center where she volunteers with a Sesame Street marathon. We’ve both found ourselves transplanted in the Netherlands in the past year-and-a-half due to being swept off our feet (and our home countries) by Dutch studs, so technically it was a Sesamstraat marathon.

I bring this up in my conversation with my husband.

“She can’t get over the fact that your Big Bird is blue and named Pino” I confess on behalf of my friend.

My husband laughs. We’ve had this conversation before. While the TV show exists both in the United States and the Netherlands with the same concepts and purpose, it’s not the same street.

“And the mouse,” I continue.

“You mean Iniemenie?”

“That’s right!” I exclaim. “That’s his name.” (See, I’ve watched the Dutch version – I’m totally with it.)

“You don’t have Iniemenie?!?” He asks incredulously, as though I’d just told him the world was about to end and we had just a few moments left to live.

“Nope.”

“But, you have Tommy, right?” He presses.

“Tommy, the dog,” escapes both our mouths simultaneously.

“Nope,” I say.” “No Tommy.”

“Oh.” My husband’s totally dejected by this. “Well, who do you have?”

“Well, there’s Cookie Monster and Elmo…” (The Dutch have those too, of course, including Bert and Ernie).

“And the purple guy,” he interrupts.

“Grover? I think he’s blue.”

“Whatever,” he shrugs. “Yeah, Grover. We have him too.”

There’s a pause. I’m forgetting someone. Then it hits me:

“And Oscar the Grouch!” explodes from my lips.

I’m met with silence as my husband stares straight ahead, walking to our bicycles parked outside the train station.

“Oscar?” I press. “You know, the green guy who lives in a trash can and is grumpy all the time.”

Nothing.

“Well, I think you’d like him,” I conclude. “He’s funny. Maybe next time I’m back in the States I can grab a Sesame Street DVD so we can watch it.”

“No thanks.”

Related posts:

1. How to Walk in England as an American Pin it Amanda Appearing to Walk with Ease in London...
2. Signs I am still American Pin itIn honor (first sign! lack of ‘u’ in word)...
3. The American Dream from an Englishman’s POV Pin itSaturday night, I went out for dinner with the...
4. Winner of Shabby Apple Dress Pin itCongratulations to Ann Hurd who won the Shabby Apple...
5. Introducing… Pin itI know I’ve mentioned this new blog before, but...