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Members of the diplomatic corps are used to living abroad. Those coming to the Netherlands generally have very little time to prepare for the move: from a single conversation to a few weeks.

Margot Poll

The library at the Mexican embassy houses several hundred books on a broad range of topics, from culture and politics to economics and foreign affairs. There is only one book on the Netherlands, though, a special issue of the magazine Auge from 1986. It was a present from the publisher, judging by the note: ‘This will no doubt be of interest to you.'

The Mexican Consul, Alicia Pizano, did not even know of the book's existence. She is the proud owner of a much more beautiful book about the Netherlands, showing off Los patines de plat, a translation of Hans Brinker or The Silver Skates, written by the American author Mary Mapes Dodge in 1865. Pizano (44) received it from her parents on her ninth birthday. She dug it up again when she was informed four years ago that her next posting would be to the Netherlands. Now she reads it to her son and together they laugh at unpronounceable names such as Geertje, Geurtje or Krelis.

She prepared for her mission in other ways as well. She bombarded her colleagues in The Hague with questions about the country. Are you happy over there? All the answers she received were positive. The streets were safe, the shops sold everything imaginable, pollution was low and it was child-friendly. The people, however, were very different to Mexicans. More serious, friendly only once you got to know them. Pizano says that ,,although my first impressions were positive, it was initially more difficult than we had thought. We couldn't find a house, so we stayed in a hotel, then a furnished flat in Scheveningen, before finally moving to a house in Mariahoeve because we insisted on having a garden.'' Pizano says she would urge newcomers to find a house before bringing over their family.

German diplomat Peter Dettmar had no such problems. He knew the Netherlands well from frequent holidays in the past. He has been here for four years and loves it, partly because it is so different from his own country. His posting to The Hague came as a complete surprise. The informal list of vacancies that German diplomats are shown annually did not include the job of press attaché in The Hague. When he was asked, though, everything was arranged within half an hour. His wife and young children were immediately enthusiastic, says Dettmar (46), who has worked in the foreign service for twenty years, and has included postings to Brussels and West Africa: ,,All the aspect of the move were positive - we were all in agreement.'' He spent most of the eight weeks he was given to prepare his transfer sorting out the administrative details. As is turned out, his previous experience of the Netherlands as a holiday destination had not prepared him for daily reality. Dettmar: ,,It made me very uncertain at first. The politics you read about while on holiday is very different to real-life politics. In fact, Dutch and German politics differ more than I'd thought. German political culture is confrontational and polemic, while Dutch politicians are always looking to form a consensus.''

‘Two cultures, two values' is a daily experience for the Chinese Ambassador in The Hague, Hua Liming. ,,Of course our two nations think and act differently. But no diplomat can properly prepare for that. I was unprepared for the Dutch attitude to China's policy on human rights. I'm always prepared to explain how it works, however: what the differences are but also how we can bridge the two different cultures. In any case, I prefer dialogue to confrontation.''

Hua Liming (60) had no preparation for his stay in the Netherlands at all, except an hour-long conversation with the Dutch Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, where Hua had himself been ambassador for two years. His Dutch colleague told him ‘everything' about The Netherlands. Homework in a rush, he laughs. He read a number of books, but did not get to know the country until he got here. His wife was very enthusiastic about the transfer to The Hague. No more veil. Arab religious values had not been easy for her and all the social activities had passed her by. As a woman and a wife, she was never invited to such occasions.

The Netherlands was like a breath of fresh air to them. His wife was allowed to accompany him when he went to present his credentials to the Queen at Noordeinde Palace. They visited Amsterdam on 30 April and will never forget what they saw. ,,How impressed I was! I love this very special way of celebrating the Queens birthday. That's Dutch culture: very practical, very Dutch.''

Dutch weather is less popular. When Khadija Al-Lawati came to the Netherlands in November 1999 as ambassador of the much more liberal Gulf state of Oman, she had promised her children snow. It didn't come, only rain. ,,We like rain because we don't have it. Sometimes, we held up our hands to catch the rain to bring it to Oman, hoping that perhaps some sun from our country would in turn come over. I've told the children that if it doesn't snow this year, I'll take them to Switzerland or Austria. After all, I had promised them snow when I told them we'd be going to the Netherlands.''

Al-Lawati (49) brought her four children, but her husband stayed behind in Oman. He is advisor to the Minister of Social Affairs and does not want to abandon his career unless something comparable materialises in the Netherlands. She shrugs her shoulders. She supports her husband's decision and he supports hers. ,,We come from a country where men and women are given equal opportunities. Our Sultan is highly educated and open-minded, just as your Queen is. That is why living in Holland is not difficult for us. My husband comes over every month and my youngest daughter especially likes that because she misses her father and her nephews very much.''

Once in the Netherlands, diplomats generally find their feet with the help of colleagues who have been here for longer and with the help of neighbours and, after a while, Dutch friends. On arrival, the Foreign Ministry hands out the Protocol Guide, Your posting to the Netherlands. It provides information related to their diplomatic status — such as tax-free cars, personnel and diplomatic immunity — but says nothing about actual life in the Netherlands. ,,We can answer all their questions about the Netherlands,'' says a spokesman from the Cabinet and Protocol Office, ,,but only in an informal context. Our main function is as a kind of registry office: we register and hand out official documents.''

Alicia Pizano is still grateful for the help she received from her neighbours in her first week here. When she first went shopping, she was shocked at how expensive everything was. When she returned home, she started wondering is life could really be quite that expensive. She took her receipt to her neighbour, who spotted the problem immediately. The supermarket had charged her for 300 bottles of milk. An innocent mistake, apparently.

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