The infamous "inspection shelf" © clogsandtulips
I cannot tell you how many complaints I have heard about the construction of the Dutch toilet since moving to the Netherlands. While I admit, I hate the idea of having to fork up the change to take a leak in certain public toilets, I’ve never really given much thought to the toilets themselves.
The first I read about them was in the must-read for all planning to live in the Netherlands, The Undutchables. A friend of mine from England was so disturbed by the shape of the typical Dutch toilet bowl that he went on a quest in search for answers, providing me with a rather entertaining video of a lecture on the ideology of toilets given by professor Slavoj Zizek. Joining the expat community in the blog world, I read many an entry and article on the absurdity of the Dutch toilet. The last straw was hearing from a fellow International Women’s Contact Utrecht member that she was actually tested on this stuff during her inburgeringsexamen. That was it – I had to do my own research and see what all the fuss was about.
And that’s exactly what I did. As a result of my findings, Everything You Never Wanted to Know About the Dutch Toilet was born and subsequently published on Expatica.com. If you would like to watch an excerpt from Dr. Zizek’s lecture on the ideology of toilets, check out the YouTube video below.
Expatica is a website devoted to providing resources for expats living in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, and as of summer 2009, the UK. The site offers a wealth of information from community services to forums to blogs to a question and answer section to housing and job information and everything in between.
Originally Holland specific, the site was started by Candian expat Bram Lebo who moved to the Netherlands clueless, wishing someone had been there to tell him what to expect and answer all of his questions. Click here to read his story.
Back in 2004, Expatica launched it’s “i am not a tourist” Fair, a day where expats could come together and learn everything there is to know about living in the Netherlands. The 2009 Fair is scheduled to take place on October 25th in Amsterdam from 10am-5pm. If you are interested in attending and would like more information, click here.
Update: In May 2010, this piece was named Expatica’s favorite blog post for the Netherlands! Thanks to everyone who voted 
Dec 05, 2011 @ 09:42:49
On Oct 22, 2009 at 5:04PM A g g i e Lap said “I didn’t realize there were a specific shape to Dutch toilets that differs that much to other ones (I don’t know as opposed to which country) but also it’s maybe because I’m happy with the 2 really nice modern toilets we have in our house
Obviously I also use public toilets like everyone else, but like you haven’t given any thought about them; from now on I’ll try to observe them a bit “closer” here in NL and when I travel across Europe or elsewhere to do some comparison 
As to paying the 50 cents (or 20c) in some public places, it can be a real pain (especially for IBD sufferers) if you don’t have change on you at the time.”
Dec 05, 2011 @ 09:43:36
On Oct 27, 2009, at 4:17PM clogsandtulips said “I never really thought about it either and I still really don’t. And we even have a “display shelf”! Came across some really funny things in my research and definitely learned a lot! Guess I need to be more observant.”
Dec 05, 2011 @ 10:03:40
I’m still un-decided on the Dutch toilet shelf. I see it’s anti-splash benefits but it’s not always aesthetically pleasing