Persistent Mysteries

I have been in the Netherlands for three weeks now. I have figured out a lot about the culture, geography, weather, customs, etc. There remain, however, a few things I can't quite understand.

1. How do Dutch women seem to ride bikes in skirts all the time? And all lengths too! I have now attempted the skirt/bike combination, and just as I suspected I was giving a free show everytime the wind changed. One older gentleman even thanked me. Surely it is better than the catcalls of Avenue C, but I must be missing something. Dutch women often achieve the "flirtatious flutter" of the skirt hem, but it's never something indecent. So what am I missing here?

2.Why do they use so many English words inappropriately? On the whole, the people of the Netherlands are overwhelmingly fluent in English. Although this makes me feel pretty lame for not being multi-lingual myself, it also leaves me puzzled about the common misuse of English phrases. For example: The toilet paper I bought today was labled as "friendly" with the subheading "soft and strong." While softness and strength are qualities one might admire in a friend, the connection seems weak. Generally most of these mystifying phrases involve adjectives, which are admittedly somewhat vague as a word group. Last week some jerk who tried to dance with me in a club was wearing a shirt that said "2 strong 2 be cold." The puzzling nature of his shirt was the most interesting thing about him.

3. Food. The national cuisine is close to non-existant, I know. But why doesn't anyone here seem to care about food? Given the amount of sandwiches people eat (probably two a day on average), you'd think they would at least have exciting sandwich options with assortments of condiments, toppings and fresh breads. But no. The bread is fine, but it's just cheese and ham. More likely cheese or ham. It seems that the (literal) fruits of being an industrialized nation just aren't exploited in the same way. With the ever increasing number of immigrants from warmer (and more food oriented) countries, one might expect a wide range of small, Surinamese/Indonesian/Sommalian/Morrocan restaurants to choose from. But it is not the case. There are certainly a small number of such restaurants (as well as the expected Chinese/Indian/Thai/Italian/French fare which dominates the restaurant scene accross the US), but they are fairly uncommon and expensive enough that they couldn't possibly cater to immigrant populations. Dutch people remind me that it is not a cultural norm to go out to eat, but why then are restaurants so overpriced and mediocre? Why isn't the grocery store open later/ more often? Do Dutch people secretly not require food to sustain themselves?

4. Medicine. I have been told that Dutch people are not so prone to cultural hypochondria as Americans. Dutch doctors apparently say "you just need more sleep" quite frequently. Over the counter medicines are much less common. I have had a pretty bad cold for the last week and the only comparable thing to NyQuil (or DayQuil) I have been able to get my hands on was a packet of cold medicine which dissolves in hot liquid and tastes like lolipops. And this was from a friend who brought it from Columbia (bless the self-medicating ways of the Western Hemisphere). I accept this as a culural difference. Lord knows we can do more harm than good just taking a pill everytime something goes wrong. This is why I was so befuddled when I saw cough syrup with codine on the shelf at the drug store today. That's a highly addictive, very strong, opium derrived ingredient. And it's just sitting there. Heaven forbid pseudophedrine and acetominiphen be available in a single pill, but codine? Why not?