Hi Tom,
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I know this is off topic, but I'm intrigued when you say you're from Holland. This isn't meant to be picky; I'm just a big geography fan. When I look at the atlas, there is no Holland. It shows that North Holland and South Holland are two provinces (along with Friesland, Oberjessel, and the original Zealand, among others) in the nation called The Netherlands. Is this right? Do people tend to say they are from The Netherlands, from North Holland, South Holland , or just Holland? Seems like saying one is from Holland would be like one of us saying we're from Carolina or Dakota. Someone we're talking to would probably respond, "Well which one, North or South?" Just curious. )</font>
I can answer part of that. Renze can fill in the parts I missed. Holland IS the Netherlands but many people from there (like me) refer to it as being from "Holland" or also from "Nederland". It's kind of like saying your from "America" or "The United States". Most of us here say we're "American".
When I lived there as a kid (1952 to 1957) it was not as sectioned up as it is now and when you said you were from "Holland", there was no question where you were from or from what part of it. It is so small a country, it's comparable to size like that of Los Angeles or San Bernardino counties (in California). I can remember my parents refering to being from "Holland" as back then it was more know than being from "the Netherlands".
...even more off topic...
and yes, we used to wear wooden shoes over our regular shoes when it got muddy and shoshy outside and skated on the canals to school.