Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

I run the blog http://www.lifeinthehague.com

13 1/2 pages (Or: Reading habits the first half of the year)

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Niki

Earlier in the year I upgraded my library card to the ‘Sterpas’ (Star pass) and decided to start reading more Dutch fiction. The upgrade wasn’t required but I do like keeping a book for four weeks instead of three. I am pleased to say I have read 2,468 pages since the beginning of the year, at a rate of around 13 and a half pages per day. I tend to prefer psychological novels (at least in Dutch). For this type the emphasis is on inner thought and reflection rather than on outward dialogue (Wikipedia: Dutch | English).

Here are the books I read in the first six months of the year, in order:

Vonne van der Meer, De avondboot – 302 pages. It’s actually book two of the Eilandgasten trilogy.

Vonne van der Meer, Laatste seizoen – 192 pages. This is book three of the Eilandgasten trilogy (I’ve linked to the entire work above). I don’t believe it’s been translated into English — only into German, unfortunately.

Eilandgasten trilogie book cover

Robbert Welagen – Het verdwijnen van Robbert, 160 pages. A pretty intriguing read – a man decides one day to get up and leave his old life, without warning. The title translates to “The disappearance of Robbert”.

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Categories: Reading | Tags: | 2 Comments

Lazy Sundays (Or: In the sun)

Posted on June 26, 2016 by Niki

image

This is a friend’s other cat (the first one making her way to my blog last month). Happily lying in the sun…

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My donor career has begun! (Or: First blood donation in the Netherlands)

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Niki

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I recently signed up at Sanquin to donate blood (read more about the company here). In the last blog post I covered what the differences were between donating in America and donating here in the Netherlands, but I will just add that after going through the full experience (not jut giving a bit of blood for them to run safety checks on), the actual process of drawing blood is exactly the same. And painless, though I do get the needle phobia!

One fun thing though – since it was my first time donating I received a cute little gift. A card with some more information and a key chain with my blood group on it.

First time donor in the Netherlands card

And here’s a better look at the key chain:

First time donor in the Netherlands card with keychain

Cute!

Oh, and this time I did everything in Dutch, because I rule. From the questionnaire to the short visit with the nurse to a 20 minute conversation with the person drawing my blood. NOTE: When I went in the first time to draw a bit of blood for the tests, I did ask for a questionnaire in English to confirm the questions were pretty much the same as what they ask in America. If you’re new to blood donation and Dutch isn’t your first language, I’d definitely recommend going with English the first time around. But still, go me!

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Frozen deliciousness (Or: A new addition at Pathé Spui)

Posted on June 11, 2016 by Niki

A few weeks back Marco, Roger and I went to Pathé Spuimarkt (the local movie theater) to see X-Men: Apocalypse. Marco was pleasantly surprised to see a newly installed frozen Fanta machine.

Fanta machine at Pathe Spui The Hague

One of his favorite treats when visiting America is ICEEs (a type of frozen slushie). Of course ICEEs are even better than Fanta’s frozen drinks, but when you’re not in America you take what you can get!

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Amaze Escape in The Hague (Or: Time to get locked up)

Posted on June 9, 2016 by Niki

On Monday and I had a team building event with work colleagues. We decided to go to Amaze Escape, an Escape room. You can read more about them at Wikipedia (English | Dutch). In short, you and the rest of your group (coworkers, friends, etc.) are locked up in a room for an hour or an hour and a half and you have to solve puzzles to get out. Each room has a different theme.

Amaze Escape Lounge The Hague

In our case we had 9 people so we went with the two competition rooms (Black and White). Whichever team gets out first wins! You are both solving the same puzzles. The best part was that halfway through you realized you could hear (and see, a little bit) the other team so it got pretty tense. My team ended up winning, but only with about two minutes to spare.

Amaze Escape 1st place trophy The Hague

It is a great team building exercise – everyone brings something to the table. I’m proud of the fact that I figured out the last clue to unlock the trophy (and others, of course) – there wasn’t much time left and we were starting to panic. All in all a lot of fun and I would definitely recommend trying an escape room near you!

A few sights on the walk back – a windmill:

Windmill in The Hague

And a sign for a restaurant on the side of a building:Restaurant De Kikker The Hague

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French fries (Or: A tasty treat)

Posted on June 7, 2016 by Niki

Some weeks ago Marco and I visited Bram Ladage, a small takeout place that serves mainly french fries and milkshakes. Once you have had those fries it is hard to go back to McDonald’s.

Patat met pindasaus from Bram Ladage

On top you have pindasaus (peanut sauce in English).

The best part about Bram Ladage is there is “free” seating nearby on the Grondwetbank (a loose translation would be “Constitution bench” – it’s a very, very long bench which is inscribed with the first few lines of the Dutch constitution).

It’s not something we get very often, but when we do it is always very tasty!

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Ride free with tram 11 day (Or: HTM flyers and ice cream)

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Niki

Yesterday HTM had a promotion to ride free with tram 11 so that you could experience the new Avenio trams. So far tram 2, 11, and 17 ride with the new model. 11 has had the new model for a while, but considering the route is from Station Holland Spoor to the beach (stop Strandweg), perhaps they were waiting for better weather. And we definitely had awesome weather!

Tram 11 coming around the corner (actually at the beach, so this photo was taken on the way back):

Tram 11 by Strandweg HTM The Hague

A promotional cover over the machine you normally use to check in and out. It says ‘Travel today for free’.

Ride free with tram 11 day June 2016

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Cold refreshment (Or: Like taking a sip of the universe)

Posted on June 4, 2016 by Niki

Last month Marco was feeling creative. He knows I like the color blue so he decided to make me a blue lemonade + tequila + orange juice concoction. Originally he was going for a layered look but I think this result was much, much more awesome…

A drink of the universe

Another look:

Tequila with orange juice and blue lemonade

The glasses were actually a promotion from Baileys – buy a bottle of Baileys and get two glasses free. They are quite beautiful actually.

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It must be almost summer (Or: Iced coffes galore)

Posted on June 2, 2016 by Niki

This will be a very coffee-themed post… It’s almost summer (maybe) so it is a lot more fun to drink iced coffees. First up we have a frappé from the library café, Bibliotheek Den Haag. I found it so tasty I had to struggle not to drink it all up within 30 seconds.

Iced coffee at Bibliotheek Den Haag

Second we have a Starbucks drink from a coworker (her blog and her Instagram). After a while it gets old just writing your name on the side, so these days the Starbucks workers write random messages on the side. It’s raining men… and coffee!

Its raining men Starbucks cup

Next we have a summery mural from the Eat Company from the artist Sophia den Breems. I’ve previously blogged about the Spring 2016 mural here.

Summer 2016 mural by Eat Company The Hague
Iced cappuccino and iced chai tea at Kaldi The Hague 2

Finally, the latest discovery… iced chai tea by Kaldi! It’s hidden away in the Haagsche Bluf. It’s the drink on the left, next to Marco’s iced cappuccino. It was delicious, a slightly thicker concoction with the chai tea taste at the end.

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PostNL (Or: The fun of trying to get a package delivered)

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Niki

Earlier in the month I requested a new passport from the American consulate. Not because my old passport was expired (I had another 4 years) but because I wanted to change my last name to my married name. Yay!
I must say that the process definitely seemed confusing at first. Of course, you need an official copy of the marriage certificate as evidence that you are married, which you can request from city hall. But when I received the marriage certificate, it said that my last name after marriage was still my maiden name. It turns out that in the Netherlands your last name is still your maiden name, but you can use a different last name in certain circumstances. You need to tell city hall what your preferred last name is and then any organization which gets your data from city hall’s records will use it unofficially (Den Haag article).

But since I got married a few years back, this information slipped my mind. So imagine my shock when I received the marriage certificate and it said that my last name was still my maiden name even after getting married. What! But after speaking with the American consulate it seems they are quite used to this – just send the information, they said.

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Categories: Culture, Daily Dutch living | Tags: | 3 Comments

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