Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

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

Dutch flags in the sun (Or: At the Hofvijver)

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Niki

This weekend is Remembrance Day (May 4) and Liberation Day (May 5). The first day is a somber event where all war victims with ties to the Netherlands are remembered, and the second day is a celebration of freedom. For instance there is a festival going on at the Malieveld this afternoon and later tonight.

While in the city centre I took a picture of the Dutch flags on display at the Hofvijver:

May has been just as rainy as April, with only a few exceptions. Therefore, any bit of sun deserves a trip outside, even if you still need to wear a jacket.

The Netherlands still has two more holidays to go before we enter June – December drought. This Thursday is Ascension day and Monday, May 20 is Pentecost. After that the next holiday is Christmas… eek! However, we do get more days off than the US does. If you work full-time in the Netherlands you are entitled to 20 days off at a minimum. I get 25 days off, although when I started at this job we only got 20 days. Some lucrative companies even give 40 days off, although that is not the norm.

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Party time (Or: Photos from the Life I Live festival, 2024)

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Niki

First: today is the first jacket-less day of the year! Bring on summer!

Second: we had an awesome thunderstorm in the middle of the night last night. Both Marco and I woke up to the loud crash of nearby thunder and then stayed awake for a while listening to the storm. This is newsworthy because proper thunderstorms are quite rare in this part of Europe.

Back to the blog post: The Hague was host to the Life I Live festival last Friday, held on the night before King’s Day (and back in the day, Queen’s Day) every year. Here are some of the photos Marco graciously took for this blog. He’s tall so he usually can get the camera over everyone’s heads. Thank you Marco!

First up was the Dutch band Droom dit (Dream this). See also Dutch Wikipedia. The podium was at Lange Voorhout.

Here is the band Chibi Ichigo. See also Dutch Wikipedia. This podium was also at Lange Voothout, but at the other end. Kind of a funny moment to take a picture if you ask me.

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Hemaxima (Or: Eating a tompouce on King’s Day)

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Niki

As recently noted, today is King’s Day in the Netherlands, a holiday to mark the birthday of King Willem-Alexander. Every year the royal family (including King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima and their children) visits a Dutch city to celebrate King’s Day. This year they visited Emmen, a city in the province of Drenthe in the northeast of the Netherlands.

The local Hema had a great marketing trick. They added “xima” to their logo as shown in this tweet:

Of course the “xima” is in orange since it is King’s Day. It is also a nice word joke since “Hé” is a way to get someone’s attention, pronounced “Hey”. Therefore Hemaxima becomes “Hey Maxima!” The question above that is “What is your favorite way to eat (tompouce)?”, so it is asking the Queen how she eats the messy dessert that is known as tompouce.

Personally I eat the cream first with a dessert fork and then I eat the top and bottom layers in either order. Any other way results in a mess (for me). The kid in the photo above is eating it in the traditional manner, but then you risk the cream squirting out the other side.

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Preparing for King’s Day 2024 (Or: Flags and tompouce)

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Niki

Tomorrow the Netherlands will celebrate King’s Day to mark the birthday of King Willem-Alexander.

Tonight is the Life I Live festival, with free podiums set up at Lange Voorhout, Kerkplein, Grote Markt and the Hofvijver. Here is a look who is playing at each podium. Alternatively you can now download an app for iOS or Google Play (under the name “Woov”).

Here are some of the things you can do tomorrow:

  • Visit the King’s Day carnival at Maliveld (Saturday is the last day)
  • Visit the King’s Day carnival at “De Fred”, or Frederik Hendriklaan, which runs through 5 May
  • NMNH Kingsday Festival at Zuiderpark (paid event)
  • The Hague’s Vrijmarkten. If you’re from the US this is equivalent to a garage sale, but held on a national level. It’s the one day of the year you’re allowed to sell your stuff outside, although you have to do it in certain streets of The Hague. Check denhaag.com for a list of streets where you are allowed to sell your crap–err, precious memories.
  • Eat tompouce. indebuurt.nl has a nice list of places where you can buy it. Since it is for King’s Day the top layer is orange instead of pink. I had a “double decker” tompouce yesterday from Plasman.
  • Geraniummarkt at the Lange Voorhout. That translates to “Geranium market”. Yes, for some reason it is tradition to buy geraniums on King’s Day.
  • King’s Day at the Grote Markt, at the Zwarte Ruiter bar. denhaag.com has the list of bands and the times they will be playing.

Lots of places have put out Dutch flags to mark the holiday. This photo was taken near Dozo, an all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant (formerly known as Sumo, see also this blog post).

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Pickleball (Or: Are they watching you play?)

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Niki

Last month I visited my parents in the US. I had a blast of a time and really enjoyed visiting my old childhood town as well.

One of the places I came across while on my travels was a pickleball court. That sport is getting more and more popular. Don’t ask me how it is played though – I will just point you to the Wikipedia page (English|Dutch). But the court did have some very, very gorgeous graffiti in the area.

Are you a dog lover?

Perhaps you have two dogs at home…?

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Palace garden (Or: The first signs of spring)

Posted on April 14, 2024 by Niki

A few weeks ago I visited the Paleistuin (Palace Garden), not far from the city centre. See also Google Maps.

The sky was a lovely shade of blue:

It’s hard to imagine that this was taken in the Palace Garden, since there isn’t much open space without flowers in it. But if you take a picture at the right angle, it makes the garden look even larger.

There wasn’t too much color yet when I visited (see the photo below) but it was, as always, a peaceful place to walk around.

I did find some nice purple flowers though.

Maybe I will go back next week to see if even more flowers have started blooming. We have since had a few days of really good weather (including yesterday which was the first “no jacket” day of the year for me).

Did you know there is also a secret entrance to the Palace Garden? You ring the doorbell to get let in. During the day, at least. See also this news article in Dutch from indebuurt.nl.

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Stop apologizing (Or: There’s a language lesson to be had here)

Posted on April 11, 2024 by Niki

Last week I read a lovely article at The Guardian:

I am not going to lie – I definitely know where she was coming from. Even when you live somewhere for years, it is so easy to feel like your language skills don’t measure up and that you make too many mistakes. Sometimes it feels like half of the conversations I have in unfamiliar situations result in me feeling ashamed when I walk away, even though I know I shouldn’t. When I try to be helpful and explain something or show someone the way, I always wonder if the other person understood me.

Which is silly. Deep down I know it is silly. My Dutch is great. It’s not native, but neither am I. My self-confidence could use some improvement, though!

Looking back, I have obviously improved. Years ago I would spend a few minutes rehearsing what I wanted to say before I approached someone, for instance, a worker at the supermarket. Imagine my panic at those sudden situations where I didn’t have time to prepare. ARGH!

So if, like me, you are learning a language and you think your skills aren’t good enough, take heart. Sometimes the most important thing to help you succeed is to boost your confidence so that you feel more willing to dive into situations. Only by believing in yourself can you improve.

(And by reading. And listening to podcasts. My Dutch vocabulary absolutely rocks these days!)

Categories: Learning Dutch, Speaking | Tags: | Leave a comment

Pink camellias (Or: Randomly spotted)

Posted on April 10, 2024 by Niki

Last week I was walking back from Albert Heijn when I spotted some beautiful flowers. If Google Images reverse lookup is to be believed, it is a camellia flower.

And of course it wouldn’t be a picture in the Netherlands if there wasn’t a bike in it. Ha!

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Hrmmm (Or: A man and a bear walk down the street…)

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Niki

Imagine my confusion this weekend when I snapped this picture, taken on the street which connects The Hague’s Central Station with the city centre:

Either he is about to be eaten alive from behind or that is one big bear. Roger offered a good explanation though: the Kingsfair is now open at the nearby Malieveld. Kingsfair is the carnival to celebrate the upcoming King’s Day holiday on Saturday, April 27.

Hopefully the gentleman didn’t actually drop it on the way home. That thing looks like a dirt magnet!

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Tulips by the Spuiplein (Or: Beauty on a rainy day)

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Niki

Recently Marco took some pictures of the tulips by the Spuiplein. The tulips just appeared one day – before that the area was barren all winter!

It’s an appropriate topic considering we had one day of really, really good weather today. It was about 24C/75F. The winds shifted and came from Africa today. But only for one day.

And a look at the area in general:

Orange, pink and just a bit of yellow!

And a look at the raindrops stuck to the flowers:

In case you are interested, Spuiplein is in the middle of a renovation. The next stage will begin this fall. You can read more about it at projecten.denhaag.nl. The article is in Dutch but there are pictures and a Google translate option available.

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