Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

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

Variety (Or: Inside a Dutch cupboard)

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Niki

Here’s another random photo from Marco… part of his cupboard.

Some random things:

1. upper left: Open Pit barbecue sauce (thick and tangy flavor) from my parents. It’s good stuff…

2. upper right: hot sauce (chili lime flavor) from my local Shoprite. Various other hot sauces. I have definitely taken to eating more hot foods since meeting Marco. Even my dad was willing to try some hot sauce on his chili, when Marco, Roger and I visited my parents last Christmas.

3. middle left – green and yellow containers are lime juice and lemon juice respectively. Very good for alcoholic mixes…

4. middle right – spices, spices, and more spices. Needs more garlic powder! (/inside joke)

5. lower left – “Sportlife” brand gum, with both Dutch and English on its packaging.

6. lower right – even more spices.

The problem with the above picture is I can just barely reach the top shelf… and even on my tiptoes I really can’t reach it. So Marco and I will need to rethink what goes where so that the most important stuff isn’t up there. 😉 (Not pictured is another row on the top where the plates and bowls currently live.)

What does your cupboard look like? Is it organized or messy? Full or empty?

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Food | 3 Comments

Laundry day (Or: Scribbled on scratch paper)

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Niki

While Marco was cleaning his living room table (which has storage compartments underneath) he found this old diagram that I scribbled:

It was a crude map of the local laundromat in New Brunswick, NJ. It was the first time Marco and Roger had visited the town and while they were there, they obviously needed to do laundry. I had long since grown accustomed to taking my laundry about a half mile down to the laundromat. But as I had to go to work and class while they were visiting, this proved to be their first experience with laundromats ever.

Please keep in mind the diagram quickly became tongue-in-cheek. I originally just wanted to draw a quick crude map, but I decided to add the notes in the margins as well (and some of the notes are deliberately “simple” as a joke).

Categories: Marco&Niki | 1 Comment

ESPN (Or: I got my baby back)

Posted on October 23, 2012 by Niki

The post title is a play on the old Chili’s commercial… I want my babyback, babyback, babyback ribs. Chillll-i’s babyback ribs…

(If you are not American, you can see it in an action here, where Michael Scott from The Office sings it:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07kgCNSB8AI. :P)

As you can see from the above photo, there was a knock on the door yesterday. I opened it and saw my landlord on the other side holding an Optimum/Cablevision plastic bag. Inside was a cable box and even a new remote! He said they were giving them away for one year free (after that I believe the monthly charge applies).

The crazy thing is now I have at least 10 times as many channels as I did before I lost cable in the first place… Good times.

Categories: Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Forgotten (Or: Bike wheel in the fall)

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Niki

As you know, the Netherlands is notorious for having a lot of bikes in its country. Unfortunately, this one has since been cannibalized – it is (was) a bike right outside where Marco works.

The wheel has been outside for at least three or four months. Apparently the owner didn’t even care about taking his lock when he realized his bike was stolen. So the leaves just keep building up underneath…

Categories: Culture, Transportation | Tags: , | 4 Comments

Autumn (Or: View from my door)

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Niki

It is that short time of the year where the color bursts forth from the trees. I opened my front door this morning to go to the deli and was greeted with this sight (without even needing to step outside!):

For this particular tree, it seems to be about a 3 or 4 day window between full color and when the leaves start falling – a short window of opportunity to take a picture. But I am glad I did!

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: , | 6 Comments

Birthdays (Or: Black markers and vanilla cakes)

Posted on October 20, 2012 by Niki

Fun fact: 6 years ago yesterday Marco and I met in person for the first time. Oct 19, 2006. We met at UberCon, a gaming convention in the northeast.

In Spring 2007, I went to my third ever UberCon. It was run by the owner of Avatar MUD, the game I have played since I was 14 (yeesh! more than half my life).

At this convention Marco gave me a tattoo, in permanent black marker:

Of course the “tattoo” washed out in about 4-5 days. Thankfully I had shirt sleeves that were long enough to cover it, as back then I worked in the children’s department of a library.

A discerning eye might realize that I was wearing a Colts football jersey at the time. That was because I lost a bet with a friend — I think the Bears lost to the Colts. So yeah, I had to wear the jersey the whole day!

The convention was held the same weekend as my birthday, so I also had a surprise birthday party with a vanilla cake:

 

Categories: Marco&Niki | Tags: | 1 Comment

Fridays (Or: Two months to Penn Station)

Posted on October 19, 2012 by Niki

Fridays are a glorious thing. I might even sleep in until 7AM tomorrow! (shocked look). I also have exactly 8 weeks of work left. Odd to realize.

The search committee has been set for my position. The library director, the vice president of the college, two professors, and me. The two professors were handpicked as persons who are both involved with the library and active (so they won’t sit back and not ask any questions). Three of the five interviews we want to conduct have been scheduled, out of 32 received resumes. So far there are interviews on Nov 8 and 9 in the late afternoon.

Early next week I will start brainstorming some questions, based on the quirks I have found for this job… should be interesting.

But did you know what else this means?

It’s only (roughly) two months to Penn Station. Back to New York City once more, with the awesome duo. Time to plan all our events …

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: | Leave a comment

Food mashing! (Or: It must be getting colder outside)

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Niki

From Marco…

When Niki was in the Netherlands in summer 2010, she asked if we’d have traditional Dutch food. I kind of told her no, since a lot of Dutch food is winter food.
So when she was was here in December of that year, she asked again.
And again I told her we probably shouldn’t. Though of course we did introduce her to ‘oliebollen’.

The reason of course is that one of the most typical types of Dutch food are ‘stamppot’ (mash pot) which is usually potatoes mashed with some sort of vegetable. Personally I’m not a big fan of them, and I sort of doubt if Niki is. But who knows? (Note from Niki: yeah… he knows I don’t like mixing different foods together…)

The one type of stamppot that I do like is with sauerkraut.


My mom made some this week (because it’s getting colder, so it’s time for winter food!) and brought it over yesterday. Good times!
Now, probably each family has their own little customs when it comes to these dishes. But one of the most common traditions is to put it on your plate, make a large indent in the middle, and then pour gravy in there. Also, there has to be ‘rookworst’ (smoked sausage).
Definitely got to have smoked sausage.

I’m sure at some point Niki will be introduced to these kind of Dutchie foods.
I wonder if she’s going to enjoy it….

Categories: Culture, Food | 2 Comments

Wrapping up (Or: The end of these classes)

Posted on October 17, 2012 by Niki

Today I had two classes for EN112 – College Writing and Research. Last summer, it was decided that rather than trying to introduce the students to the library during their freshman seminar, it might instead be better to introduce the them to the library during their research class. The only issue with that is some students test out of it completely, but those students also tested out for a reason.

I had two EN112s this morning – 8:15 and 9:45. My general outline for these types of classes is to go over how to search the book catalog and how to search the databases for journal articles. The basics – but at this point I’ve been searching the databases for three years, so I am able to add in some of the tricks I myself have learned along the way.

But, like all things, work seems to be a countdown these days. This many days left, this many classes left… etc. I only have 4 more classes to go (2 next Monday, 1 next Tuesday, and 1 the last Monday of October). There’s also workshops (which last until the end of November), but classes by and large are how I see most of the students.

Over the months I have expanded on some of the details I tell the students:

1. “I work Monday through Friday, 8AM to 4PM.” So don’t expect an answer Saturday night…

2. “I am a weird person who doesn’t drive, so I need to leave at 4PM sharp to catch the bus.” So don’t come in at 3:58PM (this hasn’t really happened lately).

3. And sometimes, depending on the class… “I am moving to the Netherlands at the end of the semester, so feel free to ask me any questions before that. My last day is the last day of finals.” (Usually at least a few students say “Awesome!” or similar at that.)

…Today I mentioned point #3 at the end of the class after the professor brought it up. As today’s research topic example was the therapeutic uses of marijuana (with a potential look at legalizing medical marijuana in New York), I did slip in a joke that I was not moving to the Netherlands for better access to drugs. (That got some laughs.)

It hasn’t really hit yet. Today someone from my bank called, and I realized for the 53rd time that I really need to figure out how to close my account from overseas, as I will still have direct deposit checks arriving for another month or so. Little things that I must remember… or more accurately, throw into Outlook as a reminder.

To do at some point down the line.

Categories: Moving | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Oh no (Or: Where’s my ESPN?)

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Niki

Today I woke up as normal. Got ready, made breakfast, sat down in front of the television and loaded up Google Chrome to send Marco the much anticipated morning email. But when I turned on the TV…

I was greeted with the (light) blue screen of death.

Important Information about Your Service

A digital cable box (or CableCARD) is needed to receive this channel. Please contact us at (866) 580-0535 to have a digital cable box shipped to your home FREE of charge OR visit one of our Optimum Stores.

Here is some more info: news article from NPR

I have managed to make it almost 5 years without needing a cable box, and I consider that a very good run. (For the record, in both places my landlord paid for cable as part of the rent agreement and I used their cable hookup.) Each cable box is $7.60 per month. You see above where they say it’s free? Read it closely – it really means the shipping of the box is free. They know how to get you.

I just have about 5 channels now: CBS, NBC, FOX, 9, and 11 (and 11 is some weird channel I have never heard of before). There’s another 4-5 channels that I have never watched before available as well.

I think now the plan is that I will just end up watching more TV shows on the internet, rather than trying to find a cable box for the last two months that I am here.  It did give my heart some pain to realize that meant Roger wouldn’t be able to watch Rangers games live while he is here in December… But otherwise, I am just missing out on ESPN and a few other things. Usually the TV is on mostly for the background noise.

Still – hmph.

Categories: Uncategorized | 3 Comments

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