Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

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

Countdown (Or: Mars rover Curiosity)

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Niki

As I have been called the countdown queen for my counting down the days until Marco arrives again (45 days!), I decided to post an interesting image that I saw regarding the landing of the Mars rover Curiosity.

Getty images. Image taken during a meeting before the landing. The marbles look like cherries to me.

Of course, I didn’t see the landing since 1:31AM EST seemed a bit too late for me. Though the media definitely sensationalized this with their “7 minutes of terror”.

However, one can easily catch up on all of the details by visiting the official NASA page.

Categories: Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Athene Palace (Or: Greek food in the Hague)

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Niki

As Marco visited Athene Palace in July for his birthday, he was kind of enough to give me a picture of the menu.

And not just any page of the menu… but the page with #95, which reads:  Sirtakischotel: kipfilet, suflaki, sutzuki en giros. Each time I have gone to the restaurant (2 or 3 times?) I have always ordered #95. The gyros are my favorite for sure.

Oh, and if you want to spell 95, it’s vijfennegentig (5-and-90, with the classical Dutch refusal to add spaces).

Marco was also kind enough to get a shot of ouzo in the picture. I like it — it tastes like licorice, though it does burn a bit going down. If you’re with a group of people, you can clink your shotglasses together and say Proost! which is their version of “Cheers!”. (It rhymes with “boast”.)

And for dessert, I like to get the Dame Blanche, which is vanilla ice cream with hot fudge sauce. My ideal method for attacking that dessert is to be stingy with the sauce and add a little bit every few bites, to prolong the chocolate heaven.

Categories: Food, The Hague | Tags: | 2 Comments

London (Or: The moon within the Olympic rings)

Posted on August 4, 2012 by Niki

This picture has been making the rounds across the internet… especially Twitter.

Reuters/Luke MacGregor

The NBC coverage has been…alright, I suppose. But one of the three NBC channels I have only shows boxing (MSNBC), and the second doesn’t usually show Olympics events. And then they have the lovely rule that the best stuff only shows up in primetime – though they aired the run of Pistorius (the double amputee) both live and in primetime. So what gives, NBC. 🙂 Air some other things I want to see stuff live!

But all in all, it’s been a lot of fun. Today’s highlight was watching the men’s 10,000 meters and the final result which was pretty much designed to give you warm fuzzies. Right now the Dutch are on TV… but only because it is women’s volleyball and the other team is American.

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Studying (Or: Dutch flash cards)

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Niki

One of the services I use to study Dutch vocabulary is the iTouch app iFlashcards (iTouch & Android). I have used it for vocabulary ranging from items around the house, body parts, animals, opposites, and more.

screenshot of the iFlash app

One of the things that I like about the app is the ease of making flashcards. I generally type them up in a .txt file on my PC and upload it to the website, and then find my cards on my iTouch by using my account number. The format is pretty simple – question and answer on their own lines, and then a blank line, and then the next question and answer on their own lines.  You can even format cards if needed (bold, italics, color, etc).

On a typical flashcard, first you see the “question” (elbow) and once you tap the screen, the answer appears. You can then say if you got it right or wrong (lower right circle and x). The default mode is to keep repeating the question every 5-10 cards until you get it right. Once you get it right, it does not appear again in the quiz.

It’s a nice little free program, and it has proven pretty useful. As a bonus, you can also search for other people’s public flash card sets – although there is no guarantee of correctness.

Categories: Apps, Learning Dutch | Tags: | 1 Comment

Greeting cards (Or: Marco’s response)

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Niki

As I wrote last week, I had sent Marco 13 greeting cards in the last two months leading up to his birthday.

Well… his response came last night! Happily it came in the middle of one of our videochats, so he got to see me open the package. The highlight was four cards.

Four cards from random Dutchies… well, not *random*. I do pretend to know them as long as they aren’t acting too crazy… (look’s at Marco’s mom!)

The four cards came from different people.

Upper left card: Roger’s card… thanks for the little fancy card that made me feel special. I was very amused by your handwriting while trying to write on a speeding train way too early in the morning. 😉

Upper right card: Marco’s card… apparently he bought it before the first of my seventeen cards arrived. After the third or fourth one arrived, he thought it would look silly to send a card back, so he waited a bit.

Lower right card: Marco’s mom’s card… she definitely knows how to get to my heart. Put anything edible-looking on it and you are good to go! Eten, eten, eten!

Lower left card: Marco’s dad and his wife’s card… yes, that butterfly (vlinder) has 3D wings. Very cool and I had to stop myself from moving the wings up and down. All of the cards are homemade and take a while to complete.

Thank you for the cards, everyone! 🙂 It was an unexpected but welcome surprise.

Also included in the extra large box: a bag of chocolate covered stroopwafels, and another that was labeled as “chewy caramel”. Two boxes of speculaas (regular flavor) and one box of chocolate covered…Mmmm…. and two boxes of pickwick Dutch tea. Good times.

Those treats should last me the 6 weeks or so before Marco comes back in late September… (ha!)

Categories: Friends&Family | Tags: | 3 Comments

Videos (Or: Screencasting and YouTube)

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Niki

Another first for me. I made a screencasting video and uploaded it on YouTube! Screencasting means the viewer sees whatever is on my computer screen so I can show them how to do a task. (The video was work related so I won’t link to it here. But it was about searching our online catalog for books and journal articles.)

In the end the process was simple enough that I began to wonder why I hadn’t tried it last summer. But oh well – the main reason for getting the videos started was to have them available for the students (and my replacement) after I left this job. All of the software I used was free, though I did borrow a speaker and USB headset from IT.

I used CamStudio, which is similar to Camtasia. This software records what is on your screen, and optionally any audio. Note that audio will increase your file size so if you don’t need it, keep it off. One nice thing was cursor highlighting which makes it easy for the viewer to follow your mouse.

Continue reading →

Categories: Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Hijacking (Or: Marco takes over)

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Niki

Marco: I’m taking over the blog again. nWo style.


What? You might ask yourself.. What? I’m taking over. What? Coming to power. What? Assuming control.
If you are thinking right now “Could you please shut the heck up!” You might not be with one of my favorite forms of entertainment.


If you are thinking “Awweeeesome!!” You probably know that the above lines are filled with references to pro-wrestling.

Continue reading →

Categories: Marco&Niki | 8 Comments

Black cats (Or: Being followed)

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Niki

Somehow it is already 10PM. Where does the time go? So in the interests of getting to bed at a sane hour, I am just going to post a few pictures.

Both images are of a small black cat which followed Marco for a while on his way to work. Always staying far enough away, but obviously curious. Running ahead, and then ducking underneath cars – just to get a safe look at Marco.

Definitely someone’s pet, since it has tags. Very cute looking.

It followed him for a while, darting in and out of bushes. But not all of the way – doubt Marco’s workplace allows pets!

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: | 9 Comments

Cycling (Or: Rooting for two teams)

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Niki

Note: I took this post idea from a Georgia Peach Abroad – and the concept of rooting for two teams equally.

Of course, I am not yet in the Netherlands. I am still in America, so that means that the coverage is dominated by American athletes. So hearing that there is a sport that will feature a Dutch athlete as a clear favorite means that I am much more likely to tune in (oranje!). This morning was the women’s road race in London and the surrounding area.

When I first turned the TV on, one of the comments was how the Dutch were aggressively attacking. This strategy did not let up at all. Near the end of the race, there were four riders left from four countries: America, Great Britain, Russia, and the Netherlands. I remember thinking: Who do I root for? America or the Netherlands? Although it would have been nice to see both teams medal. At some point the conundrum was solved, as the American had to drop behind after having mechanical issues with her bike.

Originally from dailymail.co.uk (article has some other nice pictures)

 

So it was down to three… and I was trying to not watch, but trying to watch all the same. So nerve wracking!  I suppose that I should be glad, since I was rather clueless about the history behind the Dutch rider (Marianne Vols). I later found out that she has a tendency to do very well in races – but fade at the end. But she won!

Of course, after the post-race hugs and congratulations, NBC focused on the rider from Great Britain (partially because it was an English speaking athlete). So that was the end of the Dutch coverage. For now…

Categories: Sports | Tags: | 1 Comment

Productivity (Or: A busy Saturday)

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Niki

I really need to get to bed earlier, but I blame the Opening Ceremony for that. Ending at midnight – yeesh. But I probably would have been up until then anyway. It’s a rare day that I get to bed before 11PM these days.

I must amend my previous blog post, as I have seen the entire opening ceremony. I loved how the torch came together at the end, and I loved the fireworks once it was lit (mainly because the fireworks weren’t contained just to the stadium itself). Though the Olympic rings coming together while being “forged” was still a big highlight.

This morning was spent watching the road race and then walking to Shoprite (more like speedwalking, since I was trying to get back for the end of the road race!). The coverage on NBC went from 5AM to 6PM, then 8PM for a few hours with tape delayed events.

But after lunch I did some frenzied work for Avatar MUD. August 8 is the mud’s anniversary (first went online in 1995 – I didn’t start playing until February 1998). This year we are spreading out the events over the entire month, and I scheduled myself for five trivia sessions with the players, among other things. Since the festivities begin Wednesday,  it’s down to the last few frenzied days of preparation and hoping the code you are about to put in doesn’t crash the game…

And at the same time, there’ s still Dutch to study which is the priority. The countdown draws ever closer, and the studying and preparation seems to intensify with each passing week. I know that this week I definitely have to skip ahead and start studying word order, and try to improve my speaking skills. It’s always something.

It’s going to be an interesting August…

Categories: News | Tags: | 2 Comments

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