Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

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

Say goodbye to the curfew? (Or: Another Dutch press conference)

Posted on April 20, 2021 by Niki

First off, some great news: the European Medical Agency (EMA) has said that it safe to continue using the Janssen vaccine (Americans know it as the Johnson & Johnson vaccine). We only have about 80,000 doses in storage however we’re expecting about 3 million in the coming months. Since AstraZeneca is facing delays, this can help the Netherlands achieve their goal of giving everyone 16 years and older their first vaccine by 1 July. Even better, we’re going to start using Janssen from tomorrow: Netherlands to start using Janssen Covid vaccine on Wednesday from nltimes.nl.

There was another Dutch press conference tonight with prime minister Mark Rutte and health minister Hugo de Jonge. Although corona cases are still high in the Netherlands and similar to the numbers in January, de Jonge stated that the Netherlands has more protection thanks to ongoing vaccinations. Therefore the government will move forward with step 1 of their plan to relax corona measures from 28 April. Of course, that date is deliberately chosen as 27 April is a holiday here in the Netherlands (King’s Day).

Read more about step 1 over at the Dutch government’s website (actually available in English right away, for once!). These rules will take force as of 28 April. For full details, check the link:

  • the Dutch curfew from 23:00 to 04:30 will be abolished as of 04:30 on 28 April (again, the day after King’s Day – they are smart)
  • you can now have a maximum of 2 visitors at home per day instead of 1
  • outside restaurants terraces will be allowed to open from 12:00-18:00, with 1.5 meters distance
    • No more than 2 people at the same table unless all customers are from the same household
    • You are only allowed to go inside to pay, use the cloakroom or go to the bathroom. You must wear a face mask if you do.
  • appointments for shopping are no longer required at non-essential stores, but there is still a maximum number of customers who can be inside based on the store size and you must wear a face mask
    • Non-essential stores can be open from 06:00 to 20:00
    • Essential stores can operate at their normal opening times
    • general markets (aka outdoor markets) can now sell non-food items
  • you can have up to 100 attendees for a funeral

The next step of the reopening plan will not occur before 11 May (think of things like being able to go to gyms inside, zoos opening, etc.).

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Birthday cheesecake (Or: Too many choices)

Posted on April 19, 2021 by Niki

On Saturday Marco and I picked up some cheesecake from the Cheesecake Company in celebration of my birthday last week. This was our first visit in 2021. Last year we went right before the country went into a soft lockdown (talking with the owner about “the corona situation” while sipping our coffees) and we picked up some cheesecake later in the year. These days the company has a new owner to carry on the proud American cheesecake tradition. The store still sells the same flavors (and of course some new ones too), so it’s going fine.

For my birthday I chose lemon lime, Marco chose lime blueberry and for Roger we chose blueberry banana. (Do you see the nice chain of flavors we made by doing that?)

I couldn’t help but take a picture of some uncut cheesecake just waiting to be put out on display:

Lots of flavors!

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Shopping by appointment (Or: C&A on a time limit)

Posted on April 18, 2021 by Niki

I can cross something else off my corona list: shopping by appointment (winkelen op afspraak).

Yesterday I decided on a whim to check what the availability was for shopping appointments at C&A (English Wikipedia), a clothing store. Here in the Netherlands you are currently required to book an appointment at non-essential stores. You must book the appointment at least four hours in advance to prevent “fun shopping”, as the Dutch like to call it. The store can only accept 1 customer per 25 m2, with the maximum capped at 50 customers inside. The store chooses how long the appointment can last, but they are required to offer slots in at least 10 minutes.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had availability the next day (today). I was also surprised to see C&A was offering 30 minute time slots. On the one hand it seemed like a very long time, on the other hand 10 minutes didn’t seem like enough. Oddly they asked how many people would be coming, which is strange since the government rules say you should come alone. On the other hand, I’m sure people would just book separate appointments for the same time slot in that case… I asked Marco if he was interested in going. Since he was also in need of some new clothes, I put down 2 people.

Of course there is the fear that it will be really crowded, but oddly enough when we arrived the next day there really wasn’t a line outside. There was one older gentleman who entered right before us, but it turns out he did not have an appointment so they turned him away. I showed my email to the security guard and we were allowed in. We were both required to have separate bags. And the bags were kind of weird looking, with lots of times on them, crossed out in marker. Almost like they used that system in the beginning and then gave up after a few days:

The store was fairly empty thanks to the one customer per 25m2 rule. There were maybe 6-8 customers per floor? It almost felt like personal shopping. It was also easy to keep enough distance, so that was nice.

I managed to find almost everything I was looking for. A new jacket, 3 t-shirts and even a plain hoodie. It’s nice and warm. The only thing I didn’t find was a new pair of jeans. However I’m short and small, so sometimes finding that combination can be a pain in a country which favors tall people. Hmm. Marco got everything on his list, so that was nice.

I’m glad I went. Non-essential stores have been closed since mid-December (thanks to Black Friday and Christmas shopping insanity) so we definitely needed to buy a few new things.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Shopping | Tags: , , | Leave a comment

More cat graffiti (Or: New photos from Achterom)

Posted on April 17, 2021 by Niki

On my way to Kelly’s expat store, I walked through Achterom street and decided to take more photos of the cat graffiti. Consider it a continuation of a previous post earlier this year.

My favorite, a bit of a prism effect:

Especially the eyes.

How frustrating. It’s just like untangling Christmas lights. Sometimes it’s better to just buy a new set.

Is it just me or do those eyes above look human?

And finally, a photo taken to the left of the previous photo.

It’s a great little side street to wander down (it crosses through the Passage shopping area, from denhaag.com in English).

Categories: The Hague | Tags: , , | 6 Comments

Decadent delights (Or: Three mini birthday brownies)

Posted on April 16, 2021 by Niki

Earlier this week I received a small box in the mail. In Dutch it’s called brievenbuspakje. Brievenbus = mail box, pakje = little package. (A normal package is called pakket and the Dutch have the habit of adding -je to the end of the word to make it cute and tiny. If you’re interested in the reasons why, feel free to read Make it small: the Dutch love affair with diminutives at iamexpat.nl.)

But I do love brievenbuspakjes or brievenbuscadeautjes (mail box gifts). For whatever reason I am not a fan of having a company deliver something to our door, probably because the doorbell for downstairs is so heart attack inducing when you press it too long. Or something like that. I will go out of my way to order something at bol.com (effectively Dutch Amazon) if and only if it has the option to deliver to the local Albert Heijn grocery store.

But brievenbuspakjes are even better because they are guaranteed to fit in your mail box, meaning you don’t have to be at home and the deliver doesn’t have to spend time ringing your doorbell. Just put it in the mailbox and move on to the next delivery.

But back to that small box I received in the mail. I was thrilled to see the tiny gift in our mailbox earlier this week, though had no idea who it was from. The spoon is in the back of the picture to give a bit of reference to how small this box is.

It was from work to say happy birthday! It was a brownie from a local Dutch site, www.mmoodwineandfood.nl. At first when I read the flavors on the card (caramel, white chocolate and m&m topping) I thought it was one really, really extragent brownie. But no, luckily it was separate flavors:

It was so rich Marco and I split the one on the left, the m&m toppings. (Also, I’d not call that m&ms. They were more smarties size, aka the UK chocolates (English Wikipedia). Which apparently pre-dates m&ms by a few years.) The other two brownies were saved for another day.

But: yummmm. Even though we weren’t able to get to them for a few days it was still moist and delicious.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Categories: Food, Working & Volunteering | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Anyone want some shredded cheese? (Or: Cheese hack deliveries)

Posted on April 15, 2021 by Niki

On Monday I wrote about a cheese hack that was disrupting deliveries of cheese to the Albert Heijn grocery stores. The hack was resolved and deliveries could resume again. Most of the cheeses had been replaced, although there are still some gaps here and there. But I had to laugh when I saw this pile of shredded cheese:

Note: this was actually the overflow area for the extra shredded cheese they had in stock. They put it in the “weekly sale area”. The normal place for shredded cheese was also overflowing with bags and bags… and bags. It looks like two or three deliveries worth.

In other news… did you hear about the world’s first fish doorbell in Utrecht? It has been pressed 32,000 times so far in the first two weeks (nltimes.nl in English). Utrecht had a problem. At this time of year there is less boat traffic in the canals so fish would frequently find themselves stuck at a locked gate without any way to get to the other side. To solve this, viewers can watch a special webcam at visdeurbel.nl to see if they see fish in view. If you do spot one, you press the red doorbell on the right. If enough people press the doorbell, a human will manually check and if needed open the gate. Note that when you first access the page you might need to refresh it see the webcam properly.

The camera also takes a screenshot and shares the photo with you. Since there are limited moments when you might see fish (the best time of day is in the early evening or evening), the website also has a page with the best photos taken by viewers. Note that the webcam is temporary as it is only needed during the fish migration season.

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: , | Leave a comment

Puffed up and nowhere to go (Or: Pigeons basking in the sun)

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Niki

Today’s photo is from Marco, taken earlier this month. It shows a flock of pigeons enjoying a bit of sun in The Hague:

He said they didn’t really move. They just sat there, puffing out their chests and (presumably) enjoying a rare moment of sunshine. By the locks of it they were smart enough not to go into the street and smart enough to stay out of the bike path (marked in red).

Just sitting there. Doing nothing. Sounds nice, right?

Categories: The Hague | Tags: | Leave a comment

I’m two in corona years (Or: Birthday time)

Posted on April 13, 2021 by Niki

I’m now officially two years old.

(in corona years, of course)

Today’s my birthday. At least this year and last year I have a good excuse for not knowing what I want, since official birthday parties are out and non-essential stores are closed. Let’s ignore online shopping for this excuse. I have definitely reached the age where I am okay with not knowing what I want. Especially since my birthday falls on a Tuesday and that is not an ideal time to take off work or having a big celebration. But I received some nice cards and a few small presents from friends and family which I enjoyed going through.

To give you an idea of how today went: last week I told Marco that I was excited to choose something a bit less healthy for my birthday meal (think something American like a deluxe hamburger and fries, nachos, chili cooked in a slow cooker, or similar). And then yesterday and today I promptly forgot about it. I was in meetings most of the afternoon so I suggested something easy (but still tasty): tomato soup and a tosti, a ham and cheese sandwich with a fancy name. Still tasty, but not extragent birthday material.

Marco was however on top of his game, surprising me a small apple crumble pie from Albert Heijn, my favorite:

It’s my favorite because you get a bit of powdered sugar on top but it’s not too thick or messy, so not too filling. And that’s whipped cream on the side, slightly deflated since I didn’t take a picture right away. (I had to make the required cup of coffee first. It’s required.)

Check out this homemade card from Marco’s dad and his wife (best described as “beautiful” and “clever”!):

This is a birthday card on steroids. And what’s best is you can open it up:

The card stays in that position since you can rest it against the white rose. I also like the 3D element with the butterfly wings. I’m always amazed by the creations I get from them.

Here’s hoping I don’t turn 3 in corona years!

Categories: Friends&Family, Marco&Niki | Tags: | Leave a comment

Time to hack some cheese (Or: Ransomware)

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Niki

Earlier this morning I was walking through the Albert Heijn when I noticed a sign near the cheese section, apologizing for the less than spectacular stock. Indeed, there were a lot of gaps and not much cheese to speak of. I didn’t think much of it since cheese wasn’t on my grocery list today.

A few hours later I read an article on NOS in Dutch: ‘Kaas-hack’ opgelost, ging om gijzelsoftware. I found an article in English at dutchnews.nl: Supermarkets cheesed off after dairy supplier is hacked. The hack occurred in the night between 4 and 5 April, about a week ago. Since then the company has mostly been working with pen and paper to get all of the orders fulfilled. The supplier refused to say whether they paid to have the ransomware lifted (but my guess is yes).

In public transportation news: Amsterdam’s metro lines 50, 51, 52, 53 and 54 have been stopped since about 17:30 today due to a technical failure in one of their new systems (nos.nl in Dutch). The issue is in the new traffic control system that they only started using yesterday.

In corona news: Ministers ‘consider coronavirus vaccine rethink’ after AstraZeneca chaos from dutchnews.nl. There is a lot of controversy around AstraZeneca right now in the Netherlands (and Europe in general). First it was not allowed to be given to 65+, then there were rare cases of rare blood clots mostly see in women under the age of 60 across Europe, and now the vaccine can’t be given to anyone under 60 but can be given to anyone older than that. The same national health council who said “don’t give it to people under 60” last week is now considering advising the government that people under 60 should be allowed to choose whether they want AstraZeneca or not.

Oh, and just to show you how weird the weather has been lately: we had more snow and hail this morning. It started coming down right just as I ducked inside Albert Heijn, but unfortunately I was not met with blue skies and white clouds when I left 15 minutes later. Boo. Who expects weather like this in mid-April?

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Plans for het Spuiplein (Or: Lots of green)

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Niki

The Hague has presented its tentative plan for how the Spuiplein will be transformed once all of the construction is complete in a few months. First, here is a reminder of how much area the construction is taking up in front of Amare, the building in the back:

It will be good once we can have all that space back. If you are less familiar with layout of The Hague, here is a look at where Spuiplein is in relation to city hall and the central library. The Hague has released an artist’s impression of how the area will look:

Translated it reads: “A plaza with green, water, sitting areas, benches and places for small events. This is how the Spuiplein will look occurring to the first proposal”. Between the green and the benches will be a long water basin (pictured above). There will also be open places to allow small events like street theatres, musical performances from university students, ballet or a movie in the open air.

Of course, the building (Amare) still needs to be delivered. Haags stadsbestuur dreigt met boete als bouwer Amare opleverdatum niet haalt from omroepwest.nl. In other words, The Hague is threatening to fine the builder of the Amare if they don’t deliver the building on time to the city (1 July 2021). …opps?

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

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