Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

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

Demonstrations in The Hague (Or: Malieveld and Koekamp)

Posted on March 14, 2021 by Niki

Today there were two separate but simultaneous demonstrations at the Malieveld: a demonstration against the government’s corona measures (at Malieveld) and a demonstration for climate action (at the nearby Koekamp).

The maximum number of demonstrators for the Malieveld is 200 (and it used to be 100), a number that was quickly reached more than an hour before the scheduled 14:00 start time. When the police tried to prevent additional demonstrators from entering Malieveld, the demonstrators simply started marching through the city centre, including towards Plein 1813 (Dutch Wikipedia) on the northern side of the city centre. After that the police turned a blind eye to demonstrators joining the demonstration at Malieveld, for a time. By 15:30, the police said the demonstrators needed to leave immediately. Around 15:45 the police started clearing Malieveld by force, using mounted officers and water cannons.

Earlier in the afternoon all incoming trains to The Hague were (briefly) cancelled, which meant that you could only leave The Hague, not enter it. The train service has since resumed, however. The Hague’s tram and bus service is also slightly disrupted, with four trams (9, 15, 16 and 17) and one bus (20) running alternative routes at the moment. That is to be expected, though, since so many people are criss-crossing the tracks and roads around Malieveld.

The local website Regio15.nl has a three hour video (on YouTube, 3 hours long). They also have pictures taken throughout the afternoon of the situation. Just another day for Malieveld though – there have been a number of anti-corona demonstrations in the last year.

I think there was a fair amount of food behind, since the Malieveld is currently residence to about 20-30 seagulls. Hmm.

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Rabbijn Maarsenplein (Or: The Amalek monument)

Posted on March 13, 2021 by Niki

Rabbijn Maarsenplein is a neighborhood in The Hague’s city centre which used to be well-known for its Jewish population before World War II. Most Jews did not survive. A few years back the Jewish Monument Foundation moved the 1967 memorial to this location, giving it a more prominent space. It depicts a family seeking protection, with a Holocaust victim at their feet. I have posted about this memorial a few times. The name “Amalek” comes from the biblical verse from the book of Deuteronomy: Remember what Amalek did to you… don’t forget, with Amalek representing the enemy of the Jews.

There are usually flowers at the base of this memorial, but this time the careful placement of a single white rose caught my eye:

And a photo from the front:

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The weekend has arrived! (Or: Are you ready to party?)

Posted on March 12, 2021 by Niki

Happy Friday, everyone! We made it. Pat yourself on the back, even if you have to work tomorrow. It is still one day closer to your personal weekend, whenever that is.

Here is a look at Marco and I’s meal from last Friday:

That is Sayur lodeh (English Wikipedia), an Indonesian vegetable soup. In this case vegan, since we ordered it from FOAM Catering here in The Hague. Even my auto spellcheck is having trouble with typing out Sayur lodeh! The homemade sambal (pictured above the dish) was very interesting – it had a slightly sour, pleasant taste. I did find the overall dish a bit “earthy” tasting, although I would not be able to tell you which vegetable caused that. It was pretty good, though.

Who would have thought 10 years ago that I would eat stuff like this? I can say that because I didn’t move to the Netherlands until the end of 2012. It has been one wild culinary ride since then…

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Who will you vote for? (Or: The 2021 Dutch general election)

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Niki

Next week is the 2021 Dutch general election to elect members of the Dutch House of Representatives. The election is officially scheduled for Wednesday, 17 March, however due to the pandemic you are also allowed to vote on 15 and 16 March.

I say “you” because I can’t vote – you need to be a Dutch citizen to do so. That’s fine, though. I am allowed to vote in the municipal elections (and curiously, the local water board elections). For the municipal elections the eligibility is simpler: as a non-EU citizen I need to be registered in the municipality and live in the Netherlands for five uninterrupted years.

I will admit that since I cannot vote in the upcoming elections I have not paid much attention to Dutch politics, although I did do my research before the municipality elections I voted in a few years back.

The Netherlands is full of advertisements like this: a huge board that shows all (most?) of the eligible parties for the upcoming election. As you can see some parties prefer to show the party leader (the first few squares) whereas other squares rely more on text or slogans.

And me being me, I did make sure to get a shot of tram 16 in the background. This was in the city centre. Behind the tram is Primark (English Wikipedia), an Irish “Fast fashion” retail store. I have bought a few things there over the years, but you can see the difference in quality because everything is so cheap. Although I did find one of my favorite Christmas decorations there a few years back. That was definitely a good purchase!

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Brushing up on the Dutch (Or: A new podcast)

Posted on March 10, 2021 by Niki

I decided to start following a new Dutch podcast a few days ago, a slightly nerdy one in fact. The name is Spoorcast (Apple | Spotify). It is about Dutch trains (spoor being Dutch for track). Actually, my favorite hobby has always been to read up on The Hague’s tram system, but trains are second best. However I don’t follow as much public transportation news since the pandemic started.

I listened to an old episode of Spoorcast from last year and learned that Rotterdam is working on their own sort of High Line, re-using elevated railroad tracks as a park. I also felt a bit nerdy when I realized I was actually enjoying one of the more recent episodes about the interior of a train. I was glad to hear they also think the current mini trash cans by each seat area are way, way too loud. I jump every time someone slams the lid down…

When I first started listening I was dismayed to hear that it was very difficult to understand what they were saying, as each episode featured three or four people talking to each other. They kept interrupting each other and talking over what the other was saying. I was starting to wonder if this was actually a Belgian podcast (wouldn’t be the first time!) or a Frisian podcast since it was so difficult to comprehend. And then I realized I had it on my default speed setting for podcasts (1.4x). I reduced it to 1.2x and suddenly it was much more bearable. Strange I guess. I usually don’t have issues with the speed, even with the other Dutch podcasts I listen to like Echt Gebeurd. Who knows.

Photos from the “most loved” Dutch station, Klimmen-Ransdaal. See also this Dutch article from ns.nl: Waardering voor stations stijgt naar recordhoogte which talks about the most loved stations in 2020.

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Just another Tuesday (Or: Ridderzaal, different angle)

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Niki

Last week I took another photo of the Ridderzaal, this time from behind. Mainly because I liked how the trees looked. Although I started to imagine how nice it would be to have leaves on them when Spring arrives…

In other news: Unilever woos diverse clientele by deleting ‘normal’ from packaging from dutchnews.nl. Unilever (English Wikipedia) started as a Dutch company all the way back in 1929, and had dual headquarters in both London and Rotterdam. However these days they are officially a British company. I think it is a good move to stop saying ‘normal hair’ or ‘normal skin’ since ‘normal’ can mean different things for different people.

Coronavirus positive test rate at lowest point in 23 weeks; Youth infections rising from nltimes.nl. It is currently at 8.1%, the lowest percentage since September 29 when it was 8.0%.

8.4% of Netherlands adults now partially vaccinated against Covid-19 from nltimes.nl. (2.9% adults are fully vaccinated.)

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Only minor changes (Or: Dutch press conference, 8 March)

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Niki

There was another press conference tonight, as usually happens one week before rules are set to expire. Not much is changing, however.

  • The curfew (21:00 to 04:30) will stay in place until 30 March
    • There is an exception for 15-17 March if you are outside due to the elections (you just voted, you are an election worker, etc.)
  • From 16 March: up to four adults can exercise together outside, if you keep 1.5 meters distance from each other.
  • From 16 March: swimming lessons for children will restart (very important for a country with so much water)
  • From next week: stores larger than 50 square meters can allow one customer per 25 square meters, provided they made an appointment at least 4 hours in advance. The maximum number of customers at one time is 50.
  • Nursing home residents can have up to two visitors per day, with differing visitors allowed during the week, provided all residents and staff are completely vaccinated. Previously they could only have one visitor per day, and it was the same visitor per week.
  • The “negative advice” on traveling out of the country is extended to 15 April. At the press conference on 23 March they will announce the decision for travel during the May and summer vacations.
  • If the number of cases, the R number and the number of hospital intakes don’t rise, the government will look into opening restaurants terraces (outside dining) from 31 March. If, if, if. In that scenario higher education students would also be able to go to school once a week.
  • In the next few months the government is looking into the possibility of allowing quick tests to be sold for use in businesses and education. They could also be sold at drug stores for home use.

So, there are ome changes, but it is mainly looking towards the next month or two to see what is possible once more of the population is vaccinated. Check out the vaccination situation at the official Dutch corona dashboard (in English).

See also: Current lockdown will be gone by July; Terraces could reopen March 31 from nltimes.nl.

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Horse-drawn carriage rides (Or: Another sign of Spring)

Posted on March 7, 2021 by Niki

I returned to the Malieveld for a long walk for the first time in months. It is a large grass field just outside of The Hague’s Central station where events are held. It reminds me of last fall when they were setting up for the carnival. Apparently that was in September – time really does fly, it seems.

On the way to Malieveld I spotted a horse-drawn carriage:

While you do have the opportunity to take horse-drawn carriage rides, it is not something you see every day. I only see them a few times of the year. I am also pleased to report that I walk at the speed of a slow horse-drawn carriage, apparently. Or actually I was slightly faster. I think they turned right before entering the Malieveld to go into the Koekamp, probably to let the tourists take pictures of the deer. (Feel free to click the link again if you want to see cute pictures of deer.)

In other news: Dutch clubbers hit the dancefloor for study into easing lockdown from theguardian.com. If I remember correctly this is one of the events where the tickets were gone in 20 minutes. You have to have a negative test to enter the event, and there is also random “fast” testing at the door as well. In theory you also need to get yourself tested within 5 days after the event, but not everyone does. During the event you are divided into groups, each group with a different level of corona measures (face mask, no face mask, concessions at seat, you can get concessions yourself, etc.) Each visitor has to wear a device as well to track their movements. It will be interesting to see what data comes out of it.

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Still a construction zone (Or: Amare in The Hague)

Posted on March 6, 2021 by Niki

Last week I mentioned the new building they are constructing on the Spuiplein: Amare, a new cultural complex that will house various establishments: Residentie Orkest Den Haag, Zuiderstrandtheater, Nederlands Dans Theater and the Royal Conservatory (so an orchestra, two theaters and a music school). At the moment the planned opening is September 2021.

As I mentioned last week, I’m also looking forward to having the space in front of the building back – it has been a construction site since 2014 I think. Time flies…

And here is something a bit crazy (but in the end, similar to a desert mirage):

It was exactly a really interesting article with a diagram explaining how it was possible. If you have a moment, go check it out.

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Weird Hofvijver mystery (Or: Random chemical truck)

Posted on March 5, 2021 by Niki

Imagine: you are walking past the Hofvijver last week Friday when all the sudden a truck appears, backing up into the Hofvijver:

They back up slowly. Beep, beep, beep. As the hose is automatically lowered into the water, you start to wonder if they should even be there or if it is some evil plan to poison the water supply. Should you tell someone? The side of the truck reads Kaweco, but a Google search doesn’t give much help. Unless maybe it is a slurry tank from kaweco.com? Who knows. It is one of life’s minor mysteries.

On a related note: Sinds de coronacrisis is er meer beveiliging op en rond het Binnenhof (Since the corona crisis there is more security at and around the Binnenhof), from ad.nl. I have always found it cool that you could easily spot the Dutch prime minister walking around The Hague without security. A coworker of mine said she was biking a few months ago and suddenly he was biking right next to her. They exchanged pleasantries and then went their separate ways. Hopefully it stays that way in the future, that Dutch politicians don’t need to be surrounded by security all the time.

Happy Friday, everyone! As always, it has been a very long work week and I am glad to be able to relax for the next few days.

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