Author Archives: Niki

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About Niki

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

A reminder of better days (Or: Football and chips)

Posted on April 26, 2020 by Niki

For those reading the United States – yes, I’ve gotten used to the convention of calling soccer football.

Recently I was in the Albert Heijn and I spotted some Pringles cans in the chips aisle:

The Dutch football season was canceled earlier this week after the Dutch government said that large events would not be allowed before 1 September at the earliest. Even so, the Pringoooals promotion is still going on, at least in some countries (Dutch link).

The Dutch football association was left with a puzzle after deciding to cancel the remainder of the football season. They let the affected clubs vote, but of course not everyone is happy and there is talk of lawsuits. The FA has decided the following (see also DutchNews.nl):

  • officially there is no champion (Ajax and AZ were #1 and #2)
    • Ajax will go straight into the European Champions League‘s group stage, while AZ will need to qualify
    • Feyenoord will go straight into the Europa League (one level below the Champions League), while PSV Eindhoven and Willem II will need to qualify
    • FC Utrecht (which barely missed out) wants to sue
  • Most leagues have relegations and promotions at the end of the season. For Dutch football this means the two worst teams in the Dutch honor league play the two best teams from the Dutch first league. If a team from the lower league wins this knockout game then they are promoted to the honor division and the losing team is relegated to the first division.
    • The FA decided that there would be no promotions or degradations this season
    • At the moment that competition was stopped, The Hague’s ADO Den Haag team was second to last in the honor division… though anything could have changed in the months ahead. But they got lucky, even if the team itself sees financial trouble ahead due to the coronavirus crisis (Dutch article from omroepwest.nl)
    • The two teams from the lower division want to sue

Although various teams are unhappy, the chances of winning in court are quite low (Dutch article from nos.nl).

I’ll admit I am definitely missing sports on TV. I wasn’t always a big football fan, but sometimes it provides the perfect amount of entertainment or background noise. And since Marco and I have Ziggo, we have seen a lot of English Premier League games over the years.

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Spiegel, spiegel aan de wand (Or: Poetry about the coronavirus)

Posted on April 25, 2020 by Niki

Marco spotted this poem on the side of a building in The Hague city centre. It’s across from the MediaMarkt (to the left of the photo is the Rootz restaurant).

In English it reads:

Mirror, mirror on the wall
I want to walk on the beach, hand in hand

I want to greet people on the street
and give a hug to the neighbor
with whom I talk

I want to eat something with others
without having to measure 1.5 meters

I want to look at how the tulips bloom
and stand in line for a party

I want to enjoy the spring sun
and walk with friends around the block

But for now we need to call each other
and be nice, even if it is with a small gesture

And then—before we know it—
we’ll be with each other again…

Categories: The Hague | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Serenity (Or: Between the Binnenhof and the Mauritishuis)

Posted on April 24, 2020 by Niki

Happy Friday, everyone! Here is a photo I took during a walk yesterday:

On the left you have the Binnenhof, on the right you have the Mauritshuis, an art museum. Perhaps you know its most famous painting? The Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Johannes Vermeer.

In the background, the water leads to the Hofvijver pond, of which I’ve taken countless photos of over the years.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: | 2 Comments

What do you miss most? (Or: An ode to libraries)

Posted on April 23, 2020 by Niki

As mentioned in a previous post, the “intelligent lockdown” rules have been extended through 20 May, with a few exceptions for children. Unfortunately this means that The Hague public libraries have extended their closure date through Sunday, 24 May with a hopeful reopening on Monday, 25 May. Good news: the free-even-for-non-members app “ThuisBieb” (Home Library) with around 100 e-books can now be used through 1 June. Read away!

I also mentioned in a previous post that I love the online library service (onlinebibliotheek.nl) and have already used their E-books app for one book, The Traveling Cat Chronicles (review from theguardian.com). I have since moved on to another book, Where’d you go, Bernadette, which is a completely different type of book, and not just because of the subject matter. The book is made up of emails, invoices, memos, letters – written by different characters that know Bernadette. It’s good, although work is a bit more taxing the last few days so I haven’t been reading as much as I could be at night.

Online is good, but there’s something to be said about the feel of printed pages and the random things you find which could loosely be labelled as “bookmarks”. In my case the last “bookmark” I found was a pressed purple flower. Or I think about browsing through the stacks, having a coffee downstairs in the café…

If anyone from the library world is reading this, just know that I’m taking good care of the four books I have in my possession until I can return them again. (And seriously, if I had known I would have checked out another five at least!)

You never know what you miss until you don’t have it anymore. What are you missing because of this current situation?

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Acidic heat (Or: Chicken ramen at its best)

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Niki

A few days ago Marco made chicken ramen. He outdid himself this time:

If I had to describe the broth I would say acidic heat – it was a mixture of red peppers, jalapeños and freshly squeezed lime, perfectly balanced so that neither overtook the other. Also starring in the dish was spring onions, sea weed, bonito flakes, miso soup broth, Japanese noodles and more.

There’s just a bit of broth left. I think Marco and I are going to fight it out to see who gets it for lunch.

…Just kidding – he should get to experience his creation one more time.

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First cautious steps (Or: Press conference in the Netherlands)

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Niki

Prime minister Mark Rutte and RIVM director Jaap van Dissel held a national press conference this evening to discuss the corona situation in The Netherlands, including which measures could be relaxed and which needed to be extended.

Official rules in Dutch are available at rijksoverheid.nl. Here are some highlights in English:

  • Events are cancelled through 1 September (was 1 June)
    • Festivals are cancelled (like Pinkpop)
    • No soccer games (yikes)
  • Elementary schools (ages 4-12) can open from 11 May
    • Children will go to class every other day. The day when they are not physically at school they will get online lessons (there is some flexibility with this one, as schools can adjust that as needed)
    • Special education elementary schools will completely open from 11 May with no restriction
    • Parents are asked to bring their children to school via bike or car if possible, to avoid congestion in public transportation
    • Secondary schools (ages 12-18) are not open yet, but are expected to open on 1 June
    • Daycares can also open from 11 May
      • After-school care follows the school’s schedule – it is possible on days the children attend school
      • Sports: from 29 April, children up to 12 years can train as a team, without keeping the 1.5 meters rule.
      • Sports: Children aged 12-18 can train with their team if the 1.5 meter rule is honored. No official games will be played.

And the rules that haven’t changed and will likely be in effect through 19 May:

  • It is still forbidden to visit anyone in a nursing or care home.
  • Restaurants and cafes are still only allowed to offer takeaway and delivery (no dine in option).
  • Everyone should still work from home and stay at home as much as possible
  • If anyone in the family is sick (e.g. with a fever), everyone in the family stays home
  • Wash your hands often
  • Grocery shopping should be done alone
  • Public transportation is still only to be used by those with vital occupations
  • “Contact” jobs like hairdressers, nail salons, beauty salons and similar are still closed
    • However the Prime Minister did say that dentists are allowed to open again during the Q&A session after the press conference

In the week before 19 May, the Dutch government will hold another press conference describing what measures will be lifted or extended.

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Waiting game (Or: Press conference in the Netherlands tomorrow)

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Niki

Tomorrow the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will announce what coronavirus measures will be lifted, and in some cases what measures will be extended. For us normal folk, it’s a guessing game.

One expectation is that the ban on events will be extended. Some Dutch mayors are hoping for an extension of the ban until 1 September: Burgemeesters willen tot zeker 1 september een verbod op evenementen (nos.nl, article in Dutch). This one I do expect to happen as it’s unlikely that the government would ignore them.

Another measure that people are quite interested in is the re-opening of schools. Scholen open of langer dicht? ‘Zelfs leerlingen beginnen school nu te missen’ (nos.nl, article in Dutch). The headline reads: Schools open, or closed for longer? Even students are beginning to miss school now. Yikes! Meivakantie (“May vacation”) begins next week, from 25 April to 3 May. After that… working parents everyone are looking for a break. If we see any change here, it might be the elementary schools opening first.

The other big one is whether or not restaurants will be fully open, rather than just open for takeout and delivery. This one I don’t expect to change any time soon. June at the earliest. However, that doesn’t mean restaurants can’t plan in the meantime. For instance, some restaurant owners on the Scheveningen beach have presented how they see life in the ‘1.5m society’: Strandtenten klaar voor serveren op anderhalve meter: ‘Zee aan ruimte’. (nos.nl, article in Dutch).

Work is another interesting dilemma, especially in the office – that one I can’t predict. I don’t think they are ready to lift the ‘work from home if you can’ advice, so I expect we will be working from home a bit longer. But perhaps they will remind businesses that now is the time to start thinking about how it will look in the future.

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Birthday cupcakes (Or: Delivered at a safe distance)

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Niki

I am one of the lucky folks who should be celebrating a birthday during these corona times. Officially I’ve said I’ll celebrate it later in the summer (I mean come on: when will I ever have a chance to celebrate my birthday in the summer again? Who could pass up that opportunity?).

On Friday I received an email from my workplace’s HR department, wishing me a happy birthday and telling me they would be delivering cupcakes on Saturday (yesterday).

The delivery itself was anti-climatic but still tinged by the coronavirus: Someone rang the doorbell. I open the door. The box of cupcakes have been carefully left on the doormat, with the deliveree standing at the edge of the stairs at a safe distance. She points to the box, we exchange the standard pleasantries, and then she is gone again.

Cupcakes! Yum!

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

Anyone need some toilet paper? (Or: A treasure at Albert Heijn)

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Niki

This photo is from last Tuesday, April 7. I just had to take a photo of this much toilet paper together in one spot (who knew that would be an important photo):

Anyone need some toilet paper?

There’s some things to note with this photograph:

  • While this photo was taken on April 7, it was only the second time I had seen a lot of toilet paper. The first was a few weeks previously at another Albert Heijn in the city centre.
  • This photo was taken from the side. The pictured path is well travelled, so I didn’t want to be in anyone’s way. I have to remember that social distancing after all. I’d say this was about one third of the toilet paper on offer.
  • This Albert Heijn receives these ‘voordeelpaks’ (bonus packs of 40, or sometimes 48 rolls) only in weeks when the toilet paper is on sale. During normal weeks you can’t purchase this many rolls in one pack.

Otherwise I would say most things are back – maybe pasta and rice are still a bit low, but they are definitely always at least half stocked. Pasta sauce is still a bit hit or miss, as noted in a previous post.

What is your local grocery store still missing in these coronavirus times?

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Metro newspaper (Or: Another victim of these crazy times)

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Niki

Metro is a free daily paper that is primarily distributed at train stations to commuters. It was started in 1999. As you might expect, all of their income comes from advertisements.

I was just thinking about them last week – I took a responsible social distancing walk to The Hague Centraal train station and spotted an empty Metro container. I remember thinking to myself that it made sense that there were no newspapers inside – there weren’t any commuters to be seen! The Netherlands has seen a roughly 85% drop in public transportation use since mid-March.

Because of this, the newspaper announced on March 19 (link in Dutch) that they would temporarily be stopping with the print edition of Metro. Yesterday they announced that they would be moving forward as a purely digital newspaper (link in Dutch).

It’s actually hard to imagine that the print version is gone. The best part about the paper was that it was free – because that meant people would leave it behind in the train when they were done reading it. That way the next bored person could have something to read as well!

Empty boxes at Gouda train station, normally filled with newspapers

The (cropped) image above was taken by Wikimedia Commons user Donald_Trung and can be viewed and downloaded at this Wikimedia Commons link.

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