Foto’s

Window paintings (Or: Dutch children’s library)

I decided to take a few photos of the windows at the library where I work. It’s a small library staffed by volunteers, after the much larger neighborhood library had to close due to budgetary reasons. But at least this way the children have somewhere close by to check out books.

window decorations in a Dutch library

window art in a Dutch library

window paintings in a Dutch library

It is a bit hard to see from this angle, but in the right window you have a large green ‘B’ (since the word for library in Dutch is bibliotheek). The B is made up of lots of smaller Bs – look at the top to see it best.

A few random Dutch words I learned today:

coloring page = kleurplaat

glitter = glitter (spelled the same, but with the hardcore ‘g’ guttural sound)

I must also admit that the window above does not convey the prettiness of the yards (tuinen) outside the window. Very green!

Categories: The Hague, Working & Volunteering | Tags: , | Leave a comment

The Hague (Or: Central Station’s roof)

Yesterday Marco and I were at Central Station in The Hague to drop off a friend who had visited for a few days. He was leaving The Netherlands to head to the next leg of his journey – Munich, Germany.

Marco pointed out the roof above us and I decided to snap a picture. Central Station has been the site of a few long-lasting construction projects, including some that are not yet done. But at least the finished product in this area looked really good.

roof on the Central Station in The Hague

More on the roof’s construction (now finished).

Categories: The Hague | Leave a comment

Unexpected (Or: Marching band in The Hague)

Yesterday Marco and I were taking a walk and actually saw a marching band walking through the center of The Hague, playing music! How random and unexpected. It’s likely that it was part of the Ut Hague Notûh festival that took place yesterday afternoon, which was much larger.

marching band in The Hague

The two songs they played while we stood around and watched were “Walking on Sunshine” and “Let it Be” from the Beatles.

The other amusing thing was that the entire thing seemed unofficial – technically they were marching on the main biking path (the red bit), so a lot of bikers had to go around.

There was also a bag pipe group which we heard first, but they were already further up the road and not the direction we wanted to go in. Perhaps next year!

Categories: The Hague | Tags: | Leave a comment

Studying (Or: Dutch lesson 12 of 14)

Almost at the end! Next week is the big test. We spent about an hour going over what what would be on it. The problem is that we are slightly behind (4 more sections to go) so she had to quickly cover what was on the test that we hadn’t learned yet. “Study this exercise! Study that exercise!” and similar. It was a bit of whirlwind.

The class sized remained about the same – maybe 10 people or so. While the teacher was pretty helpful about what to study, it also included broader things such as “study all of the chapter summaries” or “study all of the grammar exercises in the workbook”. Not a big deal, though. This class also had some little things that I didn’t know. Like “wat” is the same as “iets” (something).

Here is one thing we learned – how to express a wish. The construction of the sentence changes depending on whether you are wishing for an object (like a new tv) or wishing for an action (like the bus not being late)

Ik zou (graag) een nieuwe tv willen. (object)

It doesn’t literally translate well to English – I wish (really) a new tv want (? yikes). But in English it is: I (really) want a new tv.

Ik zou (graag) willen dat mijn toets makkelijk is. (action)

I (really) wish that my test is easy. This one translates a bit better to English, except that “is” moves to the end because that part of the sentence (my test is easy) is a sub clause.

I can’t believe there are only two weeks to go. The plan is to keep studying over the summer, even if I can’t find a class that runs over the summer itself. But this week there will be a lot of studying…

And here’s a picture from last month:

Oude Kerk in Delft

The leaning Oude Kerk (old church) in Delft, which we visited with friends. Look at it lean!

Categories: Courses, Delft | Tags: | Leave a comment

Landscaping (Or: Dutch gardens)

One thing the Dutch like (for the most part) is their gardens, or tuin(en). These pictures were taken near where my Dutch lessons are, although you can’t see the college building from here.

Dutch gardens in The Hague

And a closeup of another flower bush.

Dutch gardens in The Hague 2

It has been cold the last week and a half. And there has been a lot of rain lately! But to be honest, before that there wasn’t much rain, just cold weather… Maar ik ben nu een echte Nederlander. Ik klaag over het weer!

But I am now a real Dutch(wo)man. I complain about the weather!

Categories: The Hague | Tags: , | 1 Comment

Unexpected art (Or: Car sideways on a building)

I definitely wasn’t expecting to see this random bit of art when Marco and I were walking through Schilderswijk (= painter’s district) in the The Hague. One of the many neighborhoods.

car stuck on the side of the building art

What drew my eyes first were the arrows leading up…

Categories: The Hague | Tags: | 3 Comments

Hot Spring days (Or: Bevrijdingsdag festivals)

The month of May seems to be full of holidays within the Netherlands. Saturday the 4th was Dodenherdenkingdag (Remembrance Day). doden = (dead, plural), herdenking (remembrance), dag = day. This is the day to remember all of the dead in wars or peacekeeping efforts since World War II began. For The Hague, the local church bells began ringing at 7:45 until 8:00PM, when two minutes of silence are observed.

The following day is Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day), when the Dutch celebrate the country’s liberation from German occupation in World War II. There are a lot of festivals around various cities, so Marco and I decided to visit the one in The Hague and check out the music. Here are some of the pictures:

US army tanks at Liberation Day festinal in The Hague

US army tanks on display at the entrance

Liberation Day festinal in The Hague 2

one of the stages. Did I mention the weather was gorgeous?

Liberation Day festinal in The Hague

view of The Hague’s skyline

school bus at the Liberation Day festinal in The Hague

school bus converted into “American” food stand. (A lot of things labeled American truly aren’t…)

Categories: Holidays, The Hague | Tags: | 3 Comments

Alleyways (Or: Muziekcafé Paraplu in Den Haag)

Yesterday I took advantage of American Book Center’s trade-in day and turned in a hardback book for Marco – George RR. Martin’s A Dance with Dragons. Marco prefers paperbacks, but he couldn’t wait for the paperback to come out. Now that he does have that, he had no use for the hardback version and wanted to give it to someone who could use it.

After that, I wanted to go to the library. To get there, I used some narrow streets (nothing more than a public alleyway, really) to cut across. I found Muziekcafé Paraplu.

Muziekcafe Paraplu Den Haag

Considering it’s in the middle of a narrow alley, you really need to know that it exists to find it.

Muziekcafe Paraplu Den Haag 2

 

Categories: The Hague | Tags: | 1 Comment

Koninginnenacht 2013 (Or: The Hague)

Last night Marco and I went out to enjoy Koninginnenacht, or the night before Queen’s Day. (If you live in The Hague you should really drop the ‘t off nacht, but I digress.) In The Hague you have several stages set up throughout the center of the city, with 7 stages this year. You have various musical acts throughout the night, generally lasting 45 minutes to an hour each.

Even Google got into the Queen’s Day festivities…

Google logo for King Willem-Alexander van Oranje

Hovering over the Google logo gives you: Queensday 2013: Best wishes to King Willem-Alexander!

Marco said that a few years ago (or so) they made the cardinal mistake of only having a few stages and advertising a rather popular band to the main stage at some point in the night. The result was chaos as hundreds of thousands of people tried to converge on the main stage. Since then, they have increased the number of stages and used slightly less popular bands.

Hommerson Casino Koninginnenacht The Hague 2013

Hommerson casino decorations

Continue reading

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

Good weather (Or: Dutch carnival in The Hague)

Yesterday Marco and I went out for a walk due to the nice weather. We had no idea where we were going, but somehow we randomly ended up at a carnival being held near Buitenhof. De Haagse Koninginnekermis Kermis (The Hague queen’s carnival, for Queen Beatrix). There was a lot of people there due to the nice weather and it being a Sunday.

advertisement for a Dutch carnival

advertisment for the carnival, through May 5

rules for a Dutch carnival

rules for the carnival

1. No bikes or scooters on the carnival grounds.

2. Make use of the toilet facilities on the grounds.

3. No alcohol on the grounds, only in designated areas.

4. No drug use or selling on the carnival grounds.

5. No dangerous weapons or worn weapons

6. Deposit your trash in the trashcans present

7. If you see someone needs help, stay (by them) and call 112 (i.e. 911)

8. Always follow the instructions listed on the rides

9. Think of the environment

food stand at a Dutch carnival

food stand

go fish at a Dutch carnival

Iedereen altijd prijs = Everyone always (wins) a prize.

Haunted House at a Dutch carnival

haunted house

high ride in a Dutch carnival

I get dizzy just looking up at this (very high) spinning ride. It goes in circles, with riders at each ends. Sometimes flips.

ride at a Dutch carnival

Just pretend you’re on the spinning tea cups…

water bubble ride in a Dutch carnival

Water, water, everywhere. But you’ll stay dry. Lie down and relax in this giant bubble of a ride.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: | 2 Comments

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.