The Hague

Celebrations (Or: My VVR has arrived)

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Niki

Today I checked the mailbox after coming back from the library. I noticed another letter from the IND. My VVR (identification card) was ready for pick up! Twenty days after the appointment with the IND – not too bad.

So I took a trip to Stadhoudersplein 24 (where the main IND/Gemeente offices are in The Hague) to pick up my identification card. I am now 100% legal and have an official address in the Netherlands. Most amusingly, the back of the card has Marco’s name on it, as he is my registered partner.

To celebrate, Marco and I went to Athene Palace, a Greek restaurant in The Hague which I have blogged about before. This time I had #102 (Rhodosschotel), which has lamb chops, chicken filet, souflaki and gyros.

As is the typical Dutch tradition, afterwards we had a cup of coffee (cappuccino for Marco).

And near the end of the meal, the conversation switched to our upcoming wedding later this year. Offiicially we couldn’t do much stuff with the wedding until now, as I needed to be an official resident of The Hague.

But now it is time for wedding talk… it’s happening!

Categories: Forms, etc., The Hague | Tags: Expat | 1 Comment

Accordions (Or: Playing in The Hague)

Posted on January 29, 2013 by Niki

On my way home yesterday from Albert Heijn, I saw some gentlemen playing instruments:

Along with the accordionist, there was also a saxophone player, but he is pretty hidden.

Just in front of the accordionist, you can also see a pigeon. They are attracted by a local fish market and usually have fierce competition for food with the seagulls who come in from the nearby sea.

As you can see, the ice and snow finallllly melted around here. The temperature rose to about 40F (4C) on Sunday and hasn’t looked back since. Of course, the rain all day Sunday definitely helped. But for now I have said goodbye to my snow boots and put my sneakers back on!

It’s always interesting to walk the streets. Today I was stopped by someone trying to sell local newspapers. When I explained that I didn’t know that much Dutch*, he stated that he was trying to sell a newspaper but it only came in Dutch, so it wouldn’t be that useful for me, but would I give him a bit of spare change anyway?

* = I will only be able to use that excuse for so long, as Invader Stu mentions. I already have that particular phrase pretty perfected…

Categories: Culture, The Hague | Leave a comment

Magnetic poetry (Or: In the public library of The Hague)

Posted on January 24, 2013 by Niki

When I was in the central library last week in The Hague, I came across a poetry exhibition using magnetic poetry:

I had a few magnetic sets of my own over the years, but they ended up just gathering dust in my closet. I did give instructions to Mom to give them to the neighbor’s kids if they were interested, so maybe the random joy of making (and destroying) poems can come alive again.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Libraries | 2 Comments

Mondays (Or: Surrounded by snow and DVDs)

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Niki

So, it started snowing today. Not a lot of course, but something:

Today was definitely a slower day. I went to Albert Heijn to pick up some grocery items. I did pretty good in terms of figuring out the language, even correctly figured out that the cashier was asking if I had an extra 20c piece (truthfully all I heard was ‘twintig’ and I guessed). I was thrown off a bit when she asked for my bonus card, as I did not think I picked up any bonus items or anything on discount. But when I looked over the receipt later I did see some savings, so it is probably best to just present it each time.

I wandered over to the library again but was thrown off by later opening hours on Mondays – the library does not open until 12PM. Marco explained that some stores or other establishments still have later opening hours on Mondays, but that practice goes back to when not many stores were even open on Sundays at all.

A few hours before Marco returned home from work I decided to take a crack at organizing his DVDs again. As he had moved around a lot of stuff in his apartment to make room for me and my items, his DVDs ended up being put back in rather jumbled order. Today I just worked on sorting his blue rays and his wrestling DVDs. I still have TV shows and DVD movies to go (whenever). Those tend to be the two largest sections.

Lastly Marco and I watched the 2009 Star Trek movie, the reboot of the original series. I never watched that TV show, although I understand most of the Kirk/Spock/etc jokes that have entered the culture. Growing up I generally watched Next Generation, Voyager, and DS9. But I never got into the last version, Star Trek Enterprise. Even if it did have Scott Bakula from Quantum Leap…

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Bikes, Weather, Winter | 4 Comments

Saturdays (Or: Megastores and Warung Mini)

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Niki

Today was a pretty fun-filled Saturday, although I definitely started to drag by the end of it. At 1PM, Marco’s mother dropped by. All three of us went to Megastores in the Hague, which is a larger sized mall. As the temperature has been dropping a bit, it was nice to find that it was an indoor mall. Most of the stores in the mall are furniture stores, although you can also find Dutch staples like Hema, Kruidvat, and Xenos (a thrift store of sorts).

Kind of interesting – this mall uses flat escalators rather than step escalators. It’s a bit of a steeper incline, but otherwise it works.

The first store that we went to was Woon XL, which was an Ikea-like store. Complete with routes to follow (arrows on the floor), various room design displays, pencils to fill out your order card with, a back area to pick up larger items, and a cafeteria at the end. We picked up a nightstand and a medicine cabinet, although we have to figure out how to get the latter up on the bathroom wall.

A crazy looking, huge rug with stuffed animal-like objects stitched onto the top. Good luck finding anything if you drop it in this rug. Seriously… what were they thinking?

Afterwards, the three of us went to a few other stores to look at perspective washing machines and also to McDonald’s to split an order of chicken nuggets.

Just for mom – an from-afar look at an Aldi store (since my parents also have Aldi stores near Chicago where they live). You can even see the carts in the front, presumably also requiring a coin to release them. But I am not sure.

By then it was time to go home. As we walked up to the front entrance of our apartment, we spied Roger who had arrived just before us and was waiting in the foyer by the mailboxes. So the four of us went upstairs together.

Dinner was from Warung Mini, a Surinamese/Indonesian restaurant. I had Rijst kerrie lams groenten – which was a large container of lamb in curry sauce, with vegetables, and a large container of white rice. The lamb in curry sauce was so good – perfectly spiced (but not spicy). Dessert was a baked banana (bakabana).

Categories: Food, Shopping, The Hague | Tags: Malls | 3 Comments

Afspraken (Or: A visit to the IND)

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Niki

Today Marco and I went to our scheduled appointment (afspraak) with the IND to set up my VVR (permanent residency). This also included a meeting with the GBA (…Gemeentelijke Basisadministratie persoonsgegevens!), otherwise known as the department who keeps tabs on every single citizen of the Hague. You are required to register.

The appointment was at 9AM, so we left the apartment around 8AM and took tram 17 to the Statenplein tram stop. (The street we wanted was Stadhoudersplantsoen, 24. Yeah. Who needs to use the space bar.)

gemeente museum in the Hague, near our appointment building. (gemeente = municipality)

The appointment went rather smoothly – as mentioned, we first met with an official from the GBA and I turned over one of the official copies of my birth certificate (don’t worry mom – a long version, not the fragile original version!). Then we waited a few minutes for the IND appointment and got that sorted. I had my fingerprint taken digitally, which was interesting because the machine was rather finicky. Eventually they ended up just trying the index finger on my left hand instead of my right, and it worked a bit quicker.

Then my fingerprint was taken again at a different window, and then it was done. The VVR should arrive in 6 to 7 weeks. I hope!

Continue reading →

Categories: Forms, etc., The Hague | Tags: Expat, Graffiti, HEMA | 5 Comments

Welkom (Or: A visit to the Hague’s International Centre)

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Niki

Today I visited the International Centre in the Hague’s City Hall. It’s on the first floor, but if you use the main entrance (near the library entrance) it is clear on the other side of the building. Their main website is thehague.com.

Here are some images of the space:

I received an information booklet on the city hall and it stated that the city hall had been used in the film Ocean’s Twelve (in the movie it was the Europol headquarters).

I feel a bit far from “home” now (New York). Just kidding.

Here was the welcome package I received:

And the items inside:

Here is a list:

– flyer on what to do with household waste (garbage and recycling)

– information on the next upcoming information session and tour for new residents, February 18

– information on an organization called “The Hague Midtown”

– copy of a newspaper called The Local Expat

– thehagueonline.com winter 2012-2013 magazine (lists events)

– The International Correspondent magazine

– “Freebee Map” to Den Haag and Scheveningen

– promotion for “The Guest Card” with a free 1 year membership (discount, events type card)

– Expactia Expat Survival Guide, 2013

– healthcare brochure

– ‘The Hague thinks ahead’ disaster planning flyer

– Expat Events Calendar flyer (www.expatevents.com)

– Access brochure

– “City in One: The Expat Guide of the Hague”, 2013

– brochure on the city hall, with historical information

– bike path map

– guide to Scheveningen

– HTM bus, tram, and train map

– HTM guide on what to take to go shopping, to the beach, to the region, etc

– and an actual hardcover book, just under 200 pages. ‘Manners in the Netherlands’

Categories: Daily Dutch living, The Hague | Tags: Expat | Leave a comment

The Hague (Or: One awesome blue sky)

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Niki

Happy Friday!

This image was taken a few days ago (or so), after a week of mostly rain and gray skies. Good times!

Categories: The Hague | 3 Comments

Sixteenth day (Or: Flowers for sale)

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Niki

Today Marco went back to work after the holidays. It has been pretty interesting having the apartment to myself, but unfortunately I didn’t get as much work done as I had hoped.

One of the things that I started on was reviewing Dutch pronunciation, in the hopes that I would be able to figure out how to say new words without giving Marco a blank stare. Little things like realizing that most vowels can be doubled: aa, ee, oo, etc. But ‘ii’ doesn’t exist – it is written as ‘ie’ instead, like ‘bier’. But mostly the diphthongs annoy me – ou, etc.

After lunch I decided to venture outside for a while and walk to American Book Center. Even with Google Maps it wasn’t that easy – although it was mainly just trying to get my bearings (again). Amusingly, the walk home was much quicker and easier. But at least now I know how to walk back there without a map.

Somewhere along the way I took a picture of some flowers for sale:

When I walked to the apartment entrance, another person who lived in the complex was coming out of the door with her dog. She said hallo so I said hi back. But then she said something else, and I wasn’t quite sure exactly what it was. But all I got out was a confused “um…” before she said Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! (Happy New Year) which at least I understood. But then my brain was still in English mode and I said “you too!” before the Dutch started to slip into my thoughts. (For the record, she grinned a bit and said something minor in English after; I forgot what.)

It’s been interesting listening to Dutch news today. So far I have battled with teletekst (channel 888 – subtitles for certain channels) trying to get that figured out. It’s technically for people who are hard of hearing but it’s obviously helpful for foreigners as well. But not every channel has it, and sometimes it is not really obvious which channels do and don’t support it.

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

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: Restaurants | 2 Comments