The Netherlands got a little taste of “orange mania” this week as Saturday was Koningsdag (English: King’s Day) in The Netherlands. Of course you see some wacky items that come about this time of year – both for the previously mentioned holiday but also for the FIFA World Cup in June.
See at Albert Heijn. “Hup Holland Hup” translates to “Go Holland Go”
Don’t forget to check out the title on the can. See also this previous post, Hup Holland.
Sorry for the lack of blog posts lately but of course the holidays have been busy. Unfortunately Marco injured his foot on New Year’s Eve (well, after midnight). It was an accident caused by uneven ground and bad lightning. By Thursday the pain was worse and he was hobbling rather pitifully. Well, I definitely pitied him… He did some research and decided to go to to the emergency room at MCH Westeinde (same hospital where he was born!) .
He secured a ride from his father and I tagged along to keep him from getting too impatient in the waiting room. As it was not a serious injury we had no way of knowing how long the wait was. My first impression was that the emergency room seemed more like a prison than a hospital – workers behind protective glass, put your insurance and identification card in the tray and slide them across, inner entrance doors locked and requiring a key card, etc. Though I haven’t been in an emergency room in years so that might be standard these days. We were pointed to the waiting room (another door) so we took a seat and waited. Thankfully there were not too many people waiting in the room.
After a few minutes a difference in culture became apparent – anytime a new person would enter a room they would say hello/good morning/etc to the people already in the room. Not something typically done in America. It reminded me of another convention – when Dutchies arrive at a wedding or birthday party they greet everyone by saying “Gefeliciteerd!” (Congrats!), not just the couple who were married or the person whose birthday it was. I still don’t do this tradition myself but that’s partly because it doesn’t come naturally to me yet.
After a while Marco got called in and I stayed behind in the waiting room playing some games on my iTouch and getting occasional updates. His foot was not broken, so no cast, but it was definitely severely sprained. So he got his ankle bound and got to stay home from work for an extra two days. (He was also asked the usual questions – would you like pain medication? No thanks. Would you like to rent some crutches? No thanks.)
The plan is that he goes back to work tomorrow. It seems to be getting better each day – keeping off his feet his helped a lot – but he does have another appointment this week to see how it looks.
So – that was my first Dutch hospital experience. Not too shabby.
Just like many cultures, the Netherlands has this crazy thing where the Christmas displays and food related items appear earlier and earlier every few years. This year it seems the agreed-upon date for all of the supermarkets was September 1 for Sinterklaas sweets, especially kruidnoten (yum) and gevulde speculaas (double yum – thanks Roger for showing me that one). I made sure my parents went home with a package of that, as it’s a seasonal treat.
At least Albert Heijn realizes that the treats are ending up on the shelves earlier and earlier. Above the seasonal area they had this message:
Voor iedereen die kan niet wachten op al het snoopgoed.
For everyone who cannot wait for all of the treats/candy. 🙂
I saw this painting on display a few weeks ago at the Central Library in The Hague.
The crazy thing is you don’t see the “hidden” elements unless you are quite close by. Otherwise it just looks like blue with a hint of red.
Of course, I still typed “Prince” in the title and had to change it to King. Willem Alexander and Maxima are currently visiting The Hague. I was able to see them as they traveled through Chinatown (which is at best a few streets at most). They then went on towards Grote Markt, where the city hall and library are. They were treated to some music in one of the plazas areas (the same one Marco and I went to a few weeks ago for Queen’s night).
Here are some pictures that I took as they were driven past. Luckily that area wasn’t as busy – I was only waiting around for about half hour and was able to get up front.
rehearsing before he arrives
Willem-Alexander has been spotted, so they light the fireworks…
Those little fireworks are amazingly loud. The first photo I took the explosions for the beginning of the fireworks were half that size. Above is the second photo. I couldn’t take anymore because after that everyone was too busy shielding their eyes and taking a few steps back – the explosions at the end were twice as big. Quite unexpected. I think my ears were ringing for at least 15 minutes…
Also a good picture for seeing the crowd behind, through the smoke. This was actually the calmer part of the route – the letter everyone got in the mail directed people towards Grote Markt street, which had much more spaces for folks (that was where the music was by the city hall).
preparing for the King’s arrival – you can see the smoke from the fireworks
The blue sign in the upper right reads auto op slot, buit eruit! It means lock your car and take your valuables with you.
King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima (in red, not quite visible here)
It lasted all of about 30 seconds. Maybe 45 including the insane fireworks.
Dutch police – on bikes! (quite common – there’s a lot of places cars can’t go easily).
After that, that portion was over and the crowds quickly dispersed.
A few weeks ago I went to the Tong Tong Fair in The Hague. It’s an Indonesian fair which takes place in the Malieveld area of The Hague (the same place as another festival we went to in May).
It was pretty good – I ended up buying a few things, including a stone box to use for my jewelry, along with some food items like dried fruit, kropoek, and a few Sambal chili-based sauces – triple hot, but we’ll see if it lives up to that name!
replica Indonesian house (front side only)
decorative bench near the entrance
display of various Indonesian foods used in the Netherlands
clever rice display (“rijst” in Dutch)
receipe for Soto ayam (printed Dutch is hard enough to read… this is pushing it!)
Soto ayam is a spicy chicken soup.
I took this picture last week (in March). Hema has already put a small store display with decorations for Koninginnedag 2013 (Queen’s Day). The last one in fact. Since Queen Beatrix is giving up the throne on that day, the following year we will have Koningsdag (King’s Day) for her son.
But really – I didn’t know people needed their decorations 5 weeks in advance!
Last night Marco and I went to his father’s house. I had roti for the first time. Of course, there are many different ways to make roti.
In this version, you have the wrap underneath, as well as small green beans, potatoes, and chicken that is so tender it falls off the bone. You cut off a triangle (like a pizza slice), and then pile some of the food on it. You then wrap over the edges. You can either spear it with a fork, or eat it with your hands.
Dessert was ice cream with fudge and pieces of mango. Yum.
Yesterday I posted a picture of what Marco’s mother bought – two Delft blauw cat figurines. We went to the Gemeente Museum. Both tickets were free because I received a sleutelhanger (key ring) when I signed up for a library card at The Hague’s public library. The key ring is enough to get free admission (through March) for yourself as well as friends and family.
So we decided to make an afternoon of it, and have lunch there as well. Here are some of the pictures I took. (Mostly sculptures and other non-paintings, as you aren’t allowed to take pictures of paintings.)
First, my favorite piece, and also the first thing I laid eyes on:
Its color makes it very noticeable from across the room.
An example of Chinese blue and white porcelain, which was the inspiration for “Delft Blauw” or Delft blue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_and_white_porcelain
Since I haven’t been in the Netherlands too long yet, I do not have a bank account. Now that I am registered as a legal resident, I technically can get one at any point, however. One thing that I find a bit strange with the Netherlands is the apparent passivity to receiving and spending large denominations of euros – particularly €50. Especially when you consider that right now €50 is closer to $60.
Oddity #1: Dutch ATMs prefer to give you a €50 bill at all costs. If you ask for €60, you will get a €50 bill and a €10 bill back. In the US, you always get back $20s. Of course, I could ask for €20 each time, but I am still using my American debit card (tied to my Chase account) to withdraw money, and there’s a $5 fee for use in foreign ATMs. That’s fair, but it does mean that I will always try to withdraw €100 to reduce how many times I have to pay the fee. I might withdraw even more (like €200), but considering my luck, the machine would probably give me two €100 bills!
Oddity #2: Most stores seem oddly nonplussed about accepting €50 bills. Of course, this is limited to the stores I have frequented so far, but half the time I expect an alarm to go off and the police to swoop in an arrest me for trying to hand over a €50 bill for a €15 purchase. (I’m joking, but I did have to break a €50 for a €15 purchase today.) I have memories of the hometown Burger King refusing to accept $50 bills even for a purchase around twenty five dollars. So I had it ingrained in me as a child that you just don’t do that. If you can help it. Exceptions: buying clothes, etc, where the total tends to be higher by default.
Oddity #3: Dutch banks will look at you funny if you ask for smaller change. This one I only know from asking questions, but I don’t doubt it. I am used to the US where I had to ride the bus back and forth daily. It wasn’t that far of a ride, so I only needed $1 bills (about $4 a day), but… My routine was to go to the bank every week and break a twenty dollar bill into singles. The bank tellers knew me by name, and sometimes even started counting out singles before I was at the desk. (Useful except when I was really there to withdraw a rent.)
I did see a sign in Xenos (a thrift-ish store) saying no €100 bills or higher, though I do know they will accept €50s (even if your purchase is less than €8…!). Hmm.
