Daily Dutch living

C’s (Or: Coffee, cheesecake and countryside)

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went back to the Cheesecake Company by the Grote Kerk. I’ve posted about this place many times – they even served the cheesecake at our wedding! It isn’t quite our two year anniversary yet but this time they did have the same flavor as our heart-shaped wedding cheesecake, white chocolate cappuccino… So of course we ended up choosing that one.

And on Saturday Marco, his mother and I had dinner over at De Gezelligheid (near Amersfoort) with the family. The food at De Gezelligheid was pretty good. We started off with “de spiegel” (the mirror) which was a sampling of all of their starter items served on a platter. My favorite item was the fried mushroom, of all things. For the main dish I had a hamburger with thick cut fries. Yum.

Of course we had to stop at the Starbucks at Centraal Station, so I decided to take a photo of the wall (doesn’t everyone want to take a photo of a wall?):

Love or hate Starbucks – I just like the cool font and presentation!

Here is a photo of the lake by Marco’s uncle, with a Buddha statue on the other side (in the shadows):

Quite peaceful.

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Food, Friends&Family | Tags: Cheesecake company, Restaurants, Starbucks | 1 Comment

Summer (Correction: One day of summer)

Posted on June 5, 2015 by Niki

Here in the Hague it is 30C (86F).

Unfortunately it will only be for today, reinforcing my belief that summers are few and far between here. This was only the second day I didn’t take a jacket to work this year! It’s okay though… the winters are currently just as mild which IS nice.

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: Summer, Weather | Leave a comment

Uniquely purple (Or: A random Dutch bike)

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Niki

Some days I feel like I should have a blog which just documents bike photos. Some other bike photos include: Bikes in Delft and Amsterdam || Bikes along a Utrecht canal || So many bikes by Holland Spoor (train station) || All that remains: A lone bike wheel || Beads along bike spokes

Yesterday I came across a purple bike, although the paint was chipping. Looks like it used to be an orange color.

Click for a larger size

Here is a close up:

Click for a larger size

See? Orange paint!

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

Graffiti of Delft (Or: On the way to Ikea)

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Niki

A few weeks ago, Marco and I went to Ikea in Delft to see if we could buy a bookshelf for me. I originally wanted the narrow, but tall version, in dark wood – but it was way too heavy to carry back on the tram. So we settled for the shorter version which still stores a fair amount.

Of course, I still need to populate it with more than junk (there’s a lot of random papers that I threw in there simply to clear off the nightstand) but it did mean that I was able to set up the earring holder I got for Christmas. Which made me realize I have a lot of blue earrings, but could use some more of other colors…

Some other random news: I started the second half of the B2-C1 Dutch course at Volksuniversiteit. Like the last one, it is 10 weeks and should be done around the third week of March. After that, my Dutch is good enough to sign up for courses (in general, not just at this school) with native speakers. Hmmm…

I’ll leave you with a few pictures of graffiti that I took on the ride over to Ikea. The owl has already made an appearance on this blog, but this picture is a bit better. The other is new.

The graffiti is always more interesting on this side of the pond!

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Delft | Tags: Art, Graffiti, Ikea | 2 Comments

Outside with coffee (Or: Last day of summer)

Posted on October 4, 2014 by Niki

Marco and I went out today for a cup of coffee, eventually ending up at the Buitenhof plein. The main reason for doing it today was that the temperature will drop after some rain tonight – and that marks the end of summer. Although I guess we should be glad we made it to October with 20c/68f days!

Of course with the beginning of autumn, you get to look forward to the upcoming holiday season. Unfortunately Halloween (English | Dutch wikipedia) isn’t as big here as it is in America (although it is growing in popularity).

And the changing leaves, and the crispness of the air…

But still, I am going to miss being able to have a cup of coffee outside.

Categories: Daily Dutch living, Food | Tags: Autumn, Cafes | 2 Comments

Different directions (Or: Splitting trains

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went to Amesfoort for a birthday party for Marco’s uncle. On the way back we were waiting at the Amesfoort train station. We were greeted by this sign, which amused me:

Depending on what your destination was (The Hague or Rotterdam) you had to get into the train at a different point. The train splits at Gouda station. And of course they say a-zijde and b-zijde (a and b side) rather than rather than simply specifying whether you needed to get in the train at the back or the front. Though standing in the center of the platform solved the problem nicely!

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: NS | Leave a comment

De Haagsche Bluf (Or: Coffee and music)

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Niki

Marco and I went shopping this afternoon — I needed a new pair of sneakers as mine had seen better days. We knew we wanted to go somewhere for coffee afterwards but we weren’t sure where. We were going to try Hometown Coffee (the last time we tried there were no free tables and it was a bit too cold to sit outside) but we ended up elsewhere.

More specifically, in De Haagsche Bluf (English), a luxury shopping area in the middle of centrum. We decided to have coffee at Kaldi (English). I had my usual coffee and Marco his cappuccino, and we split an American cookie with white chocolate chips (American = large, soft cookie). Yum.

But unexpectedly we also had some musical entertainment:

It was pretty cool, as the “stage” was actually the front part of the building, simply pulled down like a drawbridge. Here is a close-up.

Great music! Sort of jazzy, with the drums and clarinet alongside.

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: Cafes, Haagsche Bluf, Music | Leave a comment

Movie theater candy (Or: Thor time!)

Posted on November 11, 2013 by Niki

Last Sunday morning Marco, Roger and I went to the movie theater in town to see the new Thor movie, Thor: The Dark World. As sometimes happens, this movie was released in the Netherlands a full week before it was released in America.

The movie was pretty good – the pacing was pretty nice and I didn’t feel that the middle or the end of the movies dragged too much. It was nice to see more character development with the side characters (including Darcy) and of course Thor as eye candy is always good. They have a shirtless scene near the beginning for Thor-approving fans!

Before the movie I took a quick moment to take a picture of the candy options, although it’s not really something I would ever purchase (even ignoring the insane movie theater prices):

As you can see it is not that much different from the setup of a typical American movie theater – similar candy is offered there as well. The one thing I was tempted by were the sour bears on the left side of the 2nd picture, near the bottom. Yum, sour candy!

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: Candy, Pathe | Leave a comment

Obstacles (Or: Construction in The Hague)

Posted on September 17, 2013 by Niki

It seems like all of The Hague is under construction, though I’ve been told that the construction is perpetual and never-ending.

Here’s a view of what my parents, brother, and sister-in-law will see when they arrive tomorrow at the crack of dawn (!):

It is just one example of many things which are under construction. At the next corner, they are building a Mark and Spencer’s, which you can read more about at this link.

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: Centrum | Leave a comment

Bedelaars (Of: Kun je wat geld missen?)

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Niki

Beggars (Or: Can you spare some change?)

I must admit that the question “Kun je wat missen?” or”Kun je wat geld missen?” is any oddly formed question that manages to reverse itself to get across the objective – it basically translates to “Can you miss some money?” (geld = money), thus implying “Do you have enough gold that you can miss some without feeling the loss too much? If so, I’ll take it!”

Today was the first time that I was asked while walking alone (though it’s possible I’ve heard the question soon after moving here but wasn’t able to translate it). I was walking through a less than affluent neighborhood in The Hague when I spied someone stopping the person walking ahead of me. After they didn’t receive any help from that person, they decided to ask the question to me. Kun je wat geld missen?

I didn’t quite get it at first though I did hear “missen”, so I said “Huh?” (great language skills Niki!) Then the guy asked “Heb je vijftien cents of zo?” – that was thankfully much easier to translate: Do you have 15 cents? I replied truthfully – Nee, ik heb geen geld bij me. (No, I have no money on me.) Why would I be silly enough to carry money when walking through a less than affluent neighborhood? Phone and keys, that’s all you need really!

The Hague did get enact a ban on begging of sorts, although it really just says you have to be a few feet away from the building and can’t stay in one spot too long. I suspect it only for the city center, though.

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: Money | 4 Comments