Daily Dutch living

Inside the apartment Marco and I live in, there’s a comic mounted to the wall.

The comic lists the various rules you should abide by when living in an apartment shared by many tenants. I remember the first time I visited the Netherlands, at some point I asked him what the comic said. He told me, but I forgot again. On the third trip, I wondered again but didn’t want to bug him again with the question (as it really doesn’t matter) so I started to ignore the comic altogether. I kept doing this after I moved here in December, as I only thought of the comic as something I couldn’t read.

Imagine my surprise last week when, after a trip to Albert Heijn, I actually stopped and stared at the comic, realizing that it was actually pretty easy to read now. First the red side, and then the green:

Open de deur niet voor vreemden

Don’t open the door for strangers.

Geen vuilniszakken en oud papier in het portiek

No trash or old paper in the foyer.

Geen oude meubels, fietsen, en andere rommel in het portiek

No old furniture, bikes, or other junk in the foyer.

Houd samen met de buren het portiek schoon

Clean the foyer with your neighbors.

Heeft u ergens problemen mee? Spreek uw buren hier op een rustige manier over aan

Do you have problems (with your neighbor)? Talk to your neighbor in a calm manner about it.

Is er iets stuk in het portiek? Meld dit via 0900-1434

Is there something broken in the foyer? Report it [call] 0900-1434.

Today Marco and I went to ING bank to set up a bank account for me. Previously I had just been withdrawing money from an ATM and using cash in stores like Albert Heijn, Hema and etc. but this can get annoying with all of the coins that begin to clutter your wallet, as the euro uses coins for 1 euro and 2 euros. The smallest bill is 5 euros. It also means I pay an ATM usage fee from Chase ($5) for using a foreign ATM. Not too bad, but if does add up.

The wait at ING was very long. It probably didn’t help that it was a Saturday afternoon… but the wait was about 25 minutes. When you enter you need to take a number from the automated machine, which is pretty common in this country it seems. There was only 4 numbers ahead of us, but both of the question & answer lines were moving rather slow. For now they have me a temporary card. In about a week a debit card with my name on it will arrive.

It is kind of funny, since my wallet has definitely started to fill up with cards. Debit card, official ID card, health insurance, library card, public transportation card, etc etc. Crazy!

As I was walking to the post office today, I came across a service truck. The worker was in the middle of cutting down tree branches that were obstructing the power lines.

As you can see, there are power lines at the top of the image. If you’re American, this is a normal everyday sight (although one of my coworkers lives in a town where all of the lines are buried underground). But I still remember the first time Marco told me that the power lines in the Netherlands were underground.

Of course, this means they are much less likely to break when a storm hits. Like last October when most of the Northeast was out of power for a week (some places two weeks). I ended up spending the night at a coworker’s just to have a guaranteed shower and warmth. It got down in the mid 50s (Fahrenheit) in my place! There was an article written a few weeks ago about why most of the United States doesn’t bury their power lines (only 18% do). Mainly due to cost to the consumer, upkeep needed more often, and the type of rock they would have to dig into.

So just remember that the next time you see a power line. Or don’t see a power line…