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Wedding rings (Or: One ring to rule him all)

Posted on July 11, 2013 by Niki

Today Marco and I officially purchased our wedding rings. Here is his:

I kid, I kid. You think I’d show the wedding ring off before the big day? But the reason I used the Hello Kitty design is because he’s been known to jokingly like Hello Kitty. When I first met him he had a tiny little Helly Kitty accessory hanging off his phone (I forgot who gave it to him). When it broke off, I got him another one as a joke. But of course he put it on there because he liked it! Or me. Yeah, probably the second thing…

And let’s not forget the $1 Hello Kitty band-aids mom found on discount some years ago. He was also gifted those. I think they were found recently somewhere in this apartment.

If it wasn’t going to be a picture of a Hello Kitty ring, I was going to post a picture of the decoder ring in A Christmas Story, another one of my favorite movies. I grew up watching it every Christmas with my folks, and Marco has seen it a few times now as well. Unfortunately it is not actually a ring…

The blog title was suggested by him, but we did just watch the first Lord of the Rings movie (The Fellowship of the Ring). Not sure when we’ll put the second one in.

Categories: Marco&Niki | 4 Comments

Mint tea (Or: A first for me

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Niki

At work a coworker offered me mint tea. With fresh leaves! It is the first time I have ever had it. It seems to be really popular in this country – not something I had seen before in America though I probably didn’t go to the right places.

The wedding stuff is going along well for Marco and I, although the stress has started to hit with trying to make the invitations out and get them sent to the printer. But it’s almost done…

Categories: Food | Tags: Drinks | 2 Comments

Craziness (Or: Wedding to do lists)

Posted on July 6, 2013 by Niki

Okay, it seems like I’ve finally gotten into this wedding thing. (For the record, Marco has up until last week been doing about 75% of the work. Now I seem to be taking charge a bit!)

So here’s the to do list so far, although it’s further along than it looks. Probably the most annoying thing has been finishing up the invitations. But I’m happy to say that I bought a wedding dress yesterday (with help from my aanstaande schoonmoeder, or mother-in-law to be). I just need to make an appointment for six weeks before the big day to get it shortened a bit and a few other things. I really am a short person. Or Dutchies or quite tall…

I’m also scheming on ways to get my mother involved (who unfortunately is still in America until the week of), so there will be a few surprises for her there

Marco and I just came back from looking at shoes, and I think I’ve found the perfect pair. I still need to buy them, though. We’ve offered some suggestions to my parents, my brother, and his fianceé on hotel options, but we need to find and book our own hotel for a honeymoon suite. We’re also 95% sure what rings we want to get. In terms of the cake, we just got back from the place where we want to get it. We need to set up an appointment with the owner right after we get back from America (early August) and my brother’s wedding.

So the major hurdles left are the photographer (not started yet) and getting the invitations out (one last push needed). But it’s coming together nicely, that’s for sure!

Categories: Marco&Niki | 2 Comments

Parades (Or: Veteran’s Day in The Hague)

Posted on June 30, 2013 by Niki

Yesterday was Veteran’s Day in the Netherlands. Marco and I went and checked out the local parade after hearing dozens of helicopters flying over on their way to Maliveld (where they had a lot of activities going on – we ended up not going there).

‘Veteranen, ingezet in dienst van de vrede’ – veterans deployed in the service of peace

People standing on benches trying to get a better view (it’s normally a well populated bus stop)

Categories: Holidays, News, The Hague | 3 Comments

Shopping Night (Or: Shop ’til you drop in The Hague)

Posted on June 28, 2013 by Niki

Last night Marco and I went to Shopping Night in the Hague downtown area. The shops are usually open late until 9PM on Thurday nights in this part of The Hague. But for this special event, the shops were open until midnight. In addition, some stores were offering discounts which got higher each hour that passed, with the steepest discounts between 11PM and midnight.

Though Marco and I just went for the experience and the fresh air – we didn’t end up buying anything in the end.

The front page of the website says:

Ik had een favoriet jasje, knalkleuren en lekker gek, totdat ik op de tv zag dat een minister hetzelfde jasje droeg…

I had a favorite jacket, bright colors and quirky, until I saw on the tv that government official wore the same jacket…

crowds gathering in the main shopping areas

“Bus stop Glam bus” – free restyling. If you put your in the list for a certain time and waited, you could get a free restyling. Not sure what company was offering it.

just a pretty picture as night falls

In the main walking area, they set up a fashion stage. Models would come out and display the latest fashions that were available for purchase.

Shop ’til you drop!

Categories: Shopping, The Hague | Leave a comment

Window paintings (Or: Dutch children’s library)

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Niki

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.

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: Art, Libraries | Leave a comment

Fireworks and Music (Or: King Willem Alexander visits The Hague)

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Niki

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.

Chinatown demonstration for Willem Alexander

rehearsing before he arrives

fireworks for Willem Alexander in The Hague

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).

Chinatown parade in The Hague for Willem Alexander

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.

Willem Alexander and Maxima visit The Hague

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.

Categories: Culture | Tags: Fireworks | Leave a comment

Popcatepetl (Or: Mexican restuarant in The Hague)

Posted on June 20, 2013 by Niki

Yesterday I went with Marco’s mother for her birthday to Popcatepetl (nickname Popo, since they are smart enough to realize no sane person can pronounce that). I first blogged about the restaurant last year, but it seems like the service has been getting worse since then. This is my third time there since I have moved to the Netherlands and usually the problem is the service.

Granted, it was kind of busy for a Tuesday night and we chose to sit outside on the patio (with the ants, but that’s another story!) but it was still a bit too annoying for us. For instance, a couple came in about 5 minutes after us, and managed to get their food before we even ordered. Yeesh! The only thing we didn’t have to flag someone down for was the drinks when we first arrived. Total time at the restaurant was about 2 hours, 15 minutes, and we didn’t wait too long after finishing the meal to ask for the check.

The food was decent, though. Not spectacular, but decent. I had the nachos with chicken and she had the “Popcatepetl ensalada”, with a lot of different items: salad, bacon, chicken, kidney beans, olives, corn, avocado, a filled jalapeño pepper and some paprika.

chicken nachos (chicken is hidden in the middle, but there was enough)

Popocatepetl Ensalada

We both had a lot of leftover items on our plates that we had no interest in eating, unfortunately.

Categories: Food | Tags: Birthdays, Restaurants | 4 Comments

Warmth! (Or: Our two days of Dutch summer)

Posted on June 18, 2013 by Niki

The title is actually a joke. Marco always says The Netherlands receives two days of summer each year. And those days seem to be today and tomorrow.

The image is in Fahrenheit, though to be honest I have gotten used to telling the temperature in Celsius these days.

85F =29.5C

86F = 30C

71F = 21.5C

61F = 16C

All you really need to know is 20C = 68F. That can get you through most of the summer, anyway.

The one thing I haven’t quite mastered yet is the 24 hour clock. All clocks here are in military time, and even the tv shows are listed in military time. A 7:15PM show is listed as 19:15.

…Yes, shows can start at 15 after the hour, or 20 after the hour (etc). This is partially because there aren’t as many commercial breaks here (though the breaks they do have are longer), so it’s not as forced by advertisements. I do miss the more structured American method, though.

Categories: Daily Dutch living | Tags: Summer, Weather | 2 Comments

Festivals (Or: Tong Tong Fair 2013)

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Niki

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.

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