Life in the Hague

The Hague’s newest addition (Or: A statue of “Haagse Harry”)

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Niki

Marco and I just visited the statue of Haagse Harry (Dutch wikipedia) which was unveiled earlier tonight. The statue can be found above the Grote Markt tram tunnel.

Who is Haagse Harry? A character in a Dutch comic strip who lives in The Hague and speaks The Hague dialect (plat Haags). Here’s an article about the unveiling of the statue (English | Dutch). The author, Marnix Rueb, passed away in 2014. His family used the prize money from a posthumous award, The Hague Culture award, to finance the statue.

If you want to see an example of the Haagse dialect, you can check out this dictionary (a random Google link). The news article about the statue’s unveiling was also written in the dialect. They also translated a good portion of denhaag.nl into Haags in a mirror site (though I don’t know how long that link will work).

There was a contest to determine what the text on the t-shirt would say. It ended up being “Kap Nâh!! Lekker belangrijk”.”Kap Nâh” is “hou op”, or in English “Stop it”. It’s also the name of the first album of strips released. “Lekker belangrijk” is “very important”, but said sarcastically.

And of course, here’s a view from behind. Typically Dutch…

Categories: Culture, The Hague | Tags: Statues | Leave a comment

Chocolate and tea! (Or: De Beukelaer penny wafel)

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Niki

It’s always time for chocolate! While at a friend’s house earlier this week I had tea with chocolate. In this case, the chocolate was a “penny wafel” from De Beukelaer, probably only found in Belgium.

Of course, they don’t taste quite the same as the sugar wafers I remember from my childhood — available in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, although those awesomely nostalgic wafers tasted of artificial, sickeningly sweet goodness. Most of the taste was “sugar” rather than “wafer”.

It’s probably good I prefer these Belgium versions now…

Categories: Food | Tags: Chocolate | 4 Comments

Haagse hopjes (Or: Wall decorations at MegaStores)

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Niki

A few weeks ago Marco and I went to MegaStores. We mainly wanted to visit Woonexpress XL, a furniture store like Ikea where you have one path with different sections of the home along the route. At the end of the path is the storeroom with the larger items seen along the way (like shelving, drawers, etc.) for you to take. Beyond that you have the cash registers and the exit.

And what is MegaStores? It’s basically an indoor mall (a rarity for the Netherlands, unfortunately) full of mostly furniture shops. Marco and I both find it a bit disappointing as having only furniture shops definitely limits its appeal. I’ve only been there a few times myself, with one of those times to buy our two couches from Sanders. Of course, you do have some other generic Dutch stores here (Xenos, Kruidvat, Hema and similar) but since you can find them anywhere, there’s no great need to go here. Except that it is indoors, always a plus during bad weather.

One of the interesting highlights is a wall decoration of “Haagse hopjes”, a coffee candy made in The Hague. They are delicious. You can get them almost anywhere, including the VVV tourist branch in the The Hague public library’s central branch. Or cheaper at places like Xenos, but most tourists do not realize that.

Haagse hopjes wall decoration at MegaStores

Haagse hopjes wrappers as a wall decoration

I’ve posted about MegaStores before, with one post about how Dutchies tend to visit furniture stores on Easter Monday or to show the awesome escalator layout (and one VERY ugly rug – seriously, you’ve been warned).

One final thing – MegaStores also has interesting toilet facilities from a company called 2theloo. You can see pictures of some of the toilet stalls at Megastores. Each toilet stall has a different “theme”. Each visit costs €0.60, but keep in mind a lot of toilets in the Netherlands charge at least €0.50 and unless you are eating at a restaurant or some cafés you will have to pay. In this country most toilets are maintained by an outside company.

I haven’t had to use 2theloo, but if I ever do I’ll be sure to write a blog post about it and let you know which “theme” I chose. Haha.

Categories: Shopping | Tags: Candy, Malls, MegaStores | Leave a comment

Pim café in The Hague (Or: Over on Wagenstraat)

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Niki

For Valentine’s day, Marco and I visited Pim, a café on Wagenstraat. They have a “breakfast for 2” on their menu which I thought might be interesting to try out. While they have another café on Prins Hendrikstraat, the one on Wagenstraat has only been open since September.

The ambiance was pretty nice, beginning with the flowers on the table:

There was also a foosball table hanging on the wall:

And here is a look at the breakfast for two. Two large croissants, four pieces of brown bread, four pieces of white bread, orange juice, coffee, hummus and a few vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, paprika).

The blue plate was awesome…

As you can see below, there was also cheese, ham and two cooked eggs. I am not a fan of eggs in general, so luckily Marco was willing to eat mine as well.

But definitely a nice breakfast – very filling!

Categories: Food, Holidays, Marco&Niki | Tags: Breakfast, Cafes, Pim, Valentine's Day | 4 Comments

Deadpool (Or: A movie for the ages)

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Niki

It is almost time to go see Deadpool! Marco, Roger and I have tickets later in the week to see it (it came out today). It’s what I like to call a superhero movie for adults…

The advertising is rather crass, although remarkably funny. Marco says he almost wishes the advertising would continue on even after the film is released, as it’s that good (read: weird/crazy/unexpected).

My favorite is the billboard that makes the movie seem like a romantic comedy, just in time for Valentine’s Day. (There is also a synopsis about the film at that link if you are interested.)

If you want to see more of the crazy marketing Fox has done in advance of Deadpool, check out the WIRED article.

Finally, I’m a geek. I’ve also blogged about the movie candy when we went and saw Thor: A Dark World. Or when I posted about Iron Man 3.

Categories: Uncategorized | Tags: Pathe | Leave a comment

Super Bowl 50 (Or: Yay! Expats can watch too)

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Niki

Guess what I am currently doing at 12:11 am? Watching the Super Bowl on our Apple TV via the CBS sports app!

The best part is that it is through CBS so you get access to the commercials as well. For a few years we had an NHL app and the commercials were blocked on there due to it being shown internationally.

Marco and I both have the day off tomorrow so we can stay up extra late, provided the stream cooperates. But it is fun to be able to watch NFL again, and fun to see the commercials. I’ve missed it. For a few years we could see the big game on Dutch TV but with Dutch commentary. It sucked. They spent most of the game explaining how football worked. (Looks like it is available again this year through Fox, still with the horrible Dutch commentary.)

But we will see how long this lasts. The stream keeps failing. Grrr. 🙂

Categories: Sports, The Hague | Tags: American football, Expat | 6 Comments

Spotted at Big Bazar (Or: Playmobile for the 21st century)

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Niki

Marco and I had a bit of time to kill this weekend so we decided to buy a few things at Big Bazar, a discount store. We were in the toys section when Marco spotted an interesting Playmobile set:

That’s right – there is a bank robbery in progress! And the side of the box shows the ATM and how you *ahem*… withdraw money from it.

Playmobile is actually kind of cool. But I’ll always be a LEGO kind of girl.

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: Big Bazar | Leave a comment

A world of books (Or: A new library card)

Posted on January 30, 2016 by Niki

It is time to renew my library card. Over here in the Netherlands, library card fees are not part your property taxes so you have to pay for one separately. On the plus side, it is pretty inexpensive to get a library card – children’s passes are free, with additional discounts based on age (it’s cheaper if you are 18 to 25 or over 65, for instance).

I’ve always been in love with libraries. I can still remember as a kid checking out 15-20 Hardy Boys mystery books at a time (I never got into the Nancy Drew mystery books, unfortunately). And amazingly, not having that many late books. After that I moved on to the Science fiction / fantasy books section for adults, so my time in the children’s department was over.

Here in the Netherlands I’ve had a basic pass for the last three years – I remember feeling antsy waiting for enough identification proof to come in to be able to get one (like in the US, you need to prove you live where you say you live, so I needed to wait for something to be mailed to me with my name and address on it).

This year, I decided to go with one of the options above the basic one. I went with a Sterpas (Star pass):

The main difference is how many books you can check out at a time (12 books versus 18) and how long you can have them (3 weeks versus 4, with two renewals regardless of your card type). To be honest, it’s not like I ever expect to need more than 12 books at a time – I’m not a kid anymore – but the four weeks lending period is nice. There’s a few other benefits, like maximum 18 free reservations (yes, it’s not free in this country like it might be in parts of the US) and free movies/games/etc, rather than paying a euro and a half per piece.

Sterpas library card (The Hague) and website

Library card with the library website behind it

If you’re living in the Netherlands and looking to learn Dutch, keep in mind the Central Library of The Hague has a pretty big collection to help you out. It’s now on the 2nd floor, by the escalators. I’ve previously written about the “Leer Nederlands” collection.

Categories: Reading | Tags: Books, Libraries | Leave a comment

Kiss the tax goodbye (Or: Media Markt’s 2016 BTW actie)

Posted on January 26, 2016 by Niki

For a few days at least…

Tomorrow (from 6pm Wednesday the 27th through Sunday the 31st) begins Media Markt’s “btw-vrij actie” for 2016. Media Markt is one of the larger electronics stores in the Netherlands. In this country, tax is included in the price listed, rather than added on at the register. During this sale, most items will be tax-free. There are of course some notable exceptions like Apple products, gaming consoles, movies, computer software… but if you are looking for big ticket appliances like fridges or microwaves, this weekend is your best bet.

Except of course it still pays to do research beforehand. For one, Media Markt is both an online website and franchise stores, and availability and prices can vary a bit between each franchise. The other reason to do research is that the price you pay at Media Markt without tax might just be the same you would pay at another store with tax.

Oh, and except HUGE crowds that make it all but impossible to navigate through the store. Sort of like America’s Black Friday shopping day, but only at one retailer and marginally more manageable.

Happy shopping!

Categories: Shopping | Tags: Media Markt | Leave a comment

A different way to relax (Or: Adult coloring books)

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Niki

You heard me. Coloring books… for adults! You thought coloring was only for kids? Think again. I asked (and received) one as a Christmas present, along with a nice set of coloring pencils. I decided to start coloring it in while waiting for the SpaceX launch this past Sunday (Spoiler: the overall mission was successful but the attempt to land the rocket on a barge in the ocean failed).

Of course, the designs are more intricate in an adult coloring book than one for a kid:

This one took me two and a half days (though, being an adult I can’t spend the entire day coloring. Sadly.) But it’s about as relaxing as putting a jigsaw puzzle together, something I used to do last year. Actually, I need to start doing that again…

Even libraries have started to notice this new hit, offering “social coloring groups”.

Here is the coloring book I have (which Dutchies can buy at bol.com):

And a few looks at the pages inside:

The only thing I wish was that the format was a spiral book. The pictures go right to the edge of the page, which makes it hard to color. Another type of coloring book is the mandala coloring book. A mandala is a sacred symbol in both Hinduism and Buddhism made from squares and circles. The original research about coloring mandalas as an anxiety reducer can be found in the Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association (pdf available through ERIC).

Categories: Everyday purchases | Leave a comment