Life in the Hague

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

B1 (Or: Courses at ROC Mondriaan)

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Niki

On Monday night I went to an open house at ROC Mondriaan in The Hague to look into a different option for continuing my Dutch language lessons at level B1 (pdf). The nice thing is that this school receives a subsidy from the city’s government, so it doesn’t cost the student nearly as much. €20 if you registered that day, €30 otherwise, plus the cost of textbooks. I decided that I would continue with B1 rather than trying to skip ahead to B2 after doing some crazy amount of studying over the summer. Probably for the best.

The open house went pretty well. There was actually a line of people waiting, but perhaps they were here for a lower level as I ended up getting taken before I even sat down. There was a bit of confusion when I said I was American (for a few minutes I thought I didn’t qualify for a subsidy) but it seems to have just been a case of the person not knowing what the rules were for Americans. My intake person asked another colleague, and he asked me for my education level. When I said Master’s that seemed to satisfy him.

All I know is that the course will likely start in September and that it will last for 20 weeks. I did say my preference was for a night course. The intake person also mentioned that I would probably take a test before the class started, to gauge my learning level so that students who learn faster (or slower) are put together.

Lastly, I’ll still be doing self-study over the summer with the other B1 course textbooks that I bought (Contact 2) so hopefully this class is also a breeze.

Categories: Courses | Tags: Dutch language | 13 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

New books (Or: Contact 2 Textbook and workbook)

Posted on June 25, 2013 by Niki

Yesterday I went to Paagman’s in The Hague and picked up my new textbooks. It’s a continuation of the previous ones that I had, Contact 1. While they are intended for classroom use, I’ll be using them while I do self study over the summer. It is easier now that I am used to the book format. Hopefully it all goes well.

Here are some images:

the two books. The textbook is orange, and the workbook is white.

inside the textbook

inside the workbook

one really long dialogue exercise…

Now, if I had thought the exercise near the end of Contact 1 was long, this one is really long. The left page is all one dialogue. (It’s actually a listening exercise and you need to listen to the track on the CD. This is the back of the book which gives you the dialogue in written form.)

So, back to studying! Though today I will hopefully be visiting the National Library of the Netherlands.

Categories: Learning Dutch | Tags: Dutch language | 2 Comments

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