Life in the Hague

Muzenplein (Or: A face out of nowhere)

Posted on April 14, 2013 by Niki

Great weather today! At least 20C/68F. So Marco and I went outside later in the afternoon when the weather would be warmest. We did some shopping and then made our way to Lebkov, a café.

Along the way we found ourselves at Muzenplein (somewhat close to Central Station). I took a pretty cool picture of…well:

Slightly unexpected. It reminds me of a very (very) large statue that fell into disarray, with only the face remaining. And also of the poem Ozymandias.

And some pictures of Lebkov from a few weeks ago during another coffee visit… what can I say, I liked the florescent pink rocks.

And the seating (fixed into the ground) and the sanding down of the concrete floor, like swirling marble. Very pretty.

Categories: The Hague | Tags: Art, Cafes, Lebkov | Leave a comment

Adventures (Or: Hair salons, libraries, and birthdays)

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Niki

So it has been a cool last few days. Today’s Friday! And tomorrow is my birthday with some nice things planned for the day. 30th birthday to be exact. I’ll definitely miss my 20s. But I do already feel older when I have to get up or move quickly. ;p

Yesterday around lunch time I went to the Brainwash hair salon in Leyweg to get my hair cut. My bangs (pony in Dutch!) were definitely too long and getting in the way. The wait was a bit long, but for a price of only €16.50 it was worth it. I didn’t speak a word of English while I was there (a new personal record!), although there were a few sentences the stylist said where I did not understand. nod and smile = the life of an expat.

Today I went to the library as my books were due on Monday and I didn’t want to renew them again. I figured I had them long enough as is. It was a book with 800 words to study and a book about Dutch word order (sadly – not as good as I hoped as I knew most of it already but still have problems with that grammar area).

But anyway. This meant using the book return system for the first time. I knew where to take them, but I wasn’t sure how to use it. Basically you walk up to it and put in your item (Let op! Één item per keer – caution, one item at a time) on the conveyor belt inside. Before you put the item on the belt, the area is lit from above by a green light. Once you put in the item, a wall of plastic descends and the light changes to red. (Yes, I wasn’t paying 100% attention and tried to put in the 2nd item too quickly, but it only hit the wall of plastic). The items you return are automatically scanned and displayed on the computer screen above.

That’s where I ran in trouble – I stood there for a second waiting for it to do something else or acknowledge I was done. One of the workers came over and kept saying something (in Dutch of course) about ‘the receipt’. I was a bit confused, but it’s hard to remember exactly what he said. I understood the first few lines (press the receipt button) but not why I had to do so. He said some more stuff in Dutch and I felt pretty lost. But on the second try he used different vocabulary and it got through to my brain. You HAVE to ask for the receipt, but if you don’t want it you put it in the mini trash basket on the left. The person after you will get your items on their receipt if you don’t (=the transaction only ends when you print it). “Oohhh, dankuwel, ik begrip je!” (Oh, thank you very much, I understand you!)

After that, I went upstairs to find another book or two and study some Dutch. I found a nice book with present perfect/past exercises (perfectum/imperfectum) which I decided to check out after doing some exercises in it. Checkout computer (fully automated):

Another cool service. The screen basically just says to place the material on the desk. It will automatically scan it from beneath. After that, it asks you to scan your card, and then it prints your receipt when you’re done (automatically this time!).

So, a fun day (or two) at the hair salon and the library. Who would have thought!

Categories: Speaking | Tags: Birthdays, Libraries | 2 Comments

Speech! Speech! (Or: Dutch lesson 7 of 14)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Niki

The blog title refers to the tradition (at least in America) of a person being in front of a group of friends or family during an event (like receiving a surprise award). The audience then requests the person say something about the event/award by shouting “Speech! Speech!” (toespraak in het Nederlands?)

Last night was my 7th Dutch lesson. Halfway there! It was a pretty good lesson – this time I learned a lot of little things, rather than anyone one big thing.

In the previous class the teacher asked that we write about something (anything we wanted) and speak for not more than two minutes. I had no idea what to write about (in English or in Dutch!) so I asked Marco for help. You can see what it looked like below. I still had some errors of my own, like where I said “a” when I should have said “een” in the first line.

Before I came to the Netherlands, I lived in a little town called “Pearl River” in New York. Nothing happened in the town. The craziest day was St. Patrick’s Day because most of the people were Irish. Pearl River had a big parade for that day – the second biggest in all of New York. The parade draws about 70,000 visitors or more. There are also many bars where people could drink – the main street had four bars in a hundred meters. My fiance said that Queen’s Day is the same – there are many drunk people.

And that’s what you write about when you do not know what to write about!

Some other things I learned in the class included “little” words that changed based on whether the situation was formal or informal. (Are you close to the person you are talking to? Then you can be more informal.)

niets (formal) / niks (informal) = nothing

nou (informal) = well (also used as a “stall for more time” word.) Nou, ja…

****

If the question contains al, you’ll probably answer with nog niet. If the question contains the word nog, you’ll probably answer with meer and a denial word (niet, geen).

Ben je al vrij? Nee, ik ben nog niet vrij.
Heb je nog vakantie? Nee, ik heb geen vakantie meer.

Are you free already? No, I am not yet free.
Do you have vacation still? No, I have no more vacation.

Categories: Courses | Tags: Dutch language | Leave a comment

Rationing (Or: Dutch baby formula and the Chinese)

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Niki

I saw a link this morning which reminded me of an experience I had a few weeks ago in Etos, a beauty&etc type store. I was with Marco’s mother. I came across the baby aisle and was confused to see a sign over the infant formulas, similar to this one from another website:

baby formula rationing sign in the Netherlands

http://www.nrc.nl — sign in an Amsterdam Etos store limiting customers to one baby formula item

It turns out that the melamine milk powder scare of a few years ago in China has, since the beginning of the year, caused a shortage of baby formula in countries as close as Hong Kong and as far away as Europe or, and the Netherlands in particular. It has also affected the UK.

And that is my random news of the day.

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: Etos | Leave a comment

Spam energy drinks! (Or: Something different…)

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Niki

Sometimes you just come across something a bit unexpected in the Netherlands. I would think SPAM energy drinks qualify…

The two well-known meanings of spam in America..

1. Spam: the food – who knew it was short for spiced ham? spiced-ham? That almost makes it sound edible. I know some people in this world like eating it. I think.

2. Spam: e-mails you don’t want and didn’t ask for.

And now, I guess I have to add ‘energy drink’ to the mix! It even has its own Facebook fan page.

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: Drinks | Leave a comment

Turned upside down (Or: Carnival in Rijswijk, the Netherlands)

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Niki

A few weeks ago, I met up with Marco in Rijswijk to check out the carnival that was in town (for a few days around March 21ish). We were using a free “pass” we received in the mail from HTM, one of The Hague’s public transportation providers. Once you activate it (at the front of the bus or tram) you can travel for free (for that one day) on HTM buses or trams in the city, or similar. Unlimited trips and transfers.

Of course, Marco’s ddn’t scan properly, but we ended up having no further problems. The bus driver wrote the date on it, but that wasn’t that much proof. (If you get caught without paying the fare for the tram or bus, you get a fine of at least a few hundred euros, I believe. So always best to be careful.)

We also ended up going to Zoetermeer, which is an area just outside of The Hague – but in the opposite direction

Here are some pictures from the carnival…

Overview of the carnival from above.

The crazy high flying ride. It was possible to flip your cage as well, if you were (un)lucky. The group we saw as we were leaving was doing that.

Kiddie coaster. Actually slightly intricate, with the two different levels. Anytime I see coasters like this, I am reminded of a small black dragon one that I went on when I was pretty tiny. It was even simpler than this I think – just one level high, about 6-7 feet tall. I remember screaming for mom a bit when I went over that (now so tiny) hill. ;P

Skeeball! In the Netherlands. Marco was a bit surprised to see this, although he said he hadn’t been to carnivals in some years. (YouTube video – note the different point totals for each hole. The “bucket” section at the bottom gets you the least points. That’s the one where most of the balls fall just because you missed hitting the higher holes.)

A car carousel of sorts. Note the kid wearing a coat. It was windy!

And finally, we have a ride to spin you around some. Needs more Tilt-A-Whirl! (YouTube video – note: there is a wheel in the middle. The faster you turn it, the faster the entire compartment spins around the edges. That’s why some whip around faster than others.)

Categories: Rijswijk | 4 Comments

Dutch homework (Or: Talking about the past…)

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Niki

If Marco’s wondering why he hasn’t received an email yet from me, here’s why…

Two pages of Dutch writing…

Wait, make that three pages of Dutch writing…

They are just random exercises using the perfect (I have gone) and the imperfectum (I went). It’s starting to make a little more sense at least…

Categories: Learning Dutch | Tags: Dutch language | 4 Comments

Hema (Or: Queen’s Day store display)

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Niki

I took this picture last week (in March). Hema has already put a small store display with decorations for Koninginnedag 2013 (Queen’s Day). The last one in fact. Since Queen Beatrix is giving up the throne on that day, the following year we will have Koningsdag (King’s Day) for her son.

But really – I didn’t know people needed their decorations 5 weeks in advance!

Categories: Culture, Holidays | Tags: HEMA, Koninginnedag | Leave a comment

Moments of Dutch (Or: Speaking the language)

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Niki

Sorry for the lack of updates! Yesterday was April Fool’s Day, so Marco and I pulled a prank on the game that we help run. It lasted 24 hours so we logged in a lot. Most people were happy with the prank, although there were a few folks who were unhappy with how it turned out. Admittedly it was a bit serious sounding – ownership changes. But all in good fun…

Today was pretty interesting. I had a list of things to get from Albert Heijn, including tortilla wraps (we made fajitas for dinner), cookies for coffee, and coffee pads. The coffee was on sale – two bags of coffee pads for €4 instead of €6.40. But when I went into the line I was surprised that the total price was just over €9. After I left the line and was packing my items, I realized that I forgot to hand over my bonus card. Normally the cashiers prompt you for it.

So I had a dilemma – I could go back and ask the cashier what I could do, but I didn’t want to do it in English. I hate assuming that everyone knows English as it’s not always true. I also wasn’t sure what to do because I had answered “no” to whether or not I wanted a receipt so I had no proof. I usually just throw those away.

So after a few minutes I steeled myself up and went back to the line I had been in. Thankfully I only had to wait for one person to finish. I then managed to explain my predicament to the cashier in simple (simple) Dutch!

Ik heb een vraagje. Ik spreek een beetje Nederlands maar ik vergeet mijn bonuskaart en de koffie is voor aanbeiding. Ik zei “nee” voor een bonnetje. Wat kan ik doen? (may or may not be good Dutch)

I have a question. I speak a little Dutch but I forgot my bonus card and the coffee is on sale. I said “no” to a receipt. What can I do? … It wasn’t quite what I said at the time, but you get the idea. After a few more lines I had to switch back to English because I didn’t understand what she was saying, but thankfully she spoke English. She mentioned that I need to give my bonus card – I understand that. I think she thought I was blaming her for the trouble – far from it!

She explained (in English) that I could try at the customer service desk, so I thanked her and went there. Again I only had to wait for one person ahead of me in the line. I spoke in Dutch again, and actually only had a few lines in English. I even said my Dutch wasn’t that good but I was trying, and she smiled and said I was. She said her English wasn’t that good either but she was trying as well. (I am sort of paraphrasing the conversation but it was 90% Dutch.)

It went pretty well – she asked who my cashier was and pulled up my transaction. She confirmed that it was mine and then gave me some euros back (in coins). I was somewhat embarrassed about the situation in general but quite glad that if I am desperate I can survive on my own if needed. I was also glad I didn’t let the language barrier stand in my way if I wanted something.

Of course, sometimes when you’re happy about something, something else happens to shake you up a bit. 😉 When I was walking home, I stepped on a tiny branch and heard it snap. I took one more step, slightly distracted. I tripped and managed to fall. I didn’t trip over anything in particular – I just didn’t pick up my feet enough I guess!

A gentleman that had been passing by me stopped and asked if I was okay. I started talking in English as I stood up, quite embarrassed Considering I had just been proud to speak a bit of Dutch at Albert Heijn, it’s amazing to consider that in times of distress, all you have left is your native language. It is all you can remember in the heat of the moment. Though I did utter a quick Dag! (goodbye) before I turned to quickly walk home.

It wasn’t that bad of a fall, in the end. My left knee was scrapped up, but nothing a band-aid can’t fix. My right pinky is definitely sore but I can stretch it fully if needed. It hurts slightly when I curl it up too far. I figure a good night’s rest will help a lot.

So… just some of my language observations on a day I thought would be much more quiet than it ended up being. But it was overall a good day.

Categories: Everyday purchases | Tags: Dutch language | 3 Comments

Zoetermeer (Or: Easter tree displays and restaurants)

Posted on March 30, 2013 by Niki

A few week ago I went with Marco’s mother to Zoetermeer. We went to the shopping area (Stadshart) near Zoetermeer Centrum, mostly to shop and have lunch. We ended up having lunch at Napoleon Brasserie where I had the bal gehakt, which is mainly a meatball sandwich – of sorts. It was pretty decent, although I was expecting there to be some juice alongside. But no, just the meat and the bread (and some mustard packets).

What can I say – I liked the candles!

I also took a picture of an Easter tree display in one of the stores (maybe Blokker, not sure). You can buy little birds, butterflies, and similar to hang on an Easter tree as decoration.

Now if only Spring would come for good. It snowed a little bit yesterday! Though not for long and nothing stuck.

Categories: Everyday purchases, Zoetermeer | Tags: Restaurants | 1 Comment