After I wrote the last Valentine’s Day post, Marco came home and presented me with a bouquet of roses. Surprise!
I especially like the dark pink one on the bottom in the middle. It’s my favorite!
And soon we are off to Rodizio for dinner…
Valentine’s Day (Or: Lollipops and music)
So when I walked into the living room today (after Marco had already left for work) I spied something on the couch from across the room. It turned out to be an extra large Valentine’s Day card, complete with a bit of Dutch for me to translate.
Also next to the card was a single lollipop:
It’s actually a lollipop from Sumo, a restaurant in The Hague which we visited in late December. It is a running joke that I like the lollipops from that restaurant (which you receive on your way out) because one of them that I got was a four colored lollipop which I found amusing. Considering it has been a month and a half since we visited there, he has held on to it for a long time! He only brought it out long enough to tease me with.
And now it’s mine!
On a more serious romantic note, he also slyly told me last night that he made reservations for the two of us at Rodizio tomorrow night. Grilled pineapple – yum!
But first — tonight Marco, Roger and I are heading to the Boederij in Zoetemeer to see the band BRAD, which is the second band of one of the Pearl Jam members. Should be fun!
New experiences (Or: Dutch lesson 1 of 14)
Last night was my first Dutch lesson at the Volsuniversiteit. This is the A2 level.
My night started out with the bus I needed to take being 7 minutes late. This is actually not a long time considering – but buses run every 15 or 20 minutes so it was a lot more noticeable. Interestingly, I still arrived at the school at the same time I should have been there. Not sure how to explain that one, except that we did skip a few stops along the way.
Thankfully my class was in the same place that my oral test was in, so I only had to find the classroom. I knew that there would be a board with a list of classes and their rooms right inside the front entrance. Since the class was starting this week, it was one of the classes that had information on its own piece of paper in large font. (Of course the directions to get to the classroom were in Dutch using vocabulary I didn’t understand yet, though I wasn’t the only person needing help finding it.)
Two languages (Or: A letter from the burgemeester)
Yesterday I received another letter from the city of The Hague. Specifically from the mayor, Jozias van Aartsen. But this was definitely a form letter – you can tell because it starts with “Dear Mr., Mrs.,”…
“Welcome to The Hague!” letter
Since the city now knows that I exist, they decided it would be a good time to welcome me into the city. Interestingly, one side of the letter is written in Dutch and the other side of the letter is written in English. But the information isn’t completely the same – for example, the Dutch side of the letter talks about finding out more information about the municipality (what they do and what they can do for you specifically) by reading the newspaper Stadskrant and De Posthoorn. But the English side of the letter instead has a section on the International Centre of the Hague, something that is completely missing on the Dutch side.
“Ik wens u een mooie tijd in Den Haag!”
I wish you a beautiful stay in The Hague!
On an unrelated note, here’s the lid off a dessert that Marco and I bought at Albert Heijn:
This dessert is a chocolate brownie dessert – somewhere between a brownie and a pudding consistency. Getting it out of the container is always fun. You need to take the lid off (shown above), and then turn over the container on a plate. You then take the cover off the bottom of the dessert, exposing a small hole for you to blow air into, forcing the dessert to slide out of the container and onto the plate. It works pretty well actually.
But now for what the lid says above:
zeg tegen je moeder dat er een muis over het aanrecht loopt,
Tell your mother that there is a mouse walking on the counter
tegen je vader dat er voetbal op tv is
tell your father that there is football [soccer] on tv
en tegen je zus dat haar vriendje voor de deur staat
and tell your sister that her boyfriend is at the door
en jij? Eet smakelijk 😉
and you? Dig in! (or perhaps translate it like Bon appetit!)
Den Haag (Or: Chinese New Year 2013 celebration)
Marco, his mother and I traveled to the city center of The Hague today for the Chinese New Year celebrations. This included a few different parades, dragon dancing, a speech from the vice-mayor of The Hague, and more. The main action occurred just outside of de Bijenkorf (a department store) near Gedempte Gracht (street) in a parking lot (Google Maps).
The opening of the ceremony began with the waking of the two dragons using drums.
Along with drums there were also cymbal players:
And more dragons:
The movement of the dragon was simulated by pulling the steel rods up and down – one person up, the next person down.
I just liked the look of concentration on his face.
The end of the opening ceremony featured one dragon jumping from pedestal to pedestal. As there are two people underneath each costume, it takes a bit of coordination. Here’s a picture of the height of the highest pedestals:
The guy in orange has the job of catching the performers if they fall. They did twice – once in the beginning and once in the middle, on the highest pedestal. But no harm came – they were always caught before falling to the ground.
One performer on the other performer’s shoulders, to give the illusion that the dragon was rearing up.
And finally…
catching them in the act of jumping from one pedestal to the next.
Afterwards, they unveiled the “statue” for each of the years. This is the year of the snake.
A crowd forms near the beginning of the parade that came later.
It was pretty fun, but very cold, considering!
Albert Heijn (Or: Impulse buys / keukenmini’s)
Today I spent more than €15 at Albert Heijn. That, of course, means that I was given a keukenmini!
an unwrapped keukenmini and an example of a keukenmini on the right (an empty box of rice)
keuken = kitchen. So it’s a mini “toy” for kids to play with. Of course, to really play with it the parents need to buy the stove for €15. The stove is a few feet tall and the idle place to put the mini items that your parents get for spending €15…
Of course, if you’re on this side of the pond (the Netherlands) and you are desperate to find the last remaining keukenmini your child needs, you can always try marktplaats.nl – an Ebay website of sorts.
I figure the reason Albert Heijn needs to entice the kids in such a way is because it doesn’t have the traditional impulse buys American children have right next to the cash register’s conveyor belt. Candy.
Can I have a candy bar Mommy?
Can I? Can I pleeeeease have the candy bar?
So yeah. Albert Heijn has to get the kid’s attention somehow!
Studeren (Or: Contact 1 tekstbook; Nederlands voor anderstaligen)
As I have previously mentioned, in my A2 class at the Volksuniversiteit I am using the Contact 1 textbook. If my memory is correct, the A1 class finished chapters 1 through 4. My current plan is to get through the first four chapters before next week’s class on Tuesday night, but we’ll see how that goes.
Each chapter is split into three sections – A, B, C. I am currently at 2C after about six total hours of studying (it never ends!). So far it seems like the “A” section of each chapter is pretty easy, and then the “B” section has medium difficulty, and finally the “C” section tends to take forever to finish due to its emphasis more on speaking and listening.
So far the topics that have been covered:
Chapter 1: Waar komt u vandaan? = Where do you come from? which covers names, nationalities and the country you came from. It also covers your address, town, age, birthday, the alphabet, counting, and talking with someone (formally and informally).
Chapter 2: Zullen we iets afspreken? = Shall we make an appointment? (i.e. shall we do something?), which covers how someone is feeling, the days of the week, times, opening times for businesses, and filling out forms. The last section is set in a restaurant: reading a menu, ordering, saying there’s something you don’t understand, and etc.
Of course, 95% of it is review for the next class, but every once in a while something slips by that I didn’t know (or remember). A funny example I came across is how to say how you are doing. Het gaat wel does not, unfortunately, translate into “It goes well” as an English speaker might expect. Wel is not well. It’s closer to “okay”, so if you tell someone “Het gaat wel” it is a slightly negative response.
Hoe gaat het met jou?
Uitstekend! (=outstanding)
Contact 1 (Or: My Dutch school books have arrived!)
Today Marco and I went to Paagman bookstore in The Hague to pick up the material for my class next week. Eight days from now!
There actually ended up being three books to pick up — the tekstboek and woordenlijst (textbook and word list) came together. Those are the yellow books. I didn’t expected a word list book. The white book is the workbook that you pay for separately.
Since I am in the A2 level course, the class won’t be focusing on the first set of chapters. I don’t remember where the A2 class starts – maybe chapter 5 or so.
The books are printed on a thicker paper with a lot of color splashed throughout. The page above is a shopping scenario where one person is asking another what their size is. On the bottom of the page, you have various sales flyers.
So my plan for the next week is to do the work for the first set of chapters to make sure I am caught up to where the A2 class will begin. Should be interesting!
Landscapes (Or: A river in the Hague)
To get to the IND building at Stadhoudersplantsoen 24, you have to cross a short walking bridge over a river. On my way back to the tram stop last week, I decided to take some pictures of the scenery.
It’s also right next to the Gemeente Museum. When I signed up for my library card, I was also given a key chain which enables you (and some friends) to visit the museum for free through March of this year.
Library cards (Or: Bibliotheek Den Haag)
On Wednesday I received information from The Hague with my BSN (Burger Service Nummer/ Citizen Service Number). I now had enough proof of residency to apply for a library card! So I picked up my library card on Friday.
The price of the library card is 30 euros per year, as I am in the 26-64 age bracket. In the Netherlands, you only pay the fee if you want to check out the items, versus America where every homeowner pays for the library through their taxes.
I can check out up to six books and up to six multimedia materials (DVDs, CDs, etc) at a time. It’s also pretty cool that at least the central library has automatic lending machines on every floor.
study area on the first floor of the Bibliotheek Den Haag (second floor for us Americans)
