Acidic heat (Or: Chicken ramen at its best)

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Niki

A few days ago Marco made chicken ramen. He outdid himself this time:

If I had to describe the broth I would say acidic heat – it was a mixture of red peppers, jalapeños and freshly squeezed lime, perfectly balanced so that neither overtook the other. Also starring in the dish was spring onions, sea weed, bonito flakes, miso soup broth, Japanese noodles and more.

There’s just a bit of broth left. I think Marco and I are going to fight it out to see who gets it for lunch.

…Just kidding – he should get to experience his creation one more time.

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First cautious steps (Or: Press conference in the Netherlands)

Posted on April 21, 2020 by Niki

Prime minister Mark Rutte and RIVM director Jaap van Dissel held a national press conference this evening to discuss the corona situation in The Netherlands, including which measures could be relaxed and which needed to be extended.

Official rules in Dutch are available at rijksoverheid.nl. Here are some highlights in English:

  • Events are cancelled through 1 September (was 1 June)
    • Festivals are cancelled (like Pinkpop)
    • No soccer games (yikes)
  • Elementary schools (ages 4-12) can open from 11 May
    • Children will go to class every other day. The day when they are not physically at school they will get online lessons (there is some flexibility with this one, as schools can adjust that as needed)
    • Special education elementary schools will completely open from 11 May with no restriction
    • Parents are asked to bring their children to school via bike or car if possible, to avoid congestion in public transportation
    • Secondary schools (ages 12-18) are not open yet, but are expected to open on 1 June
    • Daycares can also open from 11 May
      • After-school care follows the school’s schedule – it is possible on days the children attend school
      • Sports: from 29 April, children up to 12 years can train as a team, without keeping the 1.5 meters rule.
      • Sports: Children aged 12-18 can train with their team if the 1.5 meter rule is honored. No official games will be played.

And the rules that haven’t changed and will likely be in effect through 19 May:

  • It is still forbidden to visit anyone in a nursing or care home.
  • Restaurants and cafes are still only allowed to offer takeaway and delivery (no dine in option).
  • Everyone should still work from home and stay at home as much as possible
  • If anyone in the family is sick (e.g. with a fever), everyone in the family stays home
  • Wash your hands often
  • Grocery shopping should be done alone
  • Public transportation is still only to be used by those with vital occupations
  • “Contact” jobs like hairdressers, nail salons, beauty salons and similar are still closed
    • However the Prime Minister did say that dentists are allowed to open again during the Q&A session after the press conference

In the week before 19 May, the Dutch government will hold another press conference describing what measures will be lifted or extended.

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Waiting game (Or: Press conference in the Netherlands tomorrow)

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Niki

Tomorrow the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte will announce what coronavirus measures will be lifted, and in some cases what measures will be extended. For us normal folk, it’s a guessing game.

One expectation is that the ban on events will be extended. Some Dutch mayors are hoping for an extension of the ban until 1 September: Burgemeesters willen tot zeker 1 september een verbod op evenementen (nos.nl, article in Dutch). This one I do expect to happen as it’s unlikely that the government would ignore them.

Another measure that people are quite interested in is the re-opening of schools. Scholen open of langer dicht? ‘Zelfs leerlingen beginnen school nu te missen’ (nos.nl, article in Dutch). The headline reads: Schools open, or closed for longer? Even students are beginning to miss school now. Yikes! Meivakantie (“May vacation”) begins next week, from 25 April to 3 May. After that… working parents everyone are looking for a break. If we see any change here, it might be the elementary schools opening first.

The other big one is whether or not restaurants will be fully open, rather than just open for takeout and delivery. This one I don’t expect to change any time soon. June at the earliest. However, that doesn’t mean restaurants can’t plan in the meantime. For instance, some restaurant owners on the Scheveningen beach have presented how they see life in the ‘1.5m society’: Strandtenten klaar voor serveren op anderhalve meter: ‘Zee aan ruimte’. (nos.nl, article in Dutch).

Work is another interesting dilemma, especially in the office – that one I can’t predict. I don’t think they are ready to lift the ‘work from home if you can’ advice, so I expect we will be working from home a bit longer. But perhaps they will remind businesses that now is the time to start thinking about how it will look in the future.

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Birthday cupcakes (Or: Delivered at a safe distance)

Posted on April 19, 2020 by Niki

I am one of the lucky folks who should be celebrating a birthday during these corona times. Officially I’ve said I’ll celebrate it later in the summer (I mean come on: when will I ever have a chance to celebrate my birthday in the summer again? Who could pass up that opportunity?).

On Friday I received an email from my workplace’s HR department, wishing me a happy birthday and telling me they would be delivering cupcakes on Saturday (yesterday).

The delivery itself was anti-climatic but still tinged by the coronavirus: Someone rang the doorbell. I open the door. The box of cupcakes have been carefully left on the doormat, with the deliveree standing at the edge of the stairs at a safe distance. She points to the box, we exchange the standard pleasantries, and then she is gone again.

Cupcakes! Yum!

Categories: Working & Volunteering | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

Anyone need some toilet paper? (Or: A treasure at Albert Heijn)

Posted on April 18, 2020 by Niki

This photo is from last Tuesday, April 7. I just had to take a photo of this much toilet paper together in one spot (who knew that would be an important photo):

Anyone need some toilet paper?

There’s some things to note with this photograph:

  • While this photo was taken on April 7, it was only the second time I had seen a lot of toilet paper. The first was a few weeks previously at another Albert Heijn in the city centre.
  • This photo was taken from the side. The pictured path is well travelled, so I didn’t want to be in anyone’s way. I have to remember that social distancing after all. I’d say this was about one third of the toilet paper on offer.
  • This Albert Heijn receives these ‘voordeelpaks’ (bonus packs of 40, or sometimes 48 rolls) only in weeks when the toilet paper is on sale. During normal weeks you can’t purchase this many rolls in one pack.

Otherwise I would say most things are back – maybe pasta and rice are still a bit low, but they are definitely always at least half stocked. Pasta sauce is still a bit hit or miss, as noted in a previous post.

What is your local grocery store still missing in these coronavirus times?

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Metro newspaper (Or: Another victim of these crazy times)

Posted on April 17, 2020 by Niki

Metro is a free daily paper that is primarily distributed at train stations to commuters. It was started in 1999. As you might expect, all of their income comes from advertisements.

I was just thinking about them last week – I took a responsible social distancing walk to The Hague Centraal train station and spotted an empty Metro container. I remember thinking to myself that it made sense that there were no newspapers inside – there weren’t any commuters to be seen! The Netherlands has seen a roughly 85% drop in public transportation use since mid-March.

Because of this, the newspaper announced on March 19 (link in Dutch) that they would temporarily be stopping with the print edition of Metro. Yesterday they announced that they would be moving forward as a purely digital newspaper (link in Dutch).

It’s actually hard to imagine that the print version is gone. The best part about the paper was that it was free – because that meant people would leave it behind in the train when they were done reading it. That way the next bored person could have something to read as well!

Empty boxes at Gouda train station, normally filled with newspapers

The (cropped) image above was taken by Wikimedia Commons user Donald_Trung and can be viewed and downloaded at this Wikimedia Commons link.

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Supporting local businesses (Or: Takeout? Delivery?)

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Niki

Okay, I’ll admit I’m not a big fan of delivery. I would gladly do takeover over delivery any day. I think I am in the minority, though!

Check out the sign by the local Momiji Sushi and Momiji Ramen. They are special enough to have two websites and two entrances (normally) – even though they are run by the same company and you can walk from one part to the other.

A sign saying they are open for both takeout and delivery, and giving their opening times.

I am definitely a fan of the color work on that sign. I think maybe I’ll suggest we get some sushi… or ramen… this weekend. Yum!

Fun side note: “Ramen” means “windows” in Dutch. Let me tell you, Marco loves to make jokes about their windows every time we walk past. (I love that. Usually…)

Support your local business and stay safe, everyone.

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King’s Day changes (Or: Celebrations now dubbed “Woningsdag”)

Posted on April 15, 2020 by Niki

The National Association of King’s Day organizers announced today that Koningsdag (King’s Day) will become Woningsdag (Home Day) this year. Even if you don’t speak Dutch you can see the subtle change in the word to encourage people to stay at home while celebrating Koningsdag.

King’s Day is a day of birthday celebration for King Willem-Alexander who is turning 53 this year. It is a nationally recognized holiday where (most) people don’t need to go in to work. Previously the holiday was known as Koninginnedag or Queen’s Day until Princess Beatrix abdicated the throne in 2013. She also celebrated the day in April, in honor of her mother. Probably a good thing for us as Princess Beatrix was born in late January – brrrr.

Here are some of the activities planned for the Woningsdag later this month:

  • hanging Dutch flags outside (both for the king on his birthday and for each other)
  • bell ringing between 09:45-10:00 throughout the country
  • singing of the national anthem at 10:00
  • NOS (the national broadcaster) will air a program at 10:10 looking at previous King’s Day events
  • a digital market for clothes in the afternoon. I have no idea how they will make that work – but the Dutchies are well known for their King’s Day flea markets. See also:
an old photo from Queen’s Day 2012
  • The king will read some of the digital letters written to him by children
  • At 16:00 there will be a toast to the king in which everyone can participate (woo! alcohol at 16:00!)
  • In the evening NOS (the national broadcaster) will air a program looking at how Woningsdag was celebrated throughout the country

For more information, see:

Koningsdag wordt Woningsdag met digitale kleedjesmarkt en thuistoost (nu.nl)

Kings Day will be celebrated at home this year, with church bells and a toast (dutchnews.nl)

Corona maakt van Koningsdag dit jaar Woningsdag (nos.nl)

Hmm. Right now a Google search for Woningsdag returns just under 8,000 hits. Let’s see how that increases in the next few weeks…

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Onlinebibliotheek.nl (Or: The library is open! Virtually)

Posted on April 14, 2020 by Niki

As one might (unfortunately) expect, all of the public libraries in The Hague are closed. Libraries are something you definitely miss when you don’t have them anymore!

Luckily there is a solution to my current problem, and not just reading the handful of books I have lying around the house already, either. E-books can also be downloaded at onlinebibliotheek.nl and read either on your computer, via an app on your phone or tablet, or via your e-reader. You have three weeks to read the book, after which they are removed from your device and you need to download them again. Note: most titles are in Dutch, although there is a bit of English in the mix.

eBooks app – for members with a Dutch library card number or a subscription to onlinebibliotheek.nl. As noted there is a bit of English titles here, but it is mostly Dutch.

LuisterBieb app – audiobooks; for members with a Dutch library card number or a subscription to onlinebibliotheek.nl. A select number are also available for those without a membership.

ThuisBieb app – this app has about 100 titles for adults and 100 titles for children – it’s free for everyone, but everything is in Dutch.

It was really simple to download my first eBook – I simply entered my library card number on the website to make an account, found a book, downloaded the eBooks app, entered my login details one more time, and started reading.

I chose “The traveling cat chronicles” in Dutch, and just finished it last night. It’s a great story about a cat and his owner going on road trips so that the owner can find a new person to take care of his cat. Each chapter features a different road trip and has a flashback about how the owner met each of these friends during his school years. After the flashback, the chapter returns to present times and you move to the cat’s point of view again for the rest of the chapter.

Warning: a box of tissues is a good thing to have around for this one.

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Protect the art (Or: Jantje statue with face mask)

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Niki

Last night Marco and I went for a walk, a bit later in the evening around 20:00. While the weather was turning cooler it was still a nice walk through a fairly peaceful city centre. Actually, when we walked through the (deserted) Binnenhof what I noticed the most was the silence – not even the birds were chirping.

One thing we noticed was a face mask on the statue of “Jantje” or “Little John”:

Jantje was a boy who died at the age of 15… in the year 1299. He’s part of a Dutch children’s song about The Hague. If you ask him where his father lives, he’ll point with his finger to the Binnenhof, as his father’s estate used to reside in the space where the Binnenhof now stands.

Marco remarked on the dislocation of the finger – most likely a lot of people touch it due to the song.

And here is a bonus picture taken by Marco:

That’s a great angle, if I say so myself.

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

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