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!)
Life in the Hague 