The Netherlands Update #6

Geachte vrienden and familie:

We had a pretty incredible October in many ways, and a difficult one in other ways. We took two wonderful trips this month but the enjoyment of both was slightly stunted by illnesses, injuries, and carrying around more than the usual stress.

Our first trip this month was to Bruges (Brugge), Belgium. Bruges is beautiful (see the photos). We had a lovely weekend touring the city by foot and by boat, visiting museums, eating good food (including amazing Belgian chocolate), and drinking great Belgian beer. We arrived in Bruges later than we planned on a Friday night because of late trains and missed connections, but we did eventually get there. We also left just in time on Sunday afternoon; the Belgian train workers scheduled a strike that started at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday and halted all train traffic in Belgium through the next day. When we first moved here, the locals told us we were crazy for taking the train. They complained that it was unreliable. We thought they were exaggerating, but now we are beginning to understand the disenchantment with the train system. When the trains run smoothly (and they usually do), it is a fantastic way to travel, but as soon as one glitch happens, your whole itinerary gets out of whack and it is difficult if not impossible to get back on schedule. For the most part, we still think the train is the best way to go to most places and we much prefer it to sitting in traffic. And, the car traffic here is unbearably bad. It is the worse we have ever seen. The long and convoluted train ride to Bruges was made even more interesting by the "The Gospel Singers vs. The Brazen American Tourist" incident. A group of three women sitting in the row in front of us were singing gospel songs, chatting, and laughing at the top of their voices. Usually trains in The Netherlands are very quiet; conversations are whispered to neighbors or people keep to themselves, so this was very unusual. For most of the journey (about an hour and half), people in the train tried to shut the noise out and pretend they were invisible. Aside from the occasional raised eyebrow, nobody complained; it was clear nobody wanted to be the one to ask these women to be quiet. Until... the tired American tourist sitting two rows behind us decided she had had enough and asked them (in English) to "keep it down." For about two seconds, a stunned silence settled over the train car, then the women who were singing began to yell at the tourist and tell her off (in Dutch). Things got pretty tense for a minute or so, and Steve and I were sitting right in the middle of it all - angry Dutch and English words flying over our heads like rocks. Luckily for all of us, the Dutch women were getting off the train at the next stop, so things settled down quickly, and finally did get quiet. Interestingly, when we first boarded the train, Steve overheard one of the singers complaining to her friends about people who demanded that she speak English at her job...so I guess the American who didn't understand any Dutch was prime for her to unleash her frustration.

Our second trip was to Torremolinos, Spain! This was our attempt to squeeze in one last week of summer before the cold, rainy winter set in over Den Haag. It worked! We had a great week basking in the sun and being too hot to do anything except lay on the beach in the breeze and eat fresh seafood tapas. We did have one rainy day, which we spent in Malaga viewing the Alcazaba, the Gibralfaro Castle, and the Picasso Museum. The Alcazaba and Gibralfaro Castle are breathtaking. It is challenging to do them justice in photographs, nevertheless, I took many, many pictures. One of the strange things about this trip is that we practically had the place to ourselves. It was definitely "off season." There were still tourists - surprisingly, many of them were Dutch so we still heard Dutch being spoken everywhere we went! But, the beaches in the Costa Del Sol are packed with hotels and condos and they have an enormous capacity. Since most hotels and condo complexes are not booked to overflowing this time of year, it didn't feel crowded at all. The only downside to this trip was that both of us got sick and we were distracted by thoughts of work and world events. I got a sore throat and a cold, which destroyed my appetite (can you believe I didn't want to eat?!), and I injured my leg in the middle of the week so I couldn't walk much for a couple of days (good thing the beach chairs were only a few steps from our hotel!). Steve had tummy trouble and unfortunately he couldn't fully enjoy the amazing food either. Before we went to Spain, Steve had an unprecedented stressful couple of weeks at work, which continued to nag at him during the week. Also, as with many of you, we are closely watching the economic situation in US and concerned about how it will affect us. This trip was a much needed escape and chance to relax and recharge our batteries. We avoided tv and newspapers and had very limited internet access, so it was easy to "tune out." Despite our ailments and distractions, we enjoyed ourselves and appreciated where we were. We discovered a couple of great tapas bars, had some good local sherry and excellent fresh seafood, challenged each other to air hockey matches every evening at the local arcade (Steve is the reigning champ, but it was close!), and soaked up the Mediterranean sunshine.

On the local front, we recently discovered a beautiful park in Den Haag called Clingendael. Twice a year, the Japanese garden in the park is open to the public; once for a few weeks in the spring, and once for one weekend in the autumn. A couple of weeks ago, we rode our bikes to the park and viewed the beautiful fall colors in the Japanese garden. As we walked around the rest of the park, we came across some very photogenic mushrooms.

Folks around here are gearing up for the fall and winter holidays. As I understand it, Halloween isn't celebrated here like it is in the US (i.e. no costumes or trick or treating). Some people have mentioned that the "American ways" of Halloween are becoming more common here (they sort of rolled their eyes when they said this..). I have noticed some Halloween decorations on houses and in stores, but I have not seen any big bags of candy or costumes for sale. Of course, Thanksgiving isn't celebrated here either. But that is OK, we will be in Oregon for Thanksgiving! The big events here in the winter are the arrival of Sint Nicolaas (he usually arrives sometime in November by boat and there is a big parade) and Sint Nicolaas Eve/Day, which is December 5/6. St. Nicolaas Day is mostly for children, who receive candy and gifts. Other St. Nicolaas traditions involve hiding gifts and writing poems that "lovingly" make fun of people. If you want to know more about it, here is a Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas. Also, David Sedaris wrote a humorous short story about the first time he learned about Sint Nicolaas Day, it is titled, "Six to Eight Black Men." December 25 is generally more of a religious event, involving church and spending time with family but it is becoming more commercialized and focused on gift giving. There are tons of x-mas decorations and goodies being peddled in the stores and several Kerstmarkten (Christmas Markets) will open soon throughout The Netherlands.

The last couple of pictures in the October 2008 batch are from the day I spent with my friend Patricia at the Royal Delft Pottery Factory. We toured the factory and museum and painted our own vases. I think mine looks kind of pathetic, but it is definitely an original work of art (despite having used a stencil for the design)... priceless.

As of October 30, we finally have Dutch license plates for the Subaru!!! The car passed the second inspection and Steve was able to complete the import and registration process. It is a big relief to be done with that.

Happy Halloween! Be well!

Warm Regards,
Steve and Candi
http://steveandcandi.blogspot.com/

The Netherlands Update #5

Hi Everyone!

We had a visit from some friends in the beginning of September, and we continue to ride the seemingly endless wave of bureaucracy of moving to another country. Here is what we have been up to...

Steve took some time off from work in early September and we went exploring with our friends Andy and Bronson. Unfortunately, the weather was not very pleasant the first week, but we still got out and about and were lucky to dodge some heavy rain most days. The second week brought great weather just in time for us to begin our stay at the beach. (Note: I realize I frequently mention rain in these updates... that is because it rains a lot here, maybe more than in WA, which I didn't think was possible.)

One of the places we went was Kinderdijk. Kinderdijk is a rare place where there are 19 windmills within close proximity to each other. The site became a Unesco World Heritage site in 1998. The day we visited it was heavily overcast so it wasn't the best weather for taking pictures, but I hope you can get a sense of how unique this place is from the photos (click here to see them). People live in several of these windmills and one is open as a museum for tours.

The same day we also went to Dordrecht, the oldest city in Holland. Dordrecht has many sites of historical interest, it is best known for its strategic role in trade (mainly wine) and shipping. It is also the site of the meeting of Dutch city leaders when they declared independence from Spain in 1572. Dordrecht also has a stunning "Grote Kerk," that originated in the 1100s. We arrived after the church closed for the day, so we didn't get to see the inside this time.

We spent one day in Delft. We took our chances with the weather and rode our bikes - amazingly we managed to stay mostly dry. We enjoyed the the open-air market, had a lunch of fresh lekkerbeck (big, fried fish filets), yummy handmade goat cheese, and fruit from the market, and visited the Oude Kerk and Nieuwe Kerk. This time we walked ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP of the Nieuwe Kerk tower. It was really, really, really high and a very long climb up skinny, winding stairs. It was a blast! However, I am used to balconies on towers being enclosed to prevent things or people from falling, but this balcony was not enclosed. I was actually really nervous being up that high with nothing but a low stone wall between me and the ground.... but the view was incredible as you can see from the photos.

One of the highlights of our vacation was a trip to the Hoge Veluwe National Park and the Kroller-Muller museum. Free bicycles are available for use within the park. At the entrance, we hopped on bikes and rode about 2 km to the museum, which has a remarkable collection of paintings and sculptures, including an amazing Van Gogh collection. We took a different route back to the car after touring the museum so we could see the hunting lodge and enjoy the landscape of the park. It occurred to me as we were riding around that there weren't any canals in this park.... I think it is the first place I have been in The Netherlands that wasn't crisscrossed with canals.

Another highlight was a naturalist-lead canoe trip through polders and an old Dutch village near Amsterdam. We learned a lot about the natural history of The Netherlands and how land is reclaimed from the water or maintained. Midway through the trip we stopped and got to walk around on a polder that is essentially water-soaked peat moss, which makes it very spongy and bouncy. Jumping up and down on it makes the ground move in waves and the people standing near you wobble. It was neat. We got very lucky with the weather that day and didn't get rained on, but it was incredibly windy and difficult to paddle the canoes at times. There were moments when I thought we might be blown out to the North Sea, but thanks to Steve's excellent captain skills we didn't get blown away. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so no pictures of this experience.

After the canoe trip, we found a wonderful little bar in Amsterdam that serves jenever (pronounced kind of like "yanafer"). It is the Dutch version of gin, but really tastes nothing like gin. It comes in an overwhelming assortment of flavors (liqueurs) and various ages (like scotch). The bar tender was very entertaining and friendly; he spoke four languages fluently (Dutch, German, French, and English). We listened to him speak all four languages to different groups of people while we were there. He was also a master of his craft - mixing flavors of jenever to make amazing drinks. He made us some wonderful concoctions such as "chocolate covered cherry" and "creme brulee." There is even a jenever that tastes like a cinnamon-clove spiced Dutch cookie. It would have been very easy to get to the point where one couldn't walk out of there... but we had a reasonable amount of restraint.

We spent the last few days of our vacation on the beach. I think our timing was perfect - we got to enjoy the last four days of summer weather lounging on the beach. We also did a lot of bike riding on trails along the beach and the dunes and through the city to visit the Haagse Markt. I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have my "American" bike. It is like a dream after riding the circus bike.

Of course, I can't write an update and not talk about food... We had some interesting and amazing food while Andy and Bronson were here. We made them try several different Dutch delicacies including harring (the raw fish), drop (a variety of different types of licorice-like gummy bits...), hagelslag (chocolate sprinkles for toast), bitterballen (basically deep fried balls of gravy with small bits of meat in them), pannenkoeken (crepe-like wraps served savory or sweet), and various tasty pastries. We enjoyed a wonderful Indonesian rijstafel dinner and incredible Arabic food served to us "family-style" on large platters as we sat and lounged on huge pillows.

The dreamy vacation eventually ended and we had to get back to reality. This month our reality has included getting the car inspected and registered in The Netherlands so that we can get it insured and eventually drive it...although given the high price of gas (around $9.20/gallon), it is likely just to sit in the parking garage. We expected that the inspection and registration process would be a formality and not be a big deal. Afterall, we have a modern car that meets all of the American safety and emissions standards. Well, as with many things, Europe has its own standards for cars. It turns out that we have the wrong lights on the car. The wrong headlights, the wrong taillights, and the wrong indicator lights. So, we have to get these changed before we can register the car. That should be easy enough. No. In order to legally drive a car on the road in The Netherlands, it must be insured. In order to get insurance, you must have a Dutch license plate. In order to get a Dutch license plate, you must pass the inspection. Do you see where this going? You can get a "one day permit" to drive the car to an inspection station and an insurance company will insure you for that day.... but the agency that issues one day permits will not issue a permit to drive anywhere except to an inspection station. So, if you fail the inspection, you cannot get another permit, therefore you cannot get insurance, to drive the car to a garage to get it fixed. As a former government employee, I must say, this is stupid - why make it so difficult for people to comply with the rules? So, after spending an hour and a half on the phone going in circles with both the insurance company and the RDW (the government's car inspection and registration agency), I finally just called a mechanic. It turns out that some garages will tow the car; some charge for this service, some don't. OK, well that problem was "solved." But then I started to get cost estimates for the work. The cost was outrageous! Extremely frustrated, I asked one of my neighbors for advice. It turns out that her husband is (distantly) related to a retired mechanic that owns a garage around the corner from our apartment. He now restores old cars for a hobby. My neighbors very kindly asked him if he had any advice or knew anyone that could do the work on our car. He said he would be willing to do the work and he would do it for less than the cost estimates I was receiving from other garages. What a relief...I think, but this ordeal isn't over yet. I hope it turns out well.

As you know from the last update, we received our shipment of stuff from the US at the end of August. I unpacked a few essentials right away, but several boxes are still sitting in the dining room unpacked. After Andy and Bronson left, I finally got around to moving a few things down to our now clean storage unit that had been dry and sewage free for a couple of months now. Wouldn't you know it, the very same day I put boxes in the storage unit, water began to leak out of the ceiling in the parking garage (I was told it was because of some leak in the shops above the garage). The water seeped through and under the concrete walls into the storage units - ack!!! Luckily, only a very small amount of water seeped into one corner of our storage unit, and I had arranged the cardboard boxes so they would not get wet if less than three inches of water accumulated on the floor. I could not believe the timing. It had to happen on the same day I put stuff in the storage area.... geesh. I am glad that the water didn't come from the ceiling the storage area - then things would have been a mess. Needless to say, we are not thrilled with the construction of this building. It is barely a year old and there have been numerous problems. However, finding another place to live is proving to be challenging.

To keep our sanity, we have "hit the trails" on the weekends. Most recently we rode our bikes to Hoek van Holland and Wassenar. In Hoek van Holland, we had a picnic along the canal where the big ships enter to go port. It was mesmerizing to watch the tugboats pilot a massive ship through the canal as we had our lunch. I think this round trip was about 30km. Wassenar is a beach town just north of The Hague. It was a gorgeous ride through woods and sand dunes. This trip was about 50km roundtrip and there were actually some hills (little ones, but they were hills!!!!).

I had my first Dutch language class on September 30. There are about 12 people in the class. Surprisingly, I am the only American and only one of three people whose first language is English. The other students are from Poland, Czeck Republic, Thailand, China, Japan, England, Spain, Peru, and Germany. Everyone seems to speak or understand some English in addition to their native language and, in some cases, one or two other languages. Despite having learned some Dutch so far, I had a very hard time understanding the instructor and the instructions in the book. I think I have a steep learning curve ahead of me over the next 12 weeks.

We have really appreciated the notes and emails from some of you sharing your own fun adventures or frustrations with bureaucracy. It is nice to be reminded that bureaucratic snafus happen in every country, and can even happen when you think you know your way around a system. Thanks for sharing.. keep the emails coming.

Once again, you can see all of our updates on the blog - http://steveandcandi.blogspot.com/.

We hope you are all well. Take care.

Best Regards,
Candi and Steve


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