Road Trips... BEGIN!!!

It's been an VERY long time since our last posting on the blog... could be something to do with us moving all of our content over to Google+, but here I am.   Many things have come and gone since the last posting.  One of those being my eldest daughter got tired of life here in Holland and moved back to the US, dropping out of high school in the process and planning on getting a GED in Minneapolis.  She's currently living w/ Pam's mom and dad and is only there while pursuing her GED, then she's off to community college (according to what she's said she'll be doing).  My work is still going very well, Daniel is doing pretty well in school and has easily nailed conversational Dutch.   Pam is hard at work planning our next road trip.   We recently just returned from a road trip to Switzerland (Switaly), France, Belguim and Luxembourg.  It was great... I'll let my wife do her epic posting about that later.

Unbeginning summer ends.

Well, summer is nearly over (never really started here in Holland), and the kids are back in school.  My career is going well at PXS and things are good around the house.  It's almost starting to feel like a home, but for some reason, even after all this time, this place feels.... off.  It could be the lack of wall art, the hideous black carpeting, the stark white walls we haven't painted....   could be any of those, but it's close enough for me and I think I'll stick with it.

Was actually going to ride my bike to work again this morning, but once I got outside it was only 47 degrees and very windy.  I'd have had to ride into the wind and I just wasn't up to facing that so soon out of bed.  Today at work I am building an integration project to link our app up to Broadbean who is a job site propagation service.  Thankfully work is interesting.

Drinks, bike rides and Easter

Friday was kind of an eventful day. The kids were off school and Jamie was off work. It was gorgeous and sunny out. It got as hot as 77. It was just perfect. We rode down to Jamie’s work (he works in Rijswijck, the next town over) so he could pick up a laptop he needs to set up for a new employee. It was a lovely ride. Beautiful weather. Most of the ride is along a larger canal. I ride a lot slower than Jamie. It only takes him 15 minutes to bike to work. However, with my somewhat less than stellar level of fitness and much shorter legs than Jamie, I ride much slower. God forbid I break a sweat. So we rode at my pace and it took us 25 minutes. J But no one was sweating or breathing hard when we arrived.

When we rode home, it was still super nice out. At first. As we rode along the canal, we saw people boating, groups of teenagers swimming and barbecuing, people just sitting on benches and picnic tables with beer, and of course, lots of other bikers. About halfway home, Jamie says to me that it looks like rain. The weather forecast had been nothing but sun for a solid week. But I looked at the clouds and I’ll be damned he was right. So we pull over and Jamie checks his phone. We’ve got about 40 minutes til the rain comes according to his weather app. He asks me if I want to call Diana and have her bring in the clothes I had out drying. I said no, since we were only about 10 minutes from home at that point. So we haul ass home, lock up our bikes and I run straight upstairs to take in the clothes. Less than two minutes after I come in with the clothes, it starts raining. Next thing you know it is raining harder than I’ve see it rain since years ago during a thunderstorm in Nebraska. It was crazy rain. But it didn’t last very long.

Being a Friday (yes I know it was Good Friday, or I figured it out after the church bells rang for what felt like forever) we weren’t in a rush to have dinner. We like to eat late when it’s not a school night for the kids. Around 6pm we ran over to Albert Heijn to get the kids something for dinner. We were invited for drinks at our neighbors’ at 8:30 so we figured we’d eat when we got back home. So off we go, all the way about twenty feet down our street. We see a group of employees standing by the entrance which is odd, but we are not deterred. I assumed they were taking a break or something and it was nice out again after the rain stopped. But no. As we walk up to the doors, they close ranks and tell us in Dutch that they’re closed. Gesloten. We were surprised to say the least. Albert Heijn is usually open til 10pm (and that is VERY late for here).

We returned home dejected and wondering how to feed the children. Also, a little surprised that there were special hours for Good Friday. So bizarre. Especially for a country that is full of supposedly godless people. I may have mentioned before that we shop daily. So we don’t exactly have a pantry or fridge full of stuff. Our fridge is Euro sized as is our cabinet situation and it’s just as easy when the store is two buildings away to shop daily. However, not so convenient when the store randomly closes. Who expects special hours on Good Friday?

This was a big deal because as it is, Albert Heijn has crazy late hours compared to everyone else. There is even another Albert Heijn in the centrum that has shorter hours. Stores are open very limited hours here. I went to the bank the other morning after Daniel left to school. I walk up all cool like I’m just going to go right in the door. Then it doesn’t open. I look at the door and the hours listed. They don’t open til 9:30. Hema (the Dutch Target), Trekpleister (the Dutch Walgreens, kinda), department stores, the pet store, and basically everything else except Albert Heijn and restaurants close at 5pm. Or 17:00 as it is known here. Luckily, there is a minimarket a block away that is open until midnight. Their prices are ludicrous, the selection is beyond limited, but it’s better than nothing. We haven’t really gone there very much though as Albert Heijn is (usually) open late and really, anything other than groceries can wait til the next morning.

It just so happened that we had some frozen stuff in the freezer because we had just gotten a deep fryer so the kids didn’t starve and we didn’t have to pay ridiculous prices at the minimarket.

We were due at our next door neighbors’ for drinks at 8:30. It was odd to be going somewhere so close and be able to leave our house only two minutes before we were due. Now, we’ve known our next door neighbors since the day we moved in when Fenneke saw us and introduced herself. She was very friendly and helpful and recommended a school for Daniel. Daniel now attends that school and it is great. Paul, the husband is not nearly as social as Fenneke, but he’ll chat when we run into them outside (which happens a lot) with really funny yet bitter asides. So we see them and talk to them all the time. However, we could not remember Fenneke’s name. And really, after six months, it’s a little rude to ask someone their name. So I came up with a brilliant plan to get her name. We thought it was something like Verka. So my brilliant plan was to ask her to spell it in my quest to learn Dutch. Problem solved.

So, we’re at Fenneke’s and Paul’s. They have a lovely home. Fenneke has lived there since the early 80s. They are in their mid 50s I would guess. They showed us around their home. Fenneke was telling us all about the improvements and changes they’d made. She points to one staircase that got moved and says her husband did that. Paul looks at us and with a straight face says, “not me, that was the first husband.” Then follows that up with a comment the gist of which was – at least he was good for something. Hilarious, that Paul.

They served us Prosecco and hors d’oeuvres and it was nice. At an appropriate interval I asked Fenneke (who we still thought of as Verka at this point) how to spell her name as a package had come to my address the day before and I thought it was hers but I wasn’t sure as I didn’t know how to spell her name. Luckily, this actually happened earlier that day, so it totally made sense that she spelled her name for me and now we know her name. Voila! So now we just have to remember to call her the right name.

Easter was very strange. Usually we go to my mom’s house and have a big meal and do a big egg hunt with all the kids. Instead we woke up and the kids did the traditional follow the clues to the Easter basket. However, we were unable to find baskets here in Holland. So the kids got these cute little cardboard houses full of chocolate eggs and bunnies. Or they did after they figured out all the clues anyway.

Everything, I mean everything on our street was closed on Easter. Yet, there were STILL tons of tourists out walking around and taking pictures of course. The only things open were restaurants and the movie theater. Jamie took Daniel to see some kid movie in 3D. Diana is soured on movies here since she and Jamie went and couldn’t hear over the rustling of potato chip bags. They sell potato chips at the concession stand. And wine. And beer. And it is assigned seating. Fancy. So Diana didn’t want to go and I get headaches from 3D movies so I passed as well.

But I met them afterwards for a drink at Kobus Kuch. It was like 9 at night and still light out and warm! Of course we sat outside. Along with hundreds of other people. I had a glass of wine and Jamie and Daniel had soda and a snack. We hung out there for about an hour. It’s totally bizarre here at restaurants. It’s like everyone just gets a drink and hangs out forever. And servers expect that, so once they bring your stuff, they don’t really come back. I think they’re being polite in not bothering you or rushing you off. But when you want another glass of wine it can be frustrating. But I have to say I like the whole, lounge as long as you like for 3 bucks thing. J

Monday evening we went on a bike ride with the whole family. It was really nice out again. We left home around 8:30 and were gone about an hour or so. We just rode in a random direction, so we saw stuff we hadn’t seen before. We tend to stick in and around the centrum where we live as everything is here. If there’s something we can’t get here we go to the centrum in Den Haag. Not having a car, we know the train/tram routes but haven’t ventured too far out of Delft yet on bike. Our round trip was 5 miles. Diana measured it with some app on her phone. We found a large park we didn’t even know was there. We even saw our next door neighbors on the other side while we were out. They were riding toward us. I called hello to them by name. It’s exciting to see people I know out and about.

It’s really easy to ride bikes here because there are bike lanes everywhere. Bike lanes even have their own traffic signals. Plus it’s so flat. The only hills that come up are canal bridges which don’t really count. Monday evening wasn’t even windy so it was a pretty easy ride. We rode very leisurely and it was fun. We’ll probably try riding to Den Haag next. It’s actually easier riding bikes out on bike lanes than here in the centrum where it is so crowded by pedestrians (tourists never look for bikes and will just jump out in front of you!) and other bikes and cars. Even with traffic in the centrum though, we still take our bikes everywhere we go in the centrum. Except to Albert Heijn as it is only two buildings away. Walking seems ridiculously slow compared to biking.

Next weekend is Queen’s Day. Fenneke and Paul were telling us it gets totally crazy here that weekend. They said our street gets so crowded that you can’t get a bike through. They said it’s fun and crazy, but they’ve experienced it lots of times so they’ll be out on a friend’s sailboat at some lake. (I think they might be rich) Queen’s Day is the only day of year you don’t have to have any type of vendor’s license to sell stuff so I guess the whole country turns into one big yard sale. Daniel is excited to sell toys and make cash. We are looking forward to the spectacle and will try to get pictures for you all.

Happy Easter!

Cars, trams, heat, oh my!

So. Today is Thursday. Markt day. We live in the centrum (just like it sounds, the city center) in Delft. So the markt is two blocks from our house. I looked out my bedroom window around 11:30 this morning. I could see what looked like old cars on the canal bridge down my street. So of course I sent the baby to investigate. (He's on vacation as of yesterday for Easter or Paas as it's called here) He came back and told us there was a car show all around the oude kerk (old church). So since Jamie was working from home and it was lunch time anyway, we all walked down there. Sure enough there was a ton of classic cars all down the canal by the oude kerk. They were all Brit style with the driver's side on the wrong side. The cars were pretty cool. While we were standing there looking, the cars started moving, they all drove over the canal bridge right next to us so we got a good close look at all of them. Of course the drivers were old too. Some of the women were wearing really cool driving scarves/leather helmet things that I cannot do justice to with words. It was cool. Of course there was a huge crowd that gathered, tourists and locals alike to watch the goings on.

Once the cars were all gone we walked over to the markt. We had kibbling (fried fish nuggets) from one of the vendors for lunch. The markt is basically like the swap meet that I so love and miss from So. Cal. Vendors selling everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to cell phone accessories and everything inbetween. Good people watching. We walked around and ate our kibbling. Daniel decided to have shrimp instead. The seafood is really good here. Which makes sense seeing as how we're on the North Sea.

We meandered back home and waiting for us was a letter from the IND (Dutch Immigration) that Jamie's new verblijfsdocument (residency permit) was ready. The letter was in Dutch. Yet we know enough Dutch now to figure out it was telling us to come pick it up in Den Haag. So Jamie called in to work, told them he'd be out running this errand and we headed out. The tram stop is very close to our house, maybe a five minute walk, if that. The tourists were out in full force.

The #1 tram that we needed runs every ten minutes. We waited along with a rather large crowd of people (large for that time of day anyway) at the tram stop. Ten minutes went by. No tram. Twenty minutes went by. No tram. Mind you it is 73 degrees out, sunny, not windy and we are at a tram stop that is in a construction area (project due to be complete in ten years!) with no shade. So it was warm. Thirty minutes go by. No tram. Finally Jamie runs across the street to ask the tram driver of the #19 going in the other direction about the #1. Tram driver tells him that there is some problem with a bridge. Jamie asks if it is coming. Tram driver says yes. Jamie asks when. Tram driver shrugs. Now this is one of the things that is interesting to me. Some gestures are universal. Or at least common to the U.S. and Holland. :)

So Jamie comes back across the street to Daniel and I and reports. We decide to wait a little longer. Off in the distance we can see a tram coming. (the last one that came was the #19 but we need the #1) So we decide if this tram is ours we will take it, if it's another #19 we'll give up and go home. Mind you, the IND office where we are going is only open until 3:30. We left the house at close to 2pm. It is now just past 2:30. We don't really know how long the tram ride is, but Den Haag Centrum is about a 15-20 minute tram ride and we're going a little ways past that.

Sure enough, the tram we saw off in the distance is the #1. So we get on all self congratulatory because we're going to make it. We go a few stops. One tram stop away from Jamie's regular stop he gets off at for work (one town over and about a 50 minute walk from home) the tram stops. There is a lengthy announcement. In Dutch. Now I feel like I have picked up quite a bit of Dutch. At least ik probeer. (that means I try) But I did not pick out even one word. And partly that was because I didn't figure it was important as no one else seemed to be paying attention. p.s. it was even hotter on the tram than it was outside. Since the tram was running so behind schedule, it was packed.

The announcement ends and everyone starts getting off the tram. I mean everyone. Jamie and I are sitting there looking at each other trying to decide what to do. We wait a bit, but now not only is everyone getting off the tram but most of the people who got off are taking the stairs up over the bridge we were under (the tram at that point was under a freeway overpass) and walking over the overpass to god only knows where. A few people were milling around outside the tram, but then we see those people cross the tram tracks to wait at the stop going the opposite direction.

So, we decide to get off the tram. Logical, right? Everyone is getting off. Most people don't seem to be waiting. The people who are sticking around have retreated to the tram stop going the other direction. So we get off. We decide we are done for the day and we're going to just head home. So we're at the other tram stop across the tram tracks. Then, next thing we know, the crowd that had gathered at the other tram stop heads over back to the tram that is still stopped there, gets on and the tram leaves. WHAT THE!

So now, we have no clue what is happening. But we aren't too far from Jamie's work so we decide to head there since now we're concerned the tram won't be running in our direction. So we start walking and by the time we get to the next tram stop (right by Jamie's work - maybe a five minute walk) we see the tram, still full of people backing into the service tracks that are there. We didn't stay to verify, but I think the tram for whatever reason was using the service tracks to turn around. I can't imagine why else the tram would allow people to stay on unless it was just turning around. Not like they're going to service the tram with passengers on board. I think.

Anyway, we finish walking to Jamie's work and tell Catrina (Jamie's American colleague) our story. And her comment was. "Stuff like that always happens to me." Now until today, I have had very good luck with public transport here. The trains, trams, busses all run on time. Except for when there was a huge snowstorm (much more snow than usual) that screwed everything up. If the public transit workers aren't on strike and there's not a foot of snow making the tram tracks unusable, the stuff runs like clockwork. So it was super annoying to have it not be that way today. Jamie says that trams run late all the time for him (he takes the tram to and from work) and I guess I'll believe him. Anyway, we totally should have taken our bikes. Live and learn. Remember it was HOT! So as we're leaving Jamie's work to hope the tram is now running as advertised, I kept thinking "my kingdom for a bicycle" because our alternative was about a 50 minute walk.

Luckily the tram going back home was right on time. There was another announcement, but all I could make out of it was Delft Tantoff which is the last stop on that line so we figured we were good. We were right. The tram ran as normal and stopped at Prinsenhoff, our stop and we finally made it home.

We live above a fruit and vegetable shop run by a very nice guy named Abdul. So we stopped in there to get the kids some fruit and we were telling him our story. He is Dutch (of Moroccan ancestry) and his comment was, wait for it,........... "You should have biked."

And that's the moral of the story.

We live a few doors down from a grocery store so we get groceries daily, which I really like because we don't have the whole buying too much and it goes bad phenomenon. We pick each day what we want for dinner and go get the ingredients. We get stuff for breakfast the next day then too. The only time this is an issue is on Sundays, because they don't open til 10am on Sundays and close at 6pm. So we have to make sure we've gotten breakfast stuff on Saturday before they close at 10pm and that we get dinner stuff for Sunday before they close at 6pm. It hasn't really been a problem yet. I don't miss spending an hour at Cub every week, but Jamie misses the wider selection. I'd rather go every day, it was so time consuming to spend that long at Cub, then loading the car, then unloading the car, then actually putting all the crap away. Here we take a bag, and that's it.

So, this afternoon we're there at Albert Heijn and one of Daniel's many friends says hello to him. I swear this kid knows everyone in Delft. We can't walk around the centrum without him running into someone saying hi to him. Or hoi. (Dutch for hi) So Daniel asks the kid to play with him, the kid runs and asks his mother. By now we're done and standing outside the store. The mom is inside still paying. She comes out and I introduced myself in Dutch. Ik ben Pamela. We chatted, and the kids are playing together tomorrow. And this kid (Daniel) has the nerve to tell Jamie and I earlier that he has no friends. Not true!

Anyway, there's another day in the life. Due to popular demand I will make an effort to blog more often.

Android blogging finally..

Google finally released a nice tool for blogging from android phones.

Looks like Sunday and Monday it's going to POUR here... that's a LOT of rain.  Not a lot compared to California, but still.

Sunday 26-12-2010 1 ° C -1 ° C 31 km / h 68% 12.6 mm

Monday 27-12-2010 1 ° C -1 ° C 24 km / h 60% 9.2 mm

Singing Dutchmen

So, someone at work today asked me, "What do you think is the most different thing about living here compared to living in America?" I sat and thought about it for a while, and the obvious things came to mind. The language, the massive amounts of dairy product consumption, the old buildings... but as I sit here now, listening to the people walk by outside on Choorstraat, it occurs to me that the one thing that I never saw in the US that I see (hear) here is just large groups of young men spontaneously breaking into song. It's not like its planned, or like they discuss it even moments before doing it. One of them will just start singing and next thing you know there are 10 guys singing some anthem sounding song standing outside on the street. It's not limited by hour of the day either, and if anything, as would be expected, it goes up in direct relationship to the amount of alcohol consumed and the lateness of the hour. I'm sitting here typing this in my living room listening to a group of about 20 men singing their asses off and laughing all the way through their triumphant song. This country ROCKS!!!

Pam was gone for almost 2 full weeks to America in an effort to get her Netherlands visa approved. It has happened, and she's finally back here with us in Delft. It was a long time for her to be gone. In fact it was the longest we have all been apart, ever.

Things are going well!!

Crazy video of Metrodome Collapse!!

Another setback.... and some good news.

Went to the IND again today and got DENIED for Pam's MVV application. It's getting very frustrating, we get different info every time we go. So now we are going to mail the application in, and wait for it to get sent to the Dutch Embassy in the USA. Then apparently she'll (we'll) have to go to the US to pick it up.....

here's hoping.


J.

p.s. almost forgot the good news. :-P Found out at the IND that the letter from the IND is as good as the card for my residency permit. So we can go get phones and financing. :-)

From the office...

I just looked out the window, and see a rainbow, with the moon behind it, and it's sunny. Then 30 seconds later it's pouring rain. 2 minutes after that, sunny and clear sky. Very weird weather.

Chilean miners....

Hope they make it out. The final preparations are being made to get the miners out who have been down there for weeks.

Oops, 4 hrs early...

Turns out I wanted to BE here at 19:30, flight leaves at 21:30. Arrgh. Left the pen (gate M) and headed out to explore. Got the money exchanged and am now having a snack outside. I feel a bit stupid. Thankfully there's an Albert Heine in the airport. :-)

Schiphol, Gate M

I now understand why the security guy told me to wait until about 30m before my flight was going out to pass through. At Schiphol airport here in Amsterdam, gate M is the unwanted step-child. There is a small area of seats in the center (about 50), a "See Buy Fly" store, two coffee / snack bars and that is it. For 7 gates worth of traffic the facilities are sorely lacking.

I was planning on doing the currency exchange here at the airport and it said that the GWK Travelex exchange place was behind security at Schiphol, but apparently not for those of us flying from Gate M. So, here I sit with my 10 euros I need to hang on to for my return train trip when I get back and a bunch of money I can't use until I covert it to DKK (Danish Kroners).

I've learned a lesson here. If flying out of gate M, stay OUT as long as you can before your flight leaves. Security here was trivial compared to the US TSA hassle. I even got to keep my shoes AND jacket on. I took out my laptop, and threw it on the belt with my bags and that was it... no line, no clothing strip whole thing from walking up to the checkpoint to walking into the desert of Gate M took about 90 seconds.

AWESOME!!!

Next post will be from Denmark!