Tag Archives: Netherlands

Gratis Inburgeren!

Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?  If not, then you are proving something I’ve been asking myself about all the time. I’ve been seeing these ads on trams all over the city but keep missing the chance to take a photo, but the other day on my way home from work I managed to snap this quickly …

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Catching On…

I’ve been working at my current company now for almost three months and I’m finally reaching the point where I feel I have a decent grasp on what we do, which makes for a welcome change.   There is a lot to learn and for the first month I felt quite confused and came home every day feeling completely drained.   I’m …

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Four Day Weekend!

Today at 5:40pm we were told that we were going to have tomorrow off as well as Monday.   While some colleagues were complaining about how they wished they’d had more notice to make plans, I was thinking ‘Oh Yessssss!’. Four whole days to sit at home if I want to, knit if I want to, not wear nice shoes if …

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Booo! OV Chipkaart

The new-ish thing for public transit here in Rotterdam is the OV Chipkaart.    It’s a card that you can charge up with credit and use on the public transit to get around the city. In the past we used something called a strippenkaart which was a long paper thing sectioned into blocks or ‘strips’.  Depending on how many zones you …

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WTB Immune System!

Buying Immune System!  Does anyone have one for sale? The dizziness is almost totally gone now, finally.  The doc told me that my bloodwork came back ok but that there was levels of something or other that lead him to think I have a virus, which was causing the vertigo.  I was all, cool… give me something to make it …

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I Think I’m One of Them

Them meaning, the Dutchies.   I know, I know… I didn’t think it would ever happened either and yes, I did check to see if monkeys are flying out of my arse.   I can’t help it though, even without trying I’m finding things I really love about this place. One of the most recent things is Marco Borsato.  I’m not sure …

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I Love This City

Over the past few years I’ve really grown to appreciate the city I live in.   I think I’m becoming a hardcore Rotterdammer at heart.   I can understand why tourists prefer Amsterdam, as it still has more of that historical Dutch look but Rotterdam has some of that too, but with something really cool and modern mixed in. I took these …

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Acer – The Shit…. or Just Shit?

Right, so I decided that since I’m a working woman who has a pretty good chance of moving on to a permanent situation (according to my colleagues), I’ve decided to buy myself something shiney and new when I get paid.   I can pay bills and all that crap later, I want satisfaction… in the material sense. So I’ve been looking …

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Saturday Photo Hunt – Narrow

One of the things that was difficult to get used to when I moved to the Netherlands was how narrow the houses are here.  Like in this photo I took in Amsterdam in 1999. It’s easy to understand, with such a huge population in such a small space.   Over 16.5 million people in a country that is slightly less than …

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The Fashionable Frump

Today I went out for the afternoon with my girlfriends.  We met at Bagels & Beans in the big bookstore in the city center, had some lunch and gabbed our asses off.  Two of the girls arrived with their baby girls that are only 10 days apart, so there was a lot of oohing and aahing going on.   At one …

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Laura Invades Holland!

Laura, Penny, and Tammy Originally uploaded by laura95368 One of my closest friends since coming to the Netherlands is Penny, a California girl who moved here to the Netherlands about four years ago. She is also married to a former skater boy and like all my other friends, is PREGNANT! Ever since I’ve known her she’s talked about her friend …

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