We finally had some visits!

My parents arrived in a Saturday mid afternoon, slept over and went away on the next day, at the same hour! But we made them see quite a lot!

Because we didn’t had much time, and the day before Carlos was working so much, I prepared all the meals, so we just had to put them in the oven for a while and they would be ready!

We went get my parents at Schiphol airport and on our way back (is about 100 km) we made them visit Den Bosch ('s-Hertogenbosch) – it was our first time also!

We liked the center very much with all the canals and the cafes, restaurants… pretty nice!

After we return home, showed them the house while dinner was in the oven. After dinner we went to the city center which is quite nice, and we had a drink in the busy “Grote Markt”!

The next day we woke up early, rented two bikes and showed the town properly to my parents! We also rode ours bikes trough the pathway that leads to Belgium sideways with the river. They were tired, but they really enjoyed it!

After lunch we ran to Utrecht which is on the way to the airport and is, for now, our favorite town!

Then we were really late for the flight, we had to run to Schiphol again!

I have my bike back!

When I came the first time to Breda, on Holidays, Carlos was already living here and we went to Utrecht and when we came back, I spotted an abandoned bicycle! I asked Carlos to stop the car, and went to check it!

The bike was much damaged but it was unlocked! It was definitely abandoned! I found this very ironic because I used to work with abandoned cars, so I thought I really had a radar for abandoned stuff now.

Obviously I didn’t had a bike yet, but I was already thinking in my future moving here… and we took the bike home, luckily we were very close.

Carlos did a great job fixing up the bike and when I moved to The Netherlands I already had a bike.
This is typically Dutch, at least so I heard! It seems that it's socially acceptable to even steal a bike! :S Whenever I say I found my bike people assume I stole it!?

The thing is, they really treasure their bikes, and now so do I! But at the same time, they want them old and ugly, so they don’t get stolen!

Everything for bikes is very expensive; you really have to search to find the cheapest price.
To conclude, even if my bike was for “free” because I found it, she is worth a lot. We already spent a lot of money in the first repair and now the second one.

I was thinking of buying a second hand one, but I’ve given up, I’m really attached to this one, and now even my gears are working, so I just have to spend a little bit more for the mudguard and it will be as good as new!

But the fact that I said to the guy that maybe I would buy a new one hurried up the repairing, or else I would have waited one week. I think it was the despair of not wanting to walk everywhere that made me think about buying a new bicycle!

Euro Collection

I thought that now that I'm more in the center of Europe I would be completing my euro collection sooner. The most difficult coins are the little ones, one cent, two cents…

Just my bad luck, in Holland they round up the prices, so I’m not getting any small coins. I’m missing mostly one euro cents coins!

We had similar to this in Portugal when the currency was "escudos", but instead of not giving the change they would give you a gum or a candy.

Seeing things in a different angle!

I would say that the best way to visit Breda, or any Dutch town, is by bike. You get to see all the streets and you move faster from point to point than walking!
But there is no doubt that when you park your bike and start walking, you will see things in a different perspective!
As both our bikes are broken, yesterday I walked to the centre of town (with both bikes, to take them to a “mechanic”), and finally took some pictures.

I promise there will be more and better photos soon enough; I’m receiving my parents and will take some more pictures! Hope it is going to be a sunny day!

This is Efficiency!

What you’re about to see is how you can live comfortably in a tiny little apartment – You just need brains and money… :)
Very cool!

P.S.: Never mind the title of the video, I just counted 4 rooms: bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, and maybe we can consider a library.

Happy Father's Day! :)

Now with no bike!

There is always something happening!

Yesterday we threw a dinner party. As Dutch have dinner very early, we invited people over at 17h00, so we started cooking immediately after breakfast!

I was doing a tuna pâté, I started to do the mayonnaise, but I had an incident with the salt – the cover went out and all the salt came out to the mixture!

I had to make another one, but I didn’t have more eggs, so I asked Carlos to go fetch some and I wanted salsa also. He took my bike, because his has a flat tire. He took so long… When he came back he told me as usual “do you want the good news, or the bad ones?”. I was a little stressed out, I didn’t needed bad news… hehe, but he told me anyway! My bike is also damaged… the back wheel is loose! Carlos had to come home walking...

Today we tried to fix the bike, but one of the pieces is broken, so we will really need to go to a bike shop.
I can’t believe I will have to walk! The other day, we had to go see some mattresses, Carlos didn’t have his bike, but I cycled anyway, I couldn’t just walk! I’m so used to cycling now! It’s so practical!

Well, at least the party went well, we had a great time, the food was good and we even played sing star!

This is the look of the streets these days

I had a appointment down town, Monday at 14h00, I didn’t realise there would be the Netherlands x Denmark going on… The center was crowded! All nicely decorated as you can see, they put the strangest things… But the most amusing part is the celebration they do every time they score! They scream, hug and dance, for about 10 minutes!

One of our neighbours hung a flag and a handbag with it, I saw the same thing with a backpack… I don’t really know what that means, I have to discover!

Health Insurance!

As the lasts post were a little of a downer… So I will tell you something really nice about being here - having a health insurance!

When you arrive here, as a European Citizen, you have to:

- Register in the City Hall (Gemeente), they will attribute you a BSN number (Burgerservicenummer; Burger means citizen in Dutch, this is like a social security number)

- Make a health insurance

- Register in a doctor

- Legalize your car if you bring one.

I just went to register in the doctor yesterday, and I asked for a appointment, and I went to the doctor today! In Portugal I would have to wait at least two weeks, with this actual doctor, because in the past, I would wait a month or two.

Do you know how much I paid for fee? Nothing! In Portugal I would pay 2/3 euros, I think. Ok this is not so relevant… But, I’m going to make some blood tests, and they are going to send the results to the doctor in two days, and then I can call to know if everything is alright!

My boyfriend went to the doctor some time ago, the doctor sent the prescription by e-mail to the pharmacy, we went to get it and he didn’t pay anything! Then he had to go to a physiotherapist, also didn’t pay!

It’s great!

Disconnected... :(

Wednesday, 2nd of June, I just came back from Portugal 3 days ago, I am quietly at home searching for a job on the internet when I decide to have lunch. When I came back to my computer I didn’t have internet connection, so I restarted the modem, it didn’t work.

I thought that probably my boyfriend could fix it, being an informatics and all… But it didn’t work. So we tried to call the company that provides the service, but it turned out that the telephone was not working, we tried the TV, there was no signal! That was too weird for me, but we have all in one package, so we knew that it should be a problem with the company. We tried to call the company with the mobile, but it doesn't allow us to call to numbers starting with 900 (don't have a clue why is that).

Advertising in the mail

We are really basic in Portugal, it was just a few years ago that we had to put up with everything they wanted to put on our mailbox, then the sticker "advertising, not here!" appeared.

In Holland, they have two types of stickers: one says "Nee, Nee," and the other says "Nee, Ja". So they restrict the kind of publicity they want to receive.

With the sticker that says “No, No”, you don't receive any correspondence with no addressee.
With no sticker you would receive every kind of advertising; but if you put a “No, Yes” sticker you will receive local advertising.

This was the result of a "no junk mail" campaign as it's very well explained in http://stopjunkmailbog.blogspot.com/2007/05/dutch-junk-mail-stickers.html

Portugal Day

The 10th of June is a national holiday in Portugal which celebrates the country, one of our greatest poets - Camões and the Portuguese Communities.

I usually don’t celebrate this day, I just go to the beach if the weather is good. But here in Breda, we have an expat club, and they had the idea of celebrate the holidays from the different nations.

So for this day we gathered a few Portuguese members to organize a dinner party and put together some music, decoration and a leaflet explaining all about this day.  At dinner we have distributed the booklet to the guests and we showed a presentation with some images from Portugal to make an ambiance in the party while listening to Portuguese music.

In the end of the evening two Portuguese girls recited Camões, which is our biggest poet of all times. One was reciting in Portuguese and the other in English, so everybody could understand.

This was an evening prepared for our colleagues to know a little more about us, our country and our culture.

It was really pleasant!

Always be prepared for rain!

I'm bored! We are in June and it's raining! (You have to realise that I came from the Algarve region in Portugal). It’s already been two days that I can’t leave the house in a t-shirt, and today even at home, I had to go get a jacket!

The strangest thing is that the locals are always ready for rain. On Sunday morning we went shopping, it was not exactly sunny but it was good weather, when we stopped for lunch, it started to rain! Okay, it was just a little bit, but everybody was already walking with an umbrella! Maybe they just put an umbrella in their bike for when it rains.

This morning it was raining a lot, with thunder and lightning and all, but as the weather changes quickly here, I could get out, go to the market to buy fruit and fish, and deal with other things with a little ray of sun.

I’m still amazed to know that they are all prepared in case it rains ... Smakvol Breda Festival (culinary festival) ended on Sunday and they are dismantling the tents. This was still a big deal of logistics because the restaurants were really cooking on site. It started to rain seriously for several times, but the workers did not stop! When I look outside, they are already wearing their rain outfits! I think that by the end of the day there will be no remains of the festival!

Shopping! :)

This is useful and helps to understand the next post.

In The Netherlands all the stores close very early, even in Amsterdam. At around 17h30 - 18h everything closes, except for some supermarkets, and some stores at the commercial zone.

On Saturdays, stores open at about 12h and they close at 17h/18 hours.
The joy happens on Thursdays - everything is open until 20h. And when I say everything it’s really everything, because there is a coffee we like to go, like a tea house ... I do not know what to call it ... but when you get out of work it’s already closed, we can only go on Thursdays, or when your not working, because most people work part-time…

Another little gift is that one Sunday a month the stores are open. Here in Breda, is the first Sunday of the month as Moncarapacho (my father’s home town in  Portugal) market! Haha!

Happy World Environment Day!

It's an inspiration for me since I was little!

Oh! My back!

Well I’m back, I’m better from hay fever, and my back were also recovering, but I didn’t want to go to the capoeira lesson so I won't hurt myself again. 

Nevertheless, we were invited to go play Babington, and I couldn’t say no, it seems such a light sport… To catch one “ball”, I stretched too much, and there was my back again on pain. But I think I’m already better now.

It must be the weight of age… J

Never travel on a Sunday morning!

I’m back to Holland after 10 days in Portugal! But check out what I had to pass through!

I was supposed to come back Friday morning at 7 AM, but as my flight to Portugal was postponed I postponed also the flight back, so I came back Sunday morning.

I was out the night before and I only slept 2 hours, that’s OK because I wasn’t going to work, just travel, but I was surely not the only one who slept only two hours, the difference is that some people were going to work Sunday morning…

I wanted to bring some extra stuff from Portugal, so I had to pay for one extra bag, I left my mother on the drop off queue and went to pay - I was just an hour early. I paid for the bag, and the lady said to go to the number 47 or 48, and I said “that weird, because I saw that the drop off was on 43 and 44” that’s where my mother was, but she didn’t correct herself. I got back to my mother and said we had to go to the 47 or 48 and there we went, but I looked to the board and saw that they where working on the flight to… Dublin! So I sent my mother to the previous queue and stayed on this one, just to check and see if this lady could call the mistake lady and tell her she was wrong… of course, she didn't call!

Once in the correct line (again), I showed my ticket and the receipt to the lady, who said that my ticket wasn’t well printed, she was really nice, and asked the colleague to print me another boarding pass. My bag was sent.

I passed the security and went straight to the gate - it was already opened! I gave my boarding pass with my identity card to another lady, she was looking funny… I looked at her, and she said “the names don’t match!” What? I froze! I only said “that not my fault!”. Then I explained that they had reprinted my boarding pass… And finally a guy asked me if I had made the reserve in my name, found it in the computer, struck the wrong name and put mine on it. And there I went!

Are you going to the beach?

Everybody wants to know how were my “vacations” in Portugal? Resuming,

I caught hay fever, my sneezes were so violent that I misplaced a vertebra or something like that. The pain was so bad that I had to go to a chiropractic!

I wanted to see everybody so I only managed to go to the beach twice: once I was there for about 2 hours, but there were trucks passing by me every 20 minutes, so I couldn’t really relax. The other one, was only for 40 minutes, because I had to pack again…

The weather was good, except for the wind… you don’t want to go to a sandy beach when there is wind…

Note: Usually in May it’s the best time to go to the beach in the Algarve, because the weather is already good, it’s not too hot, and there aren’t that many tourists yet. This time I really wasn’t lucky!