White Christmas

Unfortunately I have been missing all the great stuff of winter here. Sinterklaas and zwarte piet arrival to town, Christmas fairs and exhibitions… All I got to do was a snowman, and damn… did it feel good! But I have a cold for 3 or 4 weeks now, I don’t know anymore… it been going on and off… I’m so sick of it!
As a result I have been trying to escape from cold, I don’t get out much, I go shopping for groceries by car… but it’s seems to be not enough to avoid the flu… I miss my bike!!!
After two weeks with a cold I couldn’t stop coughing and decided to go to the doctor. He observed me and gave me some cough pills, I took them for about five days. They actually worked; I got back to work as soon as I got better and stopped the pills. Two days later I had a cold again! I guess it was from running from one transport to another and the big difference of temperature from inside and outside. This time I tried some household medicines and teas with Vick, my doctor was on holidays...

 I was better again, got back to work, this time by car, so I wasn't exposed to such differences of temperature! After a few days I was sick again, in fact, I had to leave work in the middle of the day because I was feeling really bad; I actually threw up from coughing so much. This time (3rd) I'm feeling much worst, I even have fever. I called the doctor again, he was still on holidays, I explained the situation, I wanted an appointment with whatever doctor was available; instead, they told me to go to the pharmacy again to get my recipe: more cough pills! Five days taking those pills, all I did was measure my fever, fall a sleep and try to eat. I have to be quiet or else I feel like if my head is going to explode. Today is the last day of the pills, tomorrow it’s Monday, I’m going back to work, lets see how that goes…

Wish me luck!

Taking the train in Holland...

Definitely you need to be careful when you take a train here. 

The other day I was taking the train to Rotterdam. I was waiting at the platform when a voice announced something in Dutch (and people still ask me why I bother learning…). Everyone was going away, so I had to ask what was going on, basically the train to Rotterdam was now in another platform. So I went to the new platform and there were two trains on the same track. Someone told me which one was going to Rotterdam and entered the train, but I looked to destination on the train and it wasn’t the right one. 

Surprisingly enough everyone was confused because the destination of the trains was switched! The right train was actually the one indicated by the stranger. We had to ask the driver which was the one to Rotterdam, but do you think they even bothered correcting their info? No, they were too busy being Dutch, hehe!

New Year, old posts…

I’ve been so busy with my new job… Sure it’s just 9 to 17 but commuting time can be from 40 minutes by car when there is no traffic to 2 hours with traffic. Obviously the only rare times there was no traffic was on Christmas holidays (and I wish I wasn't on the road that period also, but no holidays for me…).

Because my car as no snow tires and traction is on back wheels I can’t drive to work when it’s snowing because he slides all over the place… So to get to work I have to walk to the train station (or get a very careful ride with Carlos), take a train, then 2 subways and a bus, when the bus runs... Because the bus has no driver and is dangerous in slippery road!

Sometimes I wonder… I never really wanted to live in Lisbon where Carlos lived before, because people there have crazy lives: traffic, stress, waking up at 5 am to go to work… I moved to The Netherlands to have a better life and what I get is a “Lisbon life”? So I struggle to see the difference, and that is mainly that my job is really 9 to 17 and I don’t have to think about it when I go home, plus I can work from home and hopefully I will be working from home at least some days per week in the near future. So it is still a better life! :)

Don't be picky...

As I already told here, finding a pharmacy wasn’t easy, but now I know were it is, I just go there and ask what I want. But going to the supermarket is always an adventure!

Every time I need eggs or taco sauce I will have to make 3 rounds trough the shelves until I find it. I always think that taco sauce will be near the tacos… it isn't! The thing is that I don’t remember because I don’t think it’s logical, I have a problem reminding things with no logic behind… and the eggs… could be near the baking stuff, desserts or near the pastas, but again… where the hell do they put them?

The other day I was having a party at our place and I wanted to make assorted gellows – there was only one flavour, luckily it was strawberry...

And what to say about cereals for instance? They don’t have many choices of types and brands… I dream about the corridors of cereals in Portugal’s supermarkets, they are huge and you have so many choice that you could stay for hours picking your cereals!

Anyway, I think Dutch people are just much simpler, if they need a product they just go to the shelf, take a quick peek and choose one of the three products available and go home take care of their families! :)

Always busy

Breda is a small cosy town, but with something like 170.000 people! If you count in the urban area of the council there are about 316.000 people!

So you can imagine the crowd when there is an event like the red hair day (first weekend of September) or a festival, or simply “koopzondag” (first sunday of each month all the shops are open)!

Just today there are at least tree events happening in the city that I know of:

- Red Hair Day (roodharigen): natural red hair people from 20 countries come to Breda and there are exhibitions and workshops related to the red coloured hair (www.roodharigen.nl)

- Breda Hippique: Horse competition and others (www.bredahippique.nl)

- Summer Festival Ginneken: This closes the summer in Breda! (www.bruisendginneken.nl)

...And on top of it all, it was koopzondag! The one sunday in the month you can go shopping in the centre, most shops are open between 12.00 and 17.00.

Second hand is (very) cheap!

Our apartment was previously rented to an ex-colleague of Carlos that decided to return to his homeland. He was American, so he couldn’t take most of his stuff home, he was going to sell it in second hand. As we decided to keep the apartment we bought everything he wouldn’t take, so we had furniture in the house. 

Sure, we didn’t had a choice in that, but in the other hand, we didn’t had any work choosing, comparing, assemble, etcetera…

One other consequence is that now we have two iron machines and two vacuum cleaners!

I already put an advertisement in “marktplaats” to sell them. www.marktplaats.nl/ is a website were you can buy almost everything in second hand and put free advertisements for one month. I saw the prices of similar products in the website so I could face the competition. The iron would cost 7,5 € and the vacuum cleaner 10 €. Do you believe that someone made an offer for 5 € for the iron? 

It’s really in their blood to try and buy for the cheapest price and they don’t mind at all to buy things in second hand!

Anyway, we need the space in our little storing room so maybe I’ll just sell it for 5 €…

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.

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!

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

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!

Zumba

Today something to cheer you up! LOL


It's the latest crazy dance of the moment!

Finding a Pharmacy

In Portugal (and in France) if you need a pharmacy, just look for the sign, but here it seems they have never seen one.

I needed to go to a pharmacy, I knew more or less where it was so I was already near the building, I looked around and didn't see any pharmacy. I called my partner to confirm the location, and he did.

I looked again to all the windows, and finally I decided to ask someone in the street. I asked a guy and he told me "Yes, it's here, there by the green plaque".

The green plaque only says "escura", which means "dark" in Portuguese! How could I guess? Their “kruidvat's” seem more like a pharmacy than the pharmacy itself (the kruidvats sell shampoos, deodorants, make up, detergents, stuff like that!).

By the way a pharmacy is “apotheek” in Dutch. This name suggests me a real estate agency or a book shop. Don’t ask me why…

Recycling...

I’m getting used to make a fool out of myself, so here is today’s story:

In Portugal we recycle almost every packaging waste. It’s very easy, you just have to separate the glass, the paper/cardboard and the plastics, and then go to a recycling bin and dispose it.

In Holland, we have to remember what we bought where, because you have to return the packages to the shop where you bought it! But at least you get a discount in your shopping.

Today I finally decided to take the bottles to recycle, we had so much bottles, mainly glass bottles…So I got on my bike with the heavy bag and I had to go in to the shop to the deliver the bottles, but most of them I had to bring home again (again mainly the glass ones).

I don’t really understand yet, because I’m sure that the beer is the same (I don’t know where my boyfriend bought them). The big bottles of coca-cola  where accepted, but not the little one, and I know for sure that I bought it there…

I had to return home with most of the stuff back, plus the shopping! :S

My partner could have said something when I told him I would go there to return the bottles…


P.S.: Even returning the bottles to the supermarket machines, there was so much plastic waste that we would throw out. It was making me sad. Just 3 weeks after I arrived, my partner gave me a letter that the city hall sent in the beginning of the year. He says that he kept the letter for me because he noticed that there was a "cute plastic bag". The letter explained what to do with the plastic waste! Argh!

Cycling...

Ever since I remember I like to cycle! My favorite memory of the time I lived in France is going to the forest on Sundays cycling with my family. I remember picking chestnuts… Good times!

Now in The Netherlands, it has a special flavor, and it’s not just because it’s all so plane!

Here when you drive you have to look everywhere for other cars, bikes or pedestrians… There are so many people and lanes for all kinds of transport.
When you walk, you have to give priority to bikes (you have to be very careful), you have to wait for the fire signs to change (and they take long, because it’s the slower transport).

When you cycle, everything seems so much closer. The pedestrians and the cars give us priority when we turn, we just have to put one finger out to the side we are turning (you will have to pay attention to the cyclists…) and the traffic light for cyclists is faster also.

And we still have to consider that almost everywhere you could have to pay to park your car, meanwhile, you can park your bike almost everywhere without paying and you have free parkings in the center!

I just want to go everywhere cycling!

Better no floor than no roof, right? :D

So… this you should be aware, because it’s different: When renting a house in The Netherlands you can be renting a house with no furniture… and no floor!

That's right! Maybe it’s because of the carpets, I don’t really know, but that’s how they do it! You are supposed to pick a floor and have someone to lay it. When you move out you can try to sell it to the next tenant, but if you are not that lucky you will have to remove the floor! It’s not as easy as you would think! We tried to do it ourselves (to help the neighbour) but it was so well glued in all the area so we were exhausted after removing 50 cm!

Note: It turns out there are two machines – one that will rip up the floor and another to remove all the glue… But don’t be deluded - the floor that you paid for at the beginning will be completely ruined.
After this we decided to only have a floor when we have our own house!

 Here is an exemple of no floor, it's a store in a shopping.