Het Strijkijzer

A quick follow up on the last post

Rachael did have an adverse reaction shortly after writing her previous blog post. After the sugar effect wore off, she slipped into a coma, that was quickly upgraded to "light nap". TeamVaughnBlog (a subsidiary of Peauxdellco) does not endorse the recreational use of Tressor. If you or someone you know has a cereal addiction, please seek professional help.


So after 8 months of Rotterdam, we're packing up and moving out to Den Haag. Het Strijkijzer is the largest residential tower in Den Haag (the tallest in the netherlands is Montevideo, which is in our current neighborhood). Construction just completed. It's so new Google Earth doesn't even show a building there.

Here is what the tower looks like now:

The bad news is it'll be smaller than our current place, so no separate guest room. We actually lucked out, most of the floor plans are 1160 sq ft, but they had a handful of odd ones that are 1,270, which we managed to get. We're on the 35th floor, so I'm also concerned about the elevator situation. It's a new building so the elevator capacity could have been overlooked. There is student housing in the bottom of the building, but there should be enough distance floor wise so that won't be a problem.

Good news is Rachael will be a few tram stops from her work. My commute will change by at most 10 minutes a day, but I won't have to rely on a metro. My rail ticket also will be the same, as I've got a network pass anyways. There's a pretty big gym in the building under construction. The Hague is also an easier city to live in if you are an expat. There are more bars there that cater to a mostly foreign clientel. In Rotterdam, we haven't really found a place we can just go for a drink with friends.

We'll be moving in either around the 1st of April or the 15th. Pictures of our new digs will follow shortly.

Knoflook and Tresor

I think it's about time for a food post.

Last night Charles and I went to Knoflook which means garlic in Dutch. As you can see from the web site, the items on the menu which do NOT contain garlic are specially marked. For dinner we had...

Creamy garlic soup to start
Bread with garlic spreads
Charles had lamb cooked in garlic
I had salmon with garlic pasta
For dessert we split chocolate cake with garlic ice cream which was fantastic

Needless to say we both had to brush our teeth twice this morning.

Another interesting culinary discovery we have made is this fabulously delicious cereal called Tresor. It is made by Kellogg's and as this blogger states, it "can't possibly be legal anywhere esle but Holland." However I do think they also have it in France and Germany. It's basically crispy yummy caramel flaky things with chocolate and caramel pudding in the middle. This cereal actually gets more tasty as it absorbs the milk. I am putting a limit on the number of times we're allowed to indulge in this treat.

Perfect example of bad Dutch customer service

I hate to complain, but here is a good example of how customer service can sometimes be difficult in this country.

In early January, I brought my racing bike to MegaBike to have it repaired and to purchase a more city friendly bike. I had the hardest time dropping the racing bike off because all three repair shops claimed they would be closed for varying periods of time ranging from 2 weeks to permanently. Charles was with me so he remembers the craziness of running between the different shops and hearing this weird story about them closing.

Finally the guy in the Shimano shop says he will take my bike, but because of the closing it will take about a month to repair. I say I am fine with that because at the time I had my broken elbow and wouldn't be riding my racing bike anyway. So I leave the bike and get a receipt.

In mid February I call the bike shop and they tell me they can't find my bike! No apologies or suggested solutions. It is just gone. The guy working that day took down my number and told me he would call me back. I never received a follow-up call.

So this weekend Charles and I go down to the shop and hand the ticket to the guy working there who happens to be the same guy who was there when we dropped the bike off in January. He immediately knows where the bike is and makes a comment about how it has been there for a long time. I say something about having to wait because the shop was closed in January. He laughs and tells me that the shops never closes!

Hmmm, then I guess I just imagined being told that by multiple employees who almost refused to take my bike because of this mysterious closing.

I can go on and on with similar examples, but I have realized that living in America has spoiled me. I am used to the customer always being right and getting some kind of freebie when the vendor doesn't realize that quickly enough. You just don't get that here.

Except at this bagel place. I was pretty impressed with them after a visit this weekend. Good bagels too.

Obama-rama in the Netherlands

It's fascinating to watch how another country views our elections. In particular most dutch people like Obama, and it's bizarre to see the front page of the news papers here, about once a week covering the primaries.

"What will Obama really change?"


















"Hillary wins, Barack loses: Why smear tactics work"


















I've learned more about how we elect people this election from simply explaining to colleagues how the system works. Texas is a perfect example, and I've had to explain to people how Obama probably actually won the state as a whole, even though he lost the primary.

The biggest confusion, when it comes to a dutch person, is the federalist system, and how America uses some very weird ways to insure proportional representation.

I will leave with these, and the comment that as far as I can tell, these aren't meant to be racist.















Graffiti seen on my train to work at Rotterdam Centraal station.