Netherlands: Snowflakes

When we decided to break the news to our toddler that we will be moving to the Netherlands, we showed him pictures and videos of the place which will become our new home. We told him about colourful tulip fields, windmills and big rounds of yellow cheese. Rivers, canals and bicycles with baskets. The fact that his friends at playschool will no longer be able to whisper in awe that "your mom is the tallEST!" because in the Netherlands, I will just be one of the many tall moms in his class.

And somewhere in-between we might have mentioned that during very cold winters there is a small likelihood that it could possibly snow, although this year we will miss the coldest winter period and will therefore only encounter snow in a year's time, if we're lucky.

Of course, the only thing he remembered was: Netherlands = Snow!
As soon as he set foot in the country, he started asking about the snow: Where is it? When will we see it? What does it look like? Where is it!!? This, while we were still inside Schipol airport.
And as we neared the airport parking lot: Is it outside? Is is white? I can feel it is very cold here! Where is the snow!!!

He even woke up the first two mornings here, claiming that he dreamt about the snow and running to the window to see if he could catch a glimpse of anything white. Alas, at a chilly 7 degrees Celsius it was much too warm for snow in March.

But! This past weekend we encountered an exceptionally chilly day, compared to the sunny ones of the preceding weeks. The real feel temperature was -2 °C and, as we stepped outside for a walk, we came to the sudden realisation that we were the only people on the street. For a brief second we panicked, wondering if we had missed the new corona rules and were no longer allowed our daily “frisse neus”. But just then a group of toddlers skipped past us for playtime in the park and we breathed a sigh of relief at having avoided a(nother) potential fine.

As I looked at the group of children, I couldn’t decide which I found more surprising:
The fact that the social distancing rules don’t (yet) apply to children here. Or the fact the group of 4-year olds are not partaking in said social distancing, seemingly unsupervised. It seemed like they had just stumbled out of the bushes lining the park and were now running around freely. Once I get the opportunity to go out and actually meet other moms, I would love to ask them about their playtime rules. From what I have observed, it might be a short conversation.

Luckily my toddler was oblivious to my thoughts and stares that day in the park and still follow our (very long list of) rules when in public (which have become even longer due to the current virus situation).

And then it happened. It started snowing!

Ok, technically it was raining lightly and the wind kind of turned the bigger droplets into whitish icicles. But to us, being South African and having experienced 35 °C weather only weeks before, it definitely counted as snow. And so, my husband and I started cheering excitedly and pointed out the individual snow / ice flakes to our toddler. Which he of course missed completely, because frustratingly it would melt before he could see it. But that didn’t dampen our moods as we hurried home to phone the whole family back in South Africa. Because it was snowing!

As with a proper snow day, we stayed inside, watched movies, baked cookies, sent "snow" videos to our family and got all excited about the gusts of snowflakes blowing past our window. With "we" I mean my husband and I. My toddler had long since lost interest in the apparent snow which he could not see.

Here’s my best snowflake picture:

Do you see the white spec in the top right-hand corner?

No?
Neither could my toddler.

Netherlands: Cycling

"You are becoming Dutch!"
The reply of a colleague when I told him about our new means of transportation:

However, I believe you can only claim the title of being Dutch once you can balance the following on your bicycle - and do it with a smile and without breaking a sweat:

(Pictures from Stuff Dutch People Like)

We are still allowed to leave our houses in the Netherlands because "een frisse neus halen kan" (you are still allowed to get a breath of fresh air). Therefore my husband and toddler go for a cycle most weekday mornings while I work from home. They return with stories of beautiful views and interesting sightings (my husband) and tales of freezing fingers and disappearing "padkos" (my toddler). Food, which of course, we never packed in the first place out of fear of corona contamination.

Dedicated cycling routes cover the whole country and, as a bonus, the Netherlands is (mostly) flat! You therefore have numerous, safe cycling options to explore every nook and cranny of this country - and neighbouring countries too. There are so many websites where you can plan or follow a pre-planned cycling routes: Route.nl, Fietsersbond Roeteplanner, Nederland Fietsland, and Bikemap, just to name a few.

Now that the days are getting longer and sunnier (the sun is already setting noticeably later than 3 weeks ago when we arrived), and cycling routes and quaint neighbouring towns are beckoning, the following words are quite apt in light of our current quarantined state and Daylight Saving Time starting this weekend:

(This weekend the clock moves forward. I don't know exactly by how much, but I hope by two months). 

Food for thought: Either my translation skills are not adequate, or this is simply funnier in Dutch :) 

Am I starting to understand Dutch jokes?!!

Netherlands: River Strolls

It may be cold, you may not have seen the sun for days, and your shoes may be soaked by the freezing rain. But when you take a stroll along a river in the Netherlands, none of that really matters. Because! You're taking a stroll along a river!

The fact that you are taking the stroll because you have to complete yet another set of admin, and you don't yet have another method of transportation other than your own two feet, is a discussion for another rainy day.

For now, I'll just enjoy the river. And the rain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I started writing the above blog message 10 days ago when we were still able to enjoy these river walks without too much concern. 

After a team-building event in Belgium on 11 March (because, in Europe, it's clearly not unusual to drive to a neighbouring country after work to spend time with family, friends or colleagues) our mobility has become very limited due to COVID-19.

Since 12 March I have been working from home and my family has only stepped out to enjoy the lovely sunny (but still freezing!) weather for strolls in quieter areas and parks.

But, these river strolls are still lovely - even more so in these uncertain times and while having to stay 1.5 m away from others. My hope is that soon, once this disaster has passed, we will be able to enjoy many more river strolls like these. 

South Africa: Admin... Netherlands: Admin

The most difficult part about moving to a new country is the admin. OK, the admin and getting rid of your house, car, and furniture... only having to replace it all again in a few weeks, in a country where everything is ten times more expensive. And where you have to purchase it in a foreign language where words like "lattenbodem" and "ledikant" suddenly need to form part of your vocabulary. Where you no longer have a bakkie to transport it with. And where it rains constantly, therefore even if you do find a bakkie (which you won't), it will be impossible to use it, because all your belongings will become soaking wet. Did I mention that you also now have to drive on the right side of the road when transporting your items, which is the wrong side, when you come from South Africa? And that everything has to be hoisted x storeys high, because you now live in an apartment and no longer in a house on the “begane grond” level.

But, before you can dive into any of the above-mentioned fun, there is is the admin. Because, in the Netherlands, before you can have or do anything, you first need to open a bank account. And before you can open a bank account, you need a BSN number. And before you can get that, you need a verblijfsvergunning, which takes several weeks and consists of several sub-processes and sub-sets of sub-processes and approvals of pre-approvals.

In January 2020 our admin process(es) started. Together with The Major House Clean-Up. Luckily, my husband dove straight into The Major House Clean-Up, which involved selling our house, selling our furniture, packing the remaining belongings, shipping the belongings, cleaning out the rest of our house and garage, donating what we could, and selling our cars. Not to mention transferring or stopping all our monthly subscriptions and payments. Yes, it was a full-time job of epic proportions.

Concurrently, I was handling the admin linked to my working visa and our residence permits. I won't bore you with the details, but I had a checklist of 113 tasks to complete in South Africa (anything from "find a house" to "legalise original birth certificate in maiden surname by obtaining apostille stamp from DIRCO" and anything in-between). Depressingly I have another 67 tasks to still complete here in the Netherlands.

My husband's last day of work was 2 weeks before I was planning to depart for the Netherlands. I finished 1 week before my departure, and I can honestly say that we worked harder in those last weeks while "on holiday" than we did in any of the weeks before. It happened often that we would start with a sentence and then trail off, forgetting what we were saying, because our minds were so preoccupied with the remaining 74 things to do. Throughout the process we also had to take little leaps of faith and calculated (i.e. nail-bitingly stressful) risks: putting our house on the market, resigning from our current jobs, signing a long-term apartment lease in the Netherlands, etc. I departed for the Netherlands and started at my new job in a new country while my husband and toddler's visas were still being processed back in South Africa.

And, after being in the Netherlands for a week, I have a verblijfsvergunning, but still no BSN and still no bank account.. and therefore still very little of anything else. Why? Because, when I made the appointment at the Gemeente (municipality, not church) and explained in Dutch (yes, Dutch!) that "Ik wil graag een afspraak maken om bij de Gemeente in te schrijven”, the gentleman on the phone assured me (in Dutch!) that "het is prima" and that he was making an appointment for me as we speak.
However, when I showed up at the Gemeente for my appointment, they had no record of me ever phoning! So either my Dutch was so horrifically incomprehensible and my understanding of our 7-minute Dutch phone conversation so horribly misguided, that no appointment had ever been made. Or the friendly Dutch gentleman simply forgot to save my appointment in their system.

Have I mentioned that once you finally manage to secure an appointment for any given step in the process, and have all your (apostilled) documents in order, you often have to wait another 1-3 weeks for the information to be mailed to you, so that you can proceed to the next step?
Yes, actual mail - the kind on paper which gets delivered to a postbox by a mailman outside your home.

This is how it goes in a new country. You might have all the documents, enthusiasm and optimism you need, but because you have to follow the subscribed processes, it is very likely that you won’t be able to do anything until a certain point in the very distant future. Which can be concerning if you have to do something important. Like eat. I have discovered that several grocery stores only accept a Dutch or European debit card... And in order to apply for one, I need a bank account. And to get a bank account...

In the meantime, I can simply write about all the admin I still need to do. Because I’m still waiting for my very first letter to kick-off all the rest of the processes and sub-processes (which might take 1 or perhaps 3 weeks). And only then can I apply for a bank account and only then can I arrange a wifi connection, which is needed to publish this blog post.

So... if you get to read this within the first month of my arrival in the Netherlands, it’s an absolute miracle at this stage!

South Africa: Summer December Holidays

I haven’t added any new blog posts for years, simply because my life was back home. Back in South Africa, where everything was normal and familiar and I could talk to family and friends to tell them about my trials and tribulations, instead of writing them down from afar.

What is my normal in South Africa?
A brick house which is too hot in summer and too cold in winter, but where aircon and heaters are rarely used due to the fact that someone’s grandmother started a very effective rumour, a hundred years ago, that they make you sick. A garden, big enough for kids to kick a ball and play hide-and-seek in. Grass which constantly needs TLC due to being too dry or growing too fast or being invaded by an insect or weed. A garage, not used to store a car, but for your husband’s tools and bicycles and camping gear. Endless, cloudless, sunny days with thunderstorms at night. Braais in the garden on weekends or holidays or whenever we feel like it. Prayers in the morning when I drop off my Toddler at school and “op my stoeltjie sit ek nou” in the evenings before dinner. Church on Sundays, followed by a lunchtime braai with family. Swimming and splashing in friends’ pools. Wine every evening with dinner and with big Sunday lunches. Afrikaans at my Toddler’s school, at his friends’ parties, on wedding invitations, in the doctor’s consulting room, at home.

And December holidays in the summer:
Family, friends. The sun, the sea and SPF50 sunscreen. Endless days and laughter. Braaivleis for Christmas and New Years. Wine, champagne, ice creams on the beach, potjiekos and grilled fish caught during the day. A December holiday is a magical month in South Africa, where the Gauteng offices are empty and the beaches and our hearts are full.

This past year, I felt like I appreciated the magic of a summer December even more. Especially since it involved phone calls from the Netherlands, which could change our plans for the year to come completely...

And as I'm writing this post, I am indeed sitting in a different timezone, on a different continent, and in a very different season (figuratively but also literally!). Ice cold raindrops are splashing against the double glazed windows of our new apartment on this Friday evening, after my first week in the Netherlands.

But before I jump too far ahead, I'm going to linger on the memories of a South African summer for a little longer. Even here in the winter of the Northern hemisphere.

Hong Kong: Escalators

Before I relay all the details of my adventures in Hong Kong - the sights, the places, and the food - I need to tell you about my quest to reach my hotel. Because when you suffer from topographical disorientation, every mundane journey becomes a riveting experience.

Arriving in Hong Kong: So Far So Good...

As mentioned in a previous post, I am slightly apprehensive at the prospect of trusting a random stranger with my life, and therefore prefer to walk or take the metro whenever I arrive in a new city. 
Before reaching Hong Kong, I had carefully planned out my route: I would take the metro from Mong Kok to Yau Ma Tei station and onward to Central station, where after I would walk the 3 km to my hotel on Hong Kong Island.

Hong Kong Metro Map

But upon arriving in Hong Kong, I made 3 fatal errors, in alarmingly quick succession:

1. Deviating from The Plan

After a late afternoon meeting in Mong Kok, I allowed myself to be talked into taking a taxi to Hong Kong Island. In peak hour traffic. 
It was mentioned, as an after-thought, that the taxis might not be going from Kowloon (where I was) to Hong Kong Island (where I needed to be, preferably before dark), but that I would quite likely find my way since I was resourceful, wasn't I? (Wait... what?!)

Peak-Hour Panic

After waiting in line with approximately 134 people for an equally unbelievable duration, I was told, in no uncertain terms, that no taxi in Kowloon would be going to Hong Kong Island at that hour. I was, however, welcome to wait until midnight, when all taxis would be making their way back to Hong Kong Island for the last journey of the day.

Hong Kong Taxis

And so, viciously angry at myself for deviating from The Plan, I headed to the Mong Kok station. By then my heavy suitcase and I were in the midst of full-on Hong Kong Friday afternoon peak-hour traffic. It felt like all 7 million locals were out on the sweltering streets of Mong Kong, with the single aim of trying to run me over. 
They mostly succeeded too.

Mong Kok Madness

2. Underestimating the Distance

By the time I had made it to Central station, night had fallen. I was tired from walking, shoving and dragging my suitcase. And I still had 3 km to go. Even so, thought I would easily walk (or perhaps even skip) the last 3 km. I had, after all, run distances of 3 km x 7 numerous times before. No sweat.

Wrong. 
Jogging 3 km in the cool of the day with shorts and state-of-the-art Asics, is something completely different to walking 3km, in 30 degree C heat, in a skirt and high heels, while dragging a by-then enormous, humongous suitcase. 
It. Was. Torture.
It did not help that my suitcase and I had to cross numerous streets bursting with foreigners in the Lan Kwai Fon area, all smartly dressed for after-work drinks and a night out on the town.

No-So-Happy Hour

3. Outsmarting Googlemaps

Through all the shoving and dragging, I had noticed that Googlemaps was directing me along a certain, longer path up the hill but I kept to (very steep) side streets in the hope of reaching my hotel sooner. 
No such luck. 
Eventually, halfway up a dangerously steep path, I stopped and threw my hands up in despair. 
And that was when I saw it: The world's longest, covered outdoor escalator system, beckoning from right above my head.

Before: Struggling Up Steep Streets

After: Escalating with Ease

If a first-time visitor were to ask me what to do in Hong Kong, I would say: "Look up!"
This seemingly inconspicuous act would make your introduction to Hong Kong much more pleasant than, although definitely not as memorable as, mine. 

Above Board: Hong Kong Walkways Throughout the City

Hong Kong: The Difference

When I told my South African friends that I planned on travelling the 40 km from Shenzhen in Mainland China to visit Hong Kong, they often replied in puzzled tones: "But, isn't Hong Kong in China?"
Or they would smile and nod excitedly, which either meant they were cognisant of the big difference between Hong Kong and the rest of China, or that they had no idea where Hong Kong was.

Either way, I do not blame them at all. 
Hong Kong is an interesting city indeed.

Hong Kong

During World War II Hong Kong was occupied by Japan, but was liberated by Chinese and British troops in 1945. For fourty-seven years, from 1950 to 1997, Hong Kong with it's 600 000 post-war inhabitants remained under British rule. An influx of people followed suit due to the manufacturing trade and high-rise buildings emerged to house the growing number of people. In 1997 the city was handed back to China under the "One country, two systems" principle and is therefore a city within China, but very different from mainland China.

Today, this city of 1100 km2 is home to 7 million people - it's smaller than Johannesburg's 1600 km2, but with twice as many inhabitants.

Busy Bodies

So, what is the difference between Hong Kong and China?
Here are a few I have come across in my brief visit to the city - some are evident, cannot-be-overlooked, in-your-face differences. Others are more subtle.

Crossing Over

• Visa requirements: South Africans don't need a visa to visit Hong Kong, but they do for (mainland) China. Crossing the border entails filling in forms, standing in a queue, getting your passport stamped, etc., etc. In other words, it is much easier to travel from Paris to the Netherlands than to travel from China to Hong Kong.
• Currencies: The currency in Hong Kong is Hong Kong Dollar, while in China it is Chinese Renminbi (Yuan). Neither "foreign" currency will be accepted once you cross the border. Yes, I have tried in vain.
• Traffic regulations: In China you drive on the right. In Hong Kong, on the left. If you have requested a taxi to take you from China to Hong Kong, the driver's steering wheel will be on the right, which means in China the driver will drive on the right side of the road from the wrong side of the car. Luckily, as soon as you cross the border to Hong Kong, the driver will find himself on the left side of the road and therefore on the right side of the car again. Yes, it is as confusing as it sounds.
• Language: In China everyone (except me, it seems) speaks Mandarin. In Hong Kong, the native tongue is Cantonese and (happy days!) most people can speak and understand English.
• Legal System: Regulations from the number of children you are allowed to have (one in China and unrestricted in Hong Kong) to the number of Facebook friends (none in China due to the Great Firewall and unrestricted in Hong Kong), and anything in-between changes as soon as you cross the China-Hong Kong border.

Look Right

I found this BBC article very interesting as it mirrored many of my at-first-glance experiences.

When speaking to Hong Kong locals, many of them view Hong Kong as culturally different from mainland China, as explained in this video:

As for me, the more different the places that I get to visit on my journeys, the happier I am. 

Therefore I am looking forward to further exploring this city in, but different from, China.

Sparkling Skyline