The unpacking continues . . .

Once all the unpacking was done, we had to figure out where everything would go. As we went thru this process, we realized we brought a few to many extra furniture pieces. Scott will say he wanted to leave some of these at home, but I said take them. The owners left a beautiful glass cabinet and the living room has built in bookcases, so didn’t need all the bookcases we brought. On our top level there is a tiny room, which has now become our storage room, for all the extra stuff we don’t need. I think better we had more than less as furniture is usually expensive, so we wouldn’t have to worry. The place is coming together really nicely and so great to be settled. As soon as we finish up, I will take pictures and post some. One complaint is the sinks here are fairly small, not what I am used to, but I am adjusting. My sink liners from home were way too big, so I had to go out and find new ones, which was quite a challenge. No Bed, Bath and Beyond to run to. It is great that we live near a tram which takes you right to the town center where you can find tons of shopping. I located the MAC makeup counter in a store, whoohoo!! I spent an afternoon there this week buying all the odds and ends that we still needed. Just bought what I needed and got back on tram to our house. I feel like I am back in New York City. Where we live is really a combination of city/suburbs. It is a suburbs feel, quiet and green, but nearby are trams which take you right to the heart of the city. The tram also goes right to Central Station from where you can get on a train to Amsterdam, Paris and I think other cities.

Forgot to relay a story last week, so wanted to share. Last week Scott was sitting on the couch and I noticed him reading a People magazine. Now I was so confused where he got one from. Even more confused when I checked the address and saw it was mine, which are being sent to my sister’s house. Turns out Gabrielle had to send us stuff and in the package she included 4 of my People magazines. Reading them made me feel like I was right at home and in that moment I decided I will keep getting them and Gab can send every few months a stack. Shout out to the greatest sister, who is the best property manager and always keeps me in the loop.

Yay we have a home in The Hague!!!

Monday-
Today finished up the packing and watched some good ole TV as I knew the next few days would be TV less. The horror. Just kidding, I survived. Then prepared my big pre-fast meal. For those of you who may not know, this past week was the fast of Tisha Bav. This fast commemorates the destruction of the first and second Temple in Jerusalem. You can’t end or drink and is a day of mourning. You have to go to the synagogue and pray at night. Because sundown is so late here, the fast and services did not begin until after 10:00 pm. Scott did not feel well, so I went to services by myself. I got there at 10:15 and the lights were off. I guess in translation I got the times wrong. Then after a few minutes of waiting the Rabbi arrived, so was just us for a few minutes and slowly the people started arriving. There was actually a decent amount of men and a few women. It was a very meaningful service and then got home by midnight. Tuesday was our move day. It is not ideal to be moving on the holiday, but we had no alternative. This was the only available day that worked with the moving company and Scott’s schedule. At 8:00 am the movers arrived. First I was a bit worried as only two guys appeared, one small and scrawny and the other wearing fancy shoes. They started building this elevator like contraption outside our front window. Since most homes in the Netherlands have these windy stairs they rarely carry up furniture thru the stairs. Rather using this elevator like system they send it up to the second and third floors. I wish I took a picture, as it was so neat. Finally three other mean arrived to help with the move, which took 4 hrs. Whew. They just loaded up the boxes and we directed were they should go. They only had to carry up a few pieces to the third floor as they built the elevator only to the second. The movers helped to unpack the big items. So exciting to have all our stuff. Then the movers left and we returned to our temporary place as Scott had a huge work project to complete. I managed to fast as long as I could and was proud of myself. And of course wouldn’t be me if I didn’t break the fast on mac and cheese. Then Wednesday we got up early checked out of our temp place and moved in officially to our new home. I spent the next two days unpacking. Thankfully everything came in one piece. A few minor things broke, but nothing major. All the glass came in one piece. As I unpacked I realized we brought way to much crap and instead should have brought more food, but what can you do. So awesome to have all our stuff. We koshered our kitchen and last night made pancakes from our American pancake mix. Woohooo. We are now busy working on the unpacking and arranging. This weekend will be our first shabbos in our new home and we are very excited. Once we are complete with the unpacking some pictures will be posted. Again we have tons of extra space, so come visit.

IKEA

Weekend at Ikea-
First off I should report that something wonderful happened on Friday. Ok, not earth shuttering but made my day. I found a TV for 50 Euro and Scott picked up and brought to our house. Now it is not a flat screen, but an older second hand one, that is perfect for our needs. Fingers crossed it works. The cable man comes on Thursday, so we wait until then. Well by Shabbos, Scott and I were all back to normal, health wise. He was the 10th man in shul on shabbos, so really good that he felt better. Was a nice weekend. Went to shul and spent time with the friends we have made and then came home and just relaxed. Sunday was a big day as we went to IKEA. You heard that right; IKEA is all over the world and there is one 15 minutes from us. It is exactly like the IKEA at home and it was great because everything is in English. Since there is a different electricity current here, we couldn’t bring any appliances or electronics with us. So our mission in IKEA was lamps, but of course when we were there we found many other items, 2 chairs, some cooking pots and other odds and ends. Then we headed to the local Home Dept, called Gamma. It is exactly like Home Depot, so Scott is a happy man and it is very close to our house. We bought some more essentials we needed for the house. Then we made a run to the house with some of our stuff and now await the move this week. So exciting!!!

Pictures from Amsterdam

Tulip bulbs in Flower market

Garden outside museum

Statue in garden

Outside Musuem

Need M & M's please, but happy have new friend . . .

Friday-
Well thankfully I am on the mend, but poor Scott caught the cold and is still feeling really lousy. Colds really get into his system and take forever to leave. Today spent maybe 2 hrs working to translate the kosherlist. As I may have mentioned earlier, there is a list of kosher products put together by the Rabbinical Authority here to determine what products in the stores are kosher. Problem for me is all in Dutch. So is a painstaking job to translate to English. Still have a bit left to go, but discovered some items that are kosher here and realize can buy, which is great. Also confirmed M& M’s are not kosher here, which stinks because I love them. I put my family members on high alert to check for M & M sales in the store, so they can stock up for me. Please be in touch with my mom or sister if you read about a sale in the supermarket or drugstores. Thanks Well finally yesterday we got word that our container is ready, so we will move next week. Woohoo. Let us all just pray that nothing got lost and all we shipped comes in one piece. Well I started with Friday, but let me get back to this week.

Really took it easy early in the week, to try and make sure got better which worked and then yesterday went to Amsterdam. I have to give a big shout out and thanks to Jodi Friedman for making a shidduch, non marriage of course. She connected me with a great girl who she knew from Ramaz who moved to Amsterdam about 6 months ago with her husband who is doing a post-doc there. I went to meet her yesterday to hang out. We both have tons in common and she is awesome. It was great to spend time with someone who is familiar with life at home and can relate to me. We went to the Willet-Holthuysen Museum, which is a 17th century canal house filled with original 18th century interiors. Was very beautiful and interesting. Anyone who has ever traveled with me knows how I enjoy seeing old homes. Then we just walked around Amsterdam. The city is packed now with tourists. We walked thru the flowers market and you could buy tulip seeds, but they had no actual tulips as they are no longer in season. Also discovered a MAC (makeup store) in Amsterdam. This is awesome because this is the brand I use, so don’t have to worry in case I run out. It is much more expensive than the states, so best I buy there, but at least feel good knowing can be found in this country. Was a great day spending time with a new friend. Amsterdam and The Hague are about 1 hr by train, which isn’t so far, but once I get the hang of driving here, I can always drive there and she can meet me in The Hague or we can meet halfway. Then the evening was spent in the stores buying things we needed for our house. Now the afternoon is winding down and soon will get ready for shabbos. Next week will be exciting as we move into our house. Remember plenty room for visitors, so come visit us.

Pictures from Antwerp

Interior and exterior of train station in Antwerp

Yay kosher food . . .

Wed-
I decided this week as my days are very free to volunteer at the Jewish community center, who was hosting a one week camp for children. I volunteered for two days. Was great to be able to offer my help with the kids. The camp was organized by the Rebbetzin and her eldest daughter and two of her friends, plus two other adults. The days I was there, we had about 20 kids from 2 ½ to 10. Most were Israeli, so spoke Dutch and Hebrew, which made it very hard to communicate. Only 4 kids spoke fluent English, so they were my buddies for the two days. The kids did arts and crafts projects both days. The first day we went to a Gymboree like location, where the kids went wild jumping and running all around. The most exciting part of this day was I discovered a certain type of ices was kosher. Go Rocket Pops. Very exciting. The second day we went to a petting zoo. Now anyone who knows me and my love or shall we say hate of animals, will know this is not how I would want to spend my free time. I was assigned two kids, one two and a half year old who was scared of the animals and one older one who wanted to see the animals. So it was a challenge keeping an eye on the two. Finally the older one went with another group and we just hung out in the playground. It was a very hot day, but I know not according to what has been in NY.

My most favorite story of the two day experience is as follows: The first day there were not enough spots for everyone to go at once to the Gymboree, so they kept me there with the one other adult who did not speak a word of English. I tried communicating with her in the Hebrew I know, but wasn’t working. She had a question for me, so to figure out what she wanted we played telephone. She spoke in Hebrew to one of the children who knew Hebrew and Dutch and then that child translated in Dutch what the Israeli said to a kid who knew English and Dutch and then he relayed the message to me in English. All she wanted to know was when they were coming to pick us up?

This next shabbos was very uneventful as I think I caught a cold from one of the kids, so was sick all shabbos.

Sunday though was probably one of the most exciting days so far we have had on our European adventure. No, we were not happy the Dutch team lost the World Cup, but rather we went to Antwerp to buy kosher food. Woohooo. Antwerp is only an hr and half drive away, so we packed our coolers and we went off. First we started the day at the Diamond Museum, as Antwerp is the capital of the Diamond trade. I think almost 80% of the Worlds diamonds pass thru there. Funny to think this may be the second time the diamonds in my engagement ring have passed thru this city. Then we went off for lunch to a kosher restaurant. We ate at Hoffy’s which had an enormous selection of meat. I went a bit crazy and ordered so much. But I started the meal off with a huge bowl of chicken soup, so Scott had to finish what I couldn’t. The food was amazing and we were so excited to be back eating in a kosher restaurant. Then we went off in search of a kosher market. Some lady on the street directed us to a place. We walked in and it was like we were in Heaven. They had tons of products we recognized. I bought three packages of American cheese and also string cheese. I have never been so happy to see cheese. Then we bought dressings, marinades, candy, chips, spices, and American hot dogs. This was so exciting. Now we can feel better about things.

Then we came home to watch the game. We found a comfortable spot within a bar, to avoid the craziness we figured would commence in the main square in The Hague where we were. It was a very uneventful game and we were on edge and then when they lost, was so sad. People just had such horrible looks on their faces, was very sad to witness. It was very sad even to us, who were not born here, but were rooting all along.

Pictures to follow. . .

Monday- Today was exciting because I made us fresh onion soup. Came out amazing. Been wanting to do this since we have been here, but was missing some ingredients. Finally picked up yesterday and was good to go. The warm soup was good, since we both now have colds and hoping next time I write, we will be back to 100%.

Pictures from the semifinals game

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Yay Holland . . .

Mon-
Quiet day at home, but tonight we went to a lecture in the shul. Talk was about Jerusalem and The Hague; Challenges to Israel from the perspective of International Law and the speaker was Yitzhak Blum, Deputy Director of the Department of International Affairs in the Israeli Ministry of Justice. It was so interesting because there was actually a nice turnout-close to 20 people, which is about what they get on Shabbos and this is the turnout that you may see in the states for a lecture. Most of the Jews here are Israeli, so they were very interested in this topic. (Note most Israelis do not come to shul on shabbos, which is why we see such low numbers to services when the community is a decent size) The speaker spoke about the way Israel plays into matters of international law. Also tied this in to the international offices which sit in The Hague and their relationship to Israel. Was quite interesting.

Tuesday-
Today was so much fun. Started off the day with going to see a movie, Letters to Juliet. It was so great, highly recommend. Took place in NY and Italy. What was very interesting to me is often I would see a movie about NY and say how exciting it is that I live in this place and then see places in Europe in a movie and say wish I could be there. Now there is a change of thought that when I see NY, I think wow I miss NY and when I see Europe, I think so exciting I am here and can experience all that this place has to offer.

At night we went to watch the World Cup game in a square in the middle of The Hague. This place is filled with restaurants and each place has TVs set up and chairs for people to watch the game. We got there early to get seats as its gets packed. Everyone was in orange and had amazing team spirit. People were going crazy from the beginning. It was an incredible atmosphere and I can’t even describe in words what the experience was like. It was so crazy. Every time Holland scored people were screaming, cheering. Orange filled the square. People were in all types of costumes, young and old. And then Holland won. If I thought people were crazy before, boy was I wrong. The screaming was elevated. Everywhere you went you heard honking of horns and noise. We went home fairly after to avoid the mayhem, but from our 11th floor window for hours after they won you heard honking of horns and screams. No joke. Now we wait until Sunday for the final game and here is hoping Holland wins.

Going to update pictures from the night on the blog.

Leiden Pictures

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Enjoy!!!

Last week in June and Leiden

Last week in June-

This week was relatively quiet for me, so little to report. The most exciting thing though was we received the keys to our new home. We did a walkthrough with the brokers and they did a great job of making sure walls were painted, we had new curtains and whole place was cleaned. We also got a brand new stainless steel fridge, which is still small, as most European appliances are not what we are used to in the states. But our broker arranged to have the old fridge placed in a shed outside and now we have two fridge/freezers. The extra one also has a huge freezer which is awesome to have, so we can stock up on frozen foods and have a place to store them. This is what I have been told most European religious Jews do, when they don’t live in a place where kosher meat is easily accessible. You stock up so you are always good to go. We hope to go to Antwerp, Belgium next week to stock up on stuff. We are very happy with our permanent housing. It is a classic Holland row house, 3 levels, 4 bedrooms, windy stairs (though not as bad as we saw) a lovely garden in the back and best of all a walk in closet, which is very unusual for Holland.

We also did some walking around the town at night, which was so great and hung out with Scott’s coworker and her husband who also just moved here.

On Friday I met with a career advisor, who basically told me that the job search process here is very similar to the states. One thing different is a resume or CV as they call it, require a birth date, marital status, visa status and hobbies. A few things which you would rarely find on a resume in the states. She also said the interview process is extremely rigorous. You have to take multiple tests and have extensive interviews before you are hired. Since it is difficult to fire people here, they want to ensure they hire the best and most qualified talent. I will start job searching and hope to find something.

This week we had another great shabbos. Services in the synagogue are very similar to home. They are in Hebrew but the biggest challenge is every sermon or speech is in Dutch, which we can’t understand. I have to be honest, it is really boring to sit there and not understand a word being said. This would be an impetus for trying to learn the language. After services was another great Kiddush. This time they had really yummy pastries and cakes. Then we went out to lunch to members of the community. We had such a great time and were there past 5 or so. These people were so nice and it is great to know we now have friends in the community who live by us and we can share shabboses with. We had cholent there which I know Scott would agree was some of the best cholent we have ever eaten in our lives. It was such a nice day and when this happens, I can feel like ok, I can live here.

Sunday on advice from our shabbos hosts we decided to head to Leiden. It is a nearby town famous for its university. We started the day with some Starbucks, which was our way to celebrate the 4th and have something American. It is interesting that unlike the states, there is not a Starbucks on every corner. I don’t think there is one in The Hague and this is the first we have seen since we are here. Then we went on a lovely canal tour through the city. It was lots of fun. Then we walked to the Botanical Gardens and walked around which was really nice. After this as we read there was a street fair going on, we went and walked around. The best part was Scott purchased a case for his cell phone for 5 Euro. Little things are exciting for us and now he is all set and won’t be scrambling how to protect his phone. After the fair we decided to visit one museum called National Museum of Ethnology. This museum houses world famous collections on diverse non-western cultures. Was actually fairly boring, except for a video on the exploration of Mayan cities. Then we headed to the local supermarket to see if we could find any kosher food. Supermarket shopping here is the absolute worst, as nothing has a symbol, so can’t just automatically know what you can eat. I have to use the kosher book, so grocery shopping takes forever. We found some sauces, but all had MSG which Scott can’t eat, which was a bummer. But did find some salad dressings which was great. One was even honey mustard so can use on fish and chicken, which is great. Then we headed home after a long day and were working on planning our upcoming European vacation, details which will follow.

There is a link I will post after this with pictures from Leiden.

More pictures-Rotterdam

Pictures Scott took in Rotterdam on a boat cruise for work.

Pictures as promised

At Scheveningen

Sand sculptures all around the city

Watching the bungee jumping -smiles after eating Ben and Jerry's

bungee jumping by the beach

smiles in The Hague