Sunday, October 2, 2011

New Arrivals!

Welcome to the Hague!!!



This is the first of hopefully many posts to come on my new life in Den Haag, the Netherlands.  Ryan and I have been here for roughly 3 weeks, mostly getting ourselves oriented with the city, trying to decipher Dutch signs, and taking care of all the basics.  It's been an amazing 3 weeks, and we finally moved out of the hotel and into our new home this week!  Although the long-distance was hard over the past 6 months in Ireland, it was worth the wait.  We're both extremely happy to be on the same side of the pond together again, and so far the Hague has exceeded our expectations in terms of being a great place to live.

It's worth mentioning that the Hague is the expat capital of the world.  It's known as the international city of peace and justice, and many global organizations are located here.  The International Criminal Court, Dutch Parliament, 100+ embassies, and various war crimes tribunals are all located here.  Approximately 40% of the population is expats, and english is widely spoken.  There's a beautiful beach to the north and we're connected by rail to the rest of continental europe, about 30-40 minutes from Amsterdam.  And yes, everyone rides bikes everywhere.

Parliament


One of the benefits of living in such a diverse city is the abundance of good international cuisines.  We've already had some great Thai, Argentinian, Italian, Dutch, and looking forward to trying out much more in the months to come. 


Argentinian tapas

paella

our local square at night - tons of people eating and drinking outside, so cozy!

Here are some pics from Scheveningen (don't worry - i couldn't pronounce the name if my life depended on it), the beach town about 10 minutes by bike.  The weather has been glorious this past week and we've gone to the beach almost every single day!

main hotel / square of scheveningen



 fabulous boardwalk lined with beachfront restaurants - great place to chill on a summer day

maybe next summer once i have my medical insurance sorted...


you can also go hiking / cycling through the sand dunes




There's a nude beach next to this one, although the border is a bit hazy and it's not easy to tell where the bathing-suit-beach ends and the nude beach begins.  Needless to say, we were a bit surprised to observe a fully-nude man playing paddle-ball with his fully-clothed girlfriend!

Now I always knew Dutch people were tall, but I wasn't prepared for the embarrassment of trying to rent a standard bike, only to find that my feet wouldn't reach the pedals.  Luckily I was able to find a fellow vertically-challenged girl with a bike for sale and made sure to buy it right away to avoid having to coast around on a children's bike...  Ryan got his too, so now we're feeling slightly more Dutch.  Interestingly enough, so many bikes get stolen each year that it's recommended to purchase a heavy lock that costs even more than the bike itself!



Dutch "soccer mom" bike - fits at least 4 kids.

The highlight for me in these first few weeks has been the discovery of 12+ "city farms" located in various parks throughout the Hague.  These are basically small petting zoos with farm animals that my inner-child-self can't get enough of.  In the first week alone we went to one of the farms 4 times!  The billy goats love carrots and apples, so we made sure to bring some.

hey Mr. piggie

feed me!


more carrots please...

me too!


Moooooooo



tug-o'-war

bunnies too!



kiss kiss!


someone needs to cut down on their carbs...

king of the castle

deer/moose park next to central train station

Our neighbor's cat, Romeo, has also taken a liking to us.  I guess the way to a cat's heart is through his stomach!  We've sort of adopted our new friend as a part of our new home. :)




kitty-yoga

mmmmm....snack-time



cooking with my new friend

Unfortunately after Ryan and I both started getting bad allergies we had to lay down the law with Romeo and keep him out of the house, but we can still hang outside.  Here's some pics of the new house / patio area:


shed / storage area

we're at the end of our block, so this is the walkway we have to bike / walk through each day - it's gorgeous!

and...the happy couple!!

 good-night!

Tomorrow is my first day of work, so the honeymoon will officially be over and I will once again become a productive member of society.  My new team has been really welcoming to us, and already we've gone to a work happy hour and the wedding reception of one of the girls on the team.  It's great to be included in all the festivities even though I haven't started work yet, and I already feel like I know my team and look forward to the first day.  That's it for now, time to get some sleep before the big day.  Cheers!


1 comment:

  1. SARAHHHH!! You are soooo gorgeous, even moreso than your amazing scenery photos, and that's saying a lot. (brian, obvi lookin like a stunner number uno as vell). Thank you for kissing the goats. Will you please milk some and make some cheese for me when I come visit (probably in a few years. or maybe I'll just become a diplomat and move there with you). Your home looks INCROYABLE and the city sounds wonderful. I love the bike-bike-bicycletting! Of course, we've been paying close attention to bike cities and amenities and the west coast is great- very biker friendly, but man the 101 shoulder is NARROW. Can't wait for this week in Portland where we'll have our own lanes and maybe even a full-on path or two. Hope work starts out well.

    KISSSES, v

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