Pilgrimage to IKEA

First week of work = success!  One down, hopefully many more to go.  I'll be even happier when the catching up phase is over and I can actually contribute something.

A little about my team - we're very international.  The team is about 15-20 people (5 of which are actuaries).  The team includes people from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Iran, Israel, India, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, and I'm the token American.  Looks like my first few assignments will include Italy, Spain, and Hungary - i'm looking forward to hopefully getting to do some on-site visits.  My door to door journey to work takes about 15 minutes.  However, add on an additional 5-10 minutes if there's heavy rain and winds (this includes time to park bike at work and sulk in my soaking-wet, dripping attire...)

my "car"

Ryan and I found a nice, hole-in-the wall Italian restaurant that does amazing mushroom risotto.  Tastes like it was made by someone's grandma and shipped over directly from Italy.

no pictures when my mouth's full!

On those nights when there's not enough time to cook a real meal or go out, we found something at the grocery store made just for our kind:  "Big Americans" pizza!

so big!

Our friend Romeo still religiously makes sure we give him attention:

We found a pretty good thai restaurant (it's no Elephant Trail, but the closest yet).  They do take-away, so when I was sick with a cold last week we did that for dinner.  The chilis definitely cleared up my sinuses!

there are little hearts carved into our steps - so cute!

Over the weekend we made our first pilgrimage to the Hague Market - apparently the "largest market of its kind in Europe."  It's pretty much crap followed by more crap, and just when you think you've had enough crap and want to go home, you get to the food section.  The food is something else!  TONS of produce stands with people yelling left and right, herbs, spices, meat, fish - you name it, they've got it!

one of several stands offering fresh fish

mmm...heads

Between the two of us, we did a pretty good job.  For only 30 euros, we got a pretty ridiculous amount of food (compared to what we'd get at the grocery store).  The size of our backpacks limited the quantity we could bring home, considering we had to bike our treasures home through pouring rain and knock-you-off-your-bike winds.

the prize

So that was Saturday.  Sunday we made the pilgrimage taken by all expats - to IKEA.  The land of home furnishings where you could easily spend a week and not get through the whole store.  Since we have no car, getting there involved taking a tram, a train, and a bus.  We went to the one in Delft which is actually the store headquarters (surprisingly it's not in Sweden).

eagerly awaiting the bus which will take us to the enchanted land...

the monolith of glory

Ryan and I both had never been inside one of these kingdoms, but had heard many tales.  We started off with lunch in the store restaurant.

princess cake is a must.

someone's excited about the free-refills on soda (the one place in Holland where you can get them!)

the legendary swedish meatballs.  I ordered the small plate (10), but unfortunately you only get a toothpick-flag if you order the larger plate (15).  I worked my charm and got a flag anyway...muah ha ha ha ha....

let the journey begin

a demo room - oh boy!

how do we get out???

We didn't do too much damage on this trip considering we have a fully-furnished apartment, but we got some ideas for a couple things we want to buy next time (a bookshelf and a dresser).  Those would have been difficult to carry home on a bus, train, and tram, so we'll  have to make friends with someone with a car to help us out.

That's it for now, more exciting news from Sarah van Konrad and Ryan van Hinchey to come!

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!