Goodbye Vancouver, Hello Den Haag!

As we took off from Vancouver the sun was setting, and the sky was red and purple--it was a beautiful goodbye. Ross & I arrived in Den Haag about 4pm the local time. As we stepped out of the Centraal Station, we were met by a sea of hundreds and hundreds of parked bicycles, and we knew we had arrived. Maybe it was the lack of rest, maybe it was the realization that we were really here, or maybe it was actually humorous, but we laughed and laughed and found a taxi to our B&B, which is our home for the first week.


Yesterday we went to the Expat Centre in the City Hall (Stadhuis). It was so helpful! We are impressed. It had information on everything from getting a doctor to finding work. We recieved a welcoming package with our first dropjes, and a mini pair of wooden shoes. It was a nice welcome.

Afterwards, we went looking for houses. This was trickier than expected. There are many hoops that one has to jump through, and it's very competitive. The first place we looked at was awful, and very much like a WWII bunker; small, grey and the cupboards were labeled in bold Helvetica. Supposedly it was a joke, but we didn't get it. As we left, I slipped and fell down a flight of cement stairs. Luckily I was wearing a small backpack which saved me from falling on my back and getting a concusion, but my right arm took a beating; it is black and blue from my wrist to my elbow. Needless to say we didn't take the place.


After a few more, we have agreed to a place in a good neighborhood. It's an old buildng with high ceilings, and lots of light. Beautiful by our standards, but a very typical apartment here. We are still looking at a few more, however, and may take something else if it appears better.

Last night we went to the beach Scheveningen and touched the North Sea (Noordzee). We wanted to get something to eat, and were suprised at the endless choices of Spanish/Mexican & South American restaurants, with names like Copocobana, Bora Bora, Aruba, Eldorado, etc. It was very bizarre to us; there was a beach and sand, but it was by no means "tropical." Ordering Mexican food off a menu in Dutch proved to be quite tricky, but nachos are still nachos. Afterwords, there was a fireworks show similar to Vancouver's Celebration of Light (it was Spain & China last night), but with way less people.



Well, that's been our last 72 hours. We are presently cruising around, and pretending to be locals, but it's obvious we're not because everyone automatically speaks English to us, which is just fine for now.