Perfect Sunny Weekend!

After knowing that Depeche Mode will not be appearing at the Pinkpop festival, my Hubs and myself have consoled each other that at least we're going to have a great, sunny (with clouds) weather this weekend ;) This means at my parents-in-law house, we will be sitting in the backyard, basking in the sun and of course with good food ;) My mother-in-law is a good cook and we are always been pampered with food when we're there. That's my parents-in-law's great hospitality ;) Going to look forward to the weekend in Maastricht ;)

Maastricht	Sat	Sun	Mon
Weather
Min/max	10/23°C	12/24°C	10/20°C

Jaya Supermarket Collapsed

I woke up this morning and was told by my girlfriend who was online at the moment that the once iconic building/landmark in the suburbs of Petaling Jaya (PJ), Malaysia (Jalan 14/20 or Section 14) has collapsed yesterday evening during a demolition work. I quickly went to the local news online (TheStar) to read what has actually happened.

The first thing I saw on the news heading was: 3 dead and search on for 4. It was a sad tragedy. 9 foreign workers were on the ground floor when the building collapsed right to the basement. 2 very lucky ones were rescued but 3 were dead. The search and rescue team are still frantically looking for the remaining 4 victims that are still buried under the tangle of steel and rubble.

Thank god my girlfriend who is working near the area is not in the vicinity when this tragic incident happened. Business will resume as normal however the traffic will be very bad. The area is always congested even without this tragic incident.

I'd remembered that my friends and I used to hang out a lot in this Jaya Supermarket building, it was the happening place to hang out for schoolers like us after school in the PJ neighbourhood. I've also remembered that Delifrance cafe was first opened in this building and we used to sit there the whole afternoon hanging out. And now remained is just rubble.

Now the authorities are chasing for an explanation on how can a demolition plan gone so wrong.

Proficiency Test for Bankers in 2010?

Interesting huh! Apparently Bank Managers in the Netherlands may have to take the test in 2010 to qualify for a top executive position.

This was proposed by the Dutch Finance Minister, Wouter Bos whom had said "if accountants and lorry drivers have to take a proficiency test to qualify for their jobs, why not the same applies to the bankers".

The Finance Minister hopes to make the examination mandatory before end of the year...well we'll see how it goes...

Apparently Gerrit Zalm, the CEO of ABN Amro (the largest Dutch bank) and the longest serving Finance Minister will also be required to take the test...hmm...definitely interesting...

Reminder Letter to Renew Your Driving License

I was very impressed that one of the government body, RDW ('Divisie Registratie en Informatie') sent a letter of reminder to my Hubs that his driving license needs to be renew soon. Geeee.... I don't think I've ever heard that back in Malaysia! The owners just need to get themselves to the post office or to any of the JPJ offices (Jabatan Pengangkutan Jalan Malaysia in Bahasa Malaysia or Road Transport Department of Malaysia) before the license expiry date for renewal, that's all.

What the Dutch government does here is pretty impressive - all information on how, where to renew it and what is required are all clearly explained in the letter! Thumbs up!!

Disappointed that Depeche Mode has cancelled their apperance in Pinkpop :(

It is confirmed that Depeche Mode concert this Sunday in Pinkpop will be cancelled *sob*sob. Both my Hubs and myself were so disappointed *sigh*. It was also because of them, we have decided to go to Pinkpop this year. Oh well, consolation, we still have Keane and other bands though ;) Let's check it out this Sunday then :)

I've Passed it!!

Hooray!!! I've finally gotten my Dutch assessment exam results and I've passed it (in Dutch 'geslaagd'). Officially I'll have my 'inburgering' certificate. Now the question is how am I going about to further my Dutch studies and if the government will still subsidies it or not....First, let's see if I'll be employed or not *sigh* While waiting, I'll start doing some research and speak to some schools etc.

Pinkpop 30-31 May & 1 June 2009

Pinkpop is the Netherlands most famous open-air festival and Europe longest running uninterrupted outdoor pop festival. Pinkpop this year will be celebrating its 40th time in the city of Landgraaf, south of Limburg province (where my parents-in-law lives). This yearly phenomenal 3-days event is always held on Pentecost ('Pinksteren' in Dutch) and attracts 60,000-70,000 visitors including campers. Yes, there are thousands and thousands of hard core visitors camping in the vicinity for 3D2N throughout the festival (almost like Woodstock).

Some of the main festival puller is Bruce Springsteen who will be performing on Saturday and the tickets for that day itself was sold out within 20 mins after the ticket sales started. For us, though my Hubs likes Bruce Springsteen, our hearts opt for Sunday's program. This year's Sunday 31 May program will feature.... Depeche Mode, Placebo, Keane, White Lies, James Morrison, among others. On Monday, some other big bands performing are Snow Patrol, Amy Macdonald, Anouk.

And yes, we're going to Pinkpop this year!! It will be my first Pinkpop festival :) Can hardly wait! My Hubs is gearing up to see Depeche Mode (one of his favourite band) so we have been watching their Live concerts on DVDs, listening to their musics etc.

However, last few days, we read in the news that Depeche Mode might cancel their performance as the lead singer Dave Gahan was admitted to the hospital for an operation. Whether they're coming or not, we will soon know as the organiser will publish the news once they have a confirmation from the band.

White Asparagus 'Taart'

Recently I've found these recipes featuring white asparagus as main. My Hubs decided to try one of them. The "White Asparagus 'taart" that turned out very delicious!! It's always nice when my Hubs cooked as he will do everything himself and surprised me later on what's cooking for the day :)

We have until end of June before the white asparagus season is over and moreover I still have another few more recipes that I wanted my Hubs to try (by the way, the recipes are all in Dutch so he will be the ideal person to try these recipes ;). Stay tune, there will be more white asparagus dishes coming soon ;)

Bilingual Public Transport System?

Wow I can't believe it when I read this article today, "Amsterdam seeks bilingual public transport - Public transport information and announcements should be provided in both Dutch and English, says the city’s economic affairs alderman. This is especially to provide a better service for foreign visitors.

Finally! I totally agree with this! Not only for tourists but also for people like me who has not master the language. On top of that, what about for those who has just moved to the Netherlands - they are the ones who are in need of this bilingual public transport system to be affected. I'd my first-hand experience with the Dutch public transport when I first came here. It was a pure stressful event in my first few trips on the train. In all train stations in the Netherlands except for those who are boarding international trains, everything will be in Dutch including the announcements. Bear in mind, announcements are an important source of information for any change in the train schedule/platforms so for those who has not a firm grasp of the language, you'll be left standing there looking dumbfounded and confused to the core (by the way, when you are in need to look for the train platform attendants for assistance, you can't seem to find them) :P

I really hope this plan will go through for the sake of 'aliens' out there and the many foreign visitors that do not understand the Dutch language ;) All in all, the Netherlands is indeed a beautiful country :)

The "Chang" Festival

I love dumplings or in Hokkien "chang" or in Cantonese "chung". The yearly ''chang'' festival falls on May 28. My mum makes the most delicious "chang" ever - not oily, lean meat, chestnuts, egg yolks, red beans hmmmm yummy. After eating her homemade ones, you don't want to eat any others.

Most often, I was disappointed by what I'd bought from the outside sellers, the "chang" tends to be too oily, more pork fats than the meat itself and not much ingredients in it except the glutinous rice and they normally sell it too expensive for that kind of quality of "chang".

This year I hope my mum will make them and freeze it for me so when I'm back, I can fully indulge in it!! Wishful thinking....

TVB Series Drama Addict

Guilty as charged *sheepish grin* I love to watch TVB series dramas and right now I am currently watching a few at the same time. Of course, since moving here, this means there will be no Cantonese movies or series aired in the local networks. What I did was whenever I'm back in Malaysia, I'll buy a couple of series and bring it back with me. It's a MUST do in my list of things to buy.

Thereafter, a girlfriend of mine introduced me to this "TVB Series" in the facebook group. This group posted links of most of the TVB series drama so all you have to do is to look into the discussion topics or you can even request it and search for the series that you want to watch. Click on the link, download and you're on ;) Double bonus for me!!! Heavenly!!

Storm in the Netherlands

We'd a severe storm yesterday night, it was pretty scary. The wind was howling, our windows in the apartment was shaking, lightning flashing, splatters of rain slashing onto our windows. I woke up at 4am last night and still the wind howled and I thought the splatters of rain were a little too loud so I assumed we'd small hailstones instead hitting our windows. Nothing to be alarmed about :P

Of course, like any other major cities, when there is a storm, there comes the massive traffics on the roads, public transportation been delayed. And that's what exactly happened here in the Netherlands this morning.

Over 600km of traffic jams were measured during the rush hour!! Ok, we'd 700km of traffic jams before in the beginning of winter last year :P Some roads were blocked by fallen trees and many broken branches were seen littered all over the roads. According to the news today, some places in the south of the country, hailstones as big as 5cm in diameter were reported.

Knowing my luck, I'd to have an appointment today actually it was a written test that I have to sit for another position that I have applied recently. Braving through the strong wind and steady drizzle, I have to get myself to the train station. Some trains were indeed delayed but thank god I was pretty lucky that in the end I'd arrived at my destination on time.

I'd experienced this weather before in autumn last year and definitely not so close to summer weather. Where did Mr Sun go, huh?

Prost! Zum Wohl!

Prost or zum wohl in German means cheers :) I've actually retired years ago from alcohol actually until I went to the Netherlands, 1/4 to 1/2 glass once in awhile.

Cochem has their own wine brands, the moment you arrived in this beautiful little town, you will not miss the vineyards scattered all over the hills and mountains. Everywhere you walk, you'll bound to see one even in the housing neighbourhood! So that tells you a lot, how these locals take their wine making seriously.

We went for a wine tour in this family owned wine place on our first day. The owner was kind enough to take us for a short tour in his winery and explained to us how the whole process worked (unfortunately for me, it was all in German). My Hubs was nice enough to try to explain as much and as fast as he can to me in English but somehow the whole step-by-step process eluded me :P The pic on the right is the private collection of the owner, more than 2000 bottles of wine!

It was an interesting tour to see the machines and the storage. During production time, this winery alone produced 25,000 bottles a day. Imagine Cochem is littered with vineyards all over!

We also discovered a very nice Riesling wine while we had our lunch in one of the restaurant. We decided to get a couple of bottles from a shop nearby and what a delightful surprise when we saw the brand name of the wine that we had was just located next door to the restaurant. He gave us a few wines to taste and all were so good! Finally we decided to have 3 types of Riesling (half dry, sweet ;)

Hemalvaart Holidays..continuation

I'm so glad to be back home in our apartment!! That was my longest 4D3N holiday ever, indeed was not a very happy-happy one. It was an emotional roller coaster. I'm the only non-Dutch there :P The feeling of being left out due to the heavy use of Dutch language among themselves of course was the real party killer. However, there was light at the end of the tunnel...

The vacation houses that we rented were quite nice, each house has 3 bedrooms + 2 WCs and bathrooms. What impressed me most was that the place was very well-maintained and clean. The bedsheets given were all neatly pressed, washed and sealed with a see-through plastic (so you know it's clean). Our room view was the golf course. All we need was to buy/bring all the amenities that we need. For families with babies and toddlers, baby chairs, pens etc were also provided (upon request). Isn't that cool? It was a perfect vacation for families and mind you, there were many other families vacationing there. The town of Cochem was really packed with cars, bikers and buses.

I did also enjoy myself on the trip to the Eltz Castle with my Hubs and the canoe trip with the group. We drove in the direction of Munstermeifeld and followed the signs to the Eltz castle or in German (Burg-Eltz) and the hike through the woods to the castle took us 40-45 mins. It was worth the climb and walk when we saw the castle finally ;)

The canoe trip along the Mosel river was great though tiring. 4-5 hours of leisure canoeing with multiple pit-stops along the way. We took our lunch break in the city centrum for a nice German lunch before we continued our journey for another 2 hours before we arrived at our meeting point. It was definitely a strenuous day for everybody.

On Hemalvaart vacation 4D3N

Tomorrow I will be on my way to Cochem for the Hemalvaart weekend with my Hubs and his group of uni friends. Most of them were already in Cochem so I guess we will be the last couple to arrive. 4D3N and I'll be counting the days till I'm back home, in our own apartment. Wish me luck with these peeps!

4 Seasons Clothing

When you live in a country with four seasons, it's nice to know that you get to do some serious shopping for clothing: summer, spring, autumn and winter apparels. I enjoyed it, shopping for ankle-high boots, knee-length boots, good walking shoes, winter jackets, spring jackets, sweaters, gloves, water-proof jackets, scarves, etc. Now I've a 'healthy' wardrobe, well still a long way to catch up as compared to my wardrobe in Malaysia but will definitely catch up one day.....;)

Hence, it's very important to dress and have appropriate apparels over here. For instance, having a good pair of walking shoes and boots is a definitely on top of my list. Back in Malaysia, I used to buy fashion sandals and heels but over here no way these fashion footware will last me to the end of a street. Feeling sexy in stilettos is not in my vocabulary anymore, practicality is now the 'new' word (I have walked so much since I came here. FYI, parking garages and spaces are always quite far from a city centrum, taking public transport from my place to the tram halte/train station, etc). Took a lot of pain and stress on my feet to finally accept defeat that comfortable flats and pumps will be my new best friend now.

Never in my life have I owned so many pairs of flats and pumps as what I have now - looking at all my shoes now, I don't see a pair of stilettos....oh, except for one evening pair that I brought over from Malaysia (it was worn on my wedding dinner last year) :) which I've only wore it once here to a wedding dinner.

Another non-sexy apparel that I have and used during my first year here - thermal (I have 3 sets in different type of thickness). Without them, I would have not survived the winter. Although there are definitely not sexy and trust me, it's beyond the Dutchies to wear thermals. My Hubs used to laugh at me whenever I had them on :P so gradually I have stopped using them when my body starts to get use to the cold weather. Now I can say I only survived with layerings and stockings and of course a good winter jacket ;)

Nevertheless, it was an experience to live in a country with four seasons. It was nice that I'm able to change my wardrobe for every season change :)

When Mr Sun Comes out and Play

After living in the Netherlands for more than 1.5 years, I've learned to appreciate Mr Sun when he decided to come out and play. I used to take it for granted when I was back in Malaysia, being a tropical country, we have the sun throughout the year.

Whenever Mr Sun is out with his glorious beam and sunlight throughout the day, flurry of activities can be seen everywhere in the Netherlands. My first experience happened to be when I was at my parents-in-law's place. Immediate change of atmosphere in the neighbourhood can be seen - people hurriedly took their bicycles out, sound of BBQ pits been taken out from the cellar and you can see smoke in the air where the pits were getting ready for some serious grilling, people changed into their 'summery' clothes, cafe terraces were packed with people having a drink, parks were full with sun-taners or picnickers basking in the sun. It was amazing to see the change so quickly.

And now I understood, with the unpredictable weather and seasons here, Mr Sun's appearance is not here to stay for long periods, more than often, we have long winters and crappy summers. In between, perhaps a tolerable spring and autumn weather. People tend to appreciate so much when Mr Sun is out and that includes me, I'll never take it for granted :P

Conclusion: This year's spring, we were blessed with very good weathers and Mr Sun is definitely out more often than usual. So I hope we'll have a good summer as compared to last year since we had a very long and super cold winter just few months ago.

Hooray nice weather!

Such a beautiful day today finally, we've been experiencing some not so nice spring weather for the past weeks. Today the sky is blue and looking out from my apartment window, I saw quite a few people taking a stroll ;)

Later, will hit the gym, then lunch at home before taking my bicycle out to the city ;) Perhaps some 'patat' (fries) later... My Hubs is working from home today so perfect to have a nice short afternoon out for some sun ;) Plus, we need to get some stuff for our trip to Cochem for the Hemalvaart weekend. My Hubs will be the chef for tonight's dinner ;) Can't wait *grin*

Any more bad news?

I've this habit of reading online news every morning and of course with the global economic crisis, all in the daily news were more jobs cutting in companies, companies making losses, companies closure, employees have to take pay cuts, etc.

It's quite disheartening to read this every morning and today, ABN Amro (the biggest bank in the Netherlands) is going to cut 4000-5000 jobs after the merger with Fortis Bank. On top of that Air France-KLM (biggest airline in Europe) will also be following the trend of cutting 2,700 jobs.

Sometimes I wonder if reading news these days is a good thing as all I get from it is more bad news :P

Unexpected Sunday

It was a rainy and cloudy Sunday :( Our plan to cycle to the city was cut short thus we ended up having our late lunch in one of the snacks cafe nearby and did our grocery instead.

On our way back to our apartment, we saw that the roads to our apartment area were blocked and several Spido boats were seen docking in the jetty nearby. The closer we were to our apartment, we heard live music been played at the jetty so we decided to check it out. It was no other than the fans of the football club of FC Tweente '65 coming out from the Spido boats that were docked there. Hundreds and hundreds of them were seen gathering at the jetty for the KNVB (aka Dutch Cup outside the Netherlands) Cup Finals at 6pm. FC Tweente '65 vs SC-Heerenveen. The finals of the tournament traditionally takes place in De Kuip; Stadium Feyenoord (5-10mins walk away and just 2 roads behind our apartment). The organiser is expecting 32,000 fans and hundreds of buses ferrying some of them. Polices and riot polices are stationed in the vicinity of the stadium and traffic were redirected.

I've never been a big fan of soccer game except for World Cup :) but at times when you heard all these cheers coming out from the Stadium and seen all these hard core fans dressed up in their team colours makes you wonder....perhaps one of these days I'll go for a game just to experience the ambience of being one of the thousands of fans cheering in that stadium.

Steamboat Lunch

One of my girlfriend has invited me and few others for a steamboat lunch at her place today, a little get-together with the ladies and I've quickly accepted the invitation. Since I've not had steamboat for yonkers (not even when I'm back in Malaysia) plus it was a good opportunity to catch up with the other ladies :) Happily I took my Hubs's car and took a nice relaxing drive to my girlfriend's place.

As we were waiting for one of them to bring the real steamboat pot, we started off first with tom yum soup base (tom yum cubes were used) steamboat in a rice cooker. Food was abundance (meat, fish tofu, beef meatballs, oysters, prawns, small squids, veges, noodles, etc). We happily stuffed ourselves while chatting, catching up with each other.

2 hours later, came the rest with the real steamboat pot ;) We were so excited and we used that for the second soup base for the steamboat. A fish soup base that I brought with me. It was delicious!! It was a ready made packet bought in a Chinese toko few weeks ago. Definitely a good buy for steamboat soup base preparation. Soon we also joined the late group and had our second helpings and of course more chatting :) We only stopped eating at about 4pm and mind you we had started eating since 1pm :P

Hmmm...I must say, it was a great Saturday get-together with the ladies, chatting and lots of laughs. We only left at about 7pm :) :) I'll definitely want to get one of the steamboat pot of my own later ;) A great meal to have especially during autumn-winter days, don't you think ;)

Winter 2008-09

We'd a very long winter last year, as a matter of fact, it was so cold that for the very first time in 12 years, the Netherlands's canals and lakes were frozen! With the global warming effect, this was a definitely a rare occasion.

With temperatures below zero for weeks, the skate mania broke out - locals went crazy, some dashed to find their tucked away ice-skates in the cellar and many rushed out to the nearest sport stores to buy new skates! However, people who wanted to buy new skates were in for a surprise as it was sold out throughout the country! It was also known that one has to queue up for hours to rent a pair of skates at the skating location!

Needless to say, hospitals in the Netherlands were also busy with their fair share of more enthusiastic skaters coming in with broken wrists, arm and legs :P

In the northern part of the Netherlands, preparation for 'Elfstedentocht' in Dutch or the Eleven Cities Tour will be in frenzy. Imagine, a combination of a marathon with skating in cold winter conditions race. The one-day tour is an obsession for its many thousands of participants and the millions more who follow it worldwide. The event is held in the province of Friesland but only in those years when the ice freezes over the 124-mile track of lakes and canals that makes up the route. The last tour took place in January 4, 1997. The tour always starts and ends in the Friesland capital of Leeuwarden and travels through the cities of Sneek, IJlst, Sloten, Stavoren, Hindeloopen, Workum, Bolsward, Harlingen, Franeker and Dokkum hence it is known as the eleven cities tour.

When the next race will be held is anybody's guess. And it's exactly that unpredictability that makes the Eleven Cities Tour so highly anticipated.

For me, I was also sucked into this whole skate mania feeling; getting all excited! You never know when is the next skate mania going to be ;)

The Agony of Waiting....

The dice has been rolled and now I'm just waiting for the verdict :( Too many thoughts and what 'IFs' scenarios running through my mind on this week's job interview's verdict *sigh* If I get the job what do I have to do - will taking the public transportation during peak hours that bad (being 'sardined' by the big, tall Dutchies everyday)?, will I be able to perform as expected (bear in mind, I am a bit rusty here and there already)?, is my manager going to be a nice person?, the list goes on.....If I don't get the job - I'm back to square one :(, quite disheartening when I've applied to so many jobs but none actually bears fruit *sigh* Oh by the way, I was told that the first position that I was interviewed for requires someone who can speak Spanish (helloo...this was not been communicated upfront to me) *darn* So I guess my chances of getting that job will be very slim. Me no speak Spanish or any other European languages except English and basic Dutch :P

2-3 weeks of waiting.......only 4 days have passed and am still counting :P

Fried Bananas in the Netherlands

When I first saw the 'gebakken banaan met pindasaus' (fried bananas with peanut/satay sauce, pisang goreng in Malay language) in the Netherlands, my first thought was fried bananas with peanut aka satay sauce! No thank you and my mind just automatically rejected it.

This snack comes from the Suriname (Surinam) cooking. In the Netherlands, Surinam cuisine is very popular among the locals. It's a blend of Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, African and a bit of Creoles, Jews.

My Hubs loved it! He always order the 'gebakken banaan' as an appetizer whenever we have lunch in this cafe next to the Jumbo supermarket (where we do our weekly groceries). Don't get me wrong, I do like some of the Surinam dishes but fried bananas with satay sauce, I have to draw a line there :P

30th Fortis Marathon Rotterdam 2009

Marathons are huge events in the Netherlands and in Europe. One of the more famous one is the Marathon Rotterdam. It is a yearly event where thousands of local and international participants were seen trying to out best their personal best time to win the marathon, etc. This year it was held on the 5th April in no other than the city I'm living in, which by the way we managed to catch a glimpse of this event by chance ;)

The winners (1st, 2nd & 3rd) were all from Kenya. They did a 42km run in about 2hours!!!

Winner 2009: Duncan Kibet (KEN) 2.04.27

My Hubs and myself were in a birthday party last weekend where by chance we had a good chat with 2 of the participants in this marathon. It was interesting to know that running a marathon is more than just physical fitness, it's also to test one's mental fitness. Mind and willpower vs physical strength. Of course, needless to say, one has to train up as well in order to run 42km, definitely not for the faint-hearted ones!

I'm wondering how many kilometers will I be covering in 2 hours time :) Did you know!

Tonight's dinner menu: Beef Stroganoff with Saffron flavoured Rice

Beef stroganoff or Beef-Stroganov (in Russian: Беф-Строганов Bef-Stróganov) is a Russian dish of sautéed pieces of beef served in a sauce with sour cream.

While looking into one of my recipe books, I've come across this recipe and decided to try it plus add-on a few extra ingredients which turned out to be an excellent choice!! My Hubs absolutely loved it and so am I. Hence I quickly took a picture of it before we both devour it! We've then decided that this dish will be in our next dinner menu very soon......:)

It's been a taxing week!

Funny, how everything comes in one go and that's precisely what happened this week. I'd 2 job interviews and a Dutch assessment exam all in 3 consecutive days! Due to these 3 exciting days, obviously I did not have the luxury of sleeping well these few nights due to the self-inflicted anxiety and worries of the past few days' events. Now it's finally done, I hope tonight I'll sleep like a baby Zzzzzzz ;) How I wish I'll be like my Hubs who can fall asleep almost immediately when his head touches the pillow :P

Hemalvaart Holidays

Hemalvaart holidays in the Netherlands is just around the corner and to be precies, 21 May. Hemalvaart aka the Ascension Day marks the time when Jesus ascended to heaven for the final time following his crucifixion and resurrection. It is the 40th day of Easter and is always on a Thursday.

My Hubs has a tradition among his university mates whereby the group will plan a yearly holiday trip and most of the time it falls during the Hemalvaart holidays. Last year, it was their 10th year anniversary and they had it in a beautiful castle in France. We did not make it last year because it was too close to our wedding in July.

This coming Hemalvaart holidays, the trip will be in Ferienresort Cochem, Germany. We will be driving to Cochem. There will be 16 adults excluding toddlers and babies :) It's definitely an extended group this year. Well for me, it'll be my first trip with the group. Just yesterday, my Hubs and myself have both chosen a few activities that we would like to do during our trip there :) I hope it'll be fun eventhough I'll be surrounded by so many Dutchies ;)

My Dutch assessment exam is finally over!

Hooray!! Finally, after 2 months of waiting for the letter of my Dutch assessment exam, it's over! I'd my exam done today in Gouda, 20 mins train ride from where I live. I must say the assessment went well without any glitch! There were 3 assessments and each assessment exam had 3 or 4 situations and questions that I have to do. Mainly role played a situation given, filling up forms and answering short questions, etc. The questions were fairly doable and I think I did well...;)

Results will be known in 2 weeks time. Can hardly wait to get this behind me once and for all!

Holidays in the Netherlands vs Malaysia

I'm used to have numerous public holidays in a year and when I came here, I'd realised that the Duthies have ONLY these days of national holiday listed below!!

2009
Date	Holiday	Date	Holiday
1 January	New Year's Day	26 & 27 January	Chinese New Year
12-13 April	Easter Day	9 March	Prophet Muhammad's Birthday
30 April	Queen's Day	1 May	Labour Day
21 May	Ascension Day	9 May	Wesak Day
31 May & 1 June	Whit Sunday	6 June	Agong's Birthday
25 & 26 December	Christmas Day	31 August	National Day
		20-21 September	Hari Raya Puasa
		17 October	Deepavali
		27 November	Hari Raya Haji
		18 December	Awal Muharram
		25 December	Christmas Day

But then again, in the Netherlands, employees are being compensated with a mandatory 20 days annual leave and most companies offer 25 days annual leave to their employees. But still, after 1 June, the next national holiday will be 6 months down the road!! Sob, sob I'll be sooo looking forward to work in the Netherlands.

Best Ice-cream in Town

The best ice-cream in town! Or the Dutchies will call it 'ijs' literally means ice-cream. The shop "De Ijssalon" is located in the city centrum of Rotterdam along the Meent street. Long queues can be seen in the shop especially during hot days and mind you we are now having a good spring weather - sunny days most of the time ;)

I was pleasantly surprised that this little shop produced such yummy 'ijs'. The texture is how I would describe it as 'just-right', not too rich, not too sweet. They do come in so many choices from Cherry Mania, Bourbon Vanilla, Rum & Raisin (my favourite), all sort of sorbets to Applepie, Hazelnut & Almond flavoured 'ijs'. It's also very affordable! 3 scoops in a tub cost only EUR2,50. My Hubs always go for 5 scoops!

My Hubs Cooking: White Asparagus Pesto Omelette

Yesterday my Hubs decided he will cook lunch since he is working from home. Plus he wanted to try this new recipe that was in his mind: White Asparagus Pesto Omelette, his favourite vegetable. The white asparagus is in the season now.

Mind you, I don't really fancy the white asparagus too much as I find them a bit bitter. I must say I have to take that back, the lunch turned out great. The omelette was delicious and I didn't taste any bitterness in the white asparagus!

Hence, my Hubs decided to share this recipe with y'all ;)

Served 4 people
Ingredients:

• 1 kg of white asparagus (you can also use the green ones)
• 3 teaspoons of olive oil
• 8 eggs
• 4 teaspoons of green pesto or olive tapenade
• 200 grams of soft cheese (e.g. Brie or Camembert). I used Brie and some pesto/spring onions cream cheese
• Pepper
• Some finely chopped parsley or coriander for garnishing
  

Method:

1. Peel the asparagus and cut approximately 2cm off the bottom. Cut the remainder in pieces of approximately 3cm in length.
   
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and stir-fry the asparagus until they are light brown and getting a bit soft.
   
3. In the meantime crack the eggs into a bowl and add the pesto, some pepper and the cheese by crumbling little pieces into the mixture. Beat the eggs and the mix together and add it to the asparagus in the pan.
   
4. Leave the pan on a medium fire for a few more minutes until the omelette is almost cook.
   
5. Then put the pan in a pre-heated oven (160-170ºC) for about 15 minutes.
   
6. Finally garnish with the chopped parsley.

We had the omelette with bread :) Yummy!

Crazy 'Carnaval' 2009

Being blur as a squid, I didn't know that particular weekend that we were in Maastricht were no other than the Carnaval weekend! As I've never been to a Dutch 'carnaval' before so here I was in Maastricht, the city that holds the best Carnaval in the country ;) Maastricht is located in the southern part of the Netherlands, the Limburg province. A beautiful old cosy city with great shopping streets and cafes and lovely nature parks. Life in Maastricht is simply more easy-going and characterised by what the French call “joie de vivre” (carefree joy of living).

It was a very cold day (it was still winter unfortunately) so everyone dressed warm except for all the revellers in the city in their carnaval costumes. Even my dear parents-in-law had some carnaval colours on them (green, red & yellow).

Approaching the city, we already heard music blasting from all over, people are in their 'carnaval' mood, singing, dancing, drinking and in their costumes parading around the city.
We managed to squeeze ourselves into the city centre and found a nice place to watch the parade marching in their various colourful & crazy costumes. It was so much fun, local and tourists alike busy snapping shots at the parade, it seems like the whole city was alive and everyone was participating in the carnaval. Mind you, the parade went on for hours and hours... Although we were freezing our butts out standing out in the cold, it was worth it ;)

Kites Festival & Sport Kites Championship of Europe 2008

I found this event by chance and me and my Hubs decided to check it out last year. We were so glad we did. The moment we arrived at our destination, we were greeted by hundred of kites lighting up the skies at the beach of Scheveningen. It was amazing! There were thousands of spectators just like us spending the weekend, strolling along the beach to view these spectacular kites.

Later in the day, the Sport Kites Championship begun with the first team from UK. You can see from the photos that the kites were in position, ready for take off to do their 'rock n roll' ;) The team song will be played together with the routine of each team. It was mind boggling to see how each team were so good in controlling and manipulating these sport kites to sync it with the other team members.
This year, we might want to catch it again ;) It is a 2-days event and it is held yearly.

Kitchenware Passion

I've discovered that I love to look at kitchen tools & wares or any household 'stuff' since I got here. I've started to appreciate house decor items, pots and pans, utensils, magazines, any household ware peak my interest these days. Surprisingly coming from me, I used to yawn so much and bored to tears in these kind of stores but now they are like candy stores to me ;)

IKEA, Villeroy & Boch, Ittalia or any other household stores interest me now. For eg. I do enjoy window shopping in IKEA and to see how they came up with all these great ideas!! Unfortunately, my Hubs doesn't share this 'shopping' passion with me...don't get me wrong, he likes it once in a long while but somehow window shopping in IKEA is not his cup of tea unless he knows we have specific things to buy there :P

Lucky me, I'm blessed with so many nice little, quaint shops that sell the most beautiful and interesting kitchen and household items here. At times I get some ideas and inspiration for our apartment too ;) It's my new shopping passion :) Love it!

My Love-Hate Relationship with The Language

The first lesson I'd was back in my hometown where I'd to do an exam before the Embassy can issue me a visa. Hence, I've took almost 6-7 months of private lessons which doesn't come cheap. Finally, the day came when I was ready to take the exam and I've passed it! The visa came thru and in less than 2 months, I was on the plane to this part of the world!

I thought my encounter with The Language has ended but to my dismay, it was just the beginning. I'd to go thru a society integration course for a period of 12 months and at the end of it to pass the exam. Mind you, The Language is a tough cookie to learn. The grammar was difficult and many times I thought I've finally grasped it and then *bang* more exceptions have been added to the rule yet again. Do you know, the pronunciation of the 'g' sounded like I'd had something stuck in my throat. Unfortunately living here = have to learn to speak The Language.

Of course there are times, I felt motivated & ready to take up the challenge of The Language. However, the feeling always lasted only for awhile before the 'hate' emotion came up. The resentment and the question of why do I have to do this keeps on popping into my head *sigh*.

No matter what, I still have to face the fact that I need The Language to survive in this country & to be accepted as an equal. Almost forgotten but I do have an assessment exam to go for and am still waiting for my letter to arrive from the authority for my date.....

Queen's Day 2009

All I can say, Queen's Days celebration rocks! A totally eye opener experience for me! For those whom have missed out Queen's Day all these years (like me), please do get yourself out there and try it! I promised you, it'll be fun!

The day started with sunny blue skies (perfect day for Queen's Day celebration), drove to a friend's place near Amsterdam, 'sardined' into a tram to the city centre and finally arrived at our destination... our first stop at Vondelpark (near the city centre). We wanted to start off real slow and easy.

Queen's Day wasn't all about adults. In this park, the celebration focused specifically on children. We had children selling their old toys, parents junk and making games up and do performances. Nevertheless, the park was filled up with families, party goers etc. It was really nice to see how some of the children were so creative in displaying and selling off their goods ;) Behind the scene, parents were chilling out while their children 'worked' ;)

After all the walk in the park (it was a huge park), we took a lunch pit stop of hamburgers and soft drinks before starting our journey to the city centre.

It was a shock to my system to see so many people crammed up in the little city for an excuse of partying. Everywhere we walked, we saw party goers in orange clothing and some even in funky costumes. Beer kiosks, drinks & food stalls were set up everywhere, mini concert stages were also set up in different parts of the city centre. People were boozing, dancing, eating & having a good time! Mind you, we only managed to cover 4 party areas. Even that, it has taken a toll on us. Some of the streets, you can just forget about even thinking of squeezing yourself in, it was impossible to walk thru! (our little city map of all the party areas)

However, the best part of all was coming across the canals. It was like the traffic jams on the road was transferred to the canals. All we saw were hundreds and hundreds of boats on the canals cruising by with party goers having a fantastic time on them. Speakers blasting away dance and house music, party goers dancing on board, boozing, it was almost like a competition of who has the biggest, loudest speakers and the most party goers on board.

However the Queen's Day celebration was shortened in Amsterdam and probably toned down while in other cities like Rotterdam and Apeldoorn, celebrations were cancelled. This was out of respect for those whom have died in the attempted attack on the Queen's family in Apeldoorn where the Dutch Royals were making an appearance. A great day turned out to be a tragic one, with 4 dead and 13 injured.

Despite the dampening news, the finale was absolutely fantastic! The world's number 1 DJ, DJ Tiesto (he is Dutch by the way) gave an 1-hour special appearance at Museumplein (our last stop for the day). When he appeared on stage, the crowd went wild!!! He kept the crowd pumping and screaming all the time.