Housewifey

L. started work last Monday, and so I've also started "keeping house."

My first challenge: Laundry. The machines are entirely in Dutch:

So far, with the help of my macbook translator, I've discovered that met voorwas means "with preliminary wash" and kort means "short". Some words when translated don't make sense (e.g. kastdroog means "cupboard dry") and some words don't translate at all (e.g., hoofdwas).

I started pressing buttons, and so far it worked. Hopefully they all still fit after the wash and dry.

Amsterdam

My father was in Amsterdam over the weekend. Perfect timing, as L. and I needed an excuse (and a place to stay!) for some hard core Amsterdam exploring.

We spent the entire weekend wandering the streets of the city. Amsterdam is old, and you sort of have to marvel at how well its held up despite being built below sea level and on very marshy land. Take a look at the leaning buildings:

Pretty cool, actually.

Good thing the weather cooperated, and we got a bit of sun. Here's a lone rower on one of the hundreds of canals that line the city.

Aside from taking in the historical city, we were also able to visit many of the city's *other* attractions. 

I wasn't able to pick up earlier on the difference between "coffee shop" and "cafe". In search of coffee at around noon, L., my father and I wandered into a respectable looking place with "coffee shop" painted in big bright letters on the front window. After seating ourselves down on the outdoor porch, I noticed a distinct smell, and noticed the people at the table beside us rolling up. With our asian features, gigantic guide books and cameras, we epitomized anachronism. Betcha I'm the only one among you who has ever inhaled marijuana smoke beside their father and husband too! (By the way, did you know these places don't sell alcohol?!?)

After a round of museums, we made our way to the Red Light District (because we were curious!). That place is a true sociological experience! I didn't take any explicit pictures (I thought it would be rude) but here are some interesting shops we saw:

While the *other* attractions of Amsterdam have given the city its reputation among the common tourists, this wonderful town actually has so much to offer. Amsterdam really is a very beautiful, very noble city. I am a fan.

We found an apartment!

It's at the Hague center, on The Plein. Here are some pictures:

We start moving in sometime this week. Its located near the Parliament, the Queen's Palace and, more importantly, the shops and the train station. L.'s place of work is only a five minute bike ride away.

As you can see, it's just one big room with a loft for a bedroom and quite different from the box apartments I lived in previously. It's a bit bare, but when the stuff we shipped from our old apartment in Hong Kong arrives, we should be all set. 

Mauritshuis

L. and I have been scouring the Hague for apartments. The apartments here are almost the same size as those back in Hong Kong, but they differ in room sizes: HK has smaller kitchens and bigger bathrooms, while the Hague has smaller bathrooms and bigger kitchens (I'm trying very hard not to make a deductive generalization from this).

Between apartment viewings, L. and I visited a museum called The Mauritshuis, acclaimed as one of the best small museums in the world. It only has two floors, but houses very famous paintings from the Dutch Masters. My favorite Dutch painter of the Baroque period is Johannes Vermeer, and, lucky me, I finally saw the Girl with a Pearl Earring.

I'm no art connoisseur, but I was riveted. You can't stop looking at this painting. Apparently its a trony - work used by the artist to practice, or to show off a particular skill. This is not a true likeness of an actual woman, and the turban and pearl earring are embellishments.

The painting above is Vermeer's View of Delft, also quite awe inspiring. Vermeer is a genius of light and shadow.

Of course, this being the Netherlands, the museum had  A LOT of paintings by Rembrandt. Here's my favorite, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (it's also the most famous at this museum, so I'm quite un-original when it comes to my artistic preferences):

Hello, the Netherlands!

The Netherlands welcomed us with glorious weather - it was a nice and sunny 26 degrees, with not a rain cloud in sight. My friend A. picked us up at Schipol airport and took us to the house she grew up in. With her parents away for the summer, she generously allowed us the use of their beautiful home while we looked for a place to stay. (A., thanks again so much!)

We've been here three days, and I think I'm over the jet lag (after forcing myself to stay awake twenty hours for two days in a row, I think I've nailed it now). It's early in the morning, and we're not due to be in The Hague until 11 a.m. today for ID purposes. We had a really busy day yesterday, as we tried to get a feel of the transportation system (bicycles and trains), looked for an apartment (Dutch brokers are very different from HK brokers - they'll only show you the apartment whose pictures you saw on the internet, unlike HK and Singapore brokers who'll show you that apartment and thirty other places) and sampled the local produce (i.e., cheese and beer). Here are some pictures:

Canals are everywhere!

This is the village where we are staying, about thirty minutes from The Hague. I don't think I've seen so much vegetation since I left Singapore almost two years ago!

This is the Dutch version of a parking lot.

It was 17 degrees, and for people from the Tropics (like me!), that sounds like winter. Here, it's very much summertime, and people were happy and smiling and enjoying their lunches at cafes in the Hague like this one.

Here's an impressive looking square - the entire structure (which was too big for my camera to take) is called the Binnenhof, originally the 13th century hunting lodge of the counts of Holland, but now houses the parliament and government buildings of the Netherlands.

And here, folks, is where L. will be working for the next year. The Peace Palace:

Bye-bye for now, Hong Kong!

I'm at the airport waiting to board my flight to Amsterdam. After 13 wonderful months in HK, L. and I have decided to make the jump into more unfamiliar territory and to move to the Netherlands for a year.

It's easy to wax sentimental at this time - HK, after all, was our first home as a married couple. HK was also very good to us - we liked our work and we lived well. There isn't much I can write about in the 30 or so minutes left before we need to board the plane, so here instead, are some pictures of our first home. 

We'll miss you, Hong Kong. See you again someday.

Shark's Fin and Moral Ambiguity

I remember a particularly vivid image in a documentary I saw ten or so years ago where a fisherman catches a shark, slices off its fin and throws the shark back to sink, rudderless, to the bottom of the deep black sea. I vowed, after seeing this troubling image, to do my part for the sharks and to avoid eating their fins.  I was successful, until last night. 

Behold, shark's fin soup, in all its glory.

The venue to test my shark loving integrity was a food court somewhere in Happy Valley, which was said to have really good seafood (or so proclaimed by the locals and Anthony Bourdain). I was hungry, the shark's fin soup came first, and perhaps in my slightly sentimental state of mind (we are leaving Hong Kong in a week and will be gone for at least a year), I sampled the delicious local delicacy. 

After dinner, I went through a minor moral crisis - do I lack integrity when it comes to food choices? Am I a food opportunist with flexible principles? 

Then I remembered foie gras, blue fin tuna, kobe beef. 

I am carnivore, hear me roar.

(FYI though, I don't think I'll be eating shark's fin anytime soon. Aside from the fact that we'll be in Europe, where I can safely assume they don't sell shark's fin at local markets, I don't get the flavor of shark's fin. Maybe its just me.)