the healthcare game

this post was inspired by this new yorker story by David Sedaris:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/02/120402fa_fact_sedaris

there haven't been many blog posts since we moved in because we haven't been doing anything too exciting! we've been very busy taking care of all of the paperwork that it takes to move to another country, which is all required to receive our container of stuff sent from the US. luckily we had help from our relocation agency and everything went quite smoothly, it just took a while to go through all the steps of going to city hall, submitting paperwork, picking up ID cards, etc. our container did finally show, so we've been buried in boxes for the last week.

and health insurance! we can't forget about that. i feel like howie and i often learn by mistake, like after we got married and i went on his health insurance but we failed to change the plan and ended up paying much more in cash. last year we paid big bucks for great health insurance that howie didn't use once because he was too busy going to class.

so this year we were hoping to get it right. and in the end we don't have much choice, because in the Netherlands everyone is required to have a certain level of health insurance coverage. it is not cheap- we do get a small discount from Howie's employer- but from what I understand the insurance companies are not allowed to give huge discounts to corporations which keeps the prices reasonable for everyone.

now that we're properly covered its time to figure out how to go to the doctor!

overheard near this herring stand in Amsterdam:  "a herring a day keeps the doctor away!"

 

...we will not be testing the theory, couldn't stand the taste!

how to meet your neighbors

1. say "hello" as grumpy man tries to get to his mailbox while you are holding the door open for the odd cast of characters (two middle aged women wearing high heels and one extremely tall and thin guy) who are carrying lots of your stuff into the building. grumpy man grumbles something under his breath while he is trying to figure out which one of you ya-hoos is moving into the building.

2. as you are making the trip down to the storage room to retrieve the ski boot you've been using as a hammer to assemble furniture, a friendly neighbor is putting his bike away and offers to lend you a REAL hammer!

3. you need to take some photos of scratches on the outside of the entry door of the apartment but the lighting isn't quite right. in order to get better lighting you move into the hallway, close the door and almost instantly you realize that you've locked yourself out of the apartment in an unheated lobby wearing neither shoes nor jacket (or even sweater) with no phone, no watch... only a camera. about forty-five minutes later your neighbor will come home from work and (because everyone in this town works for Philips) will help you find your husband's phone number by phoning colleagues still at the office and then let you sit on his couch and warm up.

4. you hear a door close across the hall and since you're curious you grab your bag and rush out as quickly as possible. in the hall you are relieved to find out that the remaining apartment on your floor is NOT inhabited by the grumpy man but instead a very kind man who chats it up in the elevator. (he also worked for Philips)


*so far all neighbors we've met have been single males.

**when i was locked out i took a series of photos to check the time while praying for Howie to hurry home from work. i like to call this series "did i ever set the clock on my camera?"

we've arrived!

my apologies to the steingraebers- i promised them i would write SOMETHING on this blog since we left switzerland and i completely failed! lets just say that life has been a little chaotic in the past couple of months. chaotic, but fun :)

s'-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch)

after we left Lausanne we were in Minnesota for a few weeks, then Singapore for a few and back to MN before arriving in the Netherlands. we saw so many friends and family- it was really nice after being away for a long time. we found out about Howie's new job with Philips just before we left Switzerland, so that made our time off a lot less stressful than it could have been. there was still plenty to do to arrange our move, getting visas, etc. but somehow we were much more relaxed than we were a year ago preparing to depart for Lausanne. after we applied for Howie's visa we received it on a tuesday and were on a plane on saturday. so sorry we didn't get to see everyone before we left, but it happened in a flash.

can you spot the inappropriate sculpture?

and here we are. little did we know we were arriving at the craziest moment of the year- carnaval! apparently this is only celebrated in the southern part of the Netherlands which is exactly where we are staying. after a week of zombie-like house hunting and appointments, we were recovered from our jetlag and ready for a little celebration. 

preparing to blend in with our Oeteldonk/Harry Potter scarves.

our hotel is in Den Bosch (s'-Hertogenbosch) which is about 30 minutes from Eindhoven. the town is very charming, a historic city center with small streets and many cafes and shops. there are canals around the old city walls and also through the buildings of the city center. 

before

after!

for carnaval, Den Bosch changes its name to Oeteldonk and the town is painted in yellow, red and white. the mascot is the frog, because apparently there were (are?) many swamps in the area. the theme of the party this year was "oeteldonk houdt oe jong" (oeteldonk keeps you young) so we saw some themed costumes, but really its just about dressing up as crazy as possible and partying for 2-3 days (or weeks...) 

enjoy!

the frog ladies

chocolate covered cream puff!

some elaborate floats!