I received a letter from the IND Front Office last week, conveniently on a night when I had a few Dutch friends over for dinner. I turned to Micha and asked "hey, would you mind translating this for me... Oh wait, nevermind, they also sent the same letter in English" (can this get any easier?). It had these beautiful words:
Hierbij berichten wij u dat uw verblijfsdocument is binnengekomen.
Your residence permit is ready. We would like you to collect the permit.
I had to pick up my permit in person, so I went to the office today (at Orlyplein 141-147) with my letter and passport. About 90 seconds after I walked in the building, I walked out with my residence card, valid until the 9th of June 2009 (it matches my work contract dates). It's so official! The card is the same size as a US Drivers License and is pretty much the last step I need to take in making my life here "real." Now all I have to do is change my address to my new apartment so my mail will go to the right place. The one other administrative step I might take is obtaining a Dutch drivers license. I would honestly be perfectly happy to never drive a car again, and I have zero plans to ever own a car as long as I'm in Amsterdam. But some American friends told me that if I go within the first 6 months of my residency here, I can simply trade my US license for a Dutch license, without having to take any tests. I suppose it couldn't hurt – if I ever wanted to rent a vehicle for some reason, it would be nice to have that convenience.
Today was incredibly rainy and pretty chilly in Amsterdam, but I've mastered a system for making it through my commute to work. I bring an extra pair of jeans with to work in my (water-resistant messenger style) bag, and I keep an extra pair of shoes at my office. Hair goes back in a ponytail, and my bangs get pinned back. Headphones go on (I wear over-the-head headphones to listen to my ipod in the morning, as earbuds don't really work for me), which also helps hold my bangs back, and the headphones somehow help keep my hood firmly in place. After five minutes of entering my office, I had changed into dry pants and shoes, my hair was brushed and in place, and since my (waterproof) jacket kept the top half of me dry, no one could have guessed that I rode through the pouring rain this morning. I have to admit though, this 2-pairs-of-pants thing is a little annoying, so on my list of things to do is acquire a pair of rain pants.
While I'm on the topic of cycling, let me take the opportunity to recommend a fantastic blog: Amsterdamize, which I believe was inspired by Copenhagenize. If you're a bit obsessed with bicycle culture or have a thing for pictures of bikes, it's quite possible you could spend an entire day (or more) going through those two blogs and following the links to other blogs and watching the videos and so on. I love Amsterdamize because it's published by a native Amsterdammer, and he writes about bike culture here with just as much love as I have for it - but provides the type of insight and background that I wouldn't be able to do (well, not yet, but give me ten years).
I missed my bike while I was visiting friends in Berlin this past weekend. Berlin is really bike-friendly and I would have loved to explore the city on 2 wheels, especially since I was hanging out with a good friend from Amsterdam while I was there. Having 3 people and two bikes never would have stopped us from taking bikes anywhere in Amsterdam (she's ridden me on the back of her bike before a few times), but the Berlin bikes aren't really built to carry extra people. We attempted to ride together anyway, with me on the seat and her standing up on the pedals - it worked for a little while but eventually we gave up. Anyway, despite not having a bike, I had a fantastic time in Berlin. It was my second visit there, so I mostly just hung out with friends and stuck to their neighborhoods. The most notable thing that happened was running into a guy from New Paltz at a friend's house party on Friday night. I grew up in New Paltz, New York, and it is not a big town. And even stranger than running into him at a party (which was being hosted by someone I've known for about a month), I ran into him again (!) the next day at the Berlin wall. Nice guy, and hey - if he happens to read this - sorry I didn't call on Saturday night, my phone ran out of credit.
Which reminds me, on my list of things to do: get a real phone contract.
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11 comments:
Congrats on the permit, Tamara! Your immigration adventure seems to become the poster child for expats ;-)
Thanks for the lovely mention of my humble blog, appreciate it and it warms my heart you enjoy it so much!
Ps. Soon enough you won't bother to buy rain pants and do as we do, just accept wet pants and occasionally and fashionably carry an umbrella :)
oh, I'm already too jealous of my colleagues rain pants (one Dutch, one Brit) to give up on the idea yet... heh, there's a sentence that I never thought I would write.
Your blog is a great read. thanks for publishing it!
haha, true. Do what you gotta do, I'm just your average cheese head :)
(for some reason my first comment doubled, feel free to delete)
btw, shouldn't it be 'valid until the 9th of June 2009' ?
thanks for catching that! changed.
You definitely needed rain pants yesterday! I cycled to work and got hit by at least two cloud bursts. I'd avoid the fashionable umbrella trick though, as I've seen far too many umbrella toting fietsers almost swept under trams.
Oh well thankfully the weather seems to be getting better now.
Enjoying the blog btw, it's nice to see someone going through all the same things that I have gone through as a fellow ex-pat here in lovely A'dam.
I don't think I could ever get into holding an umbrella while I cycle. It seems even more annoying than holding one while I walk (with the whole wind thing), and a few of those umbrella toting cyclists have almost run me over because they couldn't see properly around them.
thanks for reading!
Tami, congrats! And your stories on living here sound wonderful as always. You seem so chirpy about the whole thing, kudos to that!
Now one thing about swapping your US driving license for a Dutch one and driving a car in Amsterdam. Please, please, practise first :) I've driven around in the US (even New York) and it's definitely easier over there. The rules are simpler and nobody really seems to be in a mad rush. Whereas here, people often drive like maniacs, rules can be inconsistent, add some pouring rain and a few too chilled tourists on bikes (hihi), and your heart is in your throat when you slam the breaks. Just take one lesson to make sure you can handle the traffic and know what to watch out for. It will cost you about 50 euro, but it's so worth it :)
Don't worry Jolien, I have zero desire to ever drive a car in Amsterdam. If for some reason I'm ever behind the wheel in this country, it will only be to take a trip outside the city! But I'm also perfectly happy on trains and buses, or riding as a passenger in someone else's car. :)
congrats on the permit!! I'm in holland in a few weeks. we should meet up for coffee or something. what is your email?
hey matt! I'd love to meet. all my contact info is at www.tamaramahoney.com (skype, email, etc) for future reference - email is tami.mahoney@gmail.com.
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