Apartment Search has ended...

Public transport in the Netherlands is amazing! They have buses, trams, and trains everywhere! It takes a little bit to get used to the procedures for using it--and the language barrier is definitely a factor, but every driver I've encountered speaks English, but only after you start talking in English.

From my hotel this morning, I took a bus to the client's office and it took 45 minutes. Yes, that is a long time, but the time really flies by fast. My stop is the last stop on the buses route and throughout the drive, tons of people get off and on--including a fair number of school kids. It gets rather crowded. and almost everyone here has an mP3 player--usually ipods...so I feel right at home using mine.

I got to work by 8:30 and I think this is a good time to be in the office--I also might try catching the earlier bus, at 7:15am, and be here by 8am. Then, I might be able to hit up some stores, the post office, bank, and everything else that closes before 5pm. : ) Work today was easy--I had Andrew teaching me about where the team was in the audit and how to work a few programs....but that was pretty much it. We spent the next hours looking at apartments online and surfing the net.

Speaking of bank (earlier)...i finally got an account at Fortis Bank here in the Netherlands and I just have to find the time to visit a branch and get my ATM/debit card and also a Chip Knip card. The chip knip card is like a gift card that you load money onto and then you can use it like cash...and its just like cash. There's no pin number or anything, so if you lose it, it can be used by anyone like cash. Most machines--like vending machines, parking payment machines, the train kiosks, etc all--use only a chip knip or atm/debit card. You can't get a pop out of the vending machine here at work with sticking coins in the machine. Also, everyone pays for lunch with their chip knip card--you actually can't use anything else. (I've had Kevin buy my lunch all week.)

Nicole, my broker, met me at my client's office after work and took me to see a few apartments. They are located in Belgisch Plein (Belgium Park) in Scheveningen--which is still The Hague, but they call this part Scheveningen. I was told before I went that it was a great place--luxury was the word Andrew used--and would be great to live in. The first one she showed me was on the top floor--very high up!...once again, my legs were burning. I'm sure I wouldn't need to go to the gym if I had one on the top floor. : )

Anyway, this one happened to not be available and someone was actually living there--oops. So we left and went to the next one. It was pretty cute and exactly what i was looking for. Nicole told me that she also had one more--that she thought was better. Around the corner was a separate entrance for an apartment with two rooms. It is what I call quaint and very Dutch-like. The two things about this one are that it's pretty far away from work, but in a great area--with lots of shops, bars, restaurants, etc and it's by the sea. The other thing is that it doesn't have a dryer in the apartment. Weird, I know. It has a washer there, but no dryer. hhmmmmm. But, the building has a dryer and two washers that everyone can use....so mine is really the only one with a washer inside the apartment. It has a couch, table, and tv (very small) in the living room and in the bedroom, there is a decent sized bed and an armoire for hanging clothes. I think I'm going to need some rugs and maybe a blanket to drape over the couch (it's a bit old and has frightening stains)...and I also need things to hang on the walls....posters, maybe. I might buy a few things and just leave them here for the next tennant...b/c they won't fit in my already bulging suitcases.

Anyway, I'm ready to unpack and get settled. In the hotel, I'm still living out of the suitcases....and it's not much fun.

I ventured out again tonight to the grocery store and this time, I went a different way and found a ton more stores that I could've gone to that weekend i spent the whole time in the hotel b/c I didn't know where anything was and it was cold out (no coat yet). I think my main meals are going to consist of deli sandwiches. The Dutch love bread and cheese,...and so do I, so I fit right in with that quality. The bread is so fresh!

So, two things accomplished today: bank account and apartment...both very important!

Dutch word for the day: "tot morgen" = tomorrow