Dutch Frickin' Bureaucracy

I'm getting sick n' tired of the Dutch way of doing things. Or should I say, their way of finding the most ways of not doing anything!!! These days, I tell myself its' not worth getting upset, just expect it to take forever with every simple process, because if I have any higher expectations I will just be fooling myself. But still, i cant help but feel infuriated by all this piling up!!!
What exactly am I talking about?

1) MY 2004 TAXES. Steps included: Filing for them in person prior to April 2005, and being told that I'd get it in July 2005. Follow up call in mid-July. Response: Keep waiting. Follow up call in August. Response: You filled out wrong form. Fill in another form. I ask to get help filling it in to avoid more problems. Response: We don't help with that sort of form. Fill it in and send it to us. Follow up call in end of August. Response: Don't have your form. Visit tax office to get someone to fill in the right form, in the RIGHT way. He says that I'll get my taxes in a few weeks. Follow up call in September. Response: We have your form, but it could take up to a year to process. Keep waiting. I tell them my friends have gone thru the exact same form and got their taxes already. Response: Keep waiting, I cannot help you. ARRGH!!!!

2) Work-related logistics: Activating email - wait time: 7 hours + 3 reminder calls to the IT Helpdesk. Getting access to X-drive: at least 3 emails to the IT administrators, still no access. Gaining access to intranet content management: Wait time of 2 weeks, then realised they didnt give me enough access, so still waiting. Security entrance pass: 3 weeks to activate, then after 1 day of working, it does not work again thanks to 'system error'. Without the pass, one needs to be stopped at every exit and fill in redundant forms. It works now but I'm not holding my breath.

3) Mobile phone contract. They say its simple: just bring your bank statement, passport, and bank card. I dont have any bank statements kept so I bring my salary slip, since it has all the info there, such as my pay, my account number, etc. Everything's fine, they even said it's fine to use a salary slip, but then, upon filling out the paperwork, they change their mind and say 'nope, we need a BANK STATEMENT, not a SALARY SLIP.' They are very inflexible and wont budge. Wont open phone contract in the meantime for me. Must have all things together before going forward. SO DUTCH.

4) HR: Providing me with contract- 1 month late. Has no clue about the residence/work permit process, outsources to another company. When asked about the process, they simply say "i dont know, someone else does it." I ask: Can you please find out then where the process is? Their response: There's no point in asking, just wait. I ask "Can you please give me a contact of someone there at least so I can ask myself?" The response: "No, that is not possible."

5) Internet company: I want to cancel my contract so I call the helpline at least 3x. The line costs money so of course each time I wait more than 10 mins and get directed through countless voice trees (in DUTCH, on top of that). Man 1 says: Oh, youve reached tech support. I dont deal with personal account problems. He transfers me (read: puts me in an endless tunnel of black with grossly annoying long beeps as ring tones, I never get picked up and so I have to hang up after 7 or so minutes) Finally when I reach someone who supposedly knows the topic, he says "you have to write a letter to cancel the contract, hold onto ur modem til then and then u can return it to the store" So I do that.

Later I'm informed I can cancel earlier and go to the store w/ my modem and return it. I go. Lady at desk says: "We dont take modems back here. You can cancel by writing a letter. Or over the phone." I say, "I have written a letter already." She says, "okay then just wait. But I cannot take ur modem. Best you phone to cancel ur contract." I know there's no way to force her to take my huge frickin modem that I really did not want to lugg around, so I accept defeat. Then I saw a phone which had the customer service number written on it in permanent marker. Looking at her, I say "Can I use this phone to call and cancel?" She hesitates... thinks for a bit... and then says, ... "I guess so." (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) So I got to cancel over the phone just like that!!!! Stupid person on the phone, told me to write a letter.. but I still had to carry my modem around.

These stories are 100% TRUE. Can you imagine encountering "customer service" like this on a daily basis!?!?!?!?

WELCOME TO THE NETHERLANDS!!!! :P

My G-ma

Life abroad so far has been great and I love it here in Amsterdam, but one thing that keeps me thinking about home and stuff is definitely my Grandma. It was only recently that I realised that by moving to Amsterdam I had chosen a life which did not involve her (sounds stupid I know) but it cemented the fact that 'home' had suddenly been reduced to 2 weeks per year, and that was IF i chose to use my holidays to go home rather than to travel to other parts of the world.

There would be no more spontaneous dimsum-ing, grocery shopping, or eating, no sitting seemingly un-noticeably next to her on the old blue couch watching TVB soap operas, no painting her triangle-filed nails a magenta shade of red whenever we had a big dinner to attend, no plucking beans off her home-grown bean stalks and watching them turn from purple to green in the frying pan, no morning walks at a snails pace with her around the block, no joint exercise sessions where we flail our arms up and down at our sides to rid our bodies of gas, no nothing, maybe just a phone call here or there.

My grandma is one of the most interesting (and amusing) people I know. On my last trip home, I got to spend lots of time with her, especially on the cruise we took from Vancouver to LA where I was her personal milk-tea preparer, food advisor and gambling sidekick. Although the cruise itself was somewhat boring, she kept me amused and I learned a few things about her still.

For one, she is astonishingly unshy about being video-camera'ed or photographed. This was evidenced by my stockpile of 'her eating' photos as well as video footage of her a) taking her morning pills, b) eating beans and c) rolling around in bed during a nap. The bean-eating was especially entertaining, as she stuffed more and more into her grinding mouth, occasionally muttering that she was 'bao' (full) but still stuffing food into her mouth. It was by watching her eat, and the contents of her mouth which would somehow get pushed out to the edge before she rolled them back into her mouth for more grinding, that I realised her mouth was nothing but a machine to break down food, chewing, grinding, and sometimes sloshing with a bit of milk tea.

She is also very complacent and patient. If there's nothing going on, she can totally just sit there, with her soft hands folded on her lap above her giant belly, usually clutching her purse in the same place, and stare very innocently into space. She doesnt' ask annoying questions like 'What are we doing now?" or "Where are we?" or "Are we there yet?" She just kinda sits there.

On the cruise, we had a rare opportunity to do a lil sun tanning, and it was the first time we had ever done so together. It was fun also cuz I think my G-ma's legs see the sun maybe once every ten years, and so this was almost cause for celebration!! On our way to the deck, she informed me that her legs were the envy of every woman in China, cuz they are so straight and look beautiful in cheung-sam's, the traditional Chinese dresses, and well, look at them, pictures dont lie!!!!! :)

The best thing about my G-ma is she never tries to tell me what to do. Although she once said she would prefer that I stay in Vancouver so that we could go dimsum more often (among other reasons), she is so supportive of what I want to do and even paid for my plane ticket back to AMS. Sigh, it sure is a bummer not to be closer to her, but maybe one day, I can find a way for us to be!

WIFI AMSTERDAM

I found the solution!!! After moving to my new place, I haven't really had the need to go online cuz I'm hardly ever home. When I AM at home, I'm too busy lighting candles, changing or running to and from the kitchen/bathroom to really feel like I'm hanging out in the room. So, I wasn't really inclined to keep my contract w/ the internet provider for a whole nother year.

It had come crunch time, where I really needed to decide if I should keep the net or not, cuz the Hungarians from the old house needed me to return the cable modem asap so that they could get a new internet contract for themselves, and as usual, when faced w/ a fairly simple decision I just froze up!! (damn indecision)

Well... today, thanks to the suggestions from the Hungarians about stealing WIFI signals, I looked up on Google where I can do that in Amsterdam and turns out that there is a very cheap way for me to go online, via WIFI!!

INTRODUCING... HotSpot Amsterdam!!!

"Amsterdam to be the first European wifi'd capital"

Woopee! :) I love A'dam <3

Sweet sweet macaroon

Have you ever had one of these?















If you have, then you know what I'm talking about when I say CHEWY, SOFT, SWEET, SHREDDED COCONUT, SUGARY, LUMP OF JOY!

Face-Skin-Thick (Meen Pay Houw)

There's a saying in Chinese that literally translates to your facial skin being thick. It's supposed to mean that you can take a lot of sh*t, that you aren't petty, that you don't take offense easily, etc. Today, I found out how literal that saying actually is.

You see, my new boss is very cool. She's Dutch, powerful, strong, mature and very motivating. She also has very 'thick' skin, which you could compare to an elephant's. I often describe her as a clay face, one that you might have moulded out of pottery materials and left out to dry. She's that strong! Anyway, today she told me very bluntly never to do something ever again and it was a bit intimidating, but along w/ her steel blue eyes and tough exterior, I took her seriously and won't ever do what I did again.

I guess it takes some getting used to when dealing with the bluntness of the Dutch. I consider myself straight forward too but now it's quite fun to be on the receiving end. There's that initial shock of 'did she just say what she said she did?' and 'whats with the intense stare that came with the saying?' but then over time, you just appreciate that the person could be that up front with you. Now I know where the boundaries stand, right??

Anyway, the new job is going well, the days go by quickly and I'm happy being able to stare out my window and see half of Amsterdam in my 15th floor view. The last week has been super sunny and its' unbelievable that it's already October and still like this! :)

Here we go again...

It's a nice, familiar feeling to be back in Amsterdam in the fall, with the air just getting cold again, people are in gloves, hats, scarves and boots, and the the city has a slightly dark feel. It's been exactly one year since I first arrived here and I can't believe how much things have changed!! I'm currently living in the very centre of the city, close to a major clubbing area, right on one of the coolest streets in Amsterdam filled w/ good restaurants and funky shops.

Altho it's in the centre, it's still relatively quiet, and in the morning when I walk out to the tram stop and wait by the canal, the flower stand is busy being set up and you can smell fresh bread being baked in the neighborhood 'warme bakker' bakeries. People are riding by on their bicycles, some in crisp suits and others in casual mismatched clothing, I can't wait to fix my bike(s) so I can also ride to work!! It's now the end of my first week at my new job and so far it's been fabulous! I have a great team of 6 (including me) who are all Dutch and seem to work great together, everyone has a role to do, it doesn't seem like too much to handle, and my manager is a great leader... I could really see myself staying here if things stay this good...

so here is the question. say you have a dream job, something u think u'd love to do. but when u get that dream job, the job benefits suck, the work environment sucks, your coworkers suck, there is no job satisfaction or recognition, etc. but it IS your dream job and you are essentially doing what you love. Is it really then a 'dream job'?

On the other hand, what if you had a job you were skilled at, and knew you could do, with a bit of challenge and change thrown in here and there, it's not in your dream field/job, but everything else is wonderful: ur coworkers, your pay, your boss, job recognition, work life balance, location, etc.

Is it then really a 'shame' to not have gone for the dream job? We all have hobbies, interests and passions.. but do they necessarily have to become our jobs? and maybe, just maybe, its more than the job that really matters. What do you think?