Old email brief #2

Subject: brief # 2Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2005 04:03:07 +1000 (EST)

**If you dont want to get this sort of thing, please let me know - otherwise they will keep coming**

I think today we have found a place to live. You have no idea how difficult it is. At the moment we are housesitting for 2-3 weeks in Nijmegen (where we want to live) so we can look for a place to live. We respond to adds a day after they have been posted as vacant – but they are already taken! But I think we have finally found a room. Its just near the city centre. Its 25m square with a small sunroom adjoining it. You have to share a kitchen and bathroom. Originally the plan was to rent two rooms (that allows space for guests) but with our current budget that is not going to happen. The costs of renting a room in the city are almost the same as the mortgage repayments of a house outside of the city. So this place is for 5 months and maybe extended for another 6 months if the owner decides to extend their overseas work. It is a start. I am really feeling now that I need my own space to settle for a bit.

At the moment Martijn is going in and out of employment agencies trying to find some work for when his current job finishes. At the moment I have a temporary visa which allows me to study but not to work. It may take up to 6 months to get my visa. Hmm… On the 30th of August I have an “intake conversation” at the university to assess my level of Dutch proficiency. Then I can start attending language classess. .. finally. You have no idea how much I am looking forward to it.

Yesterday I went riding on the bike. I found a road on the top of a dyke and just went right. It was fun. Found a little place that sells coffee for 5cents less than in the city. I was so happy – although the man at the café was not as happy as me when I payed in 5 and 10 cent coins. I have taken to drinking black coffee, for a few reasons:
1) its cheaper
2) they call a latte “a wrong coffee” (translated) and I have issues ordering this. I don’t think there is anything at all wrong with a latte.
3) “koffie” is easier to ask for
Another thing with the coffee, it always comes black with a little sachet of coffee cream. Cream! Enough with the coffees. Moving onto cheese - the cheese is excellent. I can sort of understand now where Martijn was coming from in Australia. Last weekend we went to the local Saturday market and went straight to the cheese man. I tried so many different types of cheese. Cheese with walnut, cheese with cumin seeds, cheese and tomato, cheese with nettle, old cheese, young cheese and cheese some where in the middle of the age range. I think we spent 1/3 of our shopping budget on cheese, but we wont need to buy cheese again for a few weeks.

I also found a flyer today advertising short courses for unemployed people. One of the classes they run are conversational English classes. It is one class a week for a few hours for 13 weeks. I am thinking that on Monday I will go to the place and try and volunteer to help out with the class. I’m sure the Dutch immigration will just love that. Martijn has suggested that I teach everyone how to say the English /th/ sound.

That is all for the moment. Nic has now returned to Melbourne and has some fantastic photos of our “cycle pub crawl”. I will try again to try and upload some photos during the week – but don’t hold your breath. So I suggest you get a hold of Nic.

Until the next email.

Renee