Home Sweet Home

Note: this post has been edited since posting! Have another look =)


Realised it’s been 10 days since the last blog post, how did that happen? This last week has been a jam packed one for us and the best intentions to post a blog just didn’t work out.

Our furniture finally arrived on Monday afternoon, yay! After waiting around hopefully all day the delivery van finally arrived at about 5pm. When only two crew members of Abel’s movers stepped out of the truck, I wondered whether they would be able to carry all our goods up the stairs! They surprised us both and with a little help managed to get everything into our apartment. Unfortunately there are a few scratches on the bannister as a reminder of the day, but our landlord was very relaxed about it, fortunately for us. The sum of unpacking on Monday consisted of assembling the bed and rummaging around in a few boxes to find bed linen!

We also had our first guest on Monday night: Gary whom we met on our Contiki ski week in Hopfgarten in Feb. Gary ran the Paris marathon on Sunday and decided to come for a short visit. Very brave considering we didn’t know if we would even have a bed for him, but it worked out well in the end. Monday Gary did his own thing while Justin was at work and Bron waited for the furniture to be delivered but we had a pleasant dinner out together in the evening. Tuesday was spent exploring Rotterdam a bit and just hanging out before catching the train back to Paris and London. It was awesome to have you Gary! Come back again soon! Next time our place won’t be crowded with boxes, lol.

Wednesday morning we had an appointment with the Gemeente and immigration (IND). The Gemeente is the local authority and after registering, a Burger Service Number (BSN or sofi-number) is issued which is required for opening bank accounts etc. At the IND, Justin registered as a ‘member of the Union’ which enabled Bron to apply for a residence permit. Fortunately, it all went smoothly and we are now both registered at the Gemeente and received stickers in our passports from the IND reflecting our immigration status. Justin can stay in the country as long as he likes but Bron needs a residence permit which takes 3 months to process and issue. In the meantime, the sticker in Bron’s passport allows her to stay and is valid for 6 months, so up to Oct. Hopefully her residence permit will be ready by then!

Bron spent the rest of Wednesday tackling the task of unpacking boxes and turning our place into a home while Justin went back to work. It’s amazing how just having our own bed in our room made our apartment feel more homely! Unpacking went much quicker than anticipated and by Thursday evening all 100 items had been opened, checked and mostly unpacked. But we were left with a mammoth amount of packaging: boxes, paper and bubble wrap! We were able to take all the paper to the recycling bins close by on Friday but we still have all the boxes to get rid of which will be more challenging.

Unpacking boxes was a bit like opening Christmas presents; usually way too much paper and you never know what's inside! There were many I-forgot-we-had-that moments and also many warm memories of when we were given or purchased a specific item. This made unpacking more fun than I thought it would be. Fortunately, nothing was really damaged during the move. I wasn't sure what to expect when unpacking boxes, especially glassware and crockery, but nothing was broken or missing. Only the plastic washing basket and dishes drying rack were cracked but we can live with that. Also, the sleeper couch which was damaged when our goods were collected in Cape Town has been repaired and repaired well which we were surprised and happy about and relieved that we didn't have to mission to have it repaired on this side.  However, most of our things smell like they have been in a box for four months which is keeping the laundry lady busy! All in all, it was not a bad experience but we are not in a rush to move again in a hurry!

Although all the boxes were unpacked, there was a bit of arranging to do and so the weekend was spent organising our place. We made another trip to Ikea in Delft to buy some clear plastic storage boxes to organise the storage space upstairs and a few other bits n bobs. We still have the challenge of working out where we to put all our pictures and artwork on our skew walls. Another challenge was finding a universal adaptor to convert our SA electrical plugs to European ones. We could not find a single universal adaptor in the whole of Rotterdam! How ridiculous is that?! Confirms the non-tourist status of this town! lol. In the end we decided to replace the SA plugs with European ones instead of using adaptors. Not what we originally wanted to do but will probably work out better. Our place is feeling a lot more homely and cosy and we are enjoying living here =)

Another thing that has to be sorted out is our hot water. We have hot water but the temperature in the shower constantly fluctuates between hot and freezing cold, very annoying! It’s interesting because we don’t have a geyser, the boiler from the central heating system heats our water for the bathroom and there is a separate heating unit for the kitchen. Very weird! Our landlord has been really friendly and helpful though and came to check it out and also had a mechanic person here on Friday to look at the boiler. A part in the boiler is broken and needs replacing which will hopefully happen when the mechanic comes again tomorrow. Third time lucky! Here’s hoping for a proper hot shower on Wednesday!

Can’t believe it is Easter this weekend! We found out today that Easter Friday is not a holiday here but Monday, Tweede Pasen Zondag, is a holiday. Surely Friday is the more important day? Apparently Ascension Day and Pentecost are both public holidays, but Easter Friday isn’t. Very strange!

Plans for the weekend include a day trip to Amsterdam and Keukenhof and possibly exploring Delft. We wish you all a blessed Easter! Hope you have a good weekend and lots of family time. We will certainly be thinking of our family and friends back home and missing Sunday lunch at Granny’s! Travel and arrive safely if you are travelling around and sterkte to anyone running the Two Ocean’s marathon in Cape Town on Saturday! Also, congratulations to our friends who have recently become parents for the first time: Nick and Carolyn, Andrew and Sarah, Andre and Nikki, Frank and Abi. We are stoked for you guys =) Wishing you all the best and much happiness!

Have a great Easter!

x

Our room with inflatable mattress and sleeping bags prior to the furntiure delivery

Tulips!

The empty lounge

The balcony with our newly planted tulips =)

The arrival of our furniture! 

Let the unpacking begin!

Our room with a bed in it

Heading to the paper recycling bin. We took 20 black bags of paper away!! 

Justin's new BFF, the 'vaatwasmachine' 

PS: Pics of our all new unpacked box-free apartment will be posted once our pictures are hanging on the walls!

PS: Dad Cross, where are the much promised comments on our blog??  =)