Today it's a full month-anniversary of me living in Holland. Early morning we went through the fog and traffic jam to a lovely Den Bosch, where's the closest immigration office. Another pleasant surprise with Dutch officialdom.
We had to hurry a lot to be there on time, but than though we were the only clients there we still had to wait a bit. I have to admit that I'm a slightly surprised with this whole procedure. If you're making an appointment for a certain day, certain hour, than why the hell when you are already there you still need to take a number and wait for your turn? I start believing that Dutch people have some weird love for the numbers and if I'd be collecting them I could soon use them as a wallpaper for a little room. Anyway, the conversation with a office clerk lady did go very smoothly and in a nice atmosphere. She gave me the stamp and a huge sticker in my passport with permanent resident permit (I still don't understand why I need that... after all I'm a citizen of a country which is a part of European Union). She looked at me amused and asked "Are you stressed? No need to be so! Here in south of Holland we are smiling and more relaxed than the ones from the north! Relax".
We had to hurry a lot to be there on time, but than though we were the only clients there we still had to wait a bit. I have to admit that I'm a slightly surprised with this whole procedure. If you're making an appointment for a certain day, certain hour, than why the hell when you are already there you still need to take a number and wait for your turn? I start believing that Dutch people have some weird love for the numbers and if I'd be collecting them I could soon use them as a wallpaper for a little room. Anyway, the conversation with a office clerk lady did go very smoothly and in a nice atmosphere. She gave me the stamp and a huge sticker in my passport with permanent resident permit (I still don't understand why I need that... after all I'm a citizen of a country which is a part of European Union). She looked at me amused and asked "Are you stressed? No need to be so! Here in south of Holland we are smiling and more relaxed than the ones from the north! Relax".
The meeting didn't take longer then half an hour and because I was already in a new city and since I didn't have any other plans for today, I went for a small sightseeing tour. I must admit, that Den Bosch caught my heart. Quite and calm in these early hours, covered with a mist made an impression of an adorable place. You can feel that winter is slowly coming and a soft frost started pinching my hands and face, so the walk didn't take long. I went the whole center of the city around and bought myself some local sweet specialty bossche bollen. In a train back home I had the feeling like I'm also moving back in time... while in Den Bosch it was getting pleasently bright with autumn sunbeams, in Nijmegen it was still foggy, cold and gray. Unfortunately it stayed like that all day.
 |
| Bossche Bol in a company of Stroopwafel |
Brak komentarzy:
Prześlij komentarz