Holly to become Dutch?

[Jorden]

What you see up there is her Dutch Residence Permit. I blanked out a couple of registration things, but it should be obvious

Congratulations are in order, guys&gals. You can't say NO nomore

Jord&Holly, celebrating.

[Kaj]

Congrats! Bring out the cake. (guess I'll be coming over to Oosterhout for it. )

[SteveC]

Hey Jordy & Holls!

That's it - no turning back now

Congrats you two - may the MURC forever guide your destiny

------------------
Cheers,
Steve

"Life is what we make of it, yet most of us just fake"

[impact]

Wow! Dutch permits are sure in true psychedelic colours (sorta like the new canadian money)...

[Zaphod]

I believe the dutch money are as colorful as the reg. card.
Maybe we should make a series of how our money looks like.
If anybody has some space for it i have a slightly modyfied picture of a danish 1000 kr. bill.

Zaphod

[impact]

Our money are boring washed out red, green and blue... supposedly when people try to copy them, the colours are not scanned properly so it is easy to find out whether there are fakes or not.... I dunno if it works tho, it sounds stupid to me.

[Brian R.]

Holland's gain is America's loss.

[Jorden]

I had to scan that card a couple of times to check if I could do it without my scanner messing up those holograms. I couldn't. If anyone knows how to scan holograms on a flatbed scanner, then tell me

Jord.

[HollyBerri]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Holland's gain is America's loss.</font>

That's sweet, Brian, but I doubt America is crying-- I'm pretty sure that Mr. Bush Jr. doesn't like me much (his dad didn't).

Thank you all for the good wishes!

But I still say that it's <u>Jord</u> who deserves all the feathers, flowers and applause. I didn't do much other than:[list=1][*] get here (which I admit was kinda hard)[*] try to keep from arguing with him until he would throw me out on my ample brown butt

All right, maybe that was hard, too. After all, you know Jord by now .[/list=a]

Oh and I had to go to Amsterdam to get a form from the US Consulate, which was a big production for me and my non-Dutch-speaking self.

But really, many of you may know that the requirements for a Residence Permit are really filled by the person who signs surety for you. That is the person who must have an income over a certain level, a residence, and insurance to sign me onto. And until the newcomer gets a work permit, that's the person who has to pay all the bills.

Jord didn't have those things when we he sent me that first e-mail.

He got a new job, in a new field, to get a salary high enough to meet the income requirements.

He moved out of the family home and got a flat.

He furnished it for almost free with gifts, and furniture and appliances that his friends and colleagues were letting go, and hauled it over here with little help.

He signed me onto his insanely expensive private insurance policy, because I couldn't go on the public health until I was officially "here" (evidenced by the permit).

He got the pages of bus, train and tram directions I needed to find my way to the US Consulate in Amsterdam.

And he paid the rent, the gas, water, electric, telephone, and for every bite of food I and my/our cat eat. He cooked most of it, too (not the cat food ).

That permit is <u>Jord's</u> triumph, because he made it happen.

And while I admit I must be kinda cool for him to have done so much for me, I'm the first to admit that he's got me beat by a mile...

Sorry, I meant a kilometer.

-------------------
Holly

[This message has been edited by HollyBerri (edited 09 February 2001).]

[paulcs]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by HollyBerri:
I'm pretty sure that Mr. Bush Jr. doesn't like me much (his dad didn't).</font>

Oh, I don't know about that. What kinds of drugs can you get him.

Paperwork and cards aside, what is it like to become Dutch? Did it hurt? Was there any assembly required? Is it easier for a New Yorker?

Maybe I should become Dutch. I make a pretty lousy Californian.


Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Ant]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">
He got the pages of bus, train and tram directions I needed to find my way to the US Consulate in Amsterdam.</font>

He let you go to Amsterdam all on your own? Sheesh some people

[Kaj]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by paulcs:
Paperwork and cards aside, what is it like to become Dutch? Did it hurt? Was there any assembly required? Is it easier for a New Yorker?

Maybe I should become Dutch. I make a pretty lousy Californian. </font>

Paul; this was only the first step: Holly has still a long way to go to become a naturalized Dutch citizen.

But this is a great start, and I hope sincerely that our happy couple stays happy.

And hey; you're welcome in Holland, however: I'm not the right person to do for you what Jorden did for Holly.

Ant-> Amsterdam isn't that bad; or did you got mugged?

[paulcs]

I'm under the impression that Holly grew up in Brooklyn, and entered her teens around the time the crime rate in New York (aka, New Amsterdam) reached its peak. I would think Amsterdam muggers are the least of Holly's concerns.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Jorden]

Ant, I let her go, and although she got lost at some point, she didn't get lost forever

Paul, I guess her seeing so much trouble in NYC made her the way she is. For her to become Dutch isn't easy, it hurts a lot. But at least she gives a great effort to do so.
And who am I? I only pay all the bills
Besides, I think Kaj and you make a pretty happy couple

Kaj, wat doe je het weekend voor de 7de maart? We houden dan maar het verjaardagsfeestje voor Holly. Je bent bij deze uitgenodigd

Jord.

[HollyBerri]

Actually, paulcs, I was born in Queens and lived there till I was about 28, then moved to Manhattan (briefly), then to Brooklyn (or should I say Breukelen).

Being from Queens is not good training for being "ruff-'n-tuff", but hey, I'm still from New York City, and that's gotta be worth something.

And Kaj is right, I do have a long way to go before becoming naturalized (several years, as I understand it), but that's not quite the same as "becoming Dutch"...

Now that I have my Residence Permit, I am required to apply for the Integration Program for Newcomers, which will first evaluate what I need to integrate successfully into Dutch society, create a program of the available courses, and monitor my progress. This includes Dutch lessons (hurrah!!!), an introduction to municipal structures (so I know where to go with all these forms I have to fill out, including a tax (!!!) form), and information about getting a job ( ).

So I'll tell you what it's like to be Dutch once they've finished remodelling me, but I think it's going to hurt me in my braincells.

And yeah, Ant, he let me go to Amsterdam alone, but he didn't really want to... he had to work. You should have seen his face when I finally got home (we left at the same time, but I got home after he got home from work, having been lost for several hours). He was about one tick away from calling the National Guard. It was fun (kinda), though, and at least now I know I'd rather live in New Amsterdam than Amsterdam itself, if I had to pick one....

I'll stick with Oosterhout, though, till I can convince Jord to move to Haarlem...

-------------------
Holly