Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
Lessons on being a more considerate person #2
This afternoon, I had lunch at an Italian restaurant on the ground floor of an office building. It was a casual dining restaurant, meant for the office workers and the prices were very reasonable. While I was waiting for my food, a man seated at the table next to mine behaved quite inconsiderately...
Friday, October 05, 2012
A day out in Amsterdam.
One of my good friends moved from Rotterdam to Amsterdam earlier this year, and she still always makes the effort to come to our group's parties in Rotterdam. So we thought we'd repay the gesture and drop by Amsterdam one afternoon.
We decided to go to a cafe, IJ-kantine, in Amsterdam Noord, for high tea...
Okay, stop press. Every time I have to say "high tea" when I actually mean "afternoon tea", my stomach turns over and I feel a part of me disintegrate. Let me just make it clear to my readers.
"High tea" is a working class meal served after 5pm and consists of heavy dishes, such as meat, fish and vegetables.
"Afternoon tea" is what everyone else who doesn't know better means when they say "high tea".
But, as the menu at the cafe and all my friends who aren't familiar with afternoon tea call it "high tea", I shall have to use this term so as not to cause confusion.
(Still, you read it here. Afternoon tea is where the scones, cakes and light sandwiches come in. Please know the difference and don't call it high tea anymore if you can help it.)
Because the cafe is in Amsterdam Noord, we had to take a little ferry ride across the water from the train station. Here are some pics.
The interior of the cafe is very much like the typical Dutch grandcafe. One of those old factory or warehouse buildings that gets turned into a restaurant or a cafe. It's nice and modern inside. Unfortunately, the service is typical Dutch. Slow. They have one waitress for every 20 tables. Absolutely ridiculous. And don't forget that the waitresses have their own lives as well. They're not just waitresses. They have to chit chat and sigh and laugh and do whatever it is they do to prolong your waiting time for the menu.
On the whole, though, it was a pleasant experience, if you accept Dutch standards of service as they are.
Now a little behind the scenes story. During our Facebook discussion, when Lenka (the one who moved to Amsterdam) suggested for us to have high tea, we enthusiastically agreed. I then later checked the price of the high tea and discovered that it wasn't very cheap at all, especially for someone who's very soon out of a job. But because I had agreed to have high tea, I just closed one eye.
However, when we arrived at the cafe, two of the girls had no idea that we had agreed on high tea and they didn't know the price. Being students, they were worried that it was a little expensive, and there was a tiny bit of friction over us having agreed or not to have high tea (we have to book in advance for it at the cafe). In the end, it was sorted out to everyone's satisfaction.
Then the discussion about what high tea is came up. Lenka said that before that afternoon, she had thought that it was just tea being served with your choice of hard liquor. Yes, this is coming from the girl who likes to bring vodka in her bag to parties, just in case the hosts have nothing stronger than beer and wine. So, not surprising. Gave us a good chuckle!
And that is when Adél also admitted that she had thought that high tea was tea made with marijuana, much like space cake or space brownies. Well, that made a little sense, seeing as we are in Holland after all.
See? This is why it's called the elegant "afternoon tea" and not "high tea" (which, incidentally, is because the meal was served on a high table you could stand around). Makes a great story, though, right?
After our delicious meal - by the way, they only served normal cream and not clotted cream, the bastards - we hopped back onto the ferry and walked around the city centre, by way of the filthy red light district. And by filthy, I mean, the roads and the people dropping their shit everywhere. I was constantly afraid to be stepping on gum and spit. Ugh, Amsterdam.
Because we had no place in mind, I suggested visiting the relatively newly-opened Apple store, which is supposed to be the biggest in the Benelux or Europe or something. It was the morning of the iPhone 5's release and I'd been hearing about the queues.
Well, as you can see, the queues had cleared up by that time.
So we just acted like total losers and took photos in the Apple store, of all places.
The end.
We decided to go to a cafe, IJ-kantine, in Amsterdam Noord, for high tea...
Okay, stop press. Every time I have to say "high tea" when I actually mean "afternoon tea", my stomach turns over and I feel a part of me disintegrate. Let me just make it clear to my readers.
"High tea" is a working class meal served after 5pm and consists of heavy dishes, such as meat, fish and vegetables.
"Afternoon tea" is what everyone else who doesn't know better means when they say "high tea".
But, as the menu at the cafe and all my friends who aren't familiar with afternoon tea call it "high tea", I shall have to use this term so as not to cause confusion.
(Still, you read it here. Afternoon tea is where the scones, cakes and light sandwiches come in. Please know the difference and don't call it high tea anymore if you can help it.)
Because the cafe is in Amsterdam Noord, we had to take a little ferry ride across the water from the train station. Here are some pics.
The cafe is right next to the ferry stop, so we were there within a few steps. But first, let's sit on a boat bench.
The interior of the cafe is very much like the typical Dutch grandcafe. One of those old factory or warehouse buildings that gets turned into a restaurant or a cafe. It's nice and modern inside. Unfortunately, the service is typical Dutch. Slow. They have one waitress for every 20 tables. Absolutely ridiculous. And don't forget that the waitresses have their own lives as well. They're not just waitresses. They have to chit chat and sigh and laugh and do whatever it is they do to prolong your waiting time for the menu.
On the whole, though, it was a pleasant experience, if you accept Dutch standards of service as they are.
Now a little behind the scenes story. During our Facebook discussion, when Lenka (the one who moved to Amsterdam) suggested for us to have high tea, we enthusiastically agreed. I then later checked the price of the high tea and discovered that it wasn't very cheap at all, especially for someone who's very soon out of a job. But because I had agreed to have high tea, I just closed one eye.
However, when we arrived at the cafe, two of the girls had no idea that we had agreed on high tea and they didn't know the price. Being students, they were worried that it was a little expensive, and there was a tiny bit of friction over us having agreed or not to have high tea (we have to book in advance for it at the cafe). In the end, it was sorted out to everyone's satisfaction.
Then the discussion about what high tea is came up. Lenka said that before that afternoon, she had thought that it was just tea being served with your choice of hard liquor. Yes, this is coming from the girl who likes to bring vodka in her bag to parties, just in case the hosts have nothing stronger than beer and wine. So, not surprising. Gave us a good chuckle!
And that is when Adél also admitted that she had thought that high tea was tea made with marijuana, much like space cake or space brownies. Well, that made a little sense, seeing as we are in Holland after all.
See? This is why it's called the elegant "afternoon tea" and not "high tea" (which, incidentally, is because the meal was served on a high table you could stand around). Makes a great story, though, right?
After our delicious meal - by the way, they only served normal cream and not clotted cream, the bastards - we hopped back onto the ferry and walked around the city centre, by way of the filthy red light district. And by filthy, I mean, the roads and the people dropping their shit everywhere. I was constantly afraid to be stepping on gum and spit. Ugh, Amsterdam.
Because we had no place in mind, I suggested visiting the relatively newly-opened Apple store, which is supposed to be the biggest in the Benelux or Europe or something. It was the morning of the iPhone 5's release and I'd been hearing about the queues.
Well, as you can see, the queues had cleared up by that time.
So we just acted like total losers and took photos in the Apple store, of all places.
The end.
Monday, November 29, 2010
The unbearable sickness of being.
I'm suffering right now.
I knew when I came here that I would have to suffer through this thing called Winter. But I was totally not expecting this thing called Eczema From The Very Dry House Because Of The Heating.
My whole body is affected by little mosquito bite looking thingies, which keep me awake all night because they're so bloody friggin itchy. But the worst part? The worst part is that it has also affected my face! My whole face is dry, red and itchy. When I wash my face, my hands aren't touching what is called My Face, but what is called The Gravelly Road.
Which brings me to a point that I hate about this country. What's new, you say? Well, I've been gradually getting used to and accepting the way of life here, but this point is really, really annoying.
The doctors.
First, let me point out the good thing about going to the doctors here is that you can walk in and out without paying or sitting around for medicine because it's all covered by a mandatory medical insurance (which you have to pay for, of course). And they send the prescription straight to the pharmacy near your house, where you can pick it up for no cost either.
The bad thing?
You have to call to make an appointment with the doctor, which you will usually only get at the shortest, 3 days later. I called two Thursdays ago, and found out that the whole clinic was away for a convention and I could only call on Monday if it wasn't an emergency. So I called on Monday and could only get an appointment on Friday. This is 9 whole days after I needed to see the doctor!
I should explain that this visit is actually a follow-up visit. I saw the doctor 4 weeks before to check a rash, and she gave me a cream for it then asked me to check back in 4 weeks. Three and a half weeks later, the rash has grown and is even worse. So I was actually pretty worried and desperate to get it checked out again.
Anyway, I finally saw the doctor on the Friday, and she took photos of the old rash to send to the dermatologist. When I asked her about the new eczema itches, she barely glanced at them and just pronounced that it is eczema and said she'd give me cream to moisturise my body with. All fine and dandy.
But 3 days later and 3 sleepless nights later, I'm getting really annoyed, because I don't see or feel any improvement. Makes me really REALLY miss my doctor in KL, who would have, first of all, got my first rash fixed or at least diagnosed by now, without it growing so serious and bothersome. And second of all, she would have prescribed not only moisture cream, but anti-histamines to take away the itch and maybe also a cream to calm the eczema. I've barely slept in the past 3 nights! I'm just guessing here, but I think because the medical is covered by insurance, they only prescribe the bare minimum that they have to. Well, I don't want the friggin bare minimum, I want to be cured!!!
When your whole body is red, lumpy and itchy, your face is rough, dry and ugly and your eyes are small and swollen, believe me, there is nothing about the medical system in this country that you can feel you will ever get used to or accept.
I knew when I came here that I would have to suffer through this thing called Winter. But I was totally not expecting this thing called Eczema From The Very Dry House Because Of The Heating.
My whole body is affected by little mosquito bite looking thingies, which keep me awake all night because they're so bloody friggin itchy. But the worst part? The worst part is that it has also affected my face! My whole face is dry, red and itchy. When I wash my face, my hands aren't touching what is called My Face, but what is called The Gravelly Road.
Which brings me to a point that I hate about this country. What's new, you say? Well, I've been gradually getting used to and accepting the way of life here, but this point is really, really annoying.
The doctors.
First, let me point out the good thing about going to the doctors here is that you can walk in and out without paying or sitting around for medicine because it's all covered by a mandatory medical insurance (which you have to pay for, of course). And they send the prescription straight to the pharmacy near your house, where you can pick it up for no cost either.
The bad thing?
You have to call to make an appointment with the doctor, which you will usually only get at the shortest, 3 days later. I called two Thursdays ago, and found out that the whole clinic was away for a convention and I could only call on Monday if it wasn't an emergency. So I called on Monday and could only get an appointment on Friday. This is 9 whole days after I needed to see the doctor!
I should explain that this visit is actually a follow-up visit. I saw the doctor 4 weeks before to check a rash, and she gave me a cream for it then asked me to check back in 4 weeks. Three and a half weeks later, the rash has grown and is even worse. So I was actually pretty worried and desperate to get it checked out again.
Anyway, I finally saw the doctor on the Friday, and she took photos of the old rash to send to the dermatologist. When I asked her about the new eczema itches, she barely glanced at them and just pronounced that it is eczema and said she'd give me cream to moisturise my body with. All fine and dandy.
But 3 days later and 3 sleepless nights later, I'm getting really annoyed, because I don't see or feel any improvement. Makes me really REALLY miss my doctor in KL, who would have, first of all, got my first rash fixed or at least diagnosed by now, without it growing so serious and bothersome. And second of all, she would have prescribed not only moisture cream, but anti-histamines to take away the itch and maybe also a cream to calm the eczema. I've barely slept in the past 3 nights! I'm just guessing here, but I think because the medical is covered by insurance, they only prescribe the bare minimum that they have to. Well, I don't want the friggin bare minimum, I want to be cured!!!
When your whole body is red, lumpy and itchy, your face is rough, dry and ugly and your eyes are small and swollen, believe me, there is nothing about the medical system in this country that you can feel you will ever get used to or accept.
Monday, November 01, 2010
Embassies! Ugh!! Malaysian embassy FAIL.
So here goes another embassy rant, except this time, it's not about the Dutch embassy in Malaysia, but about the Malaysian embassy in The Netherlands.
I don't know if I wrote about this before - possibly not, as I've been pretty traumatised by the incident and I didn't want to think about it - but I was pickpocketed at Schiphol Airport when picking frachely up. I believe I did mention a little about it and then linked to frachely's post, but if not, then here it is: Black Friday in Amsterdam.
So with my wallet (if I mention, a brand new, very expensive Lacoste, will I get more sympathy?) gone, gone too were the most important things to carry - my Dutch ID, my Malaysian ID and my driver's license.
Hence, my contacting the Malaysian embassy.
I had already made my police report, but it was in Dutch and I obviously can't send in a Dutch report to get a new Malaysian ID card. So I emailed the embassy to ask if they could translate the document for me. Of all places, you'd think they'd be the first to offer it, right?
First, they took almost 2 weeks to reply. In that time, I even gave them a call directly and was told by some Indian/Bangladeshi accented man that *cue Bangla accent* "No, you kenot translate from Dutch at the embassy, only English to Malay or Malay to English".
So I asked him where I could translate from Dutch to English, as it would have to be an official translation accepted by the embassy and the Malaysian police and government. And he goes, "No, we don't know, you have to search the internet and find an official translation yourself. Official translation, ya!".
*cue an irritated me*
I said thanks and hung up and started searching Google for translation services. Found one (although in the US) and emailed them. They replied the next day, quoting me $ 0.10 - 0.20 per word. Whooooaaaaa... I have 5 A4 sized pages in my report and this was gonna cost me easily a few hundred dollars that I'm not willing to part with!
I left it for a while, when one day I received the long-awaited email from the Malaysian embassy. It said:
So this morning, I called the embassy again to look for Mr Jamal. Unfortunately, the same Bangla-accented guy picked up the phone, told me, "No, you kenot talk to Mr Jamal, he has a visiter.". So I asked if I could just make an appointment with him for translation. And he goes, "No, we kenot do translation from Dutch. Only English to Malay or Malay to English. You have to look for official translation in the Yellow Book.". To which I asked if he at least had any recommendations of companies, I mean, this CANNOT BE THE FIRST TIME SOMEONE NEEDED TRANSLATION SERVICES FROM DUTCH? Of course, the bastard went, "No, you must look in the Yellow Book for an official translater.".
After politely saying thank you and hanging up (hey, I was brought up well), I directly emailed the embassy again to clarify this whole bloody situation, why they tell me one thing, but the guy on the phone tells me something else. I also told them that I'm on a time crunch as I'm flying back to Malaysia soon.
Then I look in the Goudengids (the famous "Yellow Book") online for a translator. Schrobbenmaster helps me call a company near our house and they're very helpful, but they say that their official translators are registered in a database which is accessible by people who need to check, but which is probably not accessible in Malaysia. And that I would therefore need to bring my translated document to a court and make an appointment with a judge for him to stamp the document, making it official. And an appointment with a judge normally takes 2-4 weeks!!!
Devastated, I felt like emailing the embassy again to ask for help, when Schrobbenmaster suggested emailing the Dutch embassy in Malaysia as well. I figured it was a good idea, as embassies SHOULD charge less for translation than external business companies.
I emailed the Dutch embassy for help and advice, and a few minutes later, I receive an extremely speedy response from the Malaysian embassy:
OMG.
As relieved as I was to receive it, I can't help thinking, what the hell are they doing? By email they're telling me that they're my saviours, and by phone, a Bangla-accented bastard is telling me that they're idiots.
Anyhow, I will be heading to the embassy on Wednesday morning to hopefully get my translation done. And hopefully for not too much money. I did email them back straightaway to ask who I should look for, because I didn't want to come face-to-face with the Bangla-accented bastard who will probably tell me to go home because they "kenot do translation from Dutch here". In fact, I think I might bring my own "Yellow Book" to bash him on the head if he does say that.
Wish me luck!!!
I don't know if I wrote about this before - possibly not, as I've been pretty traumatised by the incident and I didn't want to think about it - but I was pickpocketed at Schiphol Airport when picking frachely up. I believe I did mention a little about it and then linked to frachely's post, but if not, then here it is: Black Friday in Amsterdam.
So with my wallet (if I mention, a brand new, very expensive Lacoste, will I get more sympathy?) gone, gone too were the most important things to carry - my Dutch ID, my Malaysian ID and my driver's license.
Hence, my contacting the Malaysian embassy.
I had already made my police report, but it was in Dutch and I obviously can't send in a Dutch report to get a new Malaysian ID card. So I emailed the embassy to ask if they could translate the document for me. Of all places, you'd think they'd be the first to offer it, right?
First, they took almost 2 weeks to reply. In that time, I even gave them a call directly and was told by some Indian/Bangladeshi accented man that *cue Bangla accent* "No, you kenot translate from Dutch at the embassy, only English to Malay or Malay to English".
So I asked him where I could translate from Dutch to English, as it would have to be an official translation accepted by the embassy and the Malaysian police and government. And he goes, "No, we don't know, you have to search the internet and find an official translation yourself. Official translation, ya!".
*cue an irritated me*
I said thanks and hung up and started searching Google for translation services. Found one (although in the US) and emailed them. They replied the next day, quoting me $ 0.10 - 0.20 per word. Whooooaaaaa... I have 5 A4 sized pages in my report and this was gonna cost me easily a few hundred dollars that I'm not willing to part with!
I left it for a while, when one day I received the long-awaited email from the Malaysian embassy. It said:
Yes, we can help you with the translation. You can call the Embassy at: 070-350 6506 to make an appointment with Mr. Jamal from the Consular section.
So this morning, I called the embassy again to look for Mr Jamal. Unfortunately, the same Bangla-accented guy picked up the phone, told me, "No, you kenot talk to Mr Jamal, he has a visiter.". So I asked if I could just make an appointment with him for translation. And he goes, "No, we kenot do translation from Dutch. Only English to Malay or Malay to English. You have to look for official translation in the Yellow Book.". To which I asked if he at least had any recommendations of companies, I mean, this CANNOT BE THE FIRST TIME SOMEONE NEEDED TRANSLATION SERVICES FROM DUTCH? Of course, the bastard went, "No, you must look in the Yellow Book for an official translater.".
After politely saying thank you and hanging up (hey, I was brought up well), I directly emailed the embassy again to clarify this whole bloody situation, why they tell me one thing, but the guy on the phone tells me something else. I also told them that I'm on a time crunch as I'm flying back to Malaysia soon.
Then I look in the Goudengids (the famous "Yellow Book") online for a translator. Schrobbenmaster helps me call a company near our house and they're very helpful, but they say that their official translators are registered in a database which is accessible by people who need to check, but which is probably not accessible in Malaysia. And that I would therefore need to bring my translated document to a court and make an appointment with a judge for him to stamp the document, making it official. And an appointment with a judge normally takes 2-4 weeks!!!
Devastated, I felt like emailing the embassy again to ask for help, when Schrobbenmaster suggested emailing the Dutch embassy in Malaysia as well. I figured it was a good idea, as embassies SHOULD charge less for translation than external business companies.
I emailed the Dutch embassy for help and advice, and a few minutes later, I receive an extremely speedy response from the Malaysian embassy:
Please come to the Embassy tomorrow or Wednesday before 12.00 for the translation.
OMG.
As relieved as I was to receive it, I can't help thinking, what the hell are they doing? By email they're telling me that they're my saviours, and by phone, a Bangla-accented bastard is telling me that they're idiots.
Anyhow, I will be heading to the embassy on Wednesday morning to hopefully get my translation done. And hopefully for not too much money. I did email them back straightaway to ask who I should look for, because I didn't want to come face-to-face with the Bangla-accented bastard who will probably tell me to go home because they "kenot do translation from Dutch here". In fact, I think I might bring my own "Yellow Book" to bash him on the head if he does say that.
Wish me luck!!!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
In bed at 20.30? I'm a freak!
I'm sitting on the bed now in shorts and fuzzy socks, Schrobbenmaster chatting away in the background to his parents about money and savings, and two half-used tissues beside the laptop, ready to be used for either the annoying chin on my pimple or my occasionally runny nose.
Okay, that was too strange to erase... did any of you notice that I typed "chin on my pimple"? Geez, the pimple is not that big, JY!
I've been doing a bit of indulgent shopping these few days. Been looking at clothes websites like Mango and Topshop and even went to the final step of adding items to my shopping bag, then leaving the page. A bit of fake retail therapy. But it did make me clothes-hungry again, so on Saturday, I went out on my own to look for new clothes. It helped that I haven't spent much this month, so I felt kinda rich. I should really save, though. Really.
I just stumbled upon a new website today, which inspires me to make our home nicer. It's not really the items in the photos that I want, but more the 'feeling' that the pictures invoke. Check convoy out.
I can't wait till the NS Try Out Festival is over. Schrobbenmaster is already getting weaker and weaker by the day because of the long days and drinking at nights with the team. Seriously, how do these people do it? Waking up before 8am and then having drinks at the end of the day till 2am? To be honest, I find it kinda inconsiderate to expect everyone on the team to be able to keep up with that. And after the 3-day festival, they still expect everyone to be able to party it up till 6am. Wow. Maybe I'm just getting old. Or maybe they just don't have a happy life at home like I do.
Time to stop thinking about annoying things and going back to looking at pretty pictures, JY.
Nitey nites! xx.
Okay, that was too strange to erase... did any of you notice that I typed "chin on my pimple"? Geez, the pimple is not that big, JY!
I've been doing a bit of indulgent shopping these few days. Been looking at clothes websites like Mango and Topshop and even went to the final step of adding items to my shopping bag, then leaving the page. A bit of fake retail therapy. But it did make me clothes-hungry again, so on Saturday, I went out on my own to look for new clothes. It helped that I haven't spent much this month, so I felt kinda rich. I should really save, though. Really.
I just stumbled upon a new website today, which inspires me to make our home nicer. It's not really the items in the photos that I want, but more the 'feeling' that the pictures invoke. Check convoy out.
I can't wait till the NS Try Out Festival is over. Schrobbenmaster is already getting weaker and weaker by the day because of the long days and drinking at nights with the team. Seriously, how do these people do it? Waking up before 8am and then having drinks at the end of the day till 2am? To be honest, I find it kinda inconsiderate to expect everyone on the team to be able to keep up with that. And after the 3-day festival, they still expect everyone to be able to party it up till 6am. Wow. Maybe I'm just getting old. Or maybe they just don't have a happy life at home like I do.
Time to stop thinking about annoying things and going back to looking at pretty pictures, JY.
Nitey nites! xx.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Some things are just ridiculous
Some incredible things about life here...
---
A few days ago I felt like the tyres on our VW Golf were a little sluggish so I insisted on visiting a petrol station to fill air.
And ya know what? Ya have to friggin pay for the air!
Pay for air!
They give you 5 minutes for 50 cents.
We didn't know how long we would take, so just in case, we prepared everything before inserting the coin. In the end, we took 3 minutes to finish up, and that's with the two of us. Wow, they really cut it thin, don't they?
Pay for air!!
---
Drivers on the road don't care about the sidewalks. Driving, parking, reversing... they'll do it all on the sidewalk if they have to. No wonder there're so many shitty old cars here. If you have a shiny new car, people will call you a bastard and think, "Serves you right" if you get a scratch. Basically, having a shitty car is almost a way of survival.
Yesterday, while stuck at a standstill near Rotterdam Centraal, there was a DHL van mounted on the little island sidewalk next to us. The driver had delivered something nearby and was now back in her van, trying to get out. So she inched forward, trying to turn the van around and out of there. And, never bothering to reverse and adjust herself, she inches forward all the way and scrapes our car... pretty badly.
So I get down to check the damage. She continues adjusting her van, then just simply drives off!
Such good road manners, I tell you. Naturally, we called DHL to complain today and report her van license plate.
But seriously, in the whole 10 years that I've been driving in KL, I've never seen so many cars just drive over sidewalks as if they're not there, as in the 6 months that I've been here.
---
A few days ago I felt like the tyres on our VW Golf were a little sluggish so I insisted on visiting a petrol station to fill air.
And ya know what? Ya have to friggin pay for the air!
Pay for air!
They give you 5 minutes for 50 cents.
We didn't know how long we would take, so just in case, we prepared everything before inserting the coin. In the end, we took 3 minutes to finish up, and that's with the two of us. Wow, they really cut it thin, don't they?
Pay for air!!
---
Drivers on the road don't care about the sidewalks. Driving, parking, reversing... they'll do it all on the sidewalk if they have to. No wonder there're so many shitty old cars here. If you have a shiny new car, people will call you a bastard and think, "Serves you right" if you get a scratch. Basically, having a shitty car is almost a way of survival.
Yesterday, while stuck at a standstill near Rotterdam Centraal, there was a DHL van mounted on the little island sidewalk next to us. The driver had delivered something nearby and was now back in her van, trying to get out. So she inched forward, trying to turn the van around and out of there. And, never bothering to reverse and adjust herself, she inches forward all the way and scrapes our car... pretty badly.
So I get down to check the damage. She continues adjusting her van, then just simply drives off!
Such good road manners, I tell you. Naturally, we called DHL to complain today and report her van license plate.
But seriously, in the whole 10 years that I've been driving in KL, I've never seen so many cars just drive over sidewalks as if they're not there, as in the 6 months that I've been here.
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
My first sponsored Dutch class. Class? Hmm.
I just got back from my first gemeente (district?) sponsored and compulsory Dutch class.
I was told to be at that class today from 6pm till 10pm, so I was all geared up to spend 4 friggin hours in the tiny classroom. Then many students came late, including the teacher, which made me a tad annoyed because I hate waiting for people, especially when it's a scheduled class/meeting/show etc. But whatever, I took it in my stride cuz I really wanted to see what everyone is like.
We started off with filling up one form. Which took 1.5 hours. And 2 girls.
Seriously, man, this is not the first time I've had to go through some Dutch process in order to get something and you can bet your bottom dollar that none of them were efficient and organised.
On the invitation card for the class, you're asked to bring your ID card and a form stating that you have a job at your particular company. And when you bring it, they're supposed to make a copy of it and put it in your file.
There were around 10 of us new people today, and it took one tiny brown girl the whole 1.5 hours to copy our IDs and job letters.
You know what's the problem? She didn't announce what she was doing. The guy sitting next to me (nice Polish guy named Jack... or Jac. or Jak. Or maybe even Chzak, for all I know) had his ID card on the table because he had to check his ID number. The tiny girl swished past and picked it up, saying, "Oh, I need to copy this" and went away. So I was thinking, "Do you not need mine?" and I just waited and listened to the teacher who was helping us fill in the forms because the tiny brown girl was flitting around.
Ten or fifteen minutes later, she comes back with some copies and then I ask her if she needs my card too. And she says Yes and flits away again.
An HOUR later, she reappears with some work letters and then I ask, do you need mine? And she goes yes, so I give it to her.
O.M.G.
The teacher couldn't assist her own existing students on the other side of the class because Tinkerbell kept disappearing making copies of 10 ID cards and 10 work letters!
Is that organised? Is that ORGANISED? Grr.
And that one form which had to be filled out also took an hour. I can understand, since it was in Dutch and she had to help the people who didn't speak Dutch at all, with her basic English. But honestly, is it so hard to just announce in the beginning that they need to collect our cards and letters? And then make the stupid 1-page form in 2 languages? She said that it was alright to answer in English anyway, so what's the problem there?
Friggin waste of time, I tell ya!
I was told to be at that class today from 6pm till 10pm, so I was all geared up to spend 4 friggin hours in the tiny classroom. Then many students came late, including the teacher, which made me a tad annoyed because I hate waiting for people, especially when it's a scheduled class/meeting/show etc. But whatever, I took it in my stride cuz I really wanted to see what everyone is like.
We started off with filling up one form. Which took 1.5 hours. And 2 girls.
Seriously, man, this is not the first time I've had to go through some Dutch process in order to get something and you can bet your bottom dollar that none of them were efficient and organised.
On the invitation card for the class, you're asked to bring your ID card and a form stating that you have a job at your particular company. And when you bring it, they're supposed to make a copy of it and put it in your file.
There were around 10 of us new people today, and it took one tiny brown girl the whole 1.5 hours to copy our IDs and job letters.
You know what's the problem? She didn't announce what she was doing. The guy sitting next to me (nice Polish guy named Jack... or Jac. or Jak. Or maybe even Chzak, for all I know) had his ID card on the table because he had to check his ID number. The tiny girl swished past and picked it up, saying, "Oh, I need to copy this" and went away. So I was thinking, "Do you not need mine?" and I just waited and listened to the teacher who was helping us fill in the forms because the tiny brown girl was flitting around.
Ten or fifteen minutes later, she comes back with some copies and then I ask her if she needs my card too. And she says Yes and flits away again.
An HOUR later, she reappears with some work letters and then I ask, do you need mine? And she goes yes, so I give it to her.
O.M.G.
The teacher couldn't assist her own existing students on the other side of the class because Tinkerbell kept disappearing making copies of 10 ID cards and 10 work letters!
Is that organised? Is that ORGANISED? Grr.
And that one form which had to be filled out also took an hour. I can understand, since it was in Dutch and she had to help the people who didn't speak Dutch at all, with her basic English. But honestly, is it so hard to just announce in the beginning that they need to collect our cards and letters? And then make the stupid 1-page form in 2 languages? She said that it was alright to answer in English anyway, so what's the problem there?
Friggin waste of time, I tell ya!
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
When I hate everybody...
In recent weeks I've been increasingly annoyed by Dutch people and their (for the most part) selfish, individualistic attitudes.
But then I'm reminded via Twitter and Malaysian news sites, that Malaysians can also be very annoying.
And since I only have permission to stay in either one of these two countries, I came to the conclusion that living in NL is a better choice as I can always tell myself, "Dutch people are friggin annoying and I really hate them", keeping in mind that I only have to temporarily deal with them while I'm living here. And I can keep Malaysia as some sort of paradise of homeliness and delicious food.
But if I lived in Malaysia, there's no similar thought that can console me and I'd have to be subjected to their idiocy and annoying habits.
But then I'm reminded via Twitter and Malaysian news sites, that Malaysians can also be very annoying.
And since I only have permission to stay in either one of these two countries, I came to the conclusion that living in NL is a better choice as I can always tell myself, "Dutch people are friggin annoying and I really hate them", keeping in mind that I only have to temporarily deal with them while I'm living here. And I can keep Malaysia as some sort of paradise of homeliness and delicious food.
But if I lived in Malaysia, there's no similar thought that can console me and I'd have to be subjected to their idiocy and annoying habits.
A broken heater is not what you want in NL
On my way to work now from Schrobbenmaster's parents' house in Hoorn. It's nice to be driven to work finally, now that Schrobbenmaster has his driving license.
We spent the night at Hoorn because for the past few days, we've been struggling with no main heater in the house. It was on the blink for a while and we had to keep resetting it, and finally when the guy arrived to fix it, it actually broke down completely a few hours later. Doesn't that always happen? Better not to call anyone to fix it!
So we were pretty much living in the Dark Ages for the past 5 days, boiling water and mixing it with cold water in a tub and splashing ourselves to shower. And washing our hair every other day over the sink in freezing cold water. Brainfreeze several times over!
And we still don't have any idea when the official heater guys in a van will call us up to make an appointment.
But first things first, it's time to face another day at the office. Armour and shields, on!
We spent the night at Hoorn because for the past few days, we've been struggling with no main heater in the house. It was on the blink for a while and we had to keep resetting it, and finally when the guy arrived to fix it, it actually broke down completely a few hours later. Doesn't that always happen? Better not to call anyone to fix it!
So we were pretty much living in the Dark Ages for the past 5 days, boiling water and mixing it with cold water in a tub and splashing ourselves to shower. And washing our hair every other day over the sink in freezing cold water. Brainfreeze several times over!
And we still don't have any idea when the official heater guys in a van will call us up to make an appointment.
But first things first, it's time to face another day at the office. Armour and shields, on!
Friday, May 07, 2010
The bitch strikes again.
Completely disrespectful of me and completely judgmental. Guess that is life, you never have a perfect circle of people surrounding you. Anyway, I gave her a second chance and that was blown right out of the window yesterday by complete bad and rude behaviour. I never call people bitches, so when I do, you know it's valid.
Gotta let my rants out sometimes, but it's always good to let go and do your best not to let the negative and "good riddance" people affect you more than they deserve.
On a happier note, here are some random photos taken over the past few days of my life.
Schrobbenmaster bought an espresso machine and here's my first attempt at making a mochaccino. Kinda put too much milk in it. And also forgot to put in my chocolate powder till after I'd made the whole drink, hence the powder spill among the milk spill.
This is a 24" (the size of my iMac back in KL for those who need a reference), touchscreen MSI machine. It's rather cool, as you can just touch whatever you want without moving a mouse. Typing would be difficult though. Schrobbenmaster was provided this as a product demo for a press event our company is organising.
Okay, because my blog posts have been so lagging and jumping from place to place, most of you probably don't know who this is.
May I introduce you to Pim.
He's the gentlest, silliest cat with the prettiest face I've ever seen. Schrobbenmaster's friend needed us to give him a place to stay for an indefinite period of time, so we took him in about 2 weeks ago. After hiding in various spots in the house from us, he's now very used to being around us and miaowing for strokes on his head and neck.
In fact, this morning, I woke up brushing away some insect on my forehead, only to open my eyes to see Pim staring down at me, asking my forehead for cuddles. He doesn't jump on the bed normally, but apparently this morning, he decided to do so.
The armrest of the sofa has also become one of his new favourite lounge spots. We had to cover the sofa in blankets because of him and his nails. At least yesterday he finally learnt that the scratching pole is his friend.
Ooh, I'm hungry. Brought leftover dinner from last night. I got my first salary yesterday and bought Korean takeaway for dinner. Decided to splurge and order a third dish of pancake with kimchi. Couldn't finish it, of course, so brought it in today.
Can't wait.
Gotta let my rants out sometimes, but it's always good to let go and do your best not to let the negative and "good riddance" people affect you more than they deserve.
On a happier note, here are some random photos taken over the past few days of my life.
Schrobbenmaster bought an espresso machine and here's my first attempt at making a mochaccino. Kinda put too much milk in it. And also forgot to put in my chocolate powder till after I'd made the whole drink, hence the powder spill among the milk spill.
This is a 24" (the size of my iMac back in KL for those who need a reference), touchscreen MSI machine. It's rather cool, as you can just touch whatever you want without moving a mouse. Typing would be difficult though. Schrobbenmaster was provided this as a product demo for a press event our company is organising.
Okay, because my blog posts have been so lagging and jumping from place to place, most of you probably don't know who this is.
May I introduce you to Pim.
He's the gentlest, silliest cat with the prettiest face I've ever seen. Schrobbenmaster's friend needed us to give him a place to stay for an indefinite period of time, so we took him in about 2 weeks ago. After hiding in various spots in the house from us, he's now very used to being around us and miaowing for strokes on his head and neck.
In fact, this morning, I woke up brushing away some insect on my forehead, only to open my eyes to see Pim staring down at me, asking my forehead for cuddles. He doesn't jump on the bed normally, but apparently this morning, he decided to do so.
The armrest of the sofa has also become one of his new favourite lounge spots. We had to cover the sofa in blankets because of him and his nails. At least yesterday he finally learnt that the scratching pole is his friend.
Ooh, I'm hungry. Brought leftover dinner from last night. I got my first salary yesterday and bought Korean takeaway for dinner. Decided to splurge and order a third dish of pancake with kimchi. Couldn't finish it, of course, so brought it in today.
Can't wait.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Battling work and colleagues
Just a quick one to update my thoughts, and so you guys don't think I've disappeared into a cloud.
It's my second week at work, and ups and downs are normal. Won't go into detail at the moment - suffice to say that I struggle with a particular person at work who seems bent on ignoring me and being rude. I was incredibly pissed the whole of last week, adding in the fact that Schrobbenmaster didn't seem to think anything of it... but yesterday that person seems to have changed her tactics. Won't change my mind about her until her behaviour becomes more consistent, though.
Anyways...
I finished two artwork proposals for a campaign for teens and sex. I'm pretty happy with the result, and hope that we get chosen for the campaign so that I can use those pieces :)
And now I'm working on creating a (brand new?) visual identity for the NS Tryout Festival. We did the first festival last year and I wasn't in charge of the branding (not that there was much anyway), but this year, we want to offer a solid identity and guidelines. I'm pondering between being ambitious and creating a whole new kit, which I can be potentially proud of, or refining and following on from last year's work.
It's making me nervous...
(Why did I bold those words? Cuz I wanna be able to scan through my posts in the future and see what projects I've worked on :P)
It's my second week at work, and ups and downs are normal. Won't go into detail at the moment - suffice to say that I struggle with a particular person at work who seems bent on ignoring me and being rude. I was incredibly pissed the whole of last week, adding in the fact that Schrobbenmaster didn't seem to think anything of it... but yesterday that person seems to have changed her tactics. Won't change my mind about her until her behaviour becomes more consistent, though.
Anyways...
I finished two artwork proposals for a campaign for teens and sex. I'm pretty happy with the result, and hope that we get chosen for the campaign so that I can use those pieces :)
And now I'm working on creating a (brand new?) visual identity for the NS Tryout Festival. We did the first festival last year and I wasn't in charge of the branding (not that there was much anyway), but this year, we want to offer a solid identity and guidelines. I'm pondering between being ambitious and creating a whole new kit, which I can be potentially proud of, or refining and following on from last year's work.
It's making me nervous...
(Why did I bold those words? Cuz I wanna be able to scan through my posts in the future and see what projects I've worked on :P)
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Thumbs down to this Dutch experience.
It's funny, I never listened to the radio back in KL cuz I hated all the hip hop and R&B they constantly play. But over here, I find myself tuning in to the Top 40 internet radio stations. They're slightly better than the friggin Hitz.fm who only play egotistical hip hop, as they have a better mix of rock, pop and dance among the R&B and hip hop. And also, I guess it reminds me of being in KL, listening to the same music.
Anyway, as part of my immigration and naturalisation procedure here, I had to go for a TB checkup at the hospital yesterday. We biked there early so there wasn't a queue, and I could go in immediately.
My number was called and I had to go to a certain door. I'd assumed it would be a room behind, where there'd be a doctor or nurse to take my x-ray.
Well, I was right in that there WAS a room, but it was a room about the size of the backseat of a car.
I went, huh? what am I supposed to do? Then I saw the signs mounted on the wall...
I was supposed to friggin strip my entire top half! And they don't even provide a gown! I was so hesitant and apprehensive about this, especially as there was no one to talk to. What if the door on the other side of the room opened, and a man doctor walked in and got surprised to see a topless girl?
I slowly just removed my jacket, then my sweater, when a lady knocked and opened the door inside. She asked for my forms and I confirmed with her if I should remove everything. She said yes.
Ugh! This was so awkward and strange. I'm no stranger to taking x-rays and they always give me a gown to wear to walk over to the machine, but apparently this place doesn't. It's really strange to have to strip, and not even have a friendly nurse making you feel more at ease.
This is Netherlands for you, honestly. These sorts of places are so clinical and cold. Like pharmacies. It's already enough that you want to maybe get some intimate stuff like pads or tampons, or maybe off-the-shelf vitamins for constipation or whatever. But the whole environment is so unfriendly and the whole shop is just telling you to "Get what you need and get the heck outta here.". There is hardly any human touch where you need it.
This is how small the room I was in is. I was standing right at the corner, and could only walk about 1.5 steps before I'd hit myself on the other wall.
Anyway, I removed everything, the lady came back and told me to walk halfway across the room, about 5 steps, to the x-ray machine. Topless. Again, I repeat, it's extremely strange to walk across a cold room, completely topless.
Was instructed to press my chest against the machine and put my hands on my waist and push my elbows forward. My hair is shoulder length, so she needed to pin it up. It felt like she was using a clothes peg to pin my hair up! First embarrassing moment. Okay, second one. The 'clothes peg' is connected by a string to the machine, so she placed that string across the top of my head so that it wouldn't hang next to my head and disrupt the x-ray process. Third embarrassing moment.
I'm standing there with my boobs pressed against a cold, smooth machine, posing like a high fashion model, hands on hips, with hair pegged up by a clothes peg and a string across my head. Omg.
It was over in 5 seconds though. I could then walk back to the tiny backseat room and get decent again. She passed me back the form halfway through and told me I could now go to the IND and get the whole process done.
Gawd, I hope I never have to get another x-ray done. Or do anything else at a Dutch hospital, for that matter.
Friday, March 05, 2010
Go ahead and read.
Since no one pays any attention to me on Twitter, I'm gonna stop micro-blogging there and save it for here, where I won't be disturbing anyone.
... Gee, you know the cockiness of some people...
"So... haha... you only have (insert miniscule number here) number of followers...!"
Just because you are half a celebrity and you don't clear out your spam porn and medicine followers.
If I wasn't as vigilant with clearing out my spam followers, I'd have more, okay? And I'm not even half a celebrity. Psssshhhh...!
... How about when you tell a friend that you want to, say, go to his shop, or use his services or eat at his cafe? What I got was... silence.
Cocky-nya!
So, no thanks, there are plenty of other services around to use, and I don't have to use yours. I was just trying to be a friend and even that got rejected.
Talking about rejection, how about two weeks ago when my happening friends went clubbing over coming to my place for drinks?
As frachely said to me today:
"..."
"ur friends!"
"geez"
This afternoon I was kinda bemoaning the fact that I have very little traffic to my blog. At least, the very few comments I get show that.
(I do appreciate the new commenters though --> Melissa, Schola... and not forgetting my loyal commenter --> frachely)
So I asked frachely - since she's the biggest expert on my blog - if she thought my blog is easy to read.
frachely: quite subjective
frachely: one thing i'm sure is you wont attract any ah lians
frachely: which mean less traffic
frachely: haha
frachely: lotsa so-called 'celeb bloggers' in msia sg like xx
frachely: their fan base consists of mostly ah lian ah beng
Upon further investigation - okay, I only looked at one other blog - I found that this particular blog (which I've never heard of but is Malaysian) has 40 followers - I have one :'( - and 135 fans on Facebook. And all this girl wrote were 10 words and inserted 50 photos.
Okay, I love looking at photos. But I love looking at photos with a purpose, like fashion or good photography. I'm not gonna adore looking at 50 photos of the same 3 people whom I don't know. And don't tell me the hundreds of visitors to these celeb blogger sites know these 3 people personally.
Another thing... who creates a Facebook fan page for themselves and shows it off on their blog?
Well, I'm sorry random visitor of my blog, that you had to read through this massive essay of 1000 words with no pictures. But I think I'd very much like to keep to my readers of quality and not sell out to the ah lians and ah bengs just so I can have celeb blogger status.
Thank you, thank you.
... Gee, you know the cockiness of some people...
"So... haha... you only have (insert miniscule number here) number of followers...!"
Just because you are half a celebrity and you don't clear out your spam porn and medicine followers.
If I wasn't as vigilant with clearing out my spam followers, I'd have more, okay? And I'm not even half a celebrity. Psssshhhh...!
... How about when you tell a friend that you want to, say, go to his shop, or use his services or eat at his cafe? What I got was... silence.
Cocky-nya!
So, no thanks, there are plenty of other services around to use, and I don't have to use yours. I was just trying to be a friend and even that got rejected.
Talking about rejection, how about two weeks ago when my happening friends went clubbing over coming to my place for drinks?
As frachely said to me today:
"..."
"ur friends!"
"geez"
This afternoon I was kinda bemoaning the fact that I have very little traffic to my blog. At least, the very few comments I get show that.
(I do appreciate the new commenters though --> Melissa, Schola... and not forgetting my loyal commenter --> frachely)
So I asked frachely - since she's the biggest expert on my blog - if she thought my blog is easy to read.
frachely: quite subjective
frachely: one thing i'm sure is you wont attract any ah lians
frachely: which mean less traffic
frachely: haha
frachely: lotsa so-called 'celeb bloggers' in msia sg like xx
frachely: their fan base consists of mostly ah lian ah beng
Upon further investigation - okay, I only looked at one other blog - I found that this particular blog (which I've never heard of but is Malaysian) has 40 followers - I have one :'( - and 135 fans on Facebook. And all this girl wrote were 10 words and inserted 50 photos.
Okay, I love looking at photos. But I love looking at photos with a purpose, like fashion or good photography. I'm not gonna adore looking at 50 photos of the same 3 people whom I don't know. And don't tell me the hundreds of visitors to these celeb blogger sites know these 3 people personally.
Another thing... who creates a Facebook fan page for themselves and shows it off on their blog?
Well, I'm sorry random visitor of my blog, that you had to read through this massive essay of 1000 words with no pictures. But I think I'd very much like to keep to my readers of quality and not sell out to the ah lians and ah bengs just so I can have celeb blogger status.
Thank you, thank you.
Monday, March 01, 2010
Just a variety of thoughts and photos.
Before I continue with CNY posts and Operation ByeByeKL updates, here are some older photos that I absolutely have to clear from my desktop :)
I love these little quaint things about Malaysia. I love how we still have roti men, newspaper men, ais krim men and here you see, telur man.
And one of the things I hate about Malaysia: Perodua Kancil. These pesky rats turn up everywhere, blocking people and being a general menace on the roads. In this case, because this Kancil was parked thus, Regs in her huge Honda couldn't park in that yellow box and had to give it up to the smaller MyVi behind her.
Also, if the government wouldn't insist on making it affordable for everyone to have a car - hence the birth of the Kancil - they would have a more urgent incentive to improve public transportation and come up with common ways to battle traffic like Park 'n' Ride (which they already implement in Putrajaya, and desperately need in Bangsar) and more train stops in strategic areas.
Two photos of Arran at a coffee shop where we had lunch after church. I wanted to post these photos up so I could look through them again when feeling nostalgic in NL.
Arya with one of her more nicer smiles. She normally gives a really fake, toothy smile :B
I wonder if this is how they attract visitors to this, uh... mall?
At one point I was drawing trees. It's one of those objects that I actually am able to inject my own personal style into.
I love drawing the leaves. And somehow I love tall, thin trees with lots of leaves. Does that say anything about me? :)
Attempting a tree with another object.
Save the best for last. The leaves!
I do believe there's a little bird in a little nest in the middle of the tree :)
I love these little quaint things about Malaysia. I love how we still have roti men, newspaper men, ais krim men and here you see, telur man.
And one of the things I hate about Malaysia: Perodua Kancil. These pesky rats turn up everywhere, blocking people and being a general menace on the roads. In this case, because this Kancil was parked thus, Regs in her huge Honda couldn't park in that yellow box and had to give it up to the smaller MyVi behind her.
Also, if the government wouldn't insist on making it affordable for everyone to have a car - hence the birth of the Kancil - they would have a more urgent incentive to improve public transportation and come up with common ways to battle traffic like Park 'n' Ride (which they already implement in Putrajaya, and desperately need in Bangsar) and more train stops in strategic areas.
Two photos of Arran at a coffee shop where we had lunch after church. I wanted to post these photos up so I could look through them again when feeling nostalgic in NL.
Arya with one of her more nicer smiles. She normally gives a really fake, toothy smile :B
I wonder if this is how they attract visitors to this, uh... mall?
At one point I was drawing trees. It's one of those objects that I actually am able to inject my own personal style into.
I love drawing the leaves. And somehow I love tall, thin trees with lots of leaves. Does that say anything about me? :)
Attempting a tree with another object.
Save the best for last. The leaves!
I do believe there's a little bird in a little nest in the middle of the tree :)
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Beautiful Putrajaya ruined by stupidity
Wooooot!
Went to the Dutch Embassy this morning to submit my passport and relevant documents for them to prepare my MVV (temporary residence permit)... finally! My MVV was approved ages ago, but because I had to collect so bloody many governmental and legal documents, it's just been a long time coming for me to actually pick it up. Anyway, it's ready Wednesday morning and then it's finally DONE!
Before I could head on over there this morning, I had to get my birth certificate and its translation from Putrajaya. I had ordered it before CNY, and although it's normally ready in 2 days, because of all the holidays, I ended up going to collect it more than a week later.
I already blogged about JPN (National Registration Department) earlier, so this time I'm gonna talk about getting my translations done at the Palace of Justice. Although Malaysian birth certs are dual-language - Nama/Name, Umur/Age - strangely, the answers are only in Malay - 'Informasi tidak didapati' etc.
The birth cert only costs RM5, but the translations cost RM40 for two copies, signed and stamped by the translator/penterjemah.
Yelleh Belleh had followed me to Putrajaya, and so after collecting my birth cert, we walked across the road and diagonally towards the Palace of Justice. Isn't it pretty? I love all the trees and landscaping in front and in between all the buildings. Although the buildings have their own individual shape and design, the landscaping all around brings the look all together.
Grand entrance!
Security, unfortunately, like most services in this country, is lacking. There is a show of it, but it doesn't look very effective at all. You'll know if you've been in there. Glad I don't work there.
The interior is amazing! It's like a 5-star hotel, with rounded staircases at the end of the lobby. Marble columns and carved columns everywhere. Really beautiful. Too bad it has to be spoilt by the ugly, superficial security system in front.
It's almost like those churches or mosques that tourists go abroad to visit for their architecture :)
Signing off now, Friends (yes, I still watch it!) is starting and I've run out of Putrajaya pics.
Oh, but before that, I really have to remark that everything in Putrajaya is really beautiful and the people are well-trained... but THE DAMN SIGNBOARDS ARE STILL AS STUPID AS IN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY.
Looking for Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) from Precinct 2 (where all the government departments are) took me, literally, 20 minutes of going up and down that big Precinct 2 road, looking for the turnoff towards Wisma Putra. There are absolutely NO signboards to Wisma Putra from Precinct 2 until you actually reach the road which turns into the building itself. How idiotical is that?!
Not to mention the countless (and I'm seriously not exaggerating!!) signboards strategically placed BEHIND the uniformly-spaced trees. The trees were obviously planned that way, so how could Mr Signboard NOT know that? Utter, utter stupidity!
Went to the Dutch Embassy this morning to submit my passport and relevant documents for them to prepare my MVV (temporary residence permit)... finally! My MVV was approved ages ago, but because I had to collect so bloody many governmental and legal documents, it's just been a long time coming for me to actually pick it up. Anyway, it's ready Wednesday morning and then it's finally DONE!
Before I could head on over there this morning, I had to get my birth certificate and its translation from Putrajaya. I had ordered it before CNY, and although it's normally ready in 2 days, because of all the holidays, I ended up going to collect it more than a week later.
I already blogged about JPN (National Registration Department) earlier, so this time I'm gonna talk about getting my translations done at the Palace of Justice. Although Malaysian birth certs are dual-language - Nama/Name, Umur/Age - strangely, the answers are only in Malay - 'Informasi tidak didapati' etc.
The birth cert only costs RM5, but the translations cost RM40 for two copies, signed and stamped by the translator/penterjemah.
Yelleh Belleh had followed me to Putrajaya, and so after collecting my birth cert, we walked across the road and diagonally towards the Palace of Justice. Isn't it pretty? I love all the trees and landscaping in front and in between all the buildings. Although the buildings have their own individual shape and design, the landscaping all around brings the look all together.
Grand entrance!
Security, unfortunately, like most services in this country, is lacking. There is a show of it, but it doesn't look very effective at all. You'll know if you've been in there. Glad I don't work there.
The interior is amazing! It's like a 5-star hotel, with rounded staircases at the end of the lobby. Marble columns and carved columns everywhere. Really beautiful. Too bad it has to be spoilt by the ugly, superficial security system in front.
It's almost like those churches or mosques that tourists go abroad to visit for their architecture :)
Signing off now, Friends (yes, I still watch it!) is starting and I've run out of Putrajaya pics.
Oh, but before that, I really have to remark that everything in Putrajaya is really beautiful and the people are well-trained... but THE DAMN SIGNBOARDS ARE STILL AS STUPID AS IN THE REST OF THE COUNTRY.
Looking for Wisma Putra (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) from Precinct 2 (where all the government departments are) took me, literally, 20 minutes of going up and down that big Precinct 2 road, looking for the turnoff towards Wisma Putra. There are absolutely NO signboards to Wisma Putra from Precinct 2 until you actually reach the road which turns into the building itself. How idiotical is that?!
Not to mention the countless (and I'm seriously not exaggerating!!) signboards strategically placed BEHIND the uniformly-spaced trees. The trees were obviously planned that way, so how could Mr Signboard NOT know that? Utter, utter stupidity!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Well wishes that turned into a rant - as usual! Happy CNY :)
Happy Chinese New Year everyone!
And also a romantic Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day has never really been a big thing for me as I have never really had a special someone nearby whenever the day comes around.
Last year, I spent it with the girls, cooking in Sharry Berry's place, then later joined Tequila Lin, her Australian friend, and Schrobbenmaster... who ended up being my special someone some time after anyway. Strange how things work out, huh? Especially remembering what was on Schrobbenmaster's mind most of the night. Heh.
Anyway, this will probably be my last Chinese New Year in Penang for a while, as I'll soon be heading over to NL. I think coming back for Christmas and New Year would be a more convenient time, instead of in the middle of January or February, so CNY in Malaysia wouldn't be very feasible.
At this point in time, I'm not really feeling too bad about it, as my eyes hurt, my back aches and my feet are sore. Haven't been able to get enough sleep, as I sleep in the same space as the little siblings who wake up at unearthly hours and make so much noise that I also have to wake up, or lie in bed with my eye mask, struggling to block out the noise.
This year it's also been rather horrible, as the silly MacBook Pro decided to give up on me and not show anything on its display. So it's had to stay with the Machines people in The Gardens, who promised to update me after 3 days on what was gonna happen to it. It's now been more than 5 working days and they don't even pick up the phone when I call. This kind of behaviour is EXTREMELY irritating!!
Look, if you say you're gonna call a customer, THEN CALL THE CUSTOMER!! Otherwise just ask the damn customer to call you instead. Whichever way, the customer has the right to know what's happening with her several thousand ringgit worth of machinery. This is not the first time I've received horrendous service from a Mac dealer. There was another one in 1 Utama (can't remember if it's Machines as well) who told me he'd order my external hard drive and give me a call, but after two bloody weeks, he never even freaking ordered the damn drive. Lazy bastard. Naturally I told them to bugger off and leave it.
I want my MacBook Pro back!!
This post seems to have turned into a major rant about Machines and freaking store people who never call back. Hey, it's not like if you call me, I'll think you've fallen in love with me okay? Freaking do your job, man!
And also a romantic Valentine's Day!
Valentine's Day has never really been a big thing for me as I have never really had a special someone nearby whenever the day comes around.
Last year, I spent it with the girls, cooking in Sharry Berry's place, then later joined Tequila Lin, her Australian friend, and Schrobbenmaster... who ended up being my special someone some time after anyway. Strange how things work out, huh? Especially remembering what was on Schrobbenmaster's mind most of the night. Heh.
Anyway, this will probably be my last Chinese New Year in Penang for a while, as I'll soon be heading over to NL. I think coming back for Christmas and New Year would be a more convenient time, instead of in the middle of January or February, so CNY in Malaysia wouldn't be very feasible.
At this point in time, I'm not really feeling too bad about it, as my eyes hurt, my back aches and my feet are sore. Haven't been able to get enough sleep, as I sleep in the same space as the little siblings who wake up at unearthly hours and make so much noise that I also have to wake up, or lie in bed with my eye mask, struggling to block out the noise.
This year it's also been rather horrible, as the silly MacBook Pro decided to give up on me and not show anything on its display. So it's had to stay with the Machines people in The Gardens, who promised to update me after 3 days on what was gonna happen to it. It's now been more than 5 working days and they don't even pick up the phone when I call. This kind of behaviour is EXTREMELY irritating!!
Look, if you say you're gonna call a customer, THEN CALL THE CUSTOMER!! Otherwise just ask the damn customer to call you instead. Whichever way, the customer has the right to know what's happening with her several thousand ringgit worth of machinery. This is not the first time I've received horrendous service from a Mac dealer. There was another one in 1 Utama (can't remember if it's Machines as well) who told me he'd order my external hard drive and give me a call, but after two bloody weeks, he never even freaking ordered the damn drive. Lazy bastard. Naturally I told them to bugger off and leave it.
I want my MacBook Pro back!!
This post seems to have turned into a major rant about Machines and freaking store people who never call back. Hey, it's not like if you call me, I'll think you've fallen in love with me okay? Freaking do your job, man!
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
A series of unfortunate events.
What an unfortunately eventful day today!
For a couple weeks now, my car has been sputtering whenever I turn the ignition. I figured it's time to get the battery changed, and I arranged to have it done yesterday morning. However, I was too busy and couldn't make it.
So this morning, I woke up with a kind of nervous feeling. I had a meeting to go to at 2pm nearby at Mid Valley. I dunno why I felt nervous this morning, like I KNEW that today would be the day that my car decides not to start.
I get a phone call from Regs to say that she will be in Mid Valley shopping and I can join her if I like. So I tell her that I have a meeting there and will meet her after. Later, she calls and says that her car won't start! So if I would be so kind as to pick her up on my way to my meeting, that'd be great. So I said, sure.
I get ready for my meeting and walk to my car, channelling good vibes and energy towards it.
Didn't work. It sputtered and sputtered and this time, it never started. Panic!
Although it was already 1.30pm, the workshop guys were apparently still at lunch and besides, apparently, they couldn't come and get me as they were sooooo busy. So I hailed a taxi from in front of my place and paid RM5.20 to get to Mid Valley for my meeting. Which lasted only 10 minutes. Then I had to find a taxi back. What a bloody waste of time, really.
Thank goodness there were loads of taxis waiting. So I took one directly to the workshop, which cost me RM6.40. This is already costing me way more than driving myself and parking in Mid Valley.
I tell the guy there that I need this done asap and then he was like, oh they are sooooo busy today, maybe they can only come to your car at 3pm (it was 2.15pm). So I said, well, do whatever you want and do it quick, I'm parking myself here, right in front of you.
Five minutes later, he walks over to me and says, oh we have someone free to send you to your car and fix it. And if it's the battery, it costs RM220. And the labour is RM35.
Dagneggit, the battery is RM220??? Why do I remember only just over a year ago paying slightly over RM100 for the exact same battery? At a different place, sure, but are they excessively overcharging me here? Well, I really need my car to be fixed or I'll be in a fretful mood all day, so I said okay.
So the guy brings me back and fixes up little Bruno (yes, I rarely call my car by his name, but there ya go). Then I drive back to the workshop to pay RM260 for everything. So expensive! I was gonna send my car for servicing tomorrow, but after paying that amount, I think I might skip it for the moment. The guy did scare me a little by saying that I should send my car in for the major service soon as my timing belt will need to be replaced at 60,000 km (I'm at 52,000km).
Since my car is working again, I headed to the bank where I had to pick up a bank statement for my company account. I decided to park inside the compound because there is a 15-minute grace period when you don't have to pay for parking. Since I was just picking up the statement, I figured it wouldn't take me long.
Well, it didn't take too long, but it certainly took me about 10 minutes or so. I waited a minute at the ATM machine, wanting to withdraw some cash, but they were taking too long and I really didn't wanna pay for parking, so I went back to my car.
Lo and behold, what's new? There are 5 motorcycles parked behind my car, almost certainly all heading to the gambling shop I'm parked in front of. There were two motorcycles blocking my path, and one of them rode away while I was entering my car. So now I had one problem on hand. And no one in sight. A dude comes down from the gambling shop and goes to the cycle next to the problem one. I try angling my car to squeeze out, but to no avail, the damn cycle was just right in my way!
Now, why can't these stupid cyclists park the cycles at least in places where we cars can squeeze out? Why do they all have to park in a cluster behind my ONE car? Can't they just take an extra 10 steps and park in a more convenient spot for EVERYBODY? Damn them!
I had to get out of my car and ask the dude to help me move the idiot's cycle next to his. He could only budge it about a foot away (30cm for you Europeans), which was barely enough for me to squeeze out with about 10 cm between my car door and the bike handle. So pissing off!!
Then of course, by the time I reach the exit, which is only 10 seconds away, the guy tells me that I have to pay because I'm a damn ONE MINUTE past the grace period!
Everyone hands up who has NOT been a victim of the stupidity of a motorcyclist!
No hands? Not surprising.
For a couple weeks now, my car has been sputtering whenever I turn the ignition. I figured it's time to get the battery changed, and I arranged to have it done yesterday morning. However, I was too busy and couldn't make it.
So this morning, I woke up with a kind of nervous feeling. I had a meeting to go to at 2pm nearby at Mid Valley. I dunno why I felt nervous this morning, like I KNEW that today would be the day that my car decides not to start.
I get a phone call from Regs to say that she will be in Mid Valley shopping and I can join her if I like. So I tell her that I have a meeting there and will meet her after. Later, she calls and says that her car won't start! So if I would be so kind as to pick her up on my way to my meeting, that'd be great. So I said, sure.
I get ready for my meeting and walk to my car, channelling good vibes and energy towards it.
Didn't work. It sputtered and sputtered and this time, it never started. Panic!
Although it was already 1.30pm, the workshop guys were apparently still at lunch and besides, apparently, they couldn't come and get me as they were sooooo busy. So I hailed a taxi from in front of my place and paid RM5.20 to get to Mid Valley for my meeting. Which lasted only 10 minutes. Then I had to find a taxi back. What a bloody waste of time, really.
Thank goodness there were loads of taxis waiting. So I took one directly to the workshop, which cost me RM6.40. This is already costing me way more than driving myself and parking in Mid Valley.
I tell the guy there that I need this done asap and then he was like, oh they are sooooo busy today, maybe they can only come to your car at 3pm (it was 2.15pm). So I said, well, do whatever you want and do it quick, I'm parking myself here, right in front of you.
Five minutes later, he walks over to me and says, oh we have someone free to send you to your car and fix it. And if it's the battery, it costs RM220. And the labour is RM35.
Dagneggit, the battery is RM220??? Why do I remember only just over a year ago paying slightly over RM100 for the exact same battery? At a different place, sure, but are they excessively overcharging me here? Well, I really need my car to be fixed or I'll be in a fretful mood all day, so I said okay.
So the guy brings me back and fixes up little Bruno (yes, I rarely call my car by his name, but there ya go). Then I drive back to the workshop to pay RM260 for everything. So expensive! I was gonna send my car for servicing tomorrow, but after paying that amount, I think I might skip it for the moment. The guy did scare me a little by saying that I should send my car in for the major service soon as my timing belt will need to be replaced at 60,000 km (I'm at 52,000km).
Since my car is working again, I headed to the bank where I had to pick up a bank statement for my company account. I decided to park inside the compound because there is a 15-minute grace period when you don't have to pay for parking. Since I was just picking up the statement, I figured it wouldn't take me long.
Well, it didn't take too long, but it certainly took me about 10 minutes or so. I waited a minute at the ATM machine, wanting to withdraw some cash, but they were taking too long and I really didn't wanna pay for parking, so I went back to my car.
Lo and behold, what's new? There are 5 motorcycles parked behind my car, almost certainly all heading to the gambling shop I'm parked in front of. There were two motorcycles blocking my path, and one of them rode away while I was entering my car. So now I had one problem on hand. And no one in sight. A dude comes down from the gambling shop and goes to the cycle next to the problem one. I try angling my car to squeeze out, but to no avail, the damn cycle was just right in my way!
Now, why can't these stupid cyclists park the cycles at least in places where we cars can squeeze out? Why do they all have to park in a cluster behind my ONE car? Can't they just take an extra 10 steps and park in a more convenient spot for EVERYBODY? Damn them!
I had to get out of my car and ask the dude to help me move the idiot's cycle next to his. He could only budge it about a foot away (30cm for you Europeans), which was barely enough for me to squeeze out with about 10 cm between my car door and the bike handle. So pissing off!!
Then of course, by the time I reach the exit, which is only 10 seconds away, the guy tells me that I have to pay because I'm a damn ONE MINUTE past the grace period!
Everyone hands up who has NOT been a victim of the stupidity of a motorcyclist!
No hands? Not surprising.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Commercials are irritating, but this takes the cake for now
Is it just me, or are those damn Astro Byond ads on TV getting REALLY annoying?
In fact, I already got annoyed the third time I saw it. It's so bloody long, which makes it so obvious that they are practically shoving this new HD subscription down our throats. And did they cancel the BBC Entertainment channel with quality shows because they plan to sell that on Byond, and thus replace it with the crappy Granada channel which shows trash like Emmerdale and Coronation Street and The Paul O'Grady Show? I honestly wouldn't mind having the Granada channel if they'd only keep the BBC channel as well.
Oh man, I hate long commercials, especially when repeated once every 10 minutes.
The only thing I like about the commercial is the song. But I still think it's way too long, and way too pushy. Did they even announce that they were removing the BBC Entertainment channel and replacing it with a crappy Bio channel? I don't know because I was in NL. But my parents certainly seemed surprised at the change. And they watch Astro regularly enough, at least an hour a day.
Gosh darn it, Astro really ruffles my feathers!!!
I just wish a rival would come up and give them some competition, therefore giving us paying subscribers a better range of choices.
In fact, I already got annoyed the third time I saw it. It's so bloody long, which makes it so obvious that they are practically shoving this new HD subscription down our throats. And did they cancel the BBC Entertainment channel with quality shows because they plan to sell that on Byond, and thus replace it with the crappy Granada channel which shows trash like Emmerdale and Coronation Street and The Paul O'Grady Show? I honestly wouldn't mind having the Granada channel if they'd only keep the BBC channel as well.
Oh man, I hate long commercials, especially when repeated once every 10 minutes.
The only thing I like about the commercial is the song. But I still think it's way too long, and way too pushy. Did they even announce that they were removing the BBC Entertainment channel and replacing it with a crappy Bio channel? I don't know because I was in NL. But my parents certainly seemed surprised at the change. And they watch Astro regularly enough, at least an hour a day.
Gosh darn it, Astro really ruffles my feathers!!!
I just wish a rival would come up and give them some competition, therefore giving us paying subscribers a better range of choices.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Sentralfon doesn't trust customers.
So... it has been a while because my internet account has been suspended. Due to my non-payment, which was caused by technical faults, therefore causing me to not pay for services not rendered... and prior to that, by incompetent technical staff who never recorded my problem when it happened, subsequently causing the management to effectively say that I was lying about not receiving promised service and refusing to reinstate my account.
I blame Sentralfon. Is it my fault that Janar came over to my apartment complex twice to check out the problem but never logged it? Is it my fault that I was only receiving 10kbps when I was paying for 2mbps? Should I therefore be paying the monthly service fee for 2mbps when I only receive 10kbps and frequent internet connection drops?
What the hell.
If this was in the food and beverage industry, the restaurant would apologise for their staff's incompetence and give complimentary dessert. They know to put customers first and they know that staff can sometimes be lazy and incompetent.
Does Sentralfon wanna lose my monthly business over a lousy RM240?
They said they do. And so they'll bloody well lose my business.
I blame Sentralfon. Is it my fault that Janar came over to my apartment complex twice to check out the problem but never logged it? Is it my fault that I was only receiving 10kbps when I was paying for 2mbps? Should I therefore be paying the monthly service fee for 2mbps when I only receive 10kbps and frequent internet connection drops?
What the hell.
If this was in the food and beverage industry, the restaurant would apologise for their staff's incompetence and give complimentary dessert. They know to put customers first and they know that staff can sometimes be lazy and incompetent.
Does Sentralfon wanna lose my monthly business over a lousy RM240?
They said they do. And so they'll bloody well lose my business.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Dutch Embassy. FAIL. Incompetent and incapable.
I haven't been writing much because I've been quite upset the past week and I can't write when I'm not happy.
---
On a separate note, I just wanted to say that with all my complaining about Dutch grammar and Dutch language being difficult to learn, I realised a few days ago that English pronunciation is even more complicated. The two vowels "ie" together in Dutch are pronounced only one way (right?), but in English, you have "pie", "thief", "pier", "drier", "friend" and probably a few more I can't think of right now. I definitely don't envy people learning English as adults.
---
Anyway, here's the story of why I've been unhappy the past week.
The Dutch Embassy in KL: FAIL. And I found out yesterday... the Dutch Embassy in Singapore: ALSO FAIL.
I have been making effort towards getting an MVV, which is a temporary residence permit for The Netherlands. Among the things I have to do are to sit for an exam called the inburgering exam, which is to make sure your knowledge of Dutch society and the language are sufficient to live there.
There are lots of information available online and there are official books to buy to practise. But sometimes you just want to ask someone directly about things you're unsure of. Here is my experience with the KL Dutch Embassy.
And the reply I received was:
On Thursday itself, Schrobbenmaster had already called up the ministry in NL to scold them for this. And on Thursday, they told him that there was no problem with the connection. Then on Friday, he called to scold them again. They then told him there was a problem with the exam centre's connection with the KL office and that the IT department would be at work on it immediately.
I couldn't leave it in their already-proven-to-be-incapable hands, so I sent an email to Singapore:
Then we gave the KL office the weekend and a Monday to sort it out.
On Monday I called the embassy again and she tells me the same thing, that she's still waiting and still not receiving any updates.
On Tuesday (yesterday), I received a reply from Singapore:
Additionally, doing the exam in Singapore would have cost us more time and money. Not to mention, my Dutch skills are slowly deteriorating as it has now been a week since I had my last Dutch class. We are expecting to receive some sort of reimbursement or compensation if I have to take my exam somewhere else besides KL. It's their incapability and incompetence that's causing all this trouble and, potentially and probably, a difference in my results in the exam.
It will be 7 days since my appointment to take the exam tomorrow, and we'll see what happens by then. After tomorrow, I feel that we are perfectly within reason to really put pressure on them and, in a manner of speaking, step up the aggression.
Will keep everyone updated.
---
On a separate note, I just wanted to say that with all my complaining about Dutch grammar and Dutch language being difficult to learn, I realised a few days ago that English pronunciation is even more complicated. The two vowels "ie" together in Dutch are pronounced only one way (right?), but in English, you have "pie", "thief", "pier", "drier", "friend" and probably a few more I can't think of right now. I definitely don't envy people learning English as adults.
---
Anyway, here's the story of why I've been unhappy the past week.
The Dutch Embassy in KL: FAIL. And I found out yesterday... the Dutch Embassy in Singapore: ALSO FAIL.
I have been making effort towards getting an MVV, which is a temporary residence permit for The Netherlands. Among the things I have to do are to sit for an exam called the inburgering exam, which is to make sure your knowledge of Dutch society and the language are sufficient to live there.
There are lots of information available online and there are official books to buy to practise. But sometimes you just want to ask someone directly about things you're unsure of. Here is my experience with the KL Dutch Embassy.
I would like to ask if, in the inburgering exam, there are one or two nazeggen sections? When I took the sample test from the Naar Nederlands package, there was only one, but I am currently doing some sample practise tests with my teacher, and there are two sections to repeat sentences. It has me a little confused.
Another thing, is there a waiting list to do the exam and do I have to make my appointment to sit for the exam early, or can I just call a week ahead and arrange a time to go to the embassy?
And the reply I received was:
Dear Jun-Yi
We do not know because we do not take the exams. You will be using the head phones and will directly dealing the exam dept. so I really do not know wheather it has 1 part or 2 parts
thanks
Carol Peters
Can you believe the way she replied me? I was surprised and annoyed with this reply. How can they not be able to answer my questions "because we do not take the exams"? If they don't know it, why not FIND OUT? What are they here to do, if not to help Dutch citizens and Malaysian citizens? This was my first experience of their laziness. Secondly, they did not answer my question about making an appointment to do the exam. Such a short email and she can miss out this question? It just doesn't make a good impression on me, that this person is not observant and not careful in her dealings with the public they serve.
So I asked again...
How about making the appointment to take the exam? Is there a waiting list, or can I just call up a few days in advance to make the appointment?
And take note of her answer. It's important:
You can call up the embassy and make the appointment anytime.
thanks
Carol
After stewing about their incompetence and laziness to find an answer to my question about the structure of the exam, I let them know I wasn't happy with their "We do not know so don't ask us" answer.
Could you please find out if the Nazeggen section has one or two parts? There is no one else I can ask the answer about the Dutch exam as you are the Dutch Embassy. If you can't tell me how the exam goes, how else can I find out? It's really important for me to know and be prepared as this exam, I believe, costs 350 euros and I'm taking it quite seriously.
After this email, I thought she would at least make an effort to write one little email, or visit the website related to immigration to find out. She took two days to write this to me:
There are 2 parts in the exam. One is the language and one is th cultural. If you need more info I think you will have to write to the IND where you made payment for the exam maybe they will be able to help you more.
I very sorry that I cannot assist you more.
Thank you.
Carol Peters
Did I not already know this? Was this my question? Omg.
Anyway, after that, I found out that I was mistaken earlier, and there are indeed two nazeggen sections. However, advised by Mumsy Bumsy and Schrobbenmaster, I did not inform the embassy of this so that they could either let someone else know they are stupid and lazy or just continue living blissfully in their ignorance.
Finally, after several weeks of Dutch lessons with Geraldine, 3 times a week for 2 hours each time, the time to take the exam arrived. I had planned to take the exam in the first week of December so that Schrobbenmaster could send in all the documents for the processing of the MVV application before the holidays started. And so that I would have my permit (if approved) in time to head over at the end of February or early March.
I called the embassy on the 1st of December to make an appointment on the 2nd, but they said they weren't available and if the 3rd was okay, so I said yes and made the appointment for 2pm.
The day arrived and I was really nervous, not helped by the silent and empty lobby where I could hear the tiniest tap of my feet echo on the tiled floor.
After 5 to 10 minutes of having my passport and doing whatever they have to do, a blonde girl brought me to the exam room. She was nice and understood that I was nervous and told me that I could take my time if I wanted to, but I told her that I wanted to get it over with. I did all the fingerprint scanning, and she registered me into the exam system. While doing that, she asked me to read laminated A4 cards on the structure of the exam.
And there, right in front of me, was the exam structure. 2 nazeggen sections, 1 korte vragen section and 1 tegenstellingen section, in addition to the Dutch society test. It was right there the whole time, and the lazy woman who replied my email did not even know that! Imagine my disappointment again. I didn't dwell on it because I had other things to think about, but I was just thinking to myself, not for the first time, "Omg.".
I sat there, with the headphones comfortably on, heart beating quickly and trying to keep my head clear. I chose to do the Dutch society section first so I could attune myself to people speaking Dutch to me. So I sat and waited while the blonde girl dialed a number on the phone. And dialed again. And I waited. And watched her. As she dialed again. Then she goes, "Let me just double check this number.". So I go, "Okay.". And wait. And she dials again. And one more time. And finally says, "There's something wrong, let me check with my boss if they've changed the number.".
She leaves the room and I sit there on my own, not wanting to remove the headphones in case the next time I put it on, it doesn't fit as comfortably. Yes, I get quite paranoid about little things that might jeopardise my results.
1 minute passes...
2 minutes...
5 minutes...
It feels like 10 minutes have passed, but it's possibly just under 10 and more than 5, sitting on my own in the exam room with my headphones on, tapping my fingers on the chair. All I know is that I was in the embassy for just over half an hour, without achieving anything, except that they now have my fingerprints on file and will be able to find me if I ever kill someone in The Netherlands.
The girl comes back after what is ages to me, and says apologetically, "I'm so sorry, but I have bad news.". Jolly good. I remove my headphones and wait to hear it.
"It seems that the phone number has changed and we have to wait for the Orange network in the UK to start work and give us the new number. But that means that it's 5pm our time and we're closed then. So tomorrow morning I'll give you a call and you can come in, about 12.30pm to do the test, as we close at 2pm tomorrow (Friday)".
What could I do but say "Okay"?
I headed home, frustrated. I had put so much effort into being ready for this moment, taking classes right up to the day before, listening to the audio CD in my car and memorising 180 words and their opposites.
The thing was, my friend Euying had experienced this same thing a year ago. There had been no sound when they called up the exam centre. They told her it would be fixed. She waited a month. And they finally told her, "I think you should do it in Singapore.". Wtf! So she told me while I was having lunch with her at her home in Eindhoven: "If the same thing happens to you, don't wait. Just go to Singapore. I wasted a month of my time on them and time is money. You need to get your application processed.".
I decided to give them a chance till Friday morning.
I studied again on Thursday night, when I shouldn't have had to. I set my alarm for 9am to call them in case they forget to call me.
All groggy the next day at 9am, when of course they hadn't called, I called them instead. And she says the same thing, that they haven't fixed the problem, and, "To be safe, I won't promise that you'll do it this afternoon, but probably Monday.".
It was very, very irritating because now my plans were being held back. Schrobbenmaster was supposed to hand in our documents that day itself. I had hurried to renew my passport, get my unmarried certificate from Putrajaya, and he had done his own arrangements and got his certificate (which is valid for only 30 days). And now because of the KL Dutch Embassy's incompetence, everything had to be put on hold.
On Thursday itself, Schrobbenmaster had already called up the ministry in NL to scold them for this. And on Thursday, they told him that there was no problem with the connection. Then on Friday, he called to scold them again. They then told him there was a problem with the exam centre's connection with the KL office and that the IT department would be at work on it immediately.
I couldn't leave it in their already-proven-to-be-incapable hands, so I sent an email to Singapore:
I'm a Malaysian citizen who has made an appointment with the embassy in Kuala Lumpur to take the inburgering exam, but they have postponed my exam TWICE now with the reason of technical difficulties, and it's very upsetting for me.
I was advised by a friend who took the exam last year and faced the same problem. She ended up doing the exam in the Dutch Embassy in Singapore. I was wondering if you could make this allowance for me, as I would rather not wait for Monday to find out that my exam has been postponed yet again.
The reason they give is that there is a technical problem with the exam centre in The Netherlands. If you don't have this problem and everything is working properly, I would like to make an appointment with you in Singapore to take the exam. Your quick response would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Jun-Yi
Then we gave the KL office the weekend and a Monday to sort it out.
On Monday I called the embassy again and she tells me the same thing, that she's still waiting and still not receiving any updates.
On Tuesday (yesterday), I received a reply from Singapore:
Dear Ms Lee,
You need to come in contact with the Dutch Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to make the necessary transfer to this Embassy if you wish to sit for your civic integration exam here.
Please note that our next available dates for the said exam will be from 20 January 2010.
For collection of the approved MVV, one needs to collect at the same Embassy where one had sat for the mentioned exam.
Best regards,
Mei-Li Sim
What the hell! 20th January 2010? That is just over 6 weeks from the date I'm supposed to have taken the exam! Will they compensate me for this 6 weeks when my application could be halfway through it's processing? Hell, no!
I forwarded this mail to Schrobbenmaster, who called up the Ministry again and spoke to the head in charge.
And paraphrasing Schrobbenmaster, her reply was:
You don't have to rearrange with KL to do it in Singapore, it's bullshit that the next exam date is 20th January as it's mandatory to have the exam done within 7 days, and you don't NEED to collect the MVV at Singapore, as they should send it over by post and arrange all the formalities.
She was apparently very upset with the behaviour of these two embassies we had asked help from. And she was taking steps to get a solution for us asap, opening an emergency file and setting two people on the case. Which is what has to be done to get these two embassies to buck up and stop passing the responsibility onto each other, as if they can't communicate with each other, and making the public they serve do everything for them.
Additionally, doing the exam in Singapore would have cost us more time and money. Not to mention, my Dutch skills are slowly deteriorating as it has now been a week since I had my last Dutch class. We are expecting to receive some sort of reimbursement or compensation if I have to take my exam somewhere else besides KL. It's their incapability and incompetence that's causing all this trouble and, potentially and probably, a difference in my results in the exam.
It will be 7 days since my appointment to take the exam tomorrow, and we'll see what happens by then. After tomorrow, I feel that we are perfectly within reason to really put pressure on them and, in a manner of speaking, step up the aggression.
Will keep everyone updated.
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