Dutch insurance

Finally after so many struggles and e-mails I got my Dutch insurance! The road to it wasn't easy...

I am obliged to have a local insurance if I am working in the Netherlands. My Latvian insurance doesn't count for them... And as there are quite a lot of insurance companies here, I couldn't understand which one to choose.

Step 1: CouchSurfing

After posting a question about it on CouchSurfing and getting opinions both from Dutch and expats, I learnt that the insurance here is very expensive. Insane! Back home I used to pay three times less, but OK - also the incomes were lower...

After checking all the replies and suggestions, I started to act.

Step 2: Agis

My employer has a contract with Agis, which gives 6% discount for the basic insurance. They were the only ones who replied me in English and also had a brochure in English to send me. Nice service!

Unfortunately the insurance turned out to be quite expensive - around 130-140 EUR per month. I think it's too expensive as I am not getting ill so often to make it worth...

So needed to look for another option.

Step 3: AnderZorg

As most of the people suggested AnderZorg, I applied for their insurance online (unfortunately all in Dutch). Soon afterwards I got a reply (in Dutch) that I must send them a copy of my passport and a copy of my employment contract or a copy of the paper saying that I am registered as living in the Netherlands. My SOFI number was not enough...

That was end of June, and I didn't have the employment contract (yet) and I was not registered with the city council, so I moved on.

Step 4: CZ.nl

Another suggestion was CZ, who even have their homepage (partially) in English, so I decided to try my luck there. The customer service assured me that they need only my passport copy, nothing else.

I applied, but it turned out not to be true - they sent me reply (in Dutch) asking for the same paper from the city council which I did not have...

Step 5: Interpolis

I also applied for Interpolis (in Dutch) online, who called me ~10 days later by saying that I should call to another phone number to apply as I was not a customer of Rabobank. Shitty (read: slow) customer service...

Step 6: back to AnderZorg

As I finally got my employment contract in the beginning of September, I sent it to AnderZorg. It took them some time to process, but this weekend I finally got my insurance card and all the papers (in Dutch). It will cost me a bit more than 90 EUR per month, but it was the cheapest I could find.

Unfortunately all the papers and the customer service replies (which are quite fast) are in Dutch, but Michael, Google Translate and my practise will help :)

Chitchat in Dutch job interviews

Some time ago I participated in Amsterdam Expatcenter event, where we had a short discussion about Dutch job interviews and the best way to position yourself in Dutch job market.

The speaker gave an example of American lady, who disliked Dutch job interviews because of very personal and irrelevant questions she was asked - "How long do you live here?", " Why did you move?", "How was your day?" etc. While they might seem innocent questions for me and you, it was not like that for her.

As the speaker explained, unfortunately she did not know that in job interviews these kind of questions or answers are not important, as the main importance is paid to make the interviewee comfortable and relaxed before the interview and real questions. Well, in this case with the American lady it just got the opposite effect.

After being to a few job interviews myself I can confirm that it is indeed true, although luckily it does not make me annoyed. But then again, I always thought that Latvians are very similar to Dutch.

In one of my previous job interviews in the Netherlands I got to know:

- Why did the interviewer (non-Dutch) moved to the Netherlands;

- What sense of humor does the interviewer have;

- That all Latvian girls' names start with A (according to their previous experience);

- Where did my interviewers study.

- Etc.

Relevant information? Not at all. But it helped me to see the "human side" of those people and make it a bit less informal for both of us. I also do not mind sharing information with them (why did I move here; what do I think about Amsterdam; was it easy to find the office etc.).

If you do not feel so comfortable yourself, here is a hint - starting asking them questions back and let them do talking!

Got a new job!

You can congratulate me - I have got a new job with a real salary. Yehuu, the time has come and let us hope it will continue for a long time!

So from now on I am not working with IamExpat.nl anymore, but at Booking.com (the online hotel reservations, I am sure you have heard about it) as a Latvian translator, meaning that I am going to translate the information about the hotels you can read online from English to Latvian. Do not worry, my Latvian is much better than English and my grandma (former Latvian language and literature teacher) should be proud of me! However, I am not the only Latvian translator there, so do not blame me if some sentences online are not correct. :)

I have spent only two days in the office (which is huge), so we will see how it goes. I am happy that I have my employment contract and that I will have money - which is badly needed. My flat back home in Riga, my language classes (need to decide - take Dutch or British English classes), paying for dinner (instead of letting my cute boyfriend pay every time), buying some flight tickets etc. That's what the money is needed for!

How did I get a job? Simply - saw an ad on their website, applied, did a translation test, had a job interview and then got selected for the job! Never expected to use my Latvian skills in Amsterdam, but it's good :D)

I wanted to be a writer...

How often do you think about the past? Your memories? People who were your friends or inside your social circle? Your thoughts and life back then?

I think about it too often. Just pops in my mind again and again...

One of those memories is about me being a teenager and my biggest dream - wanting to be a writer. Publish my own books. Earn living with it. Be recognised. Feeling jealous reading about any high school girl whose book got published anywhere in the world and wishing to be in her place. Writing stories till the midnight one after another.

A few years later, I started to work. As a journalist - as you can guess.

In the beginning, I was thrilled - I was earning money with writing! It got published! Did not matter that I was writing about facts and real life, not fiction.

After the first months, I felt guilty. Whenever I was back home and tried to write a story or a poem, nothing came out. Emptiness. No ideas, no feelings, no wish to write. Tried a few times again. Zero. Damn it!

Then I started to tell everybody that I am not writing fiction anymore and developed my own theory - one can not be both a journalist and a writer. It's too much of writing. You need some rest. And once you write about the reality, the fiction world and your ideas disappear. Or maybe it was just me.

Nowadays I do not feel guilty anymore. I feel sad. Every few years I find my old stories and read them - and still find them fascinating, at least a few of them. Pity they never got published.

SOFI number

After being in the Netherlands for so long time, finally it was time to get SOFI number.

What is SOFI number?

SOFI number - social security number - is needed if you want to work in the Netherlands, although it is not a working permit. For EU citizens it is quite easy to get it once you are registered with the city council. However, I am not registered, so it was a bit tricky to find out what is the procedure...

How did I get it?

Luckily it all went much easier than I thought...

1. Call 0800-0543

2. Ignore the voice speaking in Dutch and press "3" at first and "4" at second

3. Tell that you want to apply for SOFI number (not BSN number - do not ask me about the difference between both)

4. Tell to the lady that you are from another EU country, have just arrived in the Netherlands, about to start a new job and need SOFI number. No more info needed.

5. Make an appointment for the meeting (I scheduled mine for their Amsterdam office in Sloterdijk).

6. On the day of the meeting take ID/passport with you.

7. Go to the reception, get a number and wait. Once they call you, you just need to fill the form and you will get a paper with SOFI number within five minutes.

8. Be happy and find a job!

Easier than I thought :) No more questions, nothing. Happy with my SOFI number!

My articles in XPat Journal

Nice, nice, nice!

Just received the latest issue of XPat Journal ("the premier English-language magazine for expatriates living in the Netherlands"), where there are two my articles - Events Diary & Arts Diary.

Some time ago at work I was told that IamExpat.nl has a cooperation with XPat Journal, therefore for their summer issue IamExpat.nl is supposed to provide them these two articles. As my position there is Lifestyle Editor, I was happy to hear that I was the one to write them and select the most important summer events in the Netherlands!

Those eager to read articles in full length, should buy the magazine themselves - unfortunately there is no online version, but a short summary is available here.

My own shop

I have started a new business in Amsterdam and opened my own shop. :)

The fact that I do not smoke does not forbid me from selling tobacco to others, right?

Darbs vs prakse

Vakar man bija ļoti laba ideja, par ko uzrakstīt, bet līdz šodienai jau paspēju to aizmirst...

Lai nu kā, atkal esmu darba meklējumos, jo mana prakses vieta nav nemirstīga un vasaras beigās tā beigsies. Esmu bijusi jau uz pāris darba intervijām un šoreiz cieši apņēmusies atrast pilna laika darbu uz pastāvīgu laiku ar attiecīgu algu, nevis tikai prakses vietu.

Pēc intervijas nedārgā budžeta viesnīcā "Princess" par viesnīcas reģistratori (bija vēl viena intervija labākā vietā, ceru uz to!) sāku domāt, kas ir labāk - strādāt pastāvīgu ne īpaši kvalificētu darbu vietā, kas tevi nesaista, bet kur maksā, vai būt par knapi apmaksātu īslaicīgu praktikantu tieši tavā sfērā? Jautājums ne tikai par mani, bet par jauniešu situāciju kopumā.

Protams, vislabākais būtu atrast pastāvīgu un normāli atalgotu darbu tieši tavā sfērā, bet, ja jautājums ir - A vai B, tad ko darīt?

Par angļu valodu

Vakar sapratu, ka dzīvošanai ārzemēs ir ne tikai savi daudzie plusi un nedaudzie mīnusi, bet arī viens ļoti liels mīnuss - vismaz man vēl nav izdevies pārvaldīt angļu valodu (nemaz nerunājot par vietējo valodu) tādā līmenī, lai varētu tajā strādāt tikpat labi kā tie, kam angļu valoda ir dzimtā valoda.

Teiksiet -tā nav problēma? Lielākoties nav gan, bet žurnālistiem tā ir liela problēma. Lai spētu rakstīt kādā svešvalodā tādā līmenī, lai to varētu publicēt, šī valoda ir jāparvalda perfekti - vai vismaz tik labi, lai redaktori un korektori nelabotu katru teikumu. Un izskatās, ka mans ceļš vēl nav galā...

Runāju par to ar pāris draugiem šeit, kuri bija pārsteigti: "Kā, bet Tava angļu valoda taču ir tik tekoša un laba?!" Jā, tekoša un laba - bet runāt nav tas pats, kas rakstīt, kur katra pieturzīme, katra gramatikas kļūda un katra nepareiza teikumu konstrukcija ir uz delnas.

Diemžēl jāsaka, ka mana rakstiskā angļu valoda pēdējos gados nav uzlabojusies. Ikdienā komunicējot ar n-tajiem cilvēkiem, kuriem angļu valoda arī nav dzimtā valoda, to uzlabot un kaut vai uzturēt esošajā līmenī ir grūti, jo nemanot laika gaitā tiek pārņemtas viņu kļūdas, teikumi vienkāršoti un paraugi, kā tas būtu pareizi, tiek aizmirsti.

Jau pirms vairākiem mēnešiem kādā citā sarunā ar citiem draugiem konstatējām, ka vismaz Eiropas jauniešu vidū tagad ir populāra cita valoda - ne angļu, bet eiropiešu angļu valoda. "Eiropiešu angļu valodu" saprast var gan itālis un turks, gan arī ukrainis un norvēģis, lai gan īsti nezinu, ko par šo vienkāršoto angļu valodu teiktu briti.

Ko darīt? Jāsāk domāt par vienu no trīs iespējām:
A) Vairākus mēnešus ilgi angļu valodas kursi, uzsvarot liekot tieši uz rakstisko valodu;
B) Profesijas maiņa;
C) Atgriešanās Latvijā un rakstu veidošana tikai latviešu valodā.

IamExpat Soirée

A couple of weeks ago IamExpat where I am working organising its first event - IamExpat Soirée, which now will be followed on a monthly basis.

The video of the event has been published and, if you look carefully, you can see me in around 00:20 min. :)

IamExpat Soirée from Spiral Move on Vimeo.

My photo in an exhibition

A couple of weeks ago I found an information in Dutch that Het Grachtenhuis (Canal house) has a photo competition for their upcoming exhibition "‘Amsterdam Canals - gateway to the future".

I didn't think twice and simply submitted my picture. I am not a professional photographer, but had nothing to loose. I also thought that it is an interesting competition, so forwarded the information to couple of friends and wrote an article about it in English. I think that we were the only who covered this information in English. :)

Today I got a reply from the organisers that ... my picture has been chosen as one of 25 photos which will be shown in the exhibition from April 1 onwards! And that's not all - it is also one of the 10 pictures which qualifies for the main prize - 2500 euro. Specially selected jury will choose one lucky winner.

To make it even more funnier, also Michael and my colleague Sergios got e-mails saying that their pictures are qualifing for the exhibition. So I am sure that on April 1 all my office (including me) is going to the exhibition together.

Will you join us?

Run, run, run

This week is going really fast! I have always been telling to myself and others that I can do a lot of things at the same time and that I need to keep myself busy all the time, but seems that I am either getting older or starting to realise what does it mean "enough" for me.

In the last weeks and months most of the time I was spending at home, so I had enough time to do all the things I mentioned before. Now since I have started to go to the job and spend there all day, suddenly I have time for ... nothing. Apart from the basic daily duties, of course.

This week has been quite busy because of evening activities I have arranged beforehand, including weekly choir and Dutch class. Because of that, I haven't had time to read all the newsletters I am receiving (about great happenings here in Amsterdam), check on Facebook what my friends are doing, answer to all e-mails (including urgent and long ones), read news what's going on in the world, do homework for Dutch class and simply relax. And it feels very bad, because there is always a feeling that something is not done.

As the day has only 24 hours, not more, and as I am getting older and I need more sleep than before to feel good, the only solution is to quit something. Just need to decide - what...

So far I have quit the things mentioned above, but some of them are quite important (like replying to e-mails and doing homework). So I guess it will end in having less visitors (including CouchSurfers) and attending less events.

Or maybe you have some other ideas for me? :)

Maastricht carnival

If the classic Russian movie Ирония судьбы, или С лёгким паром! (The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!) has the legendary phrase "Every year with my friends we go to the sauna," then I have my own legendary phrase for the Netherlands: "Every year with my friends we go to Maastricht carnival."

That's how my first article for IamExpat starts! Click here to read and comment the full version!

I will not post all the articles I have written in my blog as that'd be too much (today alone I had two published), so just follow my profile on IamExpat and see the articles there! Sometimes I will post the most important ones also on my blog, but not all...

And - do not forget to attend Maastricht carnival, it'll be amazing!

First day in the office

So here it comes! My first day in the office :)

Some background information.

Approximately a month ago I answered to a job/internship ad and got invited to an interview with two Greeks. When one of them called and invited me for an interview, I was about to say: "Hi, Manos, what's up?", but then I realised that it's another Greek calling :) Ah, Greek accent!

Although the interview went quite well, they decided to employ another person and I continued to look for another position in another place.

However, miracles happen. Last Monday I got a call from the same Greek again saying that they are looking for one more intern and asking if I am still interested. As I had two other job interviews that week, I decided to think for a couple of days, but on Thursday I finally said "yes" to them! If you remember my Facebook question "A or B", then you'll understand :)

So... After confirming my interest all I had to do was - to wait. On Thursday afternoon I got the final call with a short question: "Are you ready to start on Monday?" And I was!

So where does it leave me now?

From today onwards I am Lifestyle Editor of IamExpat - it's an online platform/website for all expats who are living in the Netherlands. For half a year I will be taking care of the lifestyle section, writing articles about different (cultural) events and updating the agenda there. I can hear what you are thinking - perfect job for Anita! That's right, baby! But remember, it's an internship, not a job - nothing in this world is perfect.

I need to be in the office four days a week (with pretty nice working hours), but as I am planning to go to Portugal in March, Latvia in July and some other trips, I will be in the office five days a week and take days off when it will be needed. Very flexible, that's what I like!

The office is quite small, there are three Greeks (co-founders of the website) and another intern, a Swedish girl. Two Nordic girls and three Southern guys, that's an interesting mixture! Already today during the lunch we had a discussion about weather in Latvia and I was like: "Yeah, it's nothing special, around -25 degrees back there, not so cold when I have my winter coat on", but the Greeks looked pretty terrified... :) Well, one of them is from Crete, where in the summer it can go up to +43, so that explains!

I will post my first articles in the blog as well, so stay tuned and check IamExpat website every now and then as well!

P.S. The picture is from their website.

It's not so easy to find a job

The beginning was promising. As some of you might remember, back in 2009 I did my Erasmus internship in WYSE Travel Confederation here in Amsterdam. The remuneration or scholarship was good, the people in the organisation were great, the job was not hard and the social life was wonderful.

I thought it will be the same also now. How wrong I was! Still after several months of looking for a job I am unemployed.

At first, I discovered that English language skills are not enough. Seems that there are three possibilities:
1) You need to speak Dutch well enough to be able to work in it;
2) You need be a native English speaker (they will simply check your nationality);
3) You need to be fluent in several major languages (such as German, French, Spanish etc.).
I am none of them. I have just my English and Latvian, but seems that nobody needs the second one here. My Russian is not good enough to work, and my German and Dutch skills are hardly enough for even a basic conversation.

At second, I discovered that most of them times I am either under-qualified or over-qualified. Seems that only students are eligible to apply for internships, where most of the time they get ridiculously low remuneration (around 200-400 euro per months for 4-5 full working days per week). As I am not a student anymore, they even do not consider me for them. And when they do, I mostly get a negative reply about being over-qualified...
Trying the next level seems more logicial solution, even when they ask you a couple of years working experience and a university degree in the relevant field. I have both of them, however, it seems not to be enough as only once I got till the job interview. Most of the time it's just rejection e-mails again.

For those wondering what kind of job I am looking for, now I shall reply - anything. I have background in communications, youth work and a bit of tourism. I started with PR, communications and youth work and now I am sending applications even to hotels, different kind of assistants and anything like that.

I guess that there are hundreds of people like me in Dutch labour market, but I didn't think that it will be so hard... Even after replying to endless amount of job ads and sending open applications I haven't got further than several job interviews with negative results in the end.

Would it mean that the Netherlands doesn't want me? Or that I do not belong here?