So here I am! Right by the canal with Peiterskirk bells in earshot , not a bad way to wake up on a lazy Sunday morning ,in my little attic apartment overseeing the rooftops of a very old and very picturesque Dutch city – Leiden.
After arriving at 9pm on Wednesday evening, excited but terrified at the prospect of moving into a flat that I had a vague idea about in terms of it's location ( with help from Google earth) but absolutely no idea about it in terms of contents, layout ,or any other identifying details....I also had to prepare for starting my new job the very next morning. Problem? No problem! Nothing a good doze of blind optimism, or blissful ignorance, couldn't handle.
My wee flat, a little attic conversion, is really quite beautiful. Just now a little sparse but once the boxes arrive with all my little bits and pieces, it will be a lovely little place and very homely. Not knowing what the Dutch definition of 'fully furnished with appliances' actually meant, I was very happy to find that such 'appliances' included , among many others , mugs and a kettle – I had optimistically packed some tea bags in hopeful anticipation of there being, at the very least, a kettle awaiting. You see, during my trawl, at a distance may I add, through the rental market in Leiden there were quite a few places listed as a 'shell' while others 'partly furnished' which, by the pictures, also looked like 'shells' so I really wasn't too sure what to expect.
Fortunately, my wee flat was not the shell that I feared it would be! However the stairs....oh the stairs are quiet the climb! Like a most Dutch apartment blocks, they key is to make as much use of as little space as possible. Efficiency and use of space means that things like staircases and corridors, landings and entrances – purely instrumental components, rather than actual inhabitable living spaces, of an apartment are as narrow or steep (usually both) as possible – forget health and safety, these staircases while making you healthier after many a climb, will not necessarily make you feel safe, especially on decent, even more so in a pair of heels....So my first handy tip as an expatriate – when in heels do not under any circumstances attempt to walk down the stairs, rather, wait until you're on the ground floor before even considering placing your wee feet into your high heels. On that, if I appear to have gone AWOL please be sure to check behind my front door as the possibility of me lying behind it after tripping down the vertical drop, sorry staircase, is the most likely reason for my prolonged absence...I really shouldn't jinx this should I?
Negotiating the stairs,with great care in heels for the first and last time as outlined above, I made my way to Webster University , or work as it will now be referred too! It takes 40 seconds to stroll to work, along one canal with a right turn to another that lies adjacent to Rapenburg . Boommarkt is another of the main canals in Leiden which also lines the road leading to Rembrandt's birthplace and one of the two traditional, working, windmills in Leiden. While nervous ,I was ready to walk in a get started confident that I would be made to feel welcome and part of the place and the community at Webster, and, I was by no means disappointed. A day of lots of introductions to both Webster people and Webster workings came to very pleasant and quite poignant end as a small surprise celebration was had in honour of one of the staff to mark their 10th anniversary at Webster, to the day. Everyone was there to share the surprise and give their best wishes to a valued colleague and everyone had a sense of pride in such a legacy and achievement, the pride was quite infectious....I think I'll like it here.
So my first weekend was really very nice indeed and also a chance to unpack and make my flat look like home, add a few little touches before the rest of my homely details arrive in the form of 19 boxes...lots of little homely touches I suppose. Now don't worry, I didn't go overboard. 3 bunches of tulips, a vase and some tea lights. Following a Dutch stereotype with the tulips ,which are hard to resist given their colour and beauty and , as I promised I would, exercising my new found freedom from living in University Halls – the candle ban – I bought 75 tea lights and have lit some every night just because I can! Pink tulips by candle light are really quite beautiful.
The weekend was also a chance to catch-up with the ESA (European Space Agency) boys I met while I was over last September. An opportunity to see the social side of Leiden and relax a little around familiar faces , who reassuringly all love living here and what it has to offer. My trusted tour-guide, Dom, pointed out many a coffee shop (not the kind with funny cigarettes and 'brownies' but one that actually sells koffie and carrot cake in a Costa coffee way), and we had a good wander around the busy market famous for its amazing array of fresh fruit, meat, fish and tulips not to mention olives and random piles of batteries, toothpaste and rolls of fabric...the final three are more of note in their quantity rather than their allure.
Sunday morning , fresh with the knowledge of the route to one of the many 'Bagels and Beans' (Dutch Costa) I wandered along the canal, wooped (louder than I should have) at the sight of the old windmill working in all its windmill-esque glory, ordered a koffie (in Dutch), took a seat at the back of the café (perfect for people watching), and felt very much relieved that the week, the move, the first few days and first weekend had past without a hitch.
