48 connections mar2014
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Connect International serves the international community in the provinces of Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe and Noord Holland.
Attention Writers!Enjoy Writing?The Connections Newsletter is seeking volunteer writers who enjoy writing on a theme, informative articles, or opinions they want to share. Interested? Contact us [email protected]
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Supported by an international staff and Board of Directors, we provide quality relocation services and practical information to help familiarize international residents with all aspects of living, working or studying in the Northern Netherlands, as well as organizing events and activities to make connections.
ConnectingWorlds
Connect International would like to welcome the following new members: Dorina Buda, Erin Paske, Viveca Dorothea, Kory Rene Hutton, Orsolya (Orsi) Rétallér, Hortense Stuve-Thompson, Alireza Karimpoorheidara & Naghmeh Arvand
Welcome New Members!Serv ices :
Jo in Us !You can register to become a Connect International member via our website. For a small yearly fee, you receive the Connections e-magazine newsletter delivered directly to your email inbox, you have access to the Connect International community through organized events and you can use the Connect library with a selection of English books and much more.Visit: www.connect-int.org
● Immigration services● Home search & set-up● Social events, activities & clubs● Career services● Business events● Books & guides● Information sheets● Knowledge database
https://twitter.com/@ConnectNH
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ConnectNH/185249751488726
Contact : Publ ica t ion Team:Connect Head Office:Herestraat 106, Room 1.06, 9711LM GroningenTelephone: 050 7440087Email: [email protected] [email protected]: www.connect-int.org
Publisher: Stephanie FermorAssistant Editor: Margaret MetsalaContributers to this issue: Stephanie Fermor, Karen Prowse, Margaret Metsala, Traci White, Lori McKinney & Hortense Thompson
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Everything you need to make yourself at home in the Netherlands
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Connect International has a full membership
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Connect’s PartnersHelping to welcome the world
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Connect Noord Holland (Alkmaar):Bovenweg 121, 1834CD Sint PancrasTelephone: 06 25394234Email: [email protected]
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Connecting Worlds
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MarchCalendar
March 2014
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MarchEvents
CONNECT (Groningen, Friesland & Drenthe)
Craft Club Date: 4 March 2014, 10:30am
Culinary ConnectDate: 7 March 2014
Book Club Date: 10 March 2014, 8:00 pm@ Lysette's house in Haren
Connect for Coffee Date: 11 March 2014, 10:30 am@ La Place, V&D in Groningen
CONNECT Noord Holland(Noord Holland)
CNH Photo Shoot from 12:00-17:00 Date: 1 March 2014, 12:00 pm@ Mireille's Studio, Alkmaar
CNH Baking Workshop in March Date: 2 March 2014, 1:30 pm@ the home of Begoña, Heemskerk
CNH Kids & Coffee Date: 7 March 2014, 9:00 am@ the home of Georgina, Heiloo
CNH Coffee Connection Date: 10 March 2014, 9:30 am@ the home of Lori, Heemskerk
CNH Kids & Coffee Date: 12 March 2014, 9:00 am@ the home of Sarah, Oudorp
Writer's Circle Date: 12 March 2014, 7:30 pm
Boys Night OutDate: 13 March 2014
Beads Weaving Workshop Date: 16 March 2014, 2:00 pm@ office Connect International, Herestraat 106, Groningen
Craft ClubDate: 18 March 2014, 10:30 am
Connect for Coffee Date: 25 March 2014, 10:30 am@ La Place, V&D in Groningen
CNH Connect for Coffee Date: 14 March 2014, 8:00 pm@ the home of Martine, Alkmaar
CNH Walk and Ladies Who Lunch in the dunes. Date: 17 March 2014, 10:00 am@ Starting point is Caroline's, Bakkum
CNH Book Club Date: 19 March 2014, 8:00 pm@ the home of Caroline, Alkmaar
CNH Play Afternoon 14:00-16:30 Date: 26 March 2014, 2:00 pm
CNH Connect for Coffee Date: 28 March 2014, 8:00 pm@ the home of Erika, Noord Scharwoude
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YourStories
Interview by Lori McKinney
Majella Teeuwen has a passion for yoga. In this interview, she shares a little about her journey to discovering yoga and starting her own yoga practise, Yoga Inc. in Alkmaar, Noord Holland.
Majella, yoga is not just something that you do, it’s your passion. Could you tell us what ignited that passion for yoga?“I grew up in a family that was passionate about health, wellness and fitness, so that’s always been an active part of my lifestyle, but my love and passion for yoga didn’t come until much later on.After leaving school and gaining a diploma in business, I entered the corporate world as an executive assistant. It wasn’t long before I
A yoga life, is the life for me
It wasn’t until I made a trip home to Ireland that a friend invited me to a Hot Yoga lesson with her. I accepted, and little did I know it would change my life. I knew that I had found my passion, and I needed to share this with others. I gathered as much information as I could about how to get started, and after two years of extensive practice, with a recommendation letter in hand, I left my husband and pets behind and spent the next six weeks training extensively at the Absolute Yoga Sanctuary in Thailand.“
realized that this high stress, demanding and non-rewarding career wasn’t the place for me, and I yearned for something more. After some time, I decided to pursue education in health, fitness and personal training. I worked in the industry for a while, but the real click wasn’t there for me, so I went back to the corporate world.
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YourStories
Could you share the types of yoga that you teach and the benefits?“Yoga Fit- This is a new type of yoga emerging from Thailand, which has a fitness element to it. It has been structured to firm the body using yoga postures. It is challenging but also fun, since it also is practiced using dance music.Hot Yoga- This type of yoga is practiced in a room that is 39 degrees C., using 50 different Hatha yoga poses, and designed to increase balance, strength and flexibility. The heat also serves to detoxify your body, deepen stretches and safely increase intensity of your practice.Birkram Yoga- Which is also especially designed for the heat. Regardless of which type of yoga you choose, the list of benefits are long; including reduction of stress, back pain and migraines, improved immune system and breathing, detoxification of the body and mind, plus much, much more.”
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?“Aside from being passionate about yoga, I also have a love for traveling. I’m originally from Dublin, Ireland, but it was on a vacation to Italy four years ago where I met my now husband, Stefan. After traveling back and forth between the Netherlands and Ireland, I moved to Velserbroek, where we began our life together.
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YourStories
“My goal is to continue to help people feel great in their bodies, help them remove stress from their mind and lift their souls through this wonderful practice.”
I love living here and love sharing my passion for yoga with others. I believe in its benefits, and believe it is important for a healthy body, mind and soul. My goal is to continue to help people feel great in their bodies, help them remove stress from their mind and lift their souls through this wonderful practice, which is not limited to age or fitness level. My goal is also to eventually have enough clients to be able to open a yoga studio in Alkmaar. I would also like to take a moment to give special thanks to Sarah Dekker Flynn, who has been practicing with me and supporting me since I graduated in Thailand. She’s
graciously opened her home and allowed me to practice regularly there with the Connect girls, and I’m grateful not only for her support and encouragement but also her hospitality. My business has taken off thanks to her opening her home for us.
My website is currently in the construction phase, but I can be reached via email at:[email protected],or via the telephone at: 06-24436029.
I would also like to offer all Connect members a free trial yoga lesson. I look forward to seeing you there.”
How it all came to be(ad)
Upon arriving at the shop we each went in a different direction, my friend toward the back of the shop while I browsed the supplies and books. Suddenly my attention was drawn toward something sparkling on a display in the front of the store. I quickly made a beeline to find out what it was. I looked closely and saw beads, lots of beads--different types in a variety of colours. What a selection!
At that moment I tingled with excitement. I MUST have beads...but which ones should I buy? Unable to make a selection I quickly picked a
EntrepreneurFeature
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Article by Hortense Thompson, Photography by Traci White
One chilly winter evening, a fellow classmate and I crossed the Grote Markt in Groningen. We had just left our Dutch class at the RuG and were en route to the hobby shop Pipoos, in the Oosterstraat. She needed material for her card-making hobby. Since I had never been to Pipoos I decided to accompany her there.
small circular packet with about six colours. I hurried home, settled in and admired my purchase. Whilst admiring those tiny wonders, I realized that I had no clue about what I should make or how I should further proceed. So I turned to the one resource that I had available – the internet. I googled “beaded jewelry” and a new world opened up before my eyes. There were so many beaded items – bracelets, necklaces, earrings, anklets, bare foot sandals! Not only were there beaded accessories but there were beaded dolls, beaded dresses, beaded flowers and beaded rocks!
It soon became clear that the one small packet of beads would not be enough to experiment with, so the next few nights were spent researching material, patterns and techniques. Soon, I knew the techniques, the names of the popular designers, where to find suitable
EntrepreneurFeature
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free patterns and most importantly what supplies were actually needed. I experimented with all the techniques and selected two favourites: netting and right-angle weave.
After a few years of creating pieces from other designers, I started to create my own designs. One of the first designs was published in Doe! Magazine. The collection of designs grew rapidly and the decision was made to try and get some of them published. This decision led to the publication of three books and later a project in Beadwork® magazine.
Today I am still as enthusiastic about beading as I was when I first started. I also enjoy teaching this craft to others and helping others to discover the joys of beading. I will be giving a workshop through Connect International on 16th March. As for those beads I first bought, they were never used; they were too irregular in shape and size. Those beads have long since joined ranks with my collection of leftover beads.
InformationCenter
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Volunteering in the NetherlandsBy Traci White
Volunteering can be a good way to connect to your new community and a good way to give back for International Women’s Day on 8 March. In the past three years, these are some of the groups I’ve been a part of as a volunteer, and I encourage all internationals here to get involved, too!
Amnesty International: This NGO’s regional office for Groningen, Drenthe and Friesland is located in the city of Groningen. Their local work mostly entails helping with fundraising activities, digitally and in person. To provide examples of some of their events the group hosted Nahed Selim, an Egyptian writer, in Leeuwarden on International Women’s Day in 2012 and in October 2013, the annual regional activity day was held at the Westerbork camp near the German border.To see if you can contribute in some way, check out http://goo.gl/1xRm1p.
TEDx: TED talks are bite-sized snacks for your brain, and the TEDx events focus more specifically on local speakers. Everyone contributes on a volunteer basis with the common goal of being a part of an inspirational event. In October, the main TEDx Groningen event is held and other related events - TEDx Women and TEDx Youth - happen throughout the rest of the year. To see when another TEDx event will be held here in town, visit www.tedxgroningen.com
The Earlybirds Fondation: This group provides free photo shoots for families of premature babies. Not every pregnancy goes exactly according to plan, and these children and families deserve to have some joy brought to them. While photography is the majority of what the group does, there are other opportunities to contribute, from crocheting ‘earlybirds’ – tiny stuffed toy birds – to providing clothing and other gifts that can be given to the families. For more info, see www.earlybirdsfotografie.nl
InformationCenter
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The Didi Foundation:Two Dutch sisters – Wike and Renee Been - were traveling through Nepal in 2006, when Wike learned about Ideal Women Development Center, a Nepalese NGO. After the sisters returned to the Netherlands, they started the Didi Foundation and secured €50,000 for the first dedicated domestic violence shelter in the country outside of Kathmandu – Ideal Home.
The program generates income from selling clothing and accessories, which the women make themselves and in January 2013, I traveled to Nepal to document the shelter on the occasion of becoming independent of most foreign aid. My project, ‘Nepalese Sisterhood: Sustaining Empowerment’, opened at the Openbare Bibliotheek in Groningen last year on International Women’s Day. While the shelter is primarily self-sufficient, donations are still greatly appreciated.To find out about how to donate, please see www.stichtingdidi.nl.
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InformationCenter
Connect:You’re already a member, which is great! Did you know that the office is run with help from volunteers from all over the world? Furthermore, your fellow members run workshops and other activities for internationals to take part in and get to know each other.If you’d like to volunteer in the office or potentially host your own event, get in touch! http://www.connect-int.org
To find out about other volunteer opportunities in Groningen, try these sites. Most of them are in Dutch, but you never know where your skills and talents could be of use!www.vrijwilligersgroningen.nlhttp://gemeente.groningen.nl/vrijwilligers/participatiebanenhttp://www.happietariagroningen.nl/volunteer/http://www.jasmijn.info/nl/vacatures
How can foreigners volunteer?According to www.vrijwilligerswerk.nl, most foreigners can do volunteer work in the Netherlands, except for people who are waiting for a residency permit to be processed and are not asylum seekers. All other foreigners who are legally allowed to reside in the Netherlands can do volunteer work. However, as of 2014, employers have to obtain a special permit if they want to have foreigners working for them as volunteers.
Organizations must have a volunteer work declaration to allow foreign
people to volunteer. The declaration is given out for the execution of specific tasks and functions and not in the name of the foreigner, which means that the employer is not required to request a new declaration if they want to have more foreigners do the same work.
A volunteer declaration is granted if the following working conditions are met:1. Functionally unpaid; 2. Non-profit; 3. Providing a general social benefit
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Join us for a day out at Orchideeën Hoeve!
Places to goThings to see
Taste ofDutch
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Let’s get cheesy!By Stephanie Fermor
The Netherlands, the land of lush green pastures with windmills slowly turning in the background, while a young girl with blond hair, a pair of clogs on her feet and a strangely shaped hat on her head, sits milking a cow. This stereotypical view of the Dutch is not without reason as the Dutch have been producing cheese since 400 AD and today are one of the largest exporters of cheese in the world.
The Dutch produce many varieties of cheese to tempt you, but the most typical and well known one is the hard (or semi-hard) cheese, Gouda. Gouda accounts for approx 50% of all the cheese produced here in the Netherlands.Gouda is categorized on how long it has been aged. The younger cheeses are mild and creamy tasting, and as the cheese ages it develops a drier texture and more intense flavour.
'Jonge kaas' (aged for 1 month) and ‘Jong Belegen kaas’ (aged for 2 months) are very creamy cheeses and well suited for sandwiches. Older Gouda cheeses are fantastic for cooking, ‘Extra Belegen’ (aged for 7-8 months) is a perfect substitute for Jack or Cheddar cheeses. The oldest of Gouda varieties, such as ‘Oude Kaas’ (aged for at least 10 months) and ‘Overjarig’ (1-2 years), are lovely to eat in crumbly pieces with some mustard.
Taste of Dutch
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But Gouda isn't the only Dutch cheese. There are actually many others, such as:'Edam' is the second most produced Dutch cheese. It is semi-hard with a mellow, salty taste that intensifies with age.'Geitenkaas' which is goat cheese, is a bright white semi hard cheese, perfect for grating or slicing and on sandwiches.'Maasdammer' is a sweet nutty cheese full of holes; it tastes similar to 'Emmentaller'; a Swiss cheese.'Boerenkaas' is a creamy farmer’s cheese made with fresh unpasteurised milk.'Delft's Blauw' is similar to other blue cheeses, with a rich, fairly mild flavour.You can also buy different types of cheese that have herbs and spices running throughout, such as cumin, nettles or mustard seeds.
If you wish to jump right into Dutch cheese land, then a trip to a traditional cheese market is in order. Alkmaar has a market that runs every Friday through March till September. Visit www.kaasmarkt.nl for more info. And while in Alkmaar, why not visit the cheese museum! It is a great place to learn more about the history and process of Dutch cheese making!
We only accept plasticBy Stephanie Fermor
You may have heard about it in the past months: the Dutch railway company Nederlandse Spoorwegen, NS in short, will be getting rid of the paper train tickets and only allow the plastic OV-chipkaart as a valid way of travelling.
But this is not the first time the matter has come up. The NS first announced the desire to stop the paper train tickets in 2011. They also had a date: the end of 2012. After a lot of complaints from travellers and travellers' organizations, the NS came back on their announcement, assuring that the paper ticket will remain... only to re-announce the end of the paper ticket a year later, with a new date: autumn 2013. In that
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So you will have to check in and out. Which is important information for any friends or family visiting you in the Netherlands from now on!
You may still wish to consider getting a real OV-chipkaart though because the NS did make it clear that the chip-enhanced paper tickets will come at a higher fee than the current tickets from machines. And printing out an E-ticket may also become a lot more challenging if there needs to be a chip inside it. So save yourself the hassle and request your own OV-chipkaart sooner rather than later. You can do this on the website below, in English, or in Dutch if you so prefer!https://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/aanvragen/?taal=en
very same autumn of 2013, it was postponed to January 1st 2014. And then it was postponed again, to 'several months later', the first quarter of 2014. But this time they really mean it!
If there are no more postponements, the above means that in about a month we will all have to be using the €7,50 costing OV-chipkaart with a minimum balance of €10... or doesn't it? The same travellers and travellers' organizations from before have made a strong case for the NS to keep the paper ticket in some form, or shape and the NS gave in. According to the website of Rover, the biggest travellers' organization, the new 'paper ticket' will basically be a throwaway OV-chipkaart: made of paper, but with a chip inside it.
InformationCenter