I've been hacked

Yesterday while e-mailing a friend, my e-mail was hacked and a message went out to what I believe is my entire mailing list. I immediately tried to e-mail my list telling everyone it was not from me and not to open the website but Yahoo says my mail sent is over the limit for the hour and won't send it. (I wasn't even aware there was a limit and don't too terribly many people in the address book.)

I contacted Yahoo and, of course, got the auto response that they will respond within 48 hours. I am still having trouble sending too many e-mails at once, besides being afraid to be on my mail too much till I know it's safe and not going to happen again.

I am grateful for the addresses that rejected the mail--hoping others got put in Spam folders.

I'm confused at some people in my address book who responded to alert me of this who were put in my Spam folder--you sit in my address book and can't get through but some how this other person who I have no connection with was able to get in to my address book?

I am so very thankful for my bestest friend I had e-mailed who first alerted me to this and all the others who have.

I'm bewildered as to how to stop such an occurence and notify everyone.

I'm frustrated with the amount of time it has taken to try to figure it all out. I did learn how "easy" it is to find out the path the mail took and at the bottom you can see where it really came from, by clicking "Full headers".

This is one way to let people know--IT'S NOT FROM ME--by spreading the word on my blog and Facebook. When I first went to log into my blog I wasn't allowed to because it said I had disabled the cookies. I followed their instructions but, helaas--a Dutch word, it wasn't till I resorted to restarting my computer that I was able to log on.

Technology and computers are certainly a love/hate relationship to me.

More better stuff later...

A Beautiful Day in Rotterdam 3/18

Here it is the 26th of March and I'm just getting to the rest of last week. I'm hoping to get caught up by the weekend. I'll just go in order. Last week was a dry, near perfect weather week, very unlike this week where we're having more typical maart buien (March short periods of rain regen, snow sneeuw, or hail hagel). There are infrequent periods where the sun peaks through, though not today. It is very wet here. I'm so glad I didn't have to go anywhere this week, just stay home except for a daily walk, and was able to go to 3 other cities and enjoy them last week.

Wednesday March 18th was a beautiful day in Rotterdam so I went for a long walk and would like to take you on it with me. I'll start with heading over the Erasmusburg. I have so many pictures of this bridge because about every time I look at it, it looks beautiful. I realized the need to organize my photos so I don't keep taking them but days like this when the sky is such a beautiful blue...I have to have them to remember on rainy weeks like this, that the blue sky is under all those clouds and will return one day.

Something I enjoy is watching the boats. There are so many different one's here than I've seen before. Walking over the bridge is usually a time to see some of the boats as they are trasporting sand or other goods to another place. They were too far away this time, another time I'll cover the various ships here.

The bridge, opened in 1996, provides one of the inclines in Rotterdam as it makes it's way over De Nieuwe Maas. It also provides a link from Rotterdam Centrum to the south of Rotterdam. There is also the Maas Tunnel that goes under the water. The Erasmusburg has allowed the centrum to extend into the south, with the main tax office, IRS, and court house/Federal building (I'll call it because it's more than a court house.) being on the south side of the bridge.

As you walk over the bridge you'll see the Euromast to the west

and the Willemsburg to the east.

On the northeast side is Leuve Hoofd and some of Rotterdam's beautiful architecture.

Looking back to the southeast side you can see the other side of the Maastoren, the tallest building being built. Oh how we would love to live high up with windows on this side.

Once over the bridge I was in time to see the Nieuwe Leuveburg open.

Then look at this partially half round building, half round buildings are somewhat common around here.

This is the play structure outside the Maritime Museum that is perfect for those Navy Child Development Centers I worked at and with. Vriendschap II (Friendship II)

This is the sculpture behind the play structure, De Verwoeste Stad. The Destroyed City was erected in memory of the destruction that occured in Rotterdam between 1940-1945 and World War 2.

You can see two church steeples. Laurenskerk was built between 1449 and 1525 and survived the war bombings. Het Steiger (The Landing) is a Sint Dominicus City Kerk and yes, "City" is how it's spelled, funny because the rest is all Nederlands so it's St. Dominic's City Church. I call the church of the animals because there are animals carved out on the steeple and on their front door.

Then I crossed Coolsingel and walked down to Lijnbaan where I saw these unusual people.

College aged gals dressed in flowered dresses with the pink jackets passing out something to young gals.


And this older man who goes around on his scout mobile promoting different things. Like he was promoting and having people sign a petition, which you do not see here, to give free public transportation to 65+er's, which Rotterdam did. I have no idea what he was spouting off on this plein, it's so hard to understand when it's through something like a megaphone. You don't see people doing something like this too often. Though a couple Saturday's ago when I was down there there was a church doing street evangelism, signing on one corner, shouting out the Gospel

on another.

What you've seen on my walk today are just tidbits and one of the reasons I enjoy just walking around in cities. There always seems to be something new, different, or what I like to call, a surprise sculpture, creation, or building, around at least one corner. I look forward to sharing more of my adventures with you.

Seen Today on the Dam

Is it? Could it be? Is that Arjan van Dijk zipping up his jacket while sitting under Amsterdam's National Monument, understandingly often mistaken for a phallic symbol? Yes, it is...that's him with the red hair and skin tone.

You see, most Netherlanders are very partial to their own city and some, like him, have a "Been there, seen that, done that" attitude. Arjan pleasantly surprised me this morning by telling me that he wanted to join me on my venture to Amsterdam. I had scheduled a couple visits for today in order to go to the Van Gogh Museum to see their special exhibit "Van Gogh and the colours of the night" featuring Van Gogh's The starry night here on loan from the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The exhibit is an extra price which includes a free audio tour which made it all the more interesting and Arjan really enjoyed. He know quite a bit about art having taken some art classes and reading some art books. I thought it may be things he already knew so was glad that he learned some new things, as well as really liked the way the speaker told the stories of the paintings. It was really excellent and I just can't believe the interest and appreciation in art I've gained through Arjan and hearing things like I did today. I really never thought it would happen, may just be in the air in this country. This was my first time, but not last, at the Van Gogh Museum. I invested in a Museum Card where for 35 Euros a year, with an additional 4.95 initial admin cost, you can gain entry into over 400 museums in Netherlands. So, now when I go to cities, I will focus on visiting the museums in that city, and the bigger museums I don't have to see all at one time.

Amsterdam is always an interesting place just to watch people. While I do like going there once in a while, I'm not a big Amsterdam fan, and enjoy going to other cities much more. Amsterdam is a big tourist trap and full of tourists. As Arjan said, by walking around today you'd never know there's an economic crisis, even though they are talking about the big drop in tourism, mainly from th US and Japan, the countries bringing the most tourists here. The city was packed, restaurants and bars were packed, people were walking around eating patat's/frietjes (Dutch French fries) and kroketten (ground meat and potatoes deep fried) and carrying shopping bags and there were plenty of Ajax (pronounced "I ox", not "Ajax"), Amsterdam's voetbal club (soccer team), fans making their way to the big wedstrijd (game) going on right now.

De Dam is the Dam Square, the cental area of Amsterdam that is surrounded by the Royal Palace, the New Church, and the National Monument. The National Monument is a memorial to World War 2 victims. As some visitors that I've gone to Amsterdam with know, the Dam is a great place to watch people and happenings. Here are some of the things seen on the Dam today:

The National Monument and blue sky--see Arjan's head sticking up?

De Niewe Kerk in use from the 15th century, building began around 1385

Spiderman and the NOS news in front of the Royal Palace where Arjan dropped and broke my camera the last time he was here on my visit in June of 2002.

Diana and Arjan uit Rotterdam

A very interesting fiets (bicycle). The seat in front is for a child that can help pedal, the second seat is for a young child to sit, the third seat is for the mother or father, and there's a child seat on the back for a toddler or small child. This is the first bike I've seen like this.

Ze houden rekening met rellen. There'll keeping the peace with/from unruly fans. Police were all over on every corner where we walked. They were patting down and checking the tickets of everyone getting on the tram to go to the game. There were SWAT type armed vehicles around also. The fire trucks are used to spray water on a group that gets out of hand.

A teenager terrifying his girlfriend, who had been sitting next to him, by throwing chips in front of them to attract all the pigeons. You should have seen them swoop in and there were so many, my camera battery ran out when I tried to get a better pic of the sheer number of pigeons and they were gone by time I had the battery changed. It brought back such memories of a similar experience I had with my high school sweetheart. We were on Grand Island at the beach with Brenda, noone else was around and good ole GG threw food so the sea gulls would swoop done and scare us.

The ape (de aap) from Planet of the Apes dressed up.

The Joker

St. Patrick's Day

As some of you know, I was very involved in the San Diego Irish community and enjoy Irish dancing. I met some lifelong friends through the community who became my family in San Diego. There is an Irish community in Netherlands and there are now 3 Irish dance teachers throughout the country, the closest being in Den Haag which I'm hoping to get involved in at some point. Of course the Irish community here is made up of the Irish citizens living in the Netherlands, a bit different than the Irish communities in the US.

This day in the US is marked by wearing green so you don't get pinched, I think I was the only person wearing green today even at the American Women's Club, eating corned beef and cabbage, making green eggs and ham and anything else green, and some folks using it as an excuse to consume copious amounts of beer. All of this overshadows the true significance of this day and that is celebrating St. Patrick.

While the tale is told of St. Patrick driving out the snakes in Ireland, his role was much greater than that and I'd like to tell you about it with the help of resource from Mustard Seed Associates, based in Seattle, provides information on Celtic Christianity and the work of St. Patrick. http://www.msainfo.org/ Here's a synopsis of Patrick's story:

Patrick was born in England in 390 C.E. He was kidnapped as a teenager and taken to Ireland where he was made a slave. It was in this time that he learned to trust God. After six years he escaped and returned home. Shortly after, he received a vision in which he heard “the voice of the Irish” pleading with him to come and walk amongst them once more. Patrick and his small team not successfully evangelized Ireland in three decades without violence or bloodshed. It is believed this was the beginning of the believers movement, centuries before the Reformation. The Celtic Christian movement that Patrick and his companions birthed was not a part of the Roman Catholic Church.

What distinguished Celtic Christian faith was that it emphasized the importance of calling people to a vital personal faith in Jesus Christ that impacted every area of life. Their faith was Trinitarian in nature with prayers often being offered to “the Three in One and the One in Three”. It was also incarnational and Jesus was intimately known as “God with us”. There was also a strong connection to creation and the knowledge that because all that is created comes from a loving and generous God, all aspects of creation can be God’s means of revelation and testimony.

The Celtic Christian movement was also distinguished by care for the poor, love of creation, invitation to women to serve in leadership and instinctive commitment to a whole life faith. Their Christianity was not limited to a brief prayer in the morning and then plowing into their days activities, but permeated every area of their life.

HAPPY SAINT PATRICKS DAY

I do hope all the children and teachers had fun with green today and catching shamrocks or lepruchans and all the dancers had fun!

It was truly a beautiful day here, we're on a roll of them. I'll close and go to bed by posting a picture of the crocus field in Den Haag, right near their Centraal Station.

Customer Service

Although most of you know or have read enough of my e-mails telling about the lack of Customer Service, I thought I'd share our recent experience to further help you understand that customer service is virtually non-existent in the Netherlands.

Yesterday we received a letter from our phone/internet company KPN. KPN is the Netherlands phone company and up till fairly recently, in US terms, was the only telephone company available to residents of the Netherlands. The letter is regarding our "verhuisen" (moving to another house) on April 6th explaining how our service will be moved and they will be sending us further info in a week and listing all the additional services we may want to add to our basic service when we move. That was sure news to us. At present we have no plans to move. Totally crazy...where did this info come from?

Our choices if we have questions or need further info are to call their klantenservice (customers service) number or go in to a KPN store. Now, calling the number would be so easy if we were in the US, but we are in Netherlands. Almost all customer service numbers in the Netherlands have a charge and for the phone company, ok this is a phone company, the charge is 10 Eurocents per minute. Yes, that's right. And what's worse is what happens when you call this, or any other, customer service number... you often are put on hold for at least 10 minutes. When the phone is finally answered, that person doesn't know the answer to your question or for some reason can't help you and must connect you with someone else. That often involves another wait of at least 5 minutes and can be followed by one or two more transfers. So, you end up spending at least 3 Euros on most of these calls.

Better to just make a trip to the mall in Zuid Rotterdam, Zuidplein, to go in the store, go to our favorite La Place for coffee and just walk around there. We knew KPN could be a long wait so planned to be there when they opened, thinking it was 10. We got there about 10 after. We take a number and find there are 5 people before us with only one person currently working. I check the door for the store hours and they open at 9:30, half an hour too late. A few minutes later a second worker shows up and it is quick to see that he is in job training because he has to refer to the other worker often when helping his client.

Then a woman came in pushing a screaming baby in a carriage. She picks the baby up, he stops crying, she interupts one of the workers to ask if this is where she can buy a new battery for a phone, he says yes. She puts the baby, who was probably 4 months, back into the carriage. Of course, the baby starts crying again and she pushes the carriage back and forth saying, "Sh", like that's going to stop him, and talks to the old lady who's the customer before us about how good he can cry and something else about his cry, they were too far away for me to hear it well. The old lady's number is called and she says to take the woman with the screaming baby because she just has to buy something. So, the worker has to go into the back room to get what the woman wants and finally it's bought and she's on her way. The entire time the poor baby cried/screamed and the woman said "sh". I told Arjan, I am the Baby Whisperer and that baby is not going to "sh" because his needs are not being met and you're doing nothing to meet them!

Which leads me to another pet peeve...and that is baby's and young children confined for hours in carriages or strollers, very few baby wearers or front carriers or back carriers, and mothers will just keep pushing, or ignoring if stopped on public transportation, a crying/screaming baby or child instead of stopping and trying to comfort them, which most times I believe involves simply picking them up. One day I was on a tram and a young baby began crying. The mother shocked me when she picked the baby up. Then I heard the mother talk to her baby and she was talking in English. That explained why the baby had been picked up!

Back to the customer service...a 3rd worker showed up and after 35 minutes our number came up and we got the guy in training. Fortunately he knew he just had to call the company and tell them of the mistake. That took 10 minutes and we were finally on our way. It was just in time
to save me from the sanity of the taping on glass sound going off constantly throughout our visit. That's their campaign by the mobile phones. Someone's taping on the computer screen for you to answer 5 questions to determine which phone is best for you in the different categories, ie. pay as you go, basic, professional. After about 2o minutes of this, I learned what it was and that if I just went around and taped all 6 screens it would get the taping to stop for a few minutes then it was running around and doing it again.

What's most interesting about KPN is that the consumer advocacy group that spotlights problems weekly on their TV show Radar, did a story about KPN and what they found through e-mails received and their own investigation was that people calling regarding new service were handled very quickly, while existing customers were put on hold and made to wait an average of over 20 minutes, all at the .10 per minute. A representative then sat at the table and said they would improve it. In November I met a woman from Rochester, NY who my friend Irine knew from the American Protestant Church in Den Haag, here for her last week of her 6 month contract. She is some specialized computer programmer person and the company she works for was contracted by KPN to come and improve their response time for customer service calls. She told me that they were so messed up in what they were doing that in the 6 months she was able to change some things, but she thought she'd be returning, or someone else, because more work needed to be done to get them customer service friendly. Interesting...

Well, I'm having trouble uploading pictures tonight so I'll be back over the weekend, hopefully getting caught up and pictures up...time to think about going to bed.

Building, Building Everywhere

All one has to do is take an even short train ride or drive and you will see there is construction and buildings going up all over this country. I thought it may just be me but it's interesting to overhear people who don't regularly travel someplace talk about the building we're passing. One typical one I've heard is how Utrecht is expanding. Of course Netherlanders coming from smaller towns and cities find this vreselijk (terrible, awful, shocking). It reminds me of all the times I drove the I-15 from San Diego to Lancaster and it was desolate then the building began happening and it became no longer desolate. Think that's what Netherlanders fear is that more open land is being built upon.

This phenomenon here was also noticed by an American visiting. Two Dutch reporters in the US have recently returned to the NL. Both were in the US for something like 25 years, both have an excellent understanding of and empathy for America and Americans, liking some things about America better than NL. Both have also done tv shows where they somehow compare life here with in America. The one reporter did his more as integrating back into life in NL and how it differs in the US. One of the first stories he did was to be an "American" tourist in NL to get to know his country again. It was very revealing as the tour guide on the canal tour in Amsterdam said how they have a script when they know they have a group of Americans that points out the way Americans see NL and what they most know about it...I call it perpetuating the myth of the Netherlands. Then the reporter interviewed some Americans on the tour about what stood out to them the most on their trip about the Netherlands and one of the gals said it was all the building going on everywhere she had visited.

While there was talk of halting some building due to the recession and stopping anything that didn't have 70% sold, most of the larger cities have now pumped millions of Euros to continue with projects in order to keep construction workers and all those involved in new buildings and homes employed, in hopes by the time the now funded construction is complete the economy will be back up and running well.

Of course, Rotterdam is the building capitol of Netherlands because of it's bombing in WW2 leading to most of the city having to be rebuilt and that has just continued. And buildings are going up all around. Today I noticed how 2 have become visible from our house.



This building going up is at the beginning of Beijerlandsestraat at Putselaan. The name of the building is...are you ready?...Sunset Boulevard! "A place for happy, sunny living", that's what the sign says. Supposedly every unit has windows to see the sun, they're sure trusting it to even be out. I am excited about the bottom floor as that's going to be a Media Mart, one of the two biggest electronic stores in the Netherlands and so close to our house.

Then I was pretty excited when I noticed that if I stick my head over the balcony we can now see what will be the tallest building in Netherlands, pretty much down the road from what is now the tallest building. When completed, the Maastoren will be 165 meters tall.



This is pretty much a look down the street and the building is around all those cranes. It's right on the Maas at the corner of Laan op Zuid and Stieltjesstraat next to what I call the traffic control for the ships and the bridges. I still can't believe they put this there. It blocks the view for many people who bought their homes for the view of Erasmusburg and the city. I could see homes go up for sale, some still for sale, as this was announced and began construction.




Here's a close up. That's the elevator shaft going highest in the air. And, yes, that one apartment building was built in 1989 and was the tallest building I could see the first time I came here in 2002. That big reddish brown office building in front of what will be the tallest building just went up this past year. They are still working on the inside but it looks to be coming along fast. That is on Laan op Zuid.

Sorry for the leaning pictures. I didn't compensate for my lean over the balcony.

One of the Reasons I Love Living Here

All these flowers were only 2.50 Euro. That's right, every Wednesday at the market by our house in the Afrikaanderplein the flower man sells 5 bos bloemen (bunches of flowers) for 2.50 Euro. With the grayer day today and possibly till Saturday and the tulips and roses along with Fresia, a favorite that is usually one of the bunches, in the bunch, I had to get it. Plus there were actually 6 bunches in it when I opened it at home! Five tulip bunches were going for 5 Euro. Wednesday's and Saturday's he sells a big bunch of flowers for 2.5o a piece or 2 for 4 Euro. Arjan was sure happy when I walked in with these and I was able to use all my pretty vases. He also warned me about how jealous I'm going to make my American friends! And, liefde neef (dear nephew), jouw om (your uncle) wants you to notice that I used the Defltsblauw vase you brought back for me one time when you visited.

Then tonight, like every night, we watch tv and the cats come and lay next to me or on my legs, and sometimes on Arjan. Tonight a bit different and I took pictures. It began with Oscar going to a place he has just started walking across. Yes, it's the television.

What he's walking in front of is an interesting story as well. It's a program called RTL Boulevard that's a bit like Entertainment Tonight. The person on the screen is a Dutch designer of women's underclothing, Daphne somebody, talking about Brittany Spears. If you happen to see Brittany in her new Circus performance, she is attired in a bra and panties from this Dutch designer, that's about the extent of what she's wearing. It's one of Daphne's regular designs with rhine stones added.

Next is the wacky ways Oscar slept on my legs.

And this is the way Columbo was sleeping when I left Arjan watching a soccer game to write the blog.

Signs of Spring

Since there is so much talk about it being meterologically spring, we've had plenty of drizzle/rain, warmer temperatures over the weekend, and sunny Monday, yesterday I figured I'd take my walk to see what signs of spring I could find. Here's what I found:

Lots of pansies in big bowls in front of our building and others and big beds in front of a creek

Trees budding

Trees and bushes blooming

Hyacinths, daffodils, and tulips rising from the ground

Dandelions in bloom

And a big swan sitting on green grass.

Hey Arjan He Likes It

For those of you who remember Life cereal's commercial about trying to get Mikey who doesn't like anything to try Life and he tried it and likes it, I had a similar experience with Arjan this weekend.

Arjan is a true Dutch man who loves his meat and potatoes. He grew up in a poor time here and didn't get a lot of meat and I say he has spent his entire life since then making up for it. His favorite foods involve pigs or cows. I, on the other hand, prefer chicken and fish followed by cow and pig. When I make chicken, Arjan will usually eat a little bit, even comment that it's good but the only chicken he'll really eat are the legs in a BBQ type sauce and a chicken on the spit from the oven. I'd guess he has it maybe 6x a year. To my surprise, Arjan spotted a recipe in the paper Friday he wanted to try Gevulde kipfilet met spinazie (Chicken breast fillet filled with spinach) and we did yesterday.

The recipe included oven roasted thyme & rosemary potatoes and called for ratatouille. Since Arjan doesn't like eggplant or zucchini, we made our own ratatouille and it turned out so tasty. It consisted of brown onions, red onions, shallots, garlic, tomato, green pepper, and mushrooms. Arjan cut up the vegetables and prepared the potatoes. He had never made potatoes in the oven before, it's not done here much with the electric oven costing more to run than the gas stove, and had a hard time understanding how they would cook with just a little olive oil on them.

I made everything else, presented Arjan with his warm plate of food and waited...yes, he liked it! I was so happy because it was so good and I get the left overs tonight as he only wanted to make 3 kipfilets, not being sure if he'd like it.

The picture doesn't do it justice but it's ok. Because we only made 3, there some extra egg and spinach so I cooked it up and added it, that's what is to the left. This was also before parsley was sprinkled on it.

I told Arjan the story of Hey Mikey He Likes It and he is laughing totally agreeing that's how he is about some foods.

Winter Has Ended

Meteorologically speaking, winter in the Netherlands ended on Feb 28. That is how the meteorologists talk here...in terms of the meteorological seasons. That means the the hottest three months are summer, the coldest three winter, fall is the three months after summer, and spring is the three months after winter. I don't remember hearing a lot about this delineation of seasons in the US but here it's how they speak.

This winter had 3 high points:

1. There were over 100 more hours of sun than "normal". Thank God and I can't quite imagine it as there were plenty of sunless days.

2. January was the coldest in 30 years. Very enjoyable!

3. February was the wettest in 12 years. Guess that was when we had all the sunless days.

And now we are into spring...my favorite season.