Watch out Holland, I'm Legal to Drive

I FINALLY got my Dutch driving license, topic of this blog. In other news, just 3 hours ago, I got a new job (DBA for a Dutch Bank), and going to Paris with Rob tomorrow to celebrate 1 year wedding anniversary!



For those that like pictures better than text, I'll tell the funny part of story first. For the rest, read on and hope you like my take on Dutch driving...

My driving teacher Jasmine


Here, you take the exam in a driving school car, picked up at your house by your driving teacher. I thought my exam was on Thursday, so stayed up late Monday night watching TV. I was awoken on Tuesday at 8:15 am by my driving instructor, and stumbled to the door...she said "Its TODAY, not Thursday at 9:00 am!!!" Luckily, they book an hour before the test to practice drive. I dressed and ran to the car in 3 minutes flat, and the benefit was I did not have time to get nervous. Good thing I don’t need my morning coffee to wake up, the adrenaline jolt was all I needed! Oh, funny side note - Dutch cars are the size of Dutch people, so I sit on a 5 inch thick sofa cushion to see over the dashboard! Well, it all came out well in the end and license obtained (big, huge sigh of relief)

In the US, the reaction is "Great, now you've got wheels". In the Netherlands, even complete strangers give you a "Wow, congratulations, that’s a real accomplishment!". The average fail rate for first time exam takers is over 60%, and some take as many as 4 tries to get the license. For yours truly, it was 2 tries.

Student car with huge warning sign (STUDENT DRIVER!)


Yes, I know I've been driving in the US for over 15 years...but not it a stick shift, and NOT with Dutch driving rules. I had to learn to not sit and wait for the car to shift gears for me, and not to stall the car by shifting to slow/fast/not right gear. Dutch way, I had lessons with a teacher who has a set of pedals on the passenger side of car, and huge letter "L" for learner on top of car (talk of Scarlet Letters!). The Dutch have about 3 times as many signs posted on roads, round abouts, and some pretty weird (to me) driving rules.

Old mode of transport - my Bike!


My exam was in English, great thing as Dutch have totally different words for driving maneuvers. “Invoerg strook” means “acceleration lane” , and some other really funky ones! On the exam, as in the US, I had to do the usual stop sign, turn left, turn right, parallel park. But the fun was just starting. I also had to do a "Hellings Proef" - stop the car on a sloping hill, turn of motor, then restart car without stalling or sliding backwards with hand break (not foot break). Also, entering the freeway - where you have an acceleration where you have to go from about 15 MPH to 65 MPH in about 10 seconds or less, then merge into very aggressive traffic who don’t want to let you in. I failed on my first exam for not speeding up enough. You also have to deal with kamikaze bikes all over the Dutch roads (and horses, and a tractor or 2 even!). On the second exam, I did everything safely and without error, but was still told "you are too cautious, but I'll pass you anyways".

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow

First snow day in Holland this year !



Click here to see all the Snow Day pics

For the first time in my life, snow in my back yard. It has snowed for the first time here in the Netherlands this year, and this quite a snow day. We had about 3 inches of snow today (yes, I know, not exactly an Alaskan blizzard, but very snowy for this LA girl!).

Our backyard before snow


Our backyard after snow


It began at about 10:00 am with a light sprinkle of snow. By 2:00 PM, the entire yard, car, and neighborhood was a winter wonderland. It was fun for about 20 minutes to walk out and take pics and catch snowflakes on my tongue. Then I rebreed that snow is COLD, and snowy cloths turn into cold soggy clothes, so I then went home for a warm hot chocolate and change of clothes.

Our car after snow


Canal house during snow


Very quick update on last weeks job interview - STUPID RECRUITERS. He said the job was not on call, and looking for someone with my skill set. It was an on-call job looking for a totally different skill set, so needless to say, neither of us wanted a 2nd interview. Well, another interview tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

Brrr!

Job Interviewing in Holland

On the hunt for a job

As a few of you requested, I am going to put more of my daily life and goings on into the blog as well as the travel stories.

One of the most immediate things for me is finding a job. I graduated from my language course in December, and had a great visit back to LA in January. Now it is time to look for a job.



I am lucky to be in the tech industry - there are job possibilities and Dutch fluency is helpful but not a requirement. For some of my Australian friends here, it is next to impossible to find a job in other industries without Dutch fluency.

I got my interview "power suit" in the US during my last visit home, as none of Dutch clothes fit me here. I certainly cant get a professional suit in the kid's section, and sometimes even kids clothes are too long for me!!

So, some things are pretty much the same...hunt online job boards, email resumes, work with headhunters who range from incompetent to actually helpful.

OK, now how do I get there?



Some things are different here. Much more personal info, that is off-limits in the US, are commonly asked in interviews and even included on the resume. I have been asked for my age, marital status, children (or lack there-of), and once even religion (to see if I needed to take any additional religious days off). I was asked once to submit a photo, so they could put "a face to the name". Resumes can stretch 4 pages as people often put hobbies, every job they had from the first flipping burgers to last professional job.

My interview prep is a little different here. I get directions (by train, bus & local city map). I also usually have to have Rob help translate the job sites for me. You know its not a good sign when he scans pages of info and says only "they are a tech company founded 10 years ago".

Well, I have an interview tomorrow the largest European car and hand-held GPS company TomTom (www.TomTom.com). I'll put up a post-interview blog on how it went. Wish me luck all!!