I'm Not an Alien

As for this morning, I am no longer an alien in this country - I was finally able to register at the town hall and with IND (immigration) as was provided with my registration letter, that proves that I am here until my registration card comes in.  As part of my move, I have this lady who is there to help me with pretty much everything, including setting me up with a doctor, dentist, showing me around, helping me register but she left for holidays the day that I arrived and just got back, so that has been the delay in getting my BSN.  Now that she is here though. . . .well let's just say, some of those tasks that I have found challenging, are now going to be easier with Carine only an email or phone call away! :-)   So what does this all mean?  Well, I now have my BSN, which is essentially my social insurance number - without this I haven't been able to do the following:

• All of my "stuff" may or may not be in the country, I don't know, but without this #, my moving/shipping company, cannot process my things through customs
• I have been in health care limbo (not that I have needed any).  I had signed up for both Dutch insurance and I do have coverage provided by Shell but in order for either to processed, they needed my #
• You cannot get a cell phone in this country without your BSN.  I am still up in the air if I am going to get a private one, as I currently have a phone through work - so I am not sure what I am going to do - have to research it all a bit more
• Can't rent a place without your BSN as that is what proves that you are 1) allowed to live here 2) they know that you live here (more on the house hunt in a different post)

What is surprising though is that I have been able to open a bank account, get a bank card and a credit, all without my BSN.  Fortunately there is a wonderful bank here in The Netherlands - ABN-AMRO www.abnamro.nl that caters to expats and what is even better is they have a branch in the Shell offices!  On day 2, I had my appointment with Ursila, my wonderful personal banker and by the end of the week I had opened my bank accounts, got my bank card and by the following Tuesday, so within a week of my first appointment, I had a credit card!  Gotta love the Dutch in this regard!  Up until that point, I had been either paying with cash, which most people don't do here, or using my Canadian credit cards, which is not optimal due to the exchange rate.  But now, I am all good to go!

A few people have also asked what I have been up to so far.  Well, I can sum it up pretty easily - NOTHING.  Honestly, settling into a new country, a new culture and a new job, is a lot more exhausting than I anticipated.  As mentioned, simple things like doing laundry or grocery shopping has been challenging and those challenges are tiring.  So for the most part my days are:  get up, go to work, come home, eat supper, catch up on the internet, go to bed, repeat.  Here we start a little later than back home (8:30ish) but they work later (5:30-6:00pm), so I am usually not home until between 6 & 6:30pm and I go to bed early (10pm)  Do I feel like I am missing out yet - no, because I know that I need this time to adjust and that over time as I meet more people and become more comfortable, I will get out more.  But for now, my weekly outing will be to my Dutch lessons (more about those later).