Trying to get organised

September 13, 2004

Well in true PONL form, things have changed again. Stuart will be starting a new role on 1 November and will be off contract to a permanent role, a completely different job and completely out of the blue. The job is based in Rtm, so it looks like we will be staying for the three years. The Regional Director approached Stuart while he was in London last week and simply said that he would like to see him on Friday (10th) in Rtm. It was like being called to the head master’s office and having no idea what you’ve done. That was all the info that Stuart was given, he came home on Friday evening and said, “I’ve got a new job”.

We are still in our temporary accommodation in centrum and starting to get a little frustrated with it. I really want just to settle into our new house and make it into a home for us before the winter sets in.

We are going to South Africa for a holiday on the 26th for 3 weeks and had hoped that we would be able to move in prior to that. We knew it would be tight but couldn’t see any reason why it wouldn’t happen. That was until Noelene (mum at InTouch) told me that it took 3 months for her container to be released after many visits to City Hall and many, many phonecalls. I told Stuart our conversation and he was quite confident that we would be all right, it wouldn’t happen to us. He is talking out of his pants now.

Holland bureaucracy is so frustrating and I am not liking it here much at the moment. I guess it is culture shock and realising how completely differently things are done here. The usual scenario is that new residents have to report to the Alien Police within three days of arrival to process our residency status. Without this formal registration process, we can’t do a thing. Our appointment was made for August 27th (so much for 3 days), we filled out some forms we were given and all went along (we were all required to be there, including the boys). A girl from work (not the chick whose job this was) who had no experience in relocations and dealing with City Hall, kindly came with us to help out with the Dutch language.

The woman in HR who came to help deserves to be fired, although you can’t fire anyone in Holland, just have a long communal discussion to improve the situation. We got there and found that we had not been given the correct paperwork to process the residency application, something to do with confusion over Stuart’s two passports and the fact that Angelique had sent us along with the wrong rental agreement. We had written our new Kralingen address on the residency form and Angelique had attached the centrum one. The next earliest time to make another appointment was while we would be in SA, so we have to go on 18th October and do this all over again. In the meantime, we are still aliens. If anyone should know all the list of paperwork and documentation required, then it should be the self-named relocation division in HR. Go figure.

In the meantime, our container arrived over the weekend. Stuart filed the customs declarations two weeks ago as we were told (by the removal coy) that it takes two weeks to process the forms. He called on Friday to make a time for delivery and check that the customs clearance was all going well, only to be told that we have to register our intention to live at the new address with City Hall before the container can be delivered! It’s called a Population Register and apparently anyone new to Rotterdam has to be listed on the register. They need to see passports and the tenancy agreement for this. What has it got to do with them! A new piece of information we weren't informed of. Every time anyone moves house it has to be on this register, I guess it is similar to the NZ electoral role although slightly more officious!

So, wisely checking beforehand, Stuart went down to City hall (on his own) today to register us at the new address – we were told only Stuart needed to go, we all didn’t need to. After waiting for an hour, he gets given the same form we were given to take to the Alien Police several weeks ago. He was required to take his passport, tenancy agmt and the forms given. He has just got back now after nearly 2.5 hours and has part of what we require but not all. We have enough to clear the container in customs (or so we think) but are not fully registered yet. It turns out, he needed to take his birth certificate and one of the forms given to him this morning, was not required – it was in dutch so we don’t know.

He duly went back to work and contacted customs to say that we have their form but no, we need something else before they can process it. Stuart now needs to provide his SOFI number and have a letter from the coy to say that they will release the house to us. Tomorrow is another day.

Who knows when we will get our container, I’m really annoyed and amazed that there is so much red tape and so many different stories about what we require. It is almost like someone is in the background saying ‘bugger, they managed that, what else can we get them to do?’

I am trying to take all this in my stride but it is taking its toll, I am trying to laugh it off and know that at least it happens to everyone that moves here. You have to wonder how they manage to get the amount of expats here that they do. I suppose this is the dutch method for controlling foreigners!
I have now got my third period since 1st August so that isn’t helping the situation. I am feeling quite tired and for the first time today a bit lonely.