Going Dutch -- 1

Here I am in the middle of a Dutch reserve forest, next to an abandoned dish, which surveyed Hydrogen in the Milky Way while overlooking vast fields of potatoes, corn, millet, etc. After office hours, the only ones that make an eye contact are occasional cyclists, if I choose to walk on the long forest roads. The nights are so silent, I am told that some Americans can not sleep well due to lack of usual hustle-bustle. Remember Pushpak movie, anyone?

Well, everything goes as per some appointment, I am told. So, I had an appointment with our secretaries here, to decide the course of my life in Holland. Then I had an appointment with the bank, RABO-Bank, Dwingeloo. Now, I have an appointment on Monday to visit the town-hall to obtain my residential document. Then I will be residing in Holland legally for more than 3 months, as it appears on my visa papers. Today I should make an appointment to meet some companies in Groningen, in order to see some houses/ apartments.

Renting is not a straight-forward game in Holland. Government knows everything about you before allowing you a house on rent or purchase. The procedure involves companies that would hunt houses for you, you can not find owners directly. The companies would ask you to register, and then view houses. There is a waiting list on this register, and you are offered houses in that order. If you do not like 4 houses that they offer you, you have to register again, and lose on your priority number, so this is a BIG deal. For all this mess, companies charge you one month of rent as their own fee.

Houses/ apartments come in various catagories: un-upholstered (no floors, no furniture, no amenities), upholstered (no furniture, amenities), furnished (with furniture and other stuff). One has to see what is left by previous owners/ renters. Most of the times, renters carry flooring (wood panels or tiles), wall paintings/ furnishings, and other amenities with them (like shelves in kitchen etc). Sometimes they do not take everything (may leave behind a wash basin for you to use, I am kidding, of course). I may need to fix all that in an apartment.

So, I am asked to wait and watch, this is going to be a Dutch Roulette, if there was indeed such a game :-)