Exploring Magical Maastricht

This weekend I slipped out on a relatively warm day to check out Maastricht’s new Christmas celebration offering: the Magical Maastricht. A combination of market, cultural events, and light displays, Magical Maastricht extends last year’s events out from the Vrijthof to include a variety of other locations. This new arrangement is festive, but suffers a bit from its diffuse shape.

The most familiar part of this year’s event is the market on the Vrijthof. Instead of huts, sellers are in booths this year, and mostly appear to be selling a variety of machine made products from hats to kitchen tools. There are a few local and handmade booths, particularly for wine and preserves. Booths this year are spread beyond the Vrijthof and include locations on the Markt, Onze Lieve Vrouwplein, and along the Maas.

If you’re not interested in shopping, Maastricht has upped its regular one skating rink and ferris wheel, with a second, roofed rink, several children’s carnival rides, and an ice sculpture festival. You can find the secondary rink and many of the rides in a new “Kerst aan de Maas” located near the old city bridge and surrounded by a few booths and an enclosed eatery. I haven’t visited the Ice Sculpture area yet, but if you’re curious (or really into ice), the display will run you 7,50 euros.

Maastricht has also arranged a “Colorful Light Route” along which you can view some beautifully lit trees, specially designed lights, and an SMS tree (where you can light up the tree for a donation to the World Wildlife Fund). Of course you shouldn’t miss out on the chance to sample the holiday fare at one of the several enclosed eateries or open booths. I’m particularly partial to the gluhwijn myself.

Although this extra variety is nice and the lights along the walk are lovely, I do wish there was more signage indicating where the various new locations are. I only lucked onto a handful of booths on the Markt square by chance, and then that’s only because I tend to wander. But with a little preplanning, you can find everything you’d like by visiting this website and downloading the Colorful Light Route 2010 map.  Happy holidays.

This article was originally published on Maastricht Region: To Live.

Share an Expat Holiday Story on Maastricht Minutiae

 

The winter holiday season is upon us. For me, that means Christmas, cookies, and (hopefully) spending time with family. Of course as an expat, there is a catch. My family live on the other side of the world. At the same time, we’re slowly adding new traditions to our holiday: gluhwein, visiting Christmas fairs, and chocolate letters to name a few.

To celebrate the unique and varied holiday experiences of expats, I’m inviting you to send me your holiday stories. You can write about traditions  you miss or have adapted to work in your new country, or new traditions you’ve adopted or created, or about new facets expat life brings to your season. I’ll publish as many stories here as I can starting December 20th and running into January. In exchange for your guest post, you’ll get a link back to your site or blog and my undying gratitude.

If you’d like to participate, here are some guidelines:

• All expats or former expats are welcome to participate, even if you don’t live in the Netherlands.
• Please focus on winter holidays be it Christmas, Hanukkah, the Winter Solstice, or whatever else you celebrate.
• I like to publish stories around the 300-500 word mark, but you can feel free to write more or less. Just don’t send a dissertation.
• To participate, please use the Contact Me form to let me know you’d like to participate. Then we can work out when your post will go live.

Thank you in advance to all participants and Happy Holidays.

Pie Shell Discovery

Finally. After months of searching (ok, casually looking around when I happen on a new store), I’ve finally found pre-made pie shells. The winning store? Jumbo, which is selling this Tante Fanny brand.

Well I couldn’t let a discovery like this go to waste. I bought two shells and brought them home for an experimental pie.

I know, I know, many of you are saying “Why not just make one from scratch?” “Pie crust is easy.” “You just need a good recipe.” All true, but the honest truth is I’m too lazy to make my own pie crust as often as I’d like to make pies. It’s a finicky little pastry recipe and until recently I’ve had very little luck with internet recipes. A friend on Facebook apparently took offense to my pre-made pie shells and provided me with a scratch recipe, so maybe the next pie will use that. But in the mean time I was very pleased with Tante Fanny’s offering.

My experimental pie was, of course, an American style apple pie. Super easy to make and always tasty. The purchased crust was refrigerated (not frozen) until I was ready to use it and actually tastes quite sweet on its own. After preparing the filling, I opened the package and found the crust rolled up with a piece of waxed paper to keep it from sticking to itself. It was very easy to work with.

Unlike the pastry shells I’m familiar with, this one was rectangular rather than circular and didn’t quite fit my 9-inch pie pan. Fortunately it is also very long, so I patched up the short edges and had plenty over hand to cut off and make a nice edge. I never get a nice edge when I roll my own.

I used the left over pastry (if which there was a lot) to make pie crust chips with a little sugar and cinnamon.

I baked the pie up in the oven and it came out delicious, although maybe a little flat. I could have used more apples I think. The crust was tender, although not flaky, and complemented the pie well. Dan & I had the pie for dessert and agree that while it wasn’t the best pie we’d ever tasted, it certainly tasted right and the crust behaved the way it should. Lekker.

Catching the Elusive Job Monster

I’ve been back out on the trail of the elusive day job (the teaching position didn’t work out), so I thought I’d share some thoughts on the subject. There are a lot of places in the Netherlands where finding a non-Dutch speaking job is possible, but, unfortunately for me, Maastricht isn’t really one of them. Although there are a few English-speaking and international companies in the area, many are seeking people with multiple language skills. And frankly most people with a higher education also speak excellent English in this area. So competition on the English-only/monolingual market is quite stiff. If you do speak Dutch (and I mean enough to hold an interview in that language), you’ll have an easier time of it. I haven’t been hired yet, but here’s a few thoughts that have gotten me to the interview stage.

The Hunt

When we first moved to the region, I started my job hunt with the various employment and temp services in the city. This is a pretty typical way to find a job in the Netherlands, even for things like housecleaning and waitressing. The overwhelming response from everyone was “No Dutch, No Job”. Simple as that. One or two places did have the caveat that if you work in finance or science, there are sometimes openings for English-only, but I didn’t have those skills, so I didn’t pursue that angle. There are a few Dutch employment agencies that cater to expats and multilingual people, but none of them extend their influence into the Maastricht region.

Instead I found more success searching for jobs via online job site, although personal contacts are certainly beneficial if you have them. Since the number of available jobs in English is low, I generally just do a regional search for “English”. Especially on the all Dutch sites, this will pop out a job description written in English; which are the ones I was looking for. Here are a few sites to get you started:

• Marktplaats.nl: Look under Vacatures. I’ve found one job to apply to via this site.
• BanenRijkLimburg: Limburg oriented job site for people with college and postgrad degrees.
• LimburgVac.nl: A Dutch only job site for the Limburg area. I’ve found one job to apply to via this site.
• Maastricht Region: A general resource site that includes a Job Opportunities section in English. The listings are provided by BanenRijkLimburg above.

You can see more job sites under my Expat Resources or if you’re really desperate take a look at Craigslist (underused in the Netherlands). Sources like Expatica tend to be more Holland oriented.

It’s a good idea to apply directly to employers in your area of expertise, particularly in academia where English-only or Dutch-optional jobs are a little more common. I keep an eye on Maastricht University (technically an English-language campus) and the area’s international schools for openings.

The best advice is to know what you do and don’t want to do, and then to stay flexible. I’ve had to look at my skills from different angles to make them slot into the available jobs. Not that I’ve applied to jobs I can’t do; I’ve just learned from my year in self-employment that the walls between jobs are squishy and something you considered trivial in one job maybe just what the new one needs.

Patience & luck are virtues as well. I went ahead and started my own business to carry me over until there was something available that I was qualified to do (and self-employment has actually improved many of my skills and made me more employable.)

The Trap

Setting “the trap” (a no-kill one, you want that job right?) with your cover letter and resume in the Netherlands is pretty straight forward if you’re use to the American tradition. You’ll need to include a letter describing why you’re the person for the job, as well as either a resume or a CV. Generally employers seem to ask for a CV, but since my actual CV is 3 pages long with childhood retail jobs, I generally pare things down to the relevant positions. I like to include factual, descriptive explanations of what my jobs entailed as well since the jobs I’m applying to are not necessarily a straight line from my previous positions.

I’ve never been good at crowing about my accomplishments, so shifting to a less boastful cover letter has been easy for me. Keep it accurate and to-the-point. Most Dutch employers are not looking to hire you because you think you’re awesome. But don’t be afraid to regard your native English tongue as an asset. If you’re looking at English-only jobs, that’s really what the employer wants you for.

The Interview

Ok, I couldn’t think of a good metaphor for this one, but interviewing is naturally the next step in the job hunt process. Like in the United States you could be looking at a variety of interviewing situations. If you’re applying for a job where you’ll need to speak Dutch, I imagine your interview will also be in that language, but if you’re applying to an English-only position, the interview ought to be in that language. If you’re not comfortable in Dutch, ask to speak in English.

I’ve had a couple of interviews in Maastricht and found that the interviewers in both cases were happy to speak in my native language. My most recent one was a multiple person, in-person interview where we really just got down to brass tacks. I was asked why I wanted the job, but I didn’t have to answer those awkward roleplaying questions you sometimes get in the US.

Closing the Deal

I haven’t quite made it to this point yet (fingers crossed), but there are a few things to keep in mind when accepting a job offer. The first is that, in the Netherlands, you can usually count on a 13th-month bonus and a holiday bonus, each of which are often equivalent to a month’s salary. Ask your employer about it. Also, you are not obliged to take the health insurance your employer offers you (you can stay with your current NL carrier if you desire), but the one sponsored by your employer sometimes will be offered at a slight discount. So it’s worth checking out.

Employment law in the Netherlands generally favors the employee, making it difficult to fire people, etc. Some companies do real backflips to try and keep their options open, so you should carefully read your contract. Or (more likely if you’re like me) get someone to read it for you. It’s not legal if it’s not in Dutch.

For more information about employment in the Netherlands that is less tainted by my personal experience, check out Maastricht Region’s Working section and IAmExpat’s Career section.

Photos are all used under the Creative Commons-Attribution License and are (in order) by sskennel, shino 誌野, Ped-X-Ing and yngrich.

It’s Not Winter Without Snow

I’d never survive in a climate without winter. How would I know when the end of the year is? Or practice my sure-footed snow walking techniques?  Here are a couple pictures of the slow but steady snowfall we’ve been having since Monday. Except for a couple bike rides and a jog, I’m trying to stay inside and drink lots of tea. Hope you are all staying warm too.