This is part 3 of Team McLennan and the Journey to a New Land. If you’re just joining us, check out Part 1: This Isn’t Heaven, This Sucks and Part 2: Team McLennan Strikes Back.
So at this point in the story, we’ve been in The Netherlands 5 days. In that time, we’ve moved into and out of one apartment and moved into a second. We don’t have a bank account, cable or internet access. We do have a pre-paid mobile phone thanks to Jon, and there’s an open wireless internet connection in the neighborhood that we’ve been leeching from (thanks neighbor,) so we’re not totally out of contact, but it sure feels like it.
I should mention here that it is pretty tough to get anything done without a bank account. And you can’t get a bank account without a residency permit, which we don’t have at this point. (In fact, Staci won’t be getting that until Sept. 19, I think.) The university was helpful in that they’ve made arrangements with a local branch of the largest bank in The Netherlands so that students can open an account without a residency permit, due to the university vouching for the students. After finding this out, we immediately went to the bank to open an account, only to find out that we wouldn’t be getting our account information right away. Staci had to fill a form and submit a bunch of paperwork, which was fine as we were prepared, but then the bank had to send the application, etc. off for processing and we’d receive our account information in the mail in 5-7 business days.
Ok, so more waiting, which I guess isn’t so bad, if you have a mail key to the mail box. Have I mentioned that yet? When we moved into the new place, the rental agency didn’t have the keys for the mailbox, storage room or garbage room. The rental agent said the owner would be in touch as they had the keys for that. Once we finally got in touch with the owner (who it turns out wasn’t the owner but the owner’s business partner,) he said the keys should be with the rental agency. After much back and forth over many days, it was determined that the rental company did not have the keys, and the owner only had the mail key as the previous tenant had left with the garbage and storage keys.
To top all of this off, the owner’s partner was leaving for South America for a week and couldn’t get us the mail key until he got back. Great. Fortunately, enough mail had stacked up in the mailbox that Staci cold reach through the slot and pull some mail out, so we were able to get our bank account information (sans ATM card or online banking.) Once we had that, it was time to order cable and internet.
We ordered cable, phone and internet on August 31, but the cable company said it can take up to 3 weeks to deliver the cable box, modem and phone to the house via postal service. I opted for self-installation, though I was under the impression only the cable modem was going to be installed by me. Turns out I was wrong. A letter received by us (in Dutch) was mis-translated (by me) using online tools. Staci had a classmate translate it and confirmed that everything was going to be installed by me. Oh well, should be easy enough when it comes. “When” being the key word. It can come any time between now and Sept 21. Hopefully it comes soon, because I’m going out of my mind leeching off a weak, open connection in the neighborhood. (Thanks ‘Default’, whoever you are. Hopefully my browsing habits haven’t gotten you in trouble or slowed your network down.)
So as of today, that’s where our saga stands. No cable, home phone or internet access, a bank account without an ATM card or online banking and no key to our private storage. The ATM cards are on the way and should be delivered within the next couple of days (we hope.) We won’t have access to online banking until we get our ATM cards because they’re needed to sign up so we can get the code generator that they’ll send us once we apply for it. It’s a vicious, ever-ending cycle it seems. I think we’ll be all settled by November. On the bright-side, we’re in a nice place and having an adventure in a foreign land. Once everything gets settled, I’m sure things will be great.
Jeff & Staci 