Anyway, last weekend I went to ABN AMRO being semi pissed off. You see, since I got myself a house, I am perpetually broke. I decided to thus go prissy with the bank. You see, when you come to the Netherlands as an “Expat”, there is only one bank which provides any sort of English pages – namely ABN AMRO. And sure, I’ve been using it for 2 years or so. But right now, I’m in more of an experimental stage as I can read Dutch, I go to a Dutch church.. you know what I mean.

So then I decided to go prissy with ABN AMRO.

You see I’m not very happy with ABN AMRO for a whole host of issues (Note: If you are from ABN AMRO and want to hear all my grievances please email me at summerrainx@gmail.com).

Here they are:

- Cards and “Card” holders are crappy. I had my card replaced twice over before anything could get working. They have changed this (I hope)
- Wereldpas broke, but they wanted to charge 5EUR to replace this
- Internet identifier broke down and they refused to change it for me, charging me 20EUR for a new one
- Extra “Wereldpas” gotten from the YP package was a brought over from my student days, resulting in monthly charges for a year
- Their saving (prive) packages are more expensive then any other bank (ING, Rabobank, etc) simply because they throw in a whole bunch of services even if you don’t need them

And so on.. not to mention their customer service is really expensive and not helpful if you give them a call and their banks open on the hours where you work (ING opens till 7pm on weekdays). Anyway, regardless, ABN had a monopoly.. until of course I started to read complicated Dutch.

So since I was prissed one Saturday morning, I decided to just screw it and switch to ING. ING had a higher interest (2.3% as opposed to 2.0%), and they wanted to offer me 50EUR just to switch. Plus since I didn’t need a Credit Card anymore I didn’t want to pay all these monthly fees just to support my betaalrekeningen.

I don’t understand this. Tell me. So you put your money in a bank, and you get 2.0% rente. The bank lends out the money you lent them to other peeps at 5.0% for mortgages, 14% for creditcards, and so on… and then they charge YOU for using their services. It’s a great business model I tell you.

Anyway, I was determined to switch. I had all my incasso debiting off my account, I had a mortgage which was huge and ABN didn’t want to lend me such a big amount anyway. Until this. Well, the kind lady at the ABN Eindhoven, not the horrible woman on the ABN phone line which you pay 0.10 a minute and is put 5 minutes on call waiting mind you. She was really kind, at least to say the least, or at least tried, and asked what did I like about ABN.

Have to admit, there is only one thing (other than the kind lady). And it was literally an iPhone app. Yes you cannot believe me now, the ABN app is so superb it was like the redeeming factor that I literally stayed with ABN.

The thing is, have you ever had thoughts like that? You hate so many things about a company, but there is one thing which kind of wipes is all off?

The (dumb) ABN app could do everything I wanted a bank app could do:

- Transfer small amounts to other accounts
- Transfer easily from current to paid account with ease
- See all transactions straightaway
- Contact / call ABN

So there you go. If you breakdown the 3 most famous banks in Netherlands, and its yearly fees:

- ABN AMRO: 33EUR
- Rabobank: 22EUR
- ING: 16EUR

There you go, this has to be the most expensive app I have, I pay 17EUR per year… What do you think?

I’ve been awfully busy lately. I know I keep moaning that I’m so busy but that is the reality it is. That lately I pull calls to my parents in the wee hours of the day because I know that I’m going to be in a meeting or something. That I’m doing telcos in the train or in the taxi because you need that little amount of time whilst you are adjusting your slides. And when you call India to just edit the slides because you can’t be bothered to beautify the darn thing. Or when you go to six different cities in one week and almost fly off last minute to Frankfurt had I not turned really sick thereafter.

So, the only thing to treat myself is, well, restaurant week. Amex has been bugging me about it in my email box and as much as I think Amex isn’t the best thing ever – like okay, you could charge a Lambourgini to your corporate card this month and run away with it, and they would only figure out next month… you know ridiculous things like that.

So I called M and we decided to SATC it out in this place called Avant-Garde. Oh heck, what stood out is that it was Michelin-starred, and well, we only live once. I figured that if I was going to start stopping my life in the middle of the road to make a telco I was going to at least dine in Avant-Garde before I turned 30.

It turned out to be a deal at 37EUR for a 3-course. Pretty decent I would say, because it was a very unexpected meal. Soy in coffee. Tomato powder. Squid biscuits. Duck. Oh yes, the duck which had a great sauce but just couldn’t beat the fantastic duck I ate in New York. How could I ever forget the duck I ate in New York on the 26th on the day I almost died?

Today, C was asking me if Groupon was a scam – as it was almost impossible to get a reservation in the restaurant she bought a coupon from.To me, Groupon is kind of a hit and miss affair, its great because you do get a good deal, but you also have restaurants who have just opened with no customers, and some which make your sushi as if they just learnt it in some sushi making class the day before. Definitely not for me.

Thinking that it sort of made some sense, I decided to have dinner at work with a groupon I bought weeks ago from Otto’s Kitchen. It was one of those impulse, its cheap, lets get it so that I can use it eventually when I’m working late in the office.

And man, wasn’t it a find! Otto’s Kitchen was a really good deal instead. For 7EUR I got somewhat of a set, the Coq de vin (Chicken Stew), potatoes, vegetables and a homemade cheesecake. They even delivered to Amstelplein for 1.25EUR. Apparently, the chef has been working for previous restaurants and it is quite evident in the quality and taste of the food because I was indeed impressed with the taste and more importantly, the price. If you are around in Amsterdam, go ahead and take a look, its actually worth a shot at Kinkerstraat 112.

The end of every week, the greatest redemption is literally to run to the La Mer in the Bijenkorf to get severely pampered from the abuse the entire week has done to my skin: Lack of sleep, spending 20 hours on the train / plane / public transport, etc…

La Mer must be my new addiction, or at least being pampered by the La Mer counter in Amsterdam. Last week, was the launch of the new La Mer radiant concealer, and Jill scheduled me for consultations and champagne on Friday, along with a handwritten note you know was only reserved for loyal clients. If any of you La Mer loyalists might know, only La Mer and other kitschy brands (Oh yes I love them – exclusiveness) could only start a here’s your champagne what do you want to get today?

So I was indulged. An eye treatment which left me reluctant to use concealer and a hand massage which left me with glitter like hands later, and of course semi gleeful with champagne which was fabulous, I was sold. Who cares if I was semi intoxicated and had hands which sparkled like no tomorrow.

I decided to go for the new Eye Balm Intense. All that long damaging hours and lack of sleep because of work must be doing something bad to my eyes which are now perpetually congested. The eye balm comes with a silver cold applicator which helps with circulation, and you use it to massage your acupuncture points to drain away all the excess liquids in your face. I’m not sure if it’s working, but the touch of the ice cold applicator to my eye bags in the morning is always a welcome retreat.

And then, I just wanted to create a spa-like experience in my home. If only I had my personal masseur, since lately I’m soaking in my bathtub with champagne after work. I also bought the Body refiner which Jill used to scrub my hands. It has 1.75 carats of diamonds! And it is a mix of tourmaline and other goodies which left my hands smooth and sparkly. Coupled with my clarisonic, it was literally a home spa, and I needed that.

So there you go, a gazillion more La Mer which left me happy and a little tipsy – brilliant ploy the champagne, what they missed out was probably the Godiva chocolate dipped strawberries. But on hindsight, I always leave the La Mer counter incredibly satisfied, because the products are seriously beyond any – and I am a skincare junkie indeed. Jill also gave me cute samples of the eye balm intense, radiant serum, and more hand cream! Yes peeps, I have rough hands which have been inherited, but for a short time only, I can actually pretend to have soft hands.

Honestly who cares if La Mer is just a great marketing ploy. Or if the Max Huber research labs is overcharging or whatsoever. It gives me sparkling smooth hands and leaves me happy. Ok, the products are also fantastic and last à very long time. But isn’t that à mark of à great brand and product? Other then the fact that Jennifer Lopez is rumored to bath in this stuff. It’s an escapism from the daily grind called life.

“Yesterday it was fine because only I knew, today you all know, but on Monday, everybody will know.”

In the end, we are only human ain’t we.

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Paul the octopus residing in Oberhausen, Germany has done it again – apparently predicting that Spain would win over Germany in the semi-finals of the World Cup! Okay, not that great because I’m actually in Germany right now.

Anyway, I’m neutral, I’m only rooting for Netherlands to win because I’m an Oranje-supporter! (And Jeroen is taking care of my mini friend)

A little out of sync here but I always like photos in my post, so here is the growth and growth of mini b.

When I first got him he was a sweet, sweet friend…

A week later he was still sweet but he bit Jon, so I guess he was already ferocious inside.

For some reason, it seemed that he couldn’t stop eating, this is only one week later.

And this is one week after that, at the rate he’s going he’s going to kind of explode or something.

But he’s so cute!

Otherwise, I have made Amsterdam my new base station and I’ve changed my function (we’re encouraged to move within every couple of years to understand the entire business – I’m still in the same company – this company is a good one – especially when yours truly will now play a part in its future strategy). Funny enough, if there was one question I can remember during the interviews, it was the: What do you want to do in 5 years? I said: No idea. Later I was on the phone with my dad and I was like, maybe I’m like the only candidate who said, no idea, and everyone else said that they wanted to be a business leader, VP or something ambitious and I sort of like screwed up. I got offered the job anyway.

BTW, my new job is super cool, and the team is super smart and hardworking, even the CEO called us “bright MBAs”.

PS: I think you can’t have too much of a plan in life. Whatever comes, comes you know. You just find couple of things you love, couple of things you are fantastically great at, and then, stay happy and healthy, and well, party harder.

I went to little Holland in Den Haag few weeks ago, I thought it was so cool – because I was there more than twenty years ago!

Look how much I have grown since:

Half-baked Dutch when you are making a reservation at a fancy restaurant

vs.

Half-baked Dutch navigating the legal and financial consequences of buying a new house

I thought to myself about the time required:
Time taken to buy a house: 6 months
Time taken to decide to buy this house: 3 minutes
Time taken to mentally convince my family that I was going to do it: 3 days
Total number of houses looked at: 5
Total number of houses I took a trip for: 3
Order of house which I bought and finally got it: 2nd
Time taken to get a mortgage: 2 months
Time taken to move into my new home: 5 days

Of course since I was still contemplating should I buy a house before I actually even bought a house – which was that 3 minutes in contemplation. I’ve concluded that people who regard me as unable to make decisions just really don’t know me at all. When I know, I do. When I’m being a fluff bunny, you know that I just don’t.