Saturday - He is coming! He is coming!

When I moved to Holland many years ago, I was extremely pleased to discover that the Dutch have as well, like in my hometown of Trieste, S.Nicolo, or, as they call him, Sinterklaas.

The difference is that, while back home he comes just once, in the night between the 5 and 6 December, here he arrives today with his boat, horse and controversial helpers.

Like your neighbours do the rest of the year, in the next three weeks he will be checking if you are behaving properly.

He arrives today in several cities, although the official televised one is this year, Groningen.

More info and locations at the link below.

http://www.intochtsinterklaas2013.nl/

Friday - Dancing on the edge

This festival brings together artists from the Middle East and North Africa in a contamination of theater, multi-media, films and lots more. The focus of course is the dance as working platform for creative exchanges.

The Hague's leg of this dance event starts today, but the festival is itinerant and will then move to Utrecht, Rotterdam, Enschede and Groningen.

http://dancingontheedge.nl/

Thursday - Iceberg!... or the Titanic exhibition.

Just heard about it on the news and I though I'd share: a travelling exhibition diplaying a lot of objects recovered from the wreck at the bottom of the sea, re-constructions of the impact and mementos of the passengers.

Quite pricey at 16€ but with loads of interactive features and object from the actual ship, maybe it's worth the money.

http://www.amsterdamexpo.nl/en/expositions/titanic-the-artifact-exhibition/

Wednesday - Klik!

Another interesting ongoing event, this time at the EYE in Amsterdam Noord: Klik! Amsterdam Animation Festival.

Among the highlights: the screening of The Congress, sequel of Waltzer with Bashir, a documentary about the bronies,  male fans of My Little Ponies (I am not making this up) and a retrospective on the Fabolous Fifties.

http://www.klikamsterdam.nl/

Fiction or reality (Brighton)

Tuesday - Eindhoven glows in the dark

Appropriately for the city that used to be synonym with Philips, Eindhoven is hosting an artificial illumination open air festival, with installation and performances based on the use and design of light.

GLOW runs till the 16 November.

In brief: ...let there be light!

http://www.gloweindhoven.nl/website/glow/glow.php?gshow=order&eventId=13&Curr=1&action=home&lId=2

Monday - The IKEA's design birthday bash

Raise your hand if you do not have anything in your house originating from IKEA, not even a lamp, a candle or a piece of frozen salmon.

As I thought: no-one.

The Swedish furniture colossus is celebrating its 35th year in The Netherlands with an exhibition at his store in Amsterdam, taking a journey through the design's development of it's most famous pieces.

It started Saturday 9 and will end on the 17 November.

http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/35jaar/35jaar_ikea_tentoonstelling.html?icid=nl|iba|20131104|178

My very own EXPEDIT.

PS: today it's Saint Martin, so you might have kiddies ringing your bell and singing you a little song, in exchange for some sweets.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Martin's_Day

Sunday - The expat databases

I was goggling around looking for my next attempt at craft (proximity to Christmas makes you do that):  was it going to be glass moulding? or medieval tapestry? or haberdashery?, when I came across this useful overview on resources for expats, so you can browse at your heart's content during this lazy Sunday.

http://www.denhaag.nl/en/residents/to/Links-and-resources-for-expats-1.htm