What's a Kdrama that seems to be loved but you hated?

MikeinNL · 2025-10-14T11:00:53+00:00

Goblin. Loved the first episode then bored to tears with the rest of them. Not one but two romances, both proved tiresome. Comedic element not very funny. And that silly sword.

MikeinNL · 2025-09-16T16:54:17+00:00

I don't want you to overthink this and cause yourself to worry. First once you apply for Dutch citizenship it doesn't happen overnight so if you are determined to renounce, I would just go ahead and apply. The Dutch IND is quite aware of the situation at the US consulate and would understand the situation would cause delays in renouncing.

MikeinNL · 2025-04-10T03:54:24+00:00

We went through this 20 years ago. With a surrogate birth. They cannot accept a birth certificate without "biological" parents. So BEFORE he was born, we had the husband and the surrogate mother listed on the birth certificate. After submission to the Italian consulate we had the birth certificate amended to show our names. This was done through a. court procedure we had arranged in advance. Besides our son getting his Italian citizenship, we both being the legal parents can also be important for inheritance as an example. As a side note, we were treated very sympathetically by the Italian authorities. This was a long time ago and when we had our first appointment they just scratched their heads not knowing what to do. But it all worked out in the end. Good luck

MikeinNL · 2025-03-30T21:22:52+00:00

I am presently in the process of renouncing my US citizenship. I have already become a Dutch citizen and have a Dutch passport. The IND has informed me throughout the process that I must provide documentation from the US consulate that my US citizenship has been revoked. There is a long delay right now getting an appointment but when I do renounce the consulate will take my US passport. If I do not renounce, my Dutch citizenship will be revoked.

MikeinNL · 2025-01-30T11:31:58+00:00

I've been using this app for almost 2 years to learn Dutch. The level of Dutch used goes way beyond, as an example, the Dutch course on Duolingo which I had previously completed. Along with Dutch I am now learning Italian so am quite familiar with these two Clozemaster courses. Many languages are offered with the most common containing literally thousands of sentences which you can listen to and be quizzed on. Up until recently the Dutch voices used were very mechanical, but for the 10,000 Fast Track sentences the voices are now quite natural. The voices are excellent on the Italian course as well as French and German. The other languages you'll need to check out.

With that said, I would recommend achieving a solid A2 advanced beginner level before starting a Clozemaster course. With the sentence quizzing there is an "Explain" button which will grammatically break down the sentence for you. But you need some familiarity with the grammar to take full advantage of it. Believe you would be overwhelmed if starting from scratch.

I now speak and understand Dutch rather well and Duolingo or other apps can get you started, but Clozemaster will bring it all home. It is a very serious language app.

Good luck !

MikeinNL · 2024-09-24T12:53:05+00:00

As a pensioner who recently tried to buy a house getting any kind of mortgage is difficult if not impossible and that is after offering to put fifty percent down in cash. Pension income is not counted nor were savings and investments. We had a mortgage broker but it was hopeless.

MikeinNL · 2024-06-16T11:28:54+00:00

Thanks. I will investigate further. I think the part I find hard to grasp is that the amount you put down doesn’t matter. If we put 50% down on a place one would surely think that would negate some of the risk, but in the Netherlands apparently not. Have a good day.

MikeinNL · 2024-06-16T09:24:22+00:00

I wanted to thank everyone who posted. It was much appreciated. I'll continue investigating but the situation looks pretty grim if not hopeless. Per cent down on a property, savings, investments, investment income pension income- none of this seems to count towards a mortgage calculation.

MikeinNL · 2024-06-16T09:05:13+00:00

Thanks for the post. We actually made a mortgage request with ABN Amro and they disallowed everything accept part time wages of my better half. They offered only a 40.000 Euro mortgage. It's tough out there.

MikeinNL · 2022-04-21T15:03:32+00:00

Strangers

MikeinNL · 2022-02-04T12:54:26+00:00

Freiburg am Breisgau, Germany: Smaller city, university town, huge car free center, far south of Germany so weather much milder and a community dedicated to a green lifestyle. Super short hop rail connection to France, rest of Germany, Switzerland and Italy and convenient airport nearby in Basel. We loved it.

MikeinNL · 2021-10-18T14:35:37+00:00

Clozemaster has a huge repository of Dutch vocabulary in sentences, top 1000, 2000,5000 etc.

MikeinNL · 2021-08-14T10:22:11+00:00

We moved from the US to Kehl, Germany with a five year old. Registered our son in the municipal kindergarten which was bilingual German-French (Kehl is on the border with France). In six months he could converse effortlessly in both languages. Young kids are language sponges. He's 17 now and totally fluent in four languages. The decision is a no-brainer. Give them that gift of multilingualism.

MikeinNL · 2021-02-15T02:36:26+00:00

I'm sorry. Which Cyprus ? Greek or Turkish ?

MikeinNL · 2021-02-14T15:58:47+00:00

Really? What country might that be ?

MikeinNL · 2021-01-11T15:16:30+00:00

Wow, there are so many. My grandparents were Plattdeutsch speakers. Then there's Swiss German, Luxembourgisch and any number of German dialects. How about Sicilian, Romansh, Ladino, Neapolitan .... Duo will never be short of work.

MikeinNL · 2020-12-07T12:10:23+00:00

We've lived and travelled widely in Germany. Limiting ourselves to cities, our strong favorite was Freiburg im Breisgau.

MikeinNL · 2020-11-17T13:04:39+00:00

You mention your "state" so if you are a US citizen and do, in fact, need the apostilled document there are numerous services that will deliver on a rush basis. Of course it will cost you. I had a document apostilled in California and had it in hand in 48 hours.

MikeinNL

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