14 November 2014

The pakjes boat

In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas) comes on a steamboat (from Spain). If I remember correctly, he should be arriving in a harbour in the Netherlands this weekend.

The boat on which he arrives is full of presents. As these presents are usually all wrapped (packed) up, they are called pakjes. The boat is thus sometimes called the pakjesboot (at least, by children)

As interesting as this Dutch trivia is, you might still be wondering what its relevance to my life really is. It's a little too relevant, to be honest.

The pakjesboot is the word Matthijs and I have been using to describe our shipment of stuff out of the Netherlands.

Just like Sinterklaas, our stuff should be arriving in the harbour sometime soon (perhaps even this weekend). The United States customs want to spend some time with it before it can be brought inland, and this country is a bit larger than the Netherlands, so it'll be a couple of weeks before we get it, even after it comes into harbour.

If all goes well, we should be getting our stuff around 5-6 December, the same day that most folks in the Netherlands will be celebrating Sinterklaas.

As much as it's been a tad bit annoying to wait this long, it does have a bright side: As I haven't seen any of this stuff since the beginning of August, it will feel like I'm getting 6 cubic meters of presents for Sinterklaas.this year. And I already know that I'll like it :)

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