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Category: expat life
March 27, 2006
Gimmie Green Gas
Man, gas is expensive here. I just filled up my car and and cost me €70 ($84 USD). I was interested in seeing what the actual breakdown of the various costs are in the price of gas. To no surprise, a great majority of European gas prices are made up of taxes. I found a great graphic from Shell that breaks down the price of the gas prices. I've summarized the costs that go into a €1.36/liter (€5.44/gallon) of gas here in the Netherlands, which happens to be the 8th most expensive gas price in the world.
€1.36/liter € 0.22 - Value Added Tax € 0.67 - Additional Tax € 0.015 - Profit € 0.12 - Distribution and Marketing € 0.34 - Product Price 65% = Total Tax 8% = Distribution and Marketing 25% = Crude Oil 1% = ProfitAs compared to the breakdown of the gas price in the United States ( from the Energy Information Administration ),
$1.85/gallon $0.22 - Distribution and Marketing Costs and Profits $0.26 - Refining Costs $0.52 - Federal and State Taxes $0.85 - Crude Oil 28% - Federal and State Taxes 14% - Refining Costs and Profits 46% - Crude Oil 12% - Distribution and Marketing Costs and Profits
January 21, 2006
Small Joys of Life
Sometimes the small stuff in life makes everything worth while. Nensi and I spent the evening in a sweet design hotel in Dordrecht to mark five years of being hitched. Great place. Great dinner. Great night. We woke up in the morning and totally forgot about paying for parking. Paid parking starts at 0900. We realized this at 1230. I ran down to the car expecting to see a big fat parking ticket or even worse a boot. I turned the corner onto the street where the car was parked. The skies parted, the angels sang - nothing. What a treat ! Made my week.
December 21, 2005
Lost in Translation
[ click to enlarge ]
Sometimes translations are a crack up. You get yourself into trouble when you start doing it word for word. The image (click to enlarge)on the left shows the highlighted option 4 on the Samsung phone Short Cut in English, meaning a way to get to menus in a more direct manner. The direct Serbian translation on the right for option 4 is Short Hair . . .
December 20, 2005
Expat Weirdness
I'm an expatriate, an expat. I've voluntarily chosen to leave my home country to live and work abroad, according to Dictionary.com. I moved to Europe almost 7 years ago. The more I live away from the States the more I feel this disconnect with life there. Logic would tell you that if you disconnect from one place you should connect to another. Nope . . .
December 5, 2005
Sinterklaas
It's December 5th and in Holland that means its time for Sinterklaas. The kids go to bed on the eve of December 5 with the hope of waking up to lots of great presents that Sinterklass has placed in their shoes. The Dutch are as crazy about Sinterklaas as are the Americans are about Christmas. It really is as much of a consumer holiday as Christmas in America. This weekend was insane in Amsterdam as everyone was trying to get that last minute purchase in. I just read in the Dutch newpaper, the Volkskrant, that it was a record spending weekend. The period between 1530 and 1600 was the busiest. Apparently there was an average of 290 pin (debit card) transactions per second. Man. I thought the Americans were bad. God bless capitalism.
November 24, 2005
Thanksgiving 2005
I've been in Europe far too long. It's midday on the last Thursday of November and I just realized it's Thanksgiving. Man, I'm depressed. What I wouldn't give for a plate of turkey and some mashed potatos with gravy. Oh yeah, and the lethargy of the afternoon on the couch watching the NFL. Instead, it's a turkey sandwich and an afternoon full of meetings.
November 17, 2005
Header
The new title header is a train ticket from Amsterdam to Rijswijk (near The Hague) roundtrip !
September 29, 2005
Dutch Drivers
The Dutch Minisry of Travel has confirmed my concerns regarding the fact that Dutch drivers are far too aggresive. It's the strangest thing, I'm not an aggresive driver but as you enter the flow of traffic on the roads here you are forced to be aggressive. The traffic lights are timed very short on green. This makes you very anxious and willing to do what ever it takes to get through the light for the 3 seconds its green. On the highway if you don't keep the distance between you and the car in front of you to a minimum people wedge themselves in. It's annoying and dangerous. They have started a campaign I Love Traffic Rules. It features big boobed women with shirts on that say "I heart [love] to give way to cyclists from the right".
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Gimmie Green Gas
Small Joys of Life
Lost in Translation
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Sinterklaas
Thanksgiving 2005
Header
Dutch Drivers
Gimmie Green Gas
Small Joys of Life
Lost in Translation
Expat Weirdness
Sinterklaas
Thanksgiving 2005
Header
Dutch Drivers
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