# Poor vegan architect changing career needs your support



## alex_le_renar (Feb 21, 2011)

Hello lovely HC members!

I have been off line for quite sometime, but that is only because major life changes have taken place.
The one thing that remains stable in my life, is that Marquis De Sade is as healthy as ever. He moved with me in my new house and of course my housemate fell in love with him 
I actually get coffees, teas and smoothies from her, so she has an excuse to come in my room and pet him 

Other than that, I became vegan and have been for six months now, I graduated from my second master's course in July, I found out that this is really a hopeless time for architects in Europe and I decided to pursue my real passion and work as a freelance writer and designer.
I am taking all kinds of risks, not speaking Dutch and registering with the Dutch tax authorities, to be legal. I have no clue what all those papers that I am signing say, but oh well...

So if you could support a poor and struggling artist and go like my facebook page and check out my site, it would be lovely!

Thank you in advance 

https://www.facebook.com/AlexiasWriting ... _new_likes


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Sounds like a lot of interesting changes! It is a hopeless time for architects, I know... I have friends who study/studied architecture or related studies and it's hard to find a job at the moment.
Btw, your hedgehog has an awesome name 

If you need any help with something, I'm Dutch


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## zorropirate (Aug 13, 2010)

Congrats on following your heart! 

Major life changes for the positive are always a good choice. I'm a vegetarian civil engineer, (so more math and less emphasis on aesthetical design).

In Canada most architects end up in project management in construction, which is where I landed too, not something I'd say I am passionate about, but it pays the bills. I hope one day I can afford to pay my bills with my sewing, as I do love that.


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## LarryT (May 12, 2009)

I liked your page!


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## alex_le_renar (Feb 21, 2011)

Larry, thank you!!!
Zorropirate, my dad was really proud that even though I am a girl, I managed to be recognized as an engineer in two countries (not sexist at all, right ?? ). I do not feel like an engineer though, and I am glad that with souch a bad situation for architect, there is no dilemma on following my heart or not 
Draenog, gezellig!  I need tons of things, but I shall not bother you with those (except if you have experience with invoices and freelancing, in which case you just put yourself in trouble ). You see, I registered immediately at KVK and Belastingdienst, right after I got my first client, so now I have all sorts of paperwork and invoices to fill. I have never done that in my mother tongue. Imagine how horrified I am to do it in Dutch! I was told that there is a service in Den Haag that gives legal advice for free and I was thinking to pop by, mainly to check if US and Australian clients need to pay VAT.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Not much experience with those things, but I know the paperwork is a pain in the ass :shock: it takes so much time and usually the government doesn't make it much easier for you. Good luck!


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## alex_le_renar (Feb 21, 2011)

Hi Draenog 
Thanks, I think I will need all the luck I can get 
Your tumblrs are pretty awesome by the way! I really like them.


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

alex_le_renar said:


> Hi Draenog
> Thanks, I think I will need all the luck I can get
> Your tumblrs are pretty awesome by the way! I really like them.


Thank you!


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## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

wow...another ducth Hedgie in the country!!
yuu uhhuuuuh.
...imagine I thought we were the only crazy couple in The Netherlands to get a pet hedgehog!!! :lol:


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Lussy said:


> wow...another ducth Hedgie in the country!!
> yuu uhhuuuuh.
> ...imagine I thought we were the only crazy couple in The Netherlands to get a pet hedgehog!!! :lol:


There's a Dutch hedgehog forum as well.
http://egelforum.phpbb3.nl/index.php


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## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

wow...didn't know about that!!
bedankt! ;-)


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Lussy said:


> wow...didn't know about that!!
> bedankt! ;-)


It's not that big/busy since there aren't many hedgehog owners here, but it's fun and it can be handy if you need to know/find something for hedgehogs in our country, others might know where to find it


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## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

yeah, I was also wondering how many pet hedgehogs owners there could ever be in the netherlands!
I think we are increasing but still a pretty much minority compared to dogs, cats and hamsters!!


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Lussy said:


> yeah, I was also wondering how many pet hedgehogs owners there could ever be in the netherlands!
> I think we are increasing but still a pretty much minority compared to dogs, cats and hamsters!!


I have no clue how many there are, but it's not much... With the new law for pets coming next January (I believe) it's not even sure if they will stay legal.


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## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

eh? uh? what new law?
tell me more about it, plz! :?


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Lussy said:


> eh? uh? what new law?
> tell me more about it, plz! :?


They are revising the current laws and making a "positieflijst" for mammals. All the animals on the list are legal, animals that aren't on it are illegal. So it could well be hedgehogs are not going to be on that list... there's not much known about it yet... But it's just really stupid because they looked at how the animals are being kept etc, if it's natural but if they really follow that outcome you can't even keep a dog - if you're going to play by that rule well, a family can't care for a dog, animals that live in packs and need a lot of space. But I'm pretty sure that if they are not going to put dogs on that list, everyone will be extremely angry so they'll probably put them on it anyway since almost everyone has a dog. It's just stupid.

Here's a page about it (in Dutch but you could Google translate it)
http://www.antwoordvoorbedrijven.nl/wet ... els-dieren
And here the part about the "positieflijst"
http://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten- ... ieren.html


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## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

I utterly agree with you.
and concerning de egeltjes, here we are not keeping the wild ones away from ther natural habitat
but we are handling african pigmy hedgehogs that would die if we freed them!
of course they most probably would need more space to dig and roam around, but I wouldn't fear a 
police inpsection to show them that our pet hedgehog is fully loved and well-treated...no 
healthy problems at all, so far!
anyway, what do you think the consequences would be in case hedgehogs couldn't make it on the 
right list?
would we have to hide them as it was for Anna Frank from the Nazi's???


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

Keeping wild hedgehogs is already illegal, it doesn't matter these are being bred as pets. Gerbils or chinchilla's or hamsters or other animals could become illegal as well, even animals that are being kept as pets for a long time and are more common. 
They can't just take them away from you of course, so I guess you just can't breed or sell them any more. It could also be you'll need a permit in the future, or they just stay legal... I hope so.


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## Lussy (Feb 3, 2012)

yep, of course I know the laws about the wild hedgehogs...I believe it's the same all over
Europe!
maybe you r right...the only difference is gonna be that nobody could ever breed them anymore.
well...let's stay in touch then....sure till June/july 2013 I have to stay in the Netherlands..
then I'll see if I move back to my sunnier but economically-speaking more desperate Italy!


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## Draenog (Feb 27, 2012)

About the wild hogs, I believe it's for the whole of Europe indeed. Are African pygmy's legal in Italy? 

For the people who already have a hedgehog it will stay the same - I suppose! - you can keep your hog, but you can neither buy, sell nor breed, so you can't get more hedgehogs. That's usually how it goes, it was the same for Belgium when there was a loophole in the law for a short while.


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