Hello everyone! It’s been months since I last wrote, did you forget about me? No hard feelings of course! It’s hard to find interesting things to talk about when you work from home and keep the same schedule. My Dutch summer days have almost blended into each other and it’s been hard to keep track of the date! But I do come with some updates and a return to this space. I’ve missed it a lot. Safe and not sorry…
Whew, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve written anything! We have first vaccines next week so I hope that life will go back to “normal” soon enough. We’ve had to enjoy the outside from our balcony and dream of going out again… I don’t have much to write about so I took the time for a break to recharge my batteries. And it’s been amazing. I’ve had lots of time to read, kick back and watch some shows I’ve…
It’s not entirely spring for us just yet, but that doesn’t stop the Dutch! If the sun is out, you can bet that everyone will be outside too! Except for Sander, he’s an exception. But for the “typical” Dutch, spring is a time for preparation and celebration. So here is how the Dutch celebrate spring! Wandeling The Dutch and wandeling go hand in hand. If the weather is nice, there’s no better way to soak up the sun than to…
Snow has a romantic feel about it. The way it floats down from the sky and piles up into rolling hills of soft and pillow fluff. We didn’t get to see that the 1st day of our snow storm. In fact, the weather was wild. Snow came down in sheets at nearly horizontal waves. But while the storm itself was a monster, the aftermath was gorgeous. My favorite thing to do is to people watch, so you can bet I…
Winter in The Netherlands isn’t has cold as it used to be. We’ve seen only a few centimeters of snow this year and that’s probably all we’ll get. But as someone who lived in arid Southern California all her life, the Dutch late winters have me on my toes. And I get it. There will always be a colder place to live. But if you’re looking to visit Amsterdam once the chaos is over, this is advice I’d pass on…
Sander and I are quiet people. We enjoy each other’s company which is important now more than ever. To celebrate our Halloween we decided on a plan so that we’d be on the same page. See we have gaming communities that we’re apart of. We both have games to play with friends from after dinner time until bed. But these communities are important for us too. They’ve been a life saver for these lock down times. So we have to…
A summer quarantine was not welcome news. Vacation times, summer holidays, and family reunions… All cancelled. Now summer quarantine isn’t mandatory in The Netherlands. But it is suggested. Sander and I try to be upstanding citizens so we decided to hole up for the summer. And we survived. There a blistering week where so many people went to the beach that the beaches had to close down. People we knew went on vacation while we occupied our couch. We longed…
A passport is an crucial piece of identification. Especially for someone who doesn’t live in their home country. Since I’m not a Dutch citizen, it’s important for me to have my American passport ready and up to date. While I do have a Dutch ID card, it’s not the same as having a passport. So when my passport expired in June, I new I had to take action. We had plans to get it renewed before it expired but everything…
Oh my gosh, we’ve had a heat wave in The Netherlands and it’s been terrible. Housing typically doesn’t come with AC because it’s not meant to get so hot. So we lived through a week of scorching numbers and here we are. It’s been unfortunate because I had a few posts planned. But due to the heat, I couldn’t find the energy to write. I fell behind on emails, reading blogs, and even my art challenge. Lucky for us, the…