Monday we went first thing with Letty (our relocation agent) to the Town Hall to register and get our Sofi registration numbers (basically like a SSN) so that we can do things like buy a car, open a bank account, GET PAID... you know, the little things. It went quickly, and we should have the paperwork back in about 2 weeks (and yes, I cringed when they said that- it's a reflex at this point).
The next stop was back near the house at Megan's prospective school- the oldest one in the Netherlands. We met with the director of the school and the organizer of what they call the "Special Needs" program (I heard them refer to it as "remedial" at one point and thought what an oddity it was to hear someone speaking of my bright and wonderful kiddo in the same breath as the word "remedial program"). They gave us a brief introduction to the school, the primary school program, and took us over to see the classes in action. To make it short and sweet, Dutch education is very similar to Montessori- the classes are mixed ages (4-6 years for Megan's class) and the big kids help the younger kids along. This seemed perfect for Megan- she would have kids who already knew they were expected to help their classmates, so she wouldn't seem like a burden or "special needs" student in the class. This set me at ease, and the look on Megan's face when she saw the other children and the classrooms had me almost as excited for her first day as she was.
After the tour, they led us back to the office to hand over paperwork and talk about Megan's first day. I left this decision to her, and when asked what day she wanted to start she said, "TOMORROW." I gave no further worry about how she was going to handle her new school.
After wrapping things up at the school, Letty drove us to register at a nice Doctor's office (like an HMO set-up, everything goes through your family physician), and then drove us around town to show us where the important things are located- hospital, police station, athletics center, shopping street, grocery stores... it was nice to see that our little village is well-appointed as well as charming.
Letty then brought us back to the house and helped us muck through a few forms, some paperwork from a few of the service providers (electricity, gas, water, etc.) and then called her daughter-in-law who lives right around the corner. She is in marketing of some kind, and Letty offered to introduce her to me so that I would have another neighborhood contact, which I greatly appreciated.
After Letty left, we all piled in our loaner car and drove out to the airport to pick up our rental. Until we get our Sofi numbers, we are stuck with a rental. Ugh. We grabbed a bite to eat while at the airport, then Kip took the loaner back to work and Megan and I were off on our first adventure in driving in Europe!
Let me say this- having lived and driven in Houston, Europe was no challenge. Sure, the signs are different, but I only was honked at once (for spacing out at a red light, thank you jetlag) and I didn't hit anything or anyone. Megan didn't even seem phased by it.
We drove into Haarlem to go to an Apple store in their big shopping district, and after struggling to find parking, we walked 6 blocks or so, got a power cable for the computer and headed back to the car. Had I done my homework I could have also gotten a charger for my camera- apparently one of the larger camera shops is near the Apple store, but the sales person at Apple said he didn't know of a camera shop when I asked at checkout. Another day- I can't bear dragging Megan around like I had to that day- poor kid looked like she had walked for days once we were finished with our errand.
After getting back to the car (it wasn't towed or booted! yahoo!) we came back to the house and I hopped on the computer while Meg played with the Littlest Pet Shop toys that one of the neighbors loaned us- it is the biggest success, she will play with them for hours at a time. The rest of the evening was just laundry, getting Meg clean and ready for school, oh- and a run to the fry shop for dinner! For having such an unhealthy array of foods available, the Dutch are very slender. I had a hamburger that was pretty good (granted, I'd been here for 4 days, and I do realize it was NO Beck's Prime) and a gob of fries with frite sauce, which I still continue to like a lot, no matter what you all may think of me.
Megan took a while to calm down and finally sleep, but I think first-day-jitters are more to blame for that than jet-lag this time.
PS- I swear photos are coming soon, I burned some battery power last night to upload a few, and am in the process of editing and uploading.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
The Nosers Have Landed
We are ALL here in the Netherlands now- it's finally, really happened! Megan and I are still reeling with jetlag, but the gang is back together, and Kip has never looked happier. I suppose a week all alone in a big empty house can do that to you.
The house is empty, though, even after the 7 suitcases of stuff Megan and I hauled on the plane with us ($600 expense report there) and a trip to Ikea to get something to sleep on that wasn't flat on the ground. The neighbors are very hospitable- one neighbor loaned us a patio table and chairs so we didn't have to sit on the floor to eat, and they and the neighbor on the other side of us loaned Megan a few toys to tide her over until our shipment arrives. This went over very well with Megan. She pondered later that evening, "I wonder who else is going to bring me some presents?" I sadly had to explain that those were loaner toys, not gifts.
(Shqeq is typing with me right now- thank goodqness for all of us she starts school tomorrow3, r44th ygvvyunynyjyjyfy or I think I might string her up by her thumbs.)
Oh, so many stories, and so many I just don't want to re-live. Moving day is something I may have to seek therapy to get over. I may only post references to that day here- it was excruciating. I have never had a panic attack in my life, and I think I had about 14 that single day. I told Kip late that afternoon that I had only cried 20 times since he left, and 18 had been that day. I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it- moving on!
Friday Megan and I only got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane- we were by the window, which meant we were down a seat, so getting comfortable was impossible. I was traveling with my 3 babies: Megan, my new killer camera, and my iMac. Talk about stress- I had to put on this jerk-face air at every checkpoint to get the computer (in it's product box, which was way above the size limit for cary-on baggage, they reminded me about 50 times) ON the plane. It rode in first class, thank goodness. Wish I could have made the same arrangement for Meg and myself. So, all of you family members that bet against the Mac making it on the plane, pay up. :)
Kip picked us up at the airport in Schipol and whisked us home (after we barely managed to get all 700 suitcases in the car) where we unpacked a few things, changed clothes, and took a stroll around our new town. He had made many walks around town in the week he was here alone, and showed us the essentials- bakery, fry shop, pizza place, etc. We grabbed a bite to eat at a cafe over in the shopping district, then headed home and struggled to stay awake past 7pm.
Saturday Megan and I woke up at 7am and struggled to be quiet while Kip caught up on sleep. We managed to find the bakery after we cleaned up, and then we all piled in the car around 10:30 and drove out to Ikea (pronounced ee-KAY-uh in these parts) in Haarlem. Now, I like Ikea, but this particular location radiated awesome at a level that made me dizzy. We're talking ACRES of Ikea. Uh, square kilometers of Ikea. We grabbed a few kitchen essentials and picked out a futon, then managed to squeeze it all into the loaner Audi from Kip's work and trucked it all home. We grabbed a bite to eat while we were there, too, and I don't know if you remember from earlier posts, but Dutch coffee just blows the doors off of American coffee. Even IKEA coffe is better than any Starbucks I've ever been to. It's insane. I downed 2 cups to take the edge off of my jetlag.
We sped home to get the car unloaded so that we could run up to the grocery store- most shops close at 5pm M-Sat, and are not open Sunday. We nabbed some things to tide us over until Monday or Tuesday and headed home to eat dinner and try to stay awake until bedtime. I think I washed dishes for an hour to stay awake. It really was a struggle that day.
Sunday was AWESOME. We slept in until 11am. Lordy did that feel good. We had cereal with some of the best milk I've ever tasted for breakfast. Then, we went to the beach. I am trying to conserve my camera battery, so I don't have any photos to put in these posts right now (no European charger with my camera) but let me assure you- we did NOT swim. It was beautiful and cold, the beach was clean and freckled with bi-valve seashells. We filled our pockets with little treasures, ate dinner at a little cafe on the beach, and then headed back home to unwind and get some rest- Monday was to be a busy day for us.
The house is empty, though, even after the 7 suitcases of stuff Megan and I hauled on the plane with us ($600 expense report there) and a trip to Ikea to get something to sleep on that wasn't flat on the ground. The neighbors are very hospitable- one neighbor loaned us a patio table and chairs so we didn't have to sit on the floor to eat, and they and the neighbor on the other side of us loaned Megan a few toys to tide her over until our shipment arrives. This went over very well with Megan. She pondered later that evening, "I wonder who else is going to bring me some presents?" I sadly had to explain that those were loaner toys, not gifts.
(Shqeq is typing with me right now- thank goodqness for all of us she starts school tomorrow3, r44th ygvvyunynyjyjyfy or I think I might string her up by her thumbs.)
Oh, so many stories, and so many I just don't want to re-live. Moving day is something I may have to seek therapy to get over. I may only post references to that day here- it was excruciating. I have never had a panic attack in my life, and I think I had about 14 that single day. I told Kip late that afternoon that I had only cried 20 times since he left, and 18 had been that day. I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it- moving on!
Friday Megan and I only got about 2 hours of sleep on the plane- we were by the window, which meant we were down a seat, so getting comfortable was impossible. I was traveling with my 3 babies: Megan, my new killer camera, and my iMac. Talk about stress- I had to put on this jerk-face air at every checkpoint to get the computer (in it's product box, which was way above the size limit for cary-on baggage, they reminded me about 50 times) ON the plane. It rode in first class, thank goodness. Wish I could have made the same arrangement for Meg and myself. So, all of you family members that bet against the Mac making it on the plane, pay up. :)
Kip picked us up at the airport in Schipol and whisked us home (after we barely managed to get all 700 suitcases in the car) where we unpacked a few things, changed clothes, and took a stroll around our new town. He had made many walks around town in the week he was here alone, and showed us the essentials- bakery, fry shop, pizza place, etc. We grabbed a bite to eat at a cafe over in the shopping district, then headed home and struggled to stay awake past 7pm.
Saturday Megan and I woke up at 7am and struggled to be quiet while Kip caught up on sleep. We managed to find the bakery after we cleaned up, and then we all piled in the car around 10:30 and drove out to Ikea (pronounced ee-KAY-uh in these parts) in Haarlem. Now, I like Ikea, but this particular location radiated awesome at a level that made me dizzy. We're talking ACRES of Ikea. Uh, square kilometers of Ikea. We grabbed a few kitchen essentials and picked out a futon, then managed to squeeze it all into the loaner Audi from Kip's work and trucked it all home. We grabbed a bite to eat while we were there, too, and I don't know if you remember from earlier posts, but Dutch coffee just blows the doors off of American coffee. Even IKEA coffe is better than any Starbucks I've ever been to. It's insane. I downed 2 cups to take the edge off of my jetlag.
We sped home to get the car unloaded so that we could run up to the grocery store- most shops close at 5pm M-Sat, and are not open Sunday. We nabbed some things to tide us over until Monday or Tuesday and headed home to eat dinner and try to stay awake until bedtime. I think I washed dishes for an hour to stay awake. It really was a struggle that day.
Sunday was AWESOME. We slept in until 11am. Lordy did that feel good. We had cereal with some of the best milk I've ever tasted for breakfast. Then, we went to the beach. I am trying to conserve my camera battery, so I don't have any photos to put in these posts right now (no European charger with my camera) but let me assure you- we did NOT swim. It was beautiful and cold, the beach was clean and freckled with bi-valve seashells. We filled our pockets with little treasures, ate dinner at a little cafe on the beach, and then headed back home to unwind and get some rest- Monday was to be a busy day for us.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
A Tale of Two Cities
Kip is there- he's THERE there! He is living in our Netherland Noser Nest, and Megan and I are still here in Houston, packing, cleaning, freaking out and missing him like crazy. Here's what's been happening over the last 2 weeks and the state of things right now:
The Saturday after we landed, my most wonderful photographer partner in crime, Jayne, and I shot a wedding! It was great fun, very challenging, we learned a lot, and we can't wait for me to move back so we can start doing things like that on a very regular basis. It took me 3 days to recover- 10+ hours of shooting with tons of heavy gear, my shoulder is still a little mad at me!
This last Wednesday night we had a family "Farewell" dinner for Kip at our local Double Dave's Pizza- Karaoke night, which is his favorite. (sarcasm) Megan sang TWICE, once with me and once with Kathryn, and was onstage when Kathryn performed solo. I took photos, but for the love of all things chocolaty, I will not have them up online anytime soon.
Kip flew out Thursday night, after selling one of our 2 cars, he took 2 giant suitcases, his work bag with computer, and just left- Megan's world was completely turned upside-down. Thursday was the hardest day- she cried the entire 25 minute car ride back home from the airport and said things like "My heart is hurting!" and "I can't stop my heart from thumping so fast and hurty" and "The only thing I want in the entire world is for daddy to come back" and "I was so mean to daddy- I am NEVER going to be like that again!" and a million other tear-jerkers. We went home, consoled ourselves with Ben & Jerry, and went to bed way too late.
Kip's flight was mostly uneventful- he said that there was a rowdy drunk they threatened with handcuffs to keep him under control, but other than that it was wonderfully boring and predictable. I'd hoped for nothing more than that!
He went into the office, borrowed the fleet car (we're going to get cars and other stuff once Meg and I are there next week) and dragged his jetlagged self to the house.
Meanwhile, back in the States, Megan and I had a busy Friday- Megan went to the Planetarium with her Auntie Anne, and I cleaned, threw junk away from my bathroom and bedroom, then ran out to the new Houston Outlet center to see if I could find a winter jacket for her, and some new Crocs. (I know- I swear they wear them in the Netherlands, as ugly as they are.) My parents were on their way in to Houston to see us, so they met me there and sprung for some things for me, too- they spoil me, which I totally support and appreciate. I even found a suitcase (with a cool carry-on overnight bag) for $40, so it was a great trip out there. I have been the Queen of Craigslist for the last week, and have been keeping track of and scheduling pick-ups of all sorts of junk we're trying to shed with a small financial recovery. I was up late getting emails sent and things scheduled, but did get to visit with my folks for awhile that night.
Saturday for Kip was a bit frustrating- he drove in to the office for a little while, then headed towards Ikea for some creature comforts, but ended up sitting on the side of the road for TWO HOURS because the car stopped working. (Poor guy- I feel so bad for him, but also a little relieved that it wasn't all 3 of us, I can't imagine that being pretty with a five-year-old: "THIS IS BO-RING! Let's GO, PEOPLE!" I think she may not have survived, what with our combined stress level at the moment.)
After someone came and "rebooted" the car's computer (I still am foggy on the details of that repair technique, but if that's what car repair has come to, I COULD BE A MECHANIC!) he was off to Ikea, which he reported is HUGENORMOUS. He grabbed some things to eat on and with, ice trays, and a few other basics, then headed to our friend Elaine's house for a very international dinner- Elaine and her husband are Irish, and they had their downstairs neighbors (a mixed German and Dutch marriage) up for the evening. He got home around midnight, willing the car to stay alive the entire trip back home.
Over here in the US, I tackled the bags of clothes that plague our garage- my sister is so generous, and every time she cleans out her daughter's closet of outgrown clothes, she sends them our way. We had several bags of hand-me-downs that hadn't been examined in months, some years, and found a couple of jackets (none quite Dutch Winter weight, but will get her by until it gets really cold) and long-sleeved shirts! I got some "don't need now" clothes put in cool vaccuum-shrink bags (these are SO cool) and got 2 giant bags of clothes to the donation box.
We managed to squeak by to my friend Greg's apartment for a pre-screening of a film from the 48 Hour Film Project that I was the photographer for, and had a nice visit with him and a few of the other collaborators from the project, including Kathryn. From there, we all (mom, dad, me, Meg) hit the laundromat to get the pile of linens and comforters cleaned and ready for packing- our washing machine decided to stop spinning clothes the week before we went to the Netherlands for our first visit, so things that I can't personally wring-out before putting in the dryer had piled up considerably. We had a laundromat Subway sandwich dinner, packed my car full with clean linens, and Mom and Dad gave us one last hug and went home. Another hard goodbye- Megan is not taking them well these days. FORTUNATELY, Mom left her pillow and we forgot to give them their souveniers we had picked up on our home finding trip, so we got to steal just a few more minutes with them before they left for home.
We're just not sleeping real hours these days- Megan is up and watching TV, and every time I tell her "Ok, kid- time to brush teeth!" she claims unbearable hunger and gets something more to eat from the kitchen. I can't wait until we are THERE, settled (as much as we can until the rest of our things arrive via slow-boat) and get a normal groove going. No late-night runs to the storage unit, no more strangers in the house looking at furniture, no more tearful goodbyes- just everyday living at it's most boring... maybe then I'll remember to eat and sleep again.
The Saturday after we landed, my most wonderful photographer partner in crime, Jayne, and I shot a wedding! It was great fun, very challenging, we learned a lot, and we can't wait for me to move back so we can start doing things like that on a very regular basis. It took me 3 days to recover- 10+ hours of shooting with tons of heavy gear, my shoulder is still a little mad at me!
This last Wednesday night we had a family "Farewell" dinner for Kip at our local Double Dave's Pizza- Karaoke night, which is his favorite. (sarcasm) Megan sang TWICE, once with me and once with Kathryn, and was onstage when Kathryn performed solo. I took photos, but for the love of all things chocolaty, I will not have them up online anytime soon.
Kip flew out Thursday night, after selling one of our 2 cars, he took 2 giant suitcases, his work bag with computer, and just left- Megan's world was completely turned upside-down. Thursday was the hardest day- she cried the entire 25 minute car ride back home from the airport and said things like "My heart is hurting!" and "I can't stop my heart from thumping so fast and hurty" and "The only thing I want in the entire world is for daddy to come back" and "I was so mean to daddy- I am NEVER going to be like that again!" and a million other tear-jerkers. We went home, consoled ourselves with Ben & Jerry, and went to bed way too late.
Kip's flight was mostly uneventful- he said that there was a rowdy drunk they threatened with handcuffs to keep him under control, but other than that it was wonderfully boring and predictable. I'd hoped for nothing more than that!
He went into the office, borrowed the fleet car (we're going to get cars and other stuff once Meg and I are there next week) and dragged his jetlagged self to the house.
Meanwhile, back in the States, Megan and I had a busy Friday- Megan went to the Planetarium with her Auntie Anne, and I cleaned, threw junk away from my bathroom and bedroom, then ran out to the new Houston Outlet center to see if I could find a winter jacket for her, and some new Crocs. (I know- I swear they wear them in the Netherlands, as ugly as they are.) My parents were on their way in to Houston to see us, so they met me there and sprung for some things for me, too- they spoil me, which I totally support and appreciate. I even found a suitcase (with a cool carry-on overnight bag) for $40, so it was a great trip out there. I have been the Queen of Craigslist for the last week, and have been keeping track of and scheduling pick-ups of all sorts of junk we're trying to shed with a small financial recovery. I was up late getting emails sent and things scheduled, but did get to visit with my folks for awhile that night.
Saturday for Kip was a bit frustrating- he drove in to the office for a little while, then headed towards Ikea for some creature comforts, but ended up sitting on the side of the road for TWO HOURS because the car stopped working. (Poor guy- I feel so bad for him, but also a little relieved that it wasn't all 3 of us, I can't imagine that being pretty with a five-year-old: "THIS IS BO-RING! Let's GO, PEOPLE!" I think she may not have survived, what with our combined stress level at the moment.)
After someone came and "rebooted" the car's computer (I still am foggy on the details of that repair technique, but if that's what car repair has come to, I COULD BE A MECHANIC!) he was off to Ikea, which he reported is HUGENORMOUS. He grabbed some things to eat on and with, ice trays, and a few other basics, then headed to our friend Elaine's house for a very international dinner- Elaine and her husband are Irish, and they had their downstairs neighbors (a mixed German and Dutch marriage) up for the evening. He got home around midnight, willing the car to stay alive the entire trip back home.
Over here in the US, I tackled the bags of clothes that plague our garage- my sister is so generous, and every time she cleans out her daughter's closet of outgrown clothes, she sends them our way. We had several bags of hand-me-downs that hadn't been examined in months, some years, and found a couple of jackets (none quite Dutch Winter weight, but will get her by until it gets really cold) and long-sleeved shirts! I got some "don't need now" clothes put in cool vaccuum-shrink bags (these are SO cool) and got 2 giant bags of clothes to the donation box.
We managed to squeak by to my friend Greg's apartment for a pre-screening of a film from the 48 Hour Film Project that I was the photographer for, and had a nice visit with him and a few of the other collaborators from the project, including Kathryn. From there, we all (mom, dad, me, Meg) hit the laundromat to get the pile of linens and comforters cleaned and ready for packing- our washing machine decided to stop spinning clothes the week before we went to the Netherlands for our first visit, so things that I can't personally wring-out before putting in the dryer had piled up considerably. We had a laundromat Subway sandwich dinner, packed my car full with clean linens, and Mom and Dad gave us one last hug and went home. Another hard goodbye- Megan is not taking them well these days. FORTUNATELY, Mom left her pillow and we forgot to give them their souveniers we had picked up on our home finding trip, so we got to steal just a few more minutes with them before they left for home.
We're just not sleeping real hours these days- Megan is up and watching TV, and every time I tell her "Ok, kid- time to brush teeth!" she claims unbearable hunger and gets something more to eat from the kitchen. I can't wait until we are THERE, settled (as much as we can until the rest of our things arrive via slow-boat) and get a normal groove going. No late-night runs to the storage unit, no more strangers in the house looking at furniture, no more tearful goodbyes- just everyday living at it's most boring... maybe then I'll remember to eat and sleep again.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Looking Like A Done Deal! Nether-Noser-Land Castle Details.
Now that we're back and waiting until our meeting with the moving company on Thursday, I have a few minutes to panic, clean, curse the "Ikea Index" and field questions about the trip. The most common so far is, "Wait- which house did y'all finally pick?" Without further adieu, here is THE House:
Ground Floor
This is the front of the house- it's a row-style 3-story home with a garden in front and in back.
Yep, that's right- #13. With everything else that has gone on, I figured it is good luck at this point!
The front window is large and open, a Dutch tradition. It is customary to keep this window uncovered (it's a Calvinist thing, I think- shows you're not misbehaving) so that your neighbors can peer in, which they would NEVER do, since it is also Dutch custom to protect others' privacy by not peering.
A horrid shot of the front garden. Roses, boxwood, and gobs of things that die from heat exhaustion here in Texas. Things you have only seen Martha Stewart grow on her luxurious estate in Martha's Vinyard or wherever on earth she is.
This is right off the entry room (which without a fisheye lens was impossible to photograph in any way to show more than the doorway), the stairs to the upstairs. Underneath the most shallow part of the stairs is a small storage area, then past is the guest toilet.
Here's the guest toilet- another characteristic of a traditional Dutch home. It is teeny, has a toilet, brush, small trash can, and a tiny sink. Notice the two-option flush; small button for small flush (#1), big button for big flush (I'm sure you can figure this out).
On the right is the living/dining room, a similar layout to our current house. This living room features a fireplace, and the back of the house opens out to the back garden.
The kitchen is very large by Dutch standards, and includes a nice sized fridge/freezer, a 5-burner gas stove, oven and microwave (hidden in the cabinets). Also there is a dishwasher, disguised with a face to match the rest of the cabinetry.
This is the back view of the house (the kitchen is the wood-sided part of the house on the right) and a view of the little gate that connects to the neighbor's yard- Megan is peeking through to say hello to the boys that live next door.
At the top of the stairs on the 2nd (or 1st, depending on your take of things) floor are the bedrooms and the bathroom. Here's the bath- it has both a tub and a shower, and is small, but laid-out very efficiently.
The very first room to the left of the bathroom will most likely be Megan's room- it has a cute fish motif on the walls. She seems pretty fond of it!
The next room to the left is the master bedroom, which is tiny, but has more closet space than our current house.
The last room to the left is SO tiny that I want to use it as a closet. I think it was a nursery for the previous owners.
Up to the top floor is another set of stairs- they have hardware attachments for gates, they are a bit steep and narrow by American standards, but are some of the least frightening stairs we saw in our house hunting.
The top floor is where the laundry machines are located, and there is a lot of room up there, maybe for some sorters or a hanging rack on wheels.
There is a nice-sized bedroom on the top floor, too, which we hope to fill many times during our stay- it has blackout curtains built right into the windows, folks- this is a 4-star accomodation!
That's it! We're in the process of signing the lease today, so we'll have a timeline on our move over in the next few days!
Ground Floor
This is the front of the house- it's a row-style 3-story home with a garden in front and in back.
Yep, that's right- #13. With everything else that has gone on, I figured it is good luck at this point!
The front window is large and open, a Dutch tradition. It is customary to keep this window uncovered (it's a Calvinist thing, I think- shows you're not misbehaving) so that your neighbors can peer in, which they would NEVER do, since it is also Dutch custom to protect others' privacy by not peering.
A horrid shot of the front garden. Roses, boxwood, and gobs of things that die from heat exhaustion here in Texas. Things you have only seen Martha Stewart grow on her luxurious estate in Martha's Vinyard or wherever on earth she is.
This is right off the entry room (which without a fisheye lens was impossible to photograph in any way to show more than the doorway), the stairs to the upstairs. Underneath the most shallow part of the stairs is a small storage area, then past is the guest toilet.
Here's the guest toilet- another characteristic of a traditional Dutch home. It is teeny, has a toilet, brush, small trash can, and a tiny sink. Notice the two-option flush; small button for small flush (#1), big button for big flush (I'm sure you can figure this out).
On the right is the living/dining room, a similar layout to our current house. This living room features a fireplace, and the back of the house opens out to the back garden.
The kitchen is very large by Dutch standards, and includes a nice sized fridge/freezer, a 5-burner gas stove, oven and microwave (hidden in the cabinets). Also there is a dishwasher, disguised with a face to match the rest of the cabinetry.
This is the back view of the house (the kitchen is the wood-sided part of the house on the right) and a view of the little gate that connects to the neighbor's yard- Megan is peeking through to say hello to the boys that live next door.
At the top of the stairs on the 2nd (or 1st, depending on your take of things) floor are the bedrooms and the bathroom. Here's the bath- it has both a tub and a shower, and is small, but laid-out very efficiently.
The very first room to the left of the bathroom will most likely be Megan's room- it has a cute fish motif on the walls. She seems pretty fond of it!
The next room to the left is the master bedroom, which is tiny, but has more closet space than our current house.
The last room to the left is SO tiny that I want to use it as a closet. I think it was a nursery for the previous owners.
Up to the top floor is another set of stairs- they have hardware attachments for gates, they are a bit steep and narrow by American standards, but are some of the least frightening stairs we saw in our house hunting.
The top floor is where the laundry machines are located, and there is a lot of room up there, maybe for some sorters or a hanging rack on wheels.
There is a nice-sized bedroom on the top floor, too, which we hope to fill many times during our stay- it has blackout curtains built right into the windows, folks- this is a 4-star accomodation!
That's it! We're in the process of signing the lease today, so we'll have a timeline on our move over in the next few days!
Monday, August 4, 2008
Jiggity Jig. Jetlag Makes For Bad Parenting.
We're home. It feels a little surreal, almost like the last week didn't happen- Megan is watching Sesame Street and I'm catching up on email and my favorite blogs and online reading. I'm yelling at the dog. I am up to my ears in laundry. There is nothing to cook/eat. What on earth? Wasn't I just in another country YESTERDAY!?!?
The flight was totally uneventful (unless you ask Kip or Megan). Ok, so I dumped an entire cup of water in Megan's lap as she was going to sleep. She had it coming, it was payback for the apple juice bath I got on the way over. And so what if there were thunderstorms all around the Houston area as we came in to land? Turbulence doesn't kill people. Jetlagged parents kill people.
We made the mistake of letting Megan sleep for a little over 2 hours on the plane, though, and she had a hard time getting to sleep last night, and woke up BEFORE 5 AM. I think my least favorite phrases between the hours of 10pm and 8 am are "I'm not sleepy" and "I CAN'T GO BACK TO SLEEEEEP!"
I'm dragging her rear-end out to a park or something today and I'm going to force her to play until it starts to Tropical Storm us back to the car.
Oh, and I'm going to pack or something. (Just in case Kip is reading this.)
The flight was totally uneventful (unless you ask Kip or Megan). Ok, so I dumped an entire cup of water in Megan's lap as she was going to sleep. She had it coming, it was payback for the apple juice bath I got on the way over. And so what if there were thunderstorms all around the Houston area as we came in to land? Turbulence doesn't kill people. Jetlagged parents kill people.
We made the mistake of letting Megan sleep for a little over 2 hours on the plane, though, and she had a hard time getting to sleep last night, and woke up BEFORE 5 AM. I think my least favorite phrases between the hours of 10pm and 8 am are "I'm not sleepy" and "I CAN'T GO BACK TO SLEEEEEP!"
I'm dragging her rear-end out to a park or something today and I'm going to force her to play until it starts to Tropical Storm us back to the car.
Oh, and I'm going to pack or something. (Just in case Kip is reading this.)
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Day 6 - Wrapping Up
We got up EEEAAAARLLLYYY this morning and had breakfast in the Airport with our great friends Scott and Stacey Hutchison- it was great to see them, even for just a short layover (they were flying back to the US from Germany, business trip for Scott with Lockheed Martin). Megan managed to douse herself in hot chocolate, poor kid, but was good humored about it (it was the only dress I packed for her, and she had lamented wearing jeans any more when she realized she was going to have to change, but changed her tune when I reminded her we had one pair of overalls). We headed back to the hotel and I dragged Megan down to the breakfast buffet where she ate a small piece of bacon and one bite of a pancake- this kid is going to starve to death if we don't figure something out quickly.
We went to one of Kip's co-worker's flats in Leiden this afternoon for her son, Daniel's first birthday party. Elaine and her husband are Irish, and the bulk of the folks at the party were, too, and it just made me realize that Irish people are just darned good looking. Plus that accent- it is so graceful and beautiful; I think it lends more to good looks. There were 2 little one-year-olds, they were so different and both so beautiful- big chunky cheeks and baby fat everywhere. The food and company were just lovely, we are so glad to have friends here in the Netherlands.
Oh, and the best thing of all? Elaine's husband shoots Canon. There was another photographer in attendance, a Nikon shooter, and it was nice to see that the rivalry is an international phenomenon. We tried not to make him feel inferior.
After the party we headed straight back to our favorite cafe here in Alsmeer, and our waiter from Megan's Sleeping Dinner greeted us warmly. We had a nice, leisurely dinner and made our way back to the hotel to pack and get to bed early. I can't believe the week is already over- it feels like it was 100 years ago that we were dealing with Anke, and yet at the same time it feels like we just got off the plane yesterday.
The most wonderful thing that could ever possibly have happened today and did?
Megan said, "I don't want to leave the Netherlands. I want to stay here." Suddenly, every nickel of her plane ticket was well spent.
See you in a few days! Holy tuna- WE HAVE TO START PACKING?!?!?
We went to one of Kip's co-worker's flats in Leiden this afternoon for her son, Daniel's first birthday party. Elaine and her husband are Irish, and the bulk of the folks at the party were, too, and it just made me realize that Irish people are just darned good looking. Plus that accent- it is so graceful and beautiful; I think it lends more to good looks. There were 2 little one-year-olds, they were so different and both so beautiful- big chunky cheeks and baby fat everywhere. The food and company were just lovely, we are so glad to have friends here in the Netherlands.
Oh, and the best thing of all? Elaine's husband shoots Canon. There was another photographer in attendance, a Nikon shooter, and it was nice to see that the rivalry is an international phenomenon. We tried not to make him feel inferior.
After the party we headed straight back to our favorite cafe here in Alsmeer, and our waiter from Megan's Sleeping Dinner greeted us warmly. We had a nice, leisurely dinner and made our way back to the hotel to pack and get to bed early. I can't believe the week is already over- it feels like it was 100 years ago that we were dealing with Anke, and yet at the same time it feels like we just got off the plane yesterday.
The most wonderful thing that could ever possibly have happened today and did?
Megan said, "I don't want to leave the Netherlands. I want to stay here." Suddenly, every nickel of her plane ticket was well spent.
See you in a few days! Holy tuna- WE HAVE TO START PACKING?!?!?
Friday, August 1, 2008
Blah blah blog. Days 3-5-ish.
Kip has been HOGGING the computer the last few days. "It's my work computer. That's kind of why we're here, I work here now." WHATEVER. So, since he's been burning the midnight oil, I have been catching up on sleep and finally getting over jetlag. Of course, because it's only 2 more days until we leave.
Oh, and this is totally void of pictures- I am running out of time, so check my Flickr site for shots from our trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karibethn/sets/72157606351342735/
Ok, so on to the good stuff! Day 3, or Wednesday, we hauled around the 'burbs around Amsterdam. We looked at 7 properties, none that I loved more than the "Over the Snooker Hall" flat we had seen in Leiden the day prior. Our relocation agent, Letty, said that her son had a friend who was relocated to another town from Heemstede, which was not far from where the final property we looked at (in Uithoorn) was located, and she drove us past. She said that if we were interested after seeing the neighborhood and the front of the house, she'd make sure we had a realtor to help us the next day.
Let's just say that WE FREAKING LOVED IT. Heemstede is a family village, and on the street where the rent house was, there were kid's toys and bikes in almost every front garden. There is a park at the end of the street, and there is a little garden in the back of the house that has a gate that connects to the neighbor's garden, where 2 little boys live. We told Letty that we would want to see the house as soon as they could get us an appointment, hopefully the next day. She called her office to start working some magic.
There were 2 properties that we had seen that day (one in Amstelveen, the other in Badhoevedorp) that we requested more information on, just for grins (and just in case the Heemstede place didn't work out), and we went back to the hotel, totally drained. We hit the cafe that Megan had had the sleeping dinner the night before, and when we returned to the hotel, this time it was ME that fell into a coma sleep- around 6pm I crashed, and woke up long enough to eat a croissant we had snagged at breakfast for emergency rations, find out that we had an appointment with a real estate agent to see the Heemstede house the next morning at 9:30, and brush teeth, then I was right back to sleep. Yeah, we didn't eat dinner. Not that it meant a lot- we had lunch at 4pm, and Megan barely ate all day. She ate emergency rations- a pear and some croissant (gotta love the hotel buffet, next time I'm bringing a huge purse for ration acquisition) and she and I slept while Kip started working on the BMC Treasury End-Of-Month business.
The next day we got up, did a 10-minute run through the buffet (grabbing rations, of course) and made the 15 minute drive out to Heemstede. The house was beyond wonderful, and I fought like a bandit to not let on that I had died and gone to Dutch House Heaven. Megan was in love, too- one of the bedrooms has fish painted on the walls. We struggled to find anything wrong with the property, and finally decided that there wasn't antyhing (besides that it was unfurnished) that would keep us from making an offer to the owners (renting is decided upon by the owner, and we had to bid against a couple that was looking at the house later the same day). We hoped that the fact that we could rent the property for 2 years would be an advantage over the competetion, and gave the go-ahead to start negotiating with the owners.
After the excitement (well, Kip and I were excited) of potentially finding a house, Kip went to work, and Megan and I went to Kid Wonderland. Linneaushof, to be exact. In America, this park would NEVER exist- 99% of the rides were kid (or parent) powered, and were of the likes that litigious parents had removed from school yards and amusement parks ages ago. It was AWESOME. And, of course, I didn't have my camera. So you're gonna just have to take my word for it- AWESOME. They had one of those GIANT slides where you have to climb 4 flights of stairs to get to the top and slide down on a potato sack. They had kid-powered merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels (one kid or parent had to pedal to get the thing to turn), flying swings, zip-line swings... it was fantastic. Megan and I stayed from 10:30 am until 4:30pm, and left with two priceless things: memories, and our first Dutch friends.
We met a woman and her 2 daughters who live in Hoovddorp, maybe 15 minutes away by bike. They have season passes to Linneaushof, which we will SO have when we come back (3 season passes are less than 100 Euros). Megan and the oldest daughter were born one day apart- Megan on Queen's day (April 30) and Rivka on May 1. They had a blast, and you would never have known that there was a language barrier between them- within an hour, Rivka was copying Megan, saying "BIG SLIDE!" and "I LOVE IT!" and "Come on, guys!" Her mom was so pleased, Rivka didn't speak any english before meeting Megan.
Rivka and her family left, after lots of hugs and kisses between all 3 of the girls, and Meg and I departed about an hour later to catch the bus back to the hotel.
Just a word of advice: Never try to navigate a new public transportation system after playing in the hot sun all day and toting an exhausted and starving 5-year-old around. It took us 2 hours to get back to the hotel. It wasn't unpleasant, it was just long- I am certain that I must have gotten on a bus going the wrong direction at least once, and rode the entire route to get one stop the opposite way.
Anyhow, our exodus over, Meg and I hit the showers, ordered room service, and watched a movie in bed. We were just about asleep when Kip finally got back around 11pm, and fell asleep while he finished the month-end hedge-roll.
So that brings us up to today- Friday! We had a leisurely breakfast, as we had no appointments to run to, and gathered maps and books to decide where to run-off and adventure today. We decided on Madurodam, a miniature-city not far from the Hague. When I say miniature-city, I mean a city built to at most 1/25 size. It was a tourist attraction that would send American kids into huffs of boredom, Megan was enchanted. They also had a SesamStraat exhibit- Megan go to dance with Ernie and Bert, and was completely confused that they were speaking Dutch, but then told us that "They're not real, those are people dressed-up like Ernie and Bert) when we said, "Maybe they only speak Dutch when they visit the Netherlands?" Can't fool that kid.
Kip still had some work to do, so we left the mini-world and returned to the hotel, and decided we would head into Amsterdam for dinner. This is no small feat- parking is a nightmare, so public transportation was our goal, specifically the train. We are so lucky that Megan is easy-going and rolls with what we drag her through. We rolled into the Amsterdam Central Station around 7:30pm.
Our hotel recommended a place about 15 minutes from the station. I can see how, if we were to have taken direct roads, it would have taken 15 minutes to walk to the restaurant. Through the Red Light district. On the Friday of Gay Pride Weekend. We didn't feel like answering that many questions, so we detoured, which lead to many wrong turns, and 40 minutes later we arrived. Bedraggled must have been our fashion statement, because with 5 empty tables, "They were COMPLETELY full" that evening. I left before Megan got a lesson in how sharped-tongued her mother could be when faced with a snotty head waiter.
We meandered around the corner and found an Italian restaurant, and Megan ate pizza! After days and days of nagging her to eat, we were overjoyed to watch her scarf pizza like she was at home.
The evening was anxious- Amsterdam is such a big city, with all the negative trappings of a big city (as well as the advantages, of course, but late in the evening with a small child you focus on keeping her sheltered) and Kip had to block us from a pick-pocket, we saw said pick-pocket fail and get caught, and get kicked in the back by his target, and then got to sit through the evader's tongue-lashing he gave to the pick-pocket. Thank GOD it was all in Dutch, and the clearest word was something like "STEALER!" Ahh, city life.
I will post again in the next few days, and will make an entire post about the house, I swear- but before then, we will be back home Sunday!
Oh, and this is totally void of pictures- I am running out of time, so check my Flickr site for shots from our trip:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/karibethn/sets/72157606351342735/
Ok, so on to the good stuff! Day 3, or Wednesday, we hauled around the 'burbs around Amsterdam. We looked at 7 properties, none that I loved more than the "Over the Snooker Hall" flat we had seen in Leiden the day prior. Our relocation agent, Letty, said that her son had a friend who was relocated to another town from Heemstede, which was not far from where the final property we looked at (in Uithoorn) was located, and she drove us past. She said that if we were interested after seeing the neighborhood and the front of the house, she'd make sure we had a realtor to help us the next day.
Let's just say that WE FREAKING LOVED IT. Heemstede is a family village, and on the street where the rent house was, there were kid's toys and bikes in almost every front garden. There is a park at the end of the street, and there is a little garden in the back of the house that has a gate that connects to the neighbor's garden, where 2 little boys live. We told Letty that we would want to see the house as soon as they could get us an appointment, hopefully the next day. She called her office to start working some magic.
There were 2 properties that we had seen that day (one in Amstelveen, the other in Badhoevedorp) that we requested more information on, just for grins (and just in case the Heemstede place didn't work out), and we went back to the hotel, totally drained. We hit the cafe that Megan had had the sleeping dinner the night before, and when we returned to the hotel, this time it was ME that fell into a coma sleep- around 6pm I crashed, and woke up long enough to eat a croissant we had snagged at breakfast for emergency rations, find out that we had an appointment with a real estate agent to see the Heemstede house the next morning at 9:30, and brush teeth, then I was right back to sleep. Yeah, we didn't eat dinner. Not that it meant a lot- we had lunch at 4pm, and Megan barely ate all day. She ate emergency rations- a pear and some croissant (gotta love the hotel buffet, next time I'm bringing a huge purse for ration acquisition) and she and I slept while Kip started working on the BMC Treasury End-Of-Month business.
The next day we got up, did a 10-minute run through the buffet (grabbing rations, of course) and made the 15 minute drive out to Heemstede. The house was beyond wonderful, and I fought like a bandit to not let on that I had died and gone to Dutch House Heaven. Megan was in love, too- one of the bedrooms has fish painted on the walls. We struggled to find anything wrong with the property, and finally decided that there wasn't antyhing (besides that it was unfurnished) that would keep us from making an offer to the owners (renting is decided upon by the owner, and we had to bid against a couple that was looking at the house later the same day). We hoped that the fact that we could rent the property for 2 years would be an advantage over the competetion, and gave the go-ahead to start negotiating with the owners.
After the excitement (well, Kip and I were excited) of potentially finding a house, Kip went to work, and Megan and I went to Kid Wonderland. Linneaushof, to be exact. In America, this park would NEVER exist- 99% of the rides were kid (or parent) powered, and were of the likes that litigious parents had removed from school yards and amusement parks ages ago. It was AWESOME. And, of course, I didn't have my camera. So you're gonna just have to take my word for it- AWESOME. They had one of those GIANT slides where you have to climb 4 flights of stairs to get to the top and slide down on a potato sack. They had kid-powered merry-go-rounds, ferris wheels (one kid or parent had to pedal to get the thing to turn), flying swings, zip-line swings... it was fantastic. Megan and I stayed from 10:30 am until 4:30pm, and left with two priceless things: memories, and our first Dutch friends.
We met a woman and her 2 daughters who live in Hoovddorp, maybe 15 minutes away by bike. They have season passes to Linneaushof, which we will SO have when we come back (3 season passes are less than 100 Euros). Megan and the oldest daughter were born one day apart- Megan on Queen's day (April 30) and Rivka on May 1. They had a blast, and you would never have known that there was a language barrier between them- within an hour, Rivka was copying Megan, saying "BIG SLIDE!" and "I LOVE IT!" and "Come on, guys!" Her mom was so pleased, Rivka didn't speak any english before meeting Megan.
Rivka and her family left, after lots of hugs and kisses between all 3 of the girls, and Meg and I departed about an hour later to catch the bus back to the hotel.
Just a word of advice: Never try to navigate a new public transportation system after playing in the hot sun all day and toting an exhausted and starving 5-year-old around. It took us 2 hours to get back to the hotel. It wasn't unpleasant, it was just long- I am certain that I must have gotten on a bus going the wrong direction at least once, and rode the entire route to get one stop the opposite way.
Anyhow, our exodus over, Meg and I hit the showers, ordered room service, and watched a movie in bed. We were just about asleep when Kip finally got back around 11pm, and fell asleep while he finished the month-end hedge-roll.
So that brings us up to today- Friday! We had a leisurely breakfast, as we had no appointments to run to, and gathered maps and books to decide where to run-off and adventure today. We decided on Madurodam, a miniature-city not far from the Hague. When I say miniature-city, I mean a city built to at most 1/25 size. It was a tourist attraction that would send American kids into huffs of boredom, Megan was enchanted. They also had a SesamStraat exhibit- Megan go to dance with Ernie and Bert, and was completely confused that they were speaking Dutch, but then told us that "They're not real, those are people dressed-up like Ernie and Bert) when we said, "Maybe they only speak Dutch when they visit the Netherlands?" Can't fool that kid.
Kip still had some work to do, so we left the mini-world and returned to the hotel, and decided we would head into Amsterdam for dinner. This is no small feat- parking is a nightmare, so public transportation was our goal, specifically the train. We are so lucky that Megan is easy-going and rolls with what we drag her through. We rolled into the Amsterdam Central Station around 7:30pm.
Our hotel recommended a place about 15 minutes from the station. I can see how, if we were to have taken direct roads, it would have taken 15 minutes to walk to the restaurant. Through the Red Light district. On the Friday of Gay Pride Weekend. We didn't feel like answering that many questions, so we detoured, which lead to many wrong turns, and 40 minutes later we arrived. Bedraggled must have been our fashion statement, because with 5 empty tables, "They were COMPLETELY full" that evening. I left before Megan got a lesson in how sharped-tongued her mother could be when faced with a snotty head waiter.
We meandered around the corner and found an Italian restaurant, and Megan ate pizza! After days and days of nagging her to eat, we were overjoyed to watch her scarf pizza like she was at home.
The evening was anxious- Amsterdam is such a big city, with all the negative trappings of a big city (as well as the advantages, of course, but late in the evening with a small child you focus on keeping her sheltered) and Kip had to block us from a pick-pocket, we saw said pick-pocket fail and get caught, and get kicked in the back by his target, and then got to sit through the evader's tongue-lashing he gave to the pick-pocket. Thank GOD it was all in Dutch, and the clearest word was something like "STEALER!" Ahh, city life.
I will post again in the next few days, and will make an entire post about the house, I swear- but before then, we will be back home Sunday!
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