One of the things we used to sell our daughter on making the move to The Netherlands was the proximity to other places in Europe and the number of places we could see easily on a weekend or a long weekend. This past week, my husband was in Houston for the first time since we … More Weekend in Paris
The perception is that the Dutch are big cyclists. In fact, the country is home to three times as many bikes as it does people. Many households don’t own a car, and for those who do own cars, it is VERY rare to see two car families. Here are some pictures from our daughter’s school … More Getting Around
Growing up in Canada, I am familiar with the socialized health care model. Everyone has access to care, but the waits CAN be long and you won’t likely get to choose your specialist or service location. When I moved to the U.S., it was a process to learn about their private sector health care model. … More Dutch Health Care 101
Just less than two months after we packed up and left Houston, our air shipment has arrived. The anticipation feels a bit like Christmas morning. With our game of packing roulette, we were not quite sure what might arrive and what might not, so it really was like Christmas morning opening up some of our … More It’s Like Christmas Morning
Lots of updates to share, but we are busy getting our paperwork submitted today. Stay tuned…
After months of preparation, it’s moving week. We have decluttered, donated and gifted so much and there is still so much left to ship or store. We are very fortunate that our relocation package included movers (who also do all the packing), air freight, sea freight, and storage. We decided at the outset that we … More On the Move…
One of the first things we discussed when we considered moving to The Netherlands was could our precious rescue poodle Maggie join us. Thankfully the answer was yes and the government laid out a pretty clear plan on how to do it. Because we are moving from the U.S., we have to comply with the … More No mom, I don’t want to fly as cargo – pet transport
In 1969, Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross published what would become “the” book on processing grief – On Death and Dying. Since then, her original five stages have been revised to seven stages, and applied not just to grief associated with death, but other situations you encounter in life. Shock Denial Anger Bargaining Depression Testing Acceptance As … More 7 Stages of Grief
This weekend my husband went to pick up some furniture that we bought from a soon-to-be departing expat. So now we have two beds – the most important piece of furniture. The master bed was actually part of a whole set including two bedside tables and a wardrobe. But then we were struck with the … More Curse of the Dutch Staircase
Red, White and Tulips 