Day 197: 3 More Sleeps and Nesting

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After 3 more sleeps, I’ll get to hug S & J again! I can’t believe it’s been more than 6 months since we’ve played together. Luckily they’re bringing their parents too! I can’t believe it’s finally time for them to get here. We’ve been waiting forever!! I’m so excited that they are coming for a long visit, since it’s been waaay tooo long. The hardest part of being an expat is missing family and friends from home.

I’ve been nesting the last few days, getting the house ready and planning fun activities, and thinking about what we’ll eat! I always get a little anxious, even though there is no reason to be – I think it’s just the excitement and anticipation that makes me nervous. The good thing about anxiety, is that it motivates me to dust and vacuum, and hang pictures and actually put the laundry away. The house repair guy came today to hang a kitchen light and fix the patio light too. Wow, I wish company could come every month! Who’s coming next to visit? 😉

Juliana and Charlie and I baked cookies tonight — hopefully there will still be some left and they’ll still be fresh when they arrive.

I borrowed a booster seat from Patti Beth for J, am going to charge up the OV chip cards for each of them, and have the museum cards ready. Jeff and I collected touristy brochures for them to look at and find ideas of what they might want to see and friends have been giving me ideas of fun things for kids to experience in the city. I know for sure we’ll take a canal boat ride, see a museum or two and visit the goat farm and the cheese and clog place. Efteling is also on the list too. What’s your favorite thing to see or do in Amsterdam? What I’m most looking forward to is just sitting on the couch together and hanging out and listening to the kids run up and down the stairs together. And cooking with April and drinking with Steve. Really, it’s the simple things that make me happy.

I wonder what the weather will be like when they arrive. If it’s anything like this week, it’ll be sunny, rainy, gray, hailing, cold, wet, and snowy. Watching the weather change is an event in itself. Just check out the picture collage of the trees out front of our house this week that Juliana created for me – I see Holland and America and all their beauty tied together. Namaste.

6Feb2013

Day 196: A Baby Shower

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Today was a beautiful day. We woke up to a surprise snow fall overnight.

This was our view as we were getting into our van to go to school. I was so thankful that we have a vehicle and don’t have to ride our bikes, like the locals.

After drop off, I was busy getting ready for Amy’s baby shower. In America, we celebrate the upcoming birth of a child by gathering women friends and bringing gifts for the new mom and baby. Food and drinks are served and everyone tends to dress up. Sometimes games are played. The mother-to-be opens her gifts in front of her guests. We had such a great time celebrating her new baby girl who should be joining us very soon. I love celebrating together with women and sharing stories.

We also included some Dutch traditions such as Beschuit and Muesjes that are seved after the baby is born, and Dutch congratulatory banners.

Here are more pictures of our hostess flowers.

After the girl time, it was time to pick up the kids and the weather had changed again! What a gorgeous day.

Hope you have a great afternoon too!

5Feb2013

Day 195: Time Together

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My house is a mess! It looks like a whirling dervish came spinning through in just one day, as yesterday it wasn’t this bad. I was gone all day and when I came home with the kids after school, and actually noticed the clutter and chaos, I started to get short and snippy with the kids, hoping they would magically make it all disappear. Of course my agitation, created their agitation which was counterproductive. So instead, I changed my approach and apologized and offered hugs instead of demands. Then we worked together to make our “castle” a bit more organized again so we could enjoy it. And then we did.

We made dinner together, unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and then had time to play again. We all felt better, although I can’t say the house is spotless, but we’re better than before.

Juliana and I made a small batch of rice Krispy treats in her new heart pan. She loves to bake and I am planning to spend more time with her baking, like we did when she was little.

After dinner, Char and I made time to read together on the couch. We’re reading a traditional Dutch chapter book about the characters Jip and Jannike. I just love their names and their black and white images. After we sat together reading, he wanted to see pictures from home. We looked at old pics from my Facebook account, and re-liked one that made it new again in my photo stream. We then looked at my online photo library. Luckily I’ve categorized a few chapters, but most are just sitting in folders. How do you organize your digital prints? I am so not good at this! We took some selfies to add to my uncategorized collection!

And Christian is now at an age that he’s happy on his own. He finished his homework and then was building his dream stadium using the Sketch Up application on his computer. He wants to be an architect someday, and so hopefully through his play he also learns a few skills. It’ll be cool to watch and see if his path takes him in this direction.

It’s so hard for me to play together at the end of the day, when all I want to do is be done and clean up and relax and write. But today I’m happy that I chose to play. How have you played today??

Namaste.

4Feb2013

Day 194: Friends

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I think when you move to a new place, the most important thing to find is one or two or three good friends as quickly as possible. I’ve learned this from experience over the years, not really knowing that this is what made me truly enjoy each new journey, but now that I reflect on it, this is my new little knowledge nugget.

I’ve also learned that friends serve a purpose and even though we move from place to place, the best of friends easily pick up where they left off the next time they come together. Some friendships naturally serve a limited purpose and the relationships turn into memories without the continuous connection, once the shared time together is gone. That’s natural and ok too.

It took me awhile, but I also learned that it’s possible to have more than one best friend. Even though literally, best is the superlative implying that there is only one, I think I can have more than one, and I’m sticking to it.

If I look back on my life as chapters, I have some friends that have been with me from the beginning, some that have left for good, a few that are Facebook and email connection friends, some that I see once in awhile, and some who I cry with joy when I see them again. And of course there is always the current chapter, filled with friends that help me enjoy my current, day to day life, both here and back home.

There is one friend, Megan, who I guess you could call an expat, although I didn’t call her that. She was just my new friend. She and her husband and four children moved to my neighborhood for a one year sabbatical at Stanford, from Michigan. Her kids went to the same school as mine and I almost ran her over one day. Not literally, but at least I noticed her and introduced myself to her the next time I saw her at school. We laughed and shared stories and connections, and before you knew it, our family and hers and April’s were best friends. We created a strong bond through shared experiences and margaritas, admiration and friendship in that one year, and then she moved back home to Michigan. I never thought I didn’t want to be friends with her, even though I knew she would be moving back. We just enjoyed all the days we could. In a way, I think she prepared me to become an expat too, because she lived life to the fullest while she was on her journey away from her normal routine, and she inspired me.

Before I moved overseas, Megan gave me a pep talk about our upcoming move, and told me how it would bring my family closer together and to make the most of it. She also wished for me that I would meet someone like me in my new town, that would welcome me and make me feel a part of my new community, sharing all that was good about being in my new place, like I did for her. I secretly prayed for the same thing, knowing that sometimes it comes down to luck, and timing and chemistry.

Well her wish and my prayers have come true. I am lucky and blessed. I have made many new friends here in Holland that fill my life with joy. We meet for drinks and meals, study Dutch, visit new places, exercise, shop, share stories and raise our kids together. Who knew that you could make friends where ever you go and that your capacity for friends is never full? I love my friends, both old and new and am so thankful for all of you.

3Feb2013

Day 193: Rainy Day and Homesick

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It was sunny this morning and then the rain came. A typical Holland day. The weather forecast predicts daily rain and cold weather. Thank goodness April and Steve and the girls are coming this week to bring some sunshine to this house, because there is a case of home sickness here today.

Even trying to make rotisserie chickens in our oven for the first time didn’t chase away the blues.

They sure were tasty, although we kept missing our Costco rotisserie chickens! Aren’t they good??

For me, my symptoms we’re caused by missing all the Superbowl buzz!

It’s not that I’m even a huge fan of the Superbowl, it’s just that I love the camaraderie that it brings. I like hearing about the pools, the appetizers people are making, where they are going to watch the game and more importantly, the commercials and half time show! The entire process and experience is so American, and people dress up in their team colors and fly their team flags. People gather for the fun of it and I love it! And being here,we’re missing all of it, and it makes me home sick. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still happy being here, I’m just more aware I’m not there. The same thing happened at Halloween time. Luckily the feeling doesn’t last too long, but it was and is definitely there. There usually is some “medicine” to fix the blues. Tonight my family is already asleep, so that they can wake up at midnight to enjoy the game here. We bought just a little bit of party food to celebrate, even though it won’t be the same as being in the States! Hopefully I’ll get to follow along with people’s Facebook status updates, play by play!

Juliana also has homesickness. She is ready to move back home and is struggling the most with our decision to stay longer than one year here. This surprised me as she was one of the most eager to take on this experience. Right now we are considering staying until the end of 2013 and possibly until next summer. This is hard for her to imagine, as she longs to be back in California. (If anyone has expat kids and has experienced this, I’d love to hear from you.) As she tells me her thoughts, I truly listen and try not to shine over her feelings. She is a very bright girl and her feelings are valid and real. I do not argue with her, yet I listen to and support her and hope that she’ll continue to see the good and not wish this time and experience away too quickly, even though she really misses her friends and the California way of life. It’s hard to look into the future to try and decide what is best for everyone, yet we are doing our best.

Speaking of best, Go Niners!! I’m feeling better now!

2Feb2013

Day 192: Race Planet

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One of the highlights of being an expat is a heightened awareness of time. Our normal routine is not normal anymore and we don’t know how long we will be where we are, so we tend to do more than we would normally do in any given week. We no longer put off what we might do “tomorrow” if we have the opportunity today. And we tend to say yes more often than we say no, which I think is a good thing. We are also spending more time together as a family, which is counterintuitive to me, but I’m not complaining!

Charlie has a friend staying with us this weekend, as his parents are away. I love when couples get time away without kids!! Today the boys asked to go to Race Planet, an indoor warehouse with a go kart racing track, restaurant, arcade games and indoor playground just outside the center of Amsterdam. They had such a good time, and Jeff and I had fun watching them play. Thanks to PB for telling us about it!

Juliana and Christian made it home safely from their international basketball tournament, with their passports in hand. I still can’t believe they go away with their team without us. It’s a great, growing up, right of passage, and I know they love their independence. I think I like it too?!?

This was our view on the way to pick them up from school after the bus dropped them off. I hope you are enjoying your weekend!
-Adriana

2Feb2013

Day 191: Letting Go

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Today Juliana and Christian both went on the bus to Germany with their basketball teams. It’s hard to let them go, but we do. They stay with a host family overnight. It’s a good way for them to practice their independence and being responsible for themselves.

We miss them, so we adopted other kids!