Being an expat is a strange thing – it’s a weird sort of identity. I have friends and family back home whom I share deep connections with, and I have new friends that I’m making that take time for relationships to grow. I need time for both. Today while at the school playground, I called back home to my parents and chatted with them because the time was right – it was 4 pm here and 7 am there. I was waving to my new friends walking by and connecting with my family back home. It all works.

I feel like a tourist that is on vacation, yet I still have responsibilities and a household and schedules to manage.  I want to go out and see everything and take it all in, and I do, and then I feel so overwhelmingly tired. Duh – I have this steep learning curve and everything takes so much longer to think about and do, that no wonder I’m tired. Duh. Still having a blast, though, and wouldn’t change a thing, but it definitely takes some work.

Here’s an example of becoming a local that was a challenge today. I found some women to play tennis with and they told me of this tournament that is coming up and that I should sign up. Basically, it’s doubles play that goes from September through March – the winter months, and is played indoors on Fridays. So I found a partner, figured out what level I think we should play at, signed up, and received a welcome letter – in Dutch. I don’t read Dutch (yet). So I copied and pasted the letter into Google translate, to make sense of what it said, and then I could basically understand. Granted, word for word translation wasn’t perfect, but I got the hang of it.  From the letter, it told me to visit a website and to perform step 1 and step 2. But Step 1 and Step 2 didn’t exist on the website. So I had to spend a bit more time to poke around to search and find the right content. Eventually I found what I needed. But then I had to spend more time to figure out what it was trying to say. Basically, it was a schedule for the season, but the details read from right to left. And the times were all different, and what they told me as to which days we would be playing was different on the schedule. Eventually I was able to figure it all out and update my calendar. My point is that this simple task, was actually quite complicated and probably took 30 minutes to figure out. But now that it makes sense, I’m excited to start playing my first tournament play in Holland next week! And really – that’s all I can complain about?? I mean, really!

And here’s an example of fitting in with the locals, that just makes me smile. I had coffee with Birgitta today. She is my new friend, who lives in Amstelveen, and raised a family here. I loved being invited to her house to sit together for an hour and to just sit and chat and share stories. We talked about weddings and marriage, and children and caring for them even in college, and family, and being Gemini’s. We shared stories of vacations and settling in and my parents plans to come for a visit, and talked about when we might meet again. I can’t wait!  This felt so normal to me and I just loved her company and that she took time out of her busy day to hang out with me! So cool and I’m thankful.

One more thought about the Local process here. Stores close early. And when they say 6 pm, that means the lights in the stores are basically out by 6 pm. So if you’re in the store, like we were at 5:45, they are sweeping over your feet to get around you, and lights are dimming, and sign boards are being moved in. The doors/gates start coming down a few minutes before 6 pm and they want you out of there. Don’t even think of getting in, with 5 minutes to spare. We tried that the other night at Vondelpark, when trying to get one last order of bitterballen before we left, and there was no way they’d serve us. They said the kitchen was closed at 5:55, even if we had money. So we better get used to it and plan better. And get home, to spend time as a family. Hmm… I think I like this too.

I like living here and feeling at home. And I like that I have a home to return to someday. I am enjoying the journey and the place we’re out – feeling all the differences and similarities and enjoying the learning process. Life is good.