moving on.....

Apologies for a lack in blogging recently!  Things have been busy behind the scenes, and here's why.....

We are packing our bags and moving to Portland, Oregon, USA - in 18 days!

You may remember back in January when we visited Singapore, wondering if that country would be our new home.  What an adventure that would have been.  But as things turned out, Singapore was not meant to be.... and then Portland popped up again! 

So, this is not a last minute kind of move!  We've been going through the usual negotiations and planning for months now, but as always in these kind of moves, weeks can go by with complete radio silence, and that it all picks up again and before you know it moving day has arrived!

Excitement is building. We are moving back to the city we lived in from 2004-2006.  A place we loved.  The pre-move visit was done in October - searching for the right school for the kiddos, looking a potential new homes.  Getting to feel excited once again.  Visiting old favourite places.  Meeting up with great friends we hadn't seen in years.  The trip really cemented our feelings that we could without doubt live in such a great place again.

image via Shop Sweet LuLu

And so this week the goodbye parties start (as well as Luca's birthday and Sinterklaas to celebrate).  And of course the sorting out, preparing etc continues at a pace (which probably needs to be picked up a bit now!).  Add to that lot a dash of Christmas excitement building up AND trying to keep the usual regular activities and normality for the kiddos! Phew!

Imagies via Pinterest

So, if you don't hear too much from me over the next couple of weeks, you'll know that I'm hidden somewhere under packing boxes or paperwork!  But I will be back .......  8000 km away from here!

rainy day dress

A most appropriate little girls' dress for rainy autumn days!

Dutch kids design store  Buisjes en Beugels.

the thrill of the ride

We visited the Efteling at the weekend.  This is the largest theme park in NL and one of the world's oldest, having opened in 1952.  Originally with a fairy tale theme, the park has developed over the years into a full blown roller-coaster riding thrill seekers delight.

Well, for some that is.  Just looking at some of the rides makes my head start spinning and stomach churning!  Still, the Huzz and Luca love them and they waited patiently in the lines for the thrill of riding for just a minute or two.  And Ruby was very happy riding the beautiful old carousels with me (but I wonder how long that will last?)!

Are you a thrill seeker, loving the roller-coaster speeding along, twisting and turning, diving and plumenting?  Or are you happy to sit in a giant tea-cup twirling around?!

tribal wives in the netherlands

I was tagged by the very entertaining Very Bored in Catalunya with this one.

As an expat / foreigner living in the land of cheese and clogs (Netherlands), here are a few insights into what it takes not to stick out like a sore thumb amongst the DTW (Dutch Tribal Wives) here.

• Always be prepared for visitors.  Even if you aren't expecting any.  That means having a little supply of cakes, chocolates, cookies stashed away at all times just in case someone should stop by. You will always look completely organised and the perfect hostess.  I have of course failed miserably at this one.  Any cakes, chocolates, cookies that I may have harboured for lovely visitors don't last long enough (they keep calling to me 'eat me, eat me').   So out come the good old Digestives once again.

• As a DTW it is extremely important to always have a completely bare tidy living room (or room that is viewed through the front window of their home).  Not one thing on the table or floor.  No untidy piles of magazines, scattered toys, half-eaten breakfasts, last nights wine glass etc should be seen.  How on earth this is accomplished is beyond me.  I'm sure every other Dutch home must have a secret trap door in the floor to shove everything in before they dare to open the curtains / blinds in the morning.

• The front window at home should ALWAYS display a pair of something.  Never will you see a DTW display one vase, one ornament, one candle - that would be just wrong.  You can read a very funny article written by someone I know for a local online newpaper here.

• Without a shadow of a doubt the DTWs must each own at least 10 pairs of boots.  I have never seen so many styles for sale (and I've looked in my fair share of shoes shops I can assure you).  Every conceivable style possible. Summer boots  too of course. I'm actually doing pretty well in this dept - current count 4 pairs - and that's without looking for the autumn / winter this year.

• DTWs buy their family's weight in bread every week.  Bread in all its shapes and forms piled into the shopping trolleys.  Bags of rolls, buns, baguettes, melk bread, currant bread - bread in ever conceivable shape.  But more often than not pre-sliced.  

• It goes without saying that all DTWs ride a bike.   If you are planning on moving here and haven't cycled since you were a child, you had better start practising now, otherwise you may as well stay home.

• A complexion that will go well with the colour orange.  On all international sporting occassions (or royal birthdays, weddings, births etc) the DTWs (and everyone else actually) love to wear orange.  Often head to toe.  You may recall  the group of Dutch ladies at this years Fifa Football World Cup who were arrested for advertising an unofficial brewery by wearing the Dutchy orange mini-dress to matches.  Prepare to be Tango'd!

PS - I hope no friendships have been ruined in the writing of this blog!
PSS - All above slightly tongue in cheek of course.

For more Tribal Wife tips from around the world (should you be relocating any time soon), take a peek at these blogs.

The Missy M Missives
London City Mum
Paris Ankara Express
Vegemitevix
Notes from Lapland

If you'd like to join in and pass on some advice and tips on how to fit in with the locals in your part of the world, please link me in.

a boy alone in the wind and rain

Well, it was more than a gust that's for sure.

On the way home from Luca's diving class yesterday evening at 6pm, the thunder began. The sky became darker.  I told Luca to cycle on ahead (I was pushing Ruby in the buggy) and we were just 5 mins by bike from the house.  Get home I said.  Wait for me there.  He shot off on his bike.  A few minutes later the raindrops started.  Then the skies opened, the wind whipped up like nothing I have ever seen.  The trees were bent double, branches swaying and reaching down to the ground.  In seconds we were soaked to the skin.

Ruby howled.  I raced for shelter at a retirement home across the street.   Where was Luca?  Please don't let him be in the park.  Please let him be safe. My mind was spinning.... what if, what if.  Why did I say go ahead?  After a few more minutes more I saw him cycling back, like a bat out of hell.  Soaked, crying, terrified, excited.  All at once. Thankfully he hadn't cycled through the park, but on the pavement. Still, branches had fallen before him, leaves were spiraling around him.  The three of us stood together, hugging, soaked, watching, and waiting.  "It's ok.  Mama's here. It will stop soon."  Reasurring words for little minds I hoped.

The noise was unbelievable.  It felt like the movie 'War of the Worlds' when Tom Cruise is in the garden with his daughter, watching the wind and the storm.

I dialled and redialled Huzz, eventually getting a connection on the 4th or 5th try.  He had just arrived at the house and like a knight in shining armor he came to collect us.   We piled in the car, soaked, Ruby still crying.  Luca not being able to speak fast enough trying to tell all that he'd seen.

Sirens could be heard everywhere.  Traffic was at a standstill.  There must have been some serious accidents around.  Huzz had seen an almost 'cyclone' effect on the highway, with branches, leaves, rubbish, wood etc spiralling up and up.

The worst of it lasted about 20 mins max.  The rain and wind for another 30 mins or so.

This morning I've seen trees arcoss roads.  One lying across a whole street with a car underneath.  Branches snapped from enormous oaks.   And that's just whats left today.  The Police and Fire Fighters were out in force moving trees from roads shortly after it all died down yesterday evening.

I am more thankful than I can say that my boy came back to me safely.  I will never send him on ahead again, ever.

Blond

Nine years ago, two pretty blond Dutch ladies, Femque and Janneke, created their own line of bespoke pottery and paintings.  Their unique style has grown into the brand 'Blond Amsterdam', that has a store and studio where they produce wonderfully hand painted pottery, stationery, cookbooks, cards, clothing and linens.  Blond is stocked a select number of stores in NL, amd one store each in Switzerland and Germany (UK and France are in the pipeline I believe), and of course online.

 

 

The reason I'm telling you about Blond, is that on Friday I went to a leaving dinner for a friend of mine that will be moving with her family to Norway in a couple of weeks (we shall all miss you G).  As a leaving gift from a group of her friends, we all contributed to getting a personalised Blond Amsterdam teapot for her.  The teapot was handpainted and depicted G herself on one side and a family portrait with her husband and two lovely girls on the other (all copied from original photographs provided to Blond).  There are also lots of cakes and cupcakes (G is a fabulous cake maker and I shall miss her wonderful carrot cake for sure), and a stroopwafel (typical of NL).  A message was handed painted on the underneath.  It was a fabulous surprise for G and something she will treasure for always.  Every cup of tea will hold great memories for her.

I'm now waiting for family or friends to have a big birthday or other celebration so that I can order one of these wonderfully colourful and unique pieces.

Bon voyage G. Wishing you wondeful adventures in Norway.

It's a stick up

Chewing gum, bubble gum, plain old gum, whatever you will, when its stuck under your shoe its horrible.  But today, I saw this inventive idea to keep the stuff off the ground and therefore off our shoes.

The Kauwgombol (chewing gum ball in English).  This ball is actually a globe attached to a lamp-post and you're encouraged to stick your flavourless chewed up gum on it, maybe on the country you are from or any other country if you fancy it.  Slowly I would assume the ball will get covered in gum and replaced with a new one.  Could be quite gross in the summer with a load of flies settling down for a chew though couldn't it?!

Birth announcements

If you have children, how did you announce their arrival to the world?

• Did you / your partner make a few phone calls to your parents, best friends and then let the grapevine do the rest?
• Did you Tweet or text?
• Did you place an announcement in The Times, El Mundo, The New York Post, Le Monde, De Telegraaf et al?
• Did you buy a pack of birth announcement cards from the local card shop and eventually get round to sending them out?
• Did you spend hours designing a card yourself and chosing all the right words etc?

In the Netherlands sending out the birth announcement card (geboortekaart) is a major event and given much thought and hours pouring over card designs. There are hundreds of websites where you can choose a ready made design, add photos, text, colour etc or produce something entirely of your own making. It is expected that you'll send these out to family, friends, neighbours, colleagues within a few days of the birth, giving full details of your baby's name, d.o.b., time of birth, weight, proud family members etc. It's also a prompt for everyone to come and visit you and meet your beautitful new baby. The card will nearly always include the times you and your baby will be resting and not taking visitors (otherwise you'll be even more exhausted than you already).

In addition to the cards, a front of house window display of somekind is pretty much essential. It could simply be a string of bunting across the window with meisje (girl) or jongen (boy) printed on. Or a more elaborate huge stork looking like its crash landed in the window! I once saw an inflatible baby around 4 meters tall in the front garden of a new arrival. Maybe cute stickers of babies crawling across the window, or a personalised flag flying from your flag pole with your baby's name on (many houses have flag poles for proudly displaying the Netherlands flag on the Queens birthday etc).

Everyone has seen your growing bump for the past 9 months (or there abouts) and now they'll know your baby has arrived and will want to come and share your enjoyment of your precious little one.

Both of our kiddos birth announcements (both born in the Netherlands) were home made. For Luca we had all the time in the world to prepare. We made each letter of his name from autumn leaves collected at the park, then photographed each one from above, half hanging from a ladder (Huzz not me, I was 8 months gone and had no balance whatsoever). The final photographs were mounted on card. They were a work of art. We had also prepared one for a girl (we didn't know the sex) which was even more time consuming - Isabella - twice as long a Luca, but never used of course.

For Ruby, we came up with various designs, but all for the name India.  Yes, until 2 weeks before her birth, we had planned for India, and then did a last minute switch around of names.  We were so much more busy 2nd time around (no reflection on her importance to us), and the cards didn't get finished until a week after Miss Ruby's arrival. This time we chose a beautiful photograph of her on the day she was born, and in big red letters printed Ruby next to it.

Our window displays were kind of tame compared to some - a banner on our front door for Luca, made with the same leaf lettering as the cards, and for Ruby, each letter of her name printed in red on an A4 sheet, clipped with little pink and white pegs to a ribbon in the front window.

When I was born, my parents sent out cards, embossed with gold lettering to all the family and friends. A bit fancy eh?

What about you?  How did you tell the world that your precious little baby had now arrived?

Snow at the beach

I'm sure everyone has a 'snow story' to tell right now. So here's mine...

I'm more than relaxed to say the least. No tearing around the shops trying to find the last gift on my list for me. We have just returned for a stress-busting 3 days at the beach. Beach I hear you say? With all this snow and freezing temperatures? Yes indeed! We have been staying at the Noordzee Hotel & Spa, at Cadzand Bad on the dutch coast, very close to the Belgian border and about 20k from Brugge.

The 2hr drive was relaxed and calm. No snow drifts or endless lines of cars. Snow glistened in trees and fields but the roads were clear. We checked into this lovely family owned hotel, decorated with Christmas trees, candles and log fires. We wrapped ourselves up in all our warmest clothes and spent the afternoon walking on the beach, playing football and clearing the cobwebs.

We spent 3 days enjoying the indoor heated pool and sauna, having Swedish massages, relaxing in our lovely room with views over the beach and indulging in family R n' R time watching Christmas movies and eating popcorn. Delicious meals in the restaurant and hot chocolates with whipped cream in the afternoon next to a roaring fire. Bliss.

And we got more than our fare share of the white Christmas feeling as well. With temperatures hitting -6, we woke up Sunday morning to a huge snow storm. Snuggled in our outdoor gear we walked on a snow covered beach where dunes and break-waters were covered in sparkling snow and oh so pretty. On the beach we built a snowman and made snow angels. We slid on our bums down the path which had turned into an ice slide. We could hardly see where the beach ended and the sea began as the snow storm was so heavy. Amazing and beautiful and so much fun. A trip we will always remember.

No shopping, no crowds, nothing to do but relax and be together. If you have the opportunity to get away at this time of year, I highly recommend it. A hotel with all the festive trimmings and nothing much for you to do. You will be revived and chilled out, and ready to welcome your guests, get that turkey stuffed and enjoy your festivities even more on Christmas Day.

We wish you a Merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas. We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

He's here.....

No, not George, Brad, Johnny, or whoever it is that lights your fire ladies! Do any of the aforementioned men need their surnames anymore I wonder?.

It's...... Sinterklaas (who? you might say). Let me enlighten you. Sinterklaas is the dutch equivalent of Saint Nicholas (Santa). But there are some differences.

He arrived in the Netherlands at the weekend, from Spain, on a steamboat with his helpers, called Zwarte Piets (black Petes - men and woman dressed up with their faces painted black - from the soot of the chimney) and his white horse named Amerigo. Sint (as he's called for short) is a kindly old man, dressed in red robes, with a long white beard and all the accessories of a Bishop. Once he is in the country, he is everywhere (explained as Sint's helpers) and appears at all the parties hosted handed out gifts. For the past couple of weeks, every evening a children's tv program has shown a 'fictitious' daily review of Sinterklaas's progress and all the antics that go on whilst on his journey here - usually chaotic! The kids love it.

The feast of Sinterklaas takes place on the eve of 5th December "pakjesavond" (present evening) when families exchange gifts and make lighthearted fun of each other. There are unusual wrappings, treasure hunts, clues and a poem to the recipient. It really does have a fun, personal feel to the celebration rather than a focus on the biggest most expensive gift around (although I'm sure its heading that way). Piles of candy, cakes and cookies are eaten and a real feast is had. The table is set with each place setting being a chocolate letter of first initial for each person. On the morning of 6th December the children will receive gifts from Sinterklaas.

The madness has started and will continue 'til 5th December. Everywhere you go there are Zwarte Piets handing out all kinds of candy and pepernoten (small round cinnamon/ginger biscuits). As with Christmas there are all kinds of traditional songs and the shops are filled with Sinterklaas stuff. The children are so full of sugar and excitement that I'm sure they are all sleep deprived for the next couple of weeks. Children now leave out a shoe overnight in the hope that Zwarte Piet will pop down the chimney and leave some more candy or a small gift.

There is no religious tone for Sinterklaas. Its celebrated by everyone. However, Sinterklaas is actually based on the real life patron saint of children and sailors (maybe that's why he arrives on a boat) and does have a history of Christianity, and his tomb in Turkey.

We will enjoy it all - the cookies, chocolate, candy and watching how excited Luca gets every morning checking his shoe and singing all the songs until 5th / 6th December is here and he is uncontrollable!!

And to top it all, its also my son's birthday on 5th December. Can you imagine??

We will then take a deep breath and begin the countdown to Christmas. Phew!

Photos c/o http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinterklaas

Rumour has it

Starbucks is hitting the Netherlands at last! Well, in "prime railway stations", so that's a start.

Currently they have a roasting plant at the port in Amsterdam; a couple of outlets in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport shopping Plaza and one at Terminal 1; at the Nike European HQ in Hilversum (for employees only) and Utrecht Station. This month a new one opens in Amsterdam Centraal Station (3 in Amsterdam - that's a bit greedy don't you think?). And we've waited a long time for these.

I know there's been a bit of a backlash in the US recently against 'corporate coffee bars', and that huge numbers of stores have closed. But just as soon as one opens in my local station, Eindhoven, I'll be there.

Now I quite enjoy sitting at a Dutch cafe having a 'koffie verkeered' (cafe latte), but its small and often in a glass (I really don't like my coffee in a glass) - but you do get a cookie with it!. But I really do enjoy a coffee to go (preferably Starbucks). And so, when we fly out of Amsterdam or Dusseldorf (Germany), stopping for a Starbucks on route is part of the trip. When arriving in the US for vacations, we stop at the first Starbucks we come across and just love it (yes, we are cheering in the car!). Tall for me, Grande for my huzz and a hot chocolate for Luca. We usually pick up a few of their new mugs for at home as well as some coffee, so you could say we're fans. Hurry up and get to Eindhoven please Starbucks, we are ready and waiting.

Life's a beach

The weather has been FAB, so we drove to the coast on Sunday. We visited a beach town named Domburg in the region of Zeeland. What a nice village - backing onto the dunes and beach with picturesque cottages and buildings and bustling with nice places to have lunch and shop. And what a great beach - broad, flat and sandy. Cute little beach huts along the back of the beach in lovely sun bleached pastel shades. A narrow board walk to make it nice an easy with a pram as well. The sun really did try to breakthrough, but didn't quite manage it (seemed that we left the best weather back at home!), but it was still lovely and warm enough to play on the beach for 3 hours, digging holes, feeding gulls (very exciting for Ruby), Luca running into the icy cold sea (there is no stopping this child near water), Ruby eating sand! A huge ice-cream for Luca and a delicious shakes for Huzz and I followed at De Ijsvogel cafe. We all love a beach, sandy or pebbly, whatever the weather. My dream is to have a beach house one day where we can step through the door and outside to a fresh breeze, the sounds of the waves and the freedom for the children to run and jump and swim for hours and hours. One day, one day.