american expat in holland

We are not really the couple that gets all dressed up for regular date nights. For one, it just isn't really our scene, and we were on one income for a very long time. We do make the occasional exception when it is a special occasion. Which is why we found ourselves in the center of Utrecht Friday night to celebrate my one year Nederland anniversary. We ended up having dinner at our favorite restaurant on the Oudegracht, Den Draeck or The Dragon. 

I can't believe it, I have now lived in The Netherlands and with Loek for a year today! Soo much has changed in what could be classified by some in a brief amount of time. As, I reflect on the last year, I can't help but feel that although things did not go exactly they way I thought they would when I first moved, I am still incredibly glad I got on the plane with my cat and decided to make a life here with Loek. 

It has been Olympic Central at the house ever since 10pm on Friday night. The Netherlands are an hour ahead of London time, so I got to watch it live. It actually was just ending when it started playing prime time in Atlanta. This year, watching the Olympics is totally different for me. Not only because I am not rooting for two teams, but also because I actually miss NBC's coverage of the Olympics. 

I was approached to write this review by The Anne Frank House. At this time, I do not accept money for reviews or anything of that nature on this blog. However, they thought I would be interested in their new app after reading my blog, and I am, especially since I am about to study tourism, I decided to tryout the app for myself. 

I landed nine months ago. Nine months! That is long enough to have carried and given birth to a baby. Not that I'm pregnant or even thinking about having a baby for years, I mean I'm about to be in school for the next 4 years, but to give you an idea of the time I've been here, I chose that analogy. This post could not have come at a better time, I feel like I haven't really been present or sociable the last few weeks. I always do this, I have a lot to look forward to in August and July, so I forget to live in the present. I'm sorry, my friends, I am going to try to do better.

Looking at the friends I have made so far in The Netherlands, most of them are fellow Americans. This was never my intention, but it makes sense, my only passable language at the moment is English, and we are all going through a lot of the same things. However, having your main friend group tied to another country besides the one you are planning to live in long term presents its a whole new set of problems. Being an expat for many is a very transient period, it is something they are trying on and eventually, most will probably move on.

Whew, this has been a crazy week! I had testing and an interview in Amsterdam for school, Book Club, an interview for a tutoring job, and a last minute freelance job start. It's been great! But I forgot to take a lot of pictures of my explorations. I did however manage a few.

I'm participating in the Fat Mum Slim Photo Challenge for April. Each Sunday I will share the photos I took. 

Today I took my placement exam for my inburgering classes. I arrived at an old office building to take my foretold four hour exam at 12:45pm. I joined some other girls who were also there to take the exam, a mix of Nederlands and English was spoken between them, since I am still feeling sick, I didn't join in. I gathered however, that some people had been in The Netherlands for a very long time and one girl had been here a month, but she had incredible Dutch! I am not quite sure what her story was. We were then greeted by a very friendly proctor.

Yesterday, as many of you know was my final interview for the inburgering process. I arrived at the Werk en Inkomen Office in De Meern 30 minutes early because I am a nerd! I was offered coffee and told to sit down and wait. I felt so bad for the guard because I proceeded to hack up my lungs in the waiting room. Finally, it was my turn to meet with my Gemeente Representative. I was really nervous because I heard that some of them refuse to speak English to you, and I was alone. Luckily, this was not at all the case.