Employment in the Netherlands. It’s a tricky, sometimes difficult, complicated, OMFG WHY sort of situation. There are language and cultural barriers galore which are always interesting to navigate. You might also show up here with your hard-earned set of degrees to only find that they don’t really matter that much. (Stepping back from that rant…
Read moreTrick-or-Treat!
When moving abroad, one of the sneaky things that makes the heart twinge is the absence of some of the holidays you celebrated with your family. Halloween is one of those holidays (or “feestdag” in Dutch). I am saving some of holiday chatter for other holidays which are close by. Halloween is not widely celebrated…
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Star Trek and Politics
Following the tumultuous 2020 Presidential election, the previous four years of feeling like I’m in the “WTF!?!” episode of the Twilight Zone, and the atrocity of the Capitol attack, politics is, at best, a sensitive subject. This post is not about the orange jackass who will not be named. I could rant for days on…
Read moreGoing Postal
Unexpected Quirks and Experiences Involving Mail in the Netherlands If you’ve never lived in a different country, or had to deal with international shipping, learning the ins-and-outs of a new system can present a unique set of problems (or “learning experiences” if you are in a more positive frame of mind today). All addresses are…
Read moreSnowventure!
Being from the southern U.S., snow holds a magical place of reverence for me. In my hometown, if there is a single patch of ice on the road, that entire corner of the state shuts down, schools, businesses, you name it. Snow is quite an exciting event that’s not happened very often in my life….
Read moreCoping with Covid Tunnel Vision
It’s amazing how alone and isolated one can feel when there are so many others all over the world in the exact same Covid-induced quarantined state. Since March of last year, my partner and I have been mostly in our apartment. Our outdoor trips out have been limited. We go for individual grocery runs, mostly…
Read moreCajun Food in Dutchia
Being an immigrant on another continent is very much a give-and-take experience. For me, I personally miss the open spaces and forests that were a normal part of my childhood environment. I have grumpy periods where I need trips to parks where I can hear the wind through the trees. It’s amazing how much the…
Read more“Helpful, Not Charitable”
When one moves abroad, it is inevitable that there will always be a good dose of culture shock. One of the first things I learned was that the American outgoing method of dealing with strangers is not the status quo in the Netherlands. Being from the southern half of the United States, etiquette is something…
Read moreKeep Off the Grass!
One thing that you quickly learn when living in the Netherlands is the danger of leaving the shimmering concrete or warm brick sidewalks to tread across the refreshingly green grass that springs more delightfully beneath your feet than a sidewalk ever could. However, don’t do it. Just. Don’t. (And no, this is not referring to…
Read moreAnd… We’re Back!
Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast. While procrastination has certainly played its part, I’ve also had some health-related drama over the past few months and am just now returning to the blog. I thought the site might’ve gone somewhere close to the planet of lost left socks that go into the washing machine and…
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