Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Family & Friends, Netherlands, tagged beach, bike ride, cool spring, dangly bits, dunes, fully clothed, Kijkduin, rain, sand, sea, sun, sunshine, voluptuous curves on June 2, 2013 | 10 Comments »
We’ve been having a pretty cool cold spring this year. The sun hasn’t really wanted to shine more than a day or so, here and there. The mercury hasn’t crept much above 50 degrees Fahrenheit more than a time or two over the past two months. We’ve had days where it poured cold rain for hours [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Food and Drink, United States, tagged American baseball, baseball Annies, batting averages, beach, beverages, celebrating holidays away from home, contests, culture, divining the meaning, expat, family, family event, fireworks, games, home run, living abroad, minor league baseball game, Norfolk Tides, patriotic songs, RBIs, snacks on July 12, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Last week Daughter and I were with my brother’s family spending a few days at the beach. My sister-in-law’s mother and stepfather were visiting as well. On the evening of July 3rd, we all piled into into two cars and headed off to that very American of all summer pastimes, a baseball game. Neither Daughter nor [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Catarina Chronicles, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged Albert Heijn, Arjen Robben, Dutch, Euro 2012, European Championship, European Championship tournament, football cards, football fans, Germany, Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond, national team, Netherlands, Olympics, Orange Lion, Oranje Leeuw, Robin Van Persie, Royal Dutch Football Association, voetbal, voetbal kaartjes, Wesley Sneijder, World Cup, World Intellectual Property Organization on June 13, 2012 | 14 Comments »
(Updated 14 June 2012) She’s baaaack. Catarina, that is. She of An International Trade Representative’s Got Nothing on Her and Head of Delegation Written All Over Her fame. My cute little nine-year-old neighbor has already been to the house two times in the past week. Euro 2012 is underway, and you know what that means: [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Exercise & Sports, Expat Authors, Expat Life, Riveting Expat Reads, Writing, tagged A Kindle in Hong Kong, author, Beijing, Beijing Olympics, blogging, book, contest, expat, father, Father's Day, father-daughter, Hong Kong, London Olympics, Olympics, Shannon Young, The Olympics Beat: A Spectator's Memoir of Beijing, writing on May 29, 2012 | 9 Comments »
[Updated 20 June 2012] Today is a very special day here at Adventures in Expat Land. We have a guest post from the talented Shannon Young, a writer and American expat living in Hong Kong. I ‘met’ Shannon a year ago when I stumbled on her blog via Twitter. I’d recently purchased a Kindle, and [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Exercise & Sports, Expat Authors, Riveting Expat Reads, Travel, Writers on Writing, Writing, tagged A Tight Wide-Open Space: Falling in Love in a Muslim Land, author, blogging, book, books, editing, Heathen Pilgrim, journey, Matt Krause, pilgrimage, self-publishing, Soapbox, turkey, walk across Turkey, walking, writing, writing books on May 28, 2012 | 4 Comments »
It’s been awhile since we last met up with Matt Krause, author of the amazingly beautiful A Tight Wide-Open Space: Falling in Love in a Muslim Land (Delridge Press: 2011), a book I wrote about in A Love Song for Turkey and Author Matt Krause on Writing. As long promised, I wanted to share with you Matt’s insightful thoughts [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Travel, United States, tagged art, athletics, countries, crosscultural, crossing cultures, culture, food, intercultural, international schools, Model UN, music, nationalities, Netherlands, softball, sports, TCKs, The Hague, Third Culture Kids, tournament, travel, United Nations on May 27, 2012 | 2 Comments »
When we think of crossing cultures, what immediately comes to mind? It might be art, music, theater, dance. Perhaps it’s religious differences or religious similarities, the minaret or the church steeple. For many it’s traveling far and wide, or immersing yourself in one place, one culture, for an extended period of time. It can be [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Doing What I Can to Help, Exercise & Sports, The Animals, tagged A Billion Acts of Green®, advocacy, biodiversity, cairn terrier, conservation, dog, Earth Day, Earth Day 2012, EarthDay.org, energy efficiency, energy renewal, environment, greenery, hiking, Mobilize the Earth™, natural resources, Oli, parkland, recycling, sustainable development, transportation, walking, waste reduction, woodland on April 23, 2012 | 6 Comments »
In case you didn’t hear, yesterday was Earth Day. That’s right, the 42nd anniversary of the inaugural Earth Day held in New York City way back in 1970. The aim remains the same: protect the environment and the world’s natural resources through conservation efforts. This year’s motto is Mobilize the Earth™. In honor of Earth Day 2012, Oli [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Change, Emotional Resilience, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Food and Drink, Life Balance, Sandwich Generation, Third Culture Kids (TCKs), Expat Teens, Writing, tagged children, college visits, competing demands, emotional resilience, exercise, expats, fitness, health, parents, sandwich generation, sleep, TCKs, Telegraph, university search, writing on April 20, 2012 | 16 Comments »
A few days ago I wrote of the challenges many of us face being sandwiched between generations. Just like everyone else, we expats do our best to care for, raise and guide our TCK children to adulthood(and beyond) while also staying connected to and supporting our aging parents. We just sometimes have a few wrenches thrown in due to our lack [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Exercise & Sports, Family & Friends, Light Bulb Moments, United States, tagged Brazil, determination, never give up, tenacity, US Women's National Team, Women's World Cup 2011 on July 11, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The Washington Post headline read ‘US Stuns Brazil’, citing ‘enough twists and turns to fill an entire tournament.’ Sporting News called it the ‘Improbable US Victory’. In Sports Illustrated, Swedish coach of the US Team Pia Sundhage spoke of ‘this American attitude, pulling everything together and bringing out the best performance in each other, that [...]
Posted in Exercise & Sports, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, tagged extramarital affair, football, Imogen Thomas, Ryan Giggs, super injunction, Wayne Rooney on June 6, 2011 | 6 Comments »
I’ve been stewing all weekend about the whole Ryan Giggs affair (yes, pun intended; it’s the only humor you’re going to get from me today). For anyone living on the west side of the pond (or who’s been residing in a cave in recent days), Ryan Giggs is the incredibly talented, Energizer Bunnyesque Manchester United side [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Light Bulb Moments, tagged cheating, conscience, karma, life lessons, voetbal on May 21, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Sometimes you can be going along, living life and suddenly something occurs that completely alters your view of the world. Turns it upside down. It’s as if you’ve received a karmic slap in the face. You know what I mean. We’ve all experienced this. You realize immediately that you’ve encountered a defining moment, one that will remain with [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Guest Posts, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, Netherlands, tagged American expat in Netherlands, learning Dutch, suspended, voetbal on April 14, 2011 | 5 Comments »
Hey there, I wanted to share with you that today I am over at The Unexpected Traveller with my very first guest post. Since The Unexpected Traveller is based in Belgium, you could also say that I’m travelling today as I cross the border to visit our neighbor to the south. I’ve been following The [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Life Balance, Netherlands, tagged driving, Dutch landscape, gift of time, soccer, voetbal on April 12, 2011 | 4 Comments »
The other evening I was driving Daughter to her voetbal practice. Voetbal (soccer back in the US), is something that brings her great joy. Not a ‘like to do’. It’s her passion. So when we arrived two years ago, we researched and queried and found a Dutch club with coaches and a program reflecting a strong [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Writing, tagged go for it, just do it, track and field, Ultimate Blog Challenge on April 3, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Greetings on this fine April morning! The sun is shining (always a plus in Nederland), the weather report calls for another warm, beautiful day. Having such great weather several days in a row, without rain? Amazing. Over a weekend? Meant to be celebrated. Savored in all its richness. Enjoyed to the very last minute when [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Family & Friends, tagged basketball, Carolina, Elite Eight, expat rituals, March Madness, Tar Heels on March 28, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The last thing I needed was to be huddled around the laptop watching the UNC-Kentucky game well after midnight. On a ‘school’ night, no less. Knowing the alarm would ring at 6:30 am. Yet there we were, the laptop screen glowing in the inky darkness. It’s March Madness, remember? It had been a typically busy [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, United States, tagged basketball, Carolina, March Madness, NCAA Tournament, UNC Tar Heels on March 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
It’s March. For some, the month is merely the bridge between the weary winter and the hopeful spring. Yet for many Americans, the third month of the year can mean only one thing. March Madness is here! And despite our now living in the Netherlands, these American expats have no intention of missing out on [...]
Posted in Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged City-Pier-City Half Marathon, CPCLoop Den Haag, half marathon, The Hague on March 14, 2011 | 1 Comment »
A lot of people got up yesterday to run the highly anticipated annual City-Pier-City Run Half Marathon here in The Hague. Alas, Yours Truly was not one of them. I would have liked to, but I have a bit more work to do. Actually, quite a bit. A whole lot. (Like get back into running, for one thing. [...]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Expat Transitions & Change, Expats in Motion, Life Balance, Netherlands, New to Nederland, Travel, United States, tagged expat community, expat culture shock, explore, Netherlands, settling in on March 5, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Okay, welcome back to sharing with an inbound expat info and experience gleaned while living in Nederland. If you happened to miss it, here’s the first installment of sharing the expat wealth from two days ago. Just a quick reminder that these are my views, based on my research, experiences, and conversations with many others. People choose to live outside [...]
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Netherlands, Oddities + Odds & Ends, tagged adventures, bicycles, Netherlands, riding bikes, tricked out bikes on February 9, 2011 | 2 Comments »
One more! Okay, I realize that this technically is NOT a bicycle, but you have to admit folks do things with style here! (If you’re confused by this photo, check out my previous post here.)
Posted in Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Exercise & Sports, Expat Life, Netherlands, Oddities + Odds & Ends, tagged adventure, bicycles, Netherlands, riding bikes, tricked out bikes on February 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
The Dutch sure do love their bicycles, yes they do! And I think it definitely falls into the ‘Oddities’ category. Now it’s not odd that they truly enjoy riding their bicycles everywhere. Bikes are a great way to get around: (relatively) low-cost, minimal maintenance, self-powered so you’re not dependent on fuel, healthy. So it’s not surprising that [...]
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