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Archive for the ‘Netherlands’ Category

Politics, Near and Far

Posted in Blogging, Change, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Global Issues, Netherlands, United States, Writing, tagged austerity measures, blogging, cultural issues, differences, Dutch politics, economic issues, elections, Euro, gay marriage, global issues, global recession, governments, human trafficking, international affairs, local politics, Netherlands, policy wonk, political issues, refugees, similarities, United States, writing on May 10, 2012 | 22 Comments »

Two confessions up front. First, credit where credit is due. A comment about my post on Bridge-Building in the city of Peace and Justice, left by fellow expat and talented writer/blogger Russell VJ Ward*, served as the impetus for this plea post. Second, I am a self-confessed policy wonk and international affairs junkie. I’ve studied it, worked [...]

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Bridge-Building in the City of Peace & Justice

Posted in Change, Expat Life, Global Issues, Netherlands, tagged Carnegie Foundation, Charles Taylor, City of Peace and Justice, crimes against humanity, Eurojust, Europol, International Court of Justice, International Criminal Court, International Criminal Tribunals, Netherlands, OPCW, Peace Palace, Permanent Court of Arbitration, Slobodan Milosevic, The Hague, United Nations, war criminals, Willem Post on May 8, 2012 | 12 Comments »

One of the most interesting aspects of living in The Hague is its international flavor. Today I’m not referring simply to the large number of people living here who come from other lands. I’m talking about its strong ties to global issues. The Hague is known as ‘the City of Peace and Justice’ for a reason: [...]

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That Second Minute

Posted in Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Holidays, Netherlands, United States, tagged Americans, Arlington Cemetery, civilians, Dodenherdenking, Dutch, honor, Memorial Day, military, Netherlands, remembrance, Second World War, service members, service to their country, silence, soldiers, Tomb of the Unkown Soldier, tribute, Trilogy to the Dutch, two minutes of silence, ultimate sacrifice, United States, World War II, writing on May 6, 2012 | 10 Comments »

When this week began, little did I know that by the end I would be writing what has essentially become my own personal Trilogy to the Dutch. I’d enjoyed all the excitement and revelry of my third Queen’s Day, stuck again by how virtually everyone gets involved in what is essentially one big party. There’s something about an entire [...]

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Happy Queen’s Day

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Food and Drink, Holidays, Netherlands, tagged bands, carnival, celebration, drink, Dutch, Dutch national holiday, food, music festival, Netherlands, orange, picnics, Queen's Day, Queen's Night, street parties, The Hague, yard sales on May 3, 2012 | 10 Comments »

Never let it be said that Dutchies don’t know how to party. Seriously. Never say it. I’ve written about Queen’s Day before, and having celebrated the Dutch national holiday for the third year running, I can only say that it continues to amaze me. There’s something about it that makes me happy, and I’m not even [...]

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Welcoming Party

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, Travel, tagged airport, arrival lounge, arrivals, balloons, clown nose, departures, flags, flowers, helium balloon, kazoos, music festival, noisemakers, parking lots, passengers, Schiphol, travelers, welcome home, welcome signs on May 1, 2012 | 24 Comments »

Every now and then I’m reminded of a cultural aspect of the Netherlands that is so very different from the US that it practically screams ‘this is SO different!’ This morning it was my journey to Schiphol airport to pick up Husband from his latest trip. Now first let me say that I love Schiphol [...]

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Windmills of Kinderdijk

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Netherlands, Travel, tagged cafe culture, Kinderdijk, Netherlands, outdoor culture, spring, windmills on March 25, 2012 | 12 Comments »

This weekend has been absolutely phenomenal. You know, the kind of first weekend that truly announces ‘Spring has arrived’. The sun has been shining brilliantly for three days, a gorgeous blue sky with just a few pale wisps of white cloud here and there. The weather has been in the mid 60s to low 70s (Fahrenheit) here in [...]

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Food Lines We Won’t Cross

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Blogging, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Food and Drink, Netherlands, tagged carnivores, cultural mores, horse meat, meat eaters, personal beliefs, squeamish, unusual foods, vegans, vegetarians on March 22, 2012 | 14 Comments »

It’s been at least a few weeks since I’ve written a post that even mentions the phrase Albert Heijn (my favorite local Dutch grocery store to the uninitiated), so I should have known. Something was sure to materialize that I’d end up sharing with you here. Little did I realize exactly how special that something would be… [...]

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Wildlife Filmmaker: How Cool is that?!

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Expat Life, Netherlands, Travel, tagged BBC, expat, filmmaker, Michael Sanderson, National Geographic, Netherlands, The Hague, The Underground, wildlife cameraman, writing on March 5, 2012 | 9 Comments »

Recently I had the absolute pleasure of interviewing a talented young wildlife filmmaker, Michael Sanderson, for an article I was writing for The Underground, our new English language monthly newspaper here in The Hague. Michael’s a creative young visionary in his field whose work has appeared on the BBC and National Geographic, and it was [...]

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Between the Seagull and the Wolves

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Blogging, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged embarrassment, fear, flashback, memories, Netherlands, North Sea, seagulls, terror, The Hague, university campus, winter, wolves on March 3, 2012 | 10 Comments »

I don’t know why it is, but this week appears to have been secretly designated ‘Odd Memory Flashback Week’ in the blogosphere. I guess I just didn’t get the memo. For the second time (you can catch the first here at The Upside of Humor) in just a few days, I’ve been visited by a [...]

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Tilting at Bureaucratic Windmills

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged bureaucracy, customer service, disbelief, Emergency Room, fraud, frustration, hospital, incorrect charge, medical insurance, treatment on February 8, 2012 | 24 Comments »

If you listen closely, you can hear the steady drumbeat reverberating around the world. That would be the sound of my head slowly and rhythmically hitting my desk. Thump. Thump. Thump. I’m doing it out of frustration, but it does have an upside. While it makes my head hurt, it also takes my mind off the [...]

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Celebrating an Adventure in Expat Land

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, New to Nederland, Travel, United States, tagged adventure, California, expat, ICTY, living overseas, Netherlands, The Hague, US on December 28, 2011 | 10 Comments »

  Earlier this week we had a wonderful celebration of sorts. Despite being late December, we weren’t celebrating the Dutch Second Christmas (Tweede Kerstdaag) or the British Boxing Day. Instead, we were celebrating the end of Bryan and Danielle’s (current) adventure in Nederland. I first heard from Danielle back in the summer when she contacted me [...]

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An Unexpected Change in Plans

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, United States, Writing, tagged brain surgery, brain tumor, Carolina pines, chemotherapy, Christmas, family, friendship, loved ones, planting a seed, radiation, writing on December 24, 2011 | 19 Comments »

  It’s Christmas Eve day. The aroma of my Jamie Oliver-inspired gravy wafts gently throughout rooms regaled in ornaments, decorations, pine boughs and tiny lights. Another half hour and I’ll start lighting some candles. Carols are playing softly in the background while Daughter and Husband work diligently on a holiday puzzle. But this is not the [...]

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Balancing the Holiday Scales

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Culture & Customs, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Life Balance, Netherlands, tagged appreciation, celebration, Christmas, Christmas tree, decorations, family, friends, holidays, New Year's, ornaments, rituals on December 22, 2011 | 6 Comments »

    It’s been a fairly typical ten days for Yours Truly’s family here in Nederland in the run-up to Christmas and New Year’s. By that I mean lots going on: some of it getting done, some on its way to completion and woefully behind on a fair bit as well. Given that Christmas comes on the [...]

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Bridging the Expats-Locals Gap

Posted in Culture & Customs, Expat Life, Netherlands, tagged expats, international community, The Hague, The Underground, Toneelgroep Amsterdam on December 12, 2011 | 6 Comments »

Recently I wrote about the start up of a new, English language monthly newspaper here in The Hague called The Underground. The reason I became involved was to do my part to help build a newspaper that not only includes interesting, intriguing and informative articles about life in The Hague and surrounding area, but that also bridges the international [...]

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Behold, Albert Heijn is Nigh

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Change, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Food and Drink, Netherlands, tagged aisle, Albert Heijn, autodidactic, clerk, food shopping, grocery store, hand-held scanner, major renovations, wine on December 10, 2011 | 12 Comments »

  If you’ve noticed a distinct decrease in the stress waves emanating from The Hague, you’ve Albert Heijn to thank. It’s true. My beloved neighborhood AH store has reopened after fourteen days undergoing major renovations. Fourteen long, arduous days. Despite Daughter’s original plaintive question (‘will we starve to death?’), we have survived just fine. I sucked [...]

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Suffer the Little Shoppers Unto Albert Heijn

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Change, Culture & Customs, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Food and Drink, Netherlands, tagged Albert Heijn, daily shopping, food shopping, grocery store, major renovations on December 4, 2011 | 20 Comments »

    I apologize upfront if my paraphrasing of a biblical quotation brought you here under false pretenses, but I’m in a bit of a quank. Quank. You know, a cross between a funk and a quandary. What difficult situation has me in these depths of despair? My beloved neighborhood Albert Heijn grocery store is closed for renovations. Not [...]

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Writing for the Collective Good

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Netherlands, Writing, tagged editing, expat life, Expatcalidocious, international community, Jo Parfitt, monthly newspaper, Simone Branson Harper, The Hague, The Underground, wordgeyser, writing on November 17, 2011 | 6 Comments »

‘The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley’ Poet Robert Burns’ famous quote basically means that even the best laid plans can head south, go awry, fall to pieces. Recently I’ve been reminded of this sage advice. While (almost) nothing goes on my schedule that I don’t agree to, I do not completely control [...]

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Halloween Holland Style

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Holidays, Netherlands, tagged candy, Gry Tina Tinde, Halloween, jack-o-lantern, The Netherlands, trick-or-treating on October 31, 2011 | 6 Comments »

Have I ever mentioned that Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year? Outrageous costumes, pumpkins, witches, trick-or-treating, chocolate, candy corn, ringing doorbells, accumulating a candy haul of momentous proportions, little boys and girls proudly displaying their costumes, bobbing for apples, dried cornstalks, dressing up, jack-o-lanterns, deciding who you want to ‘be’, parties, [...]

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Cultural Lessons Gleaned In a Grocery Store

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Food and Drink, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, tagged Albert Heijn, ATM card, checkbook, cultural differences, expat, grocery store, pin card, The Netherlands, writing on October 22, 2011 | 16 Comments »

This morning Husband and I decided to take advantage of the glorious autumn weather by taking Oli on a long walk through nearby woods. The sun is out, the air is crisp, people are out walking, jogging and cycling; it’s an all-around gorgeous October day.   After an hour of hiking through the wooded parkland, meandering [...]

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Earthquake? What Earthquake?

Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, tagged 4.5 earthquake, earthquake, Germany, Netherlands, Richter Scale, writing on September 9, 2011 | 16 Comments »

Okay, it’s official. I am nowhere near as sensitive to my surroundings as I’d like to think I am. Oh, I do make a concerted effort to be ‘in the now’. You know, observing where I am and using as many of my senses as I can, rather than rushing through life and missing so [...]

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