Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Catarina Chronicles, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, Netherlands, tagged a plan, Albert Heijn, animal cards, blogging, collecting and trading, collection, creativity, culture, dierenkaarten, don't leave money on the table, Dutch neighbor, entrepreneur, entrepreneurial, fear, freebie, intimidating, junkie, loyal lieutenant, obsession, possessed, pressure, promotional giveaway, speaking Dutch, stress, trading cards, writing on October 3, 2012 | 12 Comments »
When the doorbell rang late Sunday afternoon, it took a moment to register in my brain. Lounging lazily in the family room with my feet propped up on the coffee table and the Sunday Times Culture magazine section spread across my lap, I suddenly felt my shoulders tense and the hair on the back of my neck stand […]
Posted in Adventures Big & Small, Albert Heijn, Catarina Chronicles, Creativity, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, tagged Albert Heijn, grocery store giveaways, international trading, negotiations, speaking Dutch, trading cards on January 25, 2012 | 10 Comments »
Late yesterday afternoon, the doorbell rang. As I opened the heavy oak front door, I found myself face-to-face with Catarina, my adorable eight-year-old Dutch neighbor, she of Learning a Language? Child’s Play fame. She was standing there with a tennis racket slung over her shoulder and an air of urgency about her. ‘Hallo Catarina, hoe gaat […]
Posted in Dutch Life, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, tagged speaking Dutch, useful phrases on March 17, 2011 | 2 Comments »
I ran into my Dutch neighbor Anneke the other day, and we started chatting. (Well, okay, Anneke was chatting and I was stumbling, but hey, it works.) That’s when I heard it. She used a phrase that just rolled off her tongue. It was spoken with such casual effect, just the right intonation and delivered with an almost imperceptible […]
Posted in Change, Culture, Crosscultural, Intercultural & Multicultural, Dutch Life, Expat Life, Family & Friends, Learning Dutch or Other Foreign Languages, Life Balance, Light Bulb Moments, Netherlands, Writing, tagged 5k race, friendship, insights, jogging, speaking Dutch, writing on December 18, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
You’ll notice I’m a little behind. The Day 16 prompt (from Martha Mihalick) for the Reverb10 daily challenge reads: Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual or a sudden burst? This post is coming two days late, in large part because I really had […]
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