October 2013: Back in the Netherlands

First of all I would like to welcome you all to my new monthly blog about our lives in the Netherlands, after living in Germany for about 6-7 years. Half of September I joined Erik in the Netherlands who already moved in the end of June. In September we made the startup for me. I hope you will enjoy reading this blog. You are also very welcome to react on this blog or sent us an email how you are doing.

Friday I went to visit my oldest sister in Geldrop. This is a village in the south of the Netherlands and about 130 km from our house. For the Netherlands that is quite a distance if you know that the shortest route from West to East of our country is roundabout 150 km! My nieces were very excited to see me again, because they were used to see me 3-4 times a year and we already met for about two weeks for a family day of my dad’s (big) family. They backed cupcakes and decorated them especially for me!

The last two weeks we have been busy with ordering a lot of stuff for our new nursery room and in the afternoon the matrass and buggy were delivered. So Erik was happy to see them delivered after he got home from work.

Saturday morning I woke up at my sisters and after breakfast we went for a walk in the forest of Heeze, a village in the neighborhood. After that we had lunch and I drove back home to The Hague. Later that afternoon Erik and I went for a short visit with our neighbors to catch up.

Sunday in the afternoon we went to De Lier. We went to the birthday party of the son of my brother who became 3 years old. My sister in law had backed a real nice cake with marzipan and all kinds of colors. One of my nieces I barely recognized! I saw here last time with Christmas and then she was half a year old! It was nice to see the whole family together, although they are a bit loud with the 8 nieces and nephews I have! My mom just came back from her long holiday in Spain, so it was the first time I saw her after I moved back to the Netherlands. She was so happy that we are now living again in the Netherlands! That was sweet!

Monday Erik went to work and I was ill. The last days I have been struggling with a cold and a sour throat and on Monday I really felt tired and ill. So I stayed home and slept a lot.

Wednesday I felt better and went to a big baby shop in Gouda, about 45 km from The Hague and shopped for some extra things for our nursery room.

Friday I went to visit my mom and stepfather in Maassluis (25 km from The Hague). My brother’s youngest daughter and son were there too. We lunched together and after lunch I helped my brother with getting his groceries.

Saturday Erik and I went to visit Erik’s parents in Castricum (80 km from The Hague). We chatted and stayed for diner.

Sunday it was raining very much whole day long. We went shopping and underway all ditches and channels were full of water. On the roads there was also a lot of water! At my brother’s house the (small) basement was flooded but without real damage luckily.

Monday evening Erik and I went to the hospital for an information evening about giving birth in that hospital. I already visited another hospital last month, but I think this information evening was more interesting, because they gave clear information about the complete process of giving birth. This will also the hospital were we will go to in December.

Tuesday morning my brother and his youngest daughter (1,5 year) came to visit me. He has his day of parental leave every Tuesday till the end of the year. We got some groceries together while it was raining and they stayed for lunch. In the evening I went for the first time to the course “pregnancy and giving birth”. It was the first of eight evenings. It was quite funny to see that two of the eight women were German and were living in the Netherlands for 5-11 years. So we spoke about the Dutch and German system! Another funny thing was, that when I went to pregnancy yoga in Germany all women came by car and this evening most women came by bike and it was raining very hard!

Wednesday morning I got a test in the hospital. For this test I had to wait two hours. Luckily one of the girls of the course of the evening before had the same test, so we could chat while we were waiting! At the end of the morning my mother came to visit me. We looked at all baby stuff, which we already bought and tried how the buggy worked with the cot and the car seat for the little one. It was a good practice for later on! In the afternoon we went to the city center to buy some clothes for the baby.

Saturday the daughter of my youngest sister celebrated her 3th birthday. She got from all the family and friends a big doll house, which was the same size like her! The living room was nicely decorated in pink, a real girls birthday! It was quite strange to be on a second birthday of one of my nieces and nephews within two weeks, after not being there on birthdays for more than 6 years. My sisters sister in law had also gotten two children, which I understood after half an hour or so…

Sunday we washed the clothes I got from my sister. It is still quite strange to see such small clothes hanging to dry in our house! In the afternoon Erik and I went to the harbor of The Hague and sat in the sun enjoying the view of the harbor. The café had also got the German alcohol-free white beer of Erding (Bavaria) which I really enjoyed!

Tuesday I made dough for German Christmas cookies (Plaetzchen). I baked them every year the last six years, so I wanted to keep up the tradition!

Wednesday morning I drove to my sister in law in Amsterdam (approximately 60 km from the Hague). With the dough I made on

Tuesday we baked whole day long a lot of cookies. Some of the cookies we decorated together with my nephew (1,5 year old). He especially liked (to eat) the colorful sugar balls! We decided to make a new tradition: baking the German Christmas cookies together every year!

Friday morning I went to see the gynecologist for the next check on my pregnancy. Everything was fine (luckily). Friday evening we went to a Chinese restaurant “Flamingo” in Wassenaar, a village 15 km from the Hague. We had dinner with a colleague of Erik and his wife and enjoyed the evening.

Saturday in the afternoon we went to visit some friend of us in Naarden, which is in the center of the Netherlands (approximately 85 km from The Hague). We chatted and had Thai food as dinner, which Erik and I really liked.

Monday I went to “bagels and beans” with a friend of mine and her daughter of about 3 years. It was very stormy weather, 11 beaufort. So I decided with Erik to go by bike, so the car could not be damaged by trees. My friend and I chatted and drank café. Afterwards we wanted to go to a playing ground for her daughter, but noticed that two trees had fallen over the street onto three cars! If I would have gone by car, my car would probably also been parked there, because there was a lot of parking space there…

Tuesday Erik and I went for a couple of days holiday to a bungalow park at Hoenderloo. Probably the last time that we go together without organizing a babysitter for our baby. We were staying in a bungalow at Nature park “Hoge Veluwe” in the east of the Netherlands. After we arrived and settled, we decided to go to “Bataviastad” a big outlet in Lelystad, which is around 75 km from Hoenderloo. There we shopped some clothes for Erik and bought a contact grill. Afterward we got some groceries and drove back to the bungalow park. In the evening we enjoyed our open fireplace in the bungalow.

Wednesday morning Erik first run half an hour in the nature park. After breakfast we went for a biking tour from about 15 km. Erik got a normal bike and I got a little bit extra support from an electronically bike else I would not be able to bike that far. It was nice sunny weather and quiet except for the shooting training of the Dutch military in the neighborhood… Afterwards we had lunch at restaurant “de Boer’nkinkel”, which was situated in a typical Dutch house. In the afternoon Erik’s parents came to visit and stayed for dinner. We grilled for the first time on our new contact grill, which was really fun.

Thursday morning Erik again went first for a run of half an hour. Then we went to Apeldoorn (about 20 km from the bungalow), again for shopping! We bought some new clothes for me, which was quit necessary, because I was still wearing my office (pregnancy) clothes from the summer in Munich. Luckily the temperature in the Netherlands has been higher than normal, so I could still wear them. I also still wear my summer jacket, which is seldom for this time of the year in the Netherlands. In the evening we grilled again and enjoyed the open fire place.

Friday we went to a tropical swimming pool. It was nice to exercise a bit, but the swimming pool was really small and after an hour we were really ready to go again! Driving back to the bungalow, we stopped at the groceries to get some extra supplies. In the bungalow I then baked Dutch pancakes, which was really a long time ago!

Saturday we were lazy and stayed at the bungalow to read, sleep and enjoy our holiday.

Sunday morning we packed out stuff and drove back to The Hague. We unpacked, did some grocery shopping and then drove to my father in De Lier (about 20 km from The Hague). My Stepmother celebrated her birthday and all children and grandchildren were there. So 11 adults and 9 children were there (age 0 till 10 years old). So you can imagine it was a bit chaotic and loud, but also fun to see that all my nieces and nephew were playing together. At 18:00 we had dinner with 18 people at a table. Yes, we can still do that with some improvisations! After dinner the kids all got an ice cream and were very active from sugar and tired of the day, so it was time to go home!

Cheers,
Marja and Erik