Thursday, April 14, 2011

Canadians invade Holland - Part 1

So lucky me got to have two friends visit in the last couple of weeks. First, while I was on vacation from work, Sabrina came for a week. I met her at Schiphol on Monday and we went back to my place and got her a bit settled. That evening we went to Utrecht, walked around a bit, and ate pannenkoek at De Muntkelder. Mmmm.

The next day I had tentatively arranged a visit to a dairy farm so that Sabrina could see cheese being made, maybe even make some herself. But the weather was really yucky - cold and rainy. So instead we went to visit my MIL and SIL in Leiden. We chatted a while and then went shopping for clothes. My MIL and SIL are so great. They stuck to English most of the time even though they haven't had to speak it for almost a year with me. They took Sabrina to a more generic store, saw her preferences and sizes, and chose a couple of stores that they thought would have clothes perfect for her. They were right! Sabrina couldn't stop talking about how much she loved her new clothes and the store she bought them at for the rest of the week!

On Wednesday we went to Amsterdam and checked out the floating flower market and the Albert Cuyp market. Then we met a Dutch friend of mine, Mickey, for dinner. He walked us through the Red Light district on the way to an Irish pub. Then Sabrina and I took the train home.

On Thursday Sabrina decided to take it easy as she had a bit of a cold and had a long flight planned for Friday. I had French class anyways, so that worked out fine. Friday I took her to Schiphol, saw her checked in, and enjoyed a nice cup of tea and a chat to pass some of the three hours she had to wait before her flight boarded. Then I went home, alone.

I loved having her visit because now that I live in Holland, I don't seek out the touristy things that are actually a lot of fun to do or see. She got me enthusiastic about my new country! She's also just so easy to be around! She makes funny comments, plus she's super-smart. She'd been away from home for a long time, and was really excited to get there. I was glad that she got to go home, but I miss her!

6 comments:

  1. How did you end up moving from Canada to Holland?

    I,ve been wondering that for a while!!!

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  2. Well I was trying out online dating, and this cutie pie kept wanting to talk more, but he lived in Holland so no chance of a coffee date. One night I was home and couldn't sleep and went online, and sho 'nuff he was there wanting to chat with me. He was so nice, and we didn't just talk about casual things, we talked about a lot of important stuff. And I was hooked!

    After a week or so I realized I wasn't willing to be in a long-distance relationship, so I let him know. He said he'd be willing to relocate, but that we ought to meet first to make sure that the connection was really there. So he came to visit, fell even more madly in love, and within a year we were married!

    We chose for me to come to Holland instead of him to Canada because my father was Irish so I already had EU citizenship, and can work or go to school here no problem. He would have had to wait over a year to work in Canada.

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  3. Wow this is so romantic Anne-Marie. I love these kind of stories...

    How long have you now been there for?

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  4. Je m'excuse Chouka, je ne sais pas pourquoi je n'ai pas repondu à ton question! J'habite aux Pays-Bas depuis prèsque deux ans et démi!

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  5. C'est magnifique et tu t'adaptes bien à la vie là bas?

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