Shadowplay aftermath
Jul. 25th, 2025 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
serafaeryfelt SO cute last night, but was having way too much fun and being way too social to take any selfies before or during the night. here are a few from when I came home and collapsed lol
serafaerySaddle Mountain in July
Jul. 24th, 2025 05:36 pmserafaeryA hot hike, but I pushed hard, felt powered by flowers once I got through the saddle. This is perhaps my favorite hike in Oregon, or tied with Dog Mt.
A rest on a picnic table in the forest, 1/3rd way up the mountain
Bliss.
Swallala-Oost is the native name for this mountain.
Butterfly friend
A rest on a picnic table in the forest, 1/3rd way up the mountain
Bliss.
Swallala-Oost is the native name for this mountain.
Butterfly friend
pleasant sunday ride, dumb birds, and dreaming of trolls
Jul. 20th, 2025 02:39 pmserafaeryOooohhhhgoodness, that bike ride was glorious.
Soft overcast clouds. I warmed up quickly. Biked through some sort of pride fest event, rainbows and smiles everywhere. Up the hill and over, so little traffic.
Up to my little extinct volcano, up to the top and around, while listening to a John Muir audiobook, descriptions of Yellowstone transitioning to Yosemite. The one portion of the John Muir Trail I hiked in Yosemite was mentioned, with Wizard Peak nearby an alpine lake, above Tuolumne Meadows. Dreamy to listen to his descriptions of his favorite part of the world.
Down the hill, still no traffic, admiring everyone's flowers and ripening fruits and rowan berries, saw a tawny cottontail rabbit merrily hopping down the sidewalk.
Stopped on my way down to text Hanne, Cynthia had asked me to, as Hanne recently got bad news from a scan and has to go in for a biopsy. I sent her lots of well wishes and good vibes. Asked Natasha how her drive home was and sent her hopes for good care for her injured knee. Where I was stopped was an inviting parking strip with a log and some other kitchy looking items, and a free library.
A stranger drove by and stopped and inquired as to whether there were any good books. I am very approachable on my bike, what with being a single female and also having rabbit ears on my helmet and flowers all over my bike, he was older and friendly and I didn't mind chatting. I hadn't considered perusing the library until he asked, and after thumbing through a book about dreams, and a YA story called "The Night Fairy," I found the most hilarious book in pristine condition, called The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America. This sounds kinda bad but it's actually objectively good, the descriptions are accurate and even though I adore all birds, I find the grumpy expletive-filled descriptions of them hilarious. It boasts "poorly rendered drawings" but they are actually quite accurate. This book is amazing. Such a score! I will have to leave them something charming in exchange the next time I bike through there.
The book is what I would describe as "aggressively accessible," and I love this about it. It is the same thing I love about Jarod Anderson's poetry, and he self-describes his poetry as such. He talks about this in his memoir aka "the depression book," about how after years of haughty poetry he switched gears to this style via his podcast and found an eager audience for it.
It is so inspiring to find things like this. One of my favorite things about philosophy when I was studying it, when I was deepest into it, I would find SUCH satisfaction in being able to distill concepts into comprehendible, consumable, intelligible forms. It is something my graduate advisor and mentor, Daniel Dennett, was known for, and although I did not rise to the potential needed to graduate, I hope that he saw in me the ability to do this - I know that at least one prof there did understand and appreciate my capacity for this and rewarded me handsomely, I got very good grades in the area of Phil of Mind with Dan and in Epistemology as well. Not so great in logic, ethics (ha), or aesthetics, they were either too strict or too airy for me; the middle ground of how we think and know things was my favorite playground to study in.
Rushed over to catch the last fifteen minutes of the farmers market, got greeted by Ian (Karissa's husband/Ragnar's dad) while picking up a tasty chilled can of cold brew coffee (they were out of brewed coffee, alas - that's what I get for being late!), Ian gave me blackberries and we chatted a while, it was so nice. Chatted with another neighbor who works the market and picked up some microgreens and herbs, and was gifted a pint of delicious pink plums. I love summer fruit! And summer bounty! And summer! Summer in the pacific NW is heaven.
(The banana bread turned out amazing this morning, btw. Extra butter and two eggs made it more cakey which we are enjoying, and the blackberries are a delightful burst of brightness.)
Biked home from the market through quiet streets and pretty flowering yards, I don't know how to turn off looking-for-a-house brain since choosing one, it feels so strange, all I can think about is living some place new and adjusting to all the quirks of the house and the new-to-me neighborhood (Josh's old stomping grounds, or just about). We will be a seven minute bike ride to Ole Bolle the troll! I would be lying if this were not a selling point. I am SO having mimosas at Broder Soder once we close.
...
I need to do a gajillion emailed forms and such and I have orders to work on and I need to go get groceries but first I will eat something tasty and healthy. It's really nice to be feeling better. Big day of work tomorrow, house inspection on Tuesday, I'm supposed to go over there and oversee, meep!
Soft overcast clouds. I warmed up quickly. Biked through some sort of pride fest event, rainbows and smiles everywhere. Up the hill and over, so little traffic.
Up to my little extinct volcano, up to the top and around, while listening to a John Muir audiobook, descriptions of Yellowstone transitioning to Yosemite. The one portion of the John Muir Trail I hiked in Yosemite was mentioned, with Wizard Peak nearby an alpine lake, above Tuolumne Meadows. Dreamy to listen to his descriptions of his favorite part of the world.
Down the hill, still no traffic, admiring everyone's flowers and ripening fruits and rowan berries, saw a tawny cottontail rabbit merrily hopping down the sidewalk.
Stopped on my way down to text Hanne, Cynthia had asked me to, as Hanne recently got bad news from a scan and has to go in for a biopsy. I sent her lots of well wishes and good vibes. Asked Natasha how her drive home was and sent her hopes for good care for her injured knee. Where I was stopped was an inviting parking strip with a log and some other kitchy looking items, and a free library.
A stranger drove by and stopped and inquired as to whether there were any good books. I am very approachable on my bike, what with being a single female and also having rabbit ears on my helmet and flowers all over my bike, he was older and friendly and I didn't mind chatting. I hadn't considered perusing the library until he asked, and after thumbing through a book about dreams, and a YA story called "The Night Fairy," I found the most hilarious book in pristine condition, called The Field Guide to Dumb Birds of North America. This sounds kinda bad but it's actually objectively good, the descriptions are accurate and even though I adore all birds, I find the grumpy expletive-filled descriptions of them hilarious. It boasts "poorly rendered drawings" but they are actually quite accurate. This book is amazing. Such a score! I will have to leave them something charming in exchange the next time I bike through there.
The book is what I would describe as "aggressively accessible," and I love this about it. It is the same thing I love about Jarod Anderson's poetry, and he self-describes his poetry as such. He talks about this in his memoir aka "the depression book," about how after years of haughty poetry he switched gears to this style via his podcast and found an eager audience for it.
It is so inspiring to find things like this. One of my favorite things about philosophy when I was studying it, when I was deepest into it, I would find SUCH satisfaction in being able to distill concepts into comprehendible, consumable, intelligible forms. It is something my graduate advisor and mentor, Daniel Dennett, was known for, and although I did not rise to the potential needed to graduate, I hope that he saw in me the ability to do this - I know that at least one prof there did understand and appreciate my capacity for this and rewarded me handsomely, I got very good grades in the area of Phil of Mind with Dan and in Epistemology as well. Not so great in logic, ethics (ha), or aesthetics, they were either too strict or too airy for me; the middle ground of how we think and know things was my favorite playground to study in.
Rushed over to catch the last fifteen minutes of the farmers market, got greeted by Ian (Karissa's husband/Ragnar's dad) while picking up a tasty chilled can of cold brew coffee (they were out of brewed coffee, alas - that's what I get for being late!), Ian gave me blackberries and we chatted a while, it was so nice. Chatted with another neighbor who works the market and picked up some microgreens and herbs, and was gifted a pint of delicious pink plums. I love summer fruit! And summer bounty! And summer! Summer in the pacific NW is heaven.
(The banana bread turned out amazing this morning, btw. Extra butter and two eggs made it more cakey which we are enjoying, and the blackberries are a delightful burst of brightness.)
Biked home from the market through quiet streets and pretty flowering yards, I don't know how to turn off looking-for-a-house brain since choosing one, it feels so strange, all I can think about is living some place new and adjusting to all the quirks of the house and the new-to-me neighborhood (Josh's old stomping grounds, or just about). We will be a seven minute bike ride to Ole Bolle the troll! I would be lying if this were not a selling point. I am SO having mimosas at Broder Soder once we close.
...
I need to do a gajillion emailed forms and such and I have orders to work on and I need to go get groceries but first I will eat something tasty and healthy. It's really nice to be feeling better. Big day of work tomorrow, house inspection on Tuesday, I'm supposed to go over there and oversee, meep!
(no subject)
Jul. 20th, 2025 09:12 amserafaeryHappy things. It's a nice overcast summer day here in Portland. The forecast is for a high in the low 70s, much more like it after some 90+ days while Natasha was visiting.
It was really fun having four cats in the apartment, until it wasn't. If it had just been Taiga and Tundra, my cat's parents, everything would have been fine. They all get along wonderfully, after the initial shock of seeing each other after a long separation.
But with Natasha's new adopted Glacier in the mix, it was not fun. He is only 9 months old, and he is deaf, all he wanted to do was pester Avalanche, I think in part because she looks exactly like her sister Fern (formerly Aurora but her adopted family re-named her, as well as Avalanche's brother Igloo who is now Rocky). Glacier and Fern had kittens together this summer. So I think Glacier thought this was his new wife or something. But Avalanche is fixed and doesn't know Glacier and doesn't *want* to know Glacier, as she tried to make very clear, but he can't hear her hissing and growling so he kept pestering her. It was sad. Taiga and Tundra were fine but Avalanche and Glacier were perpetually stressed. Tundra seemed the happiest of everyone and rolled around in my kitchen delightedly, she was so happy to have Glacier's pestering deflected away from herself. And nothing ever bothers Taiga, he loves everyone and everything all of the time.
I think it stressed me more than I realized because when Natasha left yesterday morning, my mood crashed HARD. I panicked about my future, ate poorly, ruminated, my body was in a bad pain flare, and eventually I just crawled into bed and slept for three hours.
I feel a LOT better this morning.
I haven't had outdoor time or exercise in a week, so I will go ride my bike up Rocky Butte after I finish writing here. Will pick up a few berries and whatnot at the farmers market on the way home, it'll be so lovely.
Took advantage of the cool cozy morning and baked banana bread from our two overripe bananas. I added some older strawberries that weren't spoiled but weren't really fresh enough for snacking anymore, and half the blackberries I picked after work on Friday. The property where I work does not spray and they have a fenced-off unkempt area that is currently full of blackberries and the whole neighborhood descends on the bushes when they begin to ripen. I feel blessed.
Cleaned the apartment a little and played hard with Avalanche, who hasn't had a good play session since the cats were here. I got her a new toy last night and she LOVES it. The other cats slobbered all over her old ones, so I felt this was needed.
...
Josh and I are in the process of buying a house. This has me mostly panicked at this point, it's just not a thing I ever thought I could manage, but Josh can, and I've worked hard to be able to pull enough weight to contribute, and although I could never afford anything like this on my own, I can significantly help and I feel really good about this. I found a house that has a detached studio that was built three years ago for the owner's mom to do her quilting, that I can sparkle in. That is something I can work out of, capture people on that side of town and save them from the commute, and probably increase my work hours to help pay for the house. There are permits involved for working out of a residence but those are manageable, my mom had to do it when she taught piano out of her home. We will be in Josh's old neighborhood which will be really different for me, I've never lived on the west side, but very familiar and comforting for him, which was important to me. I will find my places and my people, I will keep my studio on the east side as it is such a good deal it is worth it even if I only use it two days a week, to keep my current east side customers happy, and I can still keep in touch with my side of town, visit the park with my mom's memorial bench, and such.
It has low-maintenance landscaping, we are not yard people so this is so helpful. It has a fully fenced back yard for Avalanche. It is on a dead end street and backs up against a creek. It will be quiet and peaceful. It has a lifetime metal roof that is only ten years old. It has forced air heating and cooling. A 2 car garage, with an additional new work shed. It was built in 1985 so the house is not ancient, like so many of the houses we have looked at in our price range. It has a dishwasher. No more handwashing dishes and the inability to sanitize things without boiling them.
The only major downside of this little house is that there is no fireplace, and all the appliances are electric. So if the power goes out in a winter storm, which is will, we will be dead in the water. I am not okay with this. But after looking into what it costs to add different kinds of fireplaces/wood stoves, it looks like the easiest and most economical fix is to install a whole-house generator. Not only will this solve the heating, cooking, and fridge issues, but Josh will be able to keep working - he works remotely and would have to scramble to find workspace if we lost power. This will not be cheap but it will be first on my agenda when we move in - I might try to get it done during the move-in, this summer, so it's ready to go come wintertime. It's not super common for houses in this area to have them, unlike the mid-west or hurricane prone areas in the southern states, but it seems more than worth it to me, to be a safe harbor not only for us but for those we love, including Josh's parents, who are in the area.
There are definitely some other quirks about the house, the layout is funky and there are some high maintenance bushes in the back that will need hired help to care for or to just be ripped out, which is also expensive, but none of that is urgent. I love the fir tree in the front, the owners even have a cute little squirrel box on it, I love the creek next to us, I am looking forward to getting to know our neighbors and the area. It's a new chapter and I'm mostly excited but also terrified.
For me the biggest push to get me through my fear and sign the offer was Avalanche. We still live beneath a dog who tried to kill her, and she can never go outside because of it, she will never let me put her on a leash again after that - he attacked us from the hallway when we were coming in from a leashed walk, his owner let him out unleashed as we were entering our apartment, he bolted down the stairs and shoved past me into our apartment and picked her up by the ribcage. I got torn apart freeing her and getting him back out into the hall, all while the owner was still upstairs, and only made it down in time to see me shove his dog out and slam my door closed. I have to be reminded of the dog attack every day when I see him taking the dog for walks. I was sick for months from antibiotics and infections that ensued because of the antibiotic treatment for my wounds. While they continue on with their lives as if nothing happened.
Avalanche will be so much happier with safe, enclosed play space (supervised of course). I go crazy when I don't have my outside time. I play with her indoors as much as I can to keep her active and stimulated and enriched but I know it's not enough to really give her the fullest quality of life she could have.
If we really can't handle the payments and everything goes wrong, we can sell it and go back to renting. We will be okay as long as we have each other. I do not feel confident in my earning potential long term, but Josh feels confident in his, and this was an important step for him to take in his life, so I am happy to support it. Maybe it will inspire me to rise to the occasion and find ways to make more income, to improve our situation.
Off to ride my bike and visit the farmers market. I have a few admin things to do before I leave, regarding paperwork for the house, then change and off I go. Maybe listen to some John Muir writings while I ride.
It was really fun having four cats in the apartment, until it wasn't. If it had just been Taiga and Tundra, my cat's parents, everything would have been fine. They all get along wonderfully, after the initial shock of seeing each other after a long separation.
But with Natasha's new adopted Glacier in the mix, it was not fun. He is only 9 months old, and he is deaf, all he wanted to do was pester Avalanche, I think in part because she looks exactly like her sister Fern (formerly Aurora but her adopted family re-named her, as well as Avalanche's brother Igloo who is now Rocky). Glacier and Fern had kittens together this summer. So I think Glacier thought this was his new wife or something. But Avalanche is fixed and doesn't know Glacier and doesn't *want* to know Glacier, as she tried to make very clear, but he can't hear her hissing and growling so he kept pestering her. It was sad. Taiga and Tundra were fine but Avalanche and Glacier were perpetually stressed. Tundra seemed the happiest of everyone and rolled around in my kitchen delightedly, she was so happy to have Glacier's pestering deflected away from herself. And nothing ever bothers Taiga, he loves everyone and everything all of the time.
I think it stressed me more than I realized because when Natasha left yesterday morning, my mood crashed HARD. I panicked about my future, ate poorly, ruminated, my body was in a bad pain flare, and eventually I just crawled into bed and slept for three hours.
I feel a LOT better this morning.
I haven't had outdoor time or exercise in a week, so I will go ride my bike up Rocky Butte after I finish writing here. Will pick up a few berries and whatnot at the farmers market on the way home, it'll be so lovely.
Took advantage of the cool cozy morning and baked banana bread from our two overripe bananas. I added some older strawberries that weren't spoiled but weren't really fresh enough for snacking anymore, and half the blackberries I picked after work on Friday. The property where I work does not spray and they have a fenced-off unkempt area that is currently full of blackberries and the whole neighborhood descends on the bushes when they begin to ripen. I feel blessed.
Cleaned the apartment a little and played hard with Avalanche, who hasn't had a good play session since the cats were here. I got her a new toy last night and she LOVES it. The other cats slobbered all over her old ones, so I felt this was needed.
...
Josh and I are in the process of buying a house. This has me mostly panicked at this point, it's just not a thing I ever thought I could manage, but Josh can, and I've worked hard to be able to pull enough weight to contribute, and although I could never afford anything like this on my own, I can significantly help and I feel really good about this. I found a house that has a detached studio that was built three years ago for the owner's mom to do her quilting, that I can sparkle in. That is something I can work out of, capture people on that side of town and save them from the commute, and probably increase my work hours to help pay for the house. There are permits involved for working out of a residence but those are manageable, my mom had to do it when she taught piano out of her home. We will be in Josh's old neighborhood which will be really different for me, I've never lived on the west side, but very familiar and comforting for him, which was important to me. I will find my places and my people, I will keep my studio on the east side as it is such a good deal it is worth it even if I only use it two days a week, to keep my current east side customers happy, and I can still keep in touch with my side of town, visit the park with my mom's memorial bench, and such.
It has low-maintenance landscaping, we are not yard people so this is so helpful. It has a fully fenced back yard for Avalanche. It is on a dead end street and backs up against a creek. It will be quiet and peaceful. It has a lifetime metal roof that is only ten years old. It has forced air heating and cooling. A 2 car garage, with an additional new work shed. It was built in 1985 so the house is not ancient, like so many of the houses we have looked at in our price range. It has a dishwasher. No more handwashing dishes and the inability to sanitize things without boiling them.
The only major downside of this little house is that there is no fireplace, and all the appliances are electric. So if the power goes out in a winter storm, which is will, we will be dead in the water. I am not okay with this. But after looking into what it costs to add different kinds of fireplaces/wood stoves, it looks like the easiest and most economical fix is to install a whole-house generator. Not only will this solve the heating, cooking, and fridge issues, but Josh will be able to keep working - he works remotely and would have to scramble to find workspace if we lost power. This will not be cheap but it will be first on my agenda when we move in - I might try to get it done during the move-in, this summer, so it's ready to go come wintertime. It's not super common for houses in this area to have them, unlike the mid-west or hurricane prone areas in the southern states, but it seems more than worth it to me, to be a safe harbor not only for us but for those we love, including Josh's parents, who are in the area.
There are definitely some other quirks about the house, the layout is funky and there are some high maintenance bushes in the back that will need hired help to care for or to just be ripped out, which is also expensive, but none of that is urgent. I love the fir tree in the front, the owners even have a cute little squirrel box on it, I love the creek next to us, I am looking forward to getting to know our neighbors and the area. It's a new chapter and I'm mostly excited but also terrified.
For me the biggest push to get me through my fear and sign the offer was Avalanche. We still live beneath a dog who tried to kill her, and she can never go outside because of it, she will never let me put her on a leash again after that - he attacked us from the hallway when we were coming in from a leashed walk, his owner let him out unleashed as we were entering our apartment, he bolted down the stairs and shoved past me into our apartment and picked her up by the ribcage. I got torn apart freeing her and getting him back out into the hall, all while the owner was still upstairs, and only made it down in time to see me shove his dog out and slam my door closed. I have to be reminded of the dog attack every day when I see him taking the dog for walks. I was sick for months from antibiotics and infections that ensued because of the antibiotic treatment for my wounds. While they continue on with their lives as if nothing happened.
Avalanche will be so much happier with safe, enclosed play space (supervised of course). I go crazy when I don't have my outside time. I play with her indoors as much as I can to keep her active and stimulated and enriched but I know it's not enough to really give her the fullest quality of life she could have.
If we really can't handle the payments and everything goes wrong, we can sell it and go back to renting. We will be okay as long as we have each other. I do not feel confident in my earning potential long term, but Josh feels confident in his, and this was an important step for him to take in his life, so I am happy to support it. Maybe it will inspire me to rise to the occasion and find ways to make more income, to improve our situation.
Off to ride my bike and visit the farmers market. I have a few admin things to do before I leave, regarding paperwork for the house, then change and off I go. Maybe listen to some John Muir writings while I ride.
Moving to another country: Culture shock (part 1 of N)
Jul. 19th, 2025 06:46 pmzkaI want to start this entry on a positive note! (Before I describe our first 2 weeks of confusion and overwhelm.) Last night we discovered the best Indian food ever, a 3-minute walk from our house. Today we rode our bikes to the mall, and had lunch with expat friends (ex-Portlanders), it was lovely.
So it's been a nice 24 hours!
I've heard folks describe the Netherlands as relaxed, and laid back! I'm sure it's true, after you spend significant time here. Long enough to find your groove.
I'm fully confused by everything here, on an hourly basis. I expected to escape the layer cake of stress, 2 weeks ago. Instead I have moments where I feel like my breathing is constricted and rapid. Holy shit dude. Every single email, phone call, interaction, and transaction (no matter how minor) has a language barrier, because we don't speak Dutch.
I like the Dutch language. It's a close relative to English. It should be "easy" to learn, compared to (oh I don't know) Mandarin? I'm watching videos and raiding the Hear Dutch Here website. It's been 2 weeks, I can say "good day" and "thank you". I'm unsure if my context is correct; am I being polite, or inappropriate?
I feel like there's a 3x difficulty multiplier to all things digital. I keep a Google Translate tab open, and I'm constantly pasting text into it. Sometimes the translations are suspect! "Alstublieft" is translated as "please", but workers say this to me after I say "thank you"?? As always, context is everything: This expression is a formality, and the literal translation is akin to "as it pleases you".
Spoken Dutch has sounds which aren't present in spoken English. The letter G sounds like clearing your throat, "hhccchhhhh". Watch out, this sound has regional variations, too.
By the way. Everything is digital now. The black glass controls reality: Buying stuff, finding information, making plans, sourcing food, the financial universe. It's all pixels through a language barrier.
Lots of websites just don't work here. I ordered specialty sewing thread from a German website (couldn't find a store in the Netherlands). Clicked the checkout button, it debited my account ... but the order wasn't confirmed, and the items were still in the cart? Hmmmm. I called them by phone (note the 9x language multiplier: my English × Dutch bank × German store employee), she was very nice and it's resolved now, but this sort of thing happens alarmingly often. My husband had a package tied up in Dutch UPS for 3 days, and of course the phone tree is useless, even after you understand which options are available.
Very frustrating, when you're trying to (oh I don't know) do anything. Or buy essential objects for your empty living space.
There's a local bakery whose website simply reads: "This account has been suspended. Either the domain has been overused, or the reseller ran out of resources."
In America, I think we're raised with the implicit expectation that things mostly just work, at predictable times. If something is obviously broken, we feel entitled to have someone else fix it. I suspect the rest of the world is a bit loosey-goosey.
Getting insurance is straightforward. Getting a doctor is trickier. Your GP (General Practitioner) must work in your zip code?! This seems weird, but our expat friends explained it's because doctors make house calls, and they don't want to travel far from the clinic.
Husband called all the eligible medical practices, and no one was accepting new patients. On the final call, he stated that everyone else had turned us away, and they sighed and said "okay" and squeezed us into their practice ... starting in October.
If you take life-saving medication, I hope you have several months squirreled away in reserve?
Also new to me: Doctor's appointments are strictly 15 minutes long, and you're allowed to discuss one issue. If you have multiple issues, you need to schedule multiple 15-minute appointments (yes, these can be adjacent).
Trash must be sorted correctly. There are 14 categories of household waste, but only 4 are relevant to us:
But wait! Our grey bin is marked "Restafval", hmmmmm. We called city hall, and the representative didn't understand why we had a can for "everything else". They promised to launch an investigation! Which probably didn't happen. We're still awaiting their callback, days later.
Foolishly, we've dumped all our trash in the grey bin, because we're Americans, duh. Tomorrow, we have the exquisite privilege of sorting 2 weeks of rancid garbage into proper bins and bags, and I'm living honey
Our dog loves the backyard. She's barking at everything: cats, neighbors, doors slamming shut. Houses are packed closer here, we share walls with neighbors. Baby girl please stop I'm mortified
Everything is tiny, and proportioned strangely, not really the human-scale I expect: refrigerator, shower, washing machine. The "oven" is a microwave with special modes that mimic baking and grilling.
Don't get me started on the murder-stairs.
That's enough complaining for one night. I guess the punch line is: it's been a mere 2 weeks, and we're still """adjusting""". Imagine a progress bar, ranging from "American" to "Dutch"; we're at about 2%, and it's no one's fault but ours, of course.
Foolishly, I expected life would be easier here. Currently, it's not! I'm inventing new ways to cope with stress, and being immersed in situations which are (literally) foreign to me.
Unless you're moving into a fully furnished house, and already speak the language: there will be many challenges. How's that for mind-blowing wisdom? Wow, great.
Next entry: be more positive, yes? There's been delights and surprises in the mix too, so ... to be continued.
So it's been a nice 24 hours!
I've heard folks describe the Netherlands as relaxed, and laid back! I'm sure it's true, after you spend significant time here. Long enough to find your groove.
I'm fully confused by everything here, on an hourly basis. I expected to escape the layer cake of stress, 2 weeks ago. Instead I have moments where I feel like my breathing is constricted and rapid. Holy shit dude. Every single email, phone call, interaction, and transaction (no matter how minor) has a language barrier, because we don't speak Dutch.
I like the Dutch language. It's a close relative to English. It should be "easy" to learn, compared to (oh I don't know) Mandarin? I'm watching videos and raiding the Hear Dutch Here website. It's been 2 weeks, I can say "good day" and "thank you". I'm unsure if my context is correct; am I being polite, or inappropriate?
I feel like there's a 3x difficulty multiplier to all things digital. I keep a Google Translate tab open, and I'm constantly pasting text into it. Sometimes the translations are suspect! "Alstublieft" is translated as "please", but workers say this to me after I say "thank you"?? As always, context is everything: This expression is a formality, and the literal translation is akin to "as it pleases you".
Spoken Dutch has sounds which aren't present in spoken English. The letter G sounds like clearing your throat, "hhccchhhhh". Watch out, this sound has regional variations, too.
By the way. Everything is digital now. The black glass controls reality: Buying stuff, finding information, making plans, sourcing food, the financial universe. It's all pixels through a language barrier.
Lots of websites just don't work here. I ordered specialty sewing thread from a German website (couldn't find a store in the Netherlands). Clicked the checkout button, it debited my account ... but the order wasn't confirmed, and the items were still in the cart? Hmmmm. I called them by phone (note the 9x language multiplier: my English × Dutch bank × German store employee), she was very nice and it's resolved now, but this sort of thing happens alarmingly often. My husband had a package tied up in Dutch UPS for 3 days, and of course the phone tree is useless, even after you understand which options are available.
Very frustrating, when you're trying to (oh I don't know) do anything. Or buy essential objects for your empty living space.
There's a local bakery whose website simply reads: "This account has been suspended. Either the domain has been overused, or the reseller ran out of resources."
In America, I think we're raised with the implicit expectation that things mostly just work, at predictable times. If something is obviously broken, we feel entitled to have someone else fix it. I suspect the rest of the world is a bit loosey-goosey.
Getting insurance is straightforward. Getting a doctor is trickier. Your GP (General Practitioner) must work in your zip code?! This seems weird, but our expat friends explained it's because doctors make house calls, and they don't want to travel far from the clinic.
Husband called all the eligible medical practices, and no one was accepting new patients. On the final call, he stated that everyone else had turned us away, and they sighed and said "okay" and squeezed us into their practice ... starting in October.
If you take life-saving medication, I hope you have several months squirreled away in reserve?
Also new to me: Doctor's appointments are strictly 15 minutes long, and you're allowed to discuss one issue. If you have multiple issues, you need to schedule multiple 15-minute appointments (yes, these can be adjacent).
Trash must be sorted correctly. There are 14 categories of household waste, but only 4 are relevant to us:
- Paper and cardboard: goes in the blue bin.
- Compost, food scraps: in the green bin.
- Plastic, metal, drink boxes: in the grey bin.
- Everything else ("Restafval"): Put it in a bag, walk it up the street, open the weird public receptacle with a city-issued key fob, stuff the bag into its chute. The bag falls to a subterranean pit. When the pit is full, a sensor is tripped, and the city picks up the trash.
But wait! Our grey bin is marked "Restafval", hmmmmm. We called city hall, and the representative didn't understand why we had a can for "everything else". They promised to launch an investigation! Which probably didn't happen. We're still awaiting their callback, days later.
Foolishly, we've dumped all our trash in the grey bin, because we're Americans, duh. Tomorrow, we have the exquisite privilege of sorting 2 weeks of rancid garbage into proper bins and bags, and I'm living honey
Our dog loves the backyard. She's barking at everything: cats, neighbors, doors slamming shut. Houses are packed closer here, we share walls with neighbors. Baby girl please stop I'm mortified
Everything is tiny, and proportioned strangely, not really the human-scale I expect: refrigerator, shower, washing machine. The "oven" is a microwave with special modes that mimic baking and grilling.
Don't get me started on the murder-stairs.
That's enough complaining for one night. I guess the punch line is: it's been a mere 2 weeks, and we're still """adjusting""". Imagine a progress bar, ranging from "American" to "Dutch"; we're at about 2%, and it's no one's fault but ours, of course.
Foolishly, I expected life would be easier here. Currently, it's not! I'm inventing new ways to cope with stress, and being immersed in situations which are (literally) foreign to me.
Unless you're moving into a fully furnished house, and already speak the language: there will be many challenges. How's that for mind-blowing wisdom? Wow, great.
Next entry: be more positive, yes? There's been delights and surprises in the mix too, so ... to be continued.
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