Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Wow...It has been a long time!

It has been such a long time since I posted here...what to write? 

We moved to The Netherlands on August 31st, 2009.  The process went fairly well...everything I went through as a new expat was text book.  When I got here it was the excitement of discovery.  I had been to The Netherlands before, but now it was for good, and when you plan to spend your life somewhere you look at everything differently.  For the first 6 months of our time here, we were lucky enough to have friends that invited us to stay in their home while Jacob found work and I adapted, so for the first month or so, I felt like we were just on another vacation, lots of activities, sight-seeing, looking at everything.  After the first month...panic set in, Jacob had had a few job offers, but he wanted to wait for the right offer, I couldn't work, and being a workaholic, this was hard for me.  I started to get homesick...really homesick, questioning our choice and hoping we wouldn't regret it later on.  Then, depression kicked in. I couldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I tried to keep my game face on for my friends who were so generous, but I doubt that it worked.  I wanted my own space, our own home, our life back.  This was hard on Jacob, I know it was, he was now working...got the perfect job...so he was living life, while I was staying at the house, not daring to go anywhere.  I spoke Dutch, but even so, it is so difficult to get out there...you don't know until you become an expat, how hard it is to adapt.  Finally Jacob got a year contract with the minimum salary required for me to get my permit to stay in the country (Verblijfsvergunning), and I could go to IND to apply.  Luckily everything I had was in order, we prepared my protfolio very well, and I received it within four months (could have been 6 to 12)....cue light at the end of the tunnel.  I started working as a free-lance musician, and started feeling more confident.  We could now start really looking for a home to call our own.  We found a house in January 2010 and moved in in February 2010.  This made a huge amount of difference to my adaptation process, and from then on it was a somewhat easier climb up the hill...I was starting to really like it here.

In May 2010, I went back to Canada to visit my family.  I was pleased to realize that I missed Holland, and living here.  I had no desire to go back to Canada to live...happy to visit, but I was happy to be back in my Dutch home!!  Phew!!  What a relief!!

 I am getting more and more work, the fact that this is such a small country makes networking much easier than anywhere else I have been.  People talk to each other and if you are good at what you do, then work will come! 

I had to take all the work I could get, so I took a contract for the summer (July 10-August 15) in Graz, Austria.  I am looking forward to seeing friends and colleagues, but I don't want to leave for 5 weeks.  I like being home with Jacob and Cookie.  Things you have to do...it is a signed contract, so I guess I have to go. I know, I know, stop whining!

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