Leaving for 5 weeks...

Well, I will be in Graz, Austria for the next five weeks starting tomorrow, for work. I am leaving husband, doggie and home behind. I wish I didn't have to go, but so is my life!! I have been to Graz before and it is beautiful, and I will be working with great people, makind new friends and seeing people that I haven't seen in years, so that's exciting!

Thank goodness for the internet and things like Facebook and Skype, it makes it so much easier to keep in touch with everyone. My parents they love to Skype with me especially since I have moved to Holland. It makes them feel closer to me in some way! It is also doing the same for me, and making me a little less homesick! Here's to hoping it will help while I am away in Austria.


Here is one thing I am looking forward to having once I am there (along with the Radler, Schitzel and Goulash):  This is a desert called Heisse Liebe, ice cream, whipped cream, warm raspberry coulis, waffle...dreamy!!

It was one of the most memorable things iI have eaten.  I am not a huge desert fan, in fact I have practically no sweet tooth whatsoever, but this...was amazing!!

I am also looking forward to meeting up with a friend that lives in Salzbourg, which is an amazing city.  Last time I was in Graz, my camera broke, but this time I promise to take many more pictures!!

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!

Out of town for a while...

Well, I have been out of town for a while for work purpouses, and that is why not so many posts.  My husband is at home dealing with the rest of the stuff that needs to be sold...I am kind of happy I am not there (hehe).  I am in a remote area in Ontario north and the internet access in my place is not great (mainly because my laptop has VISTA).  So, I am sort of un-connected.

Everything is sold in our house, and our last items that were not sold, our cars, were sold yesterday!! Yay!  It is so starting to feel real now!!  Some days I am so calm about it and other times I panic right out of my skin...but it is just a couple of emotions in my palette these days! 

August 30th is coming quickly!


I will keep you all posted as much as I can....

Overwhelmed...

Sitting in my empty house.
Thinking of all the things we have sold.
Praying that we made the right decision.
BREATH!!!

Living with others...

So, we are moving to The Netherlands in a month and 3 days. Of course, we don't have a place of our own, so we will be living with close friends of my husband's for the first period of time that we are there...hopefully not very long. It was very generous of them to offer us a room in their home, a room that they have since completely re-decorated and renovated....what? Yeah. This is so generous! My worry is actually being under the same roof with others.

For the last three weeks we have been traveling, visiting family and friends in New Brunswick and Quebec. It has been so wonderful spending time with everyone, however, we usually never visit anyone for more than really a weekend, maximum, 4 days, no here we were, we spent a week and a half at my folks (where my brother and his son also live) and a week and a half at my best friend's house where my dog is confined to outdoors and basement because my friend has allergies. Don't get me wrong, I am having a great time, but I think the fact that we will not be really ALONE for a few months still is starting to worry me. Every one has their own little routines, and habits, and moods, and, well, you get the picture. I want to keep my friends in The Nethrelands who are welcoming us with open arms, and I don't want us all to get on each other's nerves, but I think this is inevitable!

We will try to get out of the house as much as possible. Maybe some weekends at my father-in-law's in the Province of Groningen, maybe with my Sister-in-law, or some romantic getaways (which I am sure we will need after a while!). The best thing to do is, I think, to try to adapt to their ways, and try to stay out of the way and be as helpful as possible. Anyway, this is my plan.

I am hopeful that by December, at the latest, we will be able to get a mortgage and move into our own house....hopeful...wishful!

Empty house and the stress sets in...is this really happening???

Well, my house is now pretty completely empty, everything sold except for a few odds and ends and, of course, our cars. We have booked our tickets for August 30th and sprung for the celeberatory buisness class tickets. Now I am stressed, the excitement is still there, but I am thinking about, what if I end up not liking it. I mean I have visited Europe lots and I have been to The Netherlands on several occasions, but what if living there isn't all I think it will be?? What if we can't find work? What if we can't find a nice place to live? So many questions, and I can't answer any of them now, we have to wait and see and try to stay positive!
We have been traveling around Eastern Canada for the last several weeks visiting our family and friends here....kinda like a goodbye tour...weather has been horrible. So, the fact that we are not home, it just doesn't seem real that when we walk back in there on Tuesday, it will be empty for the most part. I have mixed emotions: relief of selling the house and the things, apprehension of all the work that still needs to be done, I am sad to leave a beautiful home and I have stress about the actual move. We have boxes to ship over and lots of luggage still to pack. We brought the bulk of it to my family and friends, and sold a lot in this major garage/moving sale that we had.
I hope to keep my blog more updated in the coming weeks, we have just been busy traveling and stuff like that. When I get back home I will post some picks of some places that we have just been to!

Our house is SOLD!!!....well, conitionally!

It has been a while since I have posted anything, just wanted to update that my house was sold last week, conditionally, which means we now have to wait until the house inspection and financing goes through. We will have a firm answer tomorrow or at the very latest Tuesday. Once everything is firm, then we can really (really!) pack up our stuff! After things are packed we are renting a moving truck that we will fill and bring the remaining stuff that we haven't sold out east to my folks...and at the same time have some time to spend with my Mom and Dad!
As of now, my date to leave is still somewere around September first and my husband's date is still undecided, probably, if anything, earlier than me!
Anyway, here is to filling those freakin' boxes!