So I broke the once a week (at least) blogging routine. Sorry about that. Things have been a bit busy. Let me cover the last week or so before we talk about tomorrow...

Last week we had Christmas with my family. I was reminded again how much I enjoy seeing and spending time with them. I have to say that I feel very fortunate to have the family I do (and I don't say that just because some of them may be reading...) Unfortunately, we don't see them that often (what with living several thousand miles away) so the goodbye didn't feel that unusual this time around. I hope we'll get to see at least some of them in the Netherlands sometime in the next three years, and we get one paid trip home a year, so we'll certainly be back to visit in that time.

Since we got back here, it's felt a bit hectic. I decided to do some last minute home repair. We had a small basement leak when we first moved into our house three years ago. I successfully patched it then, but the wall was still a bit damp in heavy rains, and the panel over the crack had rotted a bit and needed to be replaced. Since that part of the wall sat behind a set of filing cabinets, it never really rose to a significant priority level. With the house empty and ready to rent, the hole in the wall was a bit more obvious. I really should have let someone else deal with this problem, but I was a bit afraid of finding mold, or something worse back there, and I preferred to have the chance to clean it up ourselves before getting health officials and/or insurance companies involved. Finally fixing it was satisfying, but involved a day and a half of annoyance and running about with borrowed tools. Not exactly what we needed.

The rest of the time here has been split between seeing friends for the "last time" and running various errands to banks/hotels/pet shops/electronics stores. We've bought a TomTom (necessary for navigating Europe) but have failed to download the European maps for it. We've also dealt with a set of lost DVD's. An expensive thing, since some portion of them were borrowed from the library. Ah well, it's all just money at the moment. That's a weird sentiment for me, and I still have trouble with it really, but I don't have the time to worry enough to change the situation either.

Tomorrow is the big travel day. Or the day of suck, as I'm referring to it. It won't be that bad, but between getting to the airport, getting the rental car returned, getting the dog and our luggage checked in, fighting our way through security, getting on the plane, hopefully sleeping a bit, fighting our way through immigration, customs, rental car pickup, and finally finding our way to Hiversum, we'll be completely wiped out by the time it's all done, some 24 hours from now. Or is it 48? I lose track.

It's been hard saying our goodbyes over the last week or so. We've built a wonderful community here (as I've mentioned before) and we spent some good time with that community this week. We'll miss the late night chatting and laughter, and it will be strange to see these kids three years older all of a sudden. I know we'll be back to visit before the three years are up, and we've talked with many about potential visits, but it's still sad to go, and more than once in this last week I've wanted to call it all off.

But we'll really love this adventure in the end. These next few weeks of travel, adjustment, readjustment and settling in will not be our best times, but at least we'll be together. And after that is over, the fun will begin in earnest. The experience over the next few years is something I know we'll value in ways we can't understand yet, but right now, I really just want to be home. Something I can't have for at least another few weeks.

But this too shall pass.

So now we're visiting my family for Christmas. We flew in this morning on a red-eye, and boy are we tired. The older is currently asleep, but the younger gets up every five minutes telling us he's banged his head on the floor or a pillow, or whatever excuse he can come up with to further delay the inevitable bedtime.

I need to go to bed as soon as this post is done as well, but I really wanted to update everyone on our progress before I went off to sleep.

So our house is empty. We still need to get it cleaned and have a few things fixed up before it's ready to rent, but our stuff is out. From here on out, we're in hotels (or with family) until we leave for Amsterdam on the 31st.

We also managed to sell our cars. We ended up selling only one to the dealer, since another buyer appeared at the last minute. We haven't gotten any of the money yet, but that should settle itself out in short order. We'll need that cash to pay for a car in the Netherlands, but that is a little way off yet.

I feel really unplugged right now. In some ways, we have no real home right now. It's a bit disconcernting, to be honest. I'll feel much better once we've gotten to our house in Hilversum and I've managed to set M up with a phone and a bank card and some idea where the school and grocery stores are. Our stuff is scheduled to arrive in Rotterdam at the end of January, but we'll be feeling at home well before then. That will just be the icing on the cake.

I'm having one of those "what the heck were we thinking" moments right now. M has gone off to pick up the kids and the movers have left for the day. I'm sitting here alone in a house full of nothing but things to go to storage and recycling/garbage. What are we thinking?

I mean, we really like this city and this house and our community here. How did we think this was a good idea?

Now, before the e-mail starts flooding in worrying about my mental state and oh, my goodness, let me clarify. This is an emotional feeling. Rationally, it's still clearly a good idea to move to the Netherlands. We will like it (or most of it) and we will learn and grow in ways we wouldn't if we'd stayed here in our lovely house.

But, right now, I still wonder what we were thinking.

It would help a lot if our cars were sold already. I hate being in the position to have to sell to the first guy who gives us an offer. The company will compensate us a little for the fact that we're selling on short notice, but still, we're going to end up losing a couple thousand on each sale (probably) because we'll have to go to some used car dealer and take what he has to give.

If I liked to negotiate (or was good at it) then I might look forward to this as a challenge, but in reality, I'd rather sit with someone and figure out the difference between the lowest we'd take and the higest he'd offer and see if there was some overlap. That's just not how it works though.

Ah well, it's not the end of the world. The cars have been good to us, and in the end, we'll have had one of them for three years and only depreciated about $5k on it, so all things considered, that's not much for cost of ownership. A lease would have been more than that.

The other is slightly worse (5 years, $10k) but even so, we've wrung a lot of life and use out of them, and they've served us well. We'd have taken them with us, but it's just too complicated. If their parts aren't up to EU standards, they can send them back, so this is probably for the best.

Well, the move should be complete tomorrow before noon. Most everything is already packed up (the movers were joking about having them send a truck and just finishing it off today.) M did a great job of sorting and prepping and all of the guys complimented us on being prepared for them. I guess in other moves, people weren't at all ready and ended up having their plane tickets and immigration papers shipped by container.

So, we were on top of that at least. Well, better get back to checking things off the list.

Our stairway has been turned into a slide with two unfolded boxes. The movers are using it to send all of our things to the basement and out through the garage. I can't help but think the boys would enjoy this. On the other hand, good thing they're at school.

So, I made it back to the US without any trouble. No one even scanned my passport. Now we'll see what it takes to get back in. I suspect we've done the hard part already. The only possible hitch is if they ask to see my residence permit on the way back in. Of course, if it's been issued by then, I should get an e-mail with the acceptance letter, so I can show them that and there won't be a problem.

Right now, things are a crazy mess. The movers showed up yesterday, and most of the house is in boxes or packing paper. We're staying at a hotel a little way away. M is there now getting the kids ready for school while I answer the questions of what goes where. I'll be glad when she gets back here (oop! There she is!)

Anyway, we're in the midst of the move. Everything should be gone by the end of the day tomorrow. We did pretty well, in that we'll have more for storage than to ship, so we are doing some cutting down of our lifestyle. Unfortunately, I think much of what we're storing will be gotten rid of when we get back, so that's a bit of a waste.

Let's see, what else... We still haven't sold our cars. In one sense this is good, because it's easier to deal with our own cars than with some rental. On the other hand, it increases my concerns about not getting the cars sold. I think we'll end up going to a dealer, which is NOT ideal, but what can you do?

On Saturday, we'll fly out to visit my family for a week, so the pressure should be off for a little while. I'm still concerned about how to get everything to and from the airport. Not sure how all that will work out in the end, but it will. I really feel, in some senses, like we'll be crashing down in the Netherlands. I guess that's ok. We'll be together, and I don't think there will be anything that we didn't bring that we should have (more likely the opposite.)

Well, better get back to monitoring the move. Blog more later.

I fly tomorrow - with any luck.

As you'll remember, I still don't have my residence permit. Supposedly, I'm not supposed to leave the country once that process has started. Now, no one's mentioned what the consequences of leaving the country might be, and I can't find anything on line either. I think the worst case is that I might have to resubmit my application (well, I suppose they could permanently reject my application, but that seems a bit absurd.)

So, I go tomorrow, with a copy of my application (not to show unless pressed) and a phone number in my cell to call if the brown sticky stuff hits the fan. I suspect that there will be no problem, but there is a certain feeling of helplessness in all of this. But I'll know very soon tomorrow, since I need to be at the airport around 10am, and that means a train at either 9:00 or 9:20. The one at 9:20 requires a change of trains, but in either case, it's just not really a big deal. The bigger deal is getting the damned huge suitcase to the station and on the train.

So, all of that is my main focus right now. I'm sure there are other things I should be dealing with, but they're off the hook at the moment. I have at least four work tasks that need to be done by the end of the month, and I'm just not sure how that's going to work out with me traveling and such, but we'll see.

All I know is that it will be good to see M and the kids soon. But now it's time to go to bed.

Well, still no residence permit, but I've been told to go home anyway. Not sure what that means exactly, but I'll do what I'm told.

That's about all there is to say for today. I woke up 3 hours late, ended up 1 hour late for a meeting (it was ok, the meeting started about 50 minutes late...) Worked the rest of the day, rode the train home, bought a microwave dinner at AH To Go, rode my bike home, at dinner and drank a beer, and here I sit.

M's having a bad day. I guess it's her turn. I will be some much happier when we're all in the same place again, and even happier when we've managed to get our things here and settled in a bit. We'll get there, but it feels like there's a big hill between here and there.

I'm not sure if I'm bringing this computer home with me. I suspect not, since I'll want to travel with a lot nearly empty luggage for bringing other things back. I should have some access to blog with, but there are no guarantees, so I'll wish all of you a Merry Christmas (or your Holiday Celebration of choice) and a Happy New Year.

One of those days...

I had a 9am meeting in Amsterdam, so I got up, got ready to go, collected the laundry from the dryer and put a new load in the washer, then headed down to get on my bike.

Somehow I couldn't find my hat. This bugged me a bit, since it's been quite cold in the evenings these past few weeks, and I figured I'd need it on the way home at least. But it was nowhere to be found. I guessed I must have left it on the bus.

I rode my bike (with cold ears and cold hands - I must remember my gloves tomorrow morning...) to the train station. The nice place to park my bike that I'd used the previous day was gone, so I moved down to the other end of the rack and parked next to a small sapling. I think the bike ended up chained to it, but I'm not sure. I grabbed a chocolate croissant and some milk at the AH To Go and headed for the platform.

Unlike my early morning rides to the R&D site, this was an 8:11 train into Amsterdam. So, there was no place to sit. I ended up standing (with a LOT of other people) just inside the door of the first class compartment, since it was really the only place to even be on the train. I wasn't too worried about the conductor coming around and finding me with only a 2nd class ticket, since there was no way to argue that my accommodations were first class.

Instead of walking to the office, I caught the tram. No place to sit there either, but not really a big deal, since that's only a 5 minute ride. I got into the office by 8:45, just enough time to get a cup of coffee and read my e-mail.

There was no note about my residence permit, so I resolved to call after lunch if I hadn't seen anything by then. In addition, the people I was meeting with at 9 were either too busy, or out of the office, so I go up an hour earlier than I needed to. Bleh.

Next, I met with our housing agency to sign the contract for the rental furniture and set up our internet. That went just fine. In five business days, we'll have a box of modem/stuff to connect our computers/tv/phones to the greater outside world. Lovely!

The rest of the day was the typical grind. After lunch, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called. Turns out the person I need only works half days on Wednesdays!!!! I should have remembered that and called first thing in the morning, but tomorrow at 9am the phone calls will start.

The worst thing about this is that I feel really helpless to do anything. This is the only person who knows what's going on with me. If she decides to take the rest of the week off, or she gets sick, or gets hit by a bus, that's just it. I'm stuck in the country until I can find someone else who can look through her mail and sort out my situation. I can't even threaten to report her to her supervisor, since that really doesn't work over here. I can call her supervisor without asking, and it may come to that tomorrow, but to be honest, I don't think there's a lot she can do at this point either. The application went in last Tuesday, and it's supposed to take a "week", but my fear is that that's an approximate time and it could mean anything from 7 days to 10 working days (Monday one week to Friday the next.) I'm also worried that getting the approval isn't the end, since I might have to do something with that approval to be allowed out of the country (or to be paid in December or, or, or!!!) And, of course, no one will tell me what needs to be done until I ask directly (which I've done, but haven't gotten any response yet. Thus the calls tomorrow.)

Phew!!! At this point, I'd rate it 50/50 that I actually get home on Saturday.

The direct trains from the central station to Hilversum leave at every :27 and :57 after the hour, so at 5:10, I was headed out of the building. That's when things started to go wrong.

As I was passing through the security gates into the lobby, I realized that my tie was stuck to the velcro on my jacket. I made the mistake of pulling it off and stretched out a bunch of the threads in the tie. Bummer.

I figured I'd catch the tram, since I wasn't feeling like walking right then, but there was a big cluster of people at the top of the stairs in the front lobby. By the time I got through them and on the street, the tram was pulling away - CRAP.

So, I started to walk. A few hundred yards later, I realized that I'd forgotten/lost my scarf (which seems to be a mandatory component of every wardrobe around here), so I headed all the way back into the office to find it. Sure enough, it ended up being in the arm of my jacket - I'd had it all along. - Grrrr!

By now, I had one chance left to catch the 5:27 train. I had to take the tram and hope I could find the right platform quickly (and that the train would be just a couple of minutes late.) I caught the tram this time, bought my ticket, and waited for the ride to start. Five minutes later, the driver announced something in Dutch, everyone else on the tram looked at each other and then they all started to get out. I asked the driver what had happened, and it turns out she'd hit a car pulling into this stop, so she couldn't go on until she'd exchanged information with the driver. -CRAP!!!

There are four trains an hour to Hilversum. The ones I mentioned before are faster, but in between, there are slower trains that make more stops. It's still faster to catch the slower train than wait for the next fast one, and I headed to the platform as fast as I could, but just as I got there, the train pulled away.

Now, at this point, I was expecting to find my bike stolen when I got to Hilversum. Fortunately, the rest of the evening went slightly better. My bike was where it belonged and it hadn't been rained on, so I had a cool, but dry ride home. I didn't stop to get groceries, since I had no good way to carry them, but I made myself a scramble out of the one egg, two slices of cheese, and two slices of chicken sandwich meat. I even found my hat in the sleeve of my other coat. So things are looking up a little.

Tomorrow and Friday I go off to R&D again, but I've planned to leave work at 3 on Friday, so I should get at least one more blogging in before I go to the US. That, of course, assumes that I actually get my approval before Saturday. I'll keep you posted.

Not the best day today, for some reason. Mostly due to lack of sleep I'm sure, but the fact that my visa isn't in yet doesn't help either.

I stayed up late last night for no good reason, and then got up early to catch the train to the R&D site. I rode my bike to the station. I found a good place to lock up against one of the thicker bike racks. I need to remember to put a plastic bag over the seat, since it will make the bike look older and keep the seat from getting wet when it rains.

Having no train transfers is going to be really nice. That train only comes once an hour, but still, it gives me an hour and twenty minutes of uninterrupted riding, so I can work or sleep (as I did this morning.) It's a big difference from the one, maybe two train changes I've been making up until now.

Work was another series of long meetings. I'm getting really tired of that, and I may have to start doing something about it. I'll need to wait and listen for a bit longer first. If people really think these things are adding a value, then I at least need to figure out what that value is before I try to reduce the number of meetings. After all, they'll fight less if they see they're still getting what they need in other ways.

I found out today that one of the co-workers that I work most closely with is leaving her position. It's the right decision for her, but it really disrupts things for me. She'll be here another month or two, so it isn't like the plug has been suddenly pulled, but I really enjoyed working with her. On the other hand, she had some bad work habits (like micromanaging) that won't be missed by the rest of the organization, so it will probably be a good thing for everyone in the long run (as many changes are...)

I rode the single train back to Hilversum in the evening and then rode back to the house. I really need to work on getting the garage door remote from the landlord, since now I'm parking my bike in the very dark driveway while I go through the house to open the garage. Hilversum is very safe, but still, the bike is there for the taking. It's also just a big pain in the butt to have to go around all the time.

I got home to discover that we'd gotten some actual mail (notice that the gas and electricity was now in my name) and that the overhead light in our bedroom is working now. I assume an electrician came in to do that, but I can't be sure. Let's put it another way, I hope the electrician came in, because otherwise we have a loose connection somewhere that could cause much bigger problems later on.

Not much else to tell after that. I ate another microwave Indonesian dinner and e-mailed and surfed the web until now. Now I really need to go to sleep. I should be trying to rebuild my sleep stores for the flight this Saturday. That's going to be a long enough trip as it is without being tired before I start.

It's too late for a long post, so here's a short one.

Sunday was spent getting down to Roermond. Dinner was lovely, my friends are great hosts, and I'm sad that we won't be living in the same country for a while, since they're moving to the US while we're over here.

While I was there, we took a walk along the Maas. They commented that the water level is quite high for this time of year, but I had to take their word for it. The whole day was quite nice, even if I had to take two buses and two trains to get to them. That's not usual, but the tracks were being worked on in two places, thus the buses.

Today I found out that there is now a direct train from Hilversum to the R&D location. That will make my life substantially easier for the next several months. The train is just 1:20, so no more two hour trips back and forth. That's still a long time, but it's a lot less.

Today I had dinner with my cousin's friend in Amsterdam. It was another nice evening. We went to a little Tapas place around the corner from his apartment. It was really good, and the conversation was, again, excellent. I think we'll try to get together with both of these sets of friends early in the new year when we're all over here.

I'm still worried about my work permit (and not being able to leave until it's approved) but that probably means that I'll hear it's ready tomorrow. Or possibly not.

Ok, let's see how I did.

Reply to M
Organize top priorities for move
Buy a bike lock
Price kids bikes (to see if we need to buy bigger ones in the US now)
Get groceries
Find out about bike storage at the station
Buy a different/better language book
Buy a tape measure - measure the house for planning
Do some work (just an hour or so)
Update the blog again.
Play computer games
Laundry?
Unpack the rest of my clothes
Plan for my trip to Limburg - where I visit a friend tomorrow

Not bad. I crossed off play computer games, because I'll do that right after this. I'll do the work on the trip tomorrow, along with arranging my priorities. I should have plenty of time...

It turns out the trip tomorrow will take something like two and a half hours. I'm looking forward to seeing them, but I'm not looking forward to spending 5 hours on buses and trains. Ah well, it will be fine. My only worry is that for two legs of the trip, they're running buses instead of trains due to work on the tracks. I hope I can find the right bus at the right time. I don't need to make the trip longer by missing a connection.

Today, I wandered all over Hilversum. The weather was overcast, but dry, so it was a pleasant walk.

First I went to Gamma (note that Dutch g's are something like a combination between our h, k and g. So Gamma sounds a bit like hamma if you're clearing your throat on the first sound.) Gamma is basically the Dutch version of Home Depot. There's one not far from here, which would be more handy if we'd bought this house. On the other hand, the older windows are pretty drafty, and I'm considering building storm windows from wood and plastic sheeting once my tools get here, so maybe it will be more useful than I think.

Next I dropped off the rental agreements. Apparently I'd forgotten to sign in one spot. It's hard to believe, since I think I signed the damned things five times or so, and initialed every page just to make sure.

Next I bought a bike chain. Its a big, heavy thing that looks like it could be some sort of Medieval weapon if it were on the end of a stick. I hope it works. I've been warned to make sure the lock can't reach the ground, or the thieves will just smash it against the pavement.

I also checked out the bike storage at the station, but I didn't go into the guarded area, since I thought it was too expensive. Closer review on the train web site shows that it is only €90 a year for bikes. Its more for motorcycles and scooters. Thus my confusion. Well, that and Babelfish's bad translation. Maybe I will consider that as an option. On the other hand, I just spent €40 on a chain and lock, so maybe I should get my money out of those.

After checking out the station (and looking at the rows and rows of bikes) I went to a bookstore to find the Dutch dictionary that had been recommended - Dutch as a Second Language. The first store I went into was wide open and easy to see around. All of the shelves on the outer walls were clearly labeled (in Dutch, but it's not that hard to read book types when there are headings like literatuur and sci-fi), but they didn't have the book. No one approached me while I was in the store, but it was clear where the language books were and they were well enough organized that it only took me a few minutes to see that the book wasn't there.

Next I went a few doors down to a very different bookstore. This one was very crowded. There were huge piles of books everywhere, and it was almost impossible to pass someone else in the space in between. The proprietor, a small, older woman with glasses, asked me something in Dutch as I came in. I nodded at her and she asked again. I managed to properly say I don't speak Dutch in Dutch and she replied (in Dutch) that I must speak some Dutch. Then she asked me if I spoke English (Engles) and then we switched over. It wasn't really a conversation per se, since I couldn't be sure what she was saying at any point, but I think she was pleased that I was trying. She quickly found the book for me (Lord knows, I would have looked all day), asked me if it was a gift for someone (no, it's for me), and then wrapped it up in paper for me to take. Guess which store I'll go back to next time.

A quick stop a AH to pick up some food for the week. I also got some pasta and sauces and some extra soup with the idea of having some staples in the house for when other things run low.

I also stopped and bought a gift for my friends' son to take with me tomorrow. I spent a while in a little toy and book store talking with the proprietress about Dutch customs of gift giving and what kinds of books a ten months old might like. She wanted to sell me a whole pile, but I stuck with one small one. On the way back, it started to sprinkle.

And that's been about it. I came back here, realized that the dictionary is all in Dutch (it will be a great help in learning the language once I have some basics, but it's a little less than useful now...) worked on replying to M, and not updated the blog. Now it's raining really hard. Not a bad day, all in all.

I'm looking forward to my adventure to the South tomorrow. Hopefully it will be nice enough for us to hike around a little bit before dinner. Limburg is a bit more hilly than the rest of the Netherlands, so it would be nice to get out a little bit and stretch my legs.

Saturday might be lazy, but Friday wasn't.

I got up a 5 yet again and walked to the station. It turns out I was wrong about the price of bike storage at the station. It is €11 a month to store your bike in the normal bike spots, but guarded storage is €33. Given that the bike is worth maybe €400, I could buy another bike in just year. So I think I'll invest in a good solid bike lock and see where I can park it. That's something on my list to check out today.

I'm getting progressively more frustrated with myself at work. I just don't have the time to do all of the things I want to do right now because I'm busy dealing with moving myself and my family. For example, I should be going on trips to visit our suppliers right now, but I can't leave the country until my work visa process is over (hopefully next week.) There are two very important technology/strategy sessions two weeks from now, but I'll be back in the US helping pack up. I can't just stay here and attend these work things, but I feel like I'm not being able to put my back into work either. I need to be making and building relationships at work, but I keep having to say "I need to go now, I have to get a passport photo."

The thing is, people here do understand. They realize two things that I'm struggling with. One is that this is temporary. I will get settled, and then the number of these conflicts will drop a lot. The second is that the Dutch (and Europeans in general) make a lot more allowances for family vs. work issues. I'm constantly told not to worry about it when I have these conflicts come up, but I'm just not used to cutting myself slack for taking care of my home life first. Please note that I am taking care of home stuff first, but it creates this tension in me that I really need to get over.

I just missed the bus on the way back home on Friday. It literally pulled away as I was walking up beside it. I think I could have waved him down, but I just wasn't up for the running and waving. I ended up walking home, and the walk gets shorter every time. Even so, I'll be glad when I have that bike lock and I can start riding more. Although I'm considering scraping the bike up to make it look older than it is and therefore less interesting to the bike thieves.

This morning I slept in until 10. It was very nice to not have to get up before dawn. I made myself some French Toast, but this time I had syrup. Well, it's actually something called stroop, which roughly translates as syrup or treacle. It looks and tastes like maple syrup, but it's a LOT thicker. Maybe one of my British friends would know if it's like treacle or not (or what exactly treacle is, for that matter...) In any case, YUM!

Now I'm working through e-mails from M asking about sorting and car histories and lots of other details about the move from her end. I fell pretty guilty at times that I'm here and she's dealing with all of this crap at once, but I do need to be feet on the ground here. I'm starting to feel like I'm making a difference at work (despite my frustration mentioned above) and I know that I'll make a lot more of a difference in a month or so when I'm more settled and into a routine. Hopefully I can minimize the number of weeks I need to spend entirely at the R&D site. I like riding the train, but 1:30 is a long commute. I'm going to start planning later starting meetings and doing my e-mail and computer work entirely on the train. That will help a lot. Eventually I want to be two days a week there and two in Amsterdam with the fifth day working from home (or wherever I'm most needed that week), but we'll see how it works out in the long run.

Well, I'd better get my day on track. My plans for today are:

Reply to M
Organize top priorities for move
Buy a bike lock
Price kids bikes (to see if we need to buy bigger ones in the US now)
Get groceries
Find out about bike storage at the station
Buy a different/better language book
Buy a tape measure - measure the house for planning
Do some work (just an hour or so)
Update the blog again.
Play computer games
Laundry?
Unpack the rest of my clothes
Plan for my trip to Limburg - where I visit a friend tomorrow

I think that's it, and it's probably more than I will get done, but it's a plan anyway. I'd better get started.

Yesterday, I got up at 5 again, walked to the station again, worked all day again, and then brought my bike home on the train.

It turns out that you need a ticket for your bike (€6) and I was paranoid about it being stolen, but the whole thing was largely uneventful. At the train stations, they even have a trough of sorts constructed at the edge of the stairs that you can put your bike tires in to help you push it up or down.

On the ride back to the house, I almost hit someone coming out of the train station and they yelled something almost certainly rude at me. I should have used the bell, but I'm just learning. Fortunately, my commute time so far is earlier than rush hour, so I haven't had to contend with close calls with cars or buses yet. I need to find the fietsenstalling closest to the train station and pay to have my bike stored when I'm at work. These places are guarded indoor storage facilities that cost about €15 a month, so they're well worth it to protect your bike.

A colleague of mine says I can also buy bike insurance, but a €400 bike will cost €100 to insure for 3 years. That means everyone's bike gets stolen about once every 12 years. Astounding!

Today I slept in.

My first meeting was at 11, so I intentionally slept in and decided to be late. I didn't want to be too late, so I skipped making breakfast or coffee and went out to catch the bus. Just as I rounded the corner to the bus stop, the bus pulled away. Apparently I have no idea what the bus schedule is. The Dutch don't seem to believe in paper bus schedules (which probably cuts down on costs and litter) so I haven't been able to find a definitive schedule yet.

Well, no matter, I started hiking to the station. That's when I realized why they call it Hilversum. I actually had to walk up a hill!!! Well, it wasn't much of a hill really, but it was noticeable. The Netherlands is very flat, but it's not a table top, at least not right here.

I eventually realized that the next bus would catch up to me before I got to the station, so I stopped and waited at the next stop. There was a strange guy there talking to himself (and seemingly me) in Dutch. I tried to explain (in Dutch) that I don't speak any Dutch, but instead I said (rather poorly) that I didn't speak any English. Apparently the Dutch tapes I was listening to have burned the phrase "Ik spreek geen Engles" into my head such that I have trouble substituting Nederlands for Engles. Its ironic, really, since this is a less than useful phrase for me to speak, although it might be handy to know at some point if I should ever meet any Dutch person who actually couldn't speak English.

At any rate, the guy was not interested in if I could speak or not. He went right on rambling to himself, and continued to do so on the bus as well. I guess there are strange people on mass transit everywhere.

I ended up buying a chocolate croissant (mmmmm!) and a half liter of milk at the station for breakfast. I've been trying to read one article in the paper each morning using my Dutch to English dictionary, but I didn't feel like using the dictionary this morning, so I stumbled through something that I got the gist of at the time, but can't remember for the life of me now. On Monday, I had the special pleasure of reading about how the Detroit Lions quarter back had guaranteed at least 10 wins this season, and it was unlikely that they would get them now. Not sure what the point of that article was, but it seemed frighteningly similar to things I've read in the sports section in the US. Of course, that may just be because the Lions blow up every year.

I worked on the train, but there are limits to what can really be done without an internet connection and in a public place. Since my work involves lots of long term strategic thinking for my business, I'm hesitant to do too much where other eyes can see. So I wrote a few e-mails that got sent when I got into the office.

Another pretty uneventful day. I'm starting to like tomato and cheese sandwiches. Oh, and the yogurt over here is really good. None of this "Lite" crap we get in the states. Sure it's fattening, but I'm walking several miles further each day then I was before, and toting a fairly heavy notebook bag to boot, so I don't feel too bad about it. I should get back to running though. Maybe Saturday.

A couple of people at work did try to speak Dutch to me around the water cooler. I politely asked them "In het Engles, alstublieft" and they seamlessly switched over. I'm not sure if it's better to ask them in Dutch or English, but somehow I feel like I should try to speak Dutch when I can. I'm looking forward to taking classes when M's over here.

The Dutch speaking theme continued on the walk back to the house. Someone came up and started asking directions in Dutch. I tried (again) to say I couldn't speak Dutch, but flubbed it up. He was about to walk away when I managed to ask (in English) if he could speak English. He could (shocking!!!) and although I didn't know where the street he was looking for was, I had a map and knew where we were, so he was able to figure out where he needed to go. It felt good to help someone out, and it makes this feel a little more like my place.

I stopped at the AH and picked up a couple more microwave dinners. I should probably cook myself something at some point, but every time I end up in front of the meat counter, I decide I don't need cold slimy hands and I go back to some pre-made foods. All in all, they are really tasty, and probably better for me than the equivalent in the US.

On the last part of my walk home, two somewhat unpleasant things happened almost at the same time. First, someone pulled up to me on a bike and started talking to me in Dutch. This by itself would not have been so odd (it had been the day of speaking Dutch after all) but he seemed to be pointing at my dinners (I had been cheap and skipped buying yet another AH bag) and asking some question. I tried (for the nth time today) to say I didn't speak Dutch, and he frowned, said something that I'm reasonably sure was rude by the tone of it, and rode off.

Then I stepped in dog poop.

Still borrowing internet. Dropped calls on Skype are really frustrating. Hopefully I'll get the real thing soon, but I suspect it won't happen until I get back from Christmas.

The day started off a little too eventfully. I snoozed the alarm once too often and had to rush around to get out in time. I had toast with jam (Yay, Jam!) and coffee for breakfast. Then, since I was running late, I decided to risk the bus. As it turned out, I had mis-read the online schedule. Until December 9th, the bus doesn't come until 6:40, and the train's at 6:39!!!

Fortunately, I figured this out with enough time to hustle to the station. I was sure I'd miss it, and I only got to the station at 6:39. Then I realized/remembered that its only the Monday train that's 6:39, the rest of the week, the train's at 6:41. Why? Who knows, but I ended up waiting for several minutes before the train actually showed up.

Work was very good. I had introductions with some key people and sat in on my first management team meeting. We were deciding the fate of a project. I'd been in meetings like this as a project manager with my project up for discussion and it was pretty interesting to see the situation from the other side.

I was also "presented" with my bike today. If you remember, my office in the US bought me a bike and had it sent to the R&D site here. They dragged me into an office, got me to open a package with a set of wet weather gear, and then brought in the bike. Its lovely. Much too nice for what I need, and very unlike a US bike. First, it's HEAVY. It feels like a tank in some ways. Its got built in front and back lights with a generator that rides on the wheel to power them. It only has three speeds (or as one of my Dutch colleagues said, the wind compensation switch,) and there's a rack on the back with a built in bungee for carrying stuff. Now I just have to get it here and I can ride it to the station instead of walking.

It was suggested that I borrow a rental car from work to drive the bike home and bring the car back the next day. Unfortunately, there was no car available today, so that's the plan for tomorrow. In the process of figuring out the logistics of tomorrow's trip, I ended up leaving work just a little late and missing the train at that end. Fortunately, the next train was in 20 minutes.

On the way home, I sat with a colleague from Amsterdam. She had been visiting R&D for the earlier mentioned meeting, and she's American as well. Its nice to talk to someone who's been through the transition already and can provide some insight into what's ahead. She really likes it here, but she has a Dutch husband, so that gives her real roots that we'll probably never have.

When I got to Hilversum, I decided to try the bus home, and that worked great. It left just after I got on (so no waiting) and it was only the advertised 10 minutes to get to my stop, then just two short blocks home. I heated up another microwave Indonesian dish (this one was even tastier) and finished up some left over work. I also found out that my work permit application hasn't even been filed yet. Boy am I annoyed. I hope they'll have the approval back in time for my trip home. At this point, it shouldn't be a problem, but with the government, you never know. Wish us luck.

---

In moving into this house, I've realized that it's going to be really challenging (in a positive way) to fit our over sized American lives into this smaller feeling country. I know it's extremely rude to point out that the Netherlands is small, but that's not really what I mean here. What I mean is that the refrigerator is tiny compared to what we're used to. We'll have to be careful with leftovers, since there's just no room for us to have a lot of them in there. That means making just enough for us to eat that day, or planning on freezing (we seem to have more freezer space!?!) and re-heating later. One week of my clothes was four loads in this small washer, so we're going to have to wash more regularly. There's much less counter space in the kitchen and bathrooms, so we're going to have to make decisions on what stays and what we can do without. There are no closets in the house suitable for hanging clothes, so we're going to have to get a clothes rack or wardrobe and cut down on what we've got.

Please don't view any of this as a complaint. Quite the contrary. I'm looking forward to this challenge, and I think it will grow us as a family and as individuals in ways that will make it easier for us to be adaptable in the future. I really can't wait for M and the kids to get over here so we can really start this process.

Long day today. Up at 5, scrambled eggs and buttered toast for breakfast. Mental note - get some jam and syrup!!!

I debated taking the train to the station, but it turns out that everything is really tight time wise. The train leaves at 6:39, and the bus is supposed to arrive at 6:33. Even though the bus only takes 10 minutes, there is no earlier bus. Plus I needed to buy tickets this morning, so I decided to hoof it. The walk is about 25 minutes, so leaving at 6 gave me plenty of time to buy tickets and get lost in the station renovation.

I heard a rumor that once the renovation is done, they will change the train routing such that I can catch a single train to the R&D site, but for now, I have to transfer in Amersfoort.

Work was uneventful. I had a couple of free hours in the morning and I plowed into the big list. It's now in a somewhat usable form, and I've started kicking things off of it, but it's slow. I still need to go through M's e-mails to me and her list to see if I should be taking on anything else myself.

First and foremost in my mind is setting up arrangements to get our dog over here. There are companies that supposedly will do this for you, and the company is paying us a significant amount to offset the costs of moving the pets, but I can't get any of the pet movers to give me more information. Part of it is trying to do the work from this side of the ocean, but that doesn't account for them ignoring requests through their websites.

I decided to walk back from the station, as I needed to stop by the AH (Albert Heijn) and get the aforementioned syrup and jam as well as something for dinner. It turns out that the AH next to the station is much larger than the one near our house. In some areas, there were more choices than we have in the US. Especially for fresh pasta and meats. On the other hand, there were no medications of any kind in sight. The closest thing were bandaids.

So I picked up some TV dinners (thus the title of this post.) In my defense, they aren't so much TV dinners as pre-made Indonesian dishes meant to be heated in the microwave. I started to get the components to make my own, but then realized that at €3 a piece, it would cost a lot more to get the rice and pasta and meat and sauces and stuff than to just buy these things. The first one wasn't bad, but I think we could make better. On the other hand, I hate cooking for one.

I'd done enough work on the train that I felt no remorse at leaving my work computer put away for the evening. But now I'd better get off to bed. Its up early again for the same trip tomorrow. I think I'll try the bus, since I'll need other forms of transport in the long run.

Middle of the day after the first night in "our" house. I can't wat for M and the kids to get here and help make this a home, but it's 100x better than staying in a hotel.

I got up very late (12:30) and took some time to get going. Even so, I'd managed to finish drying last night's load of laundry, start a new load, make and eat breakfast, was the dishes from the past day and shower and dress by 1:45 (or 13:45) as we write it here.) Of course, now it's an hour and a half later and I've only manged to scrape together all of the things to go through. There's a big pile over there on the dining room table, and I'm avoiding it for the moment.

I realized today that I'd walked pretty darned close to the train station yesterday when I was out for dinner. Its really not all that far (if I'm right about where I think it is) so I'm not too worried about getting there tomorrow. I will need to get up early, as if I catch the 6:39 train, I can be at work by 8:30 (including the walk from the station).

Two hours sounds like a lot (and of course, there's the walk on this end as well) but it's not really as bad as all that. The train is relatively empty going North, and I can sleep or work without much problem. In fact the only time I've found this train crowded in either direction was coming back toward Amsterdam on Friday night. Apparently all of the university students go home for the weekends, so the trains pack up after 5 pm on Fridays.

Well, not much more to say except that it's raining cats and dogs here. Its scheduled to rain all week, but not as heavy as the week goes on. I put my GPS outside long enough to take a location reading, and it claimed that we're at 1 ft above sea level here (and it was hanging from a door knob) so if it rains too hard, I'll have to move upstairs...

Ok, it isn't home yet, and it wont be until M gets here, but at least it's the right building.

I got up late, packed the last of my things, ate breakfast at the hotel, then caught a cab to the house. The cab ride was a surprisingly large €80, but I wasn't about to haul my HUGE suitcase and the rest of my stuff onto the train.

When I got here (about 10 minutes early) the housing assistant was already here. We walked through the place, I pointed out a few more broken bits of plaster and I signed a bunch of papers.

There's probably 1000 annoying things about this house, but that's pretty much true of every rental I've ever had. The biggest things right now are the fact that not all of the light bulbs work, and the place is still a bit dirty. The housing agency is going to fix that on Monday, but that feels a long way from now. On the other hand, the house is definitely livable, and the furniture, while not ideal, will get us through until our container comes.

After the agent left, I was stuck in the mode of trying to do too many things at once. I ended up walking to the grocery store first, since I realized that part of the problem was that I needed lunch. The Albert Heijn is only a 5 minute walk through a neighborhood of quite large houses. It's a bit weird to have house envy when you're only renting.

So far, the neighborhood seems nice enough, but there's a little park across the street and there have been fire crackers going off there all day. Sinterklaas is coming later in the week, and I think this is all in celebration of that, so I don't expect it to be a constant issue.

I should talk about Albert Heijn a bit, since it's not the supermarket done US style that most of you are probably familiar with. First of all, the options are much more limited. There will only be one brand of milk (Albert Heijn) and one or two brands of eggs (not refrigerated.) The shelves are much less clear to figure out, and the non-food sections are even more limited in choices than the food sections. And they do NOT take credit cards under any circumstances.

Fortunately, my PIN card (bank card) is working fine. I spent about €30, but that included a bunch of household items like shampoo and detergents. I got some bread, sliced chicken and cheese, a jar of mustard, and some milk, butter and eggs so I can make French toast in the morning.

Back at the house, I found myself in too many things mode again. I couldn't figure out if I should eat lunch, make coffee, take the bathroom stuff upstairs, etc. I finally just forced myself to eat so I could think straight again.

After that, I unpacked enough to start laundry. The washer here is really small compared to the big one we had at home. I only got half of my shirts into it, but then I didn't try to stuff it full either. It's one of those front loaders, and I'm not sure how full it should be.

I struggled with the dryer a bit. It seems that some extension cord got removed at some point, and I had to slide the dryer over quite a bit to reach the outlet. Then, once everything was up and running, the circuit blew. I think it was a quirky fluke, since it hasn't happened since, but it was annoying to find my way down the all too steep stairs without any light.

I had been planning on going out to eat once the wash was underway, but after the blown circuit, I wanted to wait for the current loads to finish before leaving. I ended up falling asleep on the couch watching television. When I woke up, it was still only 6:30, so I moved the wash to the dryer and headed out to a Thai place I found on Google maps. It was really good, but I didn't see Phad Thai noodles on the menu. I'm sure I just overlooked, or it was named something else in Dutch.

While I was out, I discovered that the center of Hilversum is actually quite close to here. That will be really convenient in the long run, since that's where all the shops and restaurants are. The Albert Heijn is in the opposite direction, so I hadn't realized it was all nearby.

I think we're going to like living in this town, but I plan to do some more exploring tomorrow. I need to find the train station. That is to say, I need to go to the train station so I know the way. I also hope to finish laundry, make a real list of all I need to do before the move (both at work and at home) and I probably need to buy something to make for dinner tomorrow and Monday, since restaurants tend to be closed then.

---

As a side note, if you would like to get an e-mail when I update this blog, please send a message through the mailbag page. I'll put you on a list, and send out a note each time I enter something here.