Settling In

Today, Sander's parents brought us the last load of boxes that he had in storage. We've unpacked them and added a few more personal touches to our awesome apartment. I think it's safe to say we're getting settled into our new place!

Here's a little tour.

Welcome to our teeny kitchen.  It is surprisingly functional given it's size, and so far we're thoroughly enjoying it (especially cooking on a gas stove-- something that is a bit of a luxury for us being that we've been stuck with electric stoves for the last few years).  The cupboard space is really well organized and space is utilized to its highest potential.  The cupboard next to the stove has a 3 tier drawer system in it that fits everything from pots and pans to tupperware and cutting boards. It's perfect.  Another feature of our kitchen that I love is that the ugly bits are hidden.  The water heating systems here are a bit different than in Canada and are usually giant beasts lurking in the corner of your kitchen.  I love that ours is tidily hidden away in the cupboard above the sink. Even our fridge is hidden which I feel gives the entire room a nicer look.  

All the junk on the counter is stuff we brought from Canada.  We had a surprising amount of space in our bags so we started packing random things to bring along.  We figured the less we had to buy the better, so along came a cheese grater, spatula, measuring cups/spoons, our fancy knife set, travel coffee cups, etc.  We even brought our snazzy coffee machine which you can see sitting along the window.  Funny story is that we actually bought it in the Netherlands in 2012.  We brought it back to Canada, had our kitchen re-wired to accommodate the different voltage and now we've brought it back to the Netherlands.  We never ever thought it'd travel the Atlantic twice! 

Anyway, moving on.

Off our kitchen is Balcony #1:

It looks out onto a green space that is absolutely lovely.  I enjoy the air flow you can get going through the kitchen.  The window beside it also opens entirely so on those hot summer days you can have the side of the kitchen open.  

Next up is the Dining Room:

I think this might be my favorite room in the house.  I absolutely LOVE the table.  The top is unfinished natural wood and it is just gorgeous. I love how simple it is and I enjoy that it has white legs.  I also thoroughly enjoy the Amsterdam picture on the wall.  We had the exact same one in our apartment in Edmonton so it kind of feels like home.  Though, I find it really hilarious that there's an Amsterdam photo...... in the Netherlands. Shouldn't it be a picture of the Rockies or something? You'd think that IKEA would have different stock photos in different countries! 

Attached to the dining room is the living room.  They're more like one giant room than two separate ones which is nice.  I find houses here (especially older ones) are very chopped up.  Every "room" in the house is quite literally a room. Anyway, here's our living room (and probably the worst photo I've ever taken.  I'm sorry for your eyes):

The entire front of our apartment is one giant window and then there's a door that lead onto Balcony #2:

We get so much natural light (even on the cloudy days) and it is wonderful.  That is one thing that I LOVE about Dutch houses: they all have the most beautifully GIGANTIC windows! 

I also really enjoy the purple accent wall and I don't even mind the antique mirror on it (Sander cannot stand it and is itching to get a nice painting to hang there instead).

One of my favorite things in the living room is this:

There used to be a closet there and they've taken the door off to create a neat built in shelf system.  We brought quite a few random trinkets with us and this is the perfect place to display them! 

Next up is our bedroom.  I have yet to take a picture of the entire room because well, it's square and entirely empty minus a bed and a dirty laundry basket.  We're hoping to get a wardrobe/closet system at some point but aren't really in any rush as we have a second bedroom to store our stuff in for the time being.  

Second REALLY narrow bedroom with washing machine (yay!) and IKEA shelf which is currently being used as our closet

I do, however, have a picture of our awesome lighting upgrade in our bedroom.  There's a very narrow shelf above our bed that housed the most ugly clip on reading lamps.  Sander and I have done away with those and installed LED strip lights along the shelf! 

Along the wall with our door on it, there are windows along the top.  At first I thought it was strange but it's actually a really nice addition.  The outside wall in our room is a giant window (of course) and a glass door leading onto Balcony #2.  We have an abundance of light in our room and the awesome windows along the top bring some of it into the hall which really brightens it up!

I thought the hooks in the hall were really awesome too! We have no front closet for coats and such, so it's a really nice addition!!

That brings me to the end of my tour minus one room: the bathroom.  As it is very common in European countries, our toilet and shower are separated.  Our WC is quite small and has a few quirks.  First, it has the typical Dutch hand sink. Why there is one lonely tap whose sole job is to produce glacial water, I have no idea.  Also, I don't know why the sink has to be so tiny.  You are basically just washing your fingers one by one to avoid splashing that icy cold water on yourself.  Dutch people, please tell me why you cannot have properly sized sinks with warm water in your WC's! 

The other half of our bathroom is our shower, and happens to be my favorite quirk of all.

See the doorway next to the door leading to the balcony? Yup, you guessed it.  Our shower is in our kitchen!! And best of all, it has no door!

I will leave you to ponder the logistics of that while I go grab a glass of wine and relax like a pro.  There is an episode of Misfits waiting for me.  

patatjes oorlog

Well, we've been here just over a week now, I suppose it's time for another update.  Forgive me for my tardiness for I'm still getting used to relying so heavily on social media.

The last week has been quite wonderful. We've been taking full advantage of our relaxing time and treating this week off like a holiday!

On Monday (Sander's birthday! Happy Birthday to Sander!!), we went to the immigration office to officially submit my residency application.  We had it completely assembled so it was simply a matter of handing over some papers, getting my photos and fingerprints taken and signing a sheet, but it was exciting nonetheless.  I now have a fancy colorful sticker in my passport saying I'm allowed to stay and we just have to wait for my official residency card to be approved.

Today we had the brilliant idea to bike to the coast.  Google maps said it was 25km one way, we figured "hey, why not"! What Google didn't tell us though was that it was going to be WINDY and we'd be going against the wind the entire way.  By the time we arrived at the beach, our legs were jello and we were starving so we enjoyed an amazing portion of fries that we have no equivalent of in Canada.  It's french fries with mayo, peanut sauce and onions.  It sounds disgusting and there is no amount of cycling that can ever justify eating it, but we each had our own and enjoyed every single bite!  Nom!

I was too focused on shoving the fries in my pie hole to think of taking a picture before eating it, so Google has graciously donated this one to my blog. ;)

So WINDY!

Tomorrow we'll be preparing for our move as we get possession on SUNDAY! We are both so so so excited to see the place.  So excited, in fact, that we'v already made a trip over there and checked out the place from the outside:

Ours is the second from the top

I am really looking forward to unpacking our mountain of bags and no longer having to think for 30 seconds about what bag the item I am looking for is in.  Naturally, it's usually in the last bag searched. Or it's just in the first bag and my eyes forgot to see when I looked the first time.

Talk to y'all next week!

Hello from Amsterdam!

We made it!  And this is our view:

I can't believe the sky is actually blue! I honesty expected to arrive to grey skies and rain, so I am pleasantly surprised to to have sunshine.  It is a bit brisk at 13C, but I'll take it.

Today has been spent recovering from jetlag.  Neither of us go much sleep on the flight over (read: Sander didn't sleep at all, and I slept about an hour) so we're both pretty exhausted.  Overall though, the flight was really good.  We flew Iceland Air with a 1 hour stopover in Reykjavik and it was perfect! We weren't rushed at all and it was so nice to get off the plane and stretch our legs for a bit.  It was also really nice having two shorter flights than a short one and a massive one.  We'll definitely be flying with them again.

Even collecting our luggage was a breeze.  Five of our six suitcases were out within the first 10 bags on the belt and shortly after that I heard my name being paged.  Turns out one of our bags was left behind in Reykjavik and we had to fill out some paperwork.  We weren't too concerned.  We knew it'd show up eventually and they were going to deliver it! In the end it made life so much easier since we were able to squish all of our bags in Sander's parents' car!

After we passed along our bags and said hello, the first thing we did was have beer! Jasper, Bas and Michelle surprised us at the airport with a big Welcome Home sign.  We weren't expecting anyone to be there so it was a lovely surprise and such a good visit/celebration.  Funnily enough, we nearly missed them.  After dealing with the suitcase fiasco, we went out the side door-- where they weren't waiting for us.  Bas managed to see us though and they came running after us. 

Not much to update on so far.  Like I mentioned already, today is a relaxing day.  We did a few errands, played a round of Monopoly, and have resisted the urge to nap.  The agenda for tomorrow is looking far more productive. There's a beautiful 6km loop around a lake that is basically out the front door, so I plan on going for a run.  They also have exercise equipment along the path, so Sander is going to check those out and see if it'll do until we get our gym passes set up.  In the evening we're going to see Sander's friend Johnny. He's hosting a party and he happens to live just a short 10 minute bike ride away! And that's about it.  Still kinda feels like we're on vacation! =)

We don't get possession of our new place until next weekend so we'll be doing lot's of relaxing until then. Since we haven't ventured out much, I shall leave you with some selfies with Carter and Cash! Those two are just too dang cute to resist! 

  

One week to departure

Today, the sudden reality that Sander and I are moving across the world in a mere week has hit me like a tonne of bricks.  My heart is torn between sadness and excitement and it feels like there's a Cirque du Soleil performance going on in my tummy.  There are so many new things to be experienced, but so many fond memories we're leaving behind.

Since 2011, when I moved to the Netherlands for the first time, I have moved to Edmonton, to Calgary, back to Edmonton, and now back to the Netherlands.  People often ask if I'm tired of moving or if I'm ready to settle down; the answer is no to both.

I think moving so often has put life into perspective. Compacting our lives into suitcases has been the easiest part of this move.  Signing over our apartment and selling our car didn't phase us. Material items are simply material.  You can live without them. What has been the most difficult part so far has been saying goodbye.  The friendships we have built over the last three years have been key to our happiness here.  Jobs are jobs, stuff is stuff, but what makes you rich in life are the people you surround yourself with.

The intention of this post is simply to express our sincere gratitude for our friendships here in Canada.  Goodbyes are hard, but it's just for now!

To keep this post in true Kaylee style, here is a random picture from one of our more recent hikes in Jasper.  We sure are going to miss the Rockies, but are excited to explore some new terrain!