Amsterdam so far...

 

Amsterdam, so far:

• being greeted by rain, and a Syrian refugee asking for help, at the airport upon our arrival into the country.
• dodging hordes of bicycles while trying to cross the street with our 5 massive suitcases + hand luggage.
• getting up to our apartment and basking in its sheer adorableness.  
• holy jetlag, Batman.
• being invited up for tea at the neighbor's flat, and feeling thankful that they're so welcoming and casual. 
• freaking out at the boys because they keep spilling water on the nice wooden dining table (we've already added a few nice new water stains). 
• bicycles, bicycles, everywhere.
• feeling like an asshole American every time I speak English to store clerks or anyone else I need to ask for help, and for being so clueless about Dutch.
• thanking Google Translate multiple times a day.
• realizing no one seems to care about speaking to you in English.
• trying the infamous frites and pannenkoek and your kids rejecting them bc they're different from US fries and pancakes (they'll come around, I'm sure). 
• also trying poffertjes and experiencing love at first bite. 
• spending 30 minutes googling words like "spoelen" and "sterkdroog" to try to figure out how to work the washer and dryer. 
• facetiming with our best friends back home, marveling at how it's nearly bedtime here but morning there.
• walking past the brick buildings with their cute windows and flowerboxes, and the canals lined with leaning trees and sweet little boats.
• stumbling upon some of the coolest playgrounds ever. 
• being very pleasantly surprised that our closest grocery store is not only open till 9pm most nights, but it's even open on Sundays!
• really, really liking this little neighborhood we're in. 

the night before

It's our last night before we take off for The Netherlands tomorrow. I am in the midst of every emotion you can imagine having before such an adventure. I'm feeling that heavy exhaustion deep in my chest and shoulders that comes from feeling stressed and excited and anxious and nervous all at the same time, trying to plan and pack and envision what the full packing job will look like but not being able to get it finished till the last minute and hoping, hoping, hoping it will all fit and be under-weight. Fighting that nagging feeling of I must be forgetting something.

I am excited about the apartment we got, what it will feel like to walk down those old city streets alongside the canals, the travel opportunities from Amsterdam. I am excited for the fries and waffles and hagelslag. I am also nervous about the flight, about how the boys will adjust, how long it will take us to get used to the time change. I know enough about going abroad to know how difficult and frustrating aspects of it can be. I am alternating between "this is going to be amazing!" and "What the heck did we agree to?"

It is also a bit surreal to go around our house and our bedrooms and try to tidy things up and imagine what it will be like to come back to these same spaces in 6 months.

It all feels a bit surreal. And somewhat overwhelming. I'm trying to just trust that everything will work out, and to enjoy as much of the experience as we can (and the rest will make for good stories, right?).


Unrelated, here are some of my recent posts on Medium:

How Do We Reduce Gun Violence?  On looking at the different factors that contribute to our culture of violence.

Men, We Need Your Voices. Realizing that the majority of people speaking about sexual assault are women-- and that we need men to speak out, too.