I thought you might be wondering what the life of a stay-at-home wife consists of while living in Holland. It is different than what I would expect it to be like if I were still in Vancouver.

First of all, in Vancouver, I would likely get up and walk the seawall to the Starbucks on Granville Island. A nice brisk walk and a destination with an incentive – an Earl Grey tea misto! Here, there is a beautiful park close by, but no Starbucks. It is hard for me to get up and walk alone without a destination. Especially since I am getting some exercise from the daily biking.

Secondly, if I was in Vancouver, I probably wouldn't be making a daily trip to the grocery store because my fridge would be able to hold more than one meal at a time. Seriously, our fridge is so small; we have only three condiments sitting in there. In addition to tonight’s meal, the shelves are full of the necessities: vla (Holland’s version of pudding), wine, Brad’s lunch making materials (cheese & meat), and milk for coffee.

If this was Vancouver, I wouldn’t have to be so creative with dinner because I would have an oven. That means an easy casserole would be the quick dinner fix. I’d have more time to do something else besides roam the aisles of the grocery store trying to figure out what to fix for dinner that was easy enough to translate. I could hardly contain my excitement when my family sent me Rice-a-Roni in a care package.

In Vancouver, I would definitely have a dryer to dry my clothes. You know, instead of drying them on a clothes line and ironing out the crispiness! Have you ever ironed underwear? It was new for me too. The only consolation was that it is a good excuse to watch TV. Now I iron quite often.

Speaking of TV, if I was in Vancouver, I wouldn’t feel justified to stop what I was doing and sit down to an hour of Oprah everyday. At 3pm. With coffee and cookies. Because it is the only English TV I could find.

Finally, if I were in Vancouver, I would probably be WORKING, so I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the challenges of being a stay-at-home wife. I guess this really isn’t all that bad after all.

Near mortifying experiences for the week:

On Thursday morning I took the train to Assen for the ladies Bible study at the church. Brad and I had been shown how to purchase train tickets at the machine (like a vending machine for train tickets), so I was pretty confident that I knew which buttons to push to purchase the correct ticket. I also have a frequent user card that I can use after 9 am, but this was at 8:15 and knew I would face a fine if I used my card.

Anyways, I purchased my ticket and got on the train. The train had gone several stops before conductor started checking each passenger's tickets. He asked for my ticket and then starts giving me a hard time about the ticket I had purchased. He told me that my ticket wasn't validated for today's date and that I would have to pay a fine of 35 euro for having made this error. Of course I didn't have any idea what he was talking about or even how to validate my ticket, so after batting my eyelashes and trying to clarify in English, he let me off.

However, I nearly choked when I found out how much the fine was and what I did wrong. The funny thing was is that I was with another Bible study member who had also made the same mistake and both of us were clueless. Needless to say, we will certainly not be making this mistake again!

Secondly, we are still waiting for Brad to get paid and, of course, are a bit tight on money in the interim. You can all imagine that setting up house, paying a deposit plus rent on our new home, 5 trips to IKEA, etc. would leave us eagerly waiting for the first paycheck. But we aren't so tight that we can't go out for coffee with friends occasionally.

Anyways, last night we went out with a couple from Brad's lab. We were walking around the city, looking at cellphones, and enjoying the evening bustle of downtown Groningen. We are having a nice conversation when Brad proceeds to complain about how long it is taking for the University Hospital to finish the paperwork and put Brad's profile into their computers, specifically, into payroll. He mentions that it would be nice to pay rent next month and hopes that we don't have to wait much longer because we are basically at zero.

Then we go out for coffee and when it comes time to pay, the other couple takes the bill and pays for it because it sounds like we are broke. Of course, while that wasn't really why Brad was complaining, we are both embarrassed because it sounds like we are a charity case.

Finally, I'm kinda new at blog writing and I am still trying to find the balance between witty writing and exaggerating for effect. Sometimes they can be the same thing. However, depending on who is reading your blog, it might matter.

We don't have Internet at home yet, so I regularly go to Brad's lab to check email and blog. I have been busy the past couple of days, so I finally got to check in tonight for the first time since Tuesday. I was browsing through the comments on my blog when I realized that Simone, Gerald's wife, has been reading my blog and she commented on the story about the tiny bathroom and the wet feet (you can read her comment under the first post).

I'll admit that when I read her comment it was more than "nearly mortifying". So I want to clarify that while that story is true, I really should mention that the we figured out how to avoid the wet sock problem on the first day (ie. wear shoes). Of course I failed to mention that in my post because it makes the story funnier. However, I've learned a small lesson about story writing - always think about your audience!

We have now been to three different church services in Groningen. We've actually been here for 4 Sundays - the first Sunday we were still kind of reeling from the culture shock and jet lag to make it to a church service.

The first Sunday we went to church with Brad's Uncle Joe who is a minister in this area. At first we thought he was a minister at a Dutch church in Groningen city, but it actually turns out that he is a minister in the province of Groningen and the church is actually in a small town nearby - a bit too far to bike, though (10 kilometers or so).

And the service is in DUTCH - and only in Dutch. So it turns out that regularly attending that church isn't really an option. However, it was nice to meet Brad's uncle and his family. They have really reached out to us which has been such a blessing.

The second Sunday we went to a church that was within walking distance from our house. We knew that the service would be in Dutch, but that they had English translation through headphones available. That was great because by this time we were starving for some good worship in a language we could understand.

Interestingly, the songs weren't translated at first, so we were singing along wondering what the words were. Most of the songs we didn't recognize, and I was starting to wonder if we were ever going to sing something we knew. Then the music for "My Jesus, My Saviour" started and it was so cool to sing it in Dutch with everyone. And by the way, singing in another language is a great way to learn pronunciation!

Once the sermon started, we slipped on our headphones and heard an English translation of the sermon. The girl doing the translating did a pretty good job, but it was the "delayed version" so it didn't really feel in sync with everyone else - especially when everyone starts laughing and we hadn't heard the joke yet. After we turned off our headphones, we were back to the reality that we couldn't understand anyone around us.

So this last Sunday, we got on the train and headed 30 kilometers south to an international church in the city of Assen. This church basically caters to visitors and foreigners in the area. The people who attend there are from all over the world and everyone speaks English. It was like a breath of fresh air! This will probably be the place that we will worship at regularly while we are here.

It isn't a very large church and it has its service in the sanctuary of a local church on Sunday morning after the local church finishes. So the service is at 11:30 and goes until about 1:00ish. We didn't get home again until 3:00 with the train and biking travel. It definitely puts new meaning into taking a Sabbath (that and the stores are closed on Sunday here).

The attendance was about 50 - 60 people including kids and there are 70 adults on the church contact list. There were several young couples who introduced themselves to us and they seem really nice. While the church has just lost their pastor, the people there seem committed to teaching God's word and fellowshipping together.

It definitely isn't going to come close to giving us the same experience as our wonderful church in Vancouver, but we feel that this is our best option while here in Holland and are going to make the best of it. And we are looking forward to getting into a small group and really getting to know the members there.

I almost feel embarrassed to write this post. It was very näive to believe that "you'll be fine, everyone speaks English" would mean that we'd be able to live life normally and get by with only English. I can't imagine what it would be like if we hadn't taken that conversational Dutch course last spring.

There is no doubt that it is quite easy to travel in Holland because it is true: Many people do speak SOME English. We just failed to realize that printed English would be virtually nonexistent. All of the signs are in Dutch, all of the forms and contracts are in Dutch, all of the words on the groceries are in Dutch, all of the menus are in Dutch, IKEA is even in Dutch. It is one thing to travel here, another to live here.

For instance, there is a sign in front of the bank that says "verboden om fiets voor vensters te parkeren". Now we can guess that "verboden" means "forbidden" and we know that "fiets" is bike. So we think it means the we can't park our bike in front of the bank. Except that there are 50 other bikes parked there, so what do we do? It turns out that they just don't want you to park your bike in front of the windows.

We also feel like the blind leading the blind when we go grocery shopping. It is one thing to recognize products - potatoes, carrots, soup, chips, pop, wine, beer - but when it comes to cooking instructions, your guess is as good as mine. And I had a really hard time finding the right type of cleaning products - if there wasn't a picture on the bottle, I might be cleaning the bathroom with oven cleaner!

We have definitely increased our vocabulary by just being here and getting around. It is like learning French in Canada by reading the back of the cereal box. I actually start a semi-intensive course next month, so by Christmas I should be in much better shape. And I purchased a Dutch dictionary which also helps.

Now, if we could just figure out the road signs, I think I'd start to like biking more...

While I'm on the subject of IKEA, I should mention that there are a few differences between IKEA in N. America and here in Holland.

The store layout a bit different and is hard for me to get used to. At home, there are two floors - one for display and one for product. Here the products and the displays are mixed together on the two floors.

You liked that bedspread on the display bed? Great, it is available in the next section. You want those dishes in the display kitchen? Well, the dishes section is right around the corner. This is fine until you've gone down to the first level and forgot to pick up something on level 2. I haven't found a way to get back up with the shopping cart.

Speaking of the shopping carts, here you have to pay a 50cent deposit for the cart and it requires the correct change. And from level 2 to level 1 there is a shopping cart escalator separate from the one that takes you and me to the next level. You sort of send your cart ahead and hope it makes it down okay. Then you get on your escalator and meet it at the bottom.

The restaurant has a section outside the entrance for cart parking. It is hilarious to see the half full carts "parked" outside waiting for their owners. Ironically, cart parking is free. And another thing, the restauant has a huge, smelly smoking section.

And don't try to return an item without your receipt. I learned that one first hand. Thankfully the cashier was gracious to this N. American and gave me store credit "this time only". I tried to explain that in Canada you can take anything back at anytime and get store credit. She didn't seem to care - she wasn't rude, but she was probably thinking that I should have known because it is clearly marked - IN DUTCH!

Next post, I'll be discussing why "you'll be fine, everyone speaks English" isn't good enough.

Got to love IKEA. Pronounced EE-KAY-AH in Holland, the big yellow and blue building beckoned me as I biked into the parking lot. And of course, here in Holland, there is a dedicated bike lane in the parking lot and bicycle parking area in the underground parking garage.

I have actually been to IKEA five times in past eleven days. I have been busy shopping and purchasing fun and exciting stuff to decorate our new home. The first time Brad and I went together to check it out - this was prior to moving into our new home. The next time I went alone (on my bike!!!!!) to purchase bedding because I didn't want to use the sheets provide by our landlord (they were used). And since then I've been back a few more times and let me say that under the right circumstances, one can pack a LOT of stuff on the back of a bike!

One thing I've found is that no matter what country you are in, you can count on certain things about IKEA.

1. You can count on the price. Everyone knows that the prices at IKEA are quite reasonable and definitely an affordable way to furnish your home nicely. I'm not saying that they have the best quality, but we all can agree that it is affordable. And since there are no Winners or TJ Maxxes here, this is all I have to work with. Incidentally, the prices here (while in Euros) are actually cheaper than in Canada or the US even after the exchange is calculated. Might have something to do with our proximity to Sweden...

2. You can count on consistent quality (or lack thereof). The quality seems to be the same as in N. America. There is the solid wood, the cheap pressed wood, and the plastic stuff here too. Actually, most of the products here are the same as at home. I could have the same dishes and the same bedroom furniture here if I wanted.

3. There is an "As Is" section. That would be the "Koopjes Hoek" section here. For those of you who aren't familiar with IKEA, this is the reduced section consisting of items that have been returned, the floor models, and other miscellaneous items that have been discounted. Don't get me started - I love the "As Is" section in my Vancouver IKEA. In fact, most of my belongings (currently in storage) have an "As Is" stamp on them somewhere. Needless to say, I am already hooked on the "Koopjes Hoek" section and am prepared to bike out there once per week just to see if there is anything I can't live without.

4. And there is cheap breakfast. Yes, the breakfast is 1 euro which a little bit more expensive than Canada, but the breakfast is better. Here, true to European style, the breakfast is 3 rolls, meat, cheese, a hard boiled egg, and coffee. I MIGHT even be able to convince Brad to go there on a regular basis just for the breakfast.

And I just want to say one more thing - while I've now given IKEA a good portion of Brad's first paycheck, I have been a good shopper and have many nice things because I've spent my money wisely. I'm a good steward. And I know that I'll be put on restriction if I go too crazy. I don't know what that would look like...maybe Brad would make me stay at home. Oh wait...

We finally found a house to call home in Groningen. That means that Brad will have a 3 minute bicycle commute through the city, instead of instead of biking 25 minutes through the country each morning. He could even walk if he wanted, but he really loves biking (unlike his wife, but that is fodder for another post).

The house is located just north of the downtown core near the big park that runs northwest of the city. In the summer, the park hosts various festivals for the arts - theater, music, fairs. We barely cross the street and are at the entrance to the park. There is also a square (actually it is a triangle) just around the corner with a regular grocery store, a discount grocery store, a bookstore, a florist, a pharmacy, a dollar store (sort of) and a deli. There is also a litte pub and a bakery on the corner, and lots more shops down the street.

Our home is similar to what N. Americans would call a townhouse.


It is a two level unit entered from the street in a row of houses that are connected. It is middle-aged according to European standards (approx. 120 years old) and made of brick - like almost all buildings here. And it looks really cool from the outside! Some of the houses in the row have painted their brick white, but ours is still red with white trim and a dark green door.

There is also a cellar, but the landlord says it often gets wet after heavy rain, so we probably won't be storing anything down there.

As you go through

the front door, the entrance is into a hallway where we will keep our bikes. There is a door off the hallway into the living room which has high ceilings and tall, large windows looking onto the street. There is a fireplace but the chimney has since been closed off; however, we can burn candles in it so it still feels gezellig (cozy).

The dining room is connected to the living room and it has a sliding glass door which leads onto a small enclosed patio which will be nice in the summer. The house is about twice a long as it is wide, so the living room and dining room are the length of the house.

From the dining room you go into the kitchen which is really narrow and long - kind of like a lean-to on the side of the house. The bathroom is off the kitchen and has been completely redone. The stairs are located in the kitchen and there are about 20 of them and they are really steep. One side is a wall, but the other is basically open to the kitchen below. Thankfully there is a railing for those late-night pee breaks!

The master bedroom and the guest room are upstairs. The master bedroom is quite large with a dormer looking out onto the street and a slanted ceiling (kinda like the loft). We have two chairs, a bed and two wardrobes. The bed is huge, but butted up against the slanted ceiling. We are still trying to figure out if we like that arrangement. The guest room has a new bed and mattress and is ready for visitors!

We are excited to move in and get settled. While the house is mostly furnished, there are a few things we will need right away - pillows, sheets, etc. I'm excited to check out the local stores and see what I can find to make our place more homey.

So IKEA, here I come.

As mentioned in the first post, we are currently living in a loft over the garage of Brad's boss, Gerald. We plan to stay here until we find our own apartment. The room is large and bright with space enough for a king size bed, table & chairs, two lounge chairs, and a long counter which contains a microwave, toaster, coffee maker, and dishes.

The loft looks out onto the back yard of their house and into the kitchen. Around 6:30pm we get a wave from Gerald's wife, Simone, signalling that it is time for dinner. Since the loft has no cooking capacity, she has been cooking us dinner every night. What a luxury! We could also pick up a wireless Internet signal through that window and are enjoying easy Internet access at our leisure.

This living arrangement is almost perfect except for one important detail that I forgot to mention - the bathroom. It was built by the former owners as if it was an oversight. And this is what we ended up with:

The door to the bathroom opens directly into the shower. To the left of the shower is the toilet and sink under the eaves (note: this is actually thru the shower). There is a shower curtain to cover the door and one to block the water from getting on the toilet. There is a raised wooden strip to prevent water from going in the toilet area. The floor of the shower is raised in the middle, and doesn't drain well. We have a squeegee to help with the drainage, but it never really dries.

Therefore, we often get wet socks when we go to the toilet. How nice.

As a side note, the only sink in the loft is the tiny one in the bathroom. When we want water for coffee, to wash the dishes, or fill up our water bottles, we have to go into the bathroom.

So we get our socks wet. Quite wet. Quite often.

Our second order of business should have been to purchase that rain gear I mentioned. Biking in the rain while holding an umbrella is okay - if you want to get KILLED! We almost found that out the hard way. Here's how:

On Monday we were scheduled to look at apartments with a local agency that we had been corresponding with while still in Canada. They had promised to pick us up, drive us around the city and show us some accommodations. Then they found out we had bikes. Apparently it would be easier to get around the city on a bike, so could we meet them in downtown Groningen at 2:00pm? That was no problem, because we thought we liked biking.

The weather Monday morning was windy and sunny, then windy and threatening to rain, then back to windy and sunny. At 1:00pm, we head out to Groningen. The wind was making it hard to bike - remember, our bikes have only one gear. But we want to get used to this biking thing, so we press on. It starts to sprinkle on us a bit. No problem. Plus, everyone around us is dressed in normal clothes without rain coats.

We view the apartment and arrange to see another place about 3 hours later. Instead of biking all the way back to our loft (45 minutes on the bike), we decide to head to downtown to kill some time. Right about then it starts 'piss pouring' rain as Brad would say.

I was wearing a down vest and turtleneck which was almost too hot to bike in. My only waterproof coat is my ski jacket which was sitting at home in my suitcase. Brad had on a useless jacket that seems to soak up the rain instantly. Did I mention that we are wearing jeans? Needless to say, we are soaked and immediately went downtown in search of proper rain gear.

Except we spent the next 3 hours looking because we don't know what stores sell rain gear. Where is a Walmart when you need one? We are weaving in and out of traffic, going the wrong way down one-way streets, and getting honked at by buses. I'm yelling at Brad "what happened to picking us up and driving us around the city?" He is yelling "watch out for that pedestrian." I can only imagine what it would have been like if I was trying to hold an umbrella.

When we finally found the shopping district, we were shocked at the high prices for the quality of product. It was a bit frustrating. That and figuring out European sizes. Eventually, we found a department store with a sale rack and did purchase some jackets. Mostly because I said that I wasn't biking home without one.

"We" are a bit happier now. How DID we manage to live in Vancouver for 5 years and not have proper rain gear?

Our first order of business was to purchase bikes.

Biking is the primary mode of transportation in Holland and bikers most often have the right-of-way on the road. If there is an accident between a car and a bike, the car will likely be found at fault. Both the city and country roads have well maintained bike paths. Pedestrians have to be careful crossing both the street and the bike path.

We spent about a half-hour at the bike shop and test drove only a couple of bikes before choosing ours. They all look the same to us! We were advised to get the “no frills” version to avoid bike theft. While the crime rate in Holland is low, the most commonly stolen item is a bike. Our bikes have one gear, footbrakes instead of handbrakes, and two locks. We will often lock our bikes together when parking them on the street in the city.

We fell in love with our bikes almost immediately! It is quite a thrill to ride around the country in the sunshine. While Brad is happy that Holland doesn’t require helmets, apparently everyone has some sort of personal liability insurance that will protect them in an accident. We still have to look into that...

We also needed to purchase a couple of accessories such as bike bags. The bike bags fit on the back to hold groceries. They are usually made of canvas or vinyl to keep your purchases dry. Remember, many people do not have cars - even old women are using bikes to go shopping. My bags are pink. It helps me easily identify my bike in the bike parking lot.

Another accessory would be rain gear. It won’t be sunny here forever. I wonder if I can get an umbrella holder instead?

We are here. In Holland. Our home for the next two years.

We had a loooong trip out here. I definitely advise traveling non-stop when you come to visit. While we enjoyed a 3-day cruise from Vancouver to L.A. with my parents, it was basically a nice break between the chaos of Brad's thesis writing and the chaos of traveling. We chose the cheapest route to Holland - flights from L.A. to New York, New York to Dublin, Dublin to Amsterdam. When we were finally on the train to Groningen, I checked my watch to find it was just about 24 hours from when we left L.A.

Our brief stop-over in Ireland allowed us to experience the airport version of "a full Irish breakfast". Sausage, beans, mushrooms, roasted tomato, white and black pudding (you'll have to google that one), egg, toast, hash browns. The sausage was soooo yummy, but at that point we were happy to eat something other than airplane food. We also went to an Irish pub for beer :) It was just before 12 noon in Ireland and the pub was packed!

We are staying with Brad's new boss, Gerald and his family, in a small town southeast of Groningen. We'll stay here until we find our own place to live. This town is like Fort Langley if Groningen was Langley. We have loft above their garage which is quite roomy with a tiny bathroom and tinier sink. We aren't sure if the heat works, but the cold air makes it feel like we are camping.

We are happy to be safe and sound. And we are excited about our new adventures. Thanks for praying!