Mom, Tulips & Windmills

It has been a little while since I have posted - I had a quick trip back to N. America for a small vacay and to attend a very special wedding (no - not mine).  For the trip back, my mom met me in Calgary, where I managed to switch her boarding pass without her even noticing, from the back of the bus up to Executive First, which was where I was sitting.  There was no way that I could have my mother sitting in economy while I sat in First, and although I had thought about giving up my seat to her, I realized that I didn't want to sit back there either, so it was just easier to get her a seat in First.  The only downside is that she if flying back of the bus back to Canada, and I can't even upgrade her as she is flying Lufthansa.

Long ago, I gleaned some sage advice from a fellow, seasoned expat - Ms. Carley Morgan.  For her multiple moves, she would fly her mom to help her pack and unpack and I decided to do that as well.  Although I have already been here for just over 2 months, I figured that it would be great to have some help to help get settled and boy has it been worth it!  On moving day (which was Wednesday), we had an early start with the movers arriving between 7:00-7:30am and we (meaning my mom) unpacked, while I checked off boxes, directed where things were going and also unpacked boxes - we did this for 10 hours and were both plum exhausted by the end of the day.  On day one, we managed to get both of the beds set up, found the basics for the kitchen and quickly realized that I was lacking some serious storage in the kitchen!  It was a long but productive day!  I would like to say that I am totally unpacked now, but I am not.  I am tackling a room a day and on Tuesday, I will have a cabinet delivered which I hope will help alleviate my kitchen issues.

I am not a total slave driver and have given my mom some time off to play tourist :-)  Yesterday we went to the Keukfenhof, the world's most beautiful spring garden.  For someone who LOVES tulips (me), this was heaven.  I took a few hundred photos - here is a sample of a few of them.

Canadian Liberator

Today was more touring - this time with us taking a drive out to the Kinderdijk, which happens to be a UNESCO World Heritage site for windmills.  My mom and I had a "moment" whereby we each looked to the right at the same time and saw the windmills and at the same time both went "oh" - we had a good laugh at that!

I Saw a Windmill

Yes - on my way from the airport to The Hague on Sunday, I saw a real, honest to goodness, Dutch windmill and I almost peed with excitement!  Who would have guessed that I would have saw one so soon!  Oh I think I might just enjoy this whole living in another country thing! (this wasn't the actual one but it looked like this!)

So windmills aside, I have decided to start a new blog chronicling my life here in The Hague.  I can't promise that it will always be exciting, but I am pretty confident that I will make you laugh from time-to-time as I learn to navigate living my life outside of Canada for the very first time.  Yes, I have travelled a lot (see my other blog - www.calgaryheather.blogspot.ca) but I have always said, that living somewhere is different than travelling somewhere - so this will be about my living and my other blog will be about my travelling, if I ever get around to updating it.  Yes - I know I am a trip or two behind!

So with that, I am about to try and find Albert Heijn aka the grocery store (www.ah.nl).  If you clink on this link you will see that most websites here are in Dutch and yours truly knows no Dutch.  I have however figured out which link on the website I need to hit to figure out where the closest Albert Heijn is - so here is to not getting lost and to trying to figure out what I am buying!   If I don't blog in a day or so, that means that I am lost and am wandering aimlessly about The Hague trying to find my way home! :-)