Category: Blog Posts

I’m no expert.

Not a connoisseur. Not an expert, insider, or insider tipster.

In fact, many tourists know Berlin better than I do.

I noticed that even back when I was still living in the Netherlands and my coworkers first heard where I was from. “WOW! Why did you leave THERE??? Cool city!!” Yeah, Berlin is undoubtedly a cool city, but from the time I was five until I was 19, I was mostly focused on school.

Continue reading “Berlin expert”

So off we went. A whole week in “Holland,” as Max calls it these days. Everything was the other way around. We boarded the train in Berlin, got off at the border, and then drove on to Drenthe, where our guest beds are.

We’ve only been gone two months, but it already felt a little strange. From the North, I board the train to the Randstad, and the polders passing by outside suddenly seem less familiar. I’m walking through Amstelveen, on my way to see my friend L., and it occurs to me: just two days ago, I was still teaching at a school in Falkensee, a town west of Berlin, where I’d never been before. From Falkensee to Amstelveen—it doesn’t seem all that obvious to me.

Continue reading “The Netherlands, oh the Netherlands”

I’m now officially a freelancer. And as the word suggests, freelancers have a lot of free time.

Or maybe not, because it only seems that way.

Every spare minute and hour I spend here at home, a little cog starts grinding away in my head. “You have to find work, you have to find work, you have to find work.” Oh yeah. I really do.

So I decided to go ahead and do just that.

Continue reading “Work”

It’s a blast from the past.

Two weeks on the white beach. Playing volleyball. If you feel like it. Reading a book. If you feel like it. An almost turquoise sea, blue sky above. And besides that, seashells and little white balls of salami. And a slice of cucumber.

That’s how it always was. Back then. When I was little.

Continue reading “Urlaub”

There it was. A sunny summer Sunday. Finally.

After all the hauling, unpacking, thinking, and organizing, we let it all go and started working on our “this-is-fun-so-let’s-do-it” list. Enjoying life.

First stop: Mauerpark.

Continue reading “Berlin Summer Sunshine”

We’re here.

Four days of packing with the sweetest in-laws (because let’s be honest, who wants to help with something like that? Well, they did.)

One morning, we loaded up the truck with brother-in-law A. and cousin R. The latter ended up driving it partway through the day, so we never would have made it without him either.

Arrival in Berlin: 11:15 p.m.

Continue reading “Arrived”

It’s another one of those important German-Dutch days.

This morning we went to the German Consulate to apply for a passport for our daughter. Perfect timing, we thought.

Continue reading “Two Souls”

We sort. We tidy up. And we reorganize the to-do lists in our heads every single day.

And as we do that, we realize that soon we’ll have to get by without a number of really great, handy, and beautiful Dutch things. Here’s a list.

Continue reading “All the things I'll miss”

So now we have to start thinking about it. Because where are we ultimately going to live in a city with 3.5 million people?

There’s a huge selection.

We could check out the trendy and well-known neighborhoods that are all over Lonely
Planet. Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Kreuzberg.

Continue reading “Step 1: Finding an Apartment”

Fourteen years ago, I wanted to leave.

Away from the big city. Away from my parents. To be with my boyfriend in the Netherlands.

Off to a new world, all on my own. Studying in a language that was familiar, yet still a bit foreign. In Groningen, which was completely uncharted territory for me at the time.

It took a while, but that brand-new, still unfamiliar little country became my new home. And it still is—so much time later and despite all the political and economic upheavals.

Continue reading “Back to Berlin (for real!)”