Rain…

The Dutch weather decided I needed some excitement and so morphed from a beautiful, cloudy sunrise into wind and pouring rain during my walk to the train station. The cyclist across the street from me got an even wetter surprise when the fountain next to the bike path took a 90 degree turn due to a surge of wind and shot a wall of water straight into his face. I guess the architect for the station didn’t think that through.

Hendrik is currently in Marseilles for a math conference. I think he is enjoying it, especially the part where he texts me pictures of the beautiful Mediterranean coast, complete with sunshine. So far I have heard a lot about scenic hikes and long lunches but not so much about math. Good thing I am joining him this weekend so I can confirm these observations.

Meanwhile, I am making the best of my week in Maastricht. Yesterday I crashed a friend’s dinner party and tonight I will hopefully go climbing with some other expats at a gym near work.

Combi Cuisine

We used our combination microwave and convection oven for the first time to make our favorite dessert (Althea’s fudge pudding cake):

To our surprise it worked great. Maybe we don’t need a proper oven after all.

-Hendrik

Being an immigrant

We’ve been here for just over three months and I’m starting to understand why it is hard for immigrants to integrate into new cultures. Right now everything here seems wrong. First of all, there are subtle differences in the ways that people interact that leave me feeling disconnected and unwelcome. Second, all of the things are just slightly off. The light switches are wrong. The crosswalks are wrong. The outlets, voltages, clothes, floors, stairs, toilets, sinks, stoves, beds, weather, bottled water, groceries, and addresses are all wrong. Every time I try to do anything, even turn on a light, I am reminded that this is not my home. Having lived in Germany for three months back in 2007, I did not think it would be this hard to adjust to the next country over, but it is shockingly different. Third, the language is impossible to learn. I’m pretty sure that human anatomy is not capable of forming the required sounds. I usually spend most of my Dutch lessons giggling at how ridiculous I sound trying to pronounce words. I hope living here gets easier with time.

Chairs and tables and dressers…

We got our ikea delivery:

This would be overwhelming if I hadn’t just bought Nancy a drill set:

We already have a table, some chairs, and some storage:

-Hendrik

Odds and ends

We are soon to get (finally) our ikea furniture. Before that though, we got out antique China cabinet:

It turns out that there are tons of good deals on furniture in old, wealthy cities.

I just returned from a fantastic visit to family in Hamburg:

Upon returning, I went grocery shopping with Nancy for a hilariously European meal (note the baguette):

-Hendrik

Walking to Germany

We walked to Belgium recently, but until this weekend we hadn’t walked to Germany (starting from the village of Susteren).

By chance, we came across a stone marking the western-most point in Germany.

-Hendrik

Cave tour

We have friends in town, and we went on tours of fort Sint Pieter and the tunnel network underneath.

The tour of the tunnels was amazing.

-Hendrik

Birthday

Nancy organized a string of very fun birthday surprises for me – ending with a wonderful birthday dinner!

A friend put us on to a very nice local coffee roaster. Between that and pretty fast internet, this apartment is now a fully functional home.

-Hendrik

Wine tasting at Apostelhoeve

Spring has arrived, or at least it wants us to think so. The weather was sunny and warm this weekend, reaching 65 degrees F this afternoon. Flowers are starting to bloom all over town.

We went wine tasting and hiking with some of my coworkers today at the Apostelhoeve winery and vineyard, which is near Maastricht and even nearer to Belgium.

We saw a limestone quarry on our hike today. The buildings at the winery were built from this stone.

– Nancy

New apartment

We’re enjoying the new apartment. Unfortunately ikea won’t deliver our order (including a dining table) for a couple of weeks, so we’re making do:

I’m having fun with some star trek wine charms given to me as a gift:

Also, our second hand furniture was delivered:

-Hendrik