Live Abroad

The Dutch don’t eat crisps

1st April 2019

“What are you eating?” My colleague had ceased to consume her own lunch altogether. She looked at me, one eyebrow raised cautiously. I looked down at my small sandwich bag which I’d stuffed with a diet friendly portion of Doritos. “Doritos.” I replied. I mean, I was clearly eating Doritos. She paused for a moment, […]

Read More

Getting that Dutch diploma

31st March 2019

I pretty much bark on about how hard I think it is to learn Dutch on a daily basis. Everyone says I am good. That I needn’t worry. That I speak really well for someone who’s been here this long. I love all of these compliments. They keep me going on the days where it […]

Read More

My First Birthday (party in the Netherlands)

24th March 2019

The Dutch circle party is a tradition written in solid stone. One does not stray far away from the circle party when choosing to entertain their friends and family on their special day. If you don’t quite know what a circle party is, then let me lay it out to you pretty simply: it’s a […]

Read More

And the winner is…

11th March 2019

I won a competition. It was almost out of the blue, if I hadn’t, y’know, entered it. But, as everyone always says in these situations: “I wasn’t expecting it!”, and honestly, I wasn’t. As you all know, International Women’s Day swooped down upon us and whisked us all away in her horn-tooting grip on the […]

Read More

A year in the Netherlands – a round-up of random

1st March 2019

I recently passed the one-year mark on my journey of being an expat in the Netherlands and it got me thinking crazy things like: what have I discovered in the past year? I’m certainly hoping that it’s more than just a handful of Dutch curse words. So here goes: a round-up of ‘some moderately interesting […]

Read More

The second coming or a second language?

10th February 2019

I find myself in a peak learning position. I live in a foreign country. I signed myself up for three Dutch lessons per week. Maybe, most interestingly of all (to me, and only me): I work in a school where I try to help Dutch and Frisian kids pick up the basics of my language, […]

Read More

That’s where Frisian cows come from!

2nd February 2019

When someone tells you they live in the Netherlands, where do you think of? Amsterdam; probably, with its glowing red lights and fancy cafes on every corner. Rotterdam: perhaps. It’s in that song from years ago, and it’s also the big city that got blitzed in one of the great wars. Utrecht? Another well known […]

Read More

Welcome

27th November 2018

I’m finally up and blogging! After spending the longest time umm-ing and ahh-ing over whether to start a blog or not, I’ve finally taken what is, to a relatively under-confident woman, a huge step. This may only be a small corner of the internet to you, but to me, this is my place to show […]

Read More