Let there be licht!

And suddenly...Spring!

Today I set out to see a solar eclipse, which promised to be 

rare & bright,

yet the only bright light was a sky of white.

This, after days of glorious sunlight, in which I acquired my first freckles,

my earliest ever.

There is a lightness to life, in that I have found & begun work,

in between the important things;

food | friends | faith

I am learning the zig & the zag of a well cycled path,

I am finding the beauty, both above & below,

and I am leaning into hope, which comes with the sunlight,

and stays with it's zeal;

rare & bright.

Nieuw en Oud.

On the juxtaposition of nieuw en oud:

Before me stands one of the oldest & loveliest of stations, which houses many trains, buses and bikes. In front, lies a statue of a man and horse, giving the main street the glorious vision of a

 horses ass.

Now, I'm not in a position to be asking the why...

but as a mere visitor here,

should it really be so easy for me to determine the when?

Flat White.

"You don't need Wi-Fi to enjoy a good cup of coffee."

A true statement, from a direct Dutchman.

I confess I was slightly offended at the assertion from a stranger, implying that I ought not connect to the internet, when I'd expressly planned to do so. If I was quicker, I'd have retorted something saucy like "and you don't need manners to work at a Dutch cafe." Which, in fact, is true.

What? Let's just be honest. 

I'm told that this gentleman might have been attempting a joke in English, and showing off his linguistic skill, so we'll let it slide. After all, he's being paid a living wage, and doesn't care about me, and doesn't have to pretend to. An interesting concept indeed.

I have been in Holland for about a month, and have come to stages of appreciation and frustration each day. UP and down.

Eat a croissant, UP. Cycle through aggressive rain, down.

But, since we're being honest, 

I can say that today the balance is about equal,

with a courageous hope & expectation that things will tip 

to a lovely and solid UP

soon enough.

After this cup of coffee, perhaps.

1 week (or so)

It's been 1.5ish weeks since my move to the Nethies and already there is too much for words. But, since a picture is worth a thousand words, here are twelve, which speak for themselves...

Coco

      

    Sometimes you make a plan to pack

          But coffee & community wins

           And your 3pm cappuccino 

             Equals a 1am blog post.

           And sometimes that's fine. 

4.

It's both easy & difficult to wax poetic 

about a move overseas 

that I have been

dreaming,

planning,

& doing for the last 2 years.

Easy is adventure; fresh, new, courageous

Difficult is goodbye; for a while, overwhelming & with uncertainty.

I feel a swirl of unreality and know that the 

real will hit soon

away familiar plaid covered walls & my magenta-lipped mother

to share air with my kind-faced favorite.

I pack tomorrow, 

but tonight, I glow.

Linguistic.s.?

I've often made due with certain personal linguistic/spelling type errors,
and I'm not afraid to admit that another came to light, just the other day.

Much like my realization in 6th grade that the word I had been reading as Chaah Ohs (what is this, a cereal?!), 

was in fact the same word in spoken English as 'Kay Oss',
 I recently discovered that a word I so enjoy speaking as 'Pee kid'

is in fact written 'peaked',

and I was miffed.

Let's hope Dutch isn't this...complicated.