A few more pictures

It looks like we are properly settled; after just 3 weeks our house feels like home, helped by the beautiful weather and lot's of progress on the domestic front. Mary whitewashed our bedroom and has been assembling our new Ikea wardrobe this weekend, with lot's of help from all of us. Also our new car is standing in the driveway, we chose a Peugeot 308 SW, which we had been driving last summer in France. It has proven its worth the first day, as our Ikea packages (2.5 m long!) fitted in easily.

We are still sleeping on mattresses on the floor, and our sea freight is not in sight yet, but we manage pretty well. And we can go on the bike everywhere, the car is not used on most days

School and work are going fine, and first friendships are starting to form. Mary and the girls had their first horse riding lesson last Thursday, at the stable across the road. The stable has an informal feel, which is what they like. Piet has also started with his cycling reconnaissance of the surroundings, and has been doing a 2-3 hour ride the last 3 Sundays.

So far, so good!

Dorien and Mary cycling in the dunes near our house

Icecream on Scheveningen boulevard

Dorien and Paula are testing the sea water temperature

Our first days in The Netherlands

We have been back in The Netherlands for more than a week now, and settling back in has been quite easy so far. After a day flight from Cairo we landed in Schiphol at 3 pm on Thursday, picked up a rental car and drove to our new house, which the girls hadn’t seen yet. It was “welcome to Holland” as we got stuck in a traffic jam straight away! We dropped off our luggage at the house and went to the hotel, a few kilometres down the road. We planned to spend 4 nights here, to allow us to organise some stuff to be able to camp in the house. After that we moved into the house, where we are sleeping on mattresses on the floor. The first days Mary’s brother, Piet mum and sister (with family) visited, each of them contributing to our small household with some essentials. We even spend time walking and hitting some balls on the nearby beach, which is only a 15 minute walk away.

On Tuesday Easter Holiday was over and the girls started at their new school: the International School of The Hague (ISH). It is a 10 minute bike ride from the house. It looks like they settled in reasonably well, at least on the academic front. We managed to get Paula in the advanced French class, so she can continue at her level. Making friends will take some more time, they are daily talking about their lives in Cairo. With internet not up and running yet, contact with Cairo was difficult.

We spend our week at the immigration office, buying a car, getting a washing machine and dryer installed in the cellar, new fridge, IKEA …. you get the picture. As a bonus we received the airfreight (our additional luggage allowance) within a week, containing Piet and Dorien’s bike, tools, sport gear and linen.

Then we got the internet working and contact with friends in Cairo was established. Mary and the girls visited the 3 stables in the area, and have arranged their first horse riding lessons for next week, at the stable across the street.

Piet started working in the head office, which is new for him. It is quite relaxed so far, and he can spend most of his time catching up with old friends, and chasing HR on administrative issues. The best part is cycling to the office, a 25 minutes ride. And no rain so far!

The girls on the beach near our house