The focus this month has been on:
- Free Stuff
- Work
- Happiness
- Friends
Free Stuff
I am reaping the rewards of a lot of the form filling earlier in the year.
'L' is going to start peuterspeelzaal (toddler play school) four mornings a week FOR FREE! He'll be 2 1/2 years old. This is great, except he finishes school at 11.45am and this will carry on until he starts school when he turns 4 years old in February 2016. 'I' will be moving to Groep 3 in August, meaning he will no longer finish an hour earlier than 'A' each day and will be in school for the same length of time.
I've also managed to enrol in a FREE Dutch course for six hours a week. I've completed two months of the course already and will start again in September. I'm really enjoying it so far, though can't yet hold a conversation in Dutch. From September, we will have someone coming to the house for an hour a week to read with the children in Dutch, again, for FREE.
Work
I'm running new baby and toddler yoga classes from September in de Rose in Vondelpark. I'm really looking forward to becoming part of the yoga community in Amsterdam and running a few more classes.
Happiness
I've been doing this #100happydays thing on Instagram and it was going very well until about day 49, when my phone fell in the toilet. It took about a week to be reconnected to the ether on a mobile and I sort of lost the flow. However, I know that I am happiest around nature. I love hearing the wind rustling leaves in the trees. I feel calm after being in the forest. I love the feeling of the wind against my face when I'm cycling along, and like it less when I forget to close my mouth and an insect flies in.
My happiness is also dependent on the children's happiness. 'A' has found herself again and is once more bossing other children around and talking non stop. She's currently off on a camp for four nights, happy as anything. I think now she's turned 8 she's starting to grow up a bit. 'I' has really thrived by joining two after school clubs: sport and football. His teacher told me 'I' asked him not to speak in English to him anymore. My 2 1/2 year old is bumbling around speaking half in Dutch and half in English.
Friends
One of the most annoying questions I'm asked is, 'have you made friends yet?'. How do you know when you have made a friend? My friends from London are people I've known for over 20 years. They will never be replaced by people I've only just met. To imply that they could be is just dumb. There are so many layers of memories and experiences, laughter and tears, misunderstandings and reconciliations, births and funerals. My friends from London are almost like my family.
I've also noticed in the past, that you never really know who your friends are until you really need them. Luckily, I've not needed to find out who my friends are yet! I do have people to ask over for dinner and people I go out for drinks with and people who we can have playdates with. I have people I can have a proper conversation with, a giggle with and who share some of my values. This is the best I can hope for and I'm grateful to the lovely people I've met so far.
