The kids have completed their first full week of school and I, my first whole week of work (uninterrupted by appointments, moves and induction events). The general take away on all counts is that it’s been very very good.
Reuben has settled into school incredibly well. There has been no bumps in the process for him. For that matter Reuben has actually managed everything about the move wonderfully. He has taken it all in his stride, from the SCO > NLD journey, to the different houses, to the altered schedule, to the altered diet, to starting school, to cycling here, to the language, to church, to making new friends, to having a new bedroom – it’s all been easy breezy for him. El and I had thought initially that Reuben would find it the hardest of the three. He’s quite a home-bird, and had a few really good friends back in Lenzie, but he’s just managed really really well.
Ariana has found starting school very tiring. She enjoys it certainly, playing with the new toys, running around with the other kids, and was complemented by the teacher on how naturally she was able to play along, but she is so tiny and struggles to sustain the requisite energy for five days a week of school.
Late Morning last Thursday, the Group 1 kids (Ariana’s class) were putting on a little show for the parents. El and Felix went in to see them perform. It took Ariana a while to spot El but when she did she became very emotional and was crying to go home. The teacher (Rianne) offered that perhaps in this instance it would be nice for Ariana to go home early so El took her home and put her to bed for a nap. That was nice for her. The school has been very gentle and catering to her.
Friday was a big party day at the school for the start of Carnaval, and kids were out early for 1230. Reuben was dressed as the Mandalorian and Ariana as, you guessed it, Elsa. Obsessed-much? Everyone was dressed up in crazy fancy dress. I had to cycle into town on Friday afternoon and 80% of the people I saw were dressed up in every imaginable combination of bizarre, colourful clothes and accessories. Lot’s of excitement
School for both of them is 0830 to 1430 every day except Wednesdays when all Dutch schools finish early ~1230. After school R+A are both tired but a few nights this week Ariana was already in bed asleep before I even got home from work (~1800).
El has to deal with the hardest of that for sure. I’ve not yet begun working days from home and i’m out of the house for basically the whole day, so she’s carrying the vast majority of parenting at this point. The kids can often be maddening, and wild, and argumentative, and rude, but El is no stranger to the challenges of being a Mum. So, frustrating as it can be sometime, she is winning. While the kids are out at school she’s making progress on sorting out the house and giving Felix the attention he needs and making dinners. I know she’ll be happy to get back into work shortly. I think it will be refreshing for her to get back a sense of independence, and not to have cheese sandwiches thrown at her.
El has been doing a Dutch language certification course on Tuesday and Thursday evenings for ~ two hours a session. She also has ~ 8 hours of course work every week on top of this. She is a fluent Dutch speaker already, but using the language for pedestrian / domestic matters is a lot different to using it in a professional, work setting. As communication is so important in medical fields, she wants to be well prepared for starting dentistry over here. I have a lot of respect for that. She’s managing her home and work environments very impressively. She’s also making a lot of new connections with others in a similar situation. She’s meeting people from the school, from church and from toddler groups close by. It’s nice to hear her talking about all these new people and their different routes that have brought them here to Eindhoven, as the majority of them are International.
El has started reaching out to a few connections within the dentistry community in the area to get a first look at some of the possibilities currently available and to gain a better understanding of how the game is played over here. I’m proud of her for just getting out there and making it happen. She’d like to be able to work within a half hour cycle from home, a few days a week, and ideally be done for school coming out. If it’s not available anywhere right now, we’ll probably wait it out and see how things shape up. I believe that there is every chance a job of that description will come up in not too long a time frame.
Carnaval
Every year the South of the Netherlands celebrates Carnaval by dressing wildly every day and night from Fri – Mon, throwing parties, holding fetes, leading processions and generally going wild. The historic route of the celebration goes back to a time when the lands inhabitants sensed spring was coming and times of wintery austerity were coming to an end, so they could merrily consume the remains of their meat (carne) supplies as times of plenty were now to come. Albert Heijn and Jumbo are the supermarkets supplying the majority of the meat to the Dutch these days, and they do it all year round, so whilst the celebration has lost most of its true relevance it remains a HUGELY significant celebration in the communities of the South.
Schools are on holiday next week, which we actually think is quite nice timing for the kids. They’ve had fun at their first week of school but it’s been hard work for them and I think a day or two would have been good for them anyway, but it’s a week so all the more rest I suppose. I’m not sure El will agree with my logic 😜
Great blog Joe. Lots of interesting detail. Very pleased that you’re all settling in so well. I particularly like the first picture – Ariana looking very intellectual with the pencil poised ready to write her next words of wisdom (we won’t look too closely at the page open in front of her).
Snow on the hills today but very enjoyable walking. I like to get snow on my boots; it’s not winter without it.
Love to you all.
Dad
There was snow on the ground the day we arrived but luckily none has fallen since then.
Thanks for this very detailryblog. I love hearing all about your life in NL. It sounds full on. So pleased Reuben is taking it all in his stride he seems v happy. I’m sure Ariana will overcome the tiredness and be more able to cope soon. Very impressed with all that El is doing I hope she makes some good friends. I keep praying for you all and hope you get to settle into your new job as well as new life. Love you all loads xxxx
The wee sausage will work it out eventually. We just tell her she needs to eat her soup to make her big and strong like the other girls in her class. That is occasionally effective. Diminishing returns I fear on that technique.