love, according to a four year old.

When Bart and I visited the states this summer a massive highlight was the time spent in Alabama with my family, and especially my three ridiculous and wonderful nephews (ages 7, 4, and 2) and my gogeous, perfect, brand new niece. All of the kids loved Bart, but almost-five-year-old Hunter took a particular liking to him. In our week together Hunter spent a lot of time with Bart and me (but mostly Bart), during which he asked us (almost daily) questions about our relationship/each other. They went something like this:


One morning with Bart:
Hunter: "Bart, does Sarah like you?"
Bart: "Yes, I think so."
Hunter: "Do you like Sarah?"
Bart: "Yes, very much."
Hunter: "Hmmm. Me too."



That evening Hunter was in Bart's lap after dinner, playing and making faces. Laughing, Hunter grabbed Bart's face and announced "Bart, you're my best friend!" It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Later in the week they even had their own secret handshake! (I was obviously super jealous.)

The next day, Hunter was sitting next to me.
Hunter: "Sarah, where did you find Bart?"
Sarah: "Umm, well... at my friend's house, in Switzerland."
Hunter: "And you wanted him?"
Sarah: "Well... We liked each other. So we talked a lot and visited each other after that."
Hunter: "And that's why you sit by each other? Because you like each other?"
Sarah: "Yes!"

A day or so after that, Hunter was sitting next to Bart again.
Hunter: "Bart, do you know why I always want to sit by you?"
Bart: "Why?"
Hunter: "Because you're my best friend. And I like you so much.... I just like you so much!"

This is why I love children. Looking back on Hunter's questions about Bart and me liking each other and his own conclusions about Bart being his best friend, I see the (often forgotten) simplicity of love and relationships. We like each other. And that's why we sit by each other.



ps- According to his mom, Hunter now wants to learn Dutch :)

a Dutch Mother's Day. and Easter. and life.

It's been a while since I've posted anything. Things have been REALLY busy. I now work for SEVEN families, which is fantastic and keeping me very busy. Bart and I have also been working a lot on applying for my visa, but should only have two major hurdles to go. As of Wednesday I'll be officially awaiting my Dutch residence permit, and that will alllll behind us - THANK GOD. As for the Fulbright, even though I think about it all the time, I'm still just waiting. They sent a all of my medical clearance paperwork to my mom's house, so I'm waiting for that to get here so I can complete my fullllll physical and after that hopefully be told WHERE in Germany I'll be going. That will determine a lot of things, because...

Bart might come with me! It all depends on how soon we can find out where I'll be placed, ie how much time we'd have to arrange everything. But it all depends on where in Germany I'll be, since it could be really close (in which case he would most likely stay here). So we're just waiting!

The last few weeks have been hectic with work, but also with lots of play. I was house-sitting a very nice house in my favorite neighborhood in Amsterdam for the last two and a half weeks, so it ended up being our "vacation home" in the city for two four-five day weekends in a row. Easter weekend we stayed there and Bart's sister Renske came to hang out and go with us to a big show. It was sooo much fun and Bart and I spent the next day (Easter) enjoying the PERFECT weather in the city (and eating Easter candy of course). The weekend after that was another big, long weekend because it was Queen's Day -- the BIG national holiday here. Renske came again and so did friends from Switzerland and we had sooo much fun. (Lots of pictures on facebook. ;))

A couple days after Queen's Day it was... SARAH AMELANG day! (International holiday, coming soon.) We went home then and as much as we'd enjoyed our "vacation home" it was so nice to be back in OUR home. I got a visit from Bart's mom that day, which was great, and enjoyed a lovely birthday with Bart. Later in the week were more Dutch holidays! May 4th is Remembrance Day for Dutch soldiers from WWII to the present, and there was a lovely ceremony and two minutes of silence at 8pm for them. It was really great to see, I think that's very important. Then the next day, May 5th, is Liberation Day (the day the Dutch were liberated from their Germany occupation) and it's a big party! We met up with my friend Jo from Switzerland (she's Canadian but was also an au pair there while I was) and she and I had a lot of fun and met another American girl.

And finally, this weekend was Mother's Day of course! And actually on Saturday while Bart and I were out I randomly met a girl from HOUSTON who is here with her Dutch fiancé, so that was nice! We're meeting for drinks tonight. So anyway, yesterday Bart's mom, step dad, and Renske came over to our house and we had a really nice day here. I made chicken fajitas with all the trimmings for them, and they LOVED it!!! We had nice weather, so we grilled the meat and it was delicious. It was my first time making everything from scratch, so I had a lot of fun (and was reminded of my own grandmas and mom as I was constantly busy in the kitchen!). I missed my family yesterday for sure, but it was a really nice time with my Dutch family -- and my sisters will be here in ONE WEEK!!!! I can't wait!!!!! But anyway, it's been great spending so much time with Bart's family lately. We really get along and it's been great getting closer to them. In two weeks I'll go with Bart's mom and Renske to a very typical little Dutch town where we have to go by boat, and we'll have a picnic. I'm excited and I'll definitely have to write about that. :)

Well, that's what's been going on lately! Now I'm very much looking forward to getting the visa overwith this week and then having Laura and Elizabeth here next week! It's really going to be so great, I can't even describe how excited I am. We've never done anything like this before... It will be amazing! And I think in general I'm just very much enjoying having OUR place and hosting our family and friends. So... come visit me! ;)

lots of love from Amsterdam xoxo

life is good!

Ahhh this has been a great few weeks.

Lots of great time with Bart, and with friends and family.

Work is great, I'm getting a lot of work and I love my job.

And finally... I GOT THE FULBRIGHT GRANT!! There will definitely be more on that later, but right now I'm just so happy to be out of the sheer panic mode that I've been in for about the last week and a half (since they told me my letter was in the mail!).

I'm so happy!

six month mark

Yesterday Bart and I celebrated our half-anniversary. Most of the six months that we've been "together" we were actually super long distance, which was of course challenging. But when we first started talking about moving into together we got LOTS of (solicited AND unsolicited) advice about the new challenges we would face.

We were warned about moving in together too soon in our relationship (four ish months), and that it could be too much after being so long distance. Some even told us (me) that living together changes everything and that we could very well fight all the time. (After all, it's a small house.) Everyone said the beginning would be the hardest and that I would KNOW if it would work within a matter of weeks, or even days -- or HOURS, as some said. I took all of these into account. Believe me, we had our doubts. Going from skype every day to really being together was a HUGE, daunting step.

But as our six month mark came and went... I'm so happy. And believe me, if the last seven weeks we've spent living together were the hardest times of our relationship, then we are GOLDEN. We've had such a blast living together and we just simply get along and enjoy each other. I'm so incredibly blessed and lucky and happy. We loved each other from a distance, and we still love each other up close. So, happy half-anniversary to us! I can't wait for the next six months.


Once when Bart and I were discussing living together he said "I think we will laugh a lot." He was right.

"It's mahvelous?!"

This blog is dedicated to Laura. And Allison. And Kathryn.

When Bart was in Texas for Thanksgiving, we sat down for our second "Thanksgiving dinner" of the week at my dad's house with a big crowd. I asked Bart what the Dutch "bon appetit" was, to tell people to enjoy and to start eating. He responded "Eet smakelijk!" (If you don't speak Dutch, like me, here is what that sounds like: go to google translate, English to Dutch, type in "bon appetit" and click on the "listen" button for "eet smakelijk.") I asked him to repeat it like five times, and finally my little brother Neil, who is 6 and prounounces "R" like he's from Boston (it's adorbs), turned around with a cute puzzled little look on his face and said "it's mahvelous?!"

So, now that's our own little "bon appetit" - "it's mahvelous" - and ohhhh is it.

Anyone who knows Bart knows that he's an amazing cook. He first cooked for me when my friends and I visited him in Amsterdam, and again twice for my family and me while he was in Texas. Everyone agrees. He's awesome! I knew that Bart's cooking would definitely be a fun part of living with him, and I have NOT been disappointed!

I've never been particularly interested in cooking myself. I cooked some in high school, but it pretty much all went away in college. Nicole taught me some things while I was in Switzerland and I began to get a little interested in learning, but I didn't really enjoy cooking for the family and I didn't have a place to cook for friends. But that's different now. I swore at first that I would never cook for Bart, but I did after I'd been here just three days. He's really sweet and loves to try new things, and he really liked the food he had in Texas, so I've really come to enjoy cooking for him.

I've so enjoyed Bart's cooking, us cooking together, and learning more about cooking and trying to do more things on my own since I've been here. Bart really likes to make curries, which I LOVE. He's made incredible curry dishes with potatoes, chicken, and lamb, and other really great Asian-ish dishes like coconut ginger fish, lemon grass chicken, and things like that. He made amazing pad thai a few weeks ago, another one of my favorites.

Another thing Bart enjoys making is risotto (which I had never actually had before I came here) and he made great risotto with parmesan and mushrooms, which I loved. Other Italian dishes he's made include mushroom ravioli and seafood ravioli (that we ended up baking with fresh tomatoes and kind of a bruschetta on top, it was delicious). Last night he made penne pasta with meatballs and tomato/veggie sauce -- also awesome. We want to get a pasta machine so we can make our own pasta eventually. That would be fun. And I would get fat.

Besides Bart's creativity and cooking genius, I enjoy the way that we don't waste a lot. He's made some leftover magic! Usually it's with rando veggies. Once he baked veggies (potatoes, carrots, onions, etc.) with some kind of sauce and parmesan on top - delicious - or just a frozen pizza that we added a bunch of different cheeses and veggies to and made it awesome.

Bart has nicknamed me "chef/captain dipsauce" because a lot of the things I like to make are just that... guacamole, humus, 7-layer dip, etc. I did some "sunshine tapas" (a bunch of different appetizers perfect for a sunny day) the other day and he loved it.

We've made some classics together, like hamburgers and fish & chips (and by "together" I mean he made the awesome fish and I picked up the chips from the snack shop haha). Typical Dutch food is funny to me sometimes, but I like it. He made an amazing beef stew with mashed "stamppot" (google it, a Dutch staple!), and my favorite -- FRIKANDEL SPECIAAL! (Another thing I had to hear him say over and over and over.) Google that too. And don't knock it 'til you've tried it!

On the weekends I've made breakfast tacos a few times, which he loved. Bart loves Mexican food (which makes him an official keeper), so I've enjoyed making that for us a lot since I've been here. He made a veggie omelette this morning (another leftover wonder) that was sooo good. We're not huge into desserts, but he once surprised me with chocolate mousse with raspberries and pistachios that I loveeed. At my request he taught me how to make tiramisu, one of my faves. Yesterday he made an apple crumble - delicious again! Soon I'm going to make him a lemon drizzle cake, a cake I made for one of the families I work for.

Well! I could go on and on listing everything I've eaten since I've been here (Laura and Allison would love it!), but that's not the point of this! The point is that I'm really starting to develop a love for cooking. It's so much fun living with Bart because we're always trying to surprise each other and try new things. I think that's the most important thing, too, trying new things. We cook a lot of different dishes with fresh ingredients, herbs/spices, and recipes from all over the world, which keeps it interesting. Food is something so easy for people to enjoy together, whether you're hosting friends and family or it's just the two of us.

We were really into the Australian Master Chef show while it was on, and that gave us new ideas too. I gave Bart a "mystery box" of ingredients that I'd chosen, and he had to make something with it (something they do on the show). He made amazing baked fish & prawns with spinach and potatoes! That was a lot of fun. Yesterday we even started our own herb/vegetable garden, so I can't wait for that this summer!

I'm excited about my new little hobby, and maybe tales of my cooking adventures with Bart will inspire you too. :)

Eet smakelijk!


ps- there are pictures of some of these things on facebook and for any recipe questions... ask Bart!!! ;)

the sun is shining :)

Bart and I had an amazing weekend. The weather is getting so much better, and it really makes such a difference... I absolutely adore sunshine. The worst of the winter was over just a couple weeks after I arrived (you saw the coldest of it, Cecile!), so my timing of being in Texas from October to February and missing both the Swiss and Dutch winters was perfect!

I have an idea for my blog that I'm really excited about. I wish I'd done something like it in Switzerland, but I guess inspiration hadn't struck then. ;) But anyway that will be coming soon! In the mean time, everything is going well here.

Work is changing for me a little bit, but that will happen often for me in my "temp" situation. So it's good. And in the inbetween time I have time to take care of some things I've been putting off (eg- defensive driving, barf). So anyway, I'd better get back to it!

Next week Bart and I will celebrate six months of being together. I can't believe it!!! And it makes me happy.

Hope everyone is well! xxx

ps- sorry about any typos in my blogs lately... Bart's computer is in Dutch, so spell check is in Dutch, so that doesnt really help me... :)

it's still real life

So I was thinking today.

My life is truly wonderful and I love it and love expressing how much I love it... But I don't want to make it sound like (through blogs, fb, personal conversations, etc.) like I just up and move wherever I want and then life is perfect.

People tell me a lot that they're jealous of what I'm doing (traveling, etc.). Honestly, there's no need for that. The world is what you make of it.

Sidebar... I think one reason that this experience is so special to me is that Bart and I just completely made it happen on our own. We knew we wanted to be together, were fortunate enough to be in a position to make something happen (I was willing and able to move -- no school, job, etc. keeping me somewhere else), and then we made it happen. We both worked really, really, hard the few months that I was in Texas and it was exhausting. It was also really hard to be so far apart for so long. Honestly I wouldn't have been able to work so hard in Texas and make things happen without my incredible family and friends. (That goes for any time in my life, but especialy this time.) Anyway, this isn't the point of this stream of consiousness... But it's something that I think a lot about as well. Bart and I saw what we wanted and WE made it happen. That makes this all the more special and meaningful.

But like I said, that wasn't my point. My point (or at least what I was thinking about today) is that I don't want to create the impression that my life here (or anywhere) is perfect. It isn't. I get frustrated that I don't understand Dutch. I get terrified when I'm almost killed in BIKE TRAFFIC (on a regular basis). It actually took an entire month of living together for Bart and I to really irritate each other, but it happened, and it will happen again. Even living overseas you have to wash dishes every day. (I'm so over it.) We still have to work hard.

And I love it. All these imperfections are what make the wonderful things so wonderful. I love that I can clean our entire house in half an hour. I love that there are challenges. If life were perfect, it couldn't get any better.

Life here is wonderful. I just had to stop for a reality check, I guess, and make sure that I'm not painting an unrealistic picture of my life. We still have hard things in our lives. (Wherever you go, there you are.) But I do stay positive and realize that we are SO happy and fortunate to be together. After all, happiness is a state of mind.

Anyway I'm finished rambling. I just wanted to acknowledge that life is NOT perfect. But it IS wonderful. I hope that all made sense.

love.

good times never seemed so good

In short, I love life here.

Everything is still going very, very well. I'm working two jobs now, so the timing was perfect with having two relaxed weeks at first and then beginning to work a lot. I'm working for two families, one is a South African single mom and two year old girl, and they're really great and have put me in touch with other families. The other (that started this week) is a British family whose stay at home mom was badly injured skiing last week, so I'm kind of her personal assistant for a few hours every day. Overall I really like my work and I think this situation will work out well for me.

Amsterdam is gray and cold, but I still love it. I can't wait for better weather so I can really enjoy more of the city, but like I said I love it anyway. We had THREE sunny afternoons this week, which was amazing. It's kind of bright gray now, which is what I like to call Dutch sunshine. :)

Living with Bart is a blast. When we're not working we're usually cooking together, having people over, going out, watching the Australian Master Chef, or working on the house. Mostly we're just really enjoying being together.

I've been here for three weeks now and haven't experienced a single minute of doubt or regret. So that's a very good thing. We're now planning our trip back to the states for the summer, and we're really excited for that.

Anyway, I just thought I'd give a quick update! I will post some pictures on facebook soon. (We're still working on the house though, so that may come later! ;)) For now I'm off to enjoy a lazy Saturday with my wonderful man and get ready for our date tonight. :)

love to all!

the first week

I arrived in Amsterdam last Saturday morning. As my plane was about to land I chatted with the nice older man near me who asked if I live in Amsterdam. I was ecstatic to hear my response. "Yes I do!"

Bart was there waiting for me with a set of keys and a huge smile on his face. I was exhausted, sick, nervous, and ridiculously excited. His good friend Raymond drove us home from the airport, which was sooo nice (especially since I, of course, used every ounce of my baggage allowance). On our drive home the nervousness began creeping in more and more, as I realized just how unstructured this situation is and that I have no idea what will happen in the future. Then we got back to Bart's new place (that he owns and worked so hard on!). The minute I walked through the door all of the nervous feelings stopped immediately. I looked around, smiled, and announced: "Honey, I'm home!"

I've felt that way ever since. Bart has been absolutely incredible with helping me get settled and making it clear that this is OUR home. I love him.

So, quickly! Here's what we've been up to:
Saturday we walked around the neighborhood a bit (there's an amazing market, the best in Holland, near our place, I love it!), and I tried to sleep a little. I woke up that afternoon and heard Louis Armstrong records playing softly and saw Bart in the kitchen making dinner. Once again, I smiled, and I wondered how on earth I got so lucky. That evening Barry came over for dinner, and it was great to see a familiar friend so soon. Barry lives in Zurich, so I met him the same night I met Bart and we hung out the rest of my time there. Later more of Bart's friends came over (including Bob, who I also met when I met Bart!), so we had a full and happy house the first night.

Sunday Bart's mom, step dad, and sister came over for the afternoon and evening. I really, really like his family, we had a really nice time. I spent Monday sleeping, exploring the neighborhood, and decorating the house for Valentine's Day. I even cooked for Bart! I couldn't believe it! But it went very well. :)

Bart took Tuesday off so we spent the whole day doing things for the house. We realized then that it was exactly 6 months since we'd said goodbye after Streetparade (where we met). When we said bye then, I didn't think I'd ever see Bart again. And six months later, here we were -- in OUR place -- hanging pictures and building a closet. It's funny how things change, isn't it?!

Wednesday was an adventure. We were having dinner guests and I spent what felt like six hours in the grocery store searching for ingredients to make Mexican food. But I did, kind of! So I made Mexican food that night for my chef boyfriend and Dutch friends. It went really well! We had a great time. The guests were Raymond and his wife Denise, and their two month old baby, Kian. Kian and I are going to be great friends.

I spent Thursday with my friend Jo, who was also an au pair in Switzerland and lives here now. It is SO nice to have a girlfriend/ex-pat/old friend here!! So I'm glad for that. :) Thursday evening I also landed my first job and went out with Bart to celebrate.

Friday I picked up my Aunt, Cecile from the airport (for a weekend stop on her way home from Kenya!) and then worked all afternoon, which went very well. Saturday and Sunday were cold, but Bart, Cecile and I explored the city and had a great time. It was so nice to have family here. We had a lot of fun.

And that completed my first wonderful week living in Amsterdam!

It's truly been amazing. There are so many aspects of life and culture here that I can't wait to write about. For now it just seems like I've hardly talked to anyone, so that's the brief catch-up, and there's a lot more good news to come! Unlike Switzerland, I will have more frequent blogs posts. So enjoy. :)

The biggest news now is that we're so very happy. This is an adventure, and we're loving every minute of it!

Loveeeeeee.

my life in a windmill

When Bart and I decided that I would move in with him in Amsterdam, Bart shared the news with a very good friend of his (ours!), Barry. The title of this blog comes from Barry's response to me, that I was 'moving into my own Dutch windmill.' I adore the Dutch windmills, so I liked that a lot. Now, I'm here. And life in a windmill will certainly be an adventure.

I'm far beyond excited. And I'm very, very happy.