Worldly Chatter

All these things just keep happening that deter me from my intentions of writing! My latest battle to conquer was my teeth. I wish I was kidding you when I say this but I had to spend over an hour yesterday in the dentist’s chair! Here is the story. Just under three years ago I had a bit of an accident with a ring and my teeth. I had a thumb ring, one of those bug bulky ones and tripped over a cat and my two front teeth hit the ring. Both of them cracked and chipped. Since that moment more of my two teeth have chipped off and parts of it blacked and all that nastiness. I was living in NY at the time of this little trip up and I was not insured in any way shape or form so I didn’t get it fixed. When I did this I called a dentist and I was informed I would be paying, roughly, $800 with half up front and the other half when the work was complete. Seriously here, am I the kind of girl who has nearly a grand lying around for such an occasion? No, so what happened? Nothing, zip, nada! I went nearly three years with a nice hole in the middle of my smile! Why? Aside from not having the insurance or money at the time, once I got here the situation was the same until my permit arrived. By that time, two years later, I was so used to it that it wasn’t imperative that I get it done. So we took care of other things first. Bills, finding me work, planning a wedding, vacation and all the normal everyday stuff.

Here is where it did become imperative for me to get it done.

When you have a hole in your teeth all kinds of things can annoy it. Food, drink and even cold air can drive it to the point of a pounding headache with a screaming tooth. I had such days but it started to get worse these past two months and especially these past few weeks. You see, two weeks ago a black piece fell off and then yesterday another piece. These pieces have been protecting the nerves and all the inside stuff from becoming exposed to such a point that it hurt to even move your head. When I went to work yesterday I had such a headache that got gradually worse. Talking, eating and drinking was not the best idea I had yesterday morning. Dutchie had made an appointment for me but couldn’t get one until the 9tth of October with one dentist. So she called another as an emergency. I left work and at 3:30 I was sitting in THE chair! That is where I stayed for over an hour as they scraped, sawed, hacked and finally filled and sanded down my two front teeth! I had some serious reconstruction done on those two teeth! The end result:

Two perfect teeth and a bill for €236 which my insurance will cover completely!

Try doing that in America! I was floored! I was really expecting close to €800! And the really strange thing, I wasn’t knocked out! Dutch people don’t get knocked out for anything, root canals, endoscopies, no such thing as knocking out here. My experiences with Dutch dentists have been pleasant actually. My dentist wears Bart Simpson socks!

Now I don’t have to wait until Christmas for my two front teeth!

worldly chatter, dental work, Dutch Dentists, Dutch insurance

There is so much to write about on my wonderful week with my family here in the Netherlands! Naturally there is our wonderful wedding that took place on Monday but there is also the two days prior and the week that followed and all the sites we saw in Holland. There are experiences and observations that must be mentioned and finally the feeling of it all. I will be in Limburg from Sunday to Tuesday and finally life will go back to some form of normalcy on Wednesday. My family flew home this morning and I await knowledge that they have landed safely back in America and I while I wait I wanted to write of my plan for this page for the next week or so. Something to look forward to you could say.

I want to tell you of my family and how the four of them saw this open and somewhat laid back nation. Their stories they take back to New York will all be different as well as what they wanted here. It was an interesting experience for me to see how they interacted with this place, its people and the flow of its society to say the least. I want to tell you of our wedding day and every detail I can possibly recall. There is Den Haag and Delft to tell you of as well as Hilversum, Arnhem, Oosterbeek and Amsterdam. The happiness and sadness of having them here with us and the plans we have made to go to NY and them to return here. It is a lot and I want it detailed. This is just a short hello to say I am alive and that my vacation is nearing its end. Writing will commence and much to read when I do!

Right now I will wait to know something and try to keep my body awake for the night as it has been an incredibly busy and sleepless week! Check back and I will start my series on our wedding and vacation!

We heard from our Justice Lady and she sent over the speech that she will saying on Monday! It’s the part that must be done in Dutch and I just had to share them! You know when they ask you if you take this person for better or worse, richer or poorer and promise to take care and all that. Well this is the Dutch equivalent to that.

Dutchie, verklaar jij Samantha aan te nemen als je wettige echtgenote en getrouw alle plichten te zullen vervullen die de wet aan de huwelijkse staat verbindt? Wat is daarop jouw antwoord?

Samantha, verklaar jij Dutchie aan te nemen als wettige echtgenote en getrouw alle plichten te zullen vervullen die de wet aan de huwelijkse staat verbindt? Wat is daarop jouw antwoord?

Dan verklaar ik, als buitengewoon ambtenaar van de burgerlijke stand, dat jullie vanaf nu door het huwelijk aan elkaar bent verbonden!

I am aware that many cannot actually read this it is similar to that of which you hear in an American ceremony. It’s lovely! Dutchie read them to me when she got them via email and I melted! She will do most of it in English but this, by law, must be in Dutch.

Oh, how I wish I could put into words what I am feeling right now! It feels as though the world is at my figure tips here! I am truly going to be wed and completely legal. I never imagined I would be! My country can’t agree what marriage means never mind agreeing to give me marriage. I am protected, Dutchie is protected. Once we have that piece of paper everything will be jointly, both of us will have marriage rights. Yet, never mind any of that. I can share my love with Dutchie! I can put a ring on her finger and tell her in front of everyone I swear to honor and love her the rest of our days! What is greater than that? I really am so l blessed!

marriage, Dutch Nuptuals, worldly chatter

If I had $300 dollars I would buy________.

What would you buy with $300? Or even $200 or $100? Now is your chance to find out! Comment on any 451 Press site during the month of August and you could win! Three comments will be chosen at random to win a cash prize of $300, $200 or $100. The more you comment the more chances you have to win. So start reading and let those fingers fly.

I love it when there is neat little contests! Totally off topic but dear readers, comment on any of my posts or any of my fellow writers! Read and type!

Ik ben zo moe! En ik weet het niet waarom! Ik denk dat het komt door het werk en al het lopen. Ik heb twee dagen in Bussum gelopen en het is pas Donderdag!

See, a little more Dutch, though I needed much assistance! It has been a long week and I cannot wait for Friday evening to be here! I walked two days this week and sorted two. I can’t go walking tomorrow because we have an appointment at 6 and if I go to Bussum or elsewhere there is no assurances I will be back at home by six. I hit 6:00 when I walked through the door today!

This is a meaningless post but I wanted to try some Dutch on you!

I want to sleep in Saturday! Thats what I am looking forward to! Sleeping in!

It was strange, not hearing the fireworks and smelling the barbeque this year when the fourth but it is all right. Happy Fourth of July my fellow Americans! Well, belated but you will forgive me wont you? We lost power in the house last night and it can be quite a challenge to write on a computer in such circumstances! This is where my father would say it is totally un-American to work on the Fourth of July! He loves that saying, trust me! Seeing as I am in Holland I am not about to get time off for an American holiday. Totally un-American of me! Hah!

I am preparing for my second run to Amsterdam tomorrow. I have detailed directions! These directions are so detailed its sick! I went to www.9292ov.nl and there I printed out directions. What train to take, what tram to take and I even have what stop both make and which stop is mine and finally, I remembered to write down the building number! Help me if I forget the directions on the desk! I hate missing a day of work but what can I do about it really, I NEED this piece of paper! I then HAVE to send it to Albany. All so I can marry. Darn good reason if you ask me!

I am going to end this with an interesting note. There was blog I read yesterday before the power went out that I thought to share. It’s from Adrien, a fellow 451press writer, it was an interesting read in deed!

worldly chatter, Amsterdam, weddings, 4th of July

Something interesting caught my attention this morning as I read the news; 75% of adults in the Netherlands are overweight and its growing in children, one in every eight is overweight. What? Where?
Holland’s cities and towns are designed very different from those in America. Almost every neighborhood throughout the country has a little shopping center with a grocery store, pharmacy and a handful of other small shops. Each town and city has at least one major center in which you can find everything and anything. This is also where you are going to find the major markets too. Unlike America, you don’t have to drive fifteen thirty minutes to get food or clothes it’s all relatively close to where you either only drive five minutes or do what I do, walk. I live five minutes from the center of Hilversum with everything I need within a ten-minute walk from front door to store. I grab my grocery bag(s) and off I go. It gives me a chance to catch some air, get some exercise and see the people around me. I’m a people watcher by nature so when I read this I was a little dumbfounded. Sure, there is obesity in the country but that much? Makes it sounds like I am back in America when I weighed 250 pounds and I was but just one in more than half the nation of obese people. When I walk around here I see tall thin people, I see tall and average weight people. Average height and rail thin women. I see heavy set but not that much! When we had Koninginnenacht, Dutchie and I sat drinking a beer and people watching. There were only a handful of people, who would be considered obese, walk by.
Then again to some, all you have to be is roughly 25 pounds overweight to be obese and according to a few politicians here in Holland; the government is not doing enough to combat the issue. It is spending all of its time dealing with drugs, cigarettes and drinking and not dealing with, what some call, this generations silent killer. I weigh 140 lbs however, am I slightly overweight for my 5′6 height? I should hope not! It is just as in the States, the accessibility of fast food, processed food and not enough healthy food made quick. We live in a world where people want things done quick and easy; there isn’t enough time in such a busy world. Healthy food doesn’t seem to be as convenient to some hence the growing issue all over the world. I used to be the girl grabbing fast food because I didn’t have time to cook, drank the coke and munched. Hell I still munch but I don’t eat the junk as much and I walk to compensate for what I do consume. With time going by in a New York minute what can one do? Force people to only have a one family income, force them to slow down when the world demands otherwise? They say there isn’t enough being done but what can you do? How do you combat something that no one really talks about or acknowledges? You can’t force people to change can you?

obesity, Holland’s obesity problem, overweight

Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund

April 16, 2007, will be remembered as one of the darkest days in the history of the Virginia Tech community and the world beyond.

To remember and honor the victims of those tragic events, the university has established the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund to aid in the healing process and generate financial support.

The fund will be used to cover expenses including but not limited to:

• Grief counseling
• Memorials
• Communication expenses
• Comfort expenses
• Incidental needs

If you plan to give, please click the link below:

Living abroad, being a traveler sounds exotic, worldly and meant for the select few with either celebrity or money. Well, I learned that it isn’t exclusively for the rich and famous but it can be quite exotic. Another world onto itself and quite a shock if not prepared on some grand level. I thought I was all prepared to move to the Netherlands. The internet is fabulous when it comes to information. Use Google or Yahoo to find your way into understanding the country, its traditions and people. I saw stories, pictures and languages that I pushed into my brain so that when I landed at the airport it wouldn’t be as overwhelming as I feared it would be. I prayed that all this would be enough to get me over that initial shock while I flew over the Atlantic Ocean.
My first time landing at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam was an experience I have yet to erase from my memory. So ingrained is it that I can still feel the anxiety and excitement that ripped through me as I walked through to this little sitting area you hit before going through customs and baggage claim. A little round table fit for two with stools was the first thing that caught my eye as I went from the airplane through the tunnel and into a new world. I stood beside it, resting my elbows on the table and eyed everything around me. It was six thirty in the morning and places were slowly waking for a new busy day. A woman was mopping around the little sitting area and placing ashtrays on those little tables for people like me to have a cigarette after a six hour flight. I came from JFK where you cannot smoke inside anywhere. It is pretty much set in stone you can’t have a cigarette in any public place in New York nowadays so I was surprised to see the little flimsy ashtrays inside. I looked around at first; I didn’t want to light a cigarette if I wasn’t supposed to! Yet as I looked around others like me getting off went for the little tables with the shiny flimsy ashtrays and lit up. Astonishing was all I could come out with! I hadn’t known I was going to be able to do this! I was seeing just from this small example at the table I wasn’t as prepared as I thought.
I knew what the people of the Netherlands spoke. Dutch was their native tongue and I had heard it, seen it; I didn’t speak a word of it but I knew what it was. I got past the little sitting area and the momentary shock of the ashtray and headed with my handbag and passport to customs and baggage claim. I was on my way! The gentleman stamped my passport as he looked my face over and welcomed me to the Netherlands. My first stamp! Oh the feeling was amazing. Who knew a little stamp could feel so good? I had stepped outside my homeland and was officially a traveler! I retrieved one of my suitcases and had to go to the desk to claim lost luggage. My suitcase apparently decided to stay at the airport in New York. Ok, I will have it sent to me as soon as it lands and off I went.
The language, which I thought I recognized was something I was also ill prepared for! It was everywhere and not just Dutch but German, English from British, Australians and Americans! I was used to going out in New York and hearing accents from Long Island or from New York City! This was big and scary. I met my partner and we went to Burger King to get some coffee and take all this in. I was overwhelmed by all this. I hadn’t even walked out the door and already I was realizing you can’t prepare for the culture shock that hits you like a ten foot wave! No internet search can instill in you the feelings you have as you take off for the first time as a traveler; the feeling of your first flight, the culture that hits you when you walk through its world and the notion that you will never be the same thereafter.
After your first flight outside your homeland it does get easier. The feelings become more familiar and you come accustomed to being surprised and overwhelmed by the different lives you come across. Living abroad or being that traveler you always wanted is exotic. It is overwhelming and a world you never imagined. Yet it also is for everyone who wants it. I am not a well to do; I am not wealthy beyond my dreams. I am simply a woman who traveled to and moved to a new place. I promise you this though, no matter who travels and lives abroad, once you make that leap it changes you forever and for me, it has been a great experience and still is as my journey is only just starting now!

flights, first flights, Netherlands, travel, living abroad, culture shot, Schiphol

flights, first flights, Netherlands, travel, living abroad, culture shot, Schiphol

Welcome, welcome! I am Samantha and I am the quirky New Yorker here to tell you all about living abroad, travel and all that goes with it. There is much to tell that I scarcely know where to begin and what to introduce you to! So I shall start with myself and work my way forward to the good stuff!
I originate out of Long Island, New York and now live in the country of the Netherlands in the western part of Europe. You know the tiny one next to Germany. Windmills and tulips and let us not forget Amsterdam and wooden shoes! Believe it or not I own a little pair that sits on my book case. Anyway, I am getting off track!
It was only recently I received my letter accepting my application for residence here in the Netherlands. A joyous moment I assure you! It was two years in the making, going to and fro from New York to Schiphol in Amsterdam. Money handed over to the IND (immigration offices) and moments where you pull your hair and wonder what in the world is taking so long! In the end it all boiled down to a moment where I sat on the floor with my partner crying together that everything was worth it! The plane rides, paper work galore, the hair pulling and wandering through the streets of Long Island and Hilversum pondering where my little bum shall finally stop!
So now you have an idea of who I am and a tiny piece of where my knowledge comes from. I am the Long Islander who shall share all the issues and joys of traveling and living abroad! So welcome to Worldly Chatter! Enjoy the read and I hope that any and all I post here will be of some help and guidance to you and all your adventures out there in the world!