Good Bye & Good Luck

As an expat you make a wide variety of friends & acquaintances in your new country, ones native to the land you live in and then of course other expats.  When I moved to The Netherland over 10 yrs ago at first I acquired friends, mostly my husbands old friends & their girlfriends.  It didn't take me long to start making my own friends though, some of which I still see.  But for the most part my friends were Dutch, and it took me a while to realize that.  It wasn't until my daughter came along and I had to start seeking out activities with kids that I started making my own expat friends.  At first the relationships seemed ideal, no obligations other than occasional play dates, this fit into my schedule well.  But of course when you're seeing someone on a weekly or bi-weekly basis you can't help but get to know them better.  And of course a few of these people actually became friends.  When they talked about the possibility of leaving The Netherlands because of their husbands jobs it all seemed so far away.  I guess I figured I knew what I was getting in to and I was o.k. with temporary friends.  But now that a couple have actually left, permanently, off to new adventures, lives, jobs, & countries, it's actually sinking in.  The first one that left went fairly easy, I was able to say goodbye, I didn't mention to my tot it was the last time, I just let her enjoy her time with the little boy she had grown so fond of.  But this last friend to move has hit a little harder.  The way our schedules worked out we didn't even get to say goodbye properly, in person.  It's making me question if I can actually handle temporary friends.  Part of me knows I have no choice, being an expat and involving your kid in international activities means contact with people that are just temporarily here.  It's something I just have to accept.  I have to remember the fun we had and be sure to stay in contact, who knows where we'll all end up in the future.  So, I guess, it's good bye & good luck, and until the next time.

DWOTD

DWOTD = Dutch Word of the Day, it's a fun website about Dutch words and phrases.  Like so often you hear of things via-via (word of mouth is great marketing), and I found out about this site through a friend at M&T's.  I've lived in the Netherlands long enough to know most of the words and phrases I have seen on the site but it's still interesting to hear someone else's take on the word (so much can be lost in translation).  I hope my family abroad will also appreciate this site!  My parents are always trying to pick up Dutch words here & there... my Dad likes to post things on Facebook in Dutch and my Mom wants to learn words so she can communicate with my daughter.  (Our daughter is 2 1/2 and bi-lingual, but she is still so young she mixes the English & Dutch.)  I also hope my foreign friends living in the Netherlands enjoy this site, it's a nice way to learn words (you have to start somewhere when taking on a new language).  I am fascinated with words.  When I was kid my parents had a "bodybuilding phase" and I was stuck at the gym multiple evenings a week, I would tote my thick red dictionary to the waiting area, plop down on a couch, and read read read.  In elementary & middle school, I was enrolled in ALPHA classes and words were also made to be fun - designing a city and everything had to start with the letter "S" (fun kid challenges).  Now that I am a bi-lingual adult (didn't learn Dutch until I was in my 20's - I'm still learning), the challenges have changed.  Nowadays I am just trying to remember the English word for things I haven't said in a while, it's amazing what you'll forget.  One of the last times I was in The States I wanted whip cream on my coffee and I kept calling it mousse, she looked quite confused but figured it out.  My mother is always having to fill in my sentences, she hears this often, "uh, um, urgh, what's the word I'm looking for... you know that thing, um."  Maybe I should check into an English word of the day site, ha-ha!  As we've all heard in the past, it's important to keep learning and to keep flexing our brains no matter what our age.  I have family members in their 70's & 80's still earning college degrees, will that be you?  Well anyway, I'll keep this post short, just wanted to promote a cool finding!