Voyage to Amsterdam

Two humans, Two dogs, one awesome adventure

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Finally able to fully enjoy our backporch as it is bathed in warm sunlight

Finally able to fully enjoy our backporch as it is bathed in warm sunlight

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It’s almost been one year since our arrival in the Netherlands. I’m pretty happy to have spent this year with this man. I think I could have done this alone but it sure as heck would have been a lot less fun and enjoyable.

It’s almost been one year since our arrival in the Netherlands. I’m pretty happy to have spent this year with this man. I think I could have done this alone but it sure as heck would have been a lot less fun and enjoyable.

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It’s been a cool spring here in Amsterdam. We just got back from the park which we now live a block away from. The change in the dogs behaviour since being able to exercise on a regular basis is unreal. I don’t think we could have picked a better location to move for them than where we are now. It makes us feel better as pet parents. They are happy and so are we. Today Parker has decided to snuggle up for a nap on my pillow that has appeared on our couch whereas Bailey has chosen our bed in order to properly sprawl out for his nap.

It’s been a cool spring here in Amsterdam. We just got back from the park which we now live a block away from. The change in the dogs behaviour since being able to exercise on a regular basis is unreal. I don’t think we could have picked a better location to move for them than where we are now. It makes us feel better as pet parents. They are happy and so are we. Today Parker has decided to snuggle up for a nap on my pillow that has appeared on our couch whereas Bailey has chosen our bed in order to properly sprawl out for his nap.

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Big Week

This past week has been full of stress leading up to two major “events”.
The first. On Wednesday Jeff and I applied for a partner visa here in the Netherlands which would give him full rights to stay and work as my equal partner. This was a very nerve wracking process as there was so much paperwork and documentation necessary. We had to prove through legal documention from the United States government that Jeff had never been married. We had to prove that I had sufficient income to support Jeff. We had to fill in so many repetitive documents with names, birthdates, living situations and even a little story of how we met and maintained our relationship. After about 45 minutes of barely breathing, Jeff finally received a special sticker in his passport allowing him to stay in the country until we receive the approval for him to work, and our application was submitted. Can’t tell you how light on our feet we felt walking out of the immigration office that day.
The second. We’re moving!!!! Just signed a new lease on an apartment this week and we’ll be getting the keys next week Friday! We had been apartment hunting for a while and this one just fits all of our needs. It’s a ground floor apartment and only one floor, so no more stairs!! The stairs issue wasn’t about us being lazy, but rather that Bailey was really starting to struggle coming up the three flights of stairs to the apartment after walks and we were a little worried about his hips. The new place is really close to a large park where the dogs will be able to run free and get proper exercise rather than running back and forth in some alley way and risking cutting up their paw pads. It has a back outdoor patio with a BBQ! Just in time for summer! The layout makes so much more sense for us and the location is on a much quieter street than we arer currently living. Even with our windows closed, the noise from crazy cab drivers, delivery trucks and drunken tourists has become a little too much for us. Haha, are we getting old?
Anyway, we’ve been quiet for a while just waiting for these two big things to be done with. Now we can just look forward to making our new home, “home” and hearing back from immigration!
We will show pics of the new place after we a settled.

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On Thursday evening, Ajax (Amsterdam’s football club) was playing Manchester United. There were a lot of Man U fans in town for the game and police were everywhere to prevent and break up fights. Here we were redirected down a few streets as the police started blocking streets for crowd control. We picked up a few groceries at the NieuwMarkt and there were large crowds gathered at a local pub. The market was quickly closing up shop as they had been warned by the police that tensions were building because the Man U fans had gathered at a Dutch pub. Sure enough, we weren’t 50 metres down the street when tables started flying and the police had to quickly move on to break it all up. I had never seen or experienced anything quite like it. It was crazy and little nerve wracking when we were walking through the thick of it.

On Thursday evening, Ajax (Amsterdam’s football club) was playing Manchester United. There were a lot of Man U fans in town for the game and police were everywhere to prevent and break up fights. Here we were redirected down a few streets as the police started blocking streets for crowd control. We picked up a few groceries at the NieuwMarkt and there were large crowds gathered at a local pub. The market was quickly closing up shop as they had been warned by the police that tensions were building because the Man U fans had gathered at a Dutch pub. Sure enough, we weren’t 50 metres down the street when tables started flying and the police had to quickly move on to break it all up. I had never seen or experienced anything quite like it. It was crazy and little nerve wracking when we were walking through the thick of it.

3 notes

My mother’s birthday was the day they arrived. One of my dad’s first missions was to find these for her. Well done dad. (Don’t mind the “vases”. We had to make do in a pinch.)

My mother’s birthday was the day they arrived. One of my dad’s first missions was to find these for her. Well done dad. (Don’t mind the “vases”. We had to make do in a pinch.)