My Life Part I and My Life Part II

I try and journal every day using a topics du jour system (a great tip I picked up in "Journal to the Self" by Kathleen Adams - (click on image for more information)). One of my recurring monthly topics is expat life. Inspired by a quote from Nelson Mandela, I started scribbling my thoughts.

"There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered."

These wise words stirred up a feeling I have had since the summer when I took a trip down memory lane and toured round the places I used to live and the schools I once attended. I have a past and a present. And they don't correlate.

I can't reconcile my British past with my expat present. When I moved to the Netherlands it was like My Life Part II starting. I don't have daily contact with anyone that shared in My Life Part I and nobody from My Life Part I knows what it is like to be living out My Life Part II. And the other way round. I have regular contact with family and friends from England but they can't know what life in the Netherlands is really like. My Dutch family and friends have no connection to my past.

At certain times, like the trip down memory lane a few months ago, My Life Part I and My Life Part II collide. They are so different it is hard to comprehend how the two parts make up the same life. They are world's apart. Or countries apart in any case. It's like a jigsaw puzzle that should fit together but doesn't.

When I am in England I have serious doubts about whether I could go back and live permanently in my birth country. I have changed. It's no longer home. When I first moved to the Netherlands every trip back to England was heart wrenching. I didn't want to get on the return flight back to Schiphol. I had to force myself to go back and leave my home.

A British Passport doesn't mean Britain is home
Photo: Phillip Bramble

Now when we are making the return trip from England to the Netherlands I know I am coming home. A Dutch border agent summed it up seven years ago when he checked my passport, looked up at me, smiled and said "Welkom thuis." Welcome home indeed.

I was actually aware of the transition as it happened - the place I called home moving from England to the Netherlands right before my eyes. We were driving on the M25 back to the ferry terminal and instead of feeling laden with sadness at leaving my family I had the consolation that at least we were heading home. And no matter where you've been it's always nice to go home right? Back to My Life Part II.

How do you piece together your life before moving abroad and your expat life now?

Will I, Could I, Do I Want to Stay in The Netherlands Forever?

This post nicely follows on from my pondering post about how life would have looked had I stayed in England instead of taking the plunge and moving to the Netherlands twelve long years ago. Namely the question,

"Will you, Could you, Do you want to stay where you are forever?"

Forever? I've never stayed anywhere forever. Not even close. I've never been somebody who could see myself staying somewhere forever.

As a child I called a fair few places home: Newbury, Andover, Warrington, Chorley Wood, Rickmansworth and Croxley Green (yes, seems like we did a tour of Hertfordshire....) As a young adult I lived in Bradford, Toulouse and Watford. Then I moved to the Netherlands.

In twelve years here I've lived in three different places: Voorschoten, The Hague and now Zoetermeer. In just over a month I will have lived in my current house for a decade. That must be the longest I have ever lived in one place. In one house. I must be settled. I must have found my home. Right?

Well actually, just last year, with the news of my third pregnancy a house move was on the cards. At zero hour it went pear shaped and we stayed put. So it's not my dream home. Zoetermeer is not my dream town. But it is where my family is. It's the house we've made home. It's where I belong right now.

So it's clear that this house, in this town, is not the end of my story. It's a stepping stone.

Could I stay in the Netherlands forever? I could. I'm not averse to my life in the Netherlands.

Will I stay in the Netherlands forever? I don't know.

In 2017 my husband's work contract ends and the world, in theory, is our oyster. In reality, I wouldn't want to move much further away from my family in the UK. The Netherlands and the surrounding countries are far enough.

An OAP cycling through the flower fields? Me? Not likely!
Photo: (c) Amanda van Mulligen

Do I want to stay in the Netherlands forever? I don't have an image of me as a pensioner fighting the crowds and cycling alongside the Dutch canals to visit my grandchildren, taking in the windmills and flower fields as I go. I'd like somewhere less populated to grow old. I'd like something a little more rural.

I don't have an elaborate dream of where I'd like to be living in later life (though I do keep seeing beautiful furniture for my french farmhouse kitchen......) I'm leaving my options open. I'll be where my family is. I'll be where it feels right to be.

Will you, could you, do you want to stay where you are forever? 

This post is part of the expat blog hop by "Tales From Windmill Fields".

A Dutch House Move Made Cheaper - Is it Working?

Photo: Chris Holder

For those of you currently searching for your dream home in the Netherlands the recent reduction in home transfer tax from 6% to 2% should be a welcome boost to a despondent house market. It's a buyer's market for sure and it just got more attractive to take a step on the property ladder.... as long as you can get rid of your current property of course. However, experts relay that the real benefit of this government move won't be felt until the final quarter of 2011 so house sellers will need to exercise yet more patience.

Estate agents say that viewings have gone up 25% since the government made the announcement. From personal experience we have seen no effect whatsoever of the promise of a lower property transfer tax (which can save thousands of euro on a house purchase). We have had no extra viewers at all. Mind you, it would seem that the entire Dutch population is on vacation somewhere or other because it is quiet all round so maybe once the school holidays are over normal business will be resumed..........

I know there's at least one of you out there trying to sell a property... anyone noticed a boost in house viewings and negotiations as a result of the reduced property transfer tax? Are you persuaded to buy a property because of the money you save by the lower tax rate?