Right here I will keep you posted about what keeps me busy in my live. The website started with the construction of our green home. Now the last boxes are unpacked and we finally are developping a daily and weekly rythm, it is time to focus on a new position for me.
Moved from The Netherlands with my husband Benno four years ago to the Chicago area, we are now in the process to settle down in New Hampshire.
We hope you enjoy our stories. Please feel free to apply for an sign in so you can read all posts. If you are not sure if we recognize your connection with us, send us a note or fill out the bio section during the sign up phase.
We also have a website in Dutch, which you can find here. You need also a login to enter that website.
Enjoy the stories
If you have registered, please do not forget to login every time you visit the site. Otherwise you won’t be able to see the pictures.
You order something online. After one or two days you receive your confirmation of shipment with the tracking code on it. Nothing special right?
Right until you order something at woodworkers.com. I was happy that it was 90 degrees today and was wearing a skirt, otherwise I could have done it in my pants
Read and yes you can cry!
I have some great news, Mirjam.
Our team of 107 hard working (and exceptionally good looking) employees has – with great care and attention – selected, packaged and shipped your order #51550 on this beautiful day.
I wish you could have been here to see all the action. When I handed the order to Robert, our master packager, he looked at it, smiled, and slid a pair of Italian leather gloves onto his hands. As he selected your order, he placed it all on a satin-lined chariot to move it to the packaging center. And there’s more . . .
Everyone gathered around, held a candle, and watched with hushed awe as he wrapped the entire order in the finest gold-laced cardboard that money can buy – you could have heard a pin drop.
In the end, the guys were so thrilled that they wanted to throw a party just for your order. We’re talking about a big fiesta with live music and good food. All the action stumped the UPS driver when he showed up. He thought he was going to pick up the packages like normal, but instead we picked *him* up carried him down the street on our shoulders while the band played. You can imagine what happened next, right? Our neighbors came outside to see what the fuss was all about, and when they saw your beautiful order they all waved ‘Bon Voyage!’ to your package, and patted Robert on the back.
Someone must have called the local TV stations because the next thing I knew I had six interviews to handle for reporters who asked, “What does Mirjam IJtsma intend to make?” But don’t worry, your secret’s safe. I told them, “I don’t know. Maybe world peace?” Man! If only woodworking could do that!
Anyway, the guys hope to see pictures of what you make so we can have another party (I know what you’re thinking . . .). I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at Woodworkers Source. We enjoyed every minute of it, and we’ve named you “Customer of the Year.” That gets you a pretty good parking spot right out front if you ever come see us. I gotta tell you, though, we’re pretty exhausted. And we can’t wait for you to come back to Woodworkers Source.
Okay, okay. You want the info. Your tracking information is below, or you can also get it all by logging into your at account at our website.
We do have a cat – Spooky and although we also like dogs, we stick with her. And she is doing everything she can to sometimes fill that gab. Going for a walk on the trail at our neighborhood for example. She made it halfway our trail, which is still quite amazing if you realize that this took her an half hour.
“Can I call you back later, I am just having dinner.” My husband is on the phone with one of his family members. The other party asks to call back in about an hour (!). He hangs up, looks at me and just says “they were having dinner”. We both started to laugh. “if I could call back in an hour”, he said. “What kind of dinner was that?” I asked him. “Well, I could call back earlier, when they realized that that was a long time…”
This is typical Dutch and we just learned that we are changing. Dinner time in The Netherlands is very important and you should take the time for it. Nobody should call (that is why it is so handy that a lot of people have dinner at 06:00PM). Our first reaction was the offended one. He hadn’t spoken to this person for weeks and just wanted to be nice and ask about their wereabouts.
They will say this to everyone, not just a salesperson and yes, we are not used to this anymore. Isn’t it nice if somebody calls you to ask how you are doing. And as Benno did call at an inappropriate time (it wasn’t even at 06:00 PM !), he is now the person who should call them back.
After four and half years of living in the US, we are approaching time and social contacts a little bit different. You will never loose your roots, but your roots might grow a little bit in a different direction. I am sure that we will have more of those challenging culture differences the longer we enjoy living here.
The environment is something that I truly care about and I always try to find ways to better care for the world around me. When I first heard about the BP oilspil I was so outraged. It felt so hopeless, I am complaining about a couple of kwH that I am wasting, while BP just destroyed the whole South coast and what so more.
My eye caught the article which of course make me feel pride (certainly now the Dutch played a great game, but the Spanish team turned out to be even better), but also so angry. Why is it so difficult to work together to clean this mess up as soon as possible?
The world is watching in disbelief as we blunder through the oil spill cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. Lawrence Solomon’s “Avertible Catastrophe” in the Canadian publication Financial Post, describes the most ridiculous kind of bureaucratic inflexibility imaginable in the reasons used to reject effective technology and help from the Netherlands and other countries in cleaning up the spill and protecting the Gulf Coast.
“Three days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, the Netherlands offered the U.S. government ships equipped to handle a major spill, one much larger than the BP spill that then appeared to be underway. “Our system can handle 400 cubic metres per hour,” Weird Koops, the chairman of Spill Response Group Holland, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, giving each Dutch ship more cleanup capacity than all the ships that the U.S. was then employing in the Gulf to combat the spill.”………..
“Why does neither the U.S. government nor U.S. energy companies have on hand the cleanup technology available in Europe? Ironically, the superior European technology runs afoul of U.S. environmental rules. The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn’t good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million — if water isn’t at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico.”
In Solomon’s article there are more disheartening details of well intentioned bureacrats turning the accident in the gulf into a far worse disaster than it should have become.
“According to Floris Van Hovell, a spokesman for the Dutch embassy in Washington, Dutch dredging ships could complete the berms in Louisiana twice as fast as the U.S. companies awarded the work. “Given the fact that there is so much oil on a daily basis coming in, you do not have that much time to protect the marshlands,” he says, perplexed that the U.S. government could be so focussed on side issues with the entire Gulf Coast hanging in the balance.”
As Logan Penza suggests at The Moderate Voice:“Seriously, You can’t make this stuff up”
Yet some folks still wonder why Americans are increasingly skeptical of ever expanding bureaucratic regulatory solutions and their inevitable unintended consequences.
It is the biggest event of the year. The world champion Soccer in South-Africa. Of course the Dutch think they are great soccer players and yes we have proved that we are not in the past. But that doesn’t matter.
This is the one moment that we do allow ourselves to do crazy, to scream, yell and most of all be ORANGE. During the game The Netherlands – Brasil, the central square in Amsterdam is completely full of fans, it is so full that more fans were not allowed. Ten thousands orange colored fans are having a blast. The marketingtrain is full speed and every brand, every store gives away something orange. It is always the game which souvenir is winning. Especially the beerbrewers are making sure that you will wear their orange gear. Yes you read it correctly. Beer and sports blend very well!
So this year Bavaria decided to give the ladies something to wear. The Orange Dress. Not available to order online anymore, you need to buy the beer, than you get it for free. It is the hit. So much that when a group of Dutch Ladies were wearing their orange dress during the match in South Africa they got arrested. It is illegal to promote a product, if you haven’t signed a contract with FIFA. They spend a few days in jail and Bavaria paid FIFA. Everybody now knows the dutchdress is Bavaria. Obviously Bavaria won this marketing game.
So now back to the US. No orange, no games. Team USA went already home and so I walk into “the coffeefactory” in Derry. A nice place to eat a sandwich, drink a coffee and launch the internet. So that is my plan, so that I can follow the game. With in one hand my drink and in my other hand my sandwich, I am looking for a place to sit. When I see a couch nearby an outlet, I notice the television screen. And I hardly can believe what I am seeing. They are showing the game.
I find myself a spot on the coach. An gentleman is sitting next to me, when I explain (I am still wondering if I need to tell that I am from the Netherlands, I am sure everyone can hear that right from my accent)that I am from the Netherlands, he immediately stopped working. Together we are watching the game. It is on the Spanish channel so we are giving our own comment and discuss the immature behavior of both teams and the culture differences between the US and The Netherlands. It is fun to watch. It is 1-1 and when the second goal is made by the Netherlands I am excited, but nobody in the room seems to be interested in the Netherlands winning this game. So I am just saying this is wonderful, Great! Every time Brasil is trying to make a goal, we both agree that this probably is going to happen, but it is not. All of a sudden here in Derry, NH the Netherlands is in the semi finals!
The commercials start and we both go our own way.
But he! The Netherlands is still in the game!
Here some pictures from the Dutch Fan and the Dutch Dress!
About two weeks ago we moved into our new home. And for all of us (Benno, our cat Spooky and me) it was akward but very good to be home. Because that is how it felt, from the moment we walked in with the first box in our hand. Home.
The days pass by quickly. The morning routine is easily established by sitting in the breakfast nook, looking at email and than starting with unpacking some boxes, hanging pictures. Than around 10 having a cup of coffee at the porch is just awesome. Sitting there, watching Spooking discovering her new world is great. I am wondering when she will feel settled in, feels comfortable enough to start hunting again. When I walk down to the street to check on the mail, Spooky is nowhere to be seen. A moment later I know why. With a loud “miauw” the announcement is made that the first mouse of the season went down. When the present is presented and I applaud her for it (and tell her that she can come in, but that the mouse needs to stay outside), she decide to start her meal right in front of the door.
All of sudden I remember that she actually gave me the mouse. I open the door and yes “there it is” . She ate all of the mouse except for the head. This is her way of giving away presents. Just leave the head. She is getting back in her rythm, she loves the outdoors. I wish I could leave it up to her, when she can and cannot go outside…
In the evening when we are sitting outside, we see an unexpected visitor entering our driveway. It does seem to live here and enjoys the fact that we opened the woods a little bit and made a easier way to get to the field. Our hearts stopped. We both look at him, than at spooky who is sitting at the step. Quietly are we looking at this coyote. It is a beautiful animal, never seen it so close. When it seems not to stop and to walk to the field, we are looking at Spooky and thinking on a way to grab her and get her back in the house. The attempt is successful. No dawn or dusk outside plays anymore for her.
Just a few boxes need to be unpacked, so I guess that the time for serious the serious jobhunt has started.
