A very kind (and young) employee of Expeditors delivered us to our hotel in the village of Aalsmeer, which is located south of Amsterdam proper and about 10 minutes from Nick's new office. We began to unpack and settle in as we awaited Rocky's arrival. We were informed upon check in that customs needed a copy of Tracy's airline ticket in order to clear him in. Something we were unaware of until we arrived (good thing we hired that pet relocation company). Expeditors was contacted and provided a copy of the ticket. Rob, who is the manager of personnel at Expeditors here, showed up with our rental car and took Nick to the office to show him around. On his way back Nick was able to pick up Rocky and bring him back to our hotel.
While Nick was off with Rob, Tracy received a welcome visit from Maarten, Philine, Niels, and Danique. It goes without saying that Tracy was excited to see the kids and they were very excited to see her. They even got to miss a day of school for the trip up to Aalsmeer. We spent the afternoon reconnecting and touring the neighborhood around our hotel. The area is "very Dutch" with quaint shops, restaurant's, a very old windmill, and even a few canals. It was so wonderful to see the kids again!
The flight and travel was all pretty traumatic on Rocky. For such a social cat he has picked up a real awareness of "stranger danger". He spent the first day and a half curled up in the corner under our bed. He wouldn't even come out for food. Day by day he seems to be getting back to his old self. But he has taken to growling at people he sees out of our windows. I think this whole experience might get him back down to his old fighting weight!
The flight and travel was all pretty traumatic on Rocky. For such a social cat he has picked up a real awareness of "stranger danger". He spent the first day and a half curled up in the corner under our bed. He wouldn't even come out for food. Day by day he seems to be getting back to his old self. But he has taken to growling at people he sees out of our windows. I think this whole experience might get him back down to his old fighting weight!
We finished the day off with dinner at our hotel and heading to bed early...real early. We were exhausted! Plus, Thursday was going to be a busy day.
Our temporary home (beautiful welcome flowers from the kids)
Biking in The Netherlands is a national past time, separate paths parallel the roads and paths crisscross the country, making travel by bike from one end of the country to the other entirely possible. It helps that the country is very, very flat.
Thursday brought many meetings. We met Rob at Expeditors (yes, we were able to navigate back and drive ourselves). Rob took us to Den Haag for our first meetings. What we learned along the way is that The Netherlands is a small country, everything is about one hour away. We were met by our immigration consultant who escorted us to meetings in order to apply for residency, obtain a tax identification number, as well as establish a bank account. We were surprised by how quickly we were able to negotiate this process, I think we both feared it would last the entire day. We finished the day by meeting with a broker and scheduling an appointment to view rentals next week. We are both hopeful that we find a permanent place sooner than later, we are eager to truly settle in and start to get into a routine. There has certainly been some moments of "What the hell have we done?!?". But we both believe this was to be expected. We're certain that once both of us begin working, begin to meet people, and spend time learning about and seeing our new surroundings, it will begin to feel like home.
