The Word Exchange by Alena Graedon This was a quick, fun-ish read that reminded me a lot of a book I read last year, Lexicon, by Max Barry. Lexicon is a bit more tense with serious implications for complex characters. The Word Exchange, however, had slightly less dire stakes and was more quick-paced romp than dark thriller. The […]
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I never would have found this place if my friend didn’t already know about it. It’s one of those restaurants in Amsterdam that’s totally unassuming from the outside with surprisingly delicious food. My theory is that these hidden gems have a higher density along Zeedijk (where WAU is located), but I need to do more research to […]
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shalom, aloha, namaste, tashi delek It’s a melancholic and contradictory aspect of expat life that we’re always eager to connect with people and also constantly saying goodbye. We’re the nomads and the travelers of the world and we’re used to being the ones doing the leaving. But if you live any place where expats gather, at some point […]
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The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro The only other book by Ishiguro that I’ve read is Never Let Me Go, which I loved. Other than a similarity in that feeling of being plunked abruptly into a world (a feeling I love), these books have almost nothing in common. I’d heard a little buzz about The Buried Giant when […]
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The Student Hotel has a new location in Amsterdam and they celebrated their grand opening on Friday with a slew of events. Most exciting for me was Bed Talks – a “free thinking festival” with demos, workshops and speakers around a variety of topics. I got there early to meet a friend and after registering and picking […]
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It’s hard to believe that I’m fast approaching my two year anniversary as an expat in Amsterdam. The time has really flown and a lot has changed. We’ve come a long way since that first bleary-eyed morning when we arrived at Schiphol with four suitcases and two cats. The hardest part about adjusting to life in […]
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Amsterdam is its best self in spring. The tulips are blooming and the sun peeks out at least a little nearly every day. Like most places, though, in Amsterdam the weather in spring is wildly unpredictable. T and I had cycled into the city center the other day to do some shopping and just as […]
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January was a dark month. Literally, because Amsterdam is miserable that time of year, and also in terms of my reading picks. It’s April as I’m writing this, but I thought it might be fun to go back and take a look at what I’m reading this year, month by month. I’ll get caught up […]
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When you’re preparing to move abroad, there are a lot of places you can turn to for advice. Trenton’s company provided a relocation specialist who helped us navigate all the paperwork and legal stuff. The internet will always be an endless fount of knowledge. Trenton’s coworkers – particularly the native Dutchies – were happy to […]
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Pretty much as far back as I can remember, I’ve been a hardcore bookworm. I can still conjure up the feeling that I always got reading the first three chapters of every Baby-sitters Club book, when they have to introduce the characters all over again, in case you were just joining us now in the middle […]
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