Canada

My first - ever - patriotic photo. May 2017

Canada celebrates its 150th birthday this year. 150 years, that's a long time! Of those 150 years I have been here just over 12.5 years. My family moved to Alberta in November of 2004. Let's just say it was a rocky road when we started out, there in the western prairie province. Kind of like the gravel road we lived on, especially after weeks of rain, with washboards and massive potholes. Ah, looking back I see many people supporting us, patiently showing us what ground beef to buy on our first trip to the grocery store, or gently correcting us when we said learn instead of study, or missed some other technicality in our sentence structure. I know that still happens and it probably always will.
Those first weeks and months were awful. Filled with tears, MSN chats, and snail mail from the homeland.
We missed the bus on purpose, or would call home saying we were sick - just to avoid school. It was awful reading kindergarten level books when we were in middle school, and having to listen to audio stories on cassette at the back of the classroom while the class read The Outsiders...
Then I went to high school, and college, and worked for a year, and then I entered university. Studied English Lit and Psych and graduated after also doing my Bachelor of Education. Now I teach. It's lovely, it's rough, it's challenging and so very motivating.

All those years I thought about it, thought about moving back to the Netherlands. It's not that Canada isn't a good place to live. I love the opportunities Canada has given me, love the language I have learned, cherish the friendships I have, and am so very thankful for my life here. A while ago someone asked me "what did we do wrong, that we can't keep you here? Is it the language we speak, the clothes we wear, the weird things we say, or the people?" Ah, he was only kidding, I think...


Canada - it's nothing you have or haven't offered. People - it's nothing you have or haven't done. Friends - it's nothing you did or didn't do. Family - it's not the choices you have or haven't made. It's just me taking this step in faith, because I can and get to do this at this time.


You may wonder what this step is, if you haven't heard yet via some other form of social media, from me in person, or from someone else. I have been sorting through things, purging, selling, giving away, and donating so many items. Still there is much more to do, to pack , and to get rid of because I just can't store all the little things. I don't want to store half my life here in Ontario (with a fragment of stuff still left at my parents' place in Alberta - that has just been sitting there for some years...). I don't want to store stuff and I can't take very much when I go.
Mid July I will be taking 2 suitcases and a carry-on across the pond. I am going to the Netherlands for a year.


Mainly because I have always wanted to and I can do so relatively easily with my Dutch citizenship. Second, because I am fully bilingual and I am a teacher - so why not use teaching and English in Holland to help others become more bilingual. Or better yet, share what I know so that they can also cross borders, move mountains, and reach other people groups through connecting with them using English...
Third, I am hoping to take some grad courses there, while I can. Why not continue the love of learning a nation that celebrates professional development and offers ample opportunity for young and old to do learn?!
Fourth, I am going to where I am called next, following God's lead in this all.

It will be an adventure. It will be a learning curve. It will be exciting. And yes, it is also slightly terrifying!

So off I go - to the Netherlands...
I will keep you posted