My reflections on thankfulness last time were met with a lot of good questions about holidays here in the Netherlands and plans in general. Many of these questions I’ve answered individually but were asked frequently so I figured, why not put them in a place where everyone had access. Enjoy!

Will I go home or see my American family anytime soon?
I was able to take a quick trip home at the end of September to celebrate a couple of birthdays and wrap up a couple (rather large) projects. Projects, like selling my home but making my brother pack up my things, legalities of transferring to an online business, you know, those sorts of boring things. Beyond that, and in light of the ongoing pandemic, travel of that nature won’t happen for me again for quite a while.

Do I hear from my folks/home often?
Yes, I do hear from my family in Oregon fairly often. What’s been the biggest challenge for me beyond the time difference has been going from being around them daily and knowing things about everyday life to not knowing much of what is going on. In that respect, communication has needed to be more intentional as we all navigate this new normal.

What am I going to do for Christmas?
My plans for Christmas are to celebrate it with family that is relatively close to me. Here in the Netherlands, gifts are given on December 5th, Sinterklaas. Christmas is a bit more low key here. No gifts, just family gathering for a nice family dinner and relatively quiet celebration.

Do I get to play in the snow/How’s the weather?
The weather here is a lot like Portland. Not any snow, low hanging clouds, wet cold. As you know, I love snowshoeing, so the lack of snow will be quite the adjustment. I may need to go find some mountains with snow to play in at some point this winter. One of the things I like about living this far north is the light in winter is wonderful for photography as the sun never gets very high so there is always softer lighting. A downside of that is VERY short days.

What about the food?
I would say the food here is quite normal. Then again, it’s the kind of food I grew up with, so it’s normal for me. The choices are varied, more so than I experienced in Italy. Meat and potatoes are really common and featured in most dinners. That has been a big adjustment since I moved, as I was mostly vegetarian before coming to Europe. The stores here have a nice variety of vegan and vegetarian choices, so while I am eating more meat here, there’s a ton of choices when I want to go meatless. Breakfast for me is a couple slices of bread with peanut butter. They have a lovely rosehip jam that I absolutely love, so I have that most mornings. Lunch is leftovers or crackers with a spread on it. Lately that’s been a variety of hummus and old Amsterdam cheese (my favorite). Dinner is hearty fare. If I’m not doing a stir fry then I’m probably doing some potatoes with red cabbage (another staple) and meat.

Living/office situation?
My home is just about completely set up. I’m still waiting for my living room furniture which won’t arrive until the end of January. I find that annoying, as it means my places to hang out are my office and the kitchen. Not terrible places to hang out, but I’m looking forward to lounging on my cushy furniture rather than hard chairs. Which leads me to the office. I have set up a home office. I am not practicing acupuncture here and have no plans to work outside of my home. Logistically, working from home is the easiest as all my business is online. The pandemic is very much still going strong here, which also vastly limits in person contact. This was honestly a main motivation for me moving my practice exclusively online.
Another aspect of my home I don’t think I’ve talked about: My apartment is on the second and third floors of a 3 story building. The main floor has a toilet room (these are commonly separate from the regular bathroom), a bathroom, living room, kitchen, and a bedroom, which I use as my office and Lego building space. Upstairs is the room where I sleep. When I finally get a video tour put together it may become a bit more clear, but there are 2 rooms up where I sleep. The bigger one has my bed. The smaller area has my closet and general storage area. There are 2 skylights upstairs which open up. It’s nice to have fresh air up there and be able to look at the stars on clear nights.

Have I met people yet?
Of course! But again, pandemic in full swing. So the majority of people I meet I see in passing, and that’s the extent of it. Here’s something that not many people understand about me, or people like me: as an introvert and as a Projector (check out Human Design or drop me a line and we can chat at length about human design) I thrive on limited interaction. The interaction that I love and that truly fuels my soul and lights me up is having meaningful conversations with people where we both learn something new about ourselves and the world around us. I also have a very, very small group of incredibly close women that I turn to for all manner of things. Some of these women I’ve known and been close with for over 5 years, some of them have been with me through the past year as I’ve transitioned my business online and my life to Europe. So, while building relationships here is an important aspect of me building a good life, I am well aware that will not happen quickly simply because of the logistics of living in the midst of a global pandemic as well as my limited need for interaction.

Am I doing acupuncture/Do I have plans to?
No.
I do not plan to pursue that. I moved my career online so I could stop spending so much of my time and energy patching up symptoms and instead focus on helping people do the work they need to do to transform their lives. This work does pull on my knowledge, training and expertise in Western medicine, biochemistry, Traditional Chinese medicine (so much more that JUST acupuncture), transformational coaching, childbirth and pregnancy work, and art and travel.
It may not seem like these things go together, but we are not one dimensional creatures. Healing takes many forms and takes many approaches. THAT is the work that I am doing online.
Happy thankful merry and bright