five days in

It is one thing to explore a new place as a tourist, and something else entirely to have one's first visit hold the possibility of finding a home. The last time I felt this way I was seventeen, pulling six months' worth of suitcase behind me as I walked the half-block from where the airport bus had dropped me on Bayswater Road to the student housing. It was early morning and all my senses were heightened. Every detail I saw held the promise of becoming part of me. The world was new.

Of course, it is now myself, a husband, and two little genetic copies making our way into this new world. So when, following a red-eye flight, we opened the street door to find two treacherously steep flights of stairs between us and our elegant "first floor" rented apartment, it felt less that like an imposition than a tidbit of information that helped us rule out nearly every long-term rental on our list. Similarly helpful, our "convenient proximity" to the peaceful-looking tram, which turns out to be quite disruptive when it rumbles by the apartment at night, and walking amongst the bicycles that look so charming from afar, but assume the character of NYC cabbies once they are criss-crossing pedestrian paths.

When we spent our first full day hunting down a carseat to replace the one Townes ruined on the plane (yes, it was a memorable flight),  driving to Haarlem through a blizzard to explore residential neighborhoods, and sitting in a hospital waiting room with a feverish baby, rather than feeling frustrated that the day had been so logistical, we congratulated ourselves on giving the place an accurately quotidian tryout. The subsequent days' meetings with schools and the English branch of our church filled in more of the picture, while delicious food (Indonesian, French, pofferjes, and chocolate, of course!), a little BBC programming, and an impromptu road trip to Germany for work reminded us why we wanted to do this crazy thing in the first place.  And luckily I have a Henry James novel from Audible to go to bed with at night, lest the existential questions crowd out sleep.

Five days in, it feels like we have already moved here; maybe a little too much so. What will the remaining five days hold? If I have my way, a chance to slow down, explore, and fall so much in love that we can't wait be back in a few months' time on a more permanent basis.