My schedule

What does my schedule look like less then two weeks prior to our departure to Sydney?

• Try to sell our MG-B. A great car (at least that's what Marcel thinks) but not very practical when you plan to spend a few more years abroad.
• Go to the post office to send our lightweight Safary Chef (a multi purpose outdoor cooking device) to Australia. It weights only 5 kg. It's impossible to sell it here as it freezes like crazy. Not many people are interested at the moment in outdoor cooking appliances. I wonder why???
• Sell two kids bikes through Marktplaats.nl, the Dutch version of e-bay. Both kids learned to ride a bike in Holland the past few weeks. I lost a few pounds running after them in the park. In India it was just impossible for them to ride their bikes except for in the living room. I wish I could bring the two bikes to Australia but that's too costly.
• Trow away a lot of stuff. I'll bring tree suitcases to Australia. Looking around the house, I'm sure I have enough stuff to easily fill five suitcases. Oeps.

Mmm. What else?

Of course, trying to visit as many friends and family as possible. I've been in Holland for almost 2,5 month but time has passed so quickly that I have not yet seen everyone. It's also been a very busy time with Sinterklaas, Sebastiaan's birthday, school, etc. This afternoon I take the kids to the Arnhem Water Museum. I look forward to that.

I wish everyone a wonderful 2010!

See pictures of the New Year fireworks in Sydney.

Container arrives in Sydney tomorrow!

Today we received an email from the moving agent in Sydney with the great news that our container will arrive on 30 December. That's tomorrow! I'm so exited.

Customs clearance will take approximately 10 working days which means that we could have our stuff when I arrive with the kids. Hopefully the customs people won't drink too much champaign for new years causing delays.

In India, we made a lot of effort selecting the right moving agency. We looked at four different companies. At the end we choose to work with UTS - B.R.Shastry. Why? They provided us with a reasonable quote from the start. Also, the guy from Shastry who we met the first time to discuss our move, Roshan, told us he would be our contact person during the entire process. The three days the movers were in our house to pack everything he was there as promised. It sometimes happens that you meet the first time with a commercial guy (usually a smooth talker) and when the actual moving day is there he is no longer around and you have to deal with someone who is useless or you don't like.

It's a weird process. We spent a lot of time selecting a moving company in the country of origin, in our case India. The moving company in the country of origin decides who they work with in the country of destination. We don't have a say in that. In other words, we don't have a clue which company we end up with in Sydney. Yesterday, we had our first email correspondence with the Australian company, Chess Moving. We don't know anything about them which is a bit scary. I checked their website and it looks OK. I keep my fingers crossed that the move will go smoothly and that I can sleep in my own bed when I arrive in January.

Family holiday

This is what Marcel has in mind for our next family fun holiday. It looks exiting enough. I'm sure I can make great pictures here. First we will do a driving course for a 4-wheel drive care to also make it a save experience. The first trip is planned for mid March.

Self portrait

This is a picture of me and Julia taken this morning right after breakfast. A nice way to get into the Christmas mood. The head of the snowman is still visible in the background.

Merry christmas from Bronsbergen!

This picture was taken a few days ago. The snow is still there but it's not as white anymore.

Today we celebrate Christmas. I celebrate it in the Dutch snow with the kids and Marcel in the Australian sun. We're now at T-3 weeks before our departure to Oz. The count down can start.

The kids are still confused about Santa Claus and Sinterklaas. Sebastiaan keeps telling Julia: Santa Claus is dead! I hope they won't do that in their Australian school next year. It will upset a lot of kids and parents.

Today, they did not find any presents under the Christmas tree. After Sinterklaas and Sebastiaan's birthday, I've developed a strong allergy for shopping for presents. Hopefully this allergy will dissapear in 2010. Today and tomorrow, I'll give away my last presents from India. Amongst others, some books for my brother (books are ridiculously cheap in India).

Today we will make a 'count down tree' for Australia. We still have 20 days to go. For each day, the kids write on a piece of paper the date and draw an 'assignment'. For example, 'jump ten times in the air'. We hang these papers in the tree and each day the kids can open one piece of paper and do one 'assignment'. That's it. Very simple and that's how I like it!

The kids keep playing funny games. Yesterday, I went upstairs because it was very quiet. The kids were sitting on Julia's bed where they gathered all the stuff from the room. They played 'container ship'.

In the meantime, Marcel is preparing for our arrival in Sydney. He now bought a blue scooter for the busy Sydney traffic in the morning. Fun!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow..

After spending the last three winters in India, we were looking forward to seeing some snow. We got more then we asked for. I took this picture yesterday afternoon around 2 p.m. The sky was beautiful with some sun and clouds. This morning when we woke up it was snowing again. We have enough snow now to last till Christmas!

House

Thanks to Marcel we can move into our house in Sydney as soon as we arrive in January. We found a place on the lower Northshore (Castlecraig) with a garden and a wooden deck for the barbecues. What more do we want? According to the landlord, koalas sometimes visit the garden because it's very close to a nature reserve. Mmm. I thought we would be living in the big city..

To find our house we used www.realestate.com.au. Google Earth is a great tool when you are still far away. I already have a good idea of what our street and the neighborhood looks like. With some imagination I can see myself walking down our street to the shops. These maps are so detailed. It can become quite addictive looking at them.

Yesterday Marcel visited the house and he made some movie clips. It feels weird looking at the movies and knowing that in four weeks from now, that will be my house, my bathroom, my kitchen and bedroom. The whole thing still feels sooooo far away.

For now, we enjoy ourselves with the snow. It was freezing cold today. This afternoon I took the kids outside for a while to play in the snow. Suddenly I noticed that Julia was shivering like crazy. I quickly took her inside and put her on the sofa with a blanket giving her some time to recover. This will not happen in Sydney!

A view on the lake at Bronsbergen

This morning we woke up in a beautiful frozen wonderland. This was the view we had this morning. I took this picture right in front of our house around 9.30 a.m. The disadvantage of this type of weather is that the windows of the car get frozen. The kids loved it of course but I didn't. I don't like to drive without any visibility. There was ice everywhere. Also in the car.

Sinterklaas and Santa Claus confusion

This morning before school, my almost-six-year-old son Sebastiaan, interrogated me about Santa Claus. Who are his helpers? What about the presents? Who wraps them? Does Santa Claus really exist? How does Santa Claus deliver the presents? How does he get into the house? I had a hard time answering his questions. I gave vague answers but my son did not accept that. He just started asking more questions. Yes, I had a really though morning…

Last week, we celebrated the Dutch equivalent of Santa Claus in the Netherlands. The name of the Dutch Santa Claus is Sinterklaas. Although the two characters look different, the concept is exactly the same: they both visit children’s houses at night to give presents. Santa Claus puts the presents in a stocking and Sinterklaas and his helpers put them in a shoe.

Dutch children are supposed to believe that Sinterklaas really exist till they are six or seven. As a tradition, all Dutch parents are supposed to lie (sorry, there is no other way to put this) to their kids and make them believe that Sinterklaas is a real person.

I just don’t think it’s very credible if I make my son believe in Santa Claus the same way as with Sinterklaas. But when I tell that Santa Claus does not really exist and that it’s only legend, he will start wondering about our Sinterklaas story and I don’t want that to happen… HELP.

Can you talk to me in English?

My five year old is worried about his English. Today in the car:

'Mum, can you talk to me in English?' 'I'm afraid I'll forget my English when we go to school in Australia'.

We've been in Holland now for three weeks. Three weeks ago his sentences consisted of 60% Dutch and 40% English. Now it's 95% Dutch and 5% English. Young children can switch so easily.

I explained to Sebastiaan that he'll remember his English as soon as we arrive in Sydney. He then asked if we could wait sending him to school until he thinks his English is good enough. So cute.

Sinterklaas (continued)

Today was a wonderful day with lots of sunshine and...Sinterklaas (again) and his Black Petes (Zwarte Pieten). Australia seems so far away when I'm here. This is a picture of the Zwarte Pieten at the 'Wijnhuistower' of Zutphen built in the 17th century. Wow!

First blog post

It feels strange to write this first blog post. It's strange because it's the first post and the blog looks so empty. It's also strange to write in English. My previous blog (www.marcelsandra.blogspot.com) is in Dutch. On this blog I will write about our Australian experience but foremost I want to share information with others interested in Sydney.

I write this blog post as if I already live in Australia. This is not the case! I'm still in Holland where I try to explain my kids about the two Santa Clauses: the Dutch Santa Claus (or Sinterklaas) and the English one. The Dutch Santa Claus or 'Sinterklaas' celebrates his birthday on December 5. He then goes back to Spain. Does that make sense?

Tomorrow I will dress up my kids as Black Peet (zwarte piet) to see the arrival of Sinterklaas in the Dutch city of Zutphen, a beautifull old town in the East of the Netherlands. If you want to visit Zutphen (about 1 hour by train from Amsterdam), this is the website from the local tourist office. The site is in Dutch and in German. No English. Sorry.

This is a picture of my daughter watching the arrival of Sinterklaas in Woerden last week: