Daily Life

A common question I get asked is "what is a typical day like there?" As is the case, anywhere, I'm not sure there is a "typical" day but I'll try to give you a glimpse into an average week for me. 

As many of you know, I am not working a full time job. At the moment, I am cleaning several houses and babysitting. I have gradually picked up these cleaning jobs and was hesitant at first to do so. Dan had to strongly encourage me to respond to a post about someone looking for a person to do some cleaning. I'm so glad I did because through that, I met one of my good friends here, Damaris! She's another American so we have had a good time figuring out Leiden together. Initially, I felt I could do more than cleaning. I mean, I had a college education right? Wrong. When you're in a country where you don't speak the language and have to have a permit to work, all the degrees in the world won't make you any money. God humbled me and through these jobs I have acquired, I've been able to bring in some extra money for our family. So, I am currently cleaning 2 houses weekly and 2 houses every other week. I also babysit 2 , 1/2 days a week for a family that used to be my downstairs neighbor before they moved. The baby is nearly 4 months old and the family is Italian so the baby gets to hear Italian, Dutch, and English! I'm hoping her first word will be in English!:) just kidding!

I ride my bike to all of these places, which means I have to allow for extra time to get there, maybe throw on my poncho(one of these days I'm going to take a picture of myself in my blue poncho, just to show everyone how cool I really am), and head out on my bike. I usually go to the store daily, stopping by it on the way home. I felt very Dutch the other day leaving the grocery store because I had my front basket full to the rim and had pans and a bag of potatoes strapped to the back of my bike. You'd be surprised how much heavier it makes your bike to have a load of groceries on it!
*oh and as a sidenote, yesterday when I was riding home from a job, it was pouring down rain and I forgot my rain gear. I did have an umbrella with me so I decided it was time to make my maiden voyage of riding my bike one-handed, using the other to hold the umbrella. This is fairly significant because I rode about 3 miles like this, including uphill parts. I was very proud of myself until some dude rode by with NO HANDS, going uphill, holding an umbrella in one hand and keeping his other hand warm in his pocket. That is my next attempt! Hmm, I might wait until I have insurance first.

I usually make dinner before Dan gets home and then we settle in to watch some tv or sometimes we go to a friend's house for dinner. Weekends are usually spent running errands around the town together. Enjoying the markets, having lunch by the canal, and catching up on things we didn't have time for during the week. 


Overall it's a pretty laid back lifestyle. We are never in too big of a hurry because we can only get somewhere as fast as our little legs will pedal us. We don't have to worry about "keeping up with the Jones's" because we don't even know who the Jones's are over here or what it would look like to keep up with them! I think everyone should give living abroad a try. It's good for the soul.