I ordered a bunch of ovulation and pregnancy tests online (because I could get 25 o-tests and 6 HPTs for the price of 2 HPTs at the drugstore) and paid A WEEK AGO, thinking that if they mail it out the next day it should be here no later than Saturday (probably even Friday) and the package is still not here.
I super-super hate Dutch mail. Why can't they just sort and deliver stuff on time.
So mail, please come soon, really really soon, I want to test!!!!!
Hello ladies! nothing special going on here. I hope the weather will be decent enough to go for a run today as through trial and error (and pain) I did discover that of all your suggestions, running in a better temperature waa the only thing that really had a BIG impact.
QOTD: the US, nicer clothes from Nordstrom's Rack, Macy's, sometimes Foley's. Casual from Target and Nordstrom's Rack (and I've been known to find well - fitting jeans, yoga pants and shirts and such at Walmart). Other than that I shop at little boutiques wherever I am and they have cute things and I often find cute summer dresses at Upim in Italy (their version of Target I guess).
Post by Cheesecake on Jun 12, 2012 13:15:17 GMT -5
Bookworm, you'll need to deliver here, have kraamzorg here and then move to a country that has the awesome maternity leave packages (Didn't Crimson recently teach us that Germany has a total of 14 months of parental leave??) (Or just not move at all so we can play with your behbeh!)
Oh, and grosnl19, I checked the zilveren Kruis site, and you'll probably want a 2 star or higher optional extra insurance. That'll cover your co-pay on the hospital maternity care, plus it gives you 100 percent international health insurance (worldwide) "up to 12 months out of the year, if necessary". (Plus a whole lot of other extra stuff, but those 2 things are the ones that are probably most important for your family.)
When you (or YH's company ) sets up your insurance, make sure they add 'gezinsplanning' or 'zwangerschap' or something like that. The names are different witg each company, but it's an additional "family planning" midyle added to your insurance, which covers a lot of non medically necessary stuff and usually costs 5euros a month (also includes birth control and stuff like that).
Don't have children yet, but didtead ALL my best friend's info for her when it wasn't available in English. They surely aren't fans if epis here and yoy generally don't see an ob when pregnant unless you have medical issues. It's a midwife system here. Unless you're specifically insured for it or deemed medically necessary giving birth in the hospital isn't covered by insurance. Having said this, I know that the Slotervaart hospital is VERY accomodating to women who prefer hospital births and pain management. As far as I know they're the only ones that are cool offering it (upon request) to women who don't require it medically.
Otherwise, I hope others have answers as I have no personal experience.
Inspired by all the stats I looked up the ones for entire NL (so farm country/little education factored in, which I didn't take inti consideration in my earlier post.) Avg age for women to get married is 29.9. Avg age to have 1st child for women 29.3.
I actually just bought a cheapy somewhere and it works great. I think it's a princess. Old model, it has a cold air button on there too, which is awesome.
Oh I know what you mean about the tomatoes! No, my grandma is from the north so it's not the same town... it sounds idyllic though! MH and I like to go up to the Senese for the Terme, especially San Gimignano, which is really close to Poggibonsi. Fun fact, an old friend of mine went to Poggibonsi to give birth in the water. I went up to visit her with another friend and really enjoyed our stay/ [totally random anecdote]
Have so much fun! Maybe we'll cross paths and won't even know it!
Where in the north is your grandma from, DH's father's family is from the north for many generations, always near Milan. I think nonno's father was the first one who was actually born in the city of Milan, generation wise. I think his nonna actually moved to Milan as a girl, keeping the tuscan estate as the summer home.
My friend from Colle Val d'Elsa was born in Poggibonsi. I need to plan a separate trip to visit her at some point. She does food tours and stuff in her area, visiting Cinta Senesa farm, going to markets in all the small towns in that area.
Ugh, I really need to win the lottery so I can retire already and spend half the year in Italy like my ILs do.
Also, I call bullshit on this guy. The amount of months/years whatever you write can be anything you want to call it depending on what you count as 'writing'.
I know people who did a number of years of research and writing draft chapters and then polished it all off in a couple of months and say their PhD took 4 years, 3.5 years of research and 6 months of writing or so. Obviously they'd started working on rough drafts for chapters for years, but they just don't count that as writing.
Marriage is purely for the ones that want to add a pretty princess day to a well-established relationshup.
So people generally wouldn't elope? Or have a Justice of the Peace courthouse style wedding?
Oh, the pretty princess day is a JOP wedding, or an elopement with a party a while later.
But why would you elope or get married if you don't necessarily want a pretty princess day and your legal rights are exactly the same if you just shack up? (Which is what I do and what you all voted into counting as being married.)
Anyone below 30 is considered young to get married here in NL. Also, people who have not lived together for at least a year before marriage is discussed get major side-eyed.
Here the general standard woyld be: go to college, get serious about relationship, move in together (buy home), decide to have children and then maybe get married, maybe not. Once children are conceuved (or before, if house is bought on 2 incomes) sign legal paperwork with lawyer or so to make sure your will is in order.
Marriage is purely for the ones that want to add a pretty princess day to a well-established relationshup.
This is within cities/educated community btw. In farm country people marry slightly younger and have chuldren younger. Average age of woman to have 1st child is 31-32 for higher educated people, 28-30 for the uneducated.
Not much going on here today. I still have to work a couple of hours, but am so looking forward to the weekend. Saturday we're attending a surprise birthday party and I have absolutely no plans for Sunday! Hoping for nice weather tho, so I can play in the yard!
Jewels, probably first 3 weeks of September. I want to avoid the terrible mid summer heat, but not have it start to get less than perfect in the mountains/at the coast. So it was May or September, we missed May The place we want to visit where nonna was from is outside Sarripoli, near Pistoia (aka when he was a child from Milan they took a train to Poggibonsi, transfer to train to Pistoia, take a bus that only goes a few times a day and takes quite a while and then a long walk up-and-downhill to get to the estate.) I also want to visit my friend who lives in Colle Val d'Elsa (near Poggibonsi/Siena)
I can't wait! All the family history, seeing family and eating tomatoes with actual flavor (and well, all other things with flavor! - too bad we'll be too early in the season for necci, as I'd love to eat those in Sarripoli!)
You have the return flight from Lisbin right? Then buy a roundtrip and don't use the flight back if that's cheaper than 1 way/ the same price as going back to Paris.
Would renting a car be an option, and taking a little time driving there, stopping along the way? (or driving from Bilbao to Madrid and grabbing a plane from there?)
I don't have any spain/lisbon experience to speak of, but that (in my mind) sounds doable/fun.
I'd totallt do that for you. I could use some activity in my US account (they recently let me know that if I don't use it more, they'll likely close my account). Saves us both money!
Are you going home? Depends on definition of home. We're going to where 90 percent of DH's family is.
Where is home? (If you don't mind sharing) Again, depends on who in our family you ask. NL for both, Colorado for me and Italy (Milano) for DH. We're going to northern Italy
How long? 3 weeks is the plan
Any cool plans when you get there? Eat! We're (well, I'm) planning on making Milan our base camp and doing a few days here and there, Cinque Terre, Toscana Verona, Venice. My favorite part of my plan is going to this tiny little town (really truly tiny, 1 street, the big city nearby has a population of 5000 or maybe even less) where DH used to spend his summers as a young child. His nonna still owned the family home there (which is where she and her mother and her nonna were born.) I really want to see it.
Things you are going to bring back? Food, glorious food! Cheeses, Guanciale, Saffron, sausages are among the things I always bring home. Bringing home tomatoes unfortunatly doesn't really work that well. While in Milan, I'll likely do some clothes and shoe shopping as well.
How much was your ticket (If you don't mind saying) It will be between 100 and 125 euros per person. Going away from Milan and buying train tickets, renting cards and paying for hotels in those other cities and towns is what'll make it more expensive. In Milan we'll stay at my MIL's house (and won't go out for every meal).
he says that the churches in the south are as liberal as in the North. He's never had to do a confession in his life.
*head explodes*
In all seriousness, I don't care if someone does it, as long as it's offered. I know a crapton of Americans who don't go. It's between them and God, not between me and them.
From what I understand it has never been offered to him either. However, he stated that if someone actually wants to do it, goes to the priest and asks him, the priest should be happy to take it. Guess that's the difference between north and south, in the south, if you ask, you will receive, in the north apparently it's all "whaaaaa, no, that's my coffee break dude!"
My MIL said it was rude to leave food on the plate because it implies the food wasn't tasty. I told her it was good manners to leave at least a bite or two as it tells the cook you had your fill and they gave you enough. You aren't walking away wanting.
At her house, I try hard to finish everything for her, or apologize profusely if I really cannot (and feed it to my husband).
At mine, she finishes her plate, then right before we leave the table she reaches over and puts a tiny scoop of anything random on her plate- about 2 bites worth- so I know she had enough to eat. I think that is the sweetest gesture.
When I came to the US when I was 14( for a summer exchange) we went for ice-cream. I ordered 3 scoops not realizing that they were humongous scoops! I am sure my host family must have thought I was a pig. I was used to the tiny little scoops of gelato we get in NL (which would be the equivalent of 1 US scoop). I can't remember if I ate it all. Chances are I did....
Tee-hee. That happens to all Dutchies. Really.
I remember ordering a sandwich in the US for the first time, in a deli, at the counter. I saw the guy slicing meat and actually called out to him "I think you heard me wrong, I only want one sandwich."
Oh, I remember an interview with the dude who set up the giving up Catholicism website here in NL. He apparently had wanted to get out and it was such a HUGE hassle to figure out how to get it done, so when he finally figured it out, he set up the online form thing for other people to make it easier for them. Since he now finally knew what info was needed to be sent in and where and all, he decided to set it up as a public service in this county without God.
All of my family on stepmom's side is Quaker, including some pastors and missionaries and stuff.
Oh, and clogged, I asked DH, him being Catholic and from the south and half Italian, and he says that the churches in the south are as liberal as in the North. He's never had to do a confession in his life (and he was baptized, had 1st communion, and was confirmed in a southern Dutch church).
Christmas. Yeah, it sucks here. All the holidays are super close together in March/April/May/June (depending on the christian holidays that specific year) and then nothing until Christmas.
The only holidays besides the religious ones here are Queen's Day (april 30), some get Labor Day off (May 1) and some get liberation day off every year, some every 5 years and some never (May 5).
I am in no way memorize the 6 zillino stanzas of the Dutch one. If I become a citizen, I will memorize the two verses they actually sing. If I don't, then I won't memorize a damn thing. Out of spite.
But I do stand for it. As in stand up when it's played, and show proper respect and all.
No one knows all of it. Did you know that the first letters of all the stanzas together form Willem van Nassov, aka William of Nassau? We only sing nr 1 in celebrations, and nr 6 at memorial ceremonies (aka once a year, in the New Church during the official national memorial day services).
Re bugabean and the reference to the Spanish king, that's basically past tense. TIn verse 10 it basically speaks about (wanting to) slay the Spaniards.
It was bascially a very long protest song during the 80 year war with Spain. The reference of German blood is due to the fact that in that time Duitsch (German) didn't yet refer to Germany.
Anyway, I know first sentences of a bunch of anthems due to hearing them once in a while. I know the important Dutch verses and I know the American one, though I will never for the life of me be able to actually sing it (I can't sing period, so yeah, the American anthem is a nightmare to me.)