Krees goes Dutch!

"Going Dutch: How I Learned to Love the European Welfare State"

I recently read an essay in the New York Times: "Going Dutch: How I Learned to Love the European Welfare State" by Russell Shorto. It's a lengthy read (20 minutes?), but as a professional writer, Mr. Shorto does a much better job than I can of addressing and summing up most of my conflicted opinions about living here.

Topics run the gamut from conflicting views (Dutch vs. American) on socialized health care to public housing to individuality to professional ambition to cling wrap.

Want to know what I think about living here? Want to know whether I want to stay here or return to the U.S.? Read Mr. Shorto's wonderful essay and let's chat over a cup of coffee. Even if it's on a Sunday.

Update from after Paris

Yes, I've been lax about posting lately. There was the visit from my family for Thanksgiving (good!), the trip to Palermo with the Yuns over Christmas (good!), and since the New Year I've been busy busy busy preparing for this trip for Paris - far more so for the e-VLBI demonstration we gave at the opening ceremony for the International Year of Astronomy last week than for the couple days of sightseeing we got this weekend.

Charles spent Thursday and Friday last week, then Monday and Tuesday this week, chaperoning Aldus around Paris, entertaining him at the Louvre and elsewhere, and trying to break him of his new habit of NOT giving kisses to pretty foreign girls who request them. His flirtation with a handful of French girls at a cafe Monday seems to be a step in the right direction.

There are two main reasons I feel particularly compelled to [begin a] post today rather than wait for...say...another six weeks or so as has become habit.

1. INAUGURATION. I can't wait to get out of this IAU Symposium this afternoon (don't tell my boss!) to go find a place where we can watch Obama sworn in. Yes, I will likely find myself crying in public, but I think people will understand. [Addendum: Charles and I both missed the swearing-in but met up to catch the speech. Unfortunately for us it was being dubbed over in French and was difficult to hear the original audio over the French. I cried anyway. And somehow managed to make Charles a little teary-eyed as well.]

2. I suppose I should make some sort of more formal announcement to those we haven't told already: Aldus will be getting a little brother or sister in June. Woo hoo! I will admit I was feeling quite shell-shocked when I found out at the end of October that I was pregnant, but most of that stemmed from first-trimester exhaustion and trying to keep up with Aldus. Now that my energy and appetite are back, the thought of trying to keep up with a newborn and a two year-old seems much more manageable. And in the past few days I've started to feel the baby move! Every woman who wants it should be able to get that feeling. There's nothing like it.

2009 is going to be a big year.

More reasons to come on "home"

Charles and I are always thinking ahead to what we'll do when our current project and contracts are up. Time and again we go through all the pros and cons of staying, and all the pros and cons of going. Believe me when I say the lists on both sides of the equation are long.

One thing is certain: I am much more hopeful about the near-future state of the U.S. than I was a week ago. Words cannot describe my relief at Barack Obama's election.

And oddly enough, I discovered something that made me a little extra homesick today. Anybody want to buy a lovely little starter home in Ann Arbor and hold onto it for us for a little while?

The Long Arm of John McCain

For two weeks after the Republican convention I was obsessed with the the presidential election. My mind was ablaze with skepticism, incredulity, frustration. I tried to remain level-headed, analytical, open-minded, looking at where the candidates stand on various issues, but still came up frustrated and saddened at the prospect of a McCain-Palin White House.

I tried numerous times to organize my thoughts into some cohesive arguments that would persuade other undecided, or at least open-minded, voters to check a box for Barack Obama in November, but the right words just wouldn't fall into the right order for me.

So then I decided to put my money where my words failed me and, for the first time in my life, make a financial contribution to an election campaign. I went online to www.barackobama.com, hoping that it could be used by people with better powers of persuasion than mine.

And then my bank called to verify some activity on my credit card. It seems my donation to an American political campaign was flagged as suspicious and they immediately blocked my card. It didn't take long to make a phone call and correct the situation, thank goodness. I know it's completely absurd to consider (especially since most every non-American I've talked to also wants Obama to win), but I'm still curious what might have happened if my donation had been for McCain's campaign instead of Obama's. Charles thinks I should have also told them I wanted to clear a donation to the VVD while I was at it!

Pondering parenthood & Judge(ment) Dredd

I've been thinking a lot lately about whether or not I want to stay here for another project cycle or try to return to the States. Of course one of the biggest factors is whether I'd prefer to raise Aldus here or there, and one of the biggest factors within that is the parenting environment in the U.S.

It struck me long before I even became a parent that the climate of judgment of other parents' choices and parenting abilities is so very nasty there. Worse than that, it's not even constructive. Parents are paranoid of making mistakes, not because it's in the interests of their children, but because other parents will think ill of them. Everyone's got an opinion about how to feed a child, discipline a child, teach a child - as though there's only one right way to do any of these things and theirs is it! Maybe it's the same over here and we're simply insulated from it by not being fully immersed in Dutch media or social circles with other parents. But I doubt it.

I've also been trying to come to terms with the fact that I don't want to join the baby-education rat race (membership required for any of the NYTimes articles linked here) manifested in Baby Einstein, Junior Kumon, etc. For the most part I really feel like kids need to be kids. There's no need to start strapping headphones on your belly to make your child a genius before it's even made its grand entrance into the world. (Though maybe I'm the one being judgmental now.)

But I also worry that kids going through the American school system don't understand that the U.S. is rapidly losing ground in the global market ("Why Nihao, China! Didn't see you there!"), or the lengths that kids in foreign countries (and their parents!) go to to be competitive. 

What's a hopeful parent to do? How do you find the balance?

Baby without a country

Many people have asked if the baby will have Dutch citizenship when it's born. NOPE! Technically it won't have ANY citizenship when it's born!

We had hoped for dual citizenship. But in the Netherlands (we believe to discourage foreigners, particularly non-Westerners, from getting too comfortable and settling here permanently), babies born here do not automatically receive Dutch citizenship, nor even Dutch residency. Until we register him or her with the American consulate, s/he won't have citizenship here or anywhere. And presumably after s/he gets an American passport, THEN we can apply for residency for the baby in the Netherlands. But at the time of birth, the baby has neither citizenship nor residency.

This is so very bizarre to me. Is it like this in the rest of the world?

Maybe this is an American ideal that I hadn't realized was so ingrained in me. If you're born somewhere, THAT'S WHERE YOU LIVE. THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE A CITIZEN AND THAT'S WHERE YOU RESIDE. The idea that you can be born somewhere and have neither citizenship nor residency just seems so wrong to me.

But that's the way it is here, and that's what we'll have to do. And that's one more reason why the Dutch are a lot less friendly and open-minded than I thought they were and why maybe their domestic policies aren't necessarily better than the U.S.'s.

And so once the baby's born, we have three days (including the day of birth) to register him or her with the local gemeentehuis (like the county records office). We will have to purchase an international birth certificate from them. Then at some point we will have to go out to Amsterdam or The Hague to register the birth with the American consulate and get an American passport. Then I think we have to contact the belastingdienst (tax department) to get a Sofi-nummer (social security number) for the baby. And THEN we can apply with the Immigration and Naturalization Department for residency for the baby. At some point we will also have to register it with the "Aliens Police."

It's a damn good thing I get so much maternity leave, because I suspect a lot of it is going to be spent sorting through this bureaucratic nightmare.

This post was started way after my bedtime, was finished while eating a Maxim Classic ice cream bar, and was written with a bit more indignation than I normally demonstrate.

Sad news from Ann Arbor

Rest in peace, Bo (NYTimes.com). And Go Blue (Big Ten)!

On "home"

"We've been here two months," I said.

"Does it still feel like camp?"

"It'll feel like camp until every last spider in that house is dead."

"you guys couldn't have gotten maui all tested and stuff one week earlier, huh?"

Erik and Julie are coming to visit ! They arrive Sunday. This is great because, 1) it'll be nice to have visitors, 2) they've never been to the Netherlands before, and 3) they're bringing our dog with them! (Yes, these are REALLY good friends.)

This is a huge favor to ask of them, and I think they were nervous enough already about bringing him over. And then airline security hell broke loose. So yeah...they're looking forward to having to take the dog to the airport four hours early to check him in and wait in security lines.

We're anxious about the other end of the flight and what kind of state he'll be in when he arrives. He's never flown before  and he's never had to hold his bladder or bowels for this long before. I've got my fingers crossed.

Happy Birthday!

Happy 8th birthday, Abby!!!