As our sabbatical year comes to an end… Amsterdam, here we come!

Rein checking in -

"Well, the end of our journey, as far as our sabbatical is concerned, is here.

Next week Thursday I start my new job with Hay Group in Zeist, as part of the Dutch team that focuses on Executive Development and for a quarter of my time on the European team that looks after capability development within Hay Group. I am really excited about this new opportunity and look forward to start building on my sabbatical experience to continue to put my professional expertise and experience to use in a meaningful way to have a positive impact on the communities/organisations I form part of or interact with.

Areal view of our new neighbourhood 

Between now and Thursday, we will move into our new apartment in Amsterdam, which is a lovely two storey place, with lots of light, two bedrooms/bathrooms and a nice roof terrace, in the "Rivierenbuurt", a 1930'ies typical Amsterdam residential area, with lots of young couples, expats and the few original Amsterdammers thrown in for good measure. It's a lively quarter with lots of cafes, restaurants and specialty shops, so we're both sure we'll feel right at home here very soon.


[Interlude: I just got called away by Simon to help him order a new washer and dryer… We are definitely on our way to the domestic bliss we have so been longing for, for such a while ;-) ]


All in all the past few months have been an emotionally tumultuous roller-coaster, yet again, not knowing whether my work would be in Delhi, Mumbai, Brussels or Zeist.

Dining out in Gurgaon-city (" mall-heaven") with our good friends Tash & Colin

Our preferred mode of transport Gurgaon,
in this one there is room for three more passengers...

In October we had our reconnaissance trip to Mumbai and Delhi, where we were warmly and enthusiastically received by the Hay colleagues there. We got to discover a new city in Mumbai and had a wonderful time in Delhi, staying with our dear friends Tash & Colin in their serviced flat, having just moved there from Melbourne. Good times, doing some sight-seeing in old Delhi and catching up over lovely food together. On the professional side of this trip we had a chance to discover the business and work to inform us in our decision-making regarding a potential transfer. We left with a job offer for both Simon and myself, which alleviated the anxiety of having to find a solution for Simon's visa.


After we came back we had some time to think through all the pro's and con's and couldn't honestly say that we were all for a move to settle in Mumbai. While the offer was tempting, we both longed to be coming home after our year and Europe felt like just that. To cut a long story short, it then took another 4 weeks to finalise where I would be best placed in terms of location, either Brussels or Zeist, and obviously this prevented us from starting our search for a new home, until a decision was made. 


The decision to join Hay Group Zeist per the first of December was finally made less then two weeks ago and then the pressure was on to find suitable place to live. So these last two weeks Simon and I have been frantically contacting agents, reaching out in our network to get the word out and, in true twenty-teens' style the winning tip came to us through Facebook. A friend of my brother had spotted a Facebook posting through one of his friends that said that the writer was now putting their apartment, which had been for sale for a while, up for rent and if anybody knew of anybody who could interested.

Our new address: our apartment is on the top two
floors in the  corner of the building
(behind the left tree) 

After some discouraging house hunting visits into Amsterdam, Simon and I were just closing in on a potential place to rent in the provincial town of Gouda (yes, the one where the cheese comes from), but we decided to go for one more look to see this particular place. The following day we drove up to Amsterdam once again to meet Carlijn, one of the landlords and view the Molenbeekstraat 14 III. While I felt some reservations about the place (in my true style, I noticed all the things that weren't ideal and did not see the potential, which is more Simon's speciality) but Simon took an instant liking to the house. Before long, the Gouda apartment was no longer on his mind and all he could think of was the "Rivierenbuurt".


So the discussions on rent and conditions started, hurdles were overcome (what to do with the company car and no parking availability, how can we fit 42 cubic meter of furniture into an apartment, albeit spacious for Amsterdam standards but a third smaller than our Brussels place), final agreement reached and removalists booked for the move this coming Thursday.


Our time of waiting at my parents' place in the Antwerp forests (a huge thank you to mama and papa for their support and above all, their patience!) is almost over as Simon and I are finally "coming out of the woods" to start a new chapter of life!


The coming days will require focus and stamina to effectively organise an international move and all its associated bureaucracy (registrations, applications, convocations ;-) but we can rest assured that we now have our structural necessities sorted in a home and a steady income to settle down after a hectic and turbulent year and continue our lives' journey from a new base.


We look forward to seeing all of you, who have been so supporting to us by reading this blog and leaving your comments, again very soon and know that you will have a place to come and stay with us in our new home.


That's all for now. I'm sure this blog will continue to grow as we do, and I look forward to discover how our lives' story continues!


… to be continued"


- Rein checking out