Lunch with Daddy at TU/e

We went to visit dad at the Eindhoven Technical University  (TU/e) and spent some time exploring campus. It is a very nice campus, with lots of green space, especially along the river, with wide walking / biking paths everywhere. Off course Sylvia ended up with a muddy butt  from exploring too close to the river just before visiting dad’s office. It did not stop us from having a nice visit though.

Karel’s office is at the Gemini building, which has a nice cafeteria with great lunch options. We saw some graduate students playing foosball at their meeting room and had a chuckle when we learned that there is a sign, that if you have a meeting in the room, foosball takes precedence, so don;t expect quiet:-)

The University empties out around 5pm and the buildings are locked at 6. It does not stop Karel from working late, at least sometimes:-) His excuse? If it’s 5pm here, it’s only 11am at Notre Dame:-)

We have to visit for lunch more often, I am sure it will look even better once spring takes over, and everything turns green and starts to bloom.

Easter Weekend in Eindhoven with Family

We had a great time exploring Eindhoven over the Easter weekend with Karel’s cousin and his family. I already posted the part about then PSV Stadium earlier. We wanted to visit the DAF museum as well, but it was closed over the Easter. There was still so much to do and see. We went shopping to the Saturday market, window shopping, walked through the city center where there are no cars allowed, by the river and spend a lot of time just playing and hanging out with cousins. What a great time, thank you for visiting Turkovi!

Tour of the PSV Football Stadium (and no, you cannot call it soccer here)

Did I mention everything is walking distance here? Well the stadium of the PSV Eindhoven, one of the premier European football (soccer) clubs, is only short 15 minutes walk too. We took the tour of the stadium with Karel’s cousin and his family, who are visiting us for the Easter weekend.

We went down town last Sunday, before the match with their rival, AJAX Amsterdam, and the town was buzzing with anticipation, fans everywhere, beer gardens opened and full. The town is very proud of their team. We learned that the club was founded by Phillips, whose headquarters are here, as means of fun and recreation for the employees. That is why the stadium is right by downtown, it was convenient to where the employees lived and worked and it was rebuilt, but not moved.

We toured the stadium, which grows a new grass every year, as it gets destroyed after season each year during a music festival held there. They have a sophisticated system going to support the grass growth. We saw and sat in the player dugout, luxury seats, VIP area, press box,  and home and away locker rooms. We saw the referees’ locker room too, but as the tour guide said “it’s nothing special”.

We also visited the museum there and the kids measured themselves against the players, saw the stadium through the periscope and played a friendly game against their cousins. What a great day!

 

No Dutch School for the Kids

We had a major disappointment with the schools. We were hoping the kids would start this week, but now they might not be able to attend at all. There is a great neighborhood school on our street for children ages 4-12. The kids would have been able to all be in the same building, which has not happened, and probably never will elsewhere. The school looks great, bright and everybody was very friendly. They told us they would be happy to take the kids, but they need to first learn Dutch, at least enough to follow instructions. But not to worry, there is a public school nearby, that takes children who don’t speak Dutch and teaches them, so they can join the regular schools quickly. Sounds great!

We went there next, it was only about 10 minute walk from us. Also a nice school, small, but inviting as well, with a friendly principal. She became a little less friendly when she learned we were only here for four months, well really almost only three by now:-). It was completely understandable, since their purpose is to prepare the kids to enter the regular public school system, which would not be our case. Nevertheless, she would enroll them, but not until they are registered with the municipality and are issued an equivalent of a social security number. And that will take several weeks. By the time we get it, it will likely not make sense to start school.

So homeschooling it is. I never imagined I would be homeschooling, but  we have no choice here:-) The kids were disappointed, but we have already came up with things we can do that can connect us to the country and make some progress academically. Thanks to Phillip’s teachers, counselor and principal, we have access to what his classmates are doing, and Timmy’s teacher gave us some activities as well.

We were mainly disappointed because we wanted the children to interact with other kids. We don’t need to worry too much though. The schools let out at 2:30 (12:30 on Wednesdays), and kids are everywhere outside. The boys have soccer matches almost every afternoon and Sylvia is playing with a group of younger kids all kinds of games as well. So we are going to make it work and make the most of this time we have together.So far, we’ve been plenty busy and all the kids started to keep a journal, so they will have something to look back at. Now some family is coming to spend the Easter weekend with us, so yay for Easter Break!

All The Playgrounds!

One thing I love about living in European residential urban area are all the amenities within walking distance, and playgrounds certainly are one of those. We have one playground right behind our house and several more within short walking distance.

Each playground is different and usually have some more challenging structures than what we are used to in US. Most also have a soccer field, or a basketball court, or both. One really nice one even has a zipline! Since the kids have not started school yet, we are enjoying discovering all different play areas in between running errands and having it to ourselves until school lets out.

Of course we also go after school when there are other children around. The kids have already found some playmates and started to overcome the language barrier. Interestingly enough, I have yet to see another mother or a father supervising the kids. Children younger than Sylvia come and go by themselves, crossing street, and navigating the high structures. I have let the boys go by themselves for a while, but I don’t feel comfortable letting Sylvia go with them quit yet:-)

 

 

 

Arrived!

We made it safely to Eindhoven, our temporary home. We took a train from Amsterdam, directly from the airport and got glimpses of the landscape – windmills, canals, different architecture and bike highways (more on that in future, but it could not be called bike paths here, that would be an understatement:-). I took the pictures on my phone from a moving train, please excuse the quality. I am sure we will get better pictures as we explore more.

Two more tidbits that told us we are not in Midwest anymore: we got a couple of comments about us being “a big family”. (Really? We only have three children! 😉 and, we had to pay to use public restroom. Timmy could not understand why would you have to pay for using a restroom.  I guess he doesn’t remember our last trip to Prague:-) 

Now we need to go shopping, and then  early bedtime, since we only got about 3-4 hours of sleep on the plane.

  

  

  

  

 

We are on our way…

We made it to Detroit, one more flight and we are in Netherlands. 

   

Welcome

We are starting this blog to provide updates to our friends and family about our adventures in Netherlands. I am not sure how often we end up posting, but we’ll try:-) More to come soon…