The Cat’s out of the Bag…..

It’s true.. we are on the move.

Dave has been offered a job in Abu Dhabi.  It wasn’t something that we were looking for, in fact, I was quite reluctant to go.

We love it here, I mean what’s not to love (okay, let’s not mention the Dutch weather!).  I love the work life balance we enjoy here. You’ve read about it a number of times already, so I won’t bore you… Oh, actually, I will.

I love that there’s equal amounts of men dropping off their kids as women.  Equal amounts of men at the playground on a Wednesday afternoon, at the ballet recital at 10am on a Tuesday, or at swimming at 1500 on a Thursday.  The Dutch work hard, but have somehow worked out the secret. 

I love that the women are encouraged to work. At the moment, a few of my friends are struggling to get back into the workforce part-time (which is considered 24 hours), there are, however, plenty of jobs at 32 hours (ie 4 days).

I love that my kids can walk to school, to their friends houses, to the playground and the shops.  

I love the village feel.  We know most of our neighbours and even the ones that we’re not super close to, I know would be there if we needed anything.

I love that Dave can start work a little later and we can go to the gym together.  I love that we can cycle 42km through dunes and across the beach all on bike paths!

I love the school our kids go to.  They are blessed with amazing teachers and supportive friends.

I love our super friends, and that they all live within a bike ride.

But, enough about what we’ll miss…….

So, as I mentioned, we were sitting here minding our own business when the call came through.  Dave asked if I’d entertain it…. Of course I’d entertain it! When have the Clarkterstraats ever turned down an adventure?

We have the kids enrolled in school (and Dutch language classes of course), we’ve found a house (fingers crossed we get it) and Dave is almost beside himself researching cars to lease.

We are looking forward to blue skies, warm (if not incomprehensible heat), great food, swimming, paddle boarding, cycling with shorts on and plenty of places to travel to…. Excuse me whilst I work out our itinerary for hopefully, our first jaunt to Jordan!

We leave 18th February.  

If you’re ever in the Emirates, swing on by – we’d love to have you.