30 juni 2008

To the moon and back, and all around the stars...

I guess it is impossible to tell anybody how happy I am that James and I met at the right time at the right spot. I think if I were to go three weeks earlier to Phoenix I would not have been ready to open up and even see him standing. I guess back then I was still hoping for a happy end for Erik and me, even though I probably could have known better. I'm not sure if anybody would have been able to open up my heart back then (certainly nobody who lived that far away from me, LOL). At this moment in time I am very happy that all the mist cleared up right in time to see my prince arrive.
James, I love you to the moon and back, and all around the stars.
Right now James and I are taking some giant leaps. This week he should hear about the job proposal from Dordrecht. But since we have our own itinerary as well (that hopefully goes together with the job proposal, but at the same time is somewhat independent from that), we made up our further plans to start our future together.
James bought his one way ticket for The Netherlands. He will arrive on August 19th and I have already made all the necessary appointment with the city and the IND. Only that gives us the security that James will have a Social Security Number (BSN) as soon as he is required to produce it (in case his job starts on September 1st).
My friends Joop, Guido, Harry and Leo give me all the emotional support, while Jos and Yaser in addition offered some practical help. (By the way Guido, do you work on the 19th? James arrives with a LH-flight).
As far as vacation goes for this year. I'm off when James is here for his first two weeks. If possible we will spend Thanksgiving with James' folks and stay a week to explore the gulf coast of Texas. We found some great air fares on the internet, I hope we can use them.

22 juni 2008

IND and stuff

After all the bad news you hear about the Dutch Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), it's time to write down some good experiences with the service.
Since James and my plan is shaping up quite positively (it seems that the people he spoke to in Dordrecht are really in to him: this week they let him know that they are willing to make him an offer), I got a little bit nervous about my own status here in The Netherlands, so I decided to go straight to the snake pit and find out. Last Friday I went to the IND.
For getting information it is not necessary to make an appointment. And while everybody warned me (confirming my own experience, by the way) that they were very bad in giving straight information, this time was perfect. At the counter I met a lady who, when she saw my German passport, said that she knew everything about EU-questions, "test me". Guess what, she was right. Since I am a citizen of an EU country , the Dutch government is not allowed to treat me different then any other EU (read Dutch) citizen. So that means that the same set of rules apply for me when it comes to forming a durable relationship as to Dutch people. Having said that, all becomes very easy. James as a citizen of the USA can come to The Netherlands very easy. The first day he's here, we can go for registration to the city (burgerzaken) and get a paper that proofs the registration. After having made an appoint at the IND we go there and they will globally check my citizenship. After that James gets a sticker in his passport thet allowes him to stay here with me and gives him the right to work. With the sticker we can go to the tax office (Belastingdienst) to get a social security number (BSN formerly known as SoFi).
En passant the lady slved my identification problem. She advised me take the creditcard shaped ID-card of the IND. It costs only € 30,= one time. The problem with the ID however is, that it is only valid for identification within The Netherlands, since the government is not allowed to issue ID-cards for EU citizens for use within the union. To make things clear the lady said that it isn't a residence permit any more but only an ID card.
So it became true what I always said: European integration is a wonderful thing, please let's move on with the process. If there was an European citizenship (in stead of the national ones) I would opt for that. I'd be proud to call myself "European" above all the other crap.

15 juni 2008

James in The Netherlands

Last week I had absolutely no time to write something for my blog, because my mission was to spend as much time together with my lover James as possible.
James came here with some unexpected delay on Saturday afternoon. Before I got him from the Schiphol, I had coffee with my friend Guido who is working on the airport. Nice to catch up with him and a good opportunity to calm down my nerves (not necessary of course since everything went just fine after James had found his luggage).
James and I went home to Zwolle and I got him to sleep some hours. After dinner we had a beer in the center of Zwolle and we went dancing at the COC.
Sunday (it was sun all over) we took the route over the dike to Enkhuizen and the Zaanse Schans. In Enkhuizen we tasted the new herring and at the Zaanse Schans we took pictures of the windmills and lay a long time chatting on a deck at the waterfront. We finally made it to the Zeedijk in Amsterdam. It was a Sunday that should have a bear meeting at the Barderij, but it was not very busy. So after some drinks we decided to have a look at the city. While strolling through the old center we ran into Erik who had a drink on a terrace together with our friend Krijn. I was so startled by the unexpected encounter that I could only wave my hand (if I even did that). The funny thing was that James had seen him long before I saw Erik. He didn't say anything because he had only seen one or two pictures of him and thought he couldn't recognize him from that.
Monday we still had wonderful weather and James and I went shopping and swimming.
Tuesday and Thursday were big days since James had two job interviews. Both went surprisingly (for both of us) well. Since one of the interviews was in Amersfoort we took advantage of the that and went to see Utrecht. After that we drove to Deventer and had dinner with Leo at a Turkish restaurant.
Thursday evening we saw the cathedral of Cologne and Friday we visited the town where I was born in Germany.
Saturday (yesterday) we discussed our future plans and cooked a farewell dinner. While today was a sad day. We had to part again. I took James to the airport, went to Amsterdam, but I didn't like walking there all alone. So I went home and was back early to track James' flight back to the US.

01 juni 2008

You are the sunshine of my life...

My very first aim was the Saguaro NP near Tucson. After visiting the park I took the very first motel of my favorite chain (Motel 6). I sent James an e-mail telling him that I was staying in a motel 6 in Tucson for the night. I was very surprised when the telephone rang an hour later. James told me he had called all the Motel 6 in Tucson and told me that I was not in Tucson but in Marana. That's why he could not find me at first. Thanks to very helpful employees of Motel 6 in Tucson he was able to locate me. Of course I hadn't expect hem to call me and when I told him, he told me that he even had planned to come down to Tucson for the night. 

From that day on I kept James updated on where I was spending my nights and he would call me every 

night and every morning (even with a time difference of 2 hours in Texas). How sweet is that?

Nine days (and 3655 miles) later I was back in Phoenix. I was a little early at James' house. He wasn't home yet. While I was cleaning out my rental car and got everything organized I heard a car with squeaking wheels turning into the street. It sped up and seconds later after driving at least 65 mls/h (in a residential neighborhood) it stopped right next to me. In the car with a big smile: James. 

It goes without saying that we spent the rest of my time in Phoenix together. He even brought me to the Sky Harbor and waited together with me till it was time for me to go through security.