Church Bells

For some reason, I have always had the desire to live in a place where I could hear church bells ringing from my home. Being a city girl, I have sadly become accustomed to living on noisy streets where traffic and honking is more frequent than the sound of bells ringing. Even in downtown Vancouver, very few churches are found housing a steeple or bells. You'll be lucky to hear them ringing on special occasions, and only once the church has obtained a city permit to ring them. It's a shame, really.

After moving into our new flat last week on Cornelis Anthoniszstraat, we were delighted to learn the joys of living in a small village neighbourhood right in the centre of the big city! Every hour, the quaint church around the block from our flat rings its bells and fills the air with the welcomed reminder that we are in fact living in Europe, where small town customs like ringing church bells doesn't require a city permit.

Almost six weeks after signing the rental contract, we were ecstatic to finally move into our new flat in the Oud Zuid. The move went very smoothly since Chris was able to take a paid day off - one of the many paid days off employees benefit from in the Netherlands. Once moved in, we were reminded why we fell in love with our new flat six weeks earlier. In addition to the church bells, we discovered a number of small delights upon our arrival:

• We were greeted by our incredibly kind, friendly and responsive new landlord - Simone. Very different from many of the property managers who rent multiple, generic, IKEA-furnished flats to expatriates in Amsterdam, Simone obviously takes the utmost pride in her one and only rental property. This flat was once her home and you can tell she still puts a lot of love and care into it. When we arrived, the apartment was spotless with clean curtains, crisp white walls, new sofa covers, and a freshly painted balcony. This might seem like a small thing but, in a flat that dates back a few hundred years, having an attentive landlord is a big deal.

• We were more than happy to find the convenient and truly delightful little item known as the "Nespresso Megamix" sitting on our kitchen counter when we arrived. Honestly, this small, unassuming machine brews one perfect cup of coffee at a time and we've learned that it can be quite dangerous for two reason. First, it tastes so good, you want to keep drinking cup after cup (never a good thing when it comes to caffeine!). Second, the unique coffee capsules that are required for this machine can only purchased at the Nespresso store on one of Amsterdam's most expensive shopping streets. For these two reasons we've had to limit ourselves to using it on the weekends only (or during the week only when a major "pick me up" is needed!).


• Unlike many of the dark basement and attic suites commonly found in canal houses here, our new flat is flooded with bright light throughout the day and the perfect late afternoon glow in the kitchen and dining room in the evening. Since I am home during the day, I have taken to the Dutch routine of opening all the windows and doors of the flat in the early afternoon, letting the breeze blow through the apartment and freshen things up. This daily habit has also provided its own discovery - the joy of hearing sounds of laughter, children playing, and the smells of cooking coming from the adjoining balconies in our courtyard. Once more, our new surroundings give us the sense we are living in a small village in the centre of a big city. Who said we were city people?

Sadly, with our move also came a sudden change of seasons in Amsterdam. Very abruptly summer has turned into fall. Trees lining the canal at the end of our street are changing colour, bike riding now involves navigating fallen leaves and enduring consistent rain showers, and more than ever we are longing for the jackets, sweaters, scarves, hats and boots packed away in the shipment we are hoping to receive from Canada by the end of the month.

Under normal circumstances, my favourite time of year is Autumn when I normally welcome the dramatic change in colour and drop in temperature. However, given our move to the Netherlands in the middle of summer, I feel as though we missed the opportunity to experience the start of the season in Vancouver (and all the goodness that it brings!) and couldn't fully appreciate the remaining summer months in Amsterdam because we were so focused on settling in. But alas, seasons never wait for anyone, so we accept that Autumn is here and look forward to what new experiences it will bring for us here in Amsterdam.