Sue in the USA

A recent Dutch article that I read stated that the number one reason for Dutch to move abroad is the Dutch weather. Granted it is quite dreadful, but it made me think of this one reality show on TV. There's this one show in which families relocate from the UK to Australia. The first reason these people give for moving to Australia is the weather and how it is so much better that the weather in the UK...And most of the people they have on this show move back to the UK after a few months. From the remarks that these people make on the show ("Weird types these Australians", "They won't even allow me to work because I need a certificate for bar tending here and how can they not let me I was a bar tender in the UK") I get the impression that these people are so not prepared at all. Of course I am not sure how realistic the show is, after all it is reality TV, but still. It all comes down to proper preparation. Or in this case, a lack of preparation.

Proper preparation is definitely what "Get A New Life" is all about. "Get a New Life" is the title of a BBC show that I used to watch. The program is about families that have plans to move abroad. Families can sign up for the program and when they are selected they are given a two weeks notice and basicallly have to pack their bags within these two weeks and relocate to the country of choice. The two hosts of the show will join the family to the new country and help them get settled in during the first month. They assist in finding housing and help them land jobs. Sometimes a family will actually have a nice house and job within a month, sometimes it takes longer to land a job. After the first month families are given the choice to stay and continue their new life in their new country, or to use their return ticket and go back to the UK. I think I only saw one family actually use the return ticket, and that was for a family emergency. All the other families stayed in the new country.

I always liked this show. As far as I know, the show will only select candidates who have thoroughly thought the whole immigration process through, and have been working on it for years but for some reason have not gotten around to actually executing the plan yet. The program also provides tips and tricks for all people wanting to relocate. It always came across to me as a very serious program in which it is actually about making sure people succesfully relocate. It's a reality show, but it stays real and has nothing to do with being sensational.

Another thing the Dutch article stated was that on the whole only 5% of people that relocate, return to the Netherlands. Of these returning 5%, half decide to re-migrate to the new country after a while and thus leave the Netherlands again. So technically only 2.5% actually return to the Netherlands, meaning 97.5% have sucessfully relocated to a different country. I definitely like these odds.

I wonder how many of these 2.5% that return to the Netherlands, had the Dutch weather as their number 1 reason to start the reloaction process and move to a different country...

Yes we have them here in Holland too. Power black outs. Not as big and as frequent as in the US mind you but still pretty annoying. Luckily the weather was nice so I decided to go for a bike ride. I knew that I would not be able to go to the grocery store as it would likely be closed. Well lucky for me I did not need any groceries...I decided to go to the shopping area downtown. I knew I would not be able to buy anything at stores but figured I might be able to spend some time just looking around. Of course all stores affected by the black out were closed. I guess I could have known. If they're not able to make any sales due to the cash registers being out, why would they stay open? For some odd reason the local BK was not affected by the black out and thus still open. I decided to go in and treat myself to a nice cup of diet coke with ice-cubes.

I realize that there are a lot of power black-out in the US as well. A bit more frequent and severe than what I am used to here though. Well at least I will not be able to claim in the US that we never had any power black outs in Holland LOL. Actually come to think about it, when I went to college in Leeuwarden we had frequent power outages in our neighborhood. Very annoying when you are working on a term paper that needs to be finsihed.

I guess I would just have to bring and old fashioned deck of cards for the power outages in the US. Luckily the weather in the Los Angeles area is usually very nice so it won't be bad either to go out and go places. Then again, do gas stations work when the power is out? If not, I'd better make sure I have a full tank of gas before the weekend starts. It would be extremely annoying to find out that the gas stations do not work during a power outtage, when you are out of gas and thus have no where to go. Maybe not so bad when you are off, but what if you have to get to work? That would suck (pardon my French).

Well, it's not such a long wait anymore. To my surprise it turns out that I will likely have 'The Interview' somewhere in November. I can't wait. At the end of November I should know when and if I can book my one way ticket to the US. If all goes well in November, I hope to leave Holland either early January or early February. I can't wait. Talk to you soon.

You noticed huh...my weblog does not have any pictures. Not yet anyway. Until now I have not really felt the need to put any pictures on this blog. That combined with the fact that I hardly ever take pictures (I am pretty much more of a video camera person) pretty much sums it up.

I will be posting some pictures in the future however but it might be a while. I have a digital camera but it was a freebie once and I now know why. It provides pictures that are not clear and not focussed and even a slight tremor in once's hand results in pictures on which it appears that you have been running around like crazy when pressing the shutter. Anyway to make a long story short I am now back to my old fashioned photo camera that requires one of those films...and if I want to post these I kinda need to get them developed and then scanned first.

And nope my cell phone does not have a digital camera either. Come to think of it, that would be a good solution. Ok, ok maybe not the best but still. It has to be better than what my freebie digital camera currently produces. Unfortunately I do not need a new cell phone yet, so that option will have to wait a bit.

For now this weblog will remain pictureless, but just be patient there will be pictures here someday (just don't hold your breath though)