Wrapping Up

This week was a busy one. I finished teaching at the new school, and we also finished with the report meetings where we discuss specific students and what direction they will take next year. Many students failed and will have to repeat a year or go to a different school. There were a few that got promoted up a level. I was really impressed by the efficiency and professionalism of the meetings. Several will also come back next week to make up some work they missed and get a better foundation for next year, so I will see a few of them again before summer.

At the old school, PRO, I collected almost all of their final projects - a video answering some questions about water. Some of them turned out quite nicely. For me, there is only one morning left where I will see the kids. On Friday the staff went to Amersfoort to have some fun. We rented some old Citroen cars and drove around, picnicking by some odd monument from Napoleon's time. Then we took a little boat trip and had a nice barbecue.

The Garage.

Napoleon's Monument.

The old city wall.

One museum of many.

The day was nicely planned, but it felt strange. I didn't really feel a part of the group any more, and as, in my view, we are not a team, it felt odd to be celebrating like one. Several colleagues had too much to drink and were embarrassing themselves toward the end of the night. I am happy to be moving on to a new school.

Next week should be a relaxed week school-wise, but not in other areas. Naomi has a job interview - she is considering taking on an extra day of work at a new school. It could be a very nice opportunity for her, but she would have to keep her current job as well because she has already done a lot of prepping for next year and if we want to buy a house then she needs to continue with her full contract.

Speaking of houses, one that is very similar (just a couple doors down) to the one we are interested in just went up for sale - and the asking price is 43,000 less that the one we have been looking at. We can't figure out the price discrepancy  but there is already a bid on it. We would like to place a bid on both houses on Wednesday, and hopefully we will get one of them...this could be a big week...

The Future

Strange...the same thing happened this week as the week before - we were about to put a bid in on another house, this one had been on the market for two years, and just like that someone else bought it. Strike two. We have one more in mind but after that there don't seem to be any options. Hopefully the third time is the charm...

Yesterday we had a nice day in Leiden. Naomi's friend was sick in the hospital with a nasty skin infection, so we visited her for awhile. Naomi also picked up an old Singer sewing machine that someone was willing to trade for a bottle of wine - turns out it is from 1909. Now she will spend some time restoring it.

We also went to the botanical gardens - oldest in the Netherlands - and I saw a vision of the future. We entered a greenhouse for some tropical plants, and stepping into the warmth from the cold, rainy, windy afternoon was quite the blessing. After a few minutes of enjoying the heat and the tropical plants, I asked myself, what if we could do this every day?

Since then, I have been designing our future house in my head. We need to find a nice little plot of land somewhere with plenty of trees. Someone will need to install a geothermal heat pump. Then we will have someone construct a similar greenhouse over the top - two or three stories high with plenty of space underneath.

After the shell is there, we could do most of the rest. The kitchen would be open, levels that we want to keep cool, like the movie theater and bedrooms, can be created partially underground like hobbit homes, of course there would be a swimming pool with a tiki hut, lots of tropical plants, and catwalks with sitting areas to give some elevation. It would be like living in a tropical paradise but without all the mosquitos.

I have also found that it can be done on a budget - there is a company in Sweden that does the whole thing, wooden house and all, for about 225k dollars. http://www.ecorelief.se/vart_naturhus.aspx Anyway, someday in the future, I hope we can make this idea into a reality. For now we will settle for life in Suburbia.

Some not-so-tropical plants that I managed to capture before the battery died.

Disappointment...?

This week we were planning to put a bid on the house that we really liked. It seemed pretty much perfect. Ideal location, lots of character, and plenty of work to do on it - the neighbor offered his garage full of tools and his expertise to help us out. The price would have been doable on Naomi's salary, so we couldn't find anything that compares on the market. In our minds it was already 'our house'. Then we found out someone else, very suddenly, bought it. Strange.

We met with our realtor and we will be looking at a couple other places on Tuesday. They are much more expensive, but need less work. One of them has a nice shed and is in a rich part of town. This got me thinking that I could turn the shed into a workshop and start making some furniture. This could be more interesting than spending all my time and energy getting a house into shape. We shall see what happens this week...we have one month to make some progress before we fly to the States!

Sunshine!

Finally, the sun came out this week. It actually started to feel like June! We have turned down the heat and opened the windows for the last few days and it has been amazing. It is a bummer that we were both a bit sick though - I stayed home on Friday and Naomi was home on both Thursday and Friday. I have had more colds and sick days this year than ever before. Hopefully next year with the new job things will be less stressful maybe I will get less sick.

I suppose the house could add to the stress levels though. We got a realtor to represent us this week, and we really like him. The guy who is selling the house is a new money realtor - drives a nice BMW and wears a suit like he is ready to walk into a cologne commercial. Our guy is from old money - a little overweight, dresses normally, and drives a Nissan that is a few years old. He is sharp and means business, so I think the negotiations will go in our favor. We shall see.

Our friend Tyson stopped by for dinner last night and we had some tasty enchiladas. That was our big event of the day. Today should be another relaxing day. Nice to have the time and space to just hang out - that might not happen again for a long time if we get this house.

743

We toured the house that we are interested in twice this week. The location is perfect, in between our two schools, in a nice quiet street. There is a functional windmill one block away and lots of trees and open space in the area - it feels like the countryside.

The asking price for the house was 199,000 Euros, so we figured it would be pretty much ready to move into. Nothing could be farther from the truth. A guy with mental problems lived there for 30 years and smoked three packs of cigarettes a day, so when he died, a crew came in to strip everything out. They did leave some big problems, like 3 inches of water in the basement, a big crack in the living room wall, a suspicious roof, problematic windows, and the list goes on. http://www.funda.nl/koop/rotterdam/huis-48753971-overschiese-kleiweg-743/

After the realtor left, we got invited in to the neighbors for a drink. They were really friendly and told us plenty about the house. He is a teacher who has been in the practice of buying houses and renovating them, so he offered us his knowledge and garage full of tools. They also said we shouldn't pay much more than 80,000 for the place because the renovations would be extensive and top dollar for the house in good condition would be about 170,000. Crazy high-end realtors.

Saturday Naomi's Dad and Edith came over. We had a nice time in Rotterdam and went to check out the house. As it turned out, the realtor left the door open, so we were able to see the inside with them (locking it up behind us). They pointed out some extra problems and said that we, of course, would need to get an inspection done.

I am more into the house than Naomi, but I think she is coming around. We want to see the house (officially) again with a friend who knows about construction and then put in an offer. Perhaps they will just laugh at it...but maybe not. Maybe they just want to unload a headache. Like Naomi's Dad says, buy cheap stuff from an expensive shop and expensive stuff from a cheap shop...