A homecoming
March 6, 2010 6 Comments
After spending 13 years in the US, Ben Willems is now coming back home to his native Netherlands with his American wife and 2 year old son. What are the reasons behind this decision?
Go to Heerlen. Visit Schunck*
March 2, 2010 Leave a Comment
The 2010 exhibition series at the Schunck* cultural space in Heerlen started on 30 January with a first set of questions and reflections posed by the works of three totally different artistic projects. Until 14 March, Schunck* is awaiting visitors with three floors of eclectic experience. A report by Claudia Falutoiu.
Finding the “right home”: Student choice of accommodation in Maastricht
February 18, 2010 Leave a Comment
The first thing a student must do before starting his/her studies is finding accommodation. This is not always an easy process as many criteria need to be taken into consideration. After speaking with a few students at Maastricht University Adina Răducanu came up with some surprising conclusions.
Last-minute costumes for Carnival: A survival guide
February 9, 2010 4 Comments
Known by a host of names – Vastenavond in southern regions of the Netherlands, Karneval in the North Rhine-Westphalia state of Germany, Fasching in southern and eastern parts of Germany – this fifth season of the year is serious business. And like any worthwhile party, there will be a dress code. So newly-arrived expats and Carnival first-timers unite: With a little creativity and some advice from the experts – costume shop employees and university-age students – you can be well on your way to celebrating Carnival 2010 in style. A survival guide by Luisa Badaracco.
The delicious rise of South Limburg’s Chocolate Company
February 3, 2010 Leave a Comment
With Valentine’s Day, Carnival and Easter just around the corner, US expat Luisa Maria Badaracco takes us on a mouth-watering tour of an expanding regional chocolatier, the Chocolate Company.
Faces of Maastricht – Street fashion
January 31, 2010 1 Comment
How do people dress in Maastricht? A photo-reportage by Catalina Goanta.
Vrijeschool: hearts, hands, brains
January 21, 2010 1 Comment
Maastricht’s Bonnefanten College, sector Bernard Lievegoed is one of 90 schools in the Netherlands that follow the Steiner-Waldorf curriculum and the teaching principles enunciated by Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. A meeting with director Janny de Vries.
When does it become home?
January 19, 2010 3 Comments
When the time came for Catalina Goanta to return to Bucharest, Romania, after gaining her Masters in Law at Maastricht University, she realised that she actually didn’t want to leave Maastricht.
2010 Resolution No 1: not to mix friends
December 24, 2009 2 Comments
British expat Michael Wells-Greco is acutely aware of the toll living outside the same country dial code can have on friendships and family relationships and makes a firm resolution for 2010.
Dunglish or English? Deutsch or Dutch?
December 21, 2009 1 Comment
Crossroads writer Francis ten Broeke takes a closer look at the Maastricht University Language Centre.
Hanukkah: The freedom to celebrate
December 10, 2009 3 Comments
US expat Susan Schaefer will this year celebrate the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah with some friends in Maastricht: “We will light the Menorah candelabra together, sing songs, share poems and stories, and of course, food and wine.”
Books4Life - sell a book, make a friend
December 9, 2009 Leave a Comment
Books4Life is a second hand charity book shop located in a cozy basement room at Maastricht University’s School of Governance. A report by Romanian Law student Andra Gunescu.
Ever named a kid? (Part II): Dear Annalaan
November 24, 2009 4 Comments
US expat Amanda Potter now lives on Sint Annalaan in Maastricht and tells nine year-old Annalaan what it is like to live on the street she was named after…
Ever named a kid? (part I)
November 24, 2009 1 Comment
What’s the connection between this charming nine year-old girl living in the US and a street in Maastricht?
A billion Chinese can’t all be wrong
November 22, 2009 Leave a Comment
South African expat Colette Victor takes a closer look at the mysteries of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), an ancient healing system based on more than three thousand years of research and experiments.
We, the People of Europe: let’s tear down more Walls
November 10, 2009 1 Comment
Inspired by the celebrations commemorating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Michael Wells-Greco reflects on what it means to be a citizen of the European Union today.
Cures for the homesickness blues
November 9, 2009 Leave a Comment
“Nobody handed me a handbook on how to deal with what happens after the excitement and novelty wears off,” writes Filipino expat Erika Rivera. “Nobody told me about the gravity of being away from home.” Erika now shares some of her strategies in “surviving homesickness”.
Kumulus – a hill, a cloud? A painting, a dance!
November 3, 2009 1 Comment
Just as the cumulus cloud brings good weather, the name of the Kumulus art centre lightens up many faces in and around Maastricht. Not that it has anything to do with clouds though! Kumulus director Jan Tuinstra tells German expat Antje Ritter Woodburn what the art centre is all about.
Feeling like a stranger in my own country
October 27, 2009 12 Comments
What does it feel like for non-Limburgers to live in Maastricht? “Limburg is very different from where I come from in the east of the Netherlands,” says Dutch student Jasmijn van der Ploeg.
Maastricht Region Expats: The good, the bad and the ugly
October 21, 2009 2 Comments
“There is a leadership vacuum to initiate a strategic, creative problem-solving engine designed solely to address the well-documented lack of services, spirit and support for the Maastricht region’s expat community,” writes US expat Susan Schaefer.
How to take the bus the idiotic way
October 19, 2009 1 Comment
Even something that would seem as straightforward as taking the bus can be a challenging experience for a newcomer in the Netherlands, Erika Rivera has found out.
Musical serendipity at Centre Céramique
October 15, 2009 1 Comment
Sofia Tussis’ first encounter with Maastricht’s cultural hub at Centre Ceramique was a matter of chance, and a musical encounter, too.
My trilingual journey with my daughter
October 14, 2009 4 Comments
“Most of the Dutch natives I come across in Limburg don’t know anyone who is proficiently bilingual like myself and the emphasis is always on learning Dutch,” writes Singaporean mother Musliha Ajmain. “A second language is only introduced in school when the students are in Group 7 (±11 years old), as opposed to Singapore, where children learn English right from the very beginning and are taught and encouraged to balance both their mother tongue and English.” Musliha is now facing an even bigger challenge: that of raising her Dutch-Singaporean daughter in three different languages, English, Dutch and Malay.
The Art Makers: Intentional Maastricht transplants
October 12, 2009 Leave a Comment
Unlike many expatriates who ‘end up’ in Maastricht, the American/Polish artist duo Barbara Greenberg and Pawel Kromholz are very intentional transplants. The Art Makers as they call themselves produce paintings, drawings, sculptures, bronze furniture, lamps, and hardware - work that is sent all over the world. A portrait by Susan Schaefer for Crossroads.
Jazz Maastricht Promenade: close your eyes and feel it
October 7, 2009 Leave a Comment
Held over four days (22 – 25 October 2009) over 60 venues spread across the city, Jazz Maastricht Promenade is one of Maastricht’s internationally celebrated spectacles. Michael Wells-Greco speaks with organisers and jazz music aficionados Giel Coenen and Appie Weijers.
Trials and tribulations of a trilingual chick in learning Dutch
September 29, 2009 2 Comments
“One of my goals when I arrived in Maastricht was to learn Dutch,” says Amandine de Rosnay. “So why the hell am I only able to say one sentence after three years?” she wonders.
Forgive me, Maastricht, for I have sinned
September 24, 2009 Leave a Comment
“Telling people that I was moving to Maastricht elicited a mixed bag of surprise (really?), questioning (is that in Belgium? No, Germany, right?) and, albeit a rarity, intrigue (why?),” remembers British newcomer Michael Wells-Greco, who now feels the need to put the record straight and describe his experience of the Maastricht he’s discovered so far, “his” Maastricht.
Marcel Mourmans: “Business is like doing sport at the highest level!”
September 23, 2009 1 Comment
“I have this rule, that if I am to undertake something, my goal is to always be the best!” says Marcel Mourmans (73), entrepreneur extraordinaire in Maastricht and founder of the famous Mora Snacks company. A man for whom the word ‘retirement’ simply doesn’t exist.
A birthday apple for the world: Reflections of a Maastricht Jewish American on Rosh Hashanah and “The Days of Awe”
September 20, 2009 Leave a Comment
The festival of Rosh Hashanah, which marks the beginning of the Jewish High Holidays, is an invitation for Susan Schaefer to reflect on the practice of her faith as a reform Jewish American living in Maastricht.
Your mother has posted something on your Wall
September 20, 2009 2 Comments
British expat in Maastricht Michael Wells-Greco wonders “why we spend an increasing amount of time with other humans but ignore these real individuals by tapping away online or on some other aesthetically pleasing gadget.”
