How to take the bus the idiotic way
October 19, 2009 2 Comments
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.
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.
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.
A birthday apple for the world: Reflections of a Maastricht Jewish American on Rosh Hashanah and “The Days of Awe”
September 20, 2009 1 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.”
The problems with being a foreigner – but not an expat – in Eindhoven
July 23, 2009 6 Comments
Olivia Neri exchanged her home in California for Eindhoven, the Netherlands, [90 kms to the north of Maastricht] to be with her Dutch husband. She contacted us some time ago with the following idea: “I am interested in writing an article about what Eindhoven is doing for its expat community and in learning about opportunities for internationals in Eindhoven, because everything I have found (aside from Crossroads) is centered in the Randstad area.” Read on to find out the outcome of her investigation.
Moving to Maastricht
July 18, 2009 4 Comments
“It was somewhere over the Indian Ocean that my partner Darryn and I made the decision to move to Maastricht,” says Australian journalist Laura Parker. “We were flying home to Australia after a particularly enjoyable holiday in Greece when we suddenly found ourselves overwhelmed with sadness at the thought of leaving the beauty of Europe and returning to the mundane Sydney city life. So we thought: why don’t we just move to Europe?”
Gratifying feedback from a Japanese expat in Maastricht
June 25, 2009 1 Comment
Crossroads editor Sueli Brodin has received a very gratifying message from a Japanese expat in Maastricht.
Newly arrived American expats in Maastricht: “No time to be bored!”
June 17, 2009 2 Comments
Amanda “Mandy” Potter (27) moved to Maastricht only recently, in April 2009 to be precise. Her husband Dan was offered a job as a biology researcher at Maastricht University. Mandy describes a lot of her experiences in her blog Single Stitch Studio to help her family and friends back home get an idea of what life is like in Maastricht. Truly inventive is the podcast Maastricht Minutiae in which Mandy and Dan talk about various aspects of living among the Dutch, and review their trips and adventures in the region. They have only been here for a couple of months but have already released the 7th episode of Maastricht Minutiae! Reason enough for Crossroads to introduce the Potters to the expat community at large.
Reflecting on my Romanian identity in Maastricht
May 4, 2009 1 Comment
“Since I moved to the Netherlands I have felt the power and depth of the European integration,” says Romanian Law student Andra Gunescu. “The simple fact that I am sitting at lectures next to students from all over Europe and that I can listen to their opinion makes me aware of the larger community that we all belong to.”
“But,” she adds, “the different ways people react when I tell them I come from Romania, whether they raise an eyebrow or become more interested in me, have also taught me a lot.”
Colourful and exotic shops in Maastricht
April 16, 2009 2 Comments
Strolling through Maastricht, Amandine de Rosnay often notices colourful and exotic shops that appeal to her senses and curiosity. She has now decided to find out what they’re all about! Two of them, Afrikana and La Passionara, are owned by expatriates from other European or African countries, who have settled down in Maastricht.
Down in ‘Kampung Daniken’
March 3, 2009 4 Comments
“Ever since I came here to South Limburg, I have been having this love-hate relationship with my neighbourhood,” says Singaporean expat Musliha Ajmain. Indeed, it’s taken her a while to fully appreciate and understand the complexity of living in what she likes to call ‘Kampung Daniken’.
Amandine de Rosnay, a white African in Maastricht
January 26, 2009 1 Comment
Amandine de Rosnay, a third year student at University College Maastricht, was born on the tiny island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean to the east of Madagascar. She writes about some of the unexpected challenges she had to face when she first arrived in Maastricht two years ago.
Cheaper by the dozen
December 2, 2008 2 Comments
Becoming a parent in a foreign country involves its own set of challenges, Singaporian expat Malia Janssen has discovered . “Most of us who came here were well aware of the adjustments we would have to make (like learning a new language) but nothing could have prepared us for the intractable realities of motherhood,” she writes in a poignant testimony.
Motorvehicle diaries… or Zen and the art of importing a car
November 25, 2008 3 Comments
“Everything started when my father, who lives in Germany, announced that he was going to buy a new car and give me the “old” one. Some eight weeks before the pick-up date it dawned upon me that it might not be so easy to bring the car over: crossing the border meant that we would actually have to import the car into the Netherlands.”
For German expat Antje Ritter-Woodburn, this was easier said than done…
Ghosts and Goblins
November 9, 2008 6 Comments
“In Singapore where I come from, like in the rest of Asia, we relish horror tales so much that they have become ingrained in our culture and are a part of our daily lives”, says Malia Janssen. But after marrying a Dutch man and settling down in the Netherlands, Malia feels that she’s had to find ways to reconciliate her belief in the supernatural with the Dutch more “rational” take on life.
Moroccan-Belgian student in Maastricht: “It’s the heart that counts”
October 13, 2008 18 Comments
Esma Alouet’s main worry when she came to study in Maastricht was that people would laugh at her Belgian accent and make fun of her “strange” Flemish expressions.
Welcome to the reading table
September 3, 2008 3 Comments
From the moment Janet Lindgren first noticed the large communal “leestafels”, or reading tables, in Dutch cafés, bars and restaurants, she intuitively sensed that they were a part of the way life is lived in the Netherlands. She would sit down at the tables and feel as if she belonged. Her interest for them eventually brought her to Maastricht, where she discovered “the diva of all reading tables”.
Raising children bilingually
July 9, 2008 6 Comments
Alex Ward writes about the benefits of raising children bilingually, and seeks to alleviate concerns parents might have, based on her six years of raising children in Maastricht and the neighbouring village of Cadier en Keer. [continued...]
Strolling through the market in Maastricht
June 22, 2008 11 Comments
Spanish expat Diana Berdun never misses a chance to go to the market in Maastricht. “I often purposely leave part of my grocery shopping (fruit, vegetable and fish) for the market. There I can find more choice, better prices and it is more entertaining to go from one stall to the other,” she says. Let’s follow her! [continued...]
Shooting Flikken Maastricht
June 17, 2008 Leave a Comment
Big surprise yesterday afternoon in Maastricht: I was just coming out of the Selexyz bookshop when all of a sudden, I saw the two main actors of the popular Dutch police series Flikken Maastricht playing a scene right in front of me. [continued...]
Naked Netherlands
May 22, 2008 6 Comments
The practice of being naked in nature, or naturism, is not foreign to Dutchmen, discovers American expat Kathlyn Clore in Maastricht. [continued...]
The Lions Club Maastricht Mondial: Charity and International socialising
May 21, 2008 Leave a Comment
The annual May Fair of the Lions Club Maastricht Mondial is just around the corner. This year, on 25 May, expatriates living and working in South Limburg and their families will be invited to practise their skiing talents at the SnowWorld indoor winter sports resort in Landgraaf. Peter van Dongen Torman, who has been organising the event for the past five years, meets with Crossroads’ writer Sina Spohr at a café by the Meuse river to tell her more about the club and the fair. [continued...]
Academia in Maastricht (part 4): Are academics stuck spinning their wheels? A final verdict
May 14, 2008 Leave a Comment
In a final attempt to get yet another perspective into the world of academia in Maastricht, Crossroads writer Rosanne Rademaker meets with Nancy Nicholson, an American assistant professor at the department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology at Maastricht’s faculty of Psychology and Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. “Nancy always comes across as a very driven and intelligent person who very much enjoys her work… and hers may very well be the perspective I’m angling for,” hopes Rosanne. Read on to find out Rosanne’s final verdict on life in academia. [continued...]
A river runs through it
May 12, 2008 Leave a Comment
I’m sitting in the shade on my boat and the weather is just great. Huge carp are cruising around the harbour as the spawning season begins. Boats of all kinds are beginning to gather on the lake, from small sailing dinghies to monster power boats taking a break from zooming up and down the Maas. Swans glide over to snatch some bread before stomping off after the latest unwanted intruders. It’s wonderful to be on the water.
Read on further to get a glimpse of what it is like for British expat Gary Evans to live on the river Maas.
An academic nomad at International School Maastricht: a testimonial
April 22, 2008 Leave a Comment
Bulgaria, Bangladesh, Hungary, Finland, Jamaica are only some of the places where Crossroads’ writer Eliot Rolen spent his youth. “Yet,” he remembers, “alongside the immensely varied and inspiring sights and sounds of these countries, lay a place where to a certain extent geographical considerations were largely irrelevant, namely the international school”. Eliot’s path finally brought him to the Netherlands, where a new and different experience was awaiting him at the International School Maastricht. [continued...]
Thrown into the big wide world
March 20, 2008 Leave a Comment
“Strangely enough, Maastricht University’s attractive international atmosphere and broad variety of new, innovative Bachelor programmes can also be very disorientating,” says UCM student Stella Wolters. “Where do I belong?”, “What does the future hold for me?” she often finds herself wondering. [continued...]
Backwards and in High Heels - Stupor Tuesday
February 5, 2008 Leave a Comment
© 1982 NEA, Inc.
“Even from far-away Maastricht, the Netherlands, I am and stay active in USA politics,” says US expat Susan Schaefer. “I vote, I continue to pay taxes in Minnesota, and I avidly follow one of the most critical presidential campaigns of our times.”
Read on to see why Susan supports Hillary Rodham Clinton’s nomination as the Democratic Presidential candidate. [continued...]
