Introduction
I spent almost my entire life in the Netherlands doing very Dutch things: riding bicycles in the rain, complaining about the weather, and pretending that owning more than one pair of shoes was unnecessary. It was all very sensible. Possibly too sensible.
At some point, I looked at a world map, noticed a very large country called Canada, and thought: Yes, that seems appropriately dramatic. So I did what any rational person would do—I sold everything. The house? Gone. The cars? Also gone. A lifetime of accumulated “this might be useful someday” items? Definitely gone.
Then came the truly questionable decision: putting a dog and two cats on an airplane and flying them to Vancouver. They did not agree to this plan, but democracy has its limits.
Now based in Canada, I am learning new skills, such as understanding distances measured in hours instead of kilometers, accepting that Canada is officially metric, but in reality not and explaining to people that no, I am not from Germany, and yes, the Netherlands is a real country.
This website exists somewhere between those two worlds: Dutch practicality and Canadian scale. It is built by someone who believes that life should occasionally involve big decisions, small disasters, and at least one loyal dog who thinks every new country is excellent as long as there is food.
