We have been at our rental home for a week now and are really enjoying it. The interior of the house is perfect with plenty of space, all the amenities we need (want), and a warm cozy feeling. We have spent the days doing schoolwork in the morning and getting creative in the afternoons: playing games, building with legos, making movies, reading books, baking, listening to audio books , playing music, watching movies and enjoying time together.

Charlotte asked me to cut her hair short yesterday, so we did it! I think it looks so cute. And different. 🙂 I love her spontaneity!

We are staying right outside of Breezand, a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Hollands Kroon, which is very well known for its flowerbulbs, and lies about 7 km southeast of Den Helder.

We haven’t explored much (due to Covid-19), but Steffen and I have been trying to go running regularly. Sometimes we catch a gorgeous sunset (just before 5pm).

The main thing that took our attention this past week was the US Presidential election for which we (alongside most of the world) were glued to our phones, constantly refreshing the electoral college map. We were so relieved to hear on Saturday afternoon that Biden/Harris won! We watched their acceptance speeches on Sunday with the girls, and it felt especially powerful for them to see Kamala Harris standing up there making history. Of course, they have had the privilege of growing up with a strong, intelligent, fair female leader in Germany, but the more role models, the better!

We do feel removed but relieved and hope this means the US can start moving in the right direction as far as curtailing the pandemic, rooting out the systemic racism, slowing down climate change and finally standing for equal rights for all. It’s a long road.