Back in the USA

At the beginning of last month, I moved back to the US from the Netherlands, so this will likely be the final post of The Bossche Blog. Or at least the first installment of perhaps a series of wrap-up/recap/reflection posts. It's been 2.5 years since my girlfriend and I first packed our suitcases to the gills and made the jump to the Low Countries. But we decided the time was right to make a big change, again.

The transition has been exciting, stressful and a bit of a whirlwind.

I finished work at the magazine at the end of April, having just wrapped up the May issue. The day after my last day on the job, the gf and I flew to Tbilisi, Georgia. We spent the next week hopping around from city to city in Georgia and Armenia, with the help of Lonely Planet, marshrutka (the network of rickety 15-passenger vans that serves as an economical form of public transportation for the majority of the region) and our limited knowledge of the Russian language.

After arriving back in the Netherlands on a Sunday morning, I had until that Tuesday morning to wrap up various leaving-the-country paperwork, pack, etc. Not a ton of time, but it all worked out; I made the plane, didn't even have an overweight bag charge.

I didn't hardly have time to unpack before heading out to my youngest brother's undergrad graduation. Within a few days was my middle brother's grad school graduation. Immediately following: Family road trip to the Midwest. Lots and lots of close-quarters family time.

Back to the East Coast, a few days later, where I had a couple free days before starting my summer job as assistant head coach of a community swim team. The first practice was last Tuesday, so we're about 1.5 weeks in. It's going well, but even once the meets get going, it's only a part-time job at best. And the season only lasts until the first week of August, so the full-time journalistic-ish job search is on. I'm starting another blog to chronicle that whole experience, which I'll post a link to here once it's up and running (in the next 24 hours or so).