The American Couple Now Needs Friends
We’ve been in our new town for 1 month now. We’ve attended our new church, which is a 30-45 minute bike ride away (30 for Dan, 45 for me!), three times. We are meeting people who attend the church, interacting with people at the office, and maintaining contact with our friends from other parts of the country. But we live far enough away from those people that we are still quite isolated.
The problem is, our new town just doesn’t have an abundance of expats and we don’t know of any social groups or other ways to meet Dutch people. We’ve looked at city hall for groups, I’ve torn apart expat sites looking for anyone who is writing that might be from nearby, we’ve been in contact with a couple families here but things aren’t clicking very fast. (One man said, “I would invite you for coffee, but my English is not so good.” Despite our attempts to convince him that between our poor Dutch and his decent English, it could work, clearly that was end of possible relationship #1.) We’ve asked people we know from other parts of the country if they know people in Rhenen. Despite these efforts, no fruit. So here is the plan I’m proposing:
Plan B: Advertise at the grocery store: normally, a quite popular way to sell bicycles, furniture, etc. Our advertisement would read quite simply: “Wanted: Friendship. Two Americans, new to Rhenen, need a few friends. Call 06-xxxx-xxxx.” Any ideas how much I should be willing to PAY?
Plan C: Advertise in THE newspaper again. “The American Couple found a home. Now they need friends. They prefer that the proposed friends live in or very close to Rhenen or have car and are willing to do most of the transport.”
Plan D: On a nice day, I will go to one of the outdoor cafes that line the main street, find a couple who look to be in our age range, and sit down with them. I thought about doing this yesterday as I passed by a young-ish couple at the swanky restaurant near our house. But I didn’t think I would be able to get my overloaded grocery cart up the stairs or that it would fit very well under their table. And my chicken might have started to smell…
The really funny thing is, I know our situation isn’t very different than what a lot of Americans go through in America. Certainly, there are limitations we encounter here that wouldn’t be problems in the States. Nonetheless, I know there are a lot of isolated or lonely people in America and a lot of people wondering how to form friendships. What is it about our Western lives that cause us to be so isolated and make relationships so difficult to find?
P.S. If you are reading this and you live in Rhenen, you are my Plan A! Please comment!
The problem is, our new town just doesn’t have an abundance of expats and we don’t know of any social groups or other ways to meet Dutch people. We’ve looked at city hall for groups, I’ve torn apart expat sites looking for anyone who is writing that might be from nearby, we’ve been in contact with a couple families here but things aren’t clicking very fast. (One man said, “I would invite you for coffee, but my English is not so good.” Despite our attempts to convince him that between our poor Dutch and his decent English, it could work, clearly that was end of possible relationship #1.) We’ve asked people we know from other parts of the country if they know people in Rhenen. Despite these efforts, no fruit. So here is the plan I’m proposing:
Plan B: Advertise at the grocery store: normally, a quite popular way to sell bicycles, furniture, etc. Our advertisement would read quite simply: “Wanted: Friendship. Two Americans, new to Rhenen, need a few friends. Call 06-xxxx-xxxx.” Any ideas how much I should be willing to PAY?
Plan C: Advertise in THE newspaper again. “The American Couple found a home. Now they need friends. They prefer that the proposed friends live in or very close to Rhenen or have car and are willing to do most of the transport.”
Plan D: On a nice day, I will go to one of the outdoor cafes that line the main street, find a couple who look to be in our age range, and sit down with them. I thought about doing this yesterday as I passed by a young-ish couple at the swanky restaurant near our house. But I didn’t think I would be able to get my overloaded grocery cart up the stairs or that it would fit very well under their table. And my chicken might have started to smell…
The really funny thing is, I know our situation isn’t very different than what a lot of Americans go through in America. Certainly, there are limitations we encounter here that wouldn’t be problems in the States. Nonetheless, I know there are a lot of isolated or lonely people in America and a lot of people wondering how to form friendships. What is it about our Western lives that cause us to be so isolated and make relationships so difficult to find?
P.S. If you are reading this and you live in Rhenen, you are my Plan A! Please comment!
posted by Beth at 12:12 PM
1 Comments:
Friends, humbug, Ive been here for darn near ten years now and still have not one friend to complicate my life. I do what I want when I want and how I want. My precious time is all mine!
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