Why did you move to The Netherlands?

The short answer is: "For Ian." If you knew Ian, you wouldn't have asked that question. (I'll write that blog later.) A better question might be, "Why did you both decide to settle in The Netherlands (where Ian has been living and working for the past 3 years) instead of England (his home) or the U.S. (mine)?

Have I mentioned that our landlord is from Iraq? And that he supports everything we (the U.S. and Britain) have done/are doing to/in his native country? He keeps pushing me to vote for Bush. Well, all I can say about that is that my absentee ballot is in the mail and I hope he doesn't open it and find out I voted for my candidate instead of his.

His wife came by the other day - she's very pregnant. She's also very nice - warm, kind and approachable. They both are, actually. She was telling Ian that the other day her husband said, "So, we're living in The Netherlands and renting to a homosexual couple, one guy from England and another from America. No one can say I'm not a modern Muslim."

I think he's wrong on the President issue and, in truth, he knows I think that. But how can I possibly argue or be irritated with this "modern Muslim" who does not discriminate against me simply because his beliefs and mine differ? He's a Muslim, yes. But he's also typically Dutch. It's this type of thing, a thing that must seem very small to someone who hasn't been discriminated against, that makes all the hassle and expense of uprooting my life to become a resident of The Netherlands worth it.