Windmills and Tulips The True Story of a Family, the Strange People They Met and Even Stranger Situations They Found Themselves in After Moving to the Netherlands

The search for the Holy Grail was easy compared to my search for a Dutch language course. Finally I tried a dusty little bookshop, I repeated my request for a Dutch language course, the young gum chewing assistant frowned then smiled.. Suddenly she said ‘Dutch. Yeah, that’s the place wiv de windmills and tulips right’? She went off toward the back of the shop made a dive into a very crowded bookcase and after a quick search she came back with a dusty package containing a book and cassette tape that had the title Teach yourself Dutch. This is the story of an ordinary family who decided to emigrate. We packed our belongings, children and the dog and moved to a small town in the northern province of Friesland in the Netherlands.We spoke no Dutch and had no idea of what awaited us, this is the story of how we coped.