After moving from Brisbane to The Hague around five months ago now, here are just six of the things I miss the most about my old life in Australia:

• Family and friends (of course).  Skype helps but I don’t think the sadness of not being able to hug them and talk to them face to face will ever go away…but it’s something every expat needs to deal with.

• Autopilot grocery shopping without needing to examine almost every packet to determine if the contents are in fact what my family and I like to eat.  Also having to do this with my two crazy kids in tow (who hate grocery shopping) as I haven’t had much child free time.  Not to mention that everything I buy has to fit on my bike.   Two of my favourite and almost-famous dishes in Australia – brownies and Toblerone cheesecake – I just can’t get right here as the ingredients I need seem to be either different or not available.   Considering even failed attempts are still quite tasty though I guess this isn’t a huge problem, and I’m learning my way around C1000, AH & Plus.  I’m also allergic to peanuts, so have learned that this is “pinda” in Dutch and have to be careful.

• Driving from A to B confidently and easily – and being able to transport my kids, my shopping and various random items or even large purchases without having to run them by my husband first!  Here I firstly don’t have a car I can drive (the family car is a manual and I drive an auto – and it’s with my husband at work all day anyway) and don’t feel at all confident until I get more familiar with being on the opposite side of the road, having to give way to bikes constantly and even trams and interpreting all new road signs.  At the moment, I rely on my husband driving me places, picking up my IKEA purchases (which I often have to justify – and who can do that?!).  Otherwise I need to ride my bike.  I am getting better at this – but actually already have some bumps, bruises and an ankle injury from falling – and can’t fit much onto my bike, especially once my 3 year old is on the back!
• Working – I really enjoyed my job in Australia but with 2 children, limited Dutch language and no real spare time to even look for a job let alone do one, not working leaves a big gap in my life.