Welcome to Constantia Oomen.com
THROUGH HEAVEN - Free Download
Added by Constantia @ 11/28/2012 10:11 pmLast edit 11/28/2012 10:47 pm
The children's book "Through Heaven" - about out-of-body and near-death experiences - is not availabe anymore as iTunes app, but it has become available as free download .pdf:
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Sticking around
Added by Constantia @ 11/01/2012 11:11 amLast edit 11/02/2012 10:41 am
A short update. After some research of San Francisco (the city we have fallen in love with) and surrounding areas like Daly City, East Bay, San Rafael and Hercules, we have decided to stick around in Davis.
San Francisco is very expensive where housing is concerned. What we are looking for: a Single-Family Home, is almost impossible in San Francisco. We live in a kind of Single-Family Home now in Davis, in fact, it is a large 3 br, 1,5 ba, large kitchen and large living room, extra laundry room, semi-detached house. We have a front, side and backyard with the most amazing circus of all kinds of birds* and squirrels, and we would have to give that up in San Francisco.
* Most prominent birds in our garden: Anna's Hummingbird, Scrub Jay, Mourning Dove, Robin, Cedar Waxwing, American Goldfinch, Dark-Eyed Junco, Red-breasted Nuthatch (they sound like Zebra Finches!), Mockingbird, White-crowned Sparrow, Downy Woodpecker
In Davis, additional: Turkey Vulture
There is more: biking in Davis, Sacramento and surrounding areas is 'a piece of cake' with lots of possibilities, because it is flat around here, and that too is a different piece of cake in San Francisco and surrounding areas.
We checked out Hercules: it's a lovely place, and biking is possible, but it is very limited and there are a lot of elevations. It turns out Davis is very safe too; we heard that places like Richmond, that is close to Hercules, do have crime. The house we checked out in Hercules had an elaborate security system. In Davis, no such thing is needed, because like I told a long time ago, Davis is like a little city in a friendly, safe bubble. Even people in Davis describe it like that, without suggesting something like that to them; they are using the word 'bubble' themselves too.
Read on ....
One Year In The USA
Added by Constantia @ 10/14/2012 12:10 pmLast edit 10/14/2012 10:36 pm
Dear Readers.
I am not sure if you have been missing my blogs, but is has been a year since I wrote one. Maybe some people are wondering how Jeroen and I are doing in the USA?
Some people on my own Dutch forum of www.doorhetraam.nl even wondered whether I was deceased, so I thought: maybe I should write a new blog, it's long overdue.
We are still living in Davis, and it hasn't rained here for about 5-6 months now. Every day is a sunny day with an endless blue sky, sometimes a few modest clouds. Our garden is filled with divine Hummingbirds, Scrub Jays and other subtropical birds. Don't forget the squirrels! We have been doing fine. North California is an amazing, almost heavenly place on Earth. Nature is endless and beautiful, people are very friendly, and the environment is well taken care of.
Since June 2012, I have been teaching German again, part-time, at a German language school in Sacramento. Because I was out a couple of years (since 2007), I had to refresh my German again. Teaching has always been in my blood, so it was not hard to teach again. New was the combo-use of German and English - no Dutch anymore. The American people I have in my classes (age approximately 23-75) are very eager to learn, polite and friendly students. Keeping 'order' in the class is not an issue
, so I can concentrate on the content of my German curriculum.Read on ....
Through Heaven as .pdf
Added by Constantia @ 10/14/2012 11:10 amLast edit 10/14/2012 11:32 am
Through Heaven is not available anymore as Apple app.
Stay tuned for the free download .pdf, coming soon!
Children's book THROUGH HEAVEN available now!
Added by Constantia @ 02/17/2012 01:02 pmLast edit 10/14/2012 12:27 pm
I can write a long epistle and I can also put it briefly. Well...
My children's book THROUGH HEAVEN is finally published after being put on hold for more than two years (it was like that with THROUGH THE WINDOW, that would have been published in 1997, but didn't see the light of publish day until 2000). In true spirit of the times, this book has the scoop in the virtual world, it's available in the iTunes Store as iPhone and iPad app!
Don't hold back for money's sake: it's only $0.99! You get the whole book for it! (including music and more!)
With thanks to - among others - the following people
Daniël Benjamins (apps)
Andrew Maggiore (English translation)
Big John (Jeroen Post) (IT and overall backup)
Immigrated! Children's Book!
Added by Constantia @ 10/24/2011 07:10 pmLast edit 10/14/2012 02:41 pm
Immigrated on: World Animal Day, Tuesday, October 4. 2011
Left Thousand Oaks on: Thursday, October 13. 2011
Moved in new house in Davis on: Friday, October 14. 2011
Official lease start date: Saturday, October 15. 2011
Written on: Monday, October 24. 2011
Dear you.
How have you been doing lately? I know you all have been dying to hear something from me , and I feel very ashamed that it took me over 5 months to write a new blog.
You Dutch people must feel awkward that I'm writing in English now. I could write it in Dutch too, but maybe I'm a little bit too lazy for that, I'm not sure.
Besides that, guess I always want to do things thoroughly and writing in Dutch feels like I'm not doing it thoroughly. But I hope you can all understand my English?
The update is a big one: Jeroen and I have immigrated to the United States of America. I wrote about Jeroen winning the DV 2011 Lottery, and thus winning Green cards to live and work in the U.S.A. We started out in Thousand Oaks, which is near L.A., and it seems like paradise to us, because of its fabulous trees and views. Keith and Amber were there to assist us in our first steps on American ground, and they did that in an unprecedented manner.
Read on ....
Emigration USA Continued - Green Cards!
Added by Constantia @ 10/24/2011 07:10 pmLast edit 02/17/2012 10:45 pm
I have been waiting to write the next US blog until Jeroen and I had more certainty about our emigration. That moment has now come. Where will I start, well, let me think...
May 14. 2010 Jeroen got the announcement he was selected in the DV 2011 Lottery of the US Government. This is a Lottery by which means you don't win money (well, for the time being that is), but you win the right to live and work in The USA. Because only about 2.5 % of the Lottery participants wins, it's kind of a big deal. To us it was and is!
I always had that magic thing going on with the US. Sometimes it just killed me (figuratively) that I wasn't there. You can call it 'homesick'. Yes, I'm Dutch, but that's the way I felt about it. Then Jeroen and I visited America (Washington, Oregon, California) together in 2009 and he too fell in love with this country. It was the second time we entered the US Lottery and this time we got it all right. Jeroen did, and because we are married, I was the lucky 'Appendix' and am allowed to travel with him. Then we had to wait for a year! Jeroen had lucky number 252##, which meant that we were not among the first ones to have the emigration interview at the American Embassy in Amsterdam (they start in October each year). I calculated we would have our interview around May 2011, and May it was.
Read on ....