Hello Netherlands!

Warning - This is going to be a?VERY personal?post.

If you know me, you know that I was born and living my whole life in Hungary (until now - see below). A country that is beautiful indeed, but has been having crazy challenges in the past years.

As always, I try to avoid sharing any political content, and it is not my goal this time either. But it is not possible to talk about my life changes without mentioning the broken education system and healthcare, the general hatred that blurs people's minds, and the overall negativity that is harder and harder to avoid. The country is divided, more and more, and there are no words for how sad is to see people going down this dangerous slope...

It's like a poison that slowly eats your whole life.

If you haven't followed the news about Hungary, you can start here:?Telex: English

Long story short, there was an election in Hungary in early April. The results were... disappointing is an understatement. It was scary to see how many people voted to keep up (moreover: celebrate!) the very same insane system.

That was the point when something got broken in us like never before.

Like the very last drop in that glass of water.

That was the point when we realized we could not see the future of our children in the country anymore.

And that was the point when we decided to?leave the country.

So the crazy journey started...

Do we really want this?

Really?

Really?!

Yes, REALLY!!

Let's discuss it with the children...

With our parents...

With friends...

Now, six months later, having the most emotional rollercoaster time of our lives ever, here we are...

We found a beautiful house to start our new lives in Eindhoven, Netherlands.

All three of our children started this school year in their new schools here (good thing that they all speak fluent English - but more about languages in a future post).

I had a few VERY slow months in business, with almost zero business activity - I needed to focus on all the logistics, and support all the emotional ups and downs of the family.

But now that we have settled down, and have our new routine here, I am back to work again.

Was it hard? - Totally!

Making the kids understand why we need this change, and why we think turning our lives upside down is the right decision...

Communicating to our parents who don't speak any languages and have been living all their lives within their birth towns/counties, and trying to convince them that this is the right decision...

Saying bye to friends... Many of them are also leaving the country or have already left, too...

Listening to all the reactions, and being persistent in what we believe the right thing for our family is - despite everything we're being told, positive or negative. Despite everything, and also the opposite of everything...

You're so brave.

You're a traitor.

You're a coward.

You're stupid.

This is the best thing you can do for your children.

You'll ruin the lives of your children.

How can you do this to your children?!

How can you do this to the country?!

I know it would be better if...

You should do this...

You should do that...

You should not do this...

You should not do that...

I know it better...

But all in all, we're here.

Living in Eindhoven, the Netherlands since mid-summer...

Maybe it's too early to say anything, but we already feel that we are relieved, and much more relaxed.

The everyday stress we had in Hungary is not present here at all.

Despite the fact that we knew and felt we had a high stress level there, it's only now that we realize how bad it was, and how much we needed to deal with all day every day.

Still learning a lot every day, still trying to figure out how everything works?here...

But I feel we did not know what we did not know and how much we did not have?there.

Seeing acceptance instead of hatred; kindness instead of negativity; and opportunities instead of constant jealousy and judgment... this is what our new life is all about.

We feel a totally new universe has opened to us here.

Some days are harder, yes.

But I am grateful all day, every day that we're here.

Sometimes the right decision is not the easy one...

Photo: The Evoluon in Eindhoven in a beautiful September morning