ENGLISH : READY FOR TAKEOFF

 **December 28.** 

While I am putting the final "finishing touches" on my beautiful little courtyard from 1723, messages, calls, cards, and door knocks keep coming in. The past few weeks have been very intense and emotional. Thanks to my dear family and friends, I was able to empty my house just in time, put all my belongings into storage with my cousin and mom, and sort everything out. It’s amazing how much "stuff" a person can accumulate...

Today, I am emigrating! This evening, at 21:40, I will be boarding a plane to Abu Dhabi with my colleague and good friend Becky, where we are embarking on a new adventure. We have been recruited by the Natural History Museum of Abu Dhabi to help with its opening. Both Becky and I have a lot of experience in assisting with the opening of museums, particularly natural history museums. So, it’s quite useful for them! My "job title" is: Senior Specialist of Collections Movement and Installations. Unfortunately, there are no "dinosaurs" in my job title anymore, but rest assured, I will still get to tame them there.

For the past 11 years, I have had the most amazing job. I was the Project Leader for Dinosaurs. I organized everything related to our dinosaurs, from excavations to ensuring that our team of 30 volunteers and scientists had everything they needed, both in the field and beyond. Of course, I also joined the hunt for dinosaurs, whether it was driving through the prairies in Walmart pickups, traveling to Yellowstone, the airport, the field, or the hardware store. I then made sure that those large dinosaur bones ended up at Naturalis so our team could start preparing them. Quite a task sometimes!

Additionally, I was the "Chef 3D," responsible for digitizing all our bone material, and I traveled to special locations to 3D-scan dinosaurs or prehistoric sea reptiles, as well as going on various other adventures.

Together with a fantastic team, we ensured that our herd of Triceratops stood tall. Literally and figuratively, there was blood, sweat, and tears involved to ultimately show a wonderful result at Naturalis: five Triceratops, excavated by us and completed with the help of 3D techniques! Go see it!

I also delivered 2 full-size T. rexes, 2 mosasaurs, and 1 Triceratops replica, moved a Camarasaurus, and even excavated a mosasaur in Africa! In between, I scanned meteorites, Dracorex, mola molas, dinosaur eggs, and all sorts of other exciting things in the weirdest places around the world, from the coast of Angola to a historical diorama in Artis (in an asbestos suit), and even in a shed in Los Angeles.

Naturalis was truly a wonderful place for my development. I walked in as a visitor guide and left as a fairly niche project leader. What knowledge, nice people, and special experiences came together there! The farewell was incredibly difficult. A big river of tears flowed during the farewell from all those people I will greatly miss.

But sometimes you have to take a risk and just go for it!

During our excavation at "The Jurassic Mile" in Wyoming, I met 2 amazing, skilled, and intelligent paleontologists who I could work wonderfully with, alongside our own Professor of Vertebrate Paleontology. Four years later, one of those three people became the director of the new Natural History Museum in Abu Dhabi and invited me to take a new step in my career.

I had to think long and hard about that. Because I already had the best job ever, lived in a beautiful courtyard in the center of Leiden, was surrounded by dear friends and a growing family, and was actually doing really well.

But still...

I couldn’t get a mortgage, even though I was debt-free.

Also, despite all the appreciation I received, I was hitting a glass ceiling. That, combined with a gut feeling, led me to decide that it was time for a new adventure!

Onward to Abu Dhabi!

I will try to keep this website updated so that everyone who wants to can stay informed!