‘I love getting to know my neighbours through De Wassenaarse Krant’

The residents of Wassenaar have many nationalities. With a lot of so-called expats there is a need for an English page in De Wassenaarse Krant. Megan Walch is one of the columnists on that page, where she writes about ‘all things expat related’. Megan Walch – 44 years old – originally born in the US – In Wassenaar for four years with her husband and two kids aged 19 years old and 8 years old

Interview By Emma Odijk

Where did your love for writing start?
“All of my English teachers encouraged me to pursue a career in writing. I’ve always been writing stuff since I can remember. When I was younger, I used to write a lot of poetry, that is when I realised that I loved writing and could write good and funny poems just from the top of my head. I won a poetry contest with a poem I wrote on my way from the dentist office to the school.

I have also always been a huge reader, even nowadays. I think that really fed my enjoyment of writing, but that was mostly creative writing. For my work as a correctional officer in a prison, I had to write very technically and I did that for eight years. That really honed a practice of writing matter of fact things. I also wrote factually as a legal secretary. It’s all experience I have used in writing for De Wassenaarse Krant.”

Since August 2022 Walch writes for the international section in this newspaper. “When we first moved here, there was a section in English and we noticed it went away. I was told the person that ran it moved back to the UK. So, I walked into the office of De Wassenaarse Krant and said, ‘I want to write.’ 

I always wanted to do this, but was insecure people wouldn’t like my writing. After I turned 40-years-old, I suddenly stopped worrying what other people thought of me and gained more confidence in myself. Since then, I have been writing my column and other articles for De Wassenaarse Krant.”

Megan doesn’t only write columns, but also did an interview in the Christmas-special. A highlight in her ‘career’. “I loved doing the interview with my neighbour, Rob. I love writing about other people and capturing who they are, and putting their personality and story on paper.”

What are your columns about?
“Anything! It started with funny stories. I always try to have plenty of anecdotes about the growing pains and mistakes you make as you learn about Dutch culture. The first one I wrote was about my daughter that spoke a lot of Dunglish, a mix of Dutch and English, when we came here. She would love to stomp on acorns, but not knowing the Dutch word ‘eikels’ she used the English word in her otherwise Dutch explanation at school. Of course, the children thought she was saying ‘eekhoorns.’ So, the teacher had a talk with us about the importance of her only speaking one language at a time. It is those types of things where there are certain cultural things that you realize after the fact that you’ve done something wrong, a faux pas, sort of a mistake. Just how to get in the Dutch world.

Readers have told me they enjoy the variety of my columns. One time I write a column about pizza, another time about Women’s History Month. It’s different each time.”

What is the power of De Wassenaarse Krant?
“I love the community feeling and that it is so community focused. The idea of being able to get to know my neighbours through it. And I do find a lot of practical, helpful information for people is always included. And for me, De Wassenaarse Krant was the first regular interaction with the Dutch language, and that is true for a lot of internationals here. But I would love to see the international community itself more involved in the newspaper.”

Is there anything you want to say to our readers for the next thousand papers?
“A thousand is about 20 years, so I hope we’re all still around to be reading it. Haha. I’d hope to see the paper still in print in the upcoming years, but with a little more digital. I love being able to have a physical paper to read, and I hope that is still around.”