Train Story

Here's a snippet from my afternoon on Tuesday:

Out in service with Tina (the sister living here for years, originally from Texas), walking between calls. She just finished helping me "top up" my phone minutes, because the directions on the receipt, and the phone tree you have to call into, are in Dutch.

My phone rings, it's Charlotte (the sister who just moved here for a 2 year stint, also from Texas). Can I come to Heemskerk for a study at 4:30 (16:30)? Sure I can. Can you give me the train information, since I won't be able to get to a computer to look it up? Charlotte SMS'd (Dutch version of texting) me the information. Done. It's about an hour train ride north.

Tina and I go on a last call to a lovely woman from St. Kitts. Her doctor makes a room call in her building to administer eye drops. Talks about college. I think...it's all Dutch. I smile, nod, smile, nod, catch every tenth word. Suddenly, the time on the clock registers with me. I have just under an hour to be in Amsterdam Central Station to catch the 15:27 train from Spoor (platform) 2a, to Heemskerk. I'm a 15 minute walk to the metro station, a 20 minute ride to the train station. If we don't have to wait for the metro.

I still need to buy a train ticket.

That means finding a ticket machine quickly that will take cash or credit cards instead of just a local bank card. Few and far between.

I signal Tina, we say our goodbyes, and run for the door. Tina does rapid metro and train schedule calculations in her head. We walk like Roman soldiers on march hefting book bags, slamming our nice boots down in the muddy terrain trying to select the optimum cut-throughs to the Kraainest Metro Station where Tina's (fold up) bicycle sits locked up and waiting.

As we site the station, we see the metro scoot off without us. We're power walking, making good time. We get to the platform just before the next metro arrives, 7 minutes later. That's how far you can see ahead in flat, flat Amsterdam. Tina, diving into undercover-operative handler mode, instructs me on every detail of what I may and may not encounter on this mission. I listen with rapt attention. Board the first metro car, so upon arrival I won't have to negotiate so much of the inevitable mob. It's the fastest route to the train station entrance, which will be immediately on my left. She tells me, after I have located the correct big yellow ticket seller box, and purchased my ticket, walk up the first set of stairs to the left. That will be spoor 1 and 2, and, she continues, spoor 2a will be heading north. She thinks it will be to the right at the top of the stairs. IF I follow her directions correctly, quickly, I should be able to catch the 15:27 train to Heemskerk. Just.

She rides the metro with me as far as Weesperplein, her stop. I ride on alone. Wallet uncharacteristically in hand. No time to waste digging for it when ticket time comes. Jacket, scarf, and bag positioned to not interfere with high speeds. I mark the stops as they flow past. Three to go, two. Amsterdam Central Station.

Push through the milling metro crowd towards the open doors. Spot the stairs. Run. If I saw myself, this grown person running around and through the metro crowd, I'd have given myself a healthy tisk.

Jump the steps quick like a bunny. Weave through the slow motion crowd. Choose escalator over stairs. Pass the motionless escalator riders on the left. Lift the toes, do not trip. Pretend I'm not out of breath already. Enter the main terminal hall. Locate the ticket purchase terminal. Make sure it takes the forms of money I can pay. No. Pass on. Next machine: Yes. Choose payment type, return trip ticket, single day use, full fare or discount. Enter the first letter of the destination name. The second letter. Find Heemskerk on the list, punch print. Hesitate too late, momentarily balking at the $19.40 euro price tag. Chalk it up to the sacrifices made in order to participate more fully in the ministry here. RUN.

First stair way on the left, spoor 2a. Clock reads 15:27. Look for Heemskerk on the sign post. Don't see it, jump on the train anyway. This has to be it. Once safely on the train, peek out the open doors again, try to assure that I am on the correct train. No luck. Turn to two girls sitting behind me, hoping they speak English, ask if this train goes to Heemskerk. Instantly, one says yes, and one says no. The more adamant of the two gets up to look out the still open doors, but the opposite direction I had looked. As they shut, she tells me, yes, it said Heemskerk. I still don't quite believe her. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop so I can call Charlotte and Tina and tell them I've failed.

Sit back, tentative. Pretend the winter bundle of layers sheathed by a full length wool jacket isn't a sweat suit and that I haven't just raised the interior temperature of the cabin by several degrees just be being there.

First stop, Sloterdijk. Yes indeed, there in plain sight, I finally see with my own eyes that this train does go to Heemskerk. I begin to relax. After making sure I'm sitting close to the exit so I can bolt for the door and not miss my exit since I've gotten this far. I snuggle down into my seat, and pull out a magazine. Graffitied windows and soft drizzle make watching the world go by less appealing. Although I have no idea how many stops I have yet to go, it seems that all is well.

Mobile buzzes in my pocket. It's Tina asking if I've made it. I reply, yes, thanks to her. She SMS's back saying "Me of little faith". She watched me go saying to herself, she'll never make it. I smile.

Heemskerk station comes into view, I make my way to the door, and it even opens when I push the button. Glancing around, I don't see Charlotte waiting, so I walk to the exit. I hear my name, and Charlotte comes walking up behind me having been on the same train a few cars back all the while. As we walk together towards the study's house, I mimic my mad dash to meet her. I'm much calmed having someone who knows what they're doing with me. We get to the study early for once, and feeling good. She's not in. We figure it's because we're actually ahead of schedule, and wait in the lobby of her apartment building. A few minutes later, in she walks, saying she tried to call, she has to take someone to the doctor, she can't meet with us today after all. So sorry. In these moments I wish I could replay for people the journey I've made. For the sake of irony.

Charlotte reschedules, and we wonder off. No where else to go. There is a small grocery store, Lidl, at the station. We duck in and I buy dinner fixings. We bench ourselves to wait for the return train. Good news is, we can both make it to the gym after all.

On the train home, we talk about the day, and I mention the price of my train ticket. She looks shocked, and says that the longest train ride she's taken, south of Rotterdam to catch the ferry to England, only cost $13 euros. Something is definitely wrong. Just about then, the train steward comes into the cabin to check tickets. They do this randomly, but it seems to always happen near Haarlem Station, Charlotte's stop. The steward takes Charlotte's ticket, glances at it, stamps it. Takes mine, glances at it, starts to stamp it stops. A confused look blooms on her face. This is alarming because the fines for not having a ticket, or having the wrong ticket can be very steep. She reads the ticket to me. It says Amsterdam C. to Helmond Brouwhs. I have no idea what that means. But it's definitely not Heemskerk, which dwindles away behind us. Turns out, we're about 2 hours north of Helmond.

She stifles a laugh. She reads the price I paid. She says, lucky for you that you checked "discount fare" when printing the ticket, and got 40% off of the whole price. Apparently in my mad dash to catch the train, I found the correct stop name, but neglected to actually highlight it when I pushed print on the ticket. My round trip should have cost closer to $7 euros and change. I wish I had a euro sign on this keyboard... Instead of a fine or a lecture, the ticket steward consoles me with good humor for the small fortune paid out in error. Charlotte, coming to my defense, says, "we're new here". Response: "No, you think?" She kindly gives me a phone number I can call to try to get a refund for the extra amount. Smiling, chuckling to herself, exchanging smatterings of Dutch with the other passengers as she does so. I secretly suspect that it's so I can tell my story to her co-workers and give them a laugh as well. I haven't' called yet. Charlotte can't help but laugh too. I'm too bewildered to be overly bothered by any of it. I'm still amazed I made the train to begin with.

Charlotte said her goodbyes as we pulled up to Haarlem Station, and we made plans for dinner at her house next weekend. I'd like to see more of her town anyhow.

Incidentally, here's a picture of why the bus can sometimes take longer than it should. This little girl, safely seated where her mother is not looking, pushed the stop button every time that the bus pulled away from a stop. Regardless of people entering or exiting, the bus must stop, because some one has requested it. Thanks a lot 3 year old button pusher. At least it's free entertainment. The picture of the kissing statue has nothing to do with anything, I just like it. I bus past it most days, and finally took a picture through the window. We were stopped at a Bijlmerdreef stop with no one getting on or off anyhow. Let Op means Beware.

Snow View

I had to share this picture.

I took this late on Sunday evening, just before bed, when we noticed that the snow was really sticking. I didn't think that this picture would come out at all because looking out, the scene was practically pitch black. I'm amazed at the detail the camera still managed to pick up. When I looked at it yesterday afternoon, it wasn't that impressive because I was looking at it in a very bright room, and the sun made it hard to see my laptop screen. But when I looked again early this morning, when the surroundings were still dark, I could see the contrast much better. I love looking out at our little pond/canal and the path to the bus station. I thought it was great watching the leaves turn all shades of oranges and yellows, but the snow just made it even prettier. This is why the night setting and a gorillapod are an awesome combination.

Too bad for me, by the middle of the night, the rain came and melted all the pretty white snow. So, no snow picture day in Amsterdam yet. I may, however get to take pictures of a different city in snow. I am very excited that we've gotten in touch with our old friends Leonard and Lisa Brennan from Ireland, and we may get to see them, not here, and not there, but by joining them on their snowboarding trip to Austria this winter. Maybe January. I knew I should have brought our snow gear!!

Last night, Monday, Matt and I rushed home from the gym to meet the husband and wife from India who own our rental apartment, and the handyman who is supposed to be fixing our 3 unresponsive radiator panels, adding coat racks, etc. Seems he will also be refinishing the hard wood kitchen counter that the previous tenant scoured down removing all the water resistant varnish in places, enabling mold to take root. It's not that bad, yet. But the owner's want to deal with it sooner rather than later, so it looks like we have home renovation in our future. Just one more unexpected thing.

Maybe we can get them to schedule it while we are away on our 10th anniversary trip to Jamaica (that we had planned long before we knew anything about Holland happening). I feel so ridiculously spoiled sometimes. I know it's not an illusion.

Wind, Rain, Hail, Snow

Sorry, I've been a bit busy. We've had too many late nights in a row to come home and post after.

Here are some random odd things:

For those of you who watch Dora the Explorer at home, you may be surprised like myself, to know that here, She's Dutch, not Hispanic. So now Matt sings, I'm the kaart I'm the kaart I'm the kaart, instead of the map song.

For those of you who watched the Irish cartoon "The Adventures of Piggly Wink" (thank you Latham's for the introduction), you know that it's an Irish Grandfather (Piggly) telling his American grandkids tales of his youth. Here, the grandkids are British. I don't relate nearly as well... It's the strangest thing to realize that our stereotypical predilections are preyed upon so blatantly by marketing teams around the world, with us all the time unaware. Shocking.

We met more of our elderly neighbors. It seems that the building is made up of foreigners and older people whose house stairs seemed too daunting to keep living with. So they move to the 10th floor of an apartment building with an elevator. Hank and his wife "Mesch" (spelling unknown) met us at the elevator and chatted while the guys on the 6th floor that we passed up accidentally waited and waited for the elevator car to come back up. I've seen them in passing before, but this time we got to talk a little. When I tried to repeat the wife's name, I said "Miss?" They laughed, said her name again, and Hank said, yes, I guess that's right, she's "Miss Mesch". She told me that she feels lucky because her husband is a little crazy. I think she meant that he keeps her laughing. Something is always lost in translation here.

Thursday evening we went out for Indian food in Amsterdam. It was a little quiet on a weeknight, which was enjoyable. It's still odd to not have bookstudy on Thursday. That was the first time being in Amsterdam that we've not felt so very very touristy, but more like locals eating in an off the beaten path place. We tried to gage the spice level at this place; Matt aimed high. The spice in his lamb madras actually made him cry. I ate most of my dinner, because I could still feel my mouth, whereas he only had about a third. Maybe that's the secret to weight maintenance. We'll go again (and order more conservatively) on a touristy weekend because they have live music then.

Friday I got to join a sister, Charlotte, (whom we met at the dinner party last weekend) from the North English congregation who has a very similar situation to my own. She and her husband are here from Texas for work, however they get to stay on for 2 years. I'm trying not to be jealous. She is also pioneering, and needs support for longer days to make up from time lost packing and moving. We even drive the same car back in the states. She inherited a few studies from a sister who moved to Nigeria, and I was privileged to accompany her on two of them. That lasted us from 11 am to 6 pm because of the travel time involved. I got to see Holland as far north as Uitgeest (pronounced Out-haste, which translates literally to Out Mind) and east to Haarlem, which is a really amazing little town, just as packed with history as Amsterdam. Think, Harlem NY, the Holland Tunnel, New Amsterdam which sold for a dollar to become New York... I look forward to spending some time there. The weather was brutal, and traveling by foot, bus and train all day really made me miss what I take so for granted back home. Cars! And Heaters!

To help us cope with the weather, after bookstudy Saturday morning (and after Matt's much much needed hair cut at a place in Amstelveen), Matt took us shopping. I think the fact that a lot of our moving expenses finally got reimbursed helped. He's very good at surprising me...I knew he wanted to find a messenger bag to carry the umbrella, his books, and extra warm layers to and from work, but I thought he had a particular shop in mind. Nope. He surprised me by taking us to the biggest outdoor market in Amsterdam. The one I'd been jonesing to get to. The Albert Cuyp Markt. I love the way the Dutch spell. Markt. It's like they were IMing from way back. This market goes and goes and goes for the length of Albert Cuyp Street. The market began trading in 1904, and now over 300 stalls line both sides of the street. It seems to be that the stores that already exist along the street throw out tents and expand their shops and claim the sidewalk and parking stalls as extra shop space for the weekend. You can find clothes (like Matt's new insulated jacket, my new 5 euro leather gloves, and leggings), every imaginable kind of food (similar to a farmers market, but add a lot more prepared foods), antique furniture, electronics, bicycle parts, toilet plungers. You name it, and you can probably find it here. We actually had things in mind that we needed (including Matt's new messenger bag) and shopped according to plan, but still managed to stay from around 3pm to closing, at dusk.

We had a great fish dinner at the Irish pub called a Hole in the Wall, watched some ice skating (way too cold to think about taking our shoes off to put on skates), and caught our tram home just in time for the sleet to come in. I imagine that I will wake up to white streets and tree tops out the windows in the morning. I don't have any service plans (or appointments, as they say here) for tomorrow, so I might just head to town to take some pictures first thing, (since the landlady won't come until evening) because a lot of folks here are telling us that snow doesn't really happen that often anymore. Most seemed quite surprised, and said it was early for snows. They expect plenty of rain, but the canals don't freeze over for skating every winter anymore, and the snow isn't a guarantee at all. Gotta snap a pic while I can :)

Today, after meeting, we turned down two dinner invitations to take care of a few things at home. We've had such a whirlwind of work, service, setting up house, playing tourist, meeting people and socializing, that we've hardly spent time with just each other. We did however, go to sister Davis house for a few hours this afternoon so that Matt could tweak her laptop a bit. She's dealing with Vista and a pre-loaded machine when all she wants is CNN and email. We're cooking in tonight, in part because nothing is open on Sunday, and in part to use up the fresh meats and veg that we've bought from the markets. Tomorrow evening we have the fix it guy coming, along with the land lady again. She should be bringing the final missing items, and he should be installing stable coat hooks, checking the heater panels, and measuring for curtains. And anything else I can think of :)

I can't believe it. "The Young Ones" are actually still on TC here. Time to sign off and squat down!

The Weather: Is it still in the 70's in Cali?

Lots to say, and not so much time to say it. I'll publish more of our encounters in a while. Here's a little snippet of what the weather has been like here lately.

Friday, the wind kicked up.

Saturday morning we woke up to the first snow of the season.

This morning, Sunday, the sky was clear and blue, so I didn't wear the thick jacket. I should always wear the thick jacket.

Bicycle Trials

So, on Monday the landlady (Ekta from India) brought over some missing things, but not everything. Still missing sheets, curtains, and large body towels. The body size towels seem to be about a third smaller than were used to. I think we must be looking in the wrong shops. She did bring an entire set of glasses, so we don't have to wash the two large ones we had after each use anymore. And she got us a nice big spaghetti pot, so I don't have to rely just on the 5 quart pot with wobbly handles.

She's supposed to be making an appointment for a fixer guy to come and check the couple of heater panels that aren't heating (most notably by the shower), and to repair the coat hooks that have fallen out of the wall. The walls are not the drywall I'm used to at home, but seem more like concrete almost. So, the screw or nail hole begins to crumble with repeated weight regardless of how well it's anchored. Matt was sure that we'd be responsible for the repair, but seeing that they were half out of the wall to begin with, our hanging a jacket on one and having it fall the rest of the way out, falls under the category of existing damage and will get fixed by someone who knows what they're doing. She also brought an extra heavy blanket for the guest bed, since the one that was here was immensely stinky, and in need of a washing, but won't fit in my washer here. I thought she'd just take it away, and wash it. Instead she brought over a new hot pink one, in it's original packaging plastic bag, and she says, that it's new and unused. I said thank you, and after glancing a few times at the brown fuzz balls not matching the blanket, and the few random dark hairs on the INSIDE of the plastic packaging, sent it down to the storage unit for use by some other future renter who doesn't mind other people's hair on their bedding.

Oh! I finally tried out the bicycle from the storage unit. The bell works, and the brakes, but the tires are both flat. One of the sisters here (Naomi Ruth) offered her husband's bike repair skills when I told her about the bike, and now I know what to tell her is wrong with it. And it still needs a headlight. During the day it's fine, but we're hoping to bike to the gym, which will be mostly in the evenings. Also, it will make it a lot easier to get to the less expensive grocery shops. After service yesterday, the sister I worked with showed me one of her favorite shops and pointed out the good buys, and good brands. I can get live culture organic yogurt for .35 a pint at this shop called Aldi. At the local Alert Heijn, it's more like 2 euros. I didn't even look at the prices on the huge variety of sandwich sprinkles. I still can't get over how popular these things are. Who thought chocolate sprinkles on a sandwich sounded like a good idea? Like lunch? At least they always add butter so that when you tip the bread to take a bit, the sprinkles stick.

I've found the happy medium between the grocery outlet (the Lidl, or the C1000) and the Whole Foods (outdoor organic "bio" market on Tuesdays) I think. The AH is a super convenient 2 minute walk, but with a bike, I can get some excersize, and save some money on food. I've taken the bus a few times to the C1000, but it takes 30 minutes, whereas the bike would take 10. Same with the gym, and a whole other row of restaurants and shops in the old part of Amstelveen that we've hardly explored at all. If you don't have wheels of your own, you only see what's along the bus route, and what's close enough to walk to without fear of rain and carrying heavy bags long distances. I'll see how long it takes to bike to the Hall, because the territory would be easier to get around in on a bike too...Although that presumes that your partner has a bike as well.

The sister I worked with today (same one who lent me her extra mobile phone, thanks Claudine!) says that we can borrow her daughters unused bicycle too. That way, once we get the tires repaired on the bike in the storage unit, we will have one for each of us. Then I'll feel like I really live here. You can't live in Amsterdam without a bike. It's illegal. But tolerated, like so many other things here...

Dinner Party

Yesterday after bookstudy and service (this is a pic of Marla and Claudine as Matt and I followed them through the Saturday market by the Hall on the search for the right street), we went into Amsterdam again to further acquaint ourselves with the city, and get an early dinner. We tried to get some discount tickets to a show, at a place called "Last Minute Tickets" but by the time we'd arrived, they'd sold out of Carmina Burana, so we went next door to Dan's Irish pub instead. After watching part of a Man U. vs. Stoke match, we moved on to the next place called a Hole in the Wall for a pint and a Rugby match between Ireland and New Zealand....it did not go well for Ireland, but it was entertaining to watch and it kept us in the warm while a patch of rain blew by. We ducked into H&M to get some warmer hats and gloves, and had to stay for a bit because the H&M's here don't only supply the latest clothing trends at a bargain, they do it with a live DJ spinning.

Matt had a craving for Italian for dinner, so we found a street lined up one side and down the other with every conceivable type of restaurant, and sure enough, found a really good Italian place. Our waiters even sang. Mostly to each other, but that was a show in itself. As we strolled back towards the tram line, Matt sighted the place pictured here. A Scottish whiskey bar serving up 1,000 different bottles. We tasted an Irish sampler, and just when we were ready to head for the door, 5 Scottish guys walked in, cornered us, and proceeded to compete with each other about whose favorite whiskey reigns supreme. They were very chatty, so we ended up having a later night than planned for, but that's the nature of the beast.

This evening, after meeting and service (here in Amstelveen for once, with the Pender's), we had a dinner invitation by a sister (Tina, from Texas) who owns a B&B in Amsterdam. She invited a few other American's from the North English congregation, some of their friends, and a visiting couple from the UK, and served up a 3 course meal that could have been in any 5 star restaurant. It was a very nice night out, weather -wise, so we tried to pile 13 of us into her boat to take a mini canal tour, but the boat had just been serviced, and something wasn't going right. So after a lot of touristy snap shots of all of us cramming aboard, and trying to set out, we returned to the house for dessert, and called it a night. If nothing else, I got to take a lovely night shot of the oldest surviving Windmill de Gooyer (whatever that is) in the city proper, built in 1726, and relocated to this position in 1814. It now houses a brewery (the Brouwerij 't IJ), and sits right across from Tina's back yard, perfectly set for a picture from the struggling boat. Pender's were kind enough to pick us up and return us home, but again, it's later than we planned. Matt is already turned in, since he has to be up early for work tomorrow. I, on the other hand, have only to wait for the apartment owner to appear with more pillows, sheets, curtains for the guest room, silverware, and tall glasses. And towels. All the things that mysteriously went missing when the last tenant departed.

Maybe I'll take the bicycle for a trial spin after she goes...

Routine

Tonight we had the second half of our gym introduction. We got acquainted with the strength training machines and my new favorite item, the power plate. Those things are amaaaazing. Matt tried out a machine made by Kaiser, which is actually produced out of Fresno Cali, which he can better describe at another time.

Guan once again kicked our behinds, with the express purpose of seeing how far he can make us go so he can use that to judge how to program our keys which have all of our information encoded. So, he showed us how to use a machine, even if we thought we already knew, and then he had us try one by one, do 12 reps at what he thought a good weight would be, and adjusted up or down based on our reactions. Usually how red in the face or shaky we got. It really is an amazing program. It's like we have a personal trainer without having to pay the extra cost that usually comes with this kind of personal attention. We also learned of another perk here tonight. My upper back reverted to a tingling square between my shoulder blades at one point, and Guan told me to keep aware, and if I felt like it was getting too bad instead of improving with the new program of excersize, then we have one free consultation with the on sight physician. I will probably take them up on that sometime next week.

We already made plans to come back Tuesday (after the meter reader stops in, since he has to come inside the apartment to get a reading, and has made an appointment) evening for a pick up volleyball game. And for myself, an appointment with the instructor of the Power Plate class on Thursday evening. We are throwing most of our spare time right now to the gym, trying to get back on the ball for the Fit for Fun trip to Jamaica in less than a month... too little too late I fear.

I had a nice cool day in service with Naomi, who then drove me home and came in for sammies. I'm thankful that the sister (Claudine Davis) that Matt helped with computer stuff showed me how to lay a sandwich board when we visited her. And that I went to the store with Matt recently and have a somewhat stocked pantry and fridge. I missed the market today, but at least I can still catch the one on Tuesday here in Stadsplein, which they call the bio market, which means basically that it's organic. The pic is from the bio market last week. Notice the little green fruits beneath the grapes. I asked what they were, and he told me a Dutch name starting with an F that I should have photographed so I'd remember... Then he sliced one open for me to try. They taste really good, like something between a guava and a pear. And a passion fruit. But in a tiny bit size package. So I got a handful. I bought milk without really reading the label and trying to understand it. It turned out to be pressed oat milk, flavored with safflower oil and sea salt. It's actually very very good, so long as you don't mind a strong hint of oatmeal when you're not eating oatmeal. I can actually offer tea to guests now. I think that's a sign that you've become civilized again. It's so nice to be able to have people over now! We are finally settling into a good routine. Service, gym, work, meetings, in varying order depending on the day.

I just looked at the clock, and it's after midnight... Past time to sleep. In the morning we have bookstudy at 10 am, then service. Then who knows!!!

You May Have Been Wondering

What in the world is that dark winged thing in the slide show?

We also wondered when we saw this thing spinning up and down the center of the escalator spiral in one of the local department stores. This is Black Peter. The Dutch have a very Netherlands specific holiday that doesn't appear anywhere else on the world scene.
And don't you dare tell anyone of them that it sounds a lot like Christmas. It's called Sinterklaas. And the guy, despite the jewels, puffy pants and feathers, is Zwawrte Piet. Black Pete hands out presents to the good children. He's kind of like Santa's Elves as near as I can tell, but again, don't tell the Dutch that. He's origins are somehow Dutch and African at the same time, and the people we've asked about it here say they were always afraid of him even though he was supposed to be bringing presents.

We also witnessed another North Holland specific tradition while eating out at a Japanese restaurant a few nights ago. A group of children and an adult or two wander the streets carrying colorful paper lanterns with some kind of light source (I can only hope it wasn't actually a candle with a flame wrapped in combustible material held carelessly in a 4 year olds hands) held out in front of them on a wooden pole, swaying as they walked. They came into the restaurant, and the manager handed them the bowl of mints and suckers for guests, and they each took some and wandered off down the street. No costumes, and a few weeks late, but all of these customs so very obviously have the same origins.

Here's a funny sign we pass each day walking to the bus stop. Apparently, here the dogs actually thank you for picking up after them. Never mind those pesky humans walking the trails...

I wanted to do a post just on the amazing and often wacky architecture here. But I haven't been able to take pictures of all the buildings that I want to, so I thought I'd throw these out there. The apartment building with the world map on the side was something I saw out in service. It is an accurate census of the buildings occupants at the time of it's creation, going from apartment to apartment and listing where the renters are from originally. Only 4 are from Amsterdam that I saw. What's funny is that when you look closely, every so often, there is a phrase, like a quote, that you don't notice in between all of the country names. For instance, one that says in Dutch "Where in the world did all of you white people come from??", and another that says "Actually, I used to be an African Princess". It was amazing to be standing there with people from Ghana, myself from the States, here in Amsterdam, talking to people from you name it, and it's on that building. And that was just one sampling.

This funny piece of architecture is a building we pass on the 300 line, from Amstelveen Bus Station to Bijlmer Arena Station, which depending on the day, is the transfer point to the Kingdom Hall, or Ikea :) It looks like a snail to me. Or some variety of puppy whose breed is preceded by "tea-cup". The first time I saw it out the bus window I thought it may have been temporary, an add or a project of some kind. Not a functional building. But, no, it is indeed a building housing some sort of Art of Living store. I didn't get a shot of the name, and I can't think of it now. It always looks like it's waiting to cross the street.

We got to the gym again this evening, sans instructors this time. Just us and the elliptical machines. And the steam room...mmm, eucalyptus goodness.

Properly Married

We woke up to a rainy morning, but with rain comes rainbows :)

This morning Joost (You-st) picked us up at 9 am to take us to the local municipal authorities of Amstelveen to register our marriage. It seems like a similar measure to the states making sure that people who come to the states and get married aren't just getting married so they can stay. They are making sure that I didn't just marry Matt because he got a job in Amsterdam and I wanted to move there. Joost said it was good that we just had our ten year anniversary, because after the ten year mark, they don't monitor the marriage or do more background checks. Matt said that this is his secret plan, stay married for ten years so I can move here on his job offer... foo on you, Dutch! hehe... The interview started off very formal, and only in Dutch. Then, apparently after establishing that we did indeed have all of our proper documentation, English came back. We talked about home, and things we miss, things we don't. Of course, that led to discussion of Mexican restaurants and my fear that Holland would be a salsa free zone. The municipal worker also has a soft spot for Mexican spice, so he not only described two excellent (in his opinion) Mexican restaurants in Amsterdam, one of which will deliver to Amstelveen, but also printed us maps from their web page! Now that's service!

We were supposed to apply for a guest parking permit at the same location so that friends can park in our buildings lot, but I forgot entirely, and I didn't make the connection that earlier when Joost asked us if we had a car, that was why. Then we stopped off at a bank about a 4 minute walk from our apartment, and applied for a Dutch bank account so that I can get groceries without having to count pennies. Many restaurants only accept bank cards here also, so it will just make life easier. We have to wait for our actual cards to show up in the mail in the next few days though.

On a funny note, one of the big banks here is called "Rabobank". Which to Matt and I, seemed a very unpropitious choice of name for a bank. When we mentioned this to Joost, he had a good laugh and said he'd never looked at it from the perspective of an English speaking person, and it's certainly not a suggestion to rob a bank. He also told us about a nice museum out in the country where the rich people used to build their outhouses in the Netherlands golden era. When we laughed, he realized what his direct translation sounded like to us, and quickly said they built their country estates there. With very nice bathrooms on the inside. When the banker helping us get started said all of the account information we'd need would be found in our map, and we looked uncertain, Joost told us that means folder. A cart (think cartographer) is a map, not what you push groceries around in.

It was nice to see more of our town riding along today. The offices weren't very far away, but being car-less, we only see the bus routes, and however far we wonder walking. The municipal worker told us we should look into tandem bikes, which are supposedly quite popular for getting around as couples here. I haven't seen one yet, but as it is, we only have the one bike downstairs in the storage unit, and for the two of us to bike 10 minutes to the nice older part of Amstelveen (as opposed to a 15 minute bus ride) we're still going to have to get a second one. I need to do a safety check on the one downstairs, for the brakes and the light, which I might not have given any thought to except that the speaker last Sunday tied bicycle upkeep to blood guilt. Only in the Netherlands...

And now it's Winter

Last night neither one of us got much sleep because the wind decided to wake up and hold a party outside our building.

Unforeseen side affect of living on the tenth floor with lots of big picture windows: The wind doesn't think it has to stay outside. From the time we lay down until the time we got up, the wind cycled back and forth between medium to gale force. It sounded like someone had a popcorn machine at one side of the bedroom window and someone else was dancing on bubble wrap at the other end.

The popcorn sound comes from a unique feature to Dutch apartments. Instead of having to open a window, there are vents in each room that parallel the windows. So when you want fresh air, minus the chill and noise, you crack a vent instead of a window. Problem being, the vent also acts as a mini wind tunnel. Whether open or closed and it hollered all night.

The other end of the room is next to the neighbors outdoor porch which must have just gotten destroyed last night. It sounded like every piece of pottery and furniture she (Anika, we just met this evening in the elevator) had must have ended up ten floors below by morning. Matt told me that on the walk to the bus station this morning he passed a huge branch broken off of one of the trees lining the path. By the time I walked down there, 2 men with a little truck were cleaning up the wreckage.

It rained most of the day, making it the kind of day that makes you miss having a car. Regardless, I buried myself in scarves and sweaters, and went to buy extra towels and random organizers (at Ikea of all places), and trucked them home via the bus. The hanging closet space in our room is about a foot and a half wide, and the guest room has no wardrobe at all, so we're trying to make things functional without being too permanant since 6 months is already seeming to close in on us.

The extra towels are for the gym. Tonight Matt and I went to Special Sports for the first time as real live members. We had our intro last Friday, and we got put through our paces when all we really expected was a weigh in, safety talk, and a few "what are your goals questions". This gym (sports center or fitness center to the Dutch) is the first thing that I know for sure I will miss when we're state side again. Aside from the congregation, of course. I haven't taken any pictures there because we haven't even seen it in daylight yet. Our first visit, with a trainer named Guan, felt like a true workout. It took 2 and a half hours. They have a very useful system where you are given a "key" that gets encoded with all of your personal information, including how you did on a 10 -12 minute bicycle test measuring your max heart capacity and oxygen intake and usage, and a weigh in that tells you the muscle to fat ratio in every limb of the body, as well as in gross. It kind of reminded me of the Wii Fit balance board, but leveled up. Based on all of this, and of course, your actual goals, the trainer programs your key with a fitness program. Seriously. You take the key, plug it in to a kiosk that tells you what machine to begin on. Once on the machine, for instance, the treadmill, you plug your key into a slot in the machine (next to the iPod doc also built in) and it pops up your name and begins your program. None of this manually adjusting the speed or incline as you go. It just goes, and adjusts how ever the instructor has it programmed to. And at the end of the routine (we chose 45-60 minutes for me, and 60-75 for Matt since I take the longest in the locker room...) you go back to the kiosk, and check out. It tells you whether you completed your assigned excersizes. It tells you if you went above and beyond on any particular machine. It calculates all of your calorie burn, and tracks your progress. As Guan said, it's for lazy people. Its pretty amazing. To enter the gym, you hold the key near a reader, and then scan your palm to make sure it's really you . Yet, they charge .20 cents for a locker (smarties made it so that you can also put money on your key to pay for a locker with), and don't have a towel service. Guess you can't have everything.

We did a spinning class together tonight. My very first. It was hard, but really great. The bikes face a huge wall where the instructor can project whatever they want. I think that we were watching Koyaanisqatsi. That'll keep you moving fast. I was pretty intimidated by it in the past, and by the typical price for a class. Here, all of the classes are free, and they are all pretty amazing. Never heard of an Xco before, but they have a class using one here. It's sort of like a weighted tube that you shake around and move like a mariachi. Sounds easy, until you feel the weight of it. I've never been on a Power Plate before either, but they have them in the gym and in classes too. Matt says I'm gonna love it. They look to me kind of like the machine from Blast from the Past that the mom hangs out on in the bunker while sipping her martini. You stand on it and it shakes. The goal is to improve core strength, but I don't really get it yet. Oh, and our first time there, we had to squeeze our way past some people talking to each other across two tables (because we did our sign up papers in the full blown fancy pants restaurant). We found out later that the one who moved for us was this guy: Remy Bonjasky, "The Flying Gentleman". Those links are for you, Jared. Matt wishes you could see this place :) Glad he actually is a gentleman, and kindly moved aside for us to pass. Because I'm pretty sure he could have clobbered us, thoroughly, had he been touchy.

As we walked from the bus stop to a nearby cafe (Dixon's) for some late night soup and sammies, we saw huge stadium light set up and a truck all covered in lights saying "27.9 Miljoen". We couldn't get very close because they had it cordoned off. Turns out that they film quite often in Stadsplein, here by our apartment. This time, a commercial for the local version of the lotto. The had cars speeding around a handful of men dressed in old time butler gear, and carrying heavy looking metal chests. In fact they just shut off the huge lights a few minutes ago. Which is a good thing, because they had my kitchen lit up bright as day, and the glare came through the bedroom curtains. Not another sleepless night, please... And the rains back in earnest. That I can sleep through, just so long as the wind stays elsewhere.

Playing Hooky

We played hooky a little bit on Saturday after the bookstudy by going to Amsterdam City Center for the afternoon. I do feel a bit guilty, because after the bookstudy (which was at around 40 people this time....the two groups they usually have are meeting together for a time since the sister is sick who usually houses the second bookstudy) the conductor goes straight away into the meeting for service instead of just closing the study. So, the assumption that everyone will be going out in the ministry makes you want to join no matter what your plans. It was a very nice day, compared to the frigid foggy days we had in the beginning of our stay here. Clear blue skies, and a bright sun to warm us. I didn't even pull out my scarf until after 4pm, when the sun start to darken a little.

Our main goal, really was to get our monthly bus passes so that we could save some money on public transport, and so that we could stop worrying if we'd have enough "strippen cards" left to get us home by bus, or would have to pay exorbitant prices to the bus driver to get where we needed to. This way, we can take the buses, metro, trams, and some trains without paying extra, so long as it is within 3 zones of our base, Amstelveen Bus station. You have to do this at Central Station, Amsterdam, and we only have weekend days together, so it had to be Saturday because they are often closed on Sundays. We found a cheesy photo hut box, took the requisite photo's of ourselves, and got our bus passes within 30 minutes of arriving. Then had the rest of the day and evening to play.

We didn't really have much of a plan, just to wander and explore. We started on the main shopping street, Damrak Street, and Matt had a trick up his sleeve. He had looked up the address of the Amsterdam Lush, my favorite place to get bath goodies. I was very happy to see it. We chatted with a few of the workers there about the differences between here and home, until we caused a little grid lock in the store, so we checked out. But not before Matt got some input on a good place to have lunch. We were directed to a hole in the wall place that turned out to be one of the best lunches we've had here yet. On the walk down the lane, we passed a brightly graffitied wall, a la Picasso, and, of course, bicycles. And just before the doorway to the cafe, there was a man with almost no teeth, sitting in an arm chair sipping coffee with a dog about as big as himself strapped to his chair. As we approached, and made noises at the pooch, the dog came toward us, dragging the man and chair behind. So we hurried to stop him, and pet him too. The dog, not the man.

Our lunch spot (I never did see the name of it) had stacks of books everywhere inside, and board games. And very very cool art work and decor. While we ate, a group of 6 or 8 ladies came in for lunch, carrying their own recently purchased board game to play. It looked like a lot of fun. They brought their own chocolates too...I have always loved soups. Especially on cold days. Now I have a new favorite that this lunch place one-upped. Mustard Soup. That's right, it's like French mustard creamed into a thick chicken broth. So good!!! And this restaurant added a special touch by mixing in strips of very flavorful salmon, and parsley bits. Matt also had a great sammie. And does this country know how to make a sandwich! Even though they do indeed throw chocolate sprinkles in sometimes. Pannini's are huge here. Matt's was ham and cheese and pineapple. It is definitely a dairy country. The cheeses are phenomenal.

We had a few pints at an Irish pub recommended to us by the lunch cafe folks. They had one of my all time favorite bad for you snacks there too. Bacon fries, which are something along the lines of bacon bits crossed with corn fritos. Watched a rugby match there. We shared a table with two young men from County Roscommon, Ireland, and we quizzed them from time to time regarding the rules of the game. It wasn't much of a match...Ireland, a world class team, against Canada, who kept to the loosing end of the 27-0 points that we stayed for. The kids we met renewed our hopes of getting back to Ireland while we're here. It's only an hour and a half flight... Earlier when we walked past Madame Toussaud's Wax Museum, the square was fenced off with seating for a youth soccer match. It was so crowded we couldn't see much, so we didn't linger. But it showed us that this is indeed a city full of surprises. I'll post the drum legion we came across later too. After Matt shows me again how to clip my videos. I still don't know what those people were up to, but they all had strange black costumes on, drums in hand, and were following the directions of one guy out front as they played various beats. We got distracted from them by an "American Bookstore" which we rushed into for a few things. Matt ran out of reading material for the bus to work, and I've been wanting a short history of Amsterdam, and/or the Netherlands, and I'd only found one in Dutch before. I still haven't even looked through it. Between work and service, and now the gym, we've been so busy I haven't even properly unpacked. Tomorrow I go to Ikea again for some shelving units for the guest room. The amount of hanging closet space in the average European closet is laughable. There's almost enough room for Matt's suits. No sense unpacking everything if there's nowhere but the floor to put it.

Here's one last shot of our evening out. I'll upload more to Flickr tomorrow. Way past time to sleep now. We stayed up late because we had dinner at a family's house from the Hall. He's from South Africa, and she's Italian. The other couple they invited is from Suriname, and here. The guys played some Nintendo Wii Mario Cart after dinner while the ladies chatted. That crosses all cultures, I guess :) More tomorrow.

Today we thought we'd be meeting with the local Amstelveen authorities to register our marriage with them. Apparently until we do that, they don't view us as legally married. Anyhow, we had this morning set aside for that, and then got a call from Joost, one of the people helping our transition, that the office is closed today.

So, that at least gave me a little time to unpack some more boxes, and grocery shop to start getting basics back in the house, like ketchup, and salad dressings, spices and breakfast fixings. I think I really will be doing more daily meal shopping here though. The market is a 2 minute walk across the street, and today is Friday. Market day in the square. So when I went out this morning, it was to find the hustle and bustle of a street market instead of just the local Albert Heijn (basically an upscale Safeway).

I also had service plans to meet the afternoon group at 2pm. More wires crossed somehow, and the sister I thought was picking me up, didn't, or got lost or something, so I asked Matt to call her from his mobile (not cell), and hurried off to take a bus. The sister (Christiana Van G.....?) waited patiently for me and then we took the metro to the territory and completed a whole building in the tract work before it started getting dark. This is her on the walk from the territory to yet another metro station to get home. Now, Matt and I are off to the gym...

Yes indeed, we joined a gym last night. It's called Special Sports. This link is already translated by translate.google.com, so sometimes it goes a little wonky when you try to move around. If you want to see what our lives are like lately, trying to read Dutch papers, street maps, and menus, try figuring out what a zonnebank is on the original language web page here. Tonight we have our "intake" which I'm dreading a little because we've fallen far far far off the excersize wagon. I think I might be procrastinating by posting this now...

Siren's song

Here is a clip of Sophie's playing that Sabrina promised earlier, hopefully everyone in the U.S. can watch it ok. If there's trouble, please comment on it and I'll try something else.

Unfortunately I had to trim the clip down because it was just too large to share, which is a bummer for everyone that would love to hear the whole piece (the clip is about 1/10th of the original size)

Sophie : This means you need to go International so all your fans in the U.S. can actually hear an entire piece. :) Keep up the great work and congratulations!

No Doubt About it, We Are in Holland

I discovered today that I can see a true Dutch windmill from the western side of the apartment. When all the curtains are back and the blinds drawn, it really feels like a we're living in a birds nest up here. We have huge picture windows on two sides, so everything is very open.

When I was looking online for somewhere to eat dinner last night, I came across a restaurant called "De Jonge Dikkert". The Young part of that name must be a family name, because the windmill is actually still standing from 1672. Now it houses a restaurant instead of a family. It looks a little pricey, so we'll be saving it for a special occasion, but it was a nice surprise to look out the window and suddenly realize that that is what I'm looking at. Yes sireee, we are in Holland. This photo is verrrry zoomed in, trying to cut through the mist, but you'll see two windmill arms x-ing just below the horizon, almost dead center if you squint at it just right. Clicking the restaurant link might give you a better idea though :) And since I'm link crazy now, here's the Google maps image too. It's a nice photo of the exterior in summer. Which we will probably never see...

Watch the Fog Roll in

Check out the view of the question mark building next door slowly disappear...

Here we sit, all cozy in our new apartment. We just came back from dinner, at a place called Du Monde. We knew it was close by, but it really only took us about 2 minutes to get there. Matt had Sole, and I had the perfect warm scampi salad. I think we've found our new "local".

We had only a few concerns about the new place, and it seems like they've all been addressed. Matt just sat down on our freakishly huge wrap around couch to watch some football (soccer) on the flat screen. Some things never change :) It really does feel like "us" here. I was concerned that there wasn't a clothes dryer machine here until we figured out that we got the coolest of all washers... just like in Ireland. It washes the clothes, rinses them, and proceeds to dry them without you ever having to take them out or do anything. I haven't used it yet, so I might have to add fabric softener to the dry cycle or something. We are still waiting on getting the final cleaning done here. I know I could do it myself, but. It should have been cleaned before we moved in. It's not a pig sty, but the fridge smells like old milk, and the floors need attention. Hardwood, by the way :) On principal, I'm waiting for the agent and owners to get things done. We did move pretty quickly on the place, after all. We saw it Friday and moved in Tuesday. And no one here does a thing on the weekends.

We gave ourselves a scare on the way out to dinner. Matt checked the key to make sure it worked. It did. But we did not try the door knob prior to shutting the door. Turns out we have a seriously tricky door knob. Robbers beware, you won't outwit this door. It's a lockout building anyways, but we actually had to call Hella for instructions on just how to jimmy the door. After we figured that out, we took a stroll two flights up to see if we could get on the roof. It's so hazy out that you wouldn't see much anyway, but we wanted to check. We found a ladder, and a hatch, but nothing that made it look like you are "supposed" to go on the roof. We'll check with the neighbors later. We did meet one set so far. An adorable 70-something couple on their way out who smiled and greeted us warmly in Dutch when we said we were their new neighbors. We both seemed to understand "new neighbors", regardless of the language. Very friendly. I couldn't find any sheets yet, so we're off to bed soon, in between two feather comforters in duvet covers. Cozy cozy.

Moving Day, Again

So, here I sit.

In the reception area of out hotel. Home for the last 9 days. Waiting to be whisked away to my new home. Everyone around looks at me with amazement and wonder because all the see is a single person, presumably a tourist, with a pile of luggage that could take you through a year with some left over. Predictable female over packing.

I took a picture of the huge carved stonework fireplace here, surrounded by black leather couches on red and burgundy rugs; dark wood paneling setting off the marble floors... but it's a bit dark. I don't want to get too caught up in fiddling with it right now because I didn't park all of my worldly possessions on that side of the room. I am front and center so my ride, Hella, can't miss me. I can see whose pulling up from here. I'd walk away, but it's a little busy here, and I don't' want my things to walk away as well. I'm sure there was a photo of the fire place no the hotel web page anyhow.

It is nice that we were late in getting our web access for the room for the week. That way it lasted until today instead of only til Sunday. I've been joking with people who see this pile of baggage that we're only here for the weekend... The receptionist was happy for me that I can now leave the overpass restaurants behind in favor of my very own kitchen. I'm very happy about that too...very.

I just remembered that it's Tuesday and that the square by our new place is supposed to have an organic market on Tuesdays... yum!

Random Funny:

Here my first few random language goofs.

First:
Don’t ever order a “ Hamburger Americana” anywhere in Europe. We’d heard this before, but we forgot. We went to a nearby sandwich café for a quick dinner last night, and Matt wanted a hamburger. He asked what comes on the American burger, but the counter person knew already it was not what He wanted. She says it’s a “very Dutch” entrée. It’s “raw beef with seasonings and herbs rubbed in. Not what you like.” Then we recalled what we had read and heard before regarding the common misnomer “American Hamburger.” It’s someone’s sick joke on everyone who grew up state side. Ask Matt sometime, if you want to hear a story involving a tapeworm…

Second:
After book study Saturday morning, we got some lunch en route to the territory (excellent spicy chicken sandwiches on brown bread rolls from some kind of non Dutch deli). A couple going that way gave the three of us, Makafui, Fiancé Fui (aka: Claudia), and myself, a ride closer to our end goal. Typically, so far at least, we walk throughout the territory, or grab a bus. Along the way Claudia, who is from the Ghana by way of the UK, was practicing her Dutch. They apologized for leaving me out of the conversation, and I said no worries, all I know is that you’re saying something about good versus bad chicken you’ve eaten, right??

They were all surprised and congratulated me for knowing that “kip” is “chicken” in Dutch, and being able to tell by their expressions that some they liked and some they really really didn’t like. Then they talked some more in Dutch. Claudia called me slim. At this point, I wasn’t sure if she was speaking Dutch or English, because while practicing, she falls in and out of the two. They saw the obvious confusion on my face, and Makafui (which I did spell correctly the first time, except for making it two words before) asked if I understood. I said, glancing at my slack form in the car, that no, I did not. They all laughed and said that in Dutch, “slim” means “intelligent.” That was a relief, and I said, “Well, in that case, thank you very much.”

In Ireland they offer “great crack” when they mean extend the invitation to a party, or a good time, and now I know that when the Dutch call you slim, it isn’t a statement mocking American fare.

Also, the photo in this post has nothing to do with anything, except that it's of a place pub called the "San Francisco".

Googley: I've Gone Google Crazy

Hey kids,

No service meeting today, so I'm home packing up the hotel room. Still waiting on the word to get up and move into the apartment, but I wanted to let ya'll see the location. Here's a pic from the add for the apartment. I think it's quite zoomed in, but it is still a really great view. Matt showed me how to link to Google maps last night, so click here to see our new town and apartment from the sky. There are a series of 4 question mark shaped apartment buildings with a taller tower apartment building that looks like the dot. Only there are 4 sets, and one extra tower at the top of the first question mark set. I think the map is a little off, because it shows our address (399 Meander) in the third set, or sometimes at the bottom of the question mark in the second set. Really, I think it's in the second one, in the top of the tall tower at the apex and in front of the ? there. Or you might look at it as the dot at the bottom of the first question mark. Your call :) If you browse the "explore this area" section on Google Maps, there are some nice pictures of the town square (Stadsplein) that is a two or three minute walk from the apartment without the Friday market filling it up.

It's south from the Amsterdam city center and north of Matt's office, so it's a pretty central location for us. It's east of the Hall and the area I have spent the most time out in service in too, The Bijlmer (pronounced like Bail Mar). We caught a lovely sunset there last night. Mostly the territory seems to be around Southeast Amsterdam (Amsterdam Zuid Oost). It's kind of fun to scroll around and see what's where. We're just starting to really get a map of all of this firmly in mind. By the time we leave, we'll have a handle on it. Sorry I went a little nuts with the links :)

Oh, and we are still trying to find a way to cut the video I took of the Sophie's lovely violin music, because it was too big of a file for this blog to handle. If we get to see her in concert here, I'll be sure to record in shorter bursts!

Amsterdam City Center

Another long day has passed. Matt is crashed out, trying to get enough sleep to be ready to train the new hire who starts tomorrow. Can't really believe it's November already. Fall is speeding by.

We had a good 10 am meeting this morning, in part facilitated by having arrived on time, not missing the hotel shuttle (40 minute run intervals can kill your day), and having it be a whopping 11 degrees Celsius (51 degrees Fahrenheit) instead of a windy, rainy 7 (44.6 degrees Fahrenheit) outside, bringing out clear blue skies. We were actually the first ones there for the English because with the shuttle/train/bus schedule we have to take for the next few days, we are either 30 minutes early, or 15 minutes late. Early today :) That meant we got to meet a few people from the Dutch and the French congregation who were also meeting at the same time. There are 3 meeting rooms after all. I think there may have even been a Hindi group meeting. Twi (Tree) isn't until 1 pm. No service today, but we did get invited for dinner at a sisters house, and again due to poor bus/metro routing, and cell phone interference, we didn't make it. We waited in the vicinity until it began to get dark, and being that it's not the best part of town, we had to call it quits when the cell died.

Between the meeting and the non-dinner, we took the metro into Amsterdam City Center finally. One week after arrival. We barely scratched the surface of the hub of Amsterdam cultural life, mostly because we went straight there instead of back to Schiphol-Rijk to change clothes. My pointy heeled shoes kept getting stuck in between the paving bricks as we walked, and carrying the bookbag for so long put a kink in Matt's neck. He did buy me a lovely recycled army bag with retro embellishments in 70's material from Norway to help carry my things, sweet man that he is :)

It was somewhere after lunch time when we got there, so we wandered and wandered until we found somewhere that looked good and was actually open. We're learning that in Holland, not much takes place on a Sunday. Banks are closed, most markets, and even the canal tour we wanted to take...all closed on Sundays. So, we crushed our way into a tiny 4 table & 4 stool hole in the wall Thai place that served some of the best soup I've had in a long long time. Matt's chicken in coconut broth soup was fantastic, and mine made my cry it was so spicy and good. The place is so small that people often share tables. We offered to share with a couple who walked in, but they opted to move on down the way. So our waiter pulled up a seat instead and had a bowl of the same soup as I had ordered. He showed me the proper things to add to make it better: Sour pickled peppers, hot chili paste, sugar, and nuts. And he was done with his serving in time to clear our plates and bring our check. Tonight, at the room, Matt found a notation in one of our guide books about that place ("Bird Snack Counter") being one of the best finds in town, and the most economical for the quality of food. Score.

Tomorrow, I pack the room up, and hope that we actually get to move into the new place on Tuesday. Here's to money and bureaucracy. They get along like a house on fire.