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.