Thursday, December 27, 2007

Holiday Update

Well, Radhika had to work last Monday until 2pm, and then had the 25th and the 26th off. In the Netherlands, both Christmas Day and Boxing Day are days off. The weather was temperate (for Amsterdam standards), hovering in the low 40's. We did a little food shopping, work in the apartment, and had our first movie going experience with a coworker of Radhika's at GE and her fiance. We tried to go to this great old theater near the hotel we stayed at when we first arrived, but that proved to be difficult. It's the one that "The Golden Compass" opened at and I have images of farther down this page. Anyway, we went to a different theater just a 30 second walk away. We saw "Elizabeth: The Golden Age". It was pretty good. A little slow in some parts and not in agreement with actual history as I found out later (Hollywood version, of course). But the acting, costumes, sets, and story were pretty good as they were. Critics weren't as kind to this one as they were the first, but it's still a pretty good flick on it's own. Anyway, after the movie we walked to the red light district. Most of the girls must've been with family as the majority of windows were dark. The "replacements" were easily not the top talent that one usually sees. I went halfway through that section of town about 3 weeks ago, and was surprised at the high ...."visual quality" I saw. It was an odd feeling for me that first time, I must admit. I didn't feel comfortable looking (I know what you're thinking ..... "big wuss") when I was close to their windows. From across the canal I could see women sitting or standing behind the glass, wearing different lingerie or outfits, getting the attention of passersby in the street. Christmas night we actually saw some guy going into the door adjacent to the window. I guess Santa passed his house by so he was "buying" his present that evening! Anyway, we found a Chinese restaurant that our companions had enjoyed previously, so we went in and hammered down 4 pitchers of tap water and some fine noodles, rice, chicken, etc!! We did a little more walking around after grabbing some desert at a small store and ice cream at a McDonald's. From Dam Square, we bid goodnight and walked back to our apartment, enjoying the 5-10 minute walk. What did seem strange, was on Christmas Day to this morning, most of the streets were void of traffic of any kind!! No cars, no taxis, no bikes, no scooters, no pedestrians, and very few buses and trams. Probably looked like something out of "I Am Legend"!! In closing, going back to the movies, they have a cool program here. You can buy a card for E 18 per month that allows you to see any movie, any time. With each movie ticket costing E 9 or E 10, it pays for itself after 2 shows. We will probably take advantage of that from time to time!! Gotta go.

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Busy Week

Hello Everyone...Merry Christmas to all and Happy Festivus for the rest of us!! It's been a week of activity, but I also must admit I wasn't feeling the urge to put a post out. But I'm over it, so here we go. Radhika went running yesterday, trying to do her 20 mile run. She was successfull, and to boot it was 43 degrees. The day before I didn't see it get over 25!! For most of the day the temperature was in the teens!! As a matter-of-fact, I think I have been either converted or brainwashed. Last night, we walked about a mile and a half each way to a south Indian restaurant to have dosa's. I couldn't believe how warm and nice the evening was!! Turns out it was in the low 40's, but they've got my head all screwed up now that I'll probably be complaining about the heat when I return to Orlando on the 1st. It'll be pushing 70 and I'll be boiling!!! Today it turned back to the predominant winter weather pattern...cloudy, no sun, and chilly. It's 39 right now at 3:30pm. Two days ago it was 20 degrees lower!! Forecast calls for it to be about the same for the next 4-5 days. I can deal with that. Just throw us a little sun here and there.

We took the car (Ford Focus) on a little road trip Saturday, putting in half a tank of gas using the company card. It was about 50 euros. That's about $75 for all you currency and exchange rate challenged Gringo's!!!! And that's HALF a tank!!!!! So...quit your sniveling and crying over there about the cost at the pump. It's easy to see why most folks drive vehicles over here that have engines with less power than my MTG push lawn mower! Americans haven't even begun to make the adjustments required to ween ourselves off Middle Eastern oil. Let me not get started on that....back to blog business. So we drive out to Volendam, a small "cheese, wooden shoe, and windmill" tourist trap that's busy in the summer. We went there on a bus packed with other yayhoo's back in June on our first trip over. I figured it would be a safe first trip outside the secured parking lot where the "company" car that is at our disposal is parked. A couple of weekends ago, Radhika made 2 or 3 trips around the parking lot, just to get the feel of the car. After that harrowing, white-knuckle experience, I figured we were ready for the open road. We managed to run over only 4 bicyclists, 7 pedestrians, 2 scooters, and a duck with one foot. The duck shouldn't count as it should've been in the deeper end of the canal. Seriously, Radhika drove the roughly 30 minutes there and did a fine job. We walked around a bit, took some photos, ate the lunch she packed (Helen would be proud), and then I drove us back. It seems like a good enough car, small enough for European roads (we went over this super narrow bridge that I got chewed out for), but large enough to be comfortable for 4 and/or whatever luggage we take to Moscow, Athens, etc. Gotta add GPS navigation unit to "things we gotta buy" on our stay in Orlando next month!
I'm going to cut this off right here. It's almost 4. I'll write a little more later as there's some stories waiting.

Friday, December 14, 2007

Firsts

We have had a string of "firsts" over the past 2 days. First apartment in Amsterdam, first grocery shopping in Amsterdam, and first pick-pocket experience in Amsterdam. Let's get started on the fun, shall we? The apartment is in what is supposed to be a swank, ritzy section of Amsterdam, the Jordaan. If you ask me, it doesn't look too different from most of the rest of Amsterdam. But consider me the uneducated observer. The apartment was 1 of 10 that I saw over the course of 2 weeks. It was the best, in my estimation, of the 2 bedroom varieties that I viewed. It's on the 2nd and 3rd floors (they call ground floor 0 here and the next flight up, 1), so no one's above us. The stairwell on the way up is quite tight. I'm the male version of Olive Oyl (as most know), and I can barely squeeze up. I went to second base with the woman who was showing the apartment, as we tried to pass each other in the stairwell leaving no space what-so-ever between us! We both had a cigarette once I was able to pass by her!! Once you unlock our door, there's another small flight of stairs before you turn into our living room on the right. On the left is the dining area and kitchen, with a door in the back to a small roof garden terrace. Up another flight of stairs takes you to the bedroom floor, where you will find 2 at opposite ends of a hall. The guest bedroom is street side with it's bathroom, and the master is in the back with it's bath and jacuzzi. The furniture is flea market quality, but the appliances in the kitchen are quite modern. Both TV's are that old fashioned tube variety, but I can deal with that until all 63 inches of Big Bertha gets here in a couple of months. Upon day 1 in the place, I had a nifty list of things that needed repair or attention that I'm sure they accepted gracefully via email. A young man came to the apartment today with his sister (I know some of you are thinking "Borat", but no....) to fix the items, but all he ended up doing was taking the broken lamp from the master bedroom and showing me how to get the plate to rotate in the M/W - conventional oven combo. Good thing his sister was with him, because he spoke very little English. Both were Polish (hurrah for half of me!), but luckily she could speak English fluently, along with German and Polish. After unsuccessfully trying to get the DVD/CD/AM-FM radio combo to play music, they left. Yes...everything is a freakin' combo over here! I'm waiting to see the combo wood chipper/ toe nail clipper that must be floating around here somewhere!! Anyway, this part reminded me so much of our beloved country. I had all of these problems to report, and I couldn't get a hold of one person in their office all day yesterday. Yep, once the ink is dry and they have your Euros, they give you the number to the last phone both on the continent. More on the apartment at a later date. On to the 2nd "first"...shopping.
The most popular and prominent grocery is Albert Heijn. Yep.....tiny store, tiny aisles, tiny workers, tiny packages, tiny, tiny, TINY!!! Where in the hell is my Sam's Club 60 dozen crate of eggs??? What's this matchbox sized thing with 2 hummingbird eggs in it??? Where's my 55 gallon drum of ketchup??? Are you kidding me with this??? Ketchup in a roll of toothpaste??? I have NEVER seen a bag of potato chip! No, this "s" is not missing. And seriously, I rubbed up against more females in 5 minutes at that store than I did in all of 10th grade! I may have committed foreplay this afternoon and don't even know it!! Ahhh...but it gets better. A container of OJ was purchased yesterday and when I went to open it I noticed the seal was already broken and the paper seal inside was pushed in. So, I went back to the store today to exchange it. I went to the desk, and a girl was there. I handed her the receipt at the same time explaining what happened. She said no problem and before I could get a word out she crumpled up the receipt and tossed it into this big drum of receipts!!! Radhika would kill me if I didn't get that back as it has to be turned in to the "company" to get our $$$ back. So, I told her I needed it as the paper hit the container. Well, there we stood looking at crumpled pieces of paper. I told her it should be right on top and even on the left side of the container. But Missy was a little overwhelmed and we sorted through close to 50 slips by the time I found it. It was in Dutch of course, which caused me to examine each one like it contained the secrets of the universe. Looking at these foreign (to me) products was a challenge. I was so happy at the sight of some western labels I recognize, I bought a bottle of Pepsi. Okay, so it's Pepsi Max. Do we have that in the US? I have had half a glass and I'm as jittery as George Bush taking a polygraph. When I was viewing apartments, I commented on the (what else?) small size of the fridge, and the woman replied that here, people like to food shop, that they do it every day or every other day as the food is fresher and better, not like in the US where you can buy bigger packages that last longer. I had to tell her, "Baby, bigger is better!" Who enjoys grocery shopping?!?! She said I can have it delivered. If they like food shopping so much, why is there a delivery option?!?! Hmmmm...I smell bogus pie! Anyway, food shopping is going to take some getting used to like most everything else! The final "first" of this post.......
Sitting in Burger King (hell yeah...I needed my fix). I pick a seat near the window so I have something to watch as I ingest my cholesterol. My blood is flowing much slower, so I know I am close to finishing my meal. Three men sit behind me. It's close quarters (surprised?) and there are plenty of open tables around. I just found it a little odd. I must admit to a little profiling (screw political correctness) and didn't feel like these guys needed to be ignored. I don't exactly know what made me do it, but I twisted around in my chair and found the biggest guys hand (of course!) in my leather coat pocket. I instinctively grabbed his arm and pulled it out and he said something like 'what are you doing?' - - some other words - - and then he apologized. I can't honestly recall what I said to him as I acted. I recall sitting back down, and then turning my chair and the chair next to me, as I put my feet up on it and watched them as I finished my lunch. They actually tried talking to me, asking me where I was from, but I just looked at them, only saying they better be careful, the world is a dangerous place as I left. Of course Radhika freaked out a bit that night when I told her, but it's a good lesson. Keep all valuables in a safe place (in my case, the inside pockets of my coat) and be aware. So, all-in-all a happy ending, as I had my passport and wallet with me in those inside, zipped pockets.
Gotta add some pictures to the blog. Stay tuned for more stories as they happen.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Random Ramblings

Hello, all!! The day is winding down here. It's almost 5pm here, and twilight is in full swing. It's dark as night here by 5:30 on a clear day like today. Back during the 2 weeks of overcast cloud cover, it was easily "night" by quarter to 5!! And it doesn't get light in the morning until close to 9am. We're talking short days people. But the upside of that is of course long days in the summer. But that's too far away to think about now.
I made my official... perhaps it would be called my "coming out" party in Amsterdam recently. You know how small hotel rooms are, right? Well, I take a morning shower after I go down to where breakfast is served. I have my clothes laid out on the bed so I can watch "The A-Team" or some other American '80's show as I dry off and get dressed. Well, the towel hits the bed as I look out the window checking the weather. I glance across the street at the "Fit 2 Fit" (Amsterdam's version of Bally's) and there are several young women in the aerobic class at their window waving and applauding. I look at them and wonder "What are they doing?" Yeah, I know I'm pretty slow sometimes. A "ding" goes off in my head (no pun intended), then I grab a pillow to hide the show's "star" and slither behind the curtain. Well they're still enjoying themselves over there, so I step out and take a bow still clutching that pillow! So, I now realize I'm living in closer quarters than I'm used to. Curtains open for light should be done judiciously!! I've been told that people have seen and been seen in several stages of undress. I'm just happy it was a women's aerobic class, and they were waving and clapping and not pointing and laughing!!
Went out on the street today as I usually do. Most of you I believe, would have difficulty navigating a bicycle down these narrow streets let alone your cars. There is so much more to occupy your mind. Cars, bikes, scooters, pedestrians, workers, and spaces are all tighter. Being aware of your environment is key especially when you are new here. You gotta be "Jason Bourne"... knowing how many "moving elements", direction of travel, speed, are they walking (can they stop fast), biking (harder to alter course or stop), on a scooter (you'll get knocked down and scrapped up), or in a car (your ass is a speed bump). Then you have stores you want to check out, wind you have to deal with, pigeons (swine pigeon! - - for those familiar with Inspector Cleuseau), parked bikes in your way...it can be an obstacle course out there! Space is at a premium here, and you come to understand that everywhere. The streets are narrow. Parking is narrow. Most restaurants and many stores are about 5 feet wide and 50 feet long. They have washer-dryer combos and conventional microwave oven combos. No, not two small ones side-by-side. One, that does both. And while I have not used them yet, I think I can get a tube sock in one of their teeny-tiny clothes washers and cook a vienna sausage in the oven. Okay, it's not that bad, but things are on the reduced side here. It's cool. Yet another experience, discovery, adjustment to be had.
Speaking of breakfast earlier....they ask you for your room number and then have you sign something so it will end up on your bill. Well, one morning a man, and I'll use that term loosely, was on duty in the breakfast room, tending to the buffet, tables, and silverware. As soon as I hit the door he asked me for my room number in quite an unusual voice and manner (think Chris Kattan as "Mango" on SNL). A few minutes later as I had both hands full with a plate of food and glass of juice, he cleared an area of food at the pastries and asked me to sign the slip of paper. I asked if he could bring it to the table (as others had done) once I put my food down. I never heard such a big sigh followed by a robust (but squeeky) "Whatever" with Miss Thang attitude!!! There's this guy on Tyra Banks Next Top Model that Radhika watches (and yes I confess to sitting with her on occasion when I have already clipped my toe and fingernails and didn't get involved in anything else fast enough). They call him, I believe, Miss J? That was this dude, only he was white and Dutch. That's another thing you learn quickly over here...service is...different. I mentioned that in a previous post, so I won't rehash (no pun intended...I haven't "hashed" yet, so I can't rehash...oh never mind...this is Vince's territory). We ate at Hard Rock a couple of nights ago, and we were overwhelmed by the server asking us what seemed like every 45 seconds in a high, lilty voice "Is everything okay here???". After 2 weeks of Dutch restaurant service, we had become accustomed to seeing tumbleweeds roll by before we would see a server! I half expect to see skeletons in restaurants sometimes, still sitting at their table waiting to be served (the REAL bony, dry skeletons) or for their check (skeletons with a little meat still left on their bones). Radhika actually saw a hair push it's way through my scalp, turn gray, and fall out at the pizza place down the street between drinks and the meal.
Well, that's it for now. I'll try to remember the bank story, and finish up the apartment story next time.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Let There Be Light!

Well, a little under 2 weeks of thick cloud cover, chilly tempertures, and drizzle to rainy conditions, the sun popped out yesterday morning as did every able bodied creature that could run, walk, crawl, roll, ride, squirm, twitch...well you got it....if it could move it basked in the sunshine. Just as I was wondering how much longer it may take for the weather conditions to induce some depression on my unsuspecting ass, low and behold a reprieve comes along. And unlike the 2 previous weekends where the streets were lightly dusted with the occasional pedestrian, auto, or bicyclist, yesterday the streets were packed like they were going to W's going away party! Restaurants, shoppes, the small skating rinks in the squares, were all a buzz with adults and children enjoying themselves. What positive energy there was being out in the city on a day like yesterday!! You could feel the happiness, see it in the faces and hear it in their voices. We visited a district in Amsterdam that we hadn't before, Leidseplein. That's where a lot of shopping gets done and of course where there are shops there are restaurants. We actually veered from our normal path, trying different cuisines, and came back west eating at the Hard Rock. It was a nice change, but we had to split a burger because it was so huge! It was a good way to end the nicest weather-day we have had since returning! I'll throw up some pictures taken yesterday shortly. Today the sun is in and out, which is better than it has been! I hope to see more of the yellow ball in the sky more often. Radhika ran about 4 hours yesterday morning and said it sprinkled only for a few minutes. She wasn't moaning and groaning too much last night (from sore muscles, for those of you who think like me - VC, AK). I am going to see 4 more apartments at noon (less than an hour) and with those in addition to the one I saw on Friday we'll make our decision and move as quickly as possible. Hotel living has met it's end, we hope. It'll be nice to have a kitchen to make our own food and not rely every day three times a day on restaurants, to eat.

Friday, December 7, 2007

Good Apartment Hunting

Well, the biggest headache we have been enduring may be coming to a close. Our search for temporary furnished housing to carry us until we secure our permanent apartment. On the first Wednesday we were here, I went with a service person to look at three apartments to consider. All 3 were nice enough, with 1 standing above the other 2. The price was just out of range of what the "company" would allow due to the utilities not being included. So, I told the agent this information. She said she would talk to the owner to see if they would include utilities. She came back saying they would include the utilities. In the meantime, we learned of another problem. The "company" was covering 3 months in temporary housing and we would be in the hotel for two weeks, so the lease for the temporary place would have to be for 2 months and 2 weeks. But the rental periods would be for 3 months and the owner wouldn't budge, so we told the agency providing the service we would have to keep looking. Ah...but here comes the fun. Apparently over here, when a prospective renter says there's a problem and an owner fixes that problem, it is a verbal agreement and we were bound (or so we were told) and have made a deal. It was several phone conversations later, carrying a strong tone and flatly expressing that there is no deal and the issue was closed, before we moved on. Verbal contracts carry a lot of weight here I'm told, at least under these circumstances. Since that matter was cleared up, I viewed another 3 properties that were not as nice as the first 3 I viewed a week earlier. One I saw today has real possibilities and I'm scheduled to see 4 more Monday starting at noon. If all goes well, we should be in bigger quarters by mid-week. Unfortunately, this segment has been more complicated then viewing 6 places and picking the one that suits us best for the next 3 months! It appears we are close to wrapping this up and we'll be out of the hotel soon!!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

There's More Where This Comes From!

Eleven days here and only two posts, so I'm backlogged on stories! If I don't get them out, then they'll fade from my feeble mind. So this time I'll start with a big day over here today. It's called Sinterklaas Holiday on December 5th. Of course Sinterklaas is derived from Santa Claus, and both bring presents for children. But that's about where the similarities end. This Sinterklaas arrives from Madrid in the 3rd week of November, and he has small, black skinned helpers called Zwarte Piet. Some here have made this an issue of racism. History has several explanations for this character. One is he's an Ethiopian orphan who was saved from slavery by Sinterklaas. Another has them as chimney sweeps, which is why their faces are blackened by soot. Another says he's a Moorish assistant of Sinterklaas. Either way, it's an interesting difference from what I have obviously been exposed to. They do celebrate Christmas here, so these two occasions appear to be separate. Hopefully I'l know for sure as time goes by. Stay tuned!

Day 11

Okay...so I may have been a little hasty in my evaluation of the Dutch. They have one thing in common with my pals back home (that's right, all you's Americans!). When they get on wheels (2 or 4 - bikes or autos), they're not so pleasant! I've seen the middle finger used already (no it was not connected to my right hand) and several pedestrians both foreign and local almost get the smackdown put on them by one of these granny-looking bicycles they use here. No self-respecting theif in the US would steal most of them, but apparently they are a hot commodity here. I've seen locks and chains on the crappiest of two-wheelers that would make a battleship anchor envious! I will provide visual evidence of such soon. However, back to the matter at hand...crazy Dutch on two-wheeled "Christine's" (hope you're familiar with Stephen King). Once on a bike, both man and woman become hellbent on getting from point A to point B in the least amount of time with the most amount or peril and bloodshed. You have to watch out here more for the bike traffic than the car. The main reasons being there are more bikes than cars, they're harder to see, and they operate with impunity! From what I'm told....you hit a bicyclist with your car and you should just keep going until you fall and sink into a canal or make the border of Siberia. When I start riding a bike here I'm going to be the proverbial "grandma" with eyes all around my head. Yesterday I watched a local male overtake and cut in front of a local female in the tiniest of spacial windows to pull off such a maneuver. I doubt the late, great Evel Knievel would ride his skycycle through the streets of Amsterdam unnerved!! So there it is. They are still friendly as pedestrians, but watch your ass if you put two wheels under their tall asses, because they have no time to alter their course one millimeter for the likes of walking humans.

Monday, December 3, 2007

Week One

Greetings All!!!

Well, we successfully made it through 7 days of deeply overcast skies, chilly winds, and semi-wet conditions as I checked the weather conditions in Orlando almost daily in the USA Today International edition (always 80+ degrees!). We are hoping to move from our hotel, The NH Caransa, and into a corporate flat by this coming weekend that will be our home for the next 3 months. Excuse me....I must investigate this strange light coming thru my hotel room window...I believe that's sunshine ladies and gentlemen!!! Have only seen it on a couple of days so I had grown unaccustomed to it. Anyway, enough whimpering about the weather. Amsterdam is a beautiful small city. We have been availing ourselves of the diverse cuisine while in our temporary quarters. Italian, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, Argentine, Indonesian, Dutch, are just a few of the culinary experiences we have had in our first week. The food has been really good, with portions much more reasonable than in the US where the table creaks when the meals are brought to the table. However, one must get used to the laidback service you receive here. No, they're not all stoned, just that Amsterdam is quite casual, with none of that "running around like a chicken with it's head cut off I'm working for tips" mentality. Some places do offer quick and attentive service like American's are used to, but others pretty much leave you alone and if you require something you flag them down. For the most part, I like this method over here. Before we came, in a book about Amsterdam it said something about preparing for a 2 hour experience for dinners as it may take longer to get meals. You know how they hover over you sometimes in the states? Try to rush you out to get your table turned over so they can seat another customer? Yeah....not happening here. When you're done eating, you can sit there and jibber-jabber if you like. If there are others waiting, it would be kind and polite to wrap it up so they can sit, but there's no rushing you or hovering.
I have found, in the 2 weeks of exposure that I have had, that the people are really nice and friendly (NO, it's NOT because they're stoned!) The dutch men and women are an attractive people who are trim and fit. Part of that must be because they walk and bike a lot as the distances they travel mostly are short, and owning a car is not a neccessity. Their diet doesn't appear to be much different than ours. Portions being smaller could be relevant. Anyway, they are the tallest society in the world, and that's easy to believe. Most blondes seem to be pushing 6 feet tall and many go beyond. Those who are not so tall are probably like us, from somewhere else. Amsterdam is an international city, of course. Tourists and international workers come here. The only races I don't see in large numbers are Black, Asian, and Spanish/Latino. But again, recall I've only been here 2 weeks. While the city is small, I have not yet seen and been all over it's districts. However, there are a lot of European's here, and some from north America.
Okay. Gotta wrap up and go eat some breakfast. I will try to update this and add pictures of interest when I can. Thanks to my campus cupcake for suggesting this idea. I hope it goes over well and enables me to keep everyone up to date and also entertains just a little. Talk to you again soon.
JD