Cool Weekend, Back To Reality

What a packed weekend! On Saturday, we went for a bike ride just outside the city to an area pronounced "Outerkirk" to where there's all natural settings with a windmill along the way to remind you, if you happened to forget, that you were in the Netherlands! In the early afternoon we went to the movies, seeing "The Other Boleyn Girl". Enjoyed it, and as usual for us when we see "Hollywood's" depiction of history we did a little research on Henry the 8th over the weekend in order to filter out any embellishments, adjusted facts or complete falsehoods. Saturday night there was a party at a bar in the center of Amsterdam for a co-worker who is returning to Sweden after working at GE Amsterdam for 7 years. We had fun and fortunately we didn't smell like walking cigarettes afterwards, which is usually the case here. In July, a law will go into place that prohibits smoking in many places, so I expect a lot of grumpy Dutch people stomping around until they go through their withdrawals or find another way to cope. Sunday, we had our usual cheese omelet breakfast before going off to see the Magnum exhibit at a local museum. That was pretty interesting, along with 1 or 2 other exhibits in the museum. But then there are the ones that we just didn't get! What I do, as art, is pretty self explanatory most of the time. But then there are those spread out over the "art spectrum", whether it's representational art, abstract, performance, whatever, that it's just not clear where they are going with what they produce!! Some pieces had explanations by the artist, and we're both saying "I don't see it!" We were there about 4 hours and could've stayed longer, but they closed at 6pm. So, we walked home, which was a considerable distance, stopping to have dinner at a Tibetan / Nepalese restaurant that was very good!! We will visit there again for sure.

Ah, but back to reality part of this post. While it is true that most people, easily 90% or more, of the people I have come in contact with speak enough English for easy communication. However, try buying a mobile phone, getting electric service, cable TV, GPS unit, etc. Get ready for some real fun, because the large majority of websites are in Dutch, and all the paper work you receive with the equipment is written in Dutch! I (at least like to think) am pretty patient, but WOW have I broken new territory for myself! If my previous level of patience was Georgia and I'm living in Orlando, hell, I have now visited the "Land of Enchantment" (Arizona, right?)!!!! Thankfully, I have found a rudimentary online translator, but we're talking a lot of pain-staking typing when it comes to manuals, and copying and pasting when directions or information are on a website!! All in all, it makes for some seriously long engagements to change an address, open an online account, update your GPS, change the language settings on your mobile phone, basically everything! I admit to getting frustrated and sending a few not-so-nice emails to different companies chastising them for not supporting the large contingent of English speaking residents. It did bear some fruit, as I was contacted by customer and tech support for one company I was dealing with, and another said they are behind schedule ramping up their English version of their website. This has to be near the top of my list of difficult things encountered by this move to Amsterdam.

Okay, we're here, it's another Monday. It's been sprinkling here since about 10am. I say "sprinkling" while the Dutch say rain. I think "rain" is those July downpours we get in central Florida where in 2 seconds you get more wet than you would jumping in a swimming pool! What makes it bad here is this place is windy! I mean windy, folks!!! Not that warm breeze where a leaf flutters and you get all giggly inside. Today, there are gusts of wind that take me back to the dark night several years ago when I tried to sleep, and #2 or #3 hurricane of the week was passing through and I thought Florida Eastcoast RR had put a track next to the bedroom while I was asleep!!! Last week, I had the owner bring by some weatherstrip as 3 of the windows in the place had sizable gaps. Those windows are just fine now. However, I will be sitting or walking in here, and all of a sudden part of my body will feel a stiff, cold, gust of wind. Not my whole body now, let's just say, for example, the outside lower left are of my left wrist! I have to start crawling around trying to find where that's coming from!!! I sealed the window in the bathroom last week, but damn if that wasn't one of the places this morning I felt one of those little bursts of cold air!!! After some inspection, I found the source to be the wall switch!! I took of the plate and damn if it didn't feel like I opened the freezer upstairs! Our place is very modern. Just remodeled last July and it looks like it. However, when the building is centuries old, it must be tough to seal all of the cracks! There are cold, small little breezes everywhere in this place on a day like today. Wind blows hard, and the crack in the door whistles The Andy Griffith Show! I already know I'm going to want more weatherstrip and a can of foam for those pipe and conduit risers in the closets and utility area. Like I say at home....It's always something!!!