Departing Thoughts - Part 1

As we moved closer to wrapping up our 4-year adventure living in Amsterdam, many thoughts and emotions flashed across my mind. Funny, profound, serious, surprising - living outside the United States has provided a form of education you can't receive by any other method. Your familiarity and understanding of the places you read about in your life or visited while on a short holiday, change as your exposure lengthens and deeper aspects of the countries and people are revealed. Similarly, the view you have of the United States can be altered, as well. I have been asked repeatedly if I was happy to be going back to America. I spent some time thinking about and then crafting the shortest answer possible, because early on I heard myself babbling on and on in a clumsy attempt to convey my feelings, realizing I hadn't truly "nut shelled" it for myself let alone anyone who was unfortunate enough to ask me. It required more than a yes or no response. The go-to standard answer became yes, and no. No matter where we have traveled, we have encountered good and bad aspects about each location. I have discovered that "home" can be many places. I don't require what some people call "roots" to feel stable. Don't require that strong attachment to a place from my past that settles me down in times of uncertainty. As a matter-of-fact, when I return to the town of my youth, I feel little connection to it. It's not that it has changed so dramatically over the past few decades since I left. I believe the changes within me have more of a bearing on the feelings of disconnect. Each of us deals with change every day of our lives, but most of us are not comfortable with significant change. Many people dropped their jaw upon learning that we were moving to Amsterdam. Disbelief. How could you? Aren't you frightened? It was as if going outside the coccoon of the United States was madness, with misery and catastrophe sure to find us. People have told us there's no way they would ever leave the United States. Not to live. Not to visit. It’s an attitude that’s totally foreign to me. I equate that to a diet of mother's milk or baby formula for your entire life, or meeting someone at the moment your hormones kick in and marrying them. They say the U.S. has everything they need and there's no need to go anywhere else. I believe that to be a smoke screen, and fear is the motivator behind their philosophy. They are the same who say America is the best country in the world. It's funny, because they have zero reference points. Their statement is empty, void of any meaning or significance. Some interesting aspects of Dutch life follow. They’re random, good, bad, benign. Hopefully they’re entertaining…and educational for those unfamiliar. "Niet mogelijk". Heard that at the Parking Authority. Settle Service, the company hired by GE to help us get set up in our new country told us that on a regular basis. Numerous agencies, associates, staff in stores, restaurants - - we heard this everywhere, directed toward us from the Dutch people we were interacting with. "Not possible". A simple "No" does not suffice, but a response that implies physics will not allow what you ask for! The Dutch LOVE "Niet Mogelijk" as much as they love dairy products, holidaying in the same place year after year, and keeping their wallets as tight as one of their famous dykes. Can't relay here how many times I responded to them: "Walking on the sun is neit mogelijk. What I am requesting is not." I got so angry and irritated once after visiting the same office four different times because of their mistakes, I verbally went off on the staff. I was trying to get something done for Radhika, but finally turned it over to her because they said she had to handle it herself. The man at the counter told her when she was leaving, "Good luck with your angry husband." She corrected him, saying normally I'm an easy going guy until I come up against repeated incompetence. Yea, Radhika! Paying for phone calls to government agencies and private businesses! This was a real thorn in my side. When your internet service, power, or any utility fails, you have to call a toll number where you pay anywhere from €.10 and higher per minute to tell them their service delivery has stopped. The longer you're on hold listening to a Dutch recording or A Flock Of Seagulls (they do love '80's American music), the more abuse you're unleashing on the poor slob who answers the call. All the mail that you get you'll find at the bottom: "Problem? Call us at 900-775-8990 - We're here to help. *Call costs €.25/minute" Yeah. I'm already paying a bill AND you want to make a profit off my call when I'm not getting what I am paying for? Pathe. That is the French movie chain that has four movie houses in Amsterdam. A great deal for about 3 years when we first moved there. For €18 per month you can get a Pathe Card that allowed you to see any movie in any Pathe theater as many times as you care to. On top of that they ran specials for holders of the card, where after 6pm you got 20% discount on popcorn, soda, beer, candy, etc at the concession. It was great. Then they got these machines that looked like an ATM. The idea is to scan your card, pick your movie, pick the time, and your ticket is dispensed. Things went down just slightly then, because sometimes these machines were useless. They didn't scan your card so you wasted time in line and then had to go to the counter for the old-fashioned human being approach to acquiring your ticket. Then Pathe went to assigned seating, so the ushers didn't have to go into full theaters and ask the people to fill seats by generally moving to the middle. This I would find irritating because we would get there early to get a position in the middle and back from the screen the right distance, only to be moved by the jokers in their Pathe shirts. Wasn't their fault, I know. So I sent an email to Pathe corporate, who in turn referred me to the local theater in question. A-holes! So, going to the movies in groups became problematic. You could now reserve tickets online, so if you were meeting others there and wanted to sit together, you might be able to swing it by telling everyone where you reserved your seats. Then they would quickly try to get seats next to you online. What a pain in the ass! And, when you reserve you have to pick up your tickets at least 30 minutes before the show starts and no earlier than an hour, or you lose the tickets and they go back into the system. The price went up to €19 a month, which was no big deal, but going to the movies was having some of it's fun sucked out of it when you had to stress about getting there on time if you reserved, or arrange to sit with friends, or tell the numbskulls around you to shut their phones off before you took and broke them into tiny pieces. I need to hit a movie or two in the US to see if things have gotten worse over here. The audiences in Amsterdam occasionally thought they were in their living rooms watching the show, because they would be yakking away or tearing through a crinkly bag of chips. I was far from the only one asking them to be considerate. One guy was given 2 choices when I went to talk to him quietly, but he stole out of the theater with his buddies before I returned with theater staff. Another time they stopped the movie because there was too much ruckus and someone complained (not me). Kids on a school trip, and the teachers/chaperones were lame. Two guys were tossed out, one for shining a laser pointer on the screen. Well. Let me wrap this one up or I'll let another couple of months go by before it sees the light of day. Already got the next one started, so it shouldn't be long in getting posted. I have work to do. The Florida sunshine is beaming outside, so off I go. Just found out I'm going to need a new pool pump, so there's research to be done. Until next time...