From Boston...

tomorrow... if all goes well, we should get our stuff that we shipped from boston. these boxes, to be precise... i wonder whether they still look like that. i hope they do..... may 29 they left our place in the usa, so thats ore than 2 months! i remember some of the things we packed and i am eager to see that stuff again (like the mug above... i cannot comment as to how that came into our possession, but now at least i can pretend, even in amsterdam, i am in the IHOP.... ;) ). the kitchen stuff (like pie pans and my marble dough roller), my sports clothing (3 pairs of running socks is not enough!!), oooh, and of course my shoes... all my shoes.. 

friday we last minute had to pay some customs fee to ensure they would deliver our stuff tomorrow. apparently the container with our stuff was chosen for a random check, and we had to pay the extra costs for that (100 dollars). quite a bit annoying, and not part of the deal. i hope it doesnt mean they went through all our stuff......

so now its time to sleep. all those boxes somehow have to get up 4 stairs, and we were too cheap to pay the moving company to do that for us...... ah, it will save me from going to the gym to do weight lifting... 

Dutch market

this was this morning, at the market... a salesman was demonstrating some fancy window wiper. i think something that soaps and immediately wipes it... i was surprised by how many people were actually watching...!

it took a while, but friday was the first time me and tim finally went out to dinner somewhere in the netherlands. we also had a beer somewhere, and we got reminded "how it works here". funny how you forget simple things like that. first of all, you just take a seat. there is no waiting to be seated. but then the next challenge is that you actually get noticed by the waitress (this can be hard). and when she (or he) finally does, it can take quite a while before they bring your order, AND you are (at least outside on the terrace) often required to pay immediately. its easiest to have cash in those cases, but in the us i really got used to always pay with card. especially in restaurants. its so convenient! (so we both didnt have any cash). here tim had to go inside the cafe with the girl to pay with card. then we had dinner, and again it felt weird to just walk into the restaurant and choose a table. we again had some trouble to get the waitress' attention, and when we finally ordered, it took ages for the food to arrive.... but it was very good! hmmmmm... and lots of vegetables (something i often missed in the us when eating out). so good i totally forgot to take a picture... :)

Without view!

this was at the gay pride last sunday. i first wondered whether all those beer cans are from those 2 sitting... but i guess not, everywhere it was such a terrible mess! at some places trash cans were indeed overflowing.. but regardless, people were just throwing their empty cans and plastic cups on the street. without looking, without being embarrassed, or anything. so weird!! i am glad people can just drink like this on the street during such an event (not like the US where people drink alcohol as well, only secretly, from a hidden bottle in their bag, or by pouring alcohol into some juice container. everyone does it, everyone knows it, so why isnt it just allowed?!). but the mess!! horrible!

as opposed to the us, most people did NOT bring chairs to watch the parade... haha. and these 2 dont have a view at all... probably they came too late, just like we did. we stood like that, behind other people for a little while, and nobody seemed to be leaving, so we gave up....

Oooh, biking..!

a typical dutch scene. bikes, bikes and bikes. ive been biking a bit, mostly with tim since i dont really now my way still on a bike in amsterdam. and... i get to experience again why i so often used to say "aaarrghhh, everyone around me needs to take lessons in biking!!! from ME!". while in boston i really missed biking, and was very annoyed by the aggression many motorists displayed just by seeing someone on a bike on THEIR road. and i remember even once writing that those that do bike in boston dont really know how to, and that dutch are so much better at it... HA! a perfect example of glorifying the dutch bikers when not surrounded by them, while in fact.... i am more often than not annoyed by fellow bikers! (and scooters too, but thats for another post). yesterday we biked through the city center during a busy time of day and then you get bike traffic jams. people are too slow, people bike next to each other so that you cannot pass them (and refuse to move aside when you are approaching), people are frantically using their "fietsbel" (bicycle bell) to let you know they are coming and YOU need to move aside asap (and then they turn out to ride so slow that you have to pass them again). others are on their fancy phones while biking and dont pay any attention (that really pisses me off, and is something new, 3 years ago it wasnt this bad), and yet others are so superfast that they think they have the right to just hop onto the footpath to pass everyone, perhaps even running over some pedestrians in the process. then at the next traffic light everyone is together again, even the fast ones (unless they ignore the light, which happens often too), and the whole process starts again.....  aaarrrghhhh. i had forgotten all that and how i get worked up about it. tim doesnt really have that problem... he probably has a lower chance of heart disease than i do.... :) oh, and then i didnt even mention the tourists. all those tourists that want to have the real experience and rent a bike, usually in large groups, blocking every possibility to pass them while they are figuring out how you actually move forward on a bike.... ;)

pfew. i feel a bit calmer now... the street above leads to the entrance port i showed you earlier, but you dont get to bike underneath it...

Fun run

yesterday we participated in the color run! as you might know, the color run is more of a fun run than an athletic event where you run 5 km (3 miles) and every kilometer you get sprayed with another color, so that you look quite silly when done.... i had read about those while in the us, but we returned to the netherlands before there was one close to boston... then i discovered they were also in the netherlands, so i got a friend and tim crazy enough to join me. jaaaj!! it was supposed to be in utrecht, where i used to live before moving to boston.

when they finally releassed the course map, it turned out not to be in utrecht at all, but in a tiny town nearby. not very well accessible by public transport. grrrrrr... that already pissed me off, just like the "rules" they posted: bringing your own food or drinks was prohibited (water would only be allowed in case of hot weather). and their "advice" pissed me off even more: bring plenty of money, so that you can buy food and drinks at the party! (we had paid already 30 euros per person (some 40 dollars) for the ticket). so i did some googling and discovered that the color run does good by donating part of the entrance fee to charity (i must say i missed that point and solely joined for my own fun, but some were really thinking they were "doing good" by participating in this event; but.... 90% of the money goes to the organization, and only 10% goes to a good cause! moreover, most of the event is run by volunteers who got nothing more than a t-shirt (and of course the chance to douse everyone in color, that must have been a fun job). considering that 10.000 tickets were sold for this run... they made a LOT of money.... (in the US, over 600.000 people participated last year in various cities). (in fact, on their website they do mention they are a "for-profit" organization, but they are better at telling everyone they are "giving back and doing good")

well, anyways... while we started off pretty annoyed (we were stuck in a train with other color runners, and most of them turned out to be giggling girls... the 3 of us felt old and out of place!!), had to walk over 30 minutes just to get to the location NOT in the center of utrecht, had to aimlessly wait over an hour in the hot sun just to be able to start running (i actually didnt mind the sun, but apparently some more fragile creatures collapsed before they even started running)... the actual run was quite fun. well... run... i think around 75% of those giggling hip young girls were not running at all, but just walking (and some were smoking too, arrrghhhh, those dutch idiots)!! that really surprised me (although i didnt start running until 29 and would not have been able to run at their age either....). all those colors were pretty to see (but not fun to get into your mouth, at least it was just colored food grade corn starch), and as you see above, at the "party" everyone got to throw their own packet of color. too bad i didnt bring my camera... surely there wont be a next time, but i wouldnt mind watching from the sidelines to take pictures....

Gay pride

today was the annual gay boat parade in amsterdam. its held since 1996, and i never went.. but since i now live in amsterdam, it was easy to just hop on the bike and have a look. well... ofcourse we arrived when it had started already and it was packed. all the cute little bridges were full with people, and this is literally the only shot i managed to take while on a bridge. we walked around a bit, and yes, there are many, many bridges, and they were all packed.... 

the gay parade is just another excuse to have everyone out on the street dressed up funny, acting weird and drinking beer... :) ah, and ofcourse there are the boats. all with their own theme and music... (some very interesting, others boring, like those from the political parties, i really dont get why they join). tim managed to get some better shots, but i havent looked at them yet....

we ended the day with this movie about the pianist liberace, with michael douglas and matt damon as lovers. very fitting, no? they were both very good (although near the end it was a bit too slow..).

OK, hot...

this afternoon the tiny kitchen reached a toasty 34C (over 93F). the living room was only a tiny bit cooler (31C). the house has a flat roof and we are on the upper floor..  yes, very close to the sun at the 4th floor (5th for americans).... ;)

somehow i decided i should just bake some bread. at least the oven took less time to heat up, but the dough didnt behave as it should (added too much water; the flours here are different and i havent figured the right measurements out yet, buuuhhh. and of course, it was a little too hot for the yeast.)

so above you see the kitchen. its not much bigger than what you see here, really, grrr. on the other side is the countertop with the stove, oven and no space for a dishwasher (or fridge, its in the next room, grrr again. the fridge that is, there is no space anywhere (or money) for a dishwasher!)). if one is in the kitchen, its not easy for the other to pass, theres simply not enough space (or maybe that should be an incentive to spend more time at the gym...?). at least tim recently hung some rods so all the pans are hanging on the wall, that really cleared up some cabinet space..

and in the mean time, its still hot, even now, well after midnight. it cooled off a little, but not enough for a good night of sleep, im sure. and guess what, it was record breaking hot. for the netherlands that is. and on this particular day (so what kind of record is that!?). and not in amsterdam, but in the south of the netherlands. it was 36.9 C at some point (98.42F), somewhere, and thats still less hot than what we experienced in boston, or in the desert during our road trips... :) reminds me, i should post some pictures of that one of these days!

oh, and i just love this tiny clock! i got it from ikea last time we were there, and you can flip it to any of the four sides, then it lights up a particular color, and gives you either the time, temperature, timer, or the alarm setting... perfect for a tiny kitchen... 

Drying laundry

its soooo very hot again here! and tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer, perhaps record breaking hot... if anything, its good for getting your laundry dry quickly! i really dislike to dry my clothes (or anything, really), in a dryer, and have always hung my clothes out to dry. and now i can finally hang them outside, on the balcony! it makes it smell so good...!

in our first place in the usa we had to go to a laundromat to do the laundry, but would always drag the wet stuff home to hang it out (the apartment was so huge that one room was dedicated to just that, haha). in the next we had both a washer and a dryer, but i just hung it out in the living room. there is something really relaxing in doing laundry. i like to hang it, and i even like to fold it (but i never iron).

most people around our place here in amsterdam hang their clothes out to dry. many have racks that hang from the railing, but i just wonder if that isnt annoying for the people underneath you, suddenly seeing your towels in front of their window.... 

whats crazy; in the us, the land of the free, its forbidden (!!) in many places to hang out your clothes. some 60 million americans are not allowed to hang their clothes in their own outside space! in some states, there are now laws that forbid apartment complexes to make such stupid rules, but not in massachusetts... (however, the state senator is now "fighting" for "the right to dry"). isnt that crazy? in a country where you can have guns in many states, you cannot dry your clothes in the most environmentallly friendly way (as well as cheapest, and best for your clothes... etc etc).

as you can see, i really like pink, and flowers... i brought this sheet to the us, and back home again...

Entrance gate

compared to my last post, this is something a bit older... :) it was built in the mid-19th century. unfortunately, its a bit shielded by the ugly containers with even uglier graffiti (there really is much more graffiti here than in boston), i guess they are restoring the port. its the fifth port on this location, and its part of the wall that was already built around amsterdam around 1300 (!), which was built to protect the city against attack. i guess having 5 different port over such a long period of time is not that many.... :) ah, the port did move a bit outward, each time the city grew.

i must say, i dont remember ever seeing this port before.... eventually, amsterdam had 5 entrance gates. and some, from the middle ages, are still standing to this day. when i happen to pass them, i will take a pic and show you... :)

Reflections, reflections...

i actually dont even know what kind of building this is, but i assume its apartments (and some businesses on the lower floor). i liked the reflection, and just the simple fact that this was taken well after 9 in the evening, a week or 2 ago. i am still amazed at how long its light out in the evening. its funny how you forget that kind of stuff. as mentioned before, in boston it was totally dark at 9 at the latest. i did always enjoy the long days in the netherlands, but not having had them for 3 years makes me enjoy them even more....

last night we had a LOT of rain. but it didnt cool down that much. today was pretty warm again, but since tim was on call, we couldnt venture out too far (in the end he didnt have to work.. ), and did some home improvement again. frustrating how much there is to clean, even if its just a not too big apartment (i do continue to wonder whether some things have ever been cleaned since this apartment was built... i wih i could sterilize everything, hahahaha)....

Amsterdam street....

this afternoon we had to be in this street... when we arrived it turned out to not be a street at the moment! so we parked our bikes and walked... as you see, there are still lots of bikes everywhere, and some people were just biking regardless (as many dutch do, but im not good at that). here i bought my first things off the dutch craigslist (i.e. marktplaats); a 70s (i think) breadbox! its huge, and painted in orange with flowers. and... you can hang it on the wall, so thats what tim did when we got home. i like it so much! perfect for our homebaked bread...

we also completely changed the setup in the living room. if you look at this pic; we now put the couch in the corner with the pink wall. but.... that really required the white wall painted into some bright color... so today we bought the brightest orange we could find, and now that white wall is orange... (pictures some other time). a bit extreme perhaps, but we both really like it. ah, and we finally got some rain. ofcourse right when we were out biking; we got soaked entirely.... but after all that heat without any rain it was kind of fun, actually....

Local birds

this photo was taken last week (or was it already the week before?), from the balcony. these birds are flying around all day, and lots of them! at first i was not aware of them, but tim once showed me and now i keep hearing and seeing them. quite the exotic bird for a not very exotic city like amsterdam! its an afro-asian parakeet species, to be specific the ring-necked parakeet, and they are actually very ubiquitous. they make quite some noise while flying around, and they themselves also like noisy surroundings. thats why they are mostly found in larger cities.

the birds live in amsterdam since 1976, especially in a park (het vondelpark), but they like to fly around amsterdam every now and then. how did they get here? most likely from where they originated; asia. but the population is mixed with parakeets that escaped their birdcages.. and in brussels, belgium, the population originates from the release of a couple of birds by a zoo owner, who wanted to make the city a little more colourful. i like watching them fly by. usually they fly in little groups of 2 - 3, and they are colourful indeed!

American diner

this was back in boston. saugus, to be precise, on route 1. quite a typical dinner in a very american diner.. no? somewhere between the fries is a gigantic burger! when the waitress brought it to our table, i wondered why i ordered this... haha... i was recovering from one of the many colds i have had this year and didnt eat much. but it was our last time in that restaurant.... buuuhh!!

back in the netherlands we have not been out to eat once yet! its easier, faster and cheaper in the us (and usually even more unhealthy than here). ah, and most restaurants are open till late, not like here where you can often find the kitchen closed by 9, or earlier... 

compared to yesterday it was a little less hot today. rain was expected but didnt come. it did in the south of the netherlands, where it turned into quite a mess. in some places it rained in a few hours as much as normally in a month!

Reporting live.....

... from amsterdam. im currently sitting in our 33C (91.4F) living room. the heat is crazy! and so it was yesterday, and sunday. and the days before... but today and yesterday are the hottest. as opposed to boston, houses, shops (except supermarkets of course), and even the local gym are not equipped with (proper) airconditioning, as its usually not this hot, and not for this long. i was just enjoying the light breeze by opening the balcony doors on either side of the apartment. a tiny breeze, but still... then i needed something from the kitchen and saw there was lots and LOTS of smoke, clearly not from a BBQ or something. ash particles were coming up too, and had already landed in our bedroom. what was it? then i saw that the idiot downstairs neighbour (i have no clue who they are, but now i know they are idiots), decided to just burn all the trees they had cut down from the neglected garden a week ago. that was all very, very dry ofcourse, and was burning like crazy. pfew, was i happy i hadnt just hung out the white laundry!!

i texted tim, mostly to figure out whether i should perhaps call the police or something. but before i knew, i heard the sirens and police and 2 firefighter trucks arrived. by then the neighbours had already put out the fire themselves, and from what i could see they were not opening the door for the police!!

now they are all gone again, and its too hot to get the vacuum out to get rid of all the ash.... :( wonder what eventually happened..... it was interesting to see how many people suddenly appeared to be home, standing on their balconies to see what was going on....

Bikes, bikes...

yesterday we were biking home after we had gone to the cinema (this is after 9 in the evening, see how sunny it still is!!) and encountered this sea of bikes. i took some pictures and was disappointed with all of them... but for once i should show you a picture a little further away from the apartment... :) there was some dance festival going on and heres where all the visitors parked. i really like that a simple bike i the main mode of transportation.... but i do have to say i miss the car we had in the usa, it does make life easier at times to have a car... we need some new bookcases and we found cheap ones on the dutch version of craigslist. but no way to get them to our place... :(

people often ask; but how on earth do you find your bike back in this endles sea of others...? i gues its like when you are on the beach and go for a swim. you know approximately where you left your towel, and somehow you always find it back...

Purple flowers

im a little lazy today, so here the flowers again, they opened!

i hope kay can identify them, because i actually dont know what kind of flowers these are... :)

Yeeeeeeejjjj, flowers!!

one of the reasons its great to be back in the netherlands; i can buy cheap flowers again. and everywhere.... okok, above no flowers yet, but they are about to come out, maybe tomorrow... and they will be pretty and purple! its still warm here, hot even. although we have to miss the pool right downstairs like we had in boston, we now at least have a little bit of outside space. a balcony on either side of the apartment! in the morning there is sun on one, and in the evening theres sun on the other. another great thing i have to get used to again; its light out until after 10!! like really light... in boston it was always dark before 9 (and in winter, like here, around 5).

stuff im not so happy about; the tiny, tiny kitchen. and no dishwasher anymore.... buhuhuhuh.

Oooh, waste!

its still gorgeous weather but i dont allow myself to go out since i should be looking for a job... :( tim gets up very early every day, and comes back relatively late, and i want to work too!! i guess its always the same; once you work, you wish you had days to spend doing nothing. but without the immediate prospect of work, its actually not that much fun. so... i havent been exploring much, certainly not the way i used to in boston. even though amsterdam is sort of a new city to me (at least to live in, and biking... well... im still not a pro... hahahaha. ofcourse, once you learn how to bike, you will never forget it, but to bike with confidence through busy streets, packed with pedestrians, cars, other bikers and  public transport... iieeekkk).

what i dont miss is the above; paper cups for coffee! here i had an espresso. it did not even fill 1/8 of that cup, but i did get a plastic lid (to the right), and the paper holder to not burn your hands (to the right), such a waste!!! moreover, putting that little coffee in such a huge paper cup... makes it cold before you can drink it... now thats not to say we dont have paper cups here in the netherlands. but its definitely less and i hope it stays that way. on the other hand; we have not been out to dinner once since i am back! its just different here. the ease, speed and availability of food at any time of the day (or especially (late) night) is just different here. ah well, a home cooked meal is probably healthier and cheaper... :)

Self portrait

nooo, this is not in the netherlands, this is yosemite, where we were back in march!! but we didnt take any self portraits recently. or many other photos, for that matter... it was so pretty there, and we had so little time. just one afternoon. we did one hike, and didnt know exactly how long it would be. with all the warnings for bears and whatnot, that was a little scary to me... and it was indeed getting dark when we finally got back to the car (i already saw ourselves stranded somewhere high up, with a bear taking our last food. hmm, actually we didnt bring much. yes, we were really not that well prepared). 

lif here in amsterdam is quite different! :) no bears for sure..... but the weather at the moment is really good. jipppiiieeee!!

Whats that?!

saw this sign at the edge of a parking lot in amsterdam. no clue what it means!! special attention zone for all people there? or...?