Halloween, Rugby, Guest Entry: Sasha, Andrea/Moshe
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
32
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Sunday, November 9, 2003
We have had a tough time sitting down to write about Spain so far. We've been pretty busy, not really doing anything too exciting, just little things. But I promise, we will have something soon.
In the meantime, here are 2 guest entries from Andrea and Moshe, family friends from LA, and Sasha, a friend from Chicago.
Before we get to the guest entries, here is a very brief update on some of the more interesting things we've been up to lately...
==============================
HALLOWEEN PARTY
Chris and Melanie hosted a Halloween party last week
Our Halloween costumes
. All of their guests were Dutch except for Julie and I and a former colleague of Chris' that was visiting from LA. Leading up to the party, Julie and I had discussed some ideas for costumes and in the end, decided not to dress up. Julie was worried that we would be the only ones in costume and would look very foolish. Well, we looked very foolish because everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, got very dressed up, and I mean VERY DRESSED UP. I'm not going to go into too much detail but the Dutch got WAY into the holiday and had some amazing costumes. Not bad for a country that doesn't even celebrate the holiday.Anyways, if you'd like to see some pics, go to Chris and Melanie's t-pod by using this link...
If this doesn't work, go to www.TravelPod.com and search for "Chronometers". I attached a very funny pic that Chris took of Julie and I above...and in case your memory of us is dated, our eyebrows are not real.
The one thing that I will add to Chris and Melanie's t-pod is that the candy corn episode was really interesting to see. Basically, I sat on the couch and watched one of Melanie's coworker's teenage daughters study a bowl of candy corns from every angle for about 45 seconds. She looked at them up close and from afar, from above and from below. She had no clue what they were and finally, reached for the bowl. Everyone else in the room (about 7 people) stopped what they were doing to watch her. She took one candy corn, examined it a final time, and went for broke. The other Dutchies watched with anticipation as she chewed and chewed. Finally she swallowed and nodded. Ahhhh, she liked it. I then explained to everyone that these are traditional Halloween candies and they all began trying them. We uncovered that candy corns are similar to a Dutch candy called butter candy. I have actually tried butter candy before and don't really think they taste anything alike - candy corns are much better. It was funny to watch, especially since I'm sure I look exactly the same while I try to figure out what this strange Dutch food is that I am about to eat.
I would encourage you all to take a look at Chris and Melanie's t-pod...it's not as wordy as ours are so don't worry about that.
THANKSGIVNG
Julie and I are taking the baton from Chris and Melanie and are planning a pre-T-giving pot-luck for next week. We hope to further introduce to the Dutch some more about American holidays. This is actually an idea that my old roommate Justin started a few years ago. He invited his friends to his apartment the week before T-giving for some T-giving food and cheer. As the years went on, Julie and I began to really look forward to the day and seeing some of Justin's friends that we had begun to become friendly with over the years. But obviously this year we will be abscent so we decided we would export the celebration and introduce T-giving to the Dutch and others. So far, we have heard from a bunch of friends that plan on joining. I keep telling Julie that I think we might be the only T-giving in the world that will serve turkey with Turkish stew and Korean dumplings. I'm sure you'll hear more about this soon.
RUGBY
Julie and I watched our second rugby game yesterday morning with our Australian friends, Meghan and Tom and Ang and Bruce. I have tried to watch rugby on TV since moving here but it has always looked like mad chaos to me. After about 30 seconds, Julie usually asks me to change the channel to something we understand a bit more...like Dutch news.
I wanted to figure out rugby for a few reasons. For one, I figured it would add to the overall learning experience and introduce a new piece of pop culture. Second, rugby is as close to American football as I'm going to get here. Third, it fascinates me that every sport the Americans love (ie. baseball, basketball, American football, and hockey), the vast majority of the world could care less about and yet all of the "world" sports, Americans just can't get into. And finally, rugby players are just plain animals - no pads, no timeouts, and no rules...or so I thought.
Well, after about 10 minutes of lessons, I was ready to watch my first game. And it was really awesome. It seemed like the players were never really "tackled", ending the play like in American football. And sometimes the guy would punt the ball but then the exact same thing would happen and he wouldn't punt the ball. I just couldn't figure out the game. But that's because I was looking at it as a form of American football. In actuality, I would look at it more as soccer with tackling. I won't get into the rules too deeply - if you want to learn about rugby, I'll be happy to tell you what I know. And, I will try to stop referring to football as "American football" but I have gotten used to calling it that because if I just say "football", I end up watching soccer.
Anyways, I will make a quick observation; these guys ARE animals! They are huge, with muscles in places where I don't even have places. Their faces and teeth make hockey players look like models. These guys bang their bodies all over the place and never seem to get hurt. When they do get hurt, play stops for a moment so that the trainer can put ice on the players leg or whatever is hurt. For some reason, ice is the only form of medical care we have seen in 2 matches.
One time, the trainer reset a players leg or knee or something right there on the field and then, the player got up and limped off the field. No help from his teammates or ambulances driven onto the field. It was crazy. When he first stood up, I thought he was going to get back into the game. In hockey, the toughest sport we have, they have a penalty box. They have one of those in rugby as well, called the "sin bin". But rugby also has something called the "blood bin". Think about that for a moment, the athletes bleed so much there is actually a place for bleeding rugby players go. It's so crazy! And after all this intense battling on the field, there is never a fight. I don't think we can say that about hockey.
It really is a great sport to watch. We will be with the Ausies again next Saturday morning as they play the New Zealanders in the Rugby World Cup Quarterfinals.
==============================
Anyways, those are some of the more interesting things we've been up to. We still have Spain to write about and there are a few other daytrips we've done that I'd like to tell everyone about but I feel like we're having a tough time getting the t-pods done. I hope to throw some thoughts out there before we head off to Germany for T-Giving weekend. Also on the traveling front, Julie and I are talking about driving to a "mountainous" area of Belgium called Ardennes for my b-day weekend. It should be another nice trip.
Well, that's about it from here. We hope all is well wherever you are. Speak to everyone soon.
-Stephen
Here are the t-pods from Sasha (thanks again for the tin of Garrett's cheese popcorn - the absolute best stuff in the world!) and Andrea and Moshe...
==============================
Sasha's brief travelpod entry
September 26, 2003
So much pressure to be witty and funny .. Below is as my best effort:
Preface: I work for LaSalle Bank/ABN AMRO, just like Stephen. I work in a Risk Management group and we take our direction from Amsterdam, Corporate Centre. I was fortunate enough to be sent overseas for a global conference for a couple days - fully funded by my boss, of course - who was I to refuse?!
Monday, 9/22
I arrived in Amsterdam after flying business class - the perks of a transatlantic business trip are incredible - from Chicago. Julie was kind enough to meet me early in the morning at the airport. We went directly home to drop off my luggage and lucky for us Stephen had not left for work yet because with all those stairs (as Christy had alluded to in her travelpod), I thought I was going to hyperventilate after the second floor. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the city with Julie, which was really fun since I was already familiar with the areas and recalled a lot of the different parts of Amsterdam as we walked around. By 2 PM I was wiped out and proceeded to fall asleep (the first of several times that week) on the couch until the taxi came to take me to the castle at Dunn and Kruinberg (D & K), where my Global Risk Conference would be.
Monday night through Wednesday afternoon I spent at the conference facility, about 45 minutes outside of Amsterdam. It just so happens that one of the top three restaurants in Holland is located at D&K and though I'd been to Amsterdam before I had forgotten how long it takes to sit through a regular meal at a restaurant.... And let me tell you that a 5 course meal at a top notch restaurant is at least a 3.5 hour affair! I had to excuse myself early even so that I didn't fall asleep in my dessert. The conference itself was actually really good but I was eager to get back to Julie and Stephen's by Wednesday evening.
Wednesday, 9/24
I don't think we did much that night since Stephen wasn't feeling well.....except Julie and I got Thai food for dinner & brought Stephen back a hot soup - Of course Julie and I pigged out on chocolate and gummies, respectively, while Stephen sipped his soup that we brought back. I then fell asleep watching TV w/ Julie & I swear it wasn't the company - pure jet lag!
By the way - I owe you guys at least 2 pounds of gummies!
Thursday, 9/25
I went to work with Stephen on Thursday morning since I had an appointment to meet some people at the office for coffee. (YES! I ended up actually having a cappuccino out of the vending machine - I don't recall the combination but it's just as Stephen described). I even met Sjoerd and Stephen's other colleagues. I only stayed at the office a short time and managed to get back to Julie's place without too much confusion.
Julie and I spent the day together just shopping & walking around,wandering into parts of the city she'd never even been. Julie and I tried on clothes at several spots... I think clothes shopping in Amsterdam is an interesting experience:
(1) Sizes are scaled down compared to the US, so if you're a medium in US you're probably a Large in Holland -this is not good for the self-esteem and seems counterintuitive since the Dutch are taller and bigger.
(2) Along the same note, shoes on display tend to be 2 sizes bigger than they are in the US. Julie obviously has a harder time buying shoes but at the same time the shoes that were on sale were usually smaller sizes because there's fewer customers who can fit into them.
(3) There are a ton of designer shops (Max Mara, Armani, etc.) so at times it's doesn't feel any different from walking down Rodeo Drive.... I didn't think the prices were particularly appealing either, especially when Julie and I walked into a dress shop and she asked about how much it would cost to get a dress made (since the dresses in the shop were made to fit the Saleslady who was about 6"2, blond, about a size 6, and pregnant - all belly though.)... let's just say that last I heard Julie is not going to buy a new dress.
But I digress...
On Thursday night the 3 of us went to a very tasty (and long) dinner.. We biked there - Julie sat on the back of Stephen's bike (which was very cute) and I rode Julie's bike - yes - I had to lift up my knees fairly high to pedal properly.
Friday, 9/26
Julie made a wonderful Rosh Hashanah meal (we bought all the ingredients together earlier that day). Julie and I ended up watching a video and I didn't even fall asleep on the couch. Of course, as soon as my jet lag went away it was time to leave.
It was quite an enjoyable stay and I was sad to leave since I know I won't see Julie and Stephen for awhile - But I hope to be in June for a work function (if not sooner).
Thanks a lot you guys!
Sasha
==============================
Although 2 1/2 months have passed since we were in Amsterdam, the memories will live on for a lifetime. We ended a wonderful vacation in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries with 3 terrific days in Amsterdam with Stephen, Julie, Christy, and Stephen's parents, Alan and Roz.
Being Moshe's first time we did a lot of touristy stuff. Stephen will never stop reminding us that we saw the Riksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum in about an hour and a half, including lunch. I never did say I was high-browed and cultured. We climbed all those steps to Julie and Stephen's apartment. It is wonderful once you get up there. Amsterdam apartments are for the young or the young-at-heart!! We visited the Heineken factory and museum-I don't drink beer so some young guys were very happy to get my free beers. I still don't know why it took 2 weeks for our email/video to arrive from there. One day we went to the Anne Frank Museum and then we decided to try and find the house where Barry's parents were hidden during the war. All four of us remembered that "it is very close to Anne Frank's house" so with address in hand we started to walk there. And we walked and walked for about an hour. When we got there the house was covered with scaffolding and was under repair. What a disappointment!! We called Stephen and asked about our dinner plans thinking we would get a cab and meet Stephen, Julie and Christy at the restaurant saving ourselves another shlep. Well apparently cabs aren't very plentiful in Amsterdam (sounds like LA, huh?) and Stephen said "it's only a ten minute walk". Well, Stephen must have long legs that walk faster than our old legs. We arrived at their apartment after about 45 minutes. I refused to climb those stairs again so we sat on the stoop until they all came down. We had a great dinner that night at a restaurant that Julie picked. The food was incredible and the company was great.
Those are the highlights. We can't wait to go back and visit again! Thanks Julie and Stephen for your warm hospitality.
Andrea & Moshe
==============================
As always, feel free to pass this on to anyone you think might enjoy reading my ramblings. Also, you can either subscribe or unsubscribe at any time at the top of the page.
