A bunch of random things
Trip Start
Apr 06, 2003
1
62
69
Trip End
Ongoing
Amsterdam,
Netherlands
Monday, May 9, 2005
Sorry for putting another t-pod out so quickly but I wanted to get some of these older items out before it is entirely too late. Here are a bunch of random things that don't really make up a full t-pod but are significant and/or interesting that we want to share with you guys!
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OLIVER
As I mentioned in the last t-pod, Julie is not working anymore. She did spend half a year working with a boy named Oliver. I heard a lot about him and his parents from Julie. He has many behavior problems, most of which probably stem from his parents. She no longer works with him but attached are a few pics of him.
BOATNG WITH THE CHIMPS
We got a call one day from Chris and Melanie. They were out on their boat and wanted us to take a pic of them from our place. Chris spent a few minutes going back and forth on a 5-foot patch of the canal to line up for the perfect shot. This was as funny as it sounds! Making it even funnier, Chris was wearing a captain's hat which Julie and I had bought for him from a costume store as a joke!
EURO CUP
The Dutch had made it fairly far into the Euro Cup, the Europe-only version of the World Cup soccer tournament. I went out with some friends to watch the games. It was a lot of fun. The whole place had soccer fever and town was blanketed in Orange. The Dutch did not win but it was a fun experience!
NORTH SEA JAZZ FESTIVAL
Julie and I took the train to The Hague one summer night after work for the North Sea Jazz Festival (http://www.northseajazz.nl/index.en.asp). We met up with Chris and Melanie, who had driven earlier in the day to spend some time in The Hague. The Festival is a huge music event set in a convention center. There were some top jazz performers (like Elvis Costello, Al Jarreau, Dave Brubeck, Macy Gray, Patti Labelle, James Brown, Jamie Cullem, Herbie Hancock, Alicia Keys, Pat Methany, Rickie Lee Jones, Santana, Buddy Guy, and a few others) over a 3-day set. In addition to the EUR 65 entry fee, the headliners cost an additional EUR 15. We decided we would pay the extra price to see Elvis Costello on the main stage but were happy with the 'free' shows beyond that, which included one of my favs, Buddy Guy! Both Elvis and Buddy were sweet! We spent the rest of the night in small 50-person rooms watching jazz trios and vocalists. It was really fun and very mellow. It did seem a bit strange hosting the event in a convention hall as opposed to a grassy festival grounds but given the time of the year and the uncertainty of the weather in the Netherlands, I suppose they have to have it somewhere indoors, especially since it rained the night we were there! It was a fun night!
DINNER AT THE BEACH WITH KAREL AND TIFFANY
We drove out to the North Sea one summer night to have dinner with Karel and Tiffany. Tiffany is a knitter and Karel is her Dutch boyfriend (although they are married now as you'll see below). The Dutch love the beach and as soon as the sun comes out in mid-May, they all flock there. There are temporary bungalows that many of the Dutch rent all summer long. They are about 1/3 of the size of a camper. They usually have a small sitting room, a small bedroom, a small bathroom (I would imagine there's no room for a shower), and most importantly, a small porch. If you know someone with one of these, you're set! There are thousands of these huts that line the coast. In addition to the huts, there are also temporary restaurants that are built on the beaches. They are very bare-bone in décor but have full kitchens and plumbing. It is amazing that these are completely built and taken down every year. Anyways, we went with Karel and Tiffany to the beach one night for dinner. It was very fun.
CONCERTS
I have seen quite a few concerts since moving here. There are 2 spectacular venues. The Paradiso is set in an old church. It's main hall holds about 2000 people. It has a big floor with a bar in the back and 2 small balconies that hold about 50 people each. I usually head right for the front-row of the 1st balcony and get to look perfectly right onto the musician! The Paradiso still has stained-glass windows behind the stage which are often lit up to add a very cool ambiance to the place. The other venue is the Melkweg, which is a bit more basic but still a very intimate place to see a show. This year I saw Robert Randolph in the small room of the Paradiso with another 20+ people, Bonnie Raitt, George Clinton and P-Funk, Bo Diddley, and The Black Eyed Peas in the big room of the Paradiso. I also plan on scalping tix this week to see Jack Johnson there. At the Melkweg this year, I saw the String Cheese Incident, Polyphonic Spree (an awesome show), and Kevn Kinney with Joey. One of the cooler shows was David Crosby and Graham Nash at the Paradiso. It was tons of fun. They made a bunch of jokes about smelling pot in the crowd and getting a contact high and Nash even wore a t-shirt from the Bulldog, one of the bigger pot shops in town. All of the shows were awesome and many of them would have been in much larger venues in The States but in these intimate places, every show is amazing.
NYE
We had Ben and Gabrielle come and visit us from Boston for New Years Eve. We had a blast! I met them at the airport from my office, which is a 3-minute train ride, and grabbed their bags which I brought back to my office with me. Julie met us at the airport also, coming from the apartment. She went with them on a day-trip, acting as tourguide. Incidentally, Ben travels a lot like I do, with a stack of papers and directions and knowing exactly what he wants to see so I don't think he needed Julie's guidance but Julie had fun getting to hang with them for the day. I don't remember where they went but I think it was Haarlem. At the end of the day, Ben and Gab continued on to another town (I think Delft but again, I don't remember) where they spent the night at a hotel and Julie jumped on the train and came home to be with me. Ben and Gab enjoyed the day in Delft, however, unfortunately the main site to see, one of the few remaining 17th-century blue and white Delft ceramic manufacturers, was closed - bummer!
So Ben and Gab jumped back on the train and headed back to A'dam in time to celebrate New Year's Eve with us at the apartment. Chris and Melanie joined us as well. New Years is pretty crazy here! The Dutch don't do an organize firework display but rather, the Dutch buy their own and light them randomly. Fireworks are actually illegal in Holland but can be bought at bike shops and other random stores for the few days leading up to Dec. 31. I asked a few colleagues how I'd know which shops in my neighborhood will be selling and they told me I'd know because of the huge lines circling the block. I never saw any of these lines though. Basically, people shoot fireworks all week long. It's very weird. You'll be sleeping and then all of a sudden, you hear a huge boom. It's pretty annoying. The Dutch kinda remind me of a bunch of boarding school kids that run up to Baraboo to get some fireworks. People shoot them off wherever and whenever they want. In fact, they will just light one in a crowded square and not have any regard for the safety of others. The fireworks are pretty lame but it is an interesting night because you have to be very aware of what is going on around you. It was chaotic and almost like a warzone.
We spend most of the night in Dam Square with thousands of our closest friends. I've never been to Times Square before but it reminded me of what I think it would be like. They did a countdown and then everyone lit their fireworks. It was really fun being there. We walked past the red-light district to Nieuwmarkt, where China town is - the Chinese LOVE their fireworks! It was packed there too with more of the same. Eventually, we headed home for bed. It was a really fun night and we had a great time hanging with Ben and Gabrielle and with Chris and Melanie.
Some other strange things about New Years in A'dam...
*** A few years back there was a huge fire in one of the firework storage facilities out in the country and as a result, they are very strict about who can sell and what sort of safety conditions must exist (ie. sprinklers) in order to be able to sell. This has made it more difficult to buy them and even has some people saying that the good stuff is not even allowed in the country. To combat this, the really diehard people (ie. STUPID) drive packed cars full of illegal fireworks from Belgium. There are now cops at the boarder who stop cars to check for illegal contraband! How stupid are these people, can you imagine what would happen if one was in an accident?!?!?
*** I learned how to wish people a happy New Years, 'Pretig Jaarwiseling'. This isn't too interesting but I do find it kinda cool what they call NYE, 'oudeennieuwjaar', which literally translates to old-and-new-year.
*** The day of NYE is weird in the office. It is a half-day and employees generally bring their children. So there were kids all over. It was already difficult to do any work since it was a half-day but it was even more difficult with all the kids. I was using the bathroom when I saw 2 kids hiding by my urinal (including a girl) - it was hard to concentrate when you have 2 kids playing hide-and-go-seek right there. There was also paper towels thrown all over the floor in a paper war they were having with an adult.
*** The Dutch eat olliebollen on and around NYE. Olliebollen are basically fried dough balls with powered sugar. They are yummy! There are small carts all over town selling these goodies fried in oil. People even bring these in to the office for their colleagues. They are soooooo good!
*** I was lucky to be coming home early on NYE day but my luck turned when I saw that Julie had a firm grip on the remote control and we would be watching Oprah. It gets worse - Oprah's guest was Barry Manilow! I wanted to go back to the office!!!
WINTER/SPRING
This winter we actually had snow. It was the coldest it's been in 100 years and many of the Dutch acted as if they had never seen snow before. A'dam was absolutely beautiful! There were moms pulling kids on sleds through town on their way to do their errands. People called in sick. Schools were cancelled. Kids sled down every little hill in the country (including freeway offramps) and on anything they could get (including snowboards, plastic bags, and lunchroom trays). Roads were not cleared and even sidewalks, were not cleared. In fact, one neighbor told Julie that she had to shovel the sidewalk right in front of apartment. Nevermind that it was not Julie's responsibility to shovel (even if she weren't pregnant at the time), although it was very interesting that this woman would say something so forward and presumptuous to Julie. Anyways, it was cold, however it was not cold enough for the canals to freeze over. But even with the snow on the ground, the Dutch still rode their bikes. And having such a cold winter made for a beautiful spring! Riding my bike to work through Vondel Park was a great way to wake up when the blossoms were bursting as they were. Really peaceful!
JEWISH HOLIDAYS
We have hosted a few friends for meals on Jewish holidays recently. We had Elena, Karl and Tiffany, and Janet and Dirk (I had written in the past about how Dirk, who is Dutch, just recently found out his grandmother was Jewish, so we thought we'd try and convert him back with the best Judaism has to offer in irresistible latkes - he wasn't swayed). It was a very nice night. We also had some of Julie's American Woman's Club gals over for Passover. Funny story, we couldn't find horseradish so we had gefilta fish with wasabi!
WEDDINGS
I met a Dutch guy named Sander through work. Another friend introduced him to me because he was interviewing for a 3-year assignment in Chicago. We met for lunch to talk about Americans, Chicago, and LaSalle. We hit it off right away. As his interviewing stages finished, we would talk. We continued to become friendly. He eventually got the job in Chicago and has since moved. In the process of our talks, he mentioned that he was thinking of asking his 7-year girlfriend, Sylvia, to marry him. It is very common for Dutch people to date for decades without ever marrying but he felt, as she would be moving to Chicago to be with him, he wanted to make a similar commitment to her. Sander also wanted Julie and I to be at the wedding. I was really touched as we hadn't known him that long.
Julie and I rented a car and drove out to Haarlem, where they live. Unfortunately, I left the office a bit late and by the time we made it to Haarlem, we had missed most of the ceremony. It was in Dutch so we wouldn't missed out on it anyways but we were there long enough to get the gist. Also unfortunately, in our haste, I had left the camera in the car. This is too bad because the room where the ceremony occurred was absolutely beautiful. Basically, it was held in a beautiful 13th-century town hall room with a great clock, stained-glass windows, and a wale's tusk which hung from the ceiling. The bride and groom sit facing the civil servant, with their backs to their guests. Sitting in chairs to the left and right of Sander and Sylvia are their family. The ceremony is not religious as religion is really not a big part of most Dutch peoples lives. In fact, until very recently, all people had to get married in civil ceremonies and church weddings weren't recognized. The ceremony ended much like an American ceremony does, with vows recited, rings exchanged, a kiss, and bubbles and/or flower pedals thrown at the newlyweds as they emerge from the building.
One very interesting part of Dutch weddings is they sort of crank them out. The couple has a 30-minute slot before the room is cleared and a new wedding occurs. So as one couple is driving off, another one is gathering inside the room while a 3rd is getting ready outside. It's sorta weird and almost like a wedding assembly line but yet, also refreshing as they don't can't get all drown-out.
Sander and Sylvia sped out of town in their cute little red sports car (I think it was an '70s MG) to a town about 15-minutes away. Julie and I jumped into the rental and, despite getting a bit lost, finally made it to the reception. Since they had recently decided to get married, the wedding was planned in only 6-weeks - another very refreshing thing, although this was due to their situation and is not typically Dutch. The party was in a small restaurant. Since I had only known Sander a few months, I only knew 1 person, the guy from the bank who introduced us. I joked with Julie, asking her which would be a bigger nightmare for her - being in the middle of conversations in Dutch only or conversations about the bank, she politely didn't answer.
Dutch wedding parties are generally very small with many different parts. And for every part, there is a different guest list. So you might get invited to the cocktail hour but not the preceding ceremony or the dinner which follows. Or you might be invited to dinner but must leave before dancing starts. I remember thinking back to the 'politics' of putting our wedding list together, I could only imagine the agony of not only determining who to invite but also whether they should be invited to dinner or dancing or the ceremony. What a nightmare! Anyways, to my surprise considering how long we had known eachother, Sander and Sylvia had invited us to the entire event. This was even more surprising when we got there and realized that they had only invited about 100 of their closest friends and family and we were the only non-Dutch! In fact, I sorta felt like everyone knew who we were and we were unjustly being given credit for giving Sander the job in Chicago. I felt like a celebrity, in a way. It was sorta weird. But we had a great time and enjoyed very much talking with their friends and family.
As Sander and Sylvia would be moving soon, the wedding also had a 'going away party' feel as well and took on a bit of an American theme. Some guests brought small gifts like 'Chicago's Greatest Hits' CD to encourage their move and even Sander and Sylvia embraced this as the waiters brought around hors derves trays of mini-hamburgers and cups of popcorn. Even their dessert table had a cake with the American flag decorating it. They played 'Chicago, My Kinda Town' during the appetizers and, the funniest part of the event for me, Sander's bro would not let me leave the party without singing in front of everyone 'The Star-Spangled Banner'. I had to teach the band the melody and lead the group. It was very embarrassing! I m very glad that nobody was video taping the wedding. But it was also pretty cool. Everyone was obviously very excited to be having them move to Chicago. It was a cool night.
We were also invited to Tiffany and Karel's wedding in Naarden, about 30-minutes from A'dam, a few weeks ago. This wedding was also a ton of fun. We knew a few more people and it was a more even mix of Dutch and Americans since the bride is American. It was also held in a 17th-century town hall. This time I remembered the camera! Tiffany and Karel are also moving to the US soon as Karel is starting business school at Yale so it also had a 'going away party' undertone. I didn't have to sing anything at this party though.
Both weddings were fun and both couples will be missed but at least we'll get to see them on trips back to The States. And we have one more Dutch wedding coming up as Janet and Dirk are getting married in Nov. in Maastricht.
QUEEN'S DAY
I was not sure what to expect with this Queen's Day because I wasn't sure how Julie would feel as a 7-month prego chick. Queen's Day is generally very crowded so having to deal with lots of smokers, lots of drunks who would accidentally spill their beer, and in general, the crowds and not having a place to rest her feet, I was certain she would want to hang out.
We started Queen's Night with a burger at basically the only place in town to get a descent one, the Hard Rock Café. We were thrilled to know that the stamp placed on our hand when we sat at the table allowed us to use the toilet for free al night!
After dinner, Julie wanted to go home but I convinced her to go to the bar with me to see some of our friends as it was only 7:30 and wasn't yet too crowded. We called them and they told us they had a nice open area with a place Julie could sit to rest her feet. So we went over there with the deal that when she was tired, I would walk her home and put her to bed before going back out. I was expected to hang for an hour before bringing Julie home...3 hours later, at 11:00, she said she was ready to go home. I was shocked she lasted that long. We headed home and went to bed, but it was cool getting to hang with some of our friends.
The next morning we went to Vondel Park to see the little kids with Chris and Melanie, their friend Hot Dave, and a couple Melanie knew from work that was in town from Chicago. The kids in the Park were so cute! In addition to those selling cupcakes and their old toys, there were lots of really talented kids playing their instruments and earning money through other really cute ideas. Three of our favorite kid acts were 1) there were 3 kids dressed as gypsies (even with incense lit) that were reading palms 2) there was a really good 3-piece string group of 8 year olds 3) there were 3 little girls who had choreographed dances to a few songs which was pretty good but it was even cuter when one of the girls would screw up, the other girls would look at her and scold her for messing up. All in all, it was very cute and a lot of fun to watch!
We grabbed some lunch, did a bit of shopping although there was nothing worth buying, and eventually went over to Karel and Tiffany's to hang with them. Since they are moving to The States in a few weeks, they wanted to get rid of some of their crap, so what better time than Queen's Day. We sat with them as they sold everything they could for as little as half-a-euro. It was interested to see what kinda people would buy their crap! Actually, we bought some of their crap - Karel made a joke about how he absolutely hated the purple decorative sand and so that is now in our house for the low low price of 50 cents!
Here are a few other random T. T. M. Y. G. Hmmm...
** We are done with our Dutch lessons. I dropped out after only 30 hours since I wasn't doing any of my homework and as a result, wasn't getting anywhere with the language. I chose not to put any time into it because the last thing I wanted to do after work was homework on a language that really is not needed since EVERYONE here speaks English - it would be different if we were based in Paris. Julie took the 60 hours the bank agreed to pay for but chose not to go any further since it is now out of our pocket. Julie is much better than I am with the language and has basically got the important stuff down (ie. she can read a menu). The funny part about this whole thing is the company who offered us the lessons sent us an evaluation to get our feedback on how we thought the service was - the catch is the survey is in Dutch! I suppose they are assuming we found the lessons to be very valuable!
** A bankwide email was sent letting people know that if you are "a US citizen (regardless of where you are located, a permanent resident of the US (regardless of where you are located), or a non-US citizen located in the US" you may not "approve or facilitate the entry into or the performance of transactions or contracts with any of the following countries: Cuba, Iran, Myanmar (Burma), Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe, Liberia and North Korea". Crazy, huh? So basically, if I am analyzing a company based in Turkey (for example) and the presentation mentions that they do business with a company in one of these 'axis or evil' countries, I, as an American citizen, can not work on the deal. Already, I have had to stop working on a deal that involved the expansion of a telecom company into Iran. I momentarily stopped working on another deal when I saw the word "Iraq" until I checked the email again as I wasn't sure if that was on the list. The solution? If we would just invade all these countries, I wouldn't have to stop working on all the interesting deals!
** Finally, after nearly 2 years, the bank has fixed my email account and gotten rid of StephAn! They were able to merge my emails into one! Why it took 2 years to figure this out, I have no clue but better late than never! How did this all happen? Something was wrong with my email and I needed to contact IT support. I mentioned that I had 2 emails and they told me that wasn't allowed, as if I wanted that! I explained I had been trying to get this fixed for 2 years and finally they were able to do it. They also mentioned that my capacity was too high and was also not allowed. They told me they were going to cut it by 1/5 and that I should start deleting messages. I begged them not to do that as I couldn't possibly delete 2 years worth of emails without having time to go through which ones are needed. In the end, they allowed me to archive the emails but it was still pretty interesting that they acted as if I had done something I wasn't allowed to. But at least, it is finally fixed...for now.
** One of my biggest gripes with the Dutch has to deal with their behavior of the trams. I've mentioned before how they like to stand at the door rather than moving in to allow room for others. Additionally, they like to sit on the little yellow box just inside the tram where the passengers are supposed to validate their tix. So if you are able to barrel yourself through the wall of people standing at the door, you still have a tough time validating your tix as people are still in your way. The last pet-peeve, once the people do eventually move into the tram to make room for others, no matter how packed the tram is, when the door opens, someone will try to get on. Yesterday, the tram was bursting at the seems. We came to a stop, the doors opened, nobody got off but 2 people pushed their way on and 1 last woman, who wasn't able to squeeze her way on, took 3 steps back to get a running-start in her attempt to squeeze on. It didn't work, and despite the dirty looks and people telling her 'het tram is vull', she took 5 steps back and tried to force herself on again. I think a good portion of the country's population is mildly retarded - and 'mildly' is being polite. I am certain I will go postal one of these days on the tram!
** We wonder why the bank is middle-of-the-road compared to its peers? The senior person in charge of me was given a 3-month sabbatical to go hiking in Nepal. All the senior managers get one sabbatical in their career, but you must wonder how 3-months hiking in Nepal benefits your banking career. Can you believe that, 3 months! And I thought I had it good with 32 vacation days! But one wonders how an organization can function with its senior people gone for ¼ of a year at some time in their career. As another amazing benefit from the perspective of the employee and stupid benefit from the perspective of the employer, I have a friend whose job has been downsized. He will continue to get paid his full salary for 18 months while the bank tries to help him get a new job within the bank. After the 18 months have expired, he will loose his job but will get paid unemployment from the Dutch government. So he is in a position where, despite not working in over a year, he has the luxury of waiting for the perfect job as opposed to just getting any old job to help with the bills. Amazing! A great deal if you work for the bank but again, I certainly understand why the bank is having some problems that some of its peers don't.
** Now that Julie is physically unable to clean the apartment (although she didn't do such a stellar job prior to her pregnancy), we have finally arranged to have a maid come. This is the 1st time we've ever done that. So far she's done a great job and I am sure we will never again clean our place, gladly!
** As we wait for Joey's epic t-pod, I was reminded of his visit when I found his dirty undies under the futon in the spare room. Julie and I argued for a few hours but eventually, I gave in and touched them, putting them in a bag so that we could get them out of the house pronto! I then showered for 2 and a half hours!
** The only food Julie has craved since becoming pregnant has been Kraft Singles. Unfortunately, they are not sold in A'dam so we've had a few visitors bring a couple packs. Julie has been eating grilled cheese a few times a week ever since.
** As another interesting aspect to this experience, I received a $23,000 tax refund for 2003. As another oddity, my tax return was being submitted over a year past April 15. This is crazy. After coming back down to Earth after seeing the fortune the IRS owed us, and although nobody explained how taxes would work in this regard, I continued reading through the 50+ forms and appendixes in the KPMG-prepared tax return and noticed in the last page a letter which stated that I would have to repay the bank within 30 days of receiving the tax check in the amount of $20,000. I wish this letter had been in the front of the package so that I wouldn't have gotten my hopes up but I suppose the net of $3,000 sounds about right. But damn it would've been sweet to get $32,000.
** There is a new flavor of potato chips in A'dam, BBQ Ham. Doesn't this sound disgusting!?!?!?
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