March

It’s been a whopping three weeks since Carnival ended and I am just starting to come down off my sugar high. After sorting through all the goodies we had dutifully collected – more accurately, the goodies we had been pelted with and then picked up off the ground – we made two piles; the stuff we would eat and the stuff we wouldn’t. I am happy to report the pile of goodies we didn’t want was bigger, so we piled it up in a bag and asked Nina’s mom to take it to work with her to eat amongst her staff.

It was time to buy a new camera after the unfortunate incident at Carnival that left my camera unable to work. As my hours were now cut and I was told I don’t need to show up at the office every day now (only if I have a candidate to screen) I have taken advantage of the extra time at my disposal. I am going on epic walks almost daily, and walking through shopping districts looking for the best deal. I came across a unique shop that offered the best prices I had seen.

Inside this shop were tall glass cabinets three metres high. They weren’t arranged in rows, but randomly placed throughout the store and lining all the walls. They were placed on funny angles and looking like they were arranged for a game of laser-tag more so than to be convenient for shopping. Inside the cabinets were all sorts of goods ranging from jewellery and perfumes to cooking appliances to electronic equipment. The only staff members in the store were the two girls at the counter at the back. In front of each cabinet a small counter sat with a pen and a form to fill out with the item number. Sticking your nose to the plate glass was about as close to the products as you could get until you had paid the cashier.

I saw a number of cameras in my price range so I wrote down the make and model numbers. I went home and looked them up on the Internet, reading all the features and user reviews. When I had narrowed it down to one camera I wanted, I downloaded its user manual and read it to ensure the camera had everything I wanted. I went back to buy it and paid about as much as I had 2 years earlier for the same make, but this was an advanced model. It had all the same features as my previous camera (really wanted the panoramic mode again) but was lighter, smaller and of a higher quality.

So now when I go for my afternoon walks with the double-digit temperatures, I am taking my camera with me to capture the interesting side of Amsterdam. One of the first things you see when you walk out of Centraal Station in downtown Amsterdam is the tri-level bicycle parkade. For the first time, I walked to the top of it to get a view of the city, but instead realized the best picture was of the structure itself from this unique vantage point.

A few months ago I discovered something distinctive and found myself close by it again, this time with my camera. The Westerdocks area is where the shipbuilding used to occur, a neighbourhood on a half dozen tiny interconnected islands full of warehouses. Like Yaletown, it has become a trendy neighbourhood, yet retained a lot of the rustic flavour of the neighbourhood, kind of like Commercial Drive; sort of like a hybrid between the two. There is an out-of-service rail line that enters that area via an old rail swing bridge. They have locked the bridge in the open position, built a smaller footbridge from the shore to it and have constructed a restaurant on top (picture to the left). Great use of space.

The following weekend Nina came to Amsterdam. The weather had started to get milder and the sun was poking out a little more frequently, so on the Saturday Nina and I went for a walk around the lake near my apartment. This is the lake I was circumnavigating three times a week last fall as it’s 5 km around and a good kilometre to and from my apartment. Around the halfway point sits a restaurant complex perched on the side of the water. In the multilevel building there is a bar/nightclub on the main floor, a café and an elegant Chinese restaurant on the first floor and a coffee shop in the roof.

The café has a romantic flare in the evenings, something we had discovered last summer as we dined there on a few occasions. During the day they cater to people strolling by looking for a coffee or something small to eat. As a treat (bribe) for going on such a long walk with me, we stopped in for a half hour and had a cappuccino.

Looking for something a little different that evening, we strolled along Overtoom; the main road that runs parallel to Vondelpark, looking for a place for supper. We stopped at a rustic trattoria on a corner, a place we had walked by a dozen times before, and peered inside. The small room was dominated by a display case housing dishes all looking home cooked and tantalizing. There were a few tables opposite the display and an open kitchen in the back. The walls were dominated by shelves of cooking supplies to take home and the place had a feel to it similar to if you were dining in someone’s home.

As soon as we walked in the lady who ran the place started talking to us, as she had apparently grown tired of talking to the cooks (the only other people in the place). I immediately got the feeling she was chatty (and a little sassy) and wouldn’t leave us alone if we stayed. We stayed. The menu was more of a rough guide, followed if need be. I ordered lamb shank and was asked what I wanted with it as the woman pointed to the display case. I picked some vegetables and mashed potatoes and Nina created a new pasta dish that wasn’t on the menu. The conversation was great, the woman was friendly and fun and it made for an interesting evening. It was one of the more inexpensive, yet totally unique dining experiences I have had in Amsterdam. We will definitely go back.

The following week Stefan showed up at the office. This was unusual as we hadn’t seen him in over a month. He had been travelling around Scandinavia and the UK going to IT conferences headhunting candidates. He had been managing us remotely, through Email and phone conversations. In the meantime one of our largest clients stopped recruiting, cutting the total number of available jobs we were trying to fill in half (and below 10). On the Friday I was in the office with Stefan and he turned to me and asked; “How many hours are you working a week?”
“I am working full time.”
”Oh.” He seemed a little shocked by that news even though I sent him a spreadsheet each week with my total hours for that week and the total for the month thus far. He continued to tell me he was not able to sustain four full time employees with the limited number of jobs to fill. I knew this. He cut me back to part time with a guarantee that he would give me at least 20 hours a week.

I called my manager at the cruise ship terminal and talked with her about the job she had offered me around the same time Stefan brought me onboard full time. I asked her to wait, at that time, because I wanted to see if things would be stable at the White Door before making a decision on anything else. It turns out that was a very wise decision. And luckily, she had held the position hoping I would take it.

So this summer I will be working with the check-in agents again, this time in a supervisory role. I will also take on a new task of liaising with the guests who choose to stay on for a night or two before or after their cruise. I will be their Amsterdam contact answering questions and selling excursions. I will be issued a cell phone for the summer (blah) and each guest will receive a welcome letter in their rooms with my name and number. I will also organizing them on the morning of their cruise and escort them to the terminal on a shuttle bus. It won’t be unlike a sheep herder, except, instead of sheep it will be Americans. Yes, so like a sheep herder.

Between the two jobs, it will still fall short of full time hours, but it will be an interesting variety of different tasks. I am excited about having more interactions with people, something sorely lacking in my other job.

The next weekend I helped Nina with some of her applications. We spent an afternoon writing, editing and proofing one of the more complex applications. Then in the evening some of Nina’s friends came over for a games night.

Up until a few years ago Sunday dinners used to be punctuated by a game marathon after the meal and it was one of the highlights of those evenings for me. I think the rest of the family felt the same way as the evenings always included a lot of laughter. I have always loved games and I am so happy Nina has a similar to passion as me. We are even more lucky she has a group of friends who also like to indulge from time to time.

Last week I went out for a few drinks one evening with my American friend, Kent. We started off at an Irish bar around the corner from his apartment in the centre of the city. I ordered an Irish cider and to my surprise, it was a true pint, which took me the better part of an hour to finish. Our next stop was a punk bar, something I didn’t know existed in Amsterdam. The music was loud, the air was smoky, the patrons were tattooed and the mix of people inside was eclectic. Kent had been here a few times, which didn’t match with his programming background and clean-cut style. It was the diversity of people that kept bringing him back. At the end of the small bar was an older man with leathery skin, slightly resembling Jim from Taxi. According to Kent he is always standing there at the end of the bar. It didn’t take long for us to notice the bartender’s T-shirt; all black with a photograph of the guy at the end of the bar. Very strange.

Our last stop was a tiny bar on a side road off the main pedestrian shopping fair. It was recommended to me by an old colleague/friend of mine from my Riley/Kettle of Fish days; John. Shortly after arriving in Amsterdam I received a message from him telling me I should check out Café "De Dokter". OK, so it took me almost a year to do it, but it popped into my mind as Kent and I were walking close by. It is one of the neatest places I have been. It’s 200+ years old (1798) and is still run by the same family that started it 6 generations ago. It is tiny, 18 square metres with a total of 24 chairs and stools. The place is covered in ancient memorabilia and an extremely thick layer of dust. There is no point trying to describe this place, you have to see it for yourself. Luckily the website has some photos which you can see here.

Work is getting slower and slower as the few jobs we have available are gradually drying up. However I did get some good news; one of the guys I screened a month ago and matched to a job we are representing was offered the job. It was a position he was really well suited for and he wanted it so badly, so it was nice to see him get it.

Mom was kind enough to send me my tax information for 2008 so I was able to prepare my tax return. I finished it and headed to the local post office to send it back to Canada. I went midday to avoid it being too busy and lucked out. When I walked in the door I was but one of two customers there; the other being helped at the counter. Another clerk stood at the same counter and made eye contact with me as I walked in, so I approached him. As I got to the counter he told me I needed to take a number. I paused for a moment to see if he was joking, but he didn't appear to be. He pointed back toward the front door where the number machine was located. So, I dutifully walked back through the empty post office to the door, took the piece of paper with 166 written on it and walked halfway back to the counter where a red line was painted on the floor. I stopped and waited; the clerk was watching me go through this whole process. He rang a little bell and called out 166. I walked up to the counter smiling, and he gave me a half smile, obviously unaware of the silliness of the whole situation.

This past weekend I went to Germany for a second weekend in a row. On Saturday we went to the neighbourhood pool to swim our laps. It is one of the nicest pools I have ever swam in. The two sides of the pool that follow its length have rows of windows allowing a lot of natural light to come in. The roof is angled and as you swim toward the deep end getting higher and higher. The end of the building is a massive wall of glass looking out on the parkland around it. When you swim back toward the shallow end, on your back, you can gaze out the glass wall at the forest on the opposite side of the park. It’s also an infinity pool, where you have the illusion there are no sides. When you half submerge your head until your eyes are at water level, it looks like the water goes on forever with “invisible” sides. It’s rarely busy, and when it is there are maybe 3 or 4 other swimmers making it the perfect location for swimming laps.

To celebrate our swim we stopped at the Italian gelato shop on the way back to Nina’s apartment. It opens every February (closed for the winter) and anytime the temperature rises toward the double digits and the rain stops, people crowd to this little shop.

We rented a few movies over the weekend which I hadn’t seen before and really enjoyed. On Friday we watched Thank You for Smoking with Aaron Eckhart and William H Macy. This movie is a must see, so poignant and humorous. A great satire and an excellent acting job by Eckhart. On Saturday we saw My Big Fat Greek Wedding which everyone has raved about but I didn’t see when it came out because I was working at Tony & Tina’s Wedding and I thought it would be too similar. I was right to think that, but now, I thought it was a fun film and worth the watch.

On the train back to Amsterdam I continued to read I book I have been enjoying by Bill Bryson called Nether Here Nor There, Travels in Europe. In the 1970s when Bill was in his 20s he backpacked through Europe. Twenty years later he revisited that trip and wrote this book about his adventures and observations. Being an American who has lived in the UK for 20 years, his humour is the best of both. The book is whimsical and makes me dream back to 2007 when I was able to explore these wonderful European cities on my own when everything was new and foreign.

Nina has requested next weekend to herself so she can finish her thesis and study for her final exam. With a weekend free and being in the middle of Bill’s Belgium chapter, the wheels started to turn. I had a weekend free, I always said one of the great things about living in Amsterdam is its proximity to so many places. It was Bill’s description of Bruges that really did it for me, not to mention how much I loved the movie In Bruges and the fabulous scenery. So many people told me I wasted my time in Brussels (no one needed to tell me that, I knew it within a half day) when Bruges was only 30 km away.

So I bought a train ticket, booked a hostel and will spend next Friday – Sunday by myself exploring a new town. And I can’t think of a better way to spend the weekend.