Amsterdam is wet

Photos from my temporary residence at 118 Singel, clockwise from left: kitchen, living room, bedroom, looking down the stairs from the bedroom

The place I'm staying is very Dutch. Usually when I'm indoors in the US, I don't have a sense of geographical location because I could really be anyplace. But my place is right on one of the canals. There are three tall glass windows in the living room, so I have a great view of other old Amsterdam buildings and the water, which they light up at night and it is gorgeous. The stairs are narrow and tight. I still get vertigo climbing up and down to my bedroom.

I just found a permanent place, which only took one day -- and really I'm not sure if I could have afforded to spend any more time than that to look. It's nice and modern, smaller than my old place, mostly furnished and in an ideal location. If I look out the front windows to one side I see a canal, to the other side, the tram stop. Across the street is a gym (but I hear memberships are really expensive compared to the US). I'm a few blocks from the train stop that will take me to work in about 15 minutes. And also a few blocks north of Albert Cuypmarkt, which is the main open-air market here for produce & cheap clothes/jewelry/etc. I probably won't move though for at least 2 weeks. The contract still has to be negotiated and I'm off to Chamonix on Saturday.

Work has been absolutely crazy because there's only one guy who's been handling everything. Two of us have to be trained. But he's too busy to train us properly. His girlfriend is due in a few weeks, at which point he will take 2 weeks off, and I'm just crossing my fingers that the baby will not arrive early. In the meantime, I'm having to come up with contingency plans for everything that might happen while I am gone next week, and then while he is gone as well. I am also gone next week for full two days to give some presentations at workshops. These should go well. But basically what I'm trying to say is that I haven't had much time to breathe.

I've picked up a few Dutch words here and there, but I feel kind of dumb using them when really and truly EVERYONE here speaks English. Even then guys who come around at night to clean out the wastebaskets. My favorite word so far is "prima". It means pretty much better than okay. As in when you arrive at the mountain on a Wednesday morning after it's been snowing all night and hardly anyone's there and all you see is untracked snow. That's when you say "prima!" But it may just be an Italian word that the Dutch happen to use a lot, I'm not sure. In June, the company is planning to send us Americans to a full-week intensive Dutch course at a convent in the south of Holland. So we will be studying Dutch 10 hours a day with the nuns. Hallelujah!

The relocation process over all has been very rocky at best, with lots of misunderstandings and delays, paperwork getting lost, and that kind of thing. And my god, it rains a LOT here. I really need a much sturdier umbrella. I have one somewhere, but it still needs to clear customs! But I have to say that my coworkers and direct reports have been absolutely fantastic so far. And this weekend I'll be heading to Cham for a full week of backcountry boarding with the Brits. That should be a jolly good adventure...

As soon as I get back to Amsterdam and am moved in, I'll be shopping around for a nice sofa bed so I can accomodate some visitors (hint, hint) Hope everyone's doing well. I heard about the epic pow...yeah...I knew that would happen as soon as I left town!