My New Apartment

Well, folks, it's all becoming so real. Sean and I got back yesterday from our trip to Europe, so I have a lot to catch up on. The flight to Europe went pretty smoothly, despite Sean's intense fear of planes. We touched down in Amsterdam at about 8 in the morning, with a whole day ahead of us. After a quick jog in Vondelpark, we got ready and headed down to Hilversum to see the Nike EHQ for the first time. We learned a few lessons at this time: 1. You can't use credit cards for a lot of purchases in Europe and 2. You have to use coins in machines to buy train tickets. Both of these things made it a real pain in the butt to get from Point A to Point B, but after we figured out the system, things got easier. We got to EHQ, walked around a bit, and then Sean went back to Amsterdam while I met my new team and discussed expectations, etc. We had a good ol' American dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe that night. Sean was ready for something familiar after touching down in a place so foreign to him. Wednesday was the day of apartment shopping. I viewed 5 apartments, and ended up falling in love with the first one that I saw. It's in the "Old South" part of town, and right on the Tram line that I'll take every day to get to work. It's got some beautiful features - lovely hardwood floors, a huge kitchen, and two bedrooms. Perfect for guests! :) The photos of the place that I selected are above. One funny anecdote from the trip: I wanted to look at a few places on the canals, as that would be so "Amsterdam" to live on a canal, so the realtor had arranged to view one apartment on the Singel canal. As we are getting out the car, Sean says to me, "Um, there's a woman in that window, just smiling and starting at me. Um, and, yeah, she's wearing lingerie.". I didn't see the woman at the time, but on the way out of the apartment, one look at the red light above her window clued me in pretty quickly as to why she was smiling at Sean. It certainly wasn't because she thought he was cute! :) We had Dutch pancakes for lunch (and Sean got to experience European eating - and smoking - for the first time), then took a little rest. We tried Indonesian food for the first time that night and loved it. Thursday, we took some time to get to know the city a little better. I went into some grocery stores near my place (there are small grocery stores, but a lot of little shops where you can buy only one thing - like only meat, or only cheese, etc), and walked down the main drag in my new neighborhood to find out where things are. It feels really safe, and the best part is that I can get a parking permit right away. There are some parts of town where parking permits will not be available for 3 years or longer!!! As Thursday was Valentine's Day, we also took a romantic canal tour and then had a very nice dinner at an Italian restaurant called Casa di David (is the common theme of this trip - eating - becoming clear to you???). Friday was our last full day in Amsterdam, and I spent most of it in Hilversum with the new team, getting to know people and finding out exactly what my new role will be. I felt like I was doing so well taking the train back to Amsterdam, until I second guessed myself on the stop I was supposed to get off on and ended up adding on an additional 30 minutes to my trip! How frustrating! Sean and I hit the hay early... as the next morning we took off for Paris!! :)