March 30th
Having all of (what we thought was) our final paperwork, I ventured back to the IND. I hoped to play the game of “your appointment system was down last week, so I figured I’d show up and get this done.” No luck – “you need an appointment”.
The woman behind the main counter was nice enough to review my paperwork and start the filing process. “Where is your Employer Sponsorship form?” C’mon! I’m not going to be employed here, but apparently my wife’s company still needs to sponsor me.
Home I go. I call the wife, and she starts working with her HR dept to get this done….but wait, I don’t have a Vnumber yet (a temporary ID for paperwork). They mailed out my forms to a central processing facility, so maybe by Thursday it will be in the system and I’ll have a “Vnummer”. Once I have that, I need to put the number on all remaining paperwork and mail them to the central facility. Ugh.
Dinner was made at home. Kathryn introduced me to grocery “Butter chicken” sauce and a special microwavable Basmati rice (with naan I bought). Was an actually good Indian meal.
March 31st
With all of my IND escapades, I did not want to forget all of this experience. I decided to start this blog, detailing my first week here.
Kathryn has a French tutor (yes, French) here in Amsterdam, and they meet at the library between Nemo (the science museum) and Centraal Station. Right next door sits Media Markt, their version of Best Buy. Needing a printer/scanner, we decide we’ll meet there after tutoring and look around.
Definitely their big box store. I found a cheap (and small) enough all-in-one, but the flaw in my plan was the fact that we still needed to eat dinner, and I didn’t want to carry this thing all night.
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Blessing and a curse: having a “sugar momma”. Not having a BSN number, I can’t be added to the bank account. No bank account, no PIN card… EVERYTHING is paid for through PIN card.
I’ve had the urge to just go buy what I need at Media Markt several times, but I can’t. I need Kathryn with me to pay.
Fun fact: “Sugar daddy” originated here, as Sugar was a major trading good for the Dutch East Indian Co. Women would increase their status by finding one.
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Where to eat? Back in Nieuwmarkt? Wanted something different.
So we wandered through the howling wind; not the best idea. Heading towards the Red Light district, I saw Kathryn getting antsy. Came across two Chinese restaurants next to each other. One had a menu all in Chinese. Oriental City had a multi-language menu in the window. Easy choice.
As we walk into the building, two men coming out warn us “Two camels upstairs”. WTF? No idea what that meant. We had a window seat looking over the street corner and a good meal.
We walked home (quickly) through the wind. As Kathryn was taking off her coat, I went to turn on her “favorite” lamp in the apt…. Boom! The switch, on the cord, explodes in my hand and the breaker trips. The cord literally broke in half.
Luckily no burn, but I was so shocked by the incident I did not think to take a picture of my hand before washing off all the soot.
Football! Turned on the Ned-Spajne friendly match just in time to see De Vrij (“De Vry”) score the first goal. Soon thereafter, Klaassen makes it 2-0. ends up being the final score.
Back to the DVR.
April 1st
I open the pantry for breakfast, I notice no bread for lunch. Didn’t really matter, the fridge had no deli. Noontime groceries yet again, and again the place is hoppin’. Decided to splurge and get some Oreos.
Dinner was in the Pijp (“pipe”) neighborhood. Kathryn’s friend Owen has a friend starting a job in The Hague but living in Amsterdam. We decide to meet him for dinner at Za Za’s. Here’s the amazing part – they are definitely trying to be haute cuisine, and their dishes are certainly up there. The total cost for three people, with appetizer, dinner, and dessert each? €126 (€42 each). A similar place in the states could probably charge $75 each.
Watched TV. Midnight rolls around, time for bed, but feeling a little home sick. Called mom and grandma for a quick hello.
April 2nd
The wife signed us up for Dutch classes today. Six weeks, two nights a week plus two field trips. I’m a little anxious – hated school, hated studying, hated homework. I already work from home. I still have those dreams when it’s time for a Final Exam and I didn’t go to class all semester.
But yesterday we received two letters from the city, both fully in Dutch. We just have to learn it.
I’m off tomorrow, and Kathryn is off on Monday. She wants to get away for the weekend, so she decided on Maastricht.
Not really sure what we are going to do there.
My turn to make dinner – for the first time in two weeks. I attempted lemon pepper chicken. It was a very white meal (we served it over basmati rice), and just OK. I’ll add more paprika next time.
More TV. Finished Banshee’s last season. Not happy with the Job abduction, but really liked the final scene.
Plan on packing tomorrow.
April 3rd
Worked in the morning, assuming I wouldn’t be home from Maastricht until late on Monday.
Got a letter from IND today with my Vnummer. Now we have to mail in the Employer Sponsorship form.
Still no packages from home. Wife called FedEx yesterday. Here’s the scoop:
“We can’t help you. You should probably hire a customs broker.”
Thanks for nothing, FedEx!
We did just that, and sure enough it will be $500 more than paying the taxes through FedEx. We’re going to re-evaluate our packed boxes and see if we can shrink down the shipment. Although, Kathryn’s company has a bonded warehouse – I say she tries to take advantage of it, but she doesn’t want to “rock the boat”
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Ha! A guy in the canal boat that just went by looks like Simon Cowell.
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Our thermostat manual is only in Dutch. Did you know Google Translate will translate PDF’s? Found that out today. Was able to program our thermostat’s “vacation” mode.
Off to Maastricht! I meet Kathryn at Centraal Station, but there was confusion over which ticket counter. We headed to the train and stopped at DeBroodZaak (The Bread Case) for a sandwich. I got a cooked ham, which ended up have mustard on it (I hate mustard). But it was the first, real chocolate chip cookie we’ve had since we’ve been here.
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Some notes about the train ride:
- I will never complain about Amtrak wifi again. Man this is painful.
- While the Amsterdam countryside has older windmills, the aesthetics are not that pleasing. The intricate mini-canals are interesting, but the farms are nothing to look at.
- A lot of warehouses between cities.
- And ponies.
- Graffiti is international…and just as sad.
- First class is not the same as the US. If I wanted to use my laptop, it’s on my lap.
- The WordPress editor in android Firefox is a POS
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We got to the hotel, unpacked, then heard a band in the street. We go outside to see a religious procession for Easter – much like my old Portuguese church back home in RI.
We walk the streets to get more acquainted with the city (or for her to get more acquainted with the shops). We had dinner in Centraal Station waiting for the train, but we were feeling a bit peckish; so we stopped at Friterie for curry fries (something I wish was more available in Boston) on the way back to the hotel.
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Netflix international allows you to watch Netflix originals. Saw the first episode of Season 3 House of Cards. Hotel wifi sucks, though. Poor quality stream.
April 4th
Maastricht! I’ll have a separate post with my musings about this place.
Started the day with an Egg McMuffin, yes the original. Also asked for a hashbrown, but Hippie forgot to order it. Dammit, Hippie!
Rain…again. We ventured out towards the fort, stopped at the Basilica. Nice enough. First Bishop of the Netherlands from 389 buried there.
Got to the fort – foiled by mud. And lots of it.
Headed back for lunch… ended up at an Italian Bistro. (yes, a Bistro. It’s name was in French, Aux Pays Bas, but the menu was mostly Italian.) Two hours later, the sun was out; so I went back to the hotel to drop off the umbrellas while the Hippie shopped. But she didn’t; she got lost and ended up at a park with a petting zoo.
Met her at the old City Hall. We found a kitchen store the night before and were eager to buy a skillet with a lid. We found many in Amsterdam, but none were induction safe.
I’m now back at the hotel writing this and uploading some pictures I took while she shops. We have no reservations for dinner tonight, so it will be an adventure. The straats are mobbed with tourists.
Ended up at an Irish Pub for dinner. More House of Cards afterwards.
April 5th
Happy Easter, if you celebrate it.
Wasn’t so happy for us in the morning. Kathryn wasn’t feeling well (I’ll let her decide to disclose on her own blog if she chooses). Upon returning to the center of town, we realized we were hungry. We strolled the main drag and ended up at Zondag’s (Sunday’s). After lunch, we realized the sun would be out for the rest of the day, so I went back to the hotel to get my camera and we went off in search of the park she found (while lost) yesterday.
On the way, we walked past yet another old church and found the Chocolate Company. They had all different types of chocolate desserts, and their claim to fame are these “hotchocspoons”…different flavored chocolates impaled by a wooden spoon that you are supposed to use with hot milk to create hot chocolate. An awesome diversion.
Off to the park. It actually follows the medieval city walls and takes you by Maastricht University. I wouldn’t call it a “petting zoo”, more like human-accessible pens of animals being cared for by the university. If you are touching the animals, you are trespassing. People did anyway – one family brought bags of lettuce to feed the goats.
We walked through the Helpoort – a city gate erected in 1229 – back through the southern part of the old city, over the modern bridge, and back (along the water) to the main drag and the hotel.
7 PM reservation at Flo Maastricht, a french brasserie. Good food, but lots of veggies.
Restaurants Visited
Oriental City (Amsterdam)
Za Zas (Amsterdam)
DeBroodZaak (Amsterdam Centraal, track 4)
Friterie (Maastricht)
Aux Pays Bas (Maastricht)
Peter’s Irish Pub (Maastricht)
Zondag’s (Maastricht)
Chocolate Company (Maastricht)
Flo (Maastricht)