Living La Vida Loca

It’s the little things that matter sometimes

Andrew and I have been here for a couple of days, staying in the apartment of a energetic 22 year old named Teun.  Teun is an entrepreneur…he rents out his small but very cozy flat through airbnb, provides basic necessities like linens, towels, soaps, candles for mood lighting (love it), fresh bread/cheeses/ snacks, and even threw in a bottle of wine for us.  He moves in with his brother nearby while the apartment is occupied and stops by to check in or grab things he needs for his routine.  He freelances as a sommelier at local restaurants as he has a license for this.  He attends school. and he has two sweet cats who have just given birth to kittens – one momma cat and her adorable three kittens have been keeping us company!  The location of the flat is great – just off the main canal – Amstel – and within strolling distance of cafes, small markets, and a nice walk into the central district and to the Amstel train station.  We felt like locals in a short time.

The ’round the corner pub and café, Hesp, is a very jumping watering hole for young people in the eveings (I feel so old walking through the bar), but it has a quiet little restaurant attached to it where we met Merel – a spunky 20-something school teacher who also works as a server.  She chatted with us the first night we were in, and we immediately felt welcome and relaxed. She recommended Lulu for Andrew’s birthday dinner – and we did go there last night.  It was one of the best meals we’ve had – ever. The young chef came out after our main course because we’d said we were so smitten with the food and he really appreciated the positive feedback. Andrew was treated to a mouse-shaped chocolate mousse (good pun) and a rousing round of birthday cheer sung by two of the servers.

Cash or charge?

It’s been a bit of a comedy trying to guess the right way to pay for things here. the first morning we discovered a great café that has wireless, nice big tables to work at, and good, good coffee. That morning all we wanted to do was get coffee and Andrew reached for his cash. “Very sorry, we actually don’t take cash…only credit and debit cards with a PIN…” Huh? Turns out this café had been robbed one too many times (despite the fact that crime is minimal in Amsterdam compared to many other cities) and they decided not to keep cash on hand. Makes sense – sort of. So a very sweet woman ahead of us heard this exchange and said “It’s Friday – coffee is on me!”. Ever had that happen?

So, smart folks that we are (LOL) we decided that we’d be sure to keep minimal cash on hand and carry our credit cards when out and about. Sure enough, we went to a great Greek restaurant on the nearby canal for dinner, and – you guessed it – they only take CASH. You can’t win. The meal was yummy but it emptied pockets with about 5 euro to spare.

Moral of the story: Don’t assume. Anything. You will always be surprised.

Last funny story for now…My first day here I had to go visit my clients at Microsoft Netherlands, and the train was the best option. I bought a train ticket and was told to go upstairs to the tracks and take the next train. When I got upstairs, there was no train, but a metro that was clearly going to Central Station where I had to transfer to get to the offices. So I hopped on and got to Central Station. I could not figure out how to get OUT of the metro and into the train part of the station. Two official-looking guys were standing at the turnstiles nearby and I said that I was lost and was sure I’d done something wrong, showing them my train ticket. Silly me, I expected them to say I’d done something really dumb and would have to buy a new ticket…or worse yet, that I’d need to pay a fine for freeloading on the metro (I have maybe been living in rule-bound Spain too long?). To the contrary, they smiled and one said: “You did do something wrong, but let me help you through and point you to the train you need…” Apparently the metro and trains use the same stations but the tickets are different and you can’t go back and forth between them. Silly me. As I thanked him and apologized, the other guy said: “Don’t worry, he will carry you to Schiphol (where I needed to go)!”

Growing on me…really growing on me.