Settling In

I have left the bed and breakfast where I was staying, and I’ve moved in with an American who works in my department. His place is pretty fabulous. It’s not huge (maybe 650 square feet), but the kitchen, floors, and bathroom were recently renovated, and the apartment overlooks the nice park I’ve gone to several times this week. I’ve agreed to take an apartment that isn’t far from where I am now, but the lease doesn’t start until June 24th. So I’m a bit of a vagabond until then.

I have been settling in slowly, though. I had dinner at Kat’s friend’s Huub’s apartment on Wednesday with Huub, his wife Eva, and his friend Martijn. We talked for hours about the Netherlands (which, contrary to the information I obtained in guidebooks, the natives actually do call Holland), especially Dutch politics and differences in social conservatism between Holland and the U.S. They were very enjoyable to talk to, and I think I’ll be able to do stuff with them in the future.

I continued my ridiculous amount of walking until my feet hurt badly enough that I went to a bike store and just decided to buy a used bike. It’s typical for Amsterdam: beat up, no hand breaks (so pedal breaks, like a fixed gear), and single speed. I also bought the requisite $50 industrial strength chain that is apparently required to minimize the probability of theft. I hope that I’ll be able to adapt to traffic norms here without crashing, since I am sticking with the “don’t wear a helmet” norm.

And a few pics:

And a friendly white cat

A church near the center of town

An example of the restaurants in the touristy part of town

What I believe is a typical Dutch breakfast, and what I ate for five straight mornings. It includes: a hard boiled egg; a croissant with butter and chocolate shavings; hard flaky bread with thin slices of meat and cheese; and tea.

Me with Jan, the 78 year old man who operates the bed and breakfast I stayed in from Saturday to Thursday. I got really lucky in choosing this place; it was extremely clean, Jan was kind and funny, and I was the only person staying there Monday through Thursday.