Weekdays in the Park With Josh

I only minimally regret not doing more “touristy” things during my first five days in Amsterdam. I ventured into the city center on Sunday to find an adapter for charging my laptop in a Dutch outlet, and my experience wading through throngs of aimlessly wandering (and often stoned) tourists turned me off from going anywhere near them for the time being. So I’ve been relaxing in parks and working on my Dutch lessons and papers and journal reviews. It’s been a little strange not talking with many people (though I have had conversations with the bed and breakfast owner, and I met a colleague from the VU for dinner last night), but on the whole it’s been relaxing after the stress associated with saying so many goodbyes and selling all of my stuff in Albuquerque.

The parks here are little grassy oases in an otherwise very urban (if reminiscent of a village) city. There are only a handful of parks within “the ring” (the ring refers to a highway that surround “old” Amsterdam, and divides the quintessentially Dutch architecture from the more modern and suburban parts of the metro area), and the residents appear to pile in them. Throngs of young people have been lounging in the grass on blankets, the young men without their shirts, and the young women with their shirts lifted up so they can tan their stomachs (though it appears that several of them are surprisingly tan already – not sure if they fake bake, if they’re tourists, or if some are naturally dark skinned).

And, without further ado, picture time:

One charm of Amsterdam is the ubiquitous beer sign above cafes. Virtually anywhere with table service proudly advertises serving Amstel, Heineken, or, less commonly, Grolsch.

I had lunch in the park today. I stopped in a fairly cheap, (I think) independently owned fast food place. After being told I could not have the brie sandwich, since they were out of brie, I went for some kind of ham and cheese on a very good hard, flaky bread (the kind that seems to be everywhere in Europe, but is pretty difficult to find in Albuquerque). I decided to try a "green" can of soda, and, when I sat down in the park later, I found that it is called "green punch." It was noxious enough that I could only drink about two ounces. I'll be avoiding green punch in the future.

Europe is funny: much cooler churches than the U.S., but much less religious people.

There are a lot of birds in the parks.