Amsterdam: Bikes, Red Lights, Rugby and Haarlem Renaissance

Friday evening I arrived in Amsterdam and knew immediately that I would love it. Since I'm behind on my blogging I will share the writings from that day in my little journal thingy...
So I've been in Amsterdam now for about an hour and the first five minutes being outside of my hostel I was asked if I was habesha (ethnic group from Ethiopia and Eritrea). I don't know what it is but I am definitely waaaay back somewhere of Ethiopian descent because no one ever seems to thnk I'm anything else. I expect Ethiopian in D.C. but in Central Amsterdam for a man to yell "Salaam!" down a crowded street in the rain while I'm wearing a hood...yeah there's something up with this. In case you weren't aware, Indonesia is a former Dutch colony and Indonesian cuisine is all over Holland. Because of this, I'm sitting in an Indonesian restaurant called, you guessed it...."Indonesian Restaurant" ... very creative right?! I'm eating an appetizer called Bapo which is this bread ball filled with meat served with sweet and sour sauce. Not at all what I expected but...it works. I've decided that Dutch is like Danish to me...GREEK! OMG how can one be so lost in a language???? at least my trip to South Africa helped me with Dutch. Even though Afrikaans isn't quite Dutch it's close enough that basic things I learned there are helping me here. I alread love the city...at least the city center because there are a million shops and beautiful old buildings. The smell of mary jane wafting in the air past every doorway is still bewildering and not going awww that's a cute coffee shop...I should check it out is also challenging, because I still can't seem to understand that coffee shop is not the equivalent of a cafe. Okay so...I lied aout the name of the restaurant, just realized it's called Sukasari Indonesian Restaurant...maybe I'm suffering an inability to read from contact high...YIKES!!!


That night I hung out for awhile with a cool girl from Canada and two other American guys...playing pool, etc until it was time to meet up with one of the guys I met while I was in Istanbul. We were roomies in our hostel in Istanbul and realized we'd be in Amsterdam the same weekend. He had a rugby tournament so I got to meet some of his other friends on his team. We had a great time hanging out. Guillermo stole my beer and redistributed it but other than that it was great. They were gentlemen and walked me back to my hostel too. This was the night I "lost" my trusty cell phone...



Saturday morning I woke up and headed to the Flying Pig "breakfast" which was some raisin toast and a staffer trying to be a reggae singer...then I headed out to the Anne Frank house. On the way there I took some shots....







By the time I arrived at the Anne Frank House, there was already a line of course. It was a cool place to visit. You can really get a feel for how things were at that time.


Afterwards, I headed directly to this pancake bakery that Crystal raved about to me that is just down the street from the museum. I had an apple pancake with cinnamon ice cream. It was amazing but I couldn't even eat 1/2 of it.

this is what a little piece of heaven looks like...YUM

While I was on my way to the Noordemarkt I stumbled across this lovely bike and had to take a picture of it. You know that I was dying to take a picture of one of these in action in Copenhagen with the kids in the front and all but I was unsuccessful. If you look closely you can see baby shoes hanging from the "rear view" aka the handle bars...

So I found my way to the Noordemarkt which is a Saturday market of food, clothes, and some more stuff. I bought some cool stuff from one lady and took photos of the rest.







Okay so...this FEBO place sells random questionable food items that you stick money in a slot to get. I don't know how long they sit there but the locals seem to love them. I wasn't daring enough to actually eat them so I just took a photo...
Begijnhof

The Begijnhof is an inner court in the middle of the city of Amsterdam. It's crazy to walk into because you leave the hustle and bustle of the streets behind and it's quiet and peaceful. I can't recall exactly but I think women who were unmarried were housed there at one point until they were married as a place of waiting. It's mainly private residences today. Either way, it's a really quaint private area right in the middle of town.

When I was leaving the Begijnhof I saw this cute kid walkind down the street with his accordion on his back. Love him!

Next up it was time for museums. I jumped on the tram and headed to the Rembrant Museum and the Van Gogh Museum. I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. I really enjoyed seeing Starry Night in real life. Trying to understand VanGogh is just too much...but I enjoed it nonetheless.

After the market and shuffling around I decided to go look at the shops. The area is known for vintage shops.

After hours of walking around checking out the sites...I returned to my hostel and tried to hang out with the rugby boys but not having a phone made that difficult to do so I gave up and stayed in my hostel. I chatted it up with my roommates. We talked until 3am about cross-cultural adoption, Peru, the world of food and music, culture, drums, and who knows what else. Really cool guys...I feel really lucky that I get such cool roommates...even if they do snore like they're chopping firewood.

Day Three ...I returned for more. When you like something why not just indulge right? Well I went back to the Pancake bakery and I had bacon and apple pancakes. I know, I know...sounds weird, but my friend Pretty Rickay told me that it was a hit and I should try it so I did. I spent the whole Sunday walking around, shopping, and taking in the vibe of the city. I had some really delicious drinks at a cafe...lime and pineapple smoothie and a mint and ginger syrup drink. (note to self...learn how to make fun smoothies!)


That evening I was determined to get together with my new rugby friends no matter what, and I was successful this time. We meet up and had dinner and then headed out to a bar for some dancing and chillin out.

This is our friend Arthur...he is doing his dance for the Lady Gaga song "Poker Face".

Arthur kept singing this song all night long even though we were at a bar that would most certainly NOT be playing Poker Face. He remained hopeful...

Here's the band we listened to...

This was take three. of course it was all Guillermo's fault the pictures weren't coming out :) I wasn't making silly faces or anything...

The rugby crew was leaving really early the following morning so we hung out until they had to get on their bus to the airport to head back to France. We were walking back to my hostel/their bus...and walked by a late night Kebab shop and what is blasting from the restaurant at 3am...you know it?!!!!! Poker Face. We all stopped walking and ran over to the kebab shop to dance and get late night crap food while dancing. Arthur...I hope it was worth the wait.

After stuffing my chubby face with pizza we headed through the Red Light District. Let me just say...these chicks are LAY-ZEEEEE. they were sitting there chatting, had their feet up, picking their noses...pretty much doing anything but working. I wonder if they're paid hourly like servers in the U.S. so they get a flat rate if they don't "service" anyone because otherwise they would all be living in those little red boxes too because they couldn't afford a place to live since they weren't doing anything. It seems like the foreigners just go their to drool and be obscene and no one else pays attention...maybe I'm wrong but it was 3am which seems like prime Red Light action time and they couldn't have been doing less...

HAARLEM

Unfortunately, I had to say good-bye to my cuties and I had one last day in Amsterdam. My bunkmate, Chef Tai (really cool Puerto Rican/Scottish London native chef for the stars) and I decided to go get breakfast the following morning and then I invited him to Haarlem with me. the ORIGINAL Haarlem. Until I went to the Rembrant museum I didn't realize that New York actually used to be New Amsterdam. It made a lot more sense to me why things were named the way they were in New York once I learned a bit about the history but I wanted to see another side of Holland and even though it's not far outside of Amsterdam...it was different.

(Tai)

let me just say...bikes are OUT OF CONTROL in Holland. I mean I've never seen such a thing. It's really cool though...

These fries are preeeeeetty delicious if you can't tell but they're a heart attack on a stick.

I had a really good time in Amsterdam. I hope to go back one day and actually see other parts of Holland. ooh and i have to get more strope waffles... if you don't know what they are... FIND OUT!