Welkom in Amsterdam

 

I'm not excited, you're excited!

I moved to Amsterdam!  Ever since the pandemic hit and Zendesk moved to completely remote, I've been angling to somehow work remotely abroad.  I'd been turning it over in my head, weighing risks and delaying against new strains.  Finally, with vaccines in arms and Delta in the rearview, I was able to make it all align: after months of truly agonizing over where to stay, I'm splitting my three work-allotted months between Amsterdam and Lisbon.  

United Polaris upgrade!

An excerpt from a note I wrote on the plane after takeoff:

WOW, it’s actually happening. I’m going to Europe! This trip has been a whole pandemic in the making, and I’m really proud of myself for fulfilling this dream. Who knows what is before me. I’m so excited to have my own space, to embrace joy and spontaneity, to rediscover parts of myself I’ve lost, and to discover new perspectives. I want to listen to my body and feel into the essential parts of myself that I want to build into my life. I can’t wait to see my friends, to float in the Mediterranean, to meet new people, to just live. Live among the living. I can’t wait for what is to come! 

My apartment, the far-most left building, 

part of and next to the Eden Hotel

I searched for hours, for days, to find reasonable accommodation that fit what I wanted in Amsterdam.  It's such a popular destination, and with "post"-COVID demand released, plus the combination of tulip season and King's Day, it felt like an impossible mission and I almost gave up countless times.  Eventually, when scouring the depths of the internet and on at least my 23rd short-term housing site in the Netherlands, I found the most incredible deal.  I'm staying in a one-bedroom apartment belonging to the Eden Hotel, with a canal view over the Amstel in the center of town, a kitchen, a balcony, a huge bed, and housekeeping service.  And compared to the sticker price if I booked per night through the hotel, I got 70 percent off.  Too good to be true?  Turned out I was just charmed.  

My spacious balcony

While I was getting situated, of course one of my first actions was to orient myself to the city with the help of my good friend Rick Steves and the audio guides in his app.  I walked 15,000 steps that first day, enjoying an early morning (we're talking 9:30) Sunday while many others were sleeping in and nursing hangovers.  

De Bakkerswinkle Breakfast

I learned a lot and most importantly got a jump start on putting myself in the map.  The highlight of my explorations that day was visiting Begijnhof, an all women's (formerly religious) community, secretly nestled around a courtyard (called hofjes) and with two churches inside.  The Catholic church is completely unassuming, as many nearby are, due to religious persecution over history.  The community is still active, serving as social housing for senior women, and has an incredibly peaceful aura about it.  

Begijnhof hofjes

That first weekend I made a point to get some groceries on my way home.  I passed by a grocery store, so I popped in and spent about half an hour exploring.  Four mistakes happened, each more egregious than the last:

1. I didn't grab a cart, of course underestimating the amount of groceries I would be gathering, and balanced 15 items before giving in, dumping it all on the counter, and tracking one down
2. I had forgotten to bring a tote and was informed I'd have to buy one
3. I put the cart on the counter and got lightly chastised for being an American who doesn't pull the items out of the cart for the teller
4. After ringing up all my items, totally at least 40 euro, I pulled out my card and the teller said, "Oh, we don't take Visa."  I balked and as I started to pull out cash, she said, "Yeah, we don't take Visa, Mastercard, or cash."  Thinking it futile to reply, "Well, what the hell DO you take?" I simply asked her what happens now, as she had pretty much exhausted my options (it seemed clear Apple Pay was off the table).  I simply left, found another supermarket (this one closer to my house!  Larger! Inexplicably, the same company!), rebuilt my shopping cart, and successfully purchased the goods with my Visa card.

Travel's really boring when everything works out smoothly and according to plan.

The first couple weekdays I strove to find a balance between work and enjoying the city.  Overall, I'm really happy with how that's turning out.  I have several free hours to myself during the day, which I often leverage for a museum visit or brunch (likely both).  

Hermitage Museum courtyard

My favorite pieces exhibited in the Amsterdam Museum

The Amsterdam Museum is currently housed in the Hermitage, and is just a ten-minute walk from my apartment.  I got a good sense of the Netherlands' history and absorbed some essential elements of Dutch values over the centuries: strong capitalistic attitudes, women's value and power, the resistance towards the Nazis in WWII, a general ambivalence towards religion.  

While there and not feeling pressed for time, I decided to visit also the Hermitage, a branch of the St. Petersburg museum, thinking I could do part of it and always come back later because my brilliant Museumkaart allows me unlimited access for a whole year.  The docent pointed me down a hall to start: "Vermeer's Milkmaid is this way," she said.  So I walked down the corridor and around the corner and up stairs and around another corner and finally I arrived at the exhibit.  In the first room was a timeline of Vermeer's life and his masterwork, The Milkmaid.  In a few subsequent rooms, there was fluff like a video and a mockup of his studio (which I've already created in my mind from reading The Girl With a Pearl Earring).  And that was it.  Literally, there were no other artworks in the exhibit, or currently on display at the Hermitage.  When she said, "Vermeer's Milkmaid is this way," she didn't mean the highlight of the exhibit is this way.  She meant: the one painting you can see here is this way.  And here is the real kicker: the permanent location of Vermeer's The Milkmaid is in the Rijksmuseum.  In Amsterdam.  Suffice to say I'm glad I didn't save the Hermitage for its own day.

Shakshuka at Dignita Hofuin in the gardens of the Hermitage

I've also started meeting up with some people friends have put me in contact with!  Here I am with Selena, a Californian who is part Dutch and has lived here with her husband off and on for several years, after brunch at Lavinia Good Food.

I'm simply thrilled to be here.  I feel like I'm walking around in my own imagination - and I am!  I've spent so long dreaming of how this experience would be, and now I get to live it.