Last day in Amsterdam

Today is my last day in Amsterdam. Tomorrow I fly back home to Maine. It's been a nice week here--pleasantly lazy and relaxing. I like Amsterdam a lot and hope to return in the not too distant future. Doreen travels to Amsterdam fairly frequently, so I'll probably be able to tag along on some future trip.

As is almost always the case for me at the end of a trip, I'm simultaneously disappointed to be leaving and looking forward to being home. It will be nice to be back in my own bed and to see the cats and to get ready for spring term. Spring has the potential to be amazingly busy, as I'm teaching two classes and have a bunch of administrative tasks to attend to. I think the mini-vacation here has done me good. I don't feel completely rejuvenated, but my batteries have recharged significantly.

Off to get some falafel and wander around the city some. It was raining earlier, but it appears to have stopped. Later I'll meet Doreen, and if we have time we'll go to the Van Gogh museum.

Culinary Amsterdam Update

Some further Amsterdam tidbits, with a mostly culinary theme.

• The falafel place that I like so much is Maoz, which is a small chain. They started in the Netherlands and now have a few dozen branches, including three in the US. The falafel is excellent, and there's a great self-serve bar with all sorts of tasty fixings and sauces that you can put on the falafel. I will head there shortly.
  
  
• Yesterday Doreen and I had dinner at Indrapura, an Indonesian restaurant on rembrantplein. We order vegetarian rijsttafel, or rice table. It's a bowl of rice and then small plates with all sorts of tasty things to put in the rice: various tofu concoctions and veggies in curry and lots of other things. It's a bit a spectacle--like a bento box gone wild. The food arrives in many small containers that are arrayed all over the table. All in all, it was a seriously good meal.
  
  
• At a pub yesterday I had La Chouffe ale. It was amazing--among the best beer I've ever had. It's like a subtler version of some of the over-the-top unibroue beers from Quebec.
  

I've had some excellent Thai food and some mediocre dutch sorts of things. Breakfast at the hotel is unremarkable, but it does provide sufficient nourishment and caffeine so I can make it to a cafe for some good coffee.

Amsterdam Tidbits

I'm still in Amsterdam, enjoying the city and wandering around. I've been doing a little bit of work, but mostly I've been trying to give myself a break. A few assorted observations and vignettes, in a bulleted list so I don't have to try and connect paragraphs:

1. Apparently it's standard practice in the Netherlands to put choc late sprinkles on toast. The chocolate sprinkles have some long Dutch name, but I'm not fooled: they're just chocolate sprinkles, like one would find at a Dairy Queen. I tried them on my toast, and it didn't do much for me.
   
   
2. As I mentioned in a previous post, I went for a short (and slow) run in Vondlepark a few days ago. While running I saw parrots! At first I thought I must be mistaken. But I mentioned the parrot sightings to Doreen and she confirmed that there is indeed a colony of parrots that is established in Vondlepark. Apparently there is also a parrot colony somewhere in Belgium. Good for the parrots; I'm glad they've escaped captivity and are doing ok.
   
   
3. Also on my Vondlepark run I saw someone who looked spookily like my brother. It was kinda bizarre.
   
   
4. I discovered last night that it's possible to get falafel after 4AM. This is definitely a sign of an advanced civilization. I also discovered that 4AM falafel is super yummy.
   

Further Amsterdam Dispatches

The last two days I've been wandering around Amsterdam, taking in the sights and the sounds. I've also done some reading and a bunch of email. I've had some excellent Thai food, and today I found a great falafel place. Last night's dinner was a little uninspiring. We were eating with some greenpeace folks, who picked out the restaurant. Most thought it was very, very good. I thought the food was kinda bland and not that interesting. It was a serve-yourself buffet sort of arrangement. The food was fine, but it was more like eating a bunch of snacks. It would have been fine if an entree followed. But instead it was just snacks. And then the greenpeace folks got in a big discussion about genetically modified potato strategies. It was fascinating to them, but I didn't really know what they were talking about.

I spent a bunch of time in bookstores today, of which there are quite a few in the neighborhoods I've been walking. I also checked out a bunch of CD stores. Happily, I did not talk to any racist DJ/shopkeepers. I did, however, stumble across some excellent music. There was this awesome track that was being played in two CD stores that I went into. So I asked about it. Turns out that it's lcd soundsystem. They're from New York, but I hadn't heard of them before.

The track that is now a minor anthem for me is get innocuous. If the Talking Heads and the Chemical Brothers collaborated, this is what it would sound like. You can read about the track here. And with a little googling, you should be able to find an mp3.

I'm off to meet Doreen for dinner. LCD Soundsystem will be keeping me company in my headphones.

A Brush with Racism

I spent much of yesterday wandering around Amsterdam, admiring the canals and the old crooked buildings and going in little shops. One of the stores I went into was a small dance music/CD/vinyl/etc place. It was an interesting place. I checked out some CDs and events flyers and also a bunch of nice T-shirts. I thought I might get a shirt for Doreen for her birthday which is coming up in a few weeks.

I struck up a conversation with the shopkeeper, who was pretty friendly and talkative. He asked where I was from and what I thought of Amsterdam, and so on. His accent didn't sound Dutch to me--perhaps Russian?--so I asked him where he was from. He said he was from Serbia and that he move to Amsterdam around 15 years ago because my country was dropping bombs on his country. We chuckled. He opened the store a few years ago.

I then asked him how he liked Amsterdam. He said he didn't like it so much. Why not, I asked. And here is where the conversation changed. He began by explaining that the reason things went wrong in Yugoslavia is that they let the Muslims live with them. It was ok when they were just 10%, but they multiplied like rabbits, because that's what they do best, and then it was a problem. And now they're here in Amsterdam and he doesn't like it.

Ug. I didn't see this coming. He continued.

He doesn't like the Turks, Moroccans, the Arabs, and "the Blacks". The Arabs come to his store to steal, where as "the Blacks" will just rob him directly. He explained that it's not that he has anything against Muslims, he just doesn't like to see them. The Muslims are always talking against "us." He went on in this vein for a little while. He was getting slightly agitated.

I was transfixed and didn't really know what to do. I was so amazed that he was speaking this way that I sort of wanted him to continue. I also wanted to turn around and leave. But for a reason I can't explain, I didn't want to be that rude. I also wasn't sure I should turn my back on someone who was getting agitated. But there was a counter between him and me, so there really wasn't any danger.

I thought briefly of telling him that I was Arab, or that my wife is from Turkey. (Neither of which are true.) Or that I'm Jewish. (Which is slightly true.) But I didn't. I eventually got him to change the subject by asking him about the music that he produces.

Needless to say, I didn't buy a t-shirt from him. I saw Doreen later in the day and told her that I almost got a birthday present for her. Why didn't you, she asked? Because the store I saw your potential gift at is owned by a vile racist, I explained. Oh, she said.

In Amsterdam

I am currently in Amsterdam. I'll be here for about a week. Doreen is here for some Greenpeace International meetings. I thought I'd tag along. I'd never been to Amsterdam before. So far, I like it a lot. I flew overnight yesterday, arriving around 9:00am. I made it to the little hotel where Doreen is staying, unpacked and brushed my teeth, and then set out exploring. I walked for hours, wandering in and out of shops. I had a great Thai lunch and enjoyed watching people and seeing the city. The canals and the old buildings are beautiful, and there's lots to see and do.

Dutch is cool sounding. I keep thinking that Dutch sounds a little bit like The Swedish Chef with a chest cold. There are seagulls in the city, mostly hanging around the canals. What's interesting is that they also sound Dutch. Like regular seagulls, but kinda throaty. It's almost as if the seagulls are trying to do duck imitations.

Anyway, my first 24 hours or so in Amsterdam have been great. I like living in coastal Maine, but I also really like cities. I'll have lots of time to explore, as Doreen is pretty much in meetings 9-5 every day that I'll be here. The weather is warm--in the mid 50's--which feels almost tropical after the Maine winter.

Right now I'm in a cafe with good, fast wireless. I'm enjoying an excellent, but expensive, cappuccino. I need to do some work, including making some of the final selections for the students for the Complex Systems Summer School. Later today I will do more exploring and may also go for a short run in a park near our hotel.

A New Blogger

Doreen has started a blog, Digging Deeper. She's planning on blogging about agriculture and food politics. Her inaugural post is about an unapproved genetically engineered contaminant that has been found in rice in the US. Oops.

End of the term

It's 9:20 PM on the Thursday night before the last Friday of Winter Term. It's zero degrees outside. And inside many students are working deliriously to finish assignments and prepare presentations. Hard to believe that "spring" break starts in less than 24 hours.

Not Spring Yet

Today was bitterly cold. The high was three, and it was negative one when I drove to campus. And with the windchill it was about negative 3000. Today I had multiple meetings, all in different buildings. So I had to venture outside more than is ideal. There is a slightly cranky mood on campus because it's almost absolute zero outside and it's the last week of the term. But given this, people are holding up pretty well. The two-week break will be a good thing.

In other news, I was talking on the phone today in my office and out of my window I saw a bald eagle fly by. I've seen eagles from campus before, be never one from my window. The eagle was definitely one of the day's highlights.

Back in Maine

Well, I made it back to Maine. My journey on Tuesday was long, but mostly uneventful. I made it home around 9:45 pm, in plenty of time to watch The Daily Show with Doreen. It was nice to be back.

Wednesday was a crazy day of back to back meetings. Things went well, but the meeting density was definitely too high. Thursday was slightly calmer. I had way too many things to do, but at least I didn't have my entire day scheduled with meetings. I taught a class on pointers in C++ which was fun. I like pointers.

Friday, we had a snow day. Or, more accurately, a snow/ice/sleet/rain/wind day. It starting snowing early in the morning, and we had gotten seven inches or so by midafternoon and it was quite windy. Then it changed to sleet. At times it sounded like sand was pelting our house. It turned into rain shortly before it ended. The result is a lot of heavy snow and slush. Getting my car out of the driveway yesterday was a bit of an ordeal. And we still haven't extracted Doreen's car. That'll be a task for this afternoon.

So last week was a bit odd, as weather prevented me from being on campus three out of five days. Somehow I don't feel as far behind as I'd expect. I'm not sure why this is. It might just be denial. This upcoming week is the last of our ten-week winter term. I spent a lot of time this weekend doing errands and cleaning around the house. I usually do this right after the term ends, not the week before. But perhaps by doing this now, I'm poised to have a more energetic and productive spring break.

It's time to move some firewood and see if I can dig out Doreen's car. Then I will head to campus and write lots of memos.