Day 13 – June 19, 2011 – Junk in the Trunk

If you had any idea how much junk is in this trunk right now...

Number of days without a bike theft – 9

Days left until the close of the Kickstarter Project – 29

We’re just one day in to the pitch for Kickstarter funds to launch the new and improved Expat Project, and things are going well, but we still have a long way to go. We just have 29 days to raise a little less than $4,000, and we need your help!

We can raise funds in as little as $1 increments, and time is short. Donate if you can, and please spread the word to everyone you know! It will take all your help to make our series a reality, with videos on the city and the people who make it what it is!

You can learn more about our project, donate and help spread the word here.

And again, we want to hear from you – what do you want to know more about? As we move forward with the Expat Project, it’s becoming just as much about you as it is about us! Would you like us to find or see something to share with you? Drop me a line at [email protected] and we’ll see what we can do! We also want to hear from artists, musicians, craftspeople and interesting folks in Amsterdam. Let us do an upcoming feature on you!

OK, now that our daily call for funds is over, on to our adventures.

Books!

In addition to the record collection, we left behind our library, each only bringing two books we wanted to read, and a couple of parenting books that we’re using to do research for the impending arrival of the Kitten. Nicole was reading What to Expect When You’re Expecting and What to Expect – Eating Well When You’re Expecting, two books that I think are required by law for new mothers to read. I was reading Dad’s Pregnant Too!, a book that gives a lot of insight for new dads about the process and what’s going on. Granted, some of this information will be irrelevant in the Dutch healthcare system, but we’re just going to need to sort that out as we go.

What we didn’t have was a book to help us in the next step. You put so much research and preparation in getting through the pregnancy, but what about when the baby actually gets here? If you’re not careful, I think you can end up coming home with a baby, and thinking, “Oh crap! What am I supposed to do with this?!?!”

We needed help on this aspect as well.

Fortunately, there’s the American Book Center.

A massive bookstore that caters to the English-speaking community here, American Book Center is like any bookstore back home, with stuff on any and every topic, including cooking (Nicole wants to restock some of her cookbooks – they were too expensive to ship) and parenting. We picked up – what else? – the next book that should be law for the first-time parent, What to Expect the First Year. It’s one we’re just getting in to, but it has all kinds of info about bringing the Kitten home and taking care of her, including what we need to buy yet. (The answer? A lot!)

We do have socks, though!

Baby Dump, which is a baby store here, sent us a catalog. In the envelope with the catalog was a tiny pair of socks.

They have a tag attached, which reads:

Loop eens binnen

bij de grootste en goedkooptse babyspeciaalzaak bij jou in de buurt.

Babel Fish translates this tag to read:

Course once at the largest and goedkooptse baby special case at you in the buurt.

I think some of the subtle nuances are getting lost there.

Now we just need another baby store to send us a catalog with a crib and stroller included in the envelope, and we’ll be all set.

Groceries, again!

A large part of daily life here in Amsterdam involves getting groceries. This is for multiple reasons:

1. A large emphasis is placed on fresh food – and I’m happy about this. It’s delicious and healthy.
2. Refrigerators are small here. You don’t stock up on goods that need to be kept cold.
3. The trip to the market is just a part of daily routine, and with Albert Cuypmarket just a block away, it’s my second favorite part of my day, second only to riding my bike.

Today, though, we needed to stock up on staples – TP, pasta, canned goods, etc. – all the stuff we needed to get through the week, and for that we went to a supermarket – the Dirk van den Broek, which is a decent hike from the house.

This is where the giant saddlebags I bought yesterday really came into play. Four big bags of groceries all piled into the bags, although I have to say that the Purple Pony felt more like a U-Haul on the ride home. With two bulging saddle bags filled with milk, juice and various other heavy items, she was slow to respond on a turn and slow to stop, but at least, with the bags loaded evenly, she was very stable.

I also got a chance to try a new flavor of chips. This time it was Lay’s Hot Wok Chili. They tasted like a mix of soy sauce and spiciness, surprisingly good. The saltiness of the soy actually makes for a really good chip.

Friends!

Oh, yeah, we made friends.

I know some of you back home were a bit worried about the loneliness over here but things are getting better. We grabbed lunch with a pair of expats from NYC. I won’t say too much about them, as I don’t want to blow their anonymity without their knowing just because I have for us, but I am happy to say that we have found people here in the city to talk to and hang out with. And that makes me very happy.

After a long day at the cafe, we made our way home and realized we were hungry but didn’t feel like cooking.

Fortunately, Domino’s delivers. Even in Amsterdam.

Within 20 minutes we had a pepperoni pizza and some cheese bread. Like all other Western food here, it was expensive – about $15 for a small pizza and cheese bread – but it was good. Better than Domino’s back home. Here, they do something with the sauce that almost tastes like barbecue sauce. It’s really good. And, hell, they deliver.

If you go:

If you get here and realize your choice of travel books are lacking, the American Book Center has everything you could want for travel guides, including our favorite one.