Day 132 – October 16, 2011 – Raising the bed…

Number of days in Amsterdam – 132

Number of days without a bike theft – 129

Days since it last rained – 4

In my old life, I worked for the Detroit Free Press Marathon, which was today. Had I been back there, this weekend I would have moved into a hotel downtown so that I could be close to the action at all times. It sounds like a good deal. It’s not.

Moving into the hotel meant I could be relied upon to be on site within 15 minutes or so, and that I’d only be sleeping about four hours to do so. It makes for a long grueling day, although it was very rewarding and a lot of fun. I do miss being part of an event that big, and feeling like I made a difference in the race day experience of thousands of people.

Here in the ‘Dam, I slept in, watched World Cup Rugby (Go All Blacks!), drank coffee and headed to a food festival.

My old life and new life intersected briefly on my way to the food festival, when we encountered the course for the Amsterdam Marathon, which was also today. But rather than help any runners with any of their needs, I instead was able to just cross the course and continue on my way.

The destination was Puremarkt. A market focused on good and sustainable foods, it was very tiny. But what it lacked in size it totally made up for in the amount of amazing food available. After an empanada, a Surinamese Roti, a Hungarian Sausage and some pastries, I was quite stuffed and quite content.

But the day didn’t end there. Some of our expats came over for a bedraising party, which sounds a lot less fun than it is.

In Amsterdam, part of the whole midwife/kraamzorg experience means that much of the mother’s healthcare takes place at home. In order to make this more convenient for everyone, the insurance company sends over what looks like a set of jack stands, which are used to raise the bed about 12 inches.

This is not something one person can do – lifting a bed while simultaneously sliding these steel stands beneath it. Hence the need for our little bedraising party, which really lasted all of four minutes.

Because you can’t end a party after four minutes, we moved it to a local Irish pub, where we sat outside beneath heat lamps on a chilly night, eating shepherd’s pie and stew, and drinking cider. This is truly the best way to end a fall Sunday.

Now we have a bed that’s much closer to the ceiling then it was before. Nicole is not a fan of literally having to climb in and out of bed, and I swear that I can tell, even when I’m sleeping, that my elevation has increased.

But, it’s seriously only a matter of a few days more, as we’re getting much closer to the Kitten’s arrival. Momma finished painting the toybox, and it’s filled with all of the toys our friends have sent.

Now, everyone is just waiting…