life update

ok then. yesterday i told my boss at the bakery that i want to quit. my first month was a probationary period, and i'm taking advantage of the opportunity to end it at that. its just not worth it to me to work so hard, for so many hours, for so little pay. so ive been looking into other possibilities that pay better and schedule their employees for more humane hours. but i'm still scheduled for another week and a half at the bakery, unless she's able to find someone to cover my shifts sooner.

but, ive made a decision on where i'll be living next! my good friend, iris, whom i studied with, just got a great apartment through the social housing system in place here, (check out this story in the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03european-t.html ) and she gets to move in on june 1st. that just so happens to be when i need to move out of my place now. her boyfriend is eventually going to move in with her, but he's still doing an internship in new york for another 6 months, so she asked me to live with her until then. its a recently renovated apartment on the top floor of a building right in the center of the city, with an attic and a terrace/balcony. i think it'll be great, although since its recently renovated, its also completely empty and will take some investing on her part to make it nice. but i look forward to the months ahead there.

gesneden?

i went to visit my boyfriend a couple weeks ago. he lives in another city near the german border, about an hour and a half away from here. he just started his phd there so we're trying the long distance thing, and so far so good. he actually lives outside of the city, among some nature reserve. its great, there's even a beach that you can walk to from his house in 5 minutes. and all around there are wild horses, and wooly cows that the dutch call bison. one of his roommates has this little black dog, kenny. he's surprisingly adorable for a little dog. but the day i went out there, he swallowed a fish hook while daniel was fishing at the beach. he baited the hook with chicken (i still dont know why), and was busy baiting the other hook with cheese, or something else more suited to fishing, while kenny decided to eat the piece of chicken sitting on the hook. daniel noticed the predicament and naturally started to freak out a little. he looked in kenny's mouth, but he had swallowed the chicken and hook completely, and just had the fishing line coming out of his mouth. well, he went to the house to look up what to do, and i urged him to call a vet right away. but this was a sunday, in a small town, and apparently its hard to find a vet who works on sundays within 50 km. he spoke to a vet who said he could either call a pet ambulance (cycling to another city with the dog didnt seem like a good option) who would then take it back to the vet, take x-rays, and if needed, perform sugery, or else he could just wait to see if it passes. she said to feed him lots of bread and check his poops for either the hook or blood. so, thats what we did. she said it could take up to 2 days. which it did. and those were a nerve-wracking two days for all of us, but little kenny was blissfully unaware of anything, except for all the bread he got to eat without even having to do tricks. but on tuesday night he successfully pooped out the hook and fishing line without even a wince or a yelp. we were all amazed and relieved. so, there you go - apparently its quite common for this to happen. good to know.

in other news, ive spent the last 3 days working at a bakery in the neighborhood. i was walking by a couple weeks ago and noticed a sign in the window asking for help. i stopped and, in my best dutch, asked if i needed to speak good dutch to work there. the girl hummed and hawed and said, in dutch, yeah, most of our customers are dutch, blah blah blah... anyway, i threw out some of my most practiced dutch phrases, and told her i live nearby and have a totally open schedule, so she took my name and number and said she'd think about it. well, a couple days later she called, made an appointment for an interview, and the day after that i started working there. my shifts are from 7am-5pm, 4 days a week. that first day was tough, lemme tell you. i havent stood on my feet for that long in years; not to mention getting up that early. and my brain was fried, too, from focusing so much on understanding and thinking in dutch. but yesterday was a little better, and today better still. i didnt mention that i will have to quit in a few months at the most, but i got a 6-month contract anyway. the pay is minimum wage, but its better than nothing. but minimum here is 8.42 euros/hour. not bad, although i guess i'm out of touch with what it is back in california nowadays. last i remember it was $6.75.

anyway, i see the situation as a way for me to make some money, and most importantly, practice my dutch for 10 hours a day. i'm hoping maybe in a couple months my dutch will be good enough to apply for a 'real' job that requires dutch knowledge. maybe? we'll see. its also an interesting insight into dutch people, their habits - both social and dietary. i think dutch people are much friendlier than most of the customers i ever helped in the states. everyone is so cheery and polite, and there's only about 1 or 2 people a day that come in while on their cell phone.

i was hoping to get to play around with the baking equipment, but unfortunately there isnt any in the store. they have a main bakery location that bakes everything for all the stores, and its delivered daily. we just reheat the bread in the ovens in our store. so i slice bread, make sandwiches and coffee drinks, and clean and sweep and sweep and sweep. the bread crumbs just dont stop. the girl i work for is 23, and owns the place. she owns 4 stores actually. her great grandfather started the company back in the day, and now its a franchise with close to 20 locations, i guess. but she's fun, and patient with my struggling dutch, but is very good about speaking to me in dutch most of the time. im actually pretty surprised at how well i can get by with the customers.

alright, tonight i finally have the strength to cook a proper dinner, so steak and risotto it is. then its back to the bakery at 7am tomorrow.

living spaces

well, since i was planning on going to the park this afternoon but its still cloudy, i'll go ahead and update things here a bit more. here are some pics of where i'm living now.

i'm only here while the regular tenant is in china; he returns at the end of may. ive managed to make the space work pretty well. its a spacious apartment in the south of amsterdam, and im happy to be able to explore a part of the city i wouldnt usually visit. there are a few great parks that i never went to until recently because they seemed so far away; but now i know that theyre worth the 20 minute bike ride from the center of the city. anyway, ive got about 5 weeks left here, then its time to relocate again.

chances are good that i'll be able to stay in the houseboat of a friend while she goes to africa for two months. she's squatting the houseboat, which is a fairly common practice in amsterdam. although i dont know of many houseboats being squatted, because theres a limited number of them - only 2,500 in the city are allowed. but she's been living in this one for over a year, and she says the owner comes and gets his mail on a weekly basis and pays the bills and registration but never bothers her. she's even left notes in the mailbox inviting him to come introduce himself, but he never has, nor has he written any response. she changed the locks, so its not like he's sneaking in at any time. rumor has it he lives with his mother in another house, so he doesnt mind anyone living on his boat. i haven't seen it yet, but will go check it out this weekend. its great because i'll barely have to pay any rent. we'll have to see how it works out.

photos

this is a beautiful park thats about a 5 minute bike ride from where im living now. its called amstel park, and its bordered by the amstel river on the east. im pretty sure its the only park in amsterdam where you cant ride your bike inside. they have great little paths that go behind trees and along little streams with stepping stones. theres also an animal park with goats and sheep and various other creatures. not too many amsterdammers have ever been here. they obviously dont know what theyre missing.

getting started

reading melindas blog inspired me to start blogging again, so here i am. i rarely use myspace anymore, which is where i blogged previously, so this seems like a better outlet for my thoughts and news.

a bit of an update on my life:

ive been without a job for over two months now, but ive learned not to worry about it and instead make the most of my free time. i still search for jobs and network and update my CV and other necessary tasks, but now instead of spending all day fretting about whats gonna happen, im enjoying this time that i wont later have. im sure something will come along eventually, and if i live frugally (which ive gotten good at) i can survive for the next few months on the money i have saved up. so, now that the sun is usually shining i grab a tote bag with a blanket, some food, water, a good novel (right now im reading a tom robbins book - hes a great writer!, and im also reading 1984 for the first time - very interesting) and i go sit in one of the many beautiful parks amsterdam has to offer. ive really never seen so many great parks in such a small area. ill post some photots soon.

beyond that, ive been working on my baking and cooking quite a bit. i must say, i can now make the perfect chocolate chip cookie, and the same goes for my cinnamon rolls. ill try to remember to take photos before theyre all eaten next time. we do a fair amount of potlucks so i get plenty of opportunities to try out different recipes which is nice. now that im living alone again it doesnt make much sense to make big meals for just myself. but luckily it isnt very difficult to find people willing to help me eat what i make.

ok, speaking of food, i need to make breakfast now. then, if these clouds wear off, a ride through the park, then off to the library.