My Dutch Dream

Sorry for not posting for so long! Jeez, it’s been well over a month! SD, got the message from our mutual friends I needed to update the blog

I’ve been stoned for a solid 3 weeks. Yes, I admit it. What can I say, I could smoke my weed again and I wanted to recreate my holidays of old, wandering from coffeeshop to coffeeshop trying all manner of new weeds and hashes.

I’ve had two sets of friends come out here to visit me which was great and I have since been smoking a few every day. Not as many as I would if I were here on holiday and staying in a hotel but maybe 6 or 7 every day.

It also means that I have been a bit lazy with work but then I was lazy with it already anyway! It’s easy to blame the gear rather than myself!

Otherwise, things have been going pretty well here.

• Popped a few spokes on the front wheel of my bike which I should really get fixed before the entire wheel fails on me.
• Pissed off the neighbors I’m sure with my copious amounts of weed smoke on the balcony (I heard that they call even a weed addict here a “junkie”!)
• Introduced one of my flatmates, a Dutchman, to his first joint believe it or not!!
• Health insurance sorted out. Fairly easy, out of the over one hundred insurers, I went with Zilveren Kruis due to their Engelse paginas. CZ is also good I hear.
• Went back to London briefly. Strangely enough, I felt a little homesick when I got back and became surrounded by all things familiar. I really did not expect that. Still, I expect to be in Amsterdam/Nederland for at least 5 years. But plans can always change, hé?
• Still picking up the odd word of Dutch here and there but not actively studying. This is definitely something I need to work on because a little daily effort would reap big rewards.
• Witnessed someone (the owner?) from a pub assaulting a tourist on their bike for riding the bike through Waterlooplein market area and through the outside seating area of the establishment. I won’t be taking my bike through that short cut anymore!

By the way, I am thinking of joining some social groups here to meet some others. Working (as little as I do) from home, I don’t have collegas to chat with. Admittedly, I am on friendly terms now with the staff at many coffeeshops but I don’t have the wallet (yet!) or the lungs to hang out regularly at these places. I also don’t want to lose my brain! Something I hope to do soon are Dutch lessons at the UvA. But not for a month or two yet. I’ll meet some interesting people no doubt, but not Dutch.

So where can I find Dutch in a social setting? People speak of Dutch social circles being quite closed and made early in life but from what I have seen here, it is not that much different to back home or most other places in the world. I will keep my eyes peeled. Mind you, the local huisvrouwen where I live do seem very friendly and always say “hallo”…