We landed. We ate bad food. We drank cheap beer.
After eleven hours of flight and a couple hours of laying over, we arrived at our new home in Amsterdam.
The flight was on board of one the world's largest passenger liners, but curiously enough it was no more comfortable. We were crammed in with 500 other fliers enjoying touch-screen television, free drinks and inadequate personal space.
I watched educational television and a Johnny Depp movie and views of the flight's progress on Niceview (we flew over Canada and reached groundspeeds around 500mph).
In-flight highlight: a news report on a program in Denmark to encourage women to advance in careers in science. Unlike the commonly cited US "ambition gap" (aka: blame the individual for structural inequality) - this news broadcast noted that low participation in the sciences was likely due to social factors that diminish girls' self-esteem and discourages them from competing in a male dominated field. (I'll edit to include the exact quote later).
{This isn't to say that I haven't used Sheryl Sandberg's oft-cited Ted talk to motivate myself to "sit at the table" - it just means I don't think we'll solve the problem of having women marginalized in the workplace by ignoring societal influences on said women} {Also, I like that this news program unrepentantly looked at the problem as a society-wide one, rather than individualizing it, but lets get back to our regularly scheduled travel programming}
So we had a layover in Frankfurt and watched people eating frankfurters. No really. It was hilarious. We sat at a snack bar and watched people order hot dogs with a roll. Not a bun. Just a roll. On the side. Then folks doused them with ketchup and mustard and chomped away. We were thoroughly amused. It was almost as good as the free espresso machine!
Then it was a short flight to Amsterdam. We hopped in a taxi and were humored by our Indian driver who hopes to move to America who said that Amsterdam had "too many bikes" and "too many canals."
We had to stop by Dre's office to pick up the keys and the neighborhood is draw-droppingly adorable. A teeny-tiny street, a canal, little boats docked, and a crush of shops and cafes.
We were dropped off "near-ish" our apartment, went the wrong way and ended up hauling our our 150 lbs of luggage in the rain. When we finally reached our door we were drenched and excited to be home.
But.
We couldn't get the door unlocked, so Dre ventured out to find a phone and learn the trick and I waited in the hallway, guarding our belongings.
It wasn't long before we were safely inside. We unloaded our gear, I propped up a picture of Aries and we headed back out to find food and explore our neighborhood.
We live along a canal and while our immediate view isn't as painfully adorable as the one from her office, the neighborhood gets super cute just one block in.
We tooled around, ate bad food and drank cheap beer. (All bets are off the on the gluten-free lifestyle here.)
Carolyn from C'est La Vie cafe told us where to buy transit tickets, a bike and a cheap dinner. And invited us to come back on Sunday for football. Everyone has been super nice and willing to chat us up in English. Thank goodness. Because all we ever actually learned from our Dutch language cd was "hallo" and that wouldn't get us anywhere.
In a few hours we'll leave for Paris and start uploading pictures.
The flight was on board of one the world's largest passenger liners, but curiously enough it was no more comfortable. We were crammed in with 500 other fliers enjoying touch-screen television, free drinks and inadequate personal space.
 |
| crowded, but happy. |
In-flight highlight: a news report on a program in Denmark to encourage women to advance in careers in science. Unlike the commonly cited US "ambition gap" (aka: blame the individual for structural inequality) - this news broadcast noted that low participation in the sciences was likely due to social factors that diminish girls' self-esteem and discourages them from competing in a male dominated field. (I'll edit to include the exact quote later).
{This isn't to say that I haven't used Sheryl Sandberg's oft-cited Ted talk to motivate myself to "sit at the table" - it just means I don't think we'll solve the problem of having women marginalized in the workplace by ignoring societal influences on said women} {Also, I like that this news program unrepentantly looked at the problem as a society-wide one, rather than individualizing it, but lets get back to our regularly scheduled travel programming}
So we had a layover in Frankfurt and watched people eating frankfurters. No really. It was hilarious. We sat at a snack bar and watched people order hot dogs with a roll. Not a bun. Just a roll. On the side. Then folks doused them with ketchup and mustard and chomped away. We were thoroughly amused. It was almost as good as the free espresso machine!
Then it was a short flight to Amsterdam. We hopped in a taxi and were humored by our Indian driver who hopes to move to America who said that Amsterdam had "too many bikes" and "too many canals."
We had to stop by Dre's office to pick up the keys and the neighborhood is draw-droppingly adorable. A teeny-tiny street, a canal, little boats docked, and a crush of shops and cafes.
We were dropped off "near-ish" our apartment, went the wrong way and ended up hauling our our 150 lbs of luggage in the rain. When we finally reached our door we were drenched and excited to be home.
But.
We couldn't get the door unlocked, so Dre ventured out to find a phone and learn the trick and I waited in the hallway, guarding our belongings.
It wasn't long before we were safely inside. We unloaded our gear, I propped up a picture of Aries and we headed back out to find food and explore our neighborhood.
We live along a canal and while our immediate view isn't as painfully adorable as the one from her office, the neighborhood gets super cute just one block in.
We tooled around, ate bad food and drank cheap beer. (All bets are off the on the gluten-free lifestyle here.)
Carolyn from C'est La Vie cafe told us where to buy transit tickets, a bike and a cheap dinner. And invited us to come back on Sunday for football. Everyone has been super nice and willing to chat us up in English. Thank goodness. Because all we ever actually learned from our Dutch language cd was "hallo" and that wouldn't get us anywhere.
In a few hours we'll leave for Paris and start uploading pictures.
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