A Year Already?!

Hard to believe it’s been over a year since I moved to Amsterdam! It seems as if it’s been almost as long since I’ve updated strom-blog. Sorry about that!

Looking back on the first year, it’s been an amazing ride so far. I thought I’d dedicate my latest blog entry to some of my favorite memories over the past year.

Being in Holland during the World Cup was an amazing experience in its own right, but being here when Holland went to the final game was a once in a lifetime experience. The entire country had the “oranjegekte” or “orange craze”. Even better was watching the games all over Europe, seeing them in Italian, Swedish, Danish, Hungarian, and a strange language in Ireland that kind of sounds like English. Here I am with some co-workers at the final game:

One of the great things about being in Amsterdam is the beer. Europeans love the stuff, Northern Europe especially. Dutch beer is good enough, but Belgium and Germany have the best in my opinion. And there’s been plenty of opportunities to sample it. Two of the best were a brewery-tour weekend to Antwerp, Belgium, and of course, the one and only Oktoberfest!

Of course, some countries are just too fancy for beer (ahem, Switzerland!). I took a great trip there in September to visit a friend, enjoying great weather and a wine festival to boot.

I’ve had been to lots of great places for that matter. Almost too many to remember, but let me try. There was Belgium, and then Dubai, and Portugal, Cinque Terre Italy, Dublin, Edinburgh, Budapest, Belgrade, Munich (for Oktoberfest), Switzerland, Barcelona, and more of Copenhagen than anyone could wish to see in a lifetime. Here’s a few of my favorite pictures:

View across the Danube, Budapest:

Nyhavn, Copenhagen:

Windmill along the Amstel River, just outside Amsterdam:

View of Edinburgh Scotland:

I’ve been lucky to have lots of visitors to come and help me explore my new city. In order I had Emily B, Scott, Hailey, Bill & Cindy (the parents), Jill, Hailey again, Emily again, Sara & Sydnie, Mark & John, and Vinh & Shannon. Hope to see the rest of you here sometime soon.

When all is said, there are lots of things I love about Amsterdam. I am still amazing by the ease of getting around by bike and public transportation. I do not at all look forward to getting a car again and all the hassles and expense that go along with it. I love the pub scene here and the great restaurants. It’s amazing to literally be an hour or two from just about every major city in Europe and decide to fly off somewhere on a whim. Then there’s all the great new friends I’ve met in Amsterdam who have made this a great year. The best is the little things - biking around to the bars, seeing movies with friends, shopping at the street markets, trying a great new restaurant, or just walking along the canals.

Of course, it’s not all perfect. There’s still the frustrations mentioned in earlier posts about paying for things, the non-existent “customer service”, the high prices, and the oh-so-temperamental Amsterdam weather. Luckily these things all seem relatively minor inconveniences now that I’m settled in.

It’s been a great year, and there will be to come (including more frequent blog updates).

Thoughts on Dublin

The June marathon of weekend trips continued with a trip to Dublin at the end of the month. My friend Hailey was studying in Florence and wanted one last destination after a week in Amsterdam. I was looking forward to checking another national capital off my list.

We spent Friday night exploring the Temple Bar area and some of the Irish pubs (or as they call them there, pubs). First, was dinner. I tried the Guinness beef stew, with what else but a Guinness:

Next, we visited a couple of the aforementioned pubs (here's an example of one):
It was great to find Guinness on tap everywhere, and also my favorite Irish Beer, Murphy's Ale.

The next day we hit the town for some sightseeing. The key attractions were Trinity College, the Guinness Storehouse, Grafton Street, and the two main churches. Here's a couple of pictures:

While in Dublin, I realized that this was my first venture into an English speaking country since my visit to the US for Christmas. It was strange to be in an English speaking country again. For example, I've become accustomed to automatically deeming any restaurant with an English menu posted outside to be a tourist trap. It was refreshing to not have to think about language. That said, the Irish speak with a very strong accent and it can be difficult to recognize that people were actually speaking English. Several times I thought people were speaking Gaelic (the official Irish language), only later to find out that it was in fact English.

So, my thoughts on Dublin? The city is low on great sights, but it's people and its pub culture make it a great stop. First, this city probably has the friendliest people of any city in Europe. Everyone, from restaurant staff, strangers on the street, and even the bums asking for change were super friendly. We were able to watch the US - Ghana world cup game at a bar in Dublin and the locals were not only cheering for the US, but very friendly towards us once they recognized we were from the US. Second, the pub culture here really is awesome. Just like all those Irish pubs at home, but the real deal. There's a reason that just about every city I've ever visited has at least one Irish pub.

I had never been too enthralled with the idea of Ireland as a destination. It has a reputation for lousy weather, mediocre food, and it seemed like a fairly "vanilla" English-speaking destination. I feel confident that I can cross Dublin off the list, as I've seen and experienced what it has to offer. However, the friendliness of the people and the great culture has piqued my interest in returning to Ireland in the future (but next time I'll see the cliffs and the countryside).

Paris in the Springtime

It’s been a very very busy couple of months, which explains the lack of entries. I will attempt to rectify this slowly over the next couple of weeks. I’ll start with a recap of my recent week in Paris.

Paris: the city of light, rude people, good food and of course, lots and lots of churches and museums. After holding out for nearly 30 years, it was time to visit Paris. Jill was visiting, and first spent a week in Amsterdam. Then, we took advantage of the 3 hour, 15 minute train to Paris and spent about 5 days there. Here are some impressions:

- Surprisingly, we did not meet a single rude French person. Not one. Every person we dealt with was helpful and bordering on the point of friendly. It’s true what the guidebooks say – just saying hello in French really does make a difference.
- French food on the other hand was slightly underwhelming. You can only have so much steak frites and croque moisseurs until they get tiring. On the other hand, the baguettes, cheese, and desserts were amazing. Oh, and my favorite dish by far was the beef bourginone (but I prefer the Belgian version that’s made with beer, and omits the vegetables!).
- The Paris Metro is great – except when you get the pleasure of carrying a 70lb+ suitcase up and down multiple sets of stairs (and truly do have bruises to show for it).
- Drinks in Amsterdam are a bargain compared to the drinks in Paris. And no, I will not be drinking calvados (French apple brandy) ever again.
- Museums are fine. I even like some of them. But seeing them all in three days is overkill. My favorites, in order, were the Orangerie, the d’Orsay, and the Louvre. The Louvre is included in the top 3 because we were able to see it in about an hour. The Mona Lisa was not as impressive as the horde of tourists in front of it.
- Versailles = bling bling! The grounds even more so.
- The Eiffel Tower really is amazing. We went to it just about every night, and the lit up version is really a sight to see. The climb was also awesome – probably my favorite sight of the trip.

Paris is a place I’ll go back to, but next time on a shorter trip that focuses on enjoying the city and not so much on checking off attractions. The street markets are awesome and there’s lots of good neighborhoods to explore. Paris probably ranked somewhere in the middle of my favorite European cities, but it’s definitely a must-see and somewhere I’ll probably end back up in someday soon.

Now, a few of my favorite pictures:

Sunny Weekend

This was probably the nicest weekend I've seen in Amsterdam. This meant it was time to partake in what are probably my two favorite Amsterdam activities - boating and biking.

First, the boating. You can rent boats by the hour, and also can buy into an annual membership that lowers the hourly rate. A friend who is leaving was nice enough to show a few of us newbies the ropes. Here's some photos:

Sunday, it was time to spend a little more time on land and do an 18-km roundtrip bike ride to the nearby village of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel. Any Dutchman will tell you that you need to get out of Amsterdam to really experience Holland, and this was definitely a nice and scenic ride. I'm already searching the internet for a nice mountain/road bike for some trips further out. I'm thinking a daytrip to Rotterdam (around 100km roundtrip) would be a nice goal. Here's some pics of the tour I'll take you on when you come visit!




Hopefully more sunny weekend pictures soon!

6 Months In

It is hard to believe that it's already been six months - to the day - since the adventure began. It's true what they say: it takes six months to get settled somewhere new. It's been a long, cold winter (apparently the coldest in 25 years), but Spring has finally arrived, and it's a great feeling. Days are long, people are happy, good stuff.

That's not to say all is perfect. There's still a few Dutch cultural aspects that I'm not sure I'll ever get used to:

The Expensive Customer Service Line - A every customer service line here is a 900 number. That means if your cable goes out, you have to call a line that is €0.35 per minute. Somehow, there's always a long wait on hold too. Even Domino's pizza charges €0.10 per minute to call and order a pizza! However, the positive news is that my Dutch skills must be improving. When I called the €0.35/minute number to buy train tickets, I understood perfectly well that the maximum charge for the call would be €17,50!

Paying for Things - One would think that a country which has hosted merchants and traders for centuries would make it easy to buy things. Not so. Credit cards are only accepted at sit-down restaurants and nice shops. You cannot use a credit card at the supermarket, the post office, train station, and most take-out type places. These places often accept a debit card, but it must be a debit card from a Dutch bank. Debit cards also have a "chip" in them that is separate from the debit card. You have to load this chip with money from your bank account if you want to pay for things at certain places, for instance parking meters. This is also the only way to pay at my office cafeteria - cash is not accepted.

Store Hours - One of the biggest challenges has been adjusting to the opening hours of stores and other services. Most stores close at 5 everyday other than Sunday, when they are closed. Even the supermarket is closed on Sundays (although I today I saw a sign which I believe says the store will be open every Sunday going forward - huge news if true!). Obviously, shopping on a Saturday is not fun - imagine something resembling the day after Thanksgiving every Saturday.

A few other random observations:
- Being between perhaps the best two beer countries in the world (Belgium, followed by Germany), the beer here is surprisingly boring. On tap it's usually Heineken, Grolsch, or Heineken.

- Not every bank has a teller window. If you want to get cash from a teller, you have to go to a specific location. In other words, if you lose your ATM card you are SOL.

- It is impossible to get ice anywhere - you can't get it for your drink, you can't buy bags of it at the store. Not sure how I am going to make margaritas this summer!

- This must one of the best and safest countries to raise children in the world. Even the other night some friends and I were at a restaurant waiting to be seated. In came three girls that couldn't have been older than 10. They went to the bar, and sat there waiting for a to-go order. They then took a couple bags of food and left, presumably to deliver it to their parents. It would be unthinkable in the US for parents to let their little kids go out unattended in a big city, and walk several blocks away to pick up dinner! It was also an eye-opening moment for me - with kids, I'd no longer be paying delivery charges!

- Produce generally tastes better than in the US; it seems less mass-produced. Same with dairy products. Meat on the other hand is not as good. I am looking for ways to import Ruth's Chris-style steaks and bacon that is not paper-thin.

With the weather improving, I've been exploring the city more. I'm really looking forward to getting out on the canals for some relaxed boating, eating, drinking, and picture-taking. Also looking forward to biking to some nearby cities and visiting some of the surrounding areas. I also have a busy spring coming up with weekend trips to Denmark, Germany, and Belgrade planned, as well as visitors galore in May. I'm beginning to think 2 years may not be enough...

(Long) Weekend in Lisbon

Perhaps the biggest advantage of living in Europe is the ease of travel. Scott & Hailey, some friends of mine, wanted to come visit for Spring Break. Since they have been to Amsterdam before, we decided to go somewhere else for a few days. Given the timing of early March, Southern Europe came to mind. We decided on Lisbon, Portugal. At 3 hours, it's probably the longest flight from Amsterdam that is still in Europe (maybe Moscow or Athens comes close). Regardless, I was looking forward to a 4-day weekend in a warm(er) place. We arrived in Lisbon on Friday afternoon, to torrential downpours. I knew we were in for some great weather when the plane missed its landing due to low visibility, and had to circle around and try again. We arrived in a very rainy Lisbon and did a walk around the city. At first glance, it was a nice place - bad weather aside. Here's a picture of one of the main shopping streets; note the cobblestone tiles:

We went to dinner, and I immediately noticed that restaurant prices were a lot cheaper than Amsterdam. Score one point for Portugal! Nothing beats a dinner of spit-roasted chicken, french fries, and sangria. Portugal is known for seafood, but of course anyone who knows me well will understand that it's lost on me.

The second day, we took advantage of a break in the weather to go to nearby Belem. This is a neighborhood of Lisbon where ships used to set sail. Portugal was a pretty important seafaring nation back in the day, with major colonies in South America (Brazil) and Africa. We saw a pretty sweet monastery, followed by the Belem Tower. We finished it off at the place where they make the famous Portuguese custard tarts - basically creme brulee on a pastry. Verrrry nice!























Later we did some walking tours around Lisbon. Lisbon doesn't necessarily have a ton of major sights, but the city in itself is the main site. The buildings and neighborhoods are distinctive, and many of them are covered in tiles. There's also old trolley's navigating the streets, similar to San Francisco:




























That night, we did some bar-hopping in the old town. Lisbon has a great nightlife! And it's cheap! The same pitcher of Sangria that's 25 Euros or more in Amsterdam is only 8 Euros here. Tons of little bars, and the narrow streets were packed with people. Great ambiance. The only downside was the smoking. Portugal still allows smoking in the bars. Before hitting the bars, we had a couple drinks at the Port Wine institute. Port wine is made in Portugal (hence the name) and is typically very sweet and drank as a desert wine. We had a few different kinds; at 1 euro each they were a steal.

The last day in Lisbon, we went to nearby Sintra, which is in the hills outside Lisbon and about a 45 minute train ride away. I was looking forward to getting out of the city and seeing some palaces. Mother nature had other plans though, as the weather was absolutely terrible. I think Sintra must have gotten 3-4" of rain that day - it never stopped. And of course, this was the day I made a smart decision to not to wear a raincoat. On the plus side, I now have a red t-shirt (due to the fact that the red polo shirt I was wearing over it did a dye-job for me). Sintra was beautiful despite the weather, so it must be stunning when it's sunny:






















Overall Lisbon was a great time; I liked it quite a bit. Due to its isolation from the rest of Europe, it's maintained a distinct culture. It also felt more "real" to me than some of the other European cities that tend to feel too touristy. The restaurants and pubs were cheap, and while there were tourists, it felt like most places were filled with locals. The people are really friendly there too, and speak English well too. There's a huge laundry list of sites in Lisbon, which in some ways is nice because you can just take it easy and enjoy the place. I'm looking forward to my next weekend trip (location TBD).

Weekend in Dubai

It's the coldest winter in 10 years. I have a friend working in Dubai. My flights back and forth to Copenhagen have given me enough miles for a free ticket. Sounds like a plan.

At the end of January I had the chance to do something most accountants would find unthinkable - a mid-winter getaway! Dubai is somewhere I've wanted to visit over the past several years. Anywhere that has the biggest, tallest, fastest, bestest of everything merits a visit. From Europe it's still a long ways - about 3,000 miles - but that's the distance one needs to travel for guaranteed warm weather.

So I arrived Friday morning at about 7:00 am on a flight from Copenhagen. I was looking forward to taking the Metro to the hotel. First lesson: everything shuts down in a Muslim country on Fridays. It's the day they go to the mosque. Yes, this means even the COMPLETELY AUTOMATED metro system with no drivers is also shut down until 2pm. So instead, took a taxi. Checked into the hotel, met up with my friend, and did some sightseeing. First stop, Mall of the Emirates, which among other things is home to the indoor ski slopes, 5 different Starbucks, and prayer rooms for Muslims. This used to be the biggest mall in the world, until you guessed it, an even bigger "biggest mall in the world" opened - about 7 miles away. Here's a pic of the indoor skiing:



We grabbed some Indian food at the mall. Let me just say that one of the pleasures of Dubai was getting a weekend of American-style chain/junk food in my system. Every American comfort food that I've been missing was available. Cinnabon, Krispy Kreme, Coldstone, Dunkin Donuts, CPK, Taco Bell - you name it, it's there. However, Dubai also had amazing Indian food. About 60% of the population of Dubai consists of workers from India. According to one of my books, only 10% of Dubai's population is local. Most come from India or Asia as workers, and there's about 10% western expats. The downside of this is that Dubai is 75% men, 25% women. Not exactly the place for a weekend fling! The first day was a long one, especially with my overnight flight, so we had some drinks on top of my hotel and I got a few good night shots:





Saturday we walked around the old part of Dubai. This is where you feel like you're in a far away place. The malls, beaches, and resorts seem a world away as you're walking through a market being harassed by touts, old men are smoking sheesha's on the sidewalk (Arabian pipes), and English isn't spoken. This is why I enjoy traveling to far away places like Dubai - the sights, smells, and food stick with you for awhile. We ate at an awesome Afghan restaurant, only white people there, 100% language barrier, and an amazing all-you-can-eat chicken and rice lunch for $3 (or the same price as a Baskin Robbins ice cream cone at the mall). Met up with a few of my friend's colleagues that night and did a little bar hopping. Because of the limits on alcohol to Muslims, alcohol is difficult to find in Dubai outside the hotels. Only foreigners can buy it, and it's expensive. Dubai isn't as westernized as many think in this regard. Here's a couple pics of the older part of the city:






Sunday and Monday are workdays in Dubai, so my friend was back at work. I did some additional shopping, beach, and saw a few more sights on my own. Being on your own in a foreign country is also an interesting experience. It breaks down barriers and makes you more approachable. But this can be a bad thing as experienced with a Pakistani cab driver. First thing he asks is where I'm from (my new answer is Holland - the Dutch don't seem to make anyone mad at the moment) and he launches into all kinds of questions about what religion Holland is and do I go to church, etc. Despite trying to change the subject more than once, I learned all about Islam and how they believe in Jesus and all religions have the same God. While I didn't exactly wish to get a 15-minute sermon, it was a nice cultural moment. Here's a few pictures:







As the trip wound to a close after one last dinner with my friend on Monday, it was time for another long red-eye flight back to Amsterdam and then off to work. When doing the online check-in, they were offering upgrades for a VERY reasonable price. It was a free ticket to begin with, so why the hell not, I decided. Great decision, as not only did I sleep the entire way back and rest relatively well, but I also got some great entertainment. My free flight was on Austrian Airlines, and the main flight attendant was a sweet old Austrian lady with an awesome accent. Let's just say that sweet old Austrian ladies aren't so sweet when people sneak into Business class from coach. As I was dozing off, I see the flight attendants gathering around a person behind me who has their seat fully extended and is pretending to snore. The sweet flight attendant says "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!!?!!" and proceeds to completely tell this guy off saying he must pay 500 euros immediately, go back to coach immediately, or be arrested when we land in Vienna. She wouldn't even let him talk, just kept repeating "It's absolutely impossible, you pay 500 euros or get out of here now, the rest of these people paid a lot of money and you are stealing". Quite comical really. After a minute of this, he slinked back to cattle-class. Reminded me of that Seinfeld episode where Jerry is in first and Elaine is in coach, and Elaine sneaks into first class. This was more entertaining. For the record I paid nowhere near 500 euros.

So in short, great weekend. Dubai is a lot like Vegas - but without the booze, gambling, and women. However, for a warm weekend getaway, the chance to see the tallest/biggest/awesomest of everything, do some shopping and temporarily return to a land of free refills and good service, it was a great time. This was my third time in the Middle East and I find the place fascinating. The culture is one that is very different from ours, and I enjoy seeing the contrasts. You just don't find things like womens' only cars on the subway, separate pork-selling sections of the supermarket for non-Muslims only, and calls to prayer in shopping malls anywhere in the world. I'll be making some more trips to the region in the future.

#8 - Gedoog

Amsterdam is famous for a lot of things, including tulips, herring, art, Anne Frank, Heineken – and marijuana and prostitution. The more I talk to Dutch people, I learn more and more about their concept of “gedoog”.

The word is uniquely Dutch and does not easily translate to English, but the word often tossed around is “tolerance”. The Dutch have a live and let live attitude to life. If something doesn’t hurt anyone, it’s generally considered ok, even if officially illegal. If something is illegal for many years and the problem doesn’t go away, its becomes tolerated and regulated.

Marijuana is the most common example that people think of. It’s technically illegal in Amsterdam, but the authorities long ago decided they couldn’t legislate it away. Whether legal or not, people would be smoking pot regardless. While harder drugs are strictly illegal, the rule is to “tolerate” the sale and use of small amounts of marijuana. It’s sold all over the city at coffeeshops, which are allowed to sell a certain amount per person per day. Of course growing it and selling mass quantities is illegal, but everyone looks the other way assuming that it doesn’t get out of hand. As my friend Rick Steves likes to say (see a clip to his video below), the Dutch have made the choice between allowing something or building more prisons, and allowing it has worked rather well. A recent study says that only 22% of Dutch have tried marijuana, which is half the percentage in the US. Drug-related deaths are also 16 times more common in the US (per capital) than in the Netherlands.

For more on coffeeshops, check out this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RjKw-C0VGU&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=B009F20AC021B66E

Coffeeshop:


Prostitution is another area Amsterdam is famous for. Of course, it happens in every city in the world, including Portland and Seattle and Salt Lake City and wherever else people live. Amsterdam is most famous for its red-light district. As you can see in the picture below, window-shopping is taken to new heights in Amsterdam. It’s a bit unnerving the first time you walk by the windows, but it’s all completely regulated and legal here. In fact, prostitution is legal in many European countries. You see red light windows in Belgium and Germany as well, and there are also red light districts in Paris and London (or Aurora Avenue in Seattle or Interstate Avenue in Portland!). There are pros and cons of course, as with everything. On one hand, the proponents point out that legalized prostitution eliminates pimps and underground criminals involved in the sex trade, gives the women a choice of which customers to accept, and gives them rights as legally recognized workers. Those against say that it leads to human trafficking, especially from Eastern Europe and Northern Africa, which is probably true to a small extent. The city is attempting to diversify the red light district, including limiting the number of windows to 300. Regardless, the world’s oldest profession will still be practiced here for awhile I’m sure. Apparently €50 is all it takes, for those interested ….



Those are the two famous cases, but there’s a few others that I find interesting too. A park on the outskirts of Amsterdam was known as a place where gay men hooked up in the bushes (which of course, happens to be right near my office – obviously PwC only locates in the best parts of town). The local city council was faced with complaints about the activity. Recognizing that the activity has gone on for years and that it couldn’t really be stopped, under the policy of “gedoog” signs were erected (no pun intended) to warn passerby that this sort of thing might be going on. The idea is again the same: it’s not hurting anyone, and we can’t stop it, so we’ll allow it if it’s confined to certain areas and doesn’t hurt others. To me this typifies the Dutch way of dealing with social issues under this live and let live mentality. In the US these people would probably be locked up and registered as sex offenders. Not saying this is the kind of thing I want to see everyday (and luckily, I have not!), but I find the proposed solution a fascinating cultural difference. These are the things you notice living in a new place.

Finally, something you see in Amsterdam that I find very amusing, and that you’d never see in the US. Faced with the problem of people peeing in alleyways and canals after a night on the town, the government decided to do something about it. Now in key nightlife areas of the city, you’ll find portable urinals set up on Thursday, Friday, Saturday night. It seems strange and little disgusting (although I can attest that it’s a godsend on a night of bicycle bar-hopping!), but again a very practical solution (for guys anyway – I love the male bathroom deal on the side). The alternative is what you find in places like Belltown – people peeing in alleys and bushes and becoming a nuisance to the neighborhood.



All of the so-called social ills described above happen in every country in the world. The Dutch have a unique "live and let live" mentality. Believe it or not, most of the people here tend to live a fairly conservative lifestyle. Most Dutch people I've met would never step foot inside a coffeeshop and the thought of patronizing a prostitute is as unthinkable to them as it is to me. They live within their means (flashy cars and designer bags are frowned upon) and place a focus on the family. Despite their own way of life, they allow others to do what they want as long as no one is hurt. It's refreshing to see people secure enough in their own well being that they don't feel the need to focus their attention on legislating "morality" on others.

#7 - 2009 Recap

2009 was a good year; better than many. Time for a short recap.

After surviving Snowmageddon 2008, I had a busy Janauary-March as usual. This year I worked on a couple of very large and challenging projects, but both ended up being great learning experiences. Time really flew by. During this time, I had no clue what I’d be doing in six months. I was hoping for an international transfer, and things were looking likely for 2-years in Tokyo. Wasn’t my first choice, but the more I thought about it the more exciting it sounded. Europe’s cool, but Asia is really cool too. I wanted to experience a new culture, and Japan would be an exciting challenge. While this dragged on, I wrapped up busy season and then it was time to travel.

Some friends that I met on a previous trip to Egypt graciously showed me around Toronto for a long weekend. Toronto is a great city – very international, lots of things to see, and great nightlife, restaurants, etc. I don’t know if I could survive the winters, but otherwise could easily stay a couple years there. Only a week after returning to Seattle, it was time to head off to Rome for a week. I found a cheap ticket that I felt would have been a travesty not to buy, so I booked a 6-day trip to Rome on a whim. Luckily, Jill always wanted to see Rome so I had some company. Despite having been to Europe several times, I hadn’t made it to Italy yet. It was awesome – the perfect mix of sightseeing, relaxing, partying, eating, and just getting away. It was a good amount of time to see the whole city without being rushed. Plus, we survived Naples with all of our belongings intact!

Got back into hiking in June, and climbed Mt. Si several times, as well as finally trying some new hikes closer to Mt. Rainier and Stevens Pass. In late June I got the call I had been waiting a couple years for – I was moving to Amsterdam! Japan didn’t have a need anymore, so “unfortunately” I would have to accept my original first choice of Amsterdam. Bummer. I also went to my 10-yr reunion in June and was able to reconnect with a few people, but also, a lot of people didn’t show up which was a bit disappointing.

It’s funny how when you are moving, you suddenly feel like you have a million things you wanted to do, never did, and now’s your last chance. This was probably the best summer ever in Seattle. Highlights included seeing Seafair from a boat in the middle of Lake Washington (thanks Jacobsen family for always being out of town at the best of times and letting us borrow your toys!), fireworks over Lake Union on July 4th, trying all the restaurants I never made it to, one last trip to Vancouver BC, and Went to Maui for about a week with several buddies also; it was great to be able to fit in one last trip with friends before heading over to Europe.

Summer was coming to a close, so that meant lots of packing, international phone calls, and annoying to-dos prior to moving. Even when your company handles everything, including the moving, it’s still very stressful. Packing up and moving out of my place was a strange experience – living there for 4 years and it being my first home. Luckily I was able to find renters right away.

Labor Day weekend meant one thing: bachelor party! After only 7 years of dating, my brother and his (then) fiancée finally got married. For the bachelor party we rented a house in Sunriver, OR for the weekend. I think the Bend Costco’s beer sales doubled that weekend, as our livers could attest (not to mention the friend we made from the house next door). I also don’t think I can ever eat a Costco hot dog or Kettle Chips again. The wedding was a week after. Great ceremony, survived the best man speech, and had a great hangover the next day for my own going away party. Just about everyone was able to make it, which was great.

You can read more about the move and the trip to Turkey in previous posts. Turkey was amazing and my favorite place by far was the Cappadocia region in the center of the country. Amazing scenery, great hiking, and cool towns. The first few months in Amsterdam I focused on settling in and adjusting to a new country that’s very similar, but in many ways different than my own. Learning a new job, a new city, and new country is not easy, but I’m happy to say that I’m feeling more settled as we enter 2010. I was able to go back to the US for Christmas, and it was a great chance to see family and friends, and enjoy the land of bottomless fries, free refills, good TV, and cheap shopping (relatively speaking).

Here's some things I'm looking forward to in 2010:
- Dubai in late January
- Paris in June
- Seeing lots of visitors (hint, hint)
- World Cup
- Oktoberfest!
- Seeing if the Cougs can make it out of the cellar of the Pac-10
- Going to a European Soccer Game
- Hopefully seeing the US Soccer team play Holland in March
- Visits home in July and December
- Being in Amsterdam during Summer

Happy (late) New Year everyone, and here’s to a great 2010!

A few pictures of Amsterdam in early January:

Views near the Amstel River:




Canal Houses:


Frozen Canal, with houseboats: