Amsterdam

I haven't uploaded pictures yet...nothing new ;)

Amsterdam is basically one of my top favorite cities in the world, more or less. it ranks up there with Barcelona. not kidding.

Also I met a very good person while there...hopefully this friendship continues.  This friend also has one of the sweetest jobs a person like me could want: wait for iiiit....kebab restaurant manager/worker. yea. it's true...it's my dream job now.
He works in a Turkish neighborhood kebab place.  His day at work from what I saw basically consists of fixing a meal really quickly for a mostly take-out crowd, and talking. did i mention the kebab? and baklava? yea. amazing. I'd be so fat working there.  I literally went every evening and just hung out.  Of course I also ate there, at least 4 out of the 6 nights i was in town starting with the first night.  It was somewhere completely just relaxing to be, and when I said something wrong, or didn't remember a word, or heard a new phrase (everything was in Turkish) he would help out.  There were some really amusing conversations, and lots of interesting people came in while i was there.  Not to mention that he didn't charge me for the tea...or the baklava (i only had 1 or 2 pieces a few times)...or the coffee.  I know it's funny...but I think that those evenings might be one of (if not my top) my favorite parts of that week.  Don't get me wrong, there is still more I want to go see and do in Amsterdam...I didn't have that much time to check out the city..

On Sunday I took a tour of Amsterdam, there was an english one, but i went on the spanish language tour, and the guide was from Barcelona!  I went with a couple i had met at the hostel that morning - they were from Mexico and super nice, she had been to Amsterdam before but he hadn't.  Amsterdam really doesn't cover that much ground for such a "big" city - and has a population of only about 750,000!  After the tour we (tour guide and about 1/2 of the group) went to a Dutch bar and had lunch..I got this beer called Texels...it was AMAZING. must. find. here. (or move to amsterdam so i can have it on a regular basis) and a ham and cheese sandwich. Everyone else got split pea soup, which looked and smelled amazing!

Saturday (this post is clearly not in chronological order) I went on my own to Centraal Station, the Dam Square, the Rembrandt House museum, and then made my way to the Van Gogh museum. It took a while because I don't speak Dutch, and they have a funny way of labeling their streets...i don't think they actually do..the street signs just point and tell you what place is in that direction. i didn't really try too hard to figure that out and as a result got lost more than once; fortunately though, everyone (at least 90% of the people there, i'd say) speaks English, and those whom i met that didn't, spoke Turkish. haha, go figure!  But even if it was just enough to give directions to lost foreigners (ahem..uh..me), they could tell you what you needed to hear.
So by the time i made it to the Van Gogh museum i still had not eaten lunch, thinking i'd eat once i found the place so i could make sure i made it before closing...well, I forgot to eat because i was so excited to have found it that I got my ticket and went right on in.  The result was me getting into the museum, seeing about 2 paintings (no joke, i think it was either the 2nd or 3rd painting) before i realized....i was STARVING. Well, I couldn't leave at that point, so I stuck it out.
All 4 floors.
Well, I sped through the last floor because they were going to close in 15 minutes and i wanted to go to the gift shop. whew.  After that it was dark and i just wanted to get back to the hostel to put my stuff down.  Which made it extra convenient since my kebab place was only a block or two from the hostel..maybe 2 minutes walking distance. mmmmm nom nom nom ^___^

this is all for now. pictures to come, more stories. did i mention i presented a paper at this conference, and nobody boo'd me offstage? It's true! people not only seemed interested, a couple even asked questions!!! :D

ok. that's all for now. ciao!