Archive for September, 2007
September 26, 2007 at 4:19 am · Filed under Mariah's
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Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
My goodness, over two weeks has passed since our last entry! Well, let’s see what all has transpired in these passing weeks…
Two weekends ago we had guests in town. Who were these very special guests you might ask? Some of Peter’s ex coworkers from S.F (Jonathan and Carey) came with a couple of their lovely friends – Kevin and Daniel - see pictures below. It was so much fun to have guests to share our new city with! They are a really cool and fun bunch of guys and we dragged them all around and showed them all we could of our fair city. There was much drinking and smoking and an all around general good time. Carey, Kevin and Daniel are in a band – Pollux (www.polluxmusic.com) and played two Saturdays ago at a club here in town. They are quite good and it was nice to get out and hear some live music.
They left early Monday morning and Peter left the same day to go work in Germany for a couple days. The house was so quite (and a bit lonely ☹) once all the boys were gone. I was telling Favor via e-mail a couple days ago about the strange dichotomy of emotions I’ve experienced spending so much time alone. At moments I feel kind-of lonely and a bit nutty (as I told Fav, when you go a day or two having very limited human interaction and the main conversations you have are an extended interior dialogue with yourself, things can seem a little bizarre). There is also something kind of peaceful about not having to talk to anyone. It is like this quiet little bubble of freedom to just be. Not to get all wacky and overly Zen about it – we all know I am a very social young lady – but these days of relative silence are a new thing for me and they are not all bad. I do, however, miss everyone tons and look forward to making some new friends. We have meet some really nice people since we have been here and I look forward to getting to know them better as times moves on.
Anyway, when Peter and the boys left on Monday Mr. Kitty and I settled into our life of Zen rested and recovered for a couple days until Peter came home (I was quite tired from partying all weekend – it has been a while (you know – like a month - since we left home!!)). Peter’s new job continues to go well and he has been very busy as he is learning the ropes and getting acclimated. While my husband has been busy at his new job I have been busy getting ready to find one. Well, I have been giving it serious consideration while I read and write and consume mass amounts of coffee at the cafes. But in all seriousness I am starting to look for work. I feel a little shy and apprehensive putting myself out there as my work experience is, um, limited at best. But one cannot move forward and remain stationary at the same time now can they??? Plus we have a good network of people to help me and according to my ever-loving and supportive husband I can do anything I set my mind to. So I have to start (please pardon the phrase) networking (ugh), and (pardon this phrase too if you will) putting myself out there, and see what comes to me. I know when all is said and done I will find the perfect thing for me. There are so many great coats and boots in this city – this alone should be incentive to find a job! ☺ And I want to work – I really do. I desire the fulfillment that comes from being proud of doing something well.
This past week we have had another ex-corker of Peter’s in town. Her name is Summer and the two of us have had a nice time hanging out. We checked out the Rijks Museum and the Van Gogh a couple days ago and are going to check out a couple more things today. So…I think that is all for now. I hope this finds all of you happy and healthy. Thanks for all the kind e-mails from those of you that have written. As for the rest of you – what’s up with that? Don’t you love us no more? You better be nice and write or you will have to sleep in some stinky hostel when you get to Amsterdam! Hee, hee!
XOXOXOXOX
Love you,
Ri and Peter
September 26, 2007 at 4:14 am · Filed under Mariah's
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Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
Left to right - Carey, Jonathan, Daniel, Kevin
September 26, 2007 at 4:13 am · Filed under Mariah's
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Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
Up on the roof - me taking a picture of Jonathan taking a picture of the sunset.
September 26, 2007 at 4:11 am · Filed under Mariah's
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Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
September 26, 2007 at 4:08 am · Filed under Mariah's
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Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
This is one of my favorite cafes in Amsterdam. Everything in this place is for sale. It has such a great funky vibe - and they make great lattes!
September 10, 2007 at 1:21 pm · Filed under Mariah's
Hi!
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
Hello to all you lovely people from your favorite friends abroad!
As we settle into our second week here in Amsterdam all is going well. We moved into our new apartment (as you will see below) in the middle of last week. We are in a area of Amsterdam called De Pijp (pronounced De Pipe). It is said to be the most ethnically diverse place in all of Amsterdam and perhaps even all of Europe. I do not know if this is true but it is what one of the guidebooks said. Anyway, it is a cool area with a great street market (where I shop for our dinner) and lots of shops and restaurants and cafes. Amsterdam continues to be an amazing place to explore. It is a pretty small city but there is so much activity. At times it has the feel of any big European city but at other moments fells like S.F. or N.Y.C or New Orleans. It is a diverse and interesting place to be. Often we look at each other and just kind-of giggle at he reality that we are really here. Peter and I are so happy and are really just having a lot of fun (even though we miss all of you)!
So, like any good couple with a new apartment we went to IKEA over the weekend and got some basics for the house. Because we have no car we took a train to IKEA which is at the end of town and kept our shopping light as we had to carry everything from the IKEA back to the train and from the train to our house. IKEA here is much like IKEA at home except they serve alcohol and have a smoking section in the IKEA restaurant. Though Peter and I did not partake in either of these Dutch IKEA advantages it is good to know they are there for future reference! We all know how stressful IKEA can be, right??? And really there is not many places in Holland where the don’t serve alcohol and don’t have a smoking section.
Peter is enjoying his new job and I am slowly working on finding a job as well. In the meantime I walk or ride my bike around the city exploring, shop at the street market for dinner, read in a cafe while having a glass of wine or coffee or a sweet…it is a tough job but somebody has to do it - there is a lot of cafes, they NEED my patronage! Oh, and at the suggestion of the employment agency I met with last week I enrolled in an intensive 3 week Dutch language course which starts soon. I foresee Dutch being pretty freakin’ difficult but we will see… It will be nice to at least be able to read and understand a little Dutch. Right now Peter and I find our selves stumped trying to do basic things, like buy laundry soap. You may think this sounds easy but there is a whole huge section for laundry soaps and accoutrements in the market and we jokingly wonder if maybe we are washing our clothes with fabric softener instead of laundry soap… Hee, hee!
We went today to the government offices again to try and get all our stuff settled. Shortly after we arrived the man behind his desk gives Peter and I an exasperated look, throws his hands up and says, “The System is fucked up, the whole city is fucked up!” he goes on to explain that the computer systems are down and there is nothing more he can do for us today. Then he looks at us and says, “Shit, I hate these fucking computers! I am sorry guys but I can’t do anymore today.” He explains he will send all the paper work through when the system goes back up and to check in at the end of the week. So that was our morning with Dutch bureaucracy. Kinda funny don’t you agree?
And that, our dear friends, is another week in Amsterdam. We love you and miss you all and hope everything is going fabulous on your end. Ta-ta for now…
xoxoxo,
Ri and Peter
September 10, 2007 at 12:23 pm · Filed under Mariah's
our house outside
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
Here is the outside of our new home! We are up on the third floor, so we are in the apartment on the tippy top above the window where the sun in shining. There are a lot of teeny, tiny, steep steps to get up there!
September 10, 2007 at 10:27 am · Filed under Mariah's
livingroom
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
Here is our living room/dining room. These windows are huge and because we are on the third floor we look out to the tops of the trees. Being up on the top also allows us to get a lot of light, which we hear is going to make us really happy in the winter when the days get shorter.
September 10, 2007 at 10:22 am · Filed under Mariah's
bedroom
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
Here is our bedroom. The yellow curtains have to go and so do the pictures on the wall, and it will be nice to have our own bedding - but all that aside it is a great room. It is nice to watch the clouds roll by out these big windows.
September 10, 2007 at 10:06 am · Filed under Mariah's
stairwell
Originally uploaded by mariahamckenna
This is our cute little spiral stairwell that leads up to our sun room and the roof deck.
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