Erica & Andy's Visit

My friends Erica and Andy stopped by Amsterdam a few weekends ago while doing their European tour. They were heading back to San Francisco and were able to spend a few days visiting Amsterdam.
It was so incredibly good to see my friend Erica who I've known for almost 10 years! It was a welcome familiar face making it seem even more real that I apparently really do live here now! We had a great time touring around Amsterdam - I am really getting good a the tour guide thing now with visitors coming every few weeks! I should start some sort of service.

Friday night we went to a fantastic out of the way restaurant in the northern part of the city. It's a tiny little house that has been converted into a restaurant where you share cozy kitchen style tables and dine on the fresh food they've gotten and choose to serve that day. The head chef used to work at Chez Panise in San Francisco and it showed! He came out to greet the fellow San Fran visitors and showed us menus that used to be on hand at the old restaurant.

After dinner we walked for ages back to my place, but first stopping at a local pub for an after dinner drink to catch up more. I have now learned that while Amsterdam is small, that does not mean we can or should walk everywhere!! That was a hike. Easy to fall asleep that night!

Saturday we headed out to see my new apartment that I'll be moving into shortly. Of course since I need input to make any sort of life decision their visit was perfectly timed! We then took a walk through the red light district and by the Old Church.


Here's irony for you - the oldest church in Amsterdam is a gorgeous relic dating to the late 1300s and still stading and operational today. However it also finds itself in the heart of the red light district so those coming out of patronizing one of the many "window" ladies can go straight to confession. Nice. While the Red Light district has a seedy reputation, it actually houses some of the most beautiful old canals and buildings in Amsterdam. We toured them ALL!

We then met up with a group of 10 friends that night at a Moroccan restaurant called Nomads (super Lecker) A very fun time. Eating on loungy couches with a belly dancer and excellent food and drink - all good times! We headed back home again exhausted and very sadly had to say goodbye early the next morning. I loved having them come for a visit - it made me feel like I'm settling in here being able to show friends around the city as I also discover it at the same time. I cannot wait to move into my new place end of November! I can't wait for their next visit!

Team America…Not Quite World Police.

More like World Drinkers. Believe me, guns in the hands of this crew would be more dangerous than Dubya!. (and for the secret service that is now targeting me as a "malcontent" after reading this, stop monitoring inane blogs that randomly mention El Heffe and do something useful - like sending me Wheat Thins and Triscuts! Why must you horde the tasty snack crackers?! I can't get them here and given that my only other option is the pathetic Melba Toast which reduces into a pile of dust when touched, I think that would go A LONG way to global relations. Wheat Thins: Crackers of Peace...just something to think about.

I digress.

So the whole reason I'm even in Amsterdam is because I got a job here. I work in the EMEA headquarters of a US-based company so happily for me I get to travel back the states every few months. This time, I somehow managed to convince a group of my colleagues from the US to come to Amsterdam for a “business meeting” and weekend of fun. Which proved to be stressful as the meeting drew closer since I realized that not only was Team America made up of super Smarty McSmarts but they all have very busy important jobs. It occurred to me if I screwed this up not only would I look like a jackass but likely would be shipped off to start the new Guam operation selling pipecleaners. Luckily meetings went well, but the weekend was where Team America really made their mark.

They came, they drank, they made friends with a Viking, they drank, their bodies rejected their organs, they drank, they went home...

First of all here is a brief introduction to Team America:



Here we have the person responsible for the public face of our company...















This is the guy responsible for all operational interests - he's got his eye on the ball













Here is the man in charge of our global web operations


















And here we have the fella who handles all production aspects for our company...yea, look for great things from this company...






So having the group here was nothing short of great business wise, however I did not properly prepare for our weekend together. True preparation would have involved a rigirous 10-week training program of staying up until 4am, drinking my weight in beer and being able to do it all again the next night. As it was I was woefully unprepared to keep up so I had to call in reinforcements!

Reinforcements#1 - Some of my absolute favorite people - Chris and Madelon. Chris ushered 16 hungry people to a restaurant where he is practically the Godfather and Madelon made fast friends after demonstrating her secret talent.







Reinforcement #2 - THE VIKING!
Pictured here with Wes who was busy saying to himself "no sudden movements... nooooo sudden movements!"

Tor, along with girlfriend Donna (yet ANOTHER of my two favorite people) became our mascot for the weekend...despite Colin's declarations that he could "take down the Viking" Colin miraculaously still has limbs.

I have to say we all adjusted quite well to our 20 hour average days touring around, visitng pubs, "meeting" etc. Granted the sheer number of hours we spent sitting around drinking large beers, eating Dutch delights like Bitterballen and talking - it's shameful that we went to about 4 bars overall. But while we all seemed to adjust to being in a bar for 10 solid hours, we came to realize that around 4am you have 2 and only 2 options - as shown below:

#1 - Put on protective gear immediately. The possibilitiy of injuring yourself just attempting to make it to the bathroom are high. Expertly demonstrated by Brad Vocke.


#2 - Seek advice from the good lord. Hunker down and wait for sunlight.

However, the unfortuante thing is that nothing really and truly prepares you for coming to, realizing you're in the Viking's apartment being forcefed "shampoo" a.k.a. some sort of Norwegan elixir that is most commonly used to strip paint of fishing boats, and trying to find your way home. Ahhh Amsterdam. Good times.

We did actually do some respectable things. Did the usual boat tour trip, saw some sights, hung out at the American Cafe (not as lame as it sounds - it's an old hotel - gorgeous!) an generally had a fantastic time.

I left Team America in the wee hours of the morning to head back to their hotel and pray they found their way to the airport a mere 3 hours later. I did not at all envy Paul's wife Sunny - a true good sport - for having to put up with a hungover Paul the next day. Nor what would surly be 3 bleery eyed Americans craving nothing more than an icy big gulp only to recieve 8 oz of flat soda with one ice cube.

The weekend was FANTASTIC! I could not have had more fun and made great friends with Team America. I'm hoping to get my decoder ring in the mail soon but until I do I'll just have to use the photographic evidence as membership leverage. Ya'll come back soon!

(more photos from the weekend below)

Boat Tour

Madelon, Kate and Sunny