Neck Pains

We have arrived in Amsterdam!

With only our most required possessions stuffed into seven suitcases/bags we arrived at Schiphol Airport last Thursday to record temperatures and very high humidity. Apparently, consistently hot weather above 25 degrees is a freak of nature in the Netherlands - aren't we lucky! Our arrival went quite smoothly aside from my serious bout of motion sickness during the taxi ride from the airport to the city center. Our taxi driver, who had picked up his brand new Mercedes Benz minivan the day before, couldn't have been happy with the number of "close calls" and multiple stops he had to make for me in Amsterdam traffic during our 30-minute ride.

Settling into temporary housing has been very smooth as Chris' company has looked after all the details. We have a comfortable 2-bedroom flat to live in for the next two months, located in the Oud-West (Old West) neighbourhood, southwest of the touristy and packed City Centrum and next to the lovely Vondelpark. It will take some time and adjustment to get used to our new surroundings and way of life in Europe. For example, I forgot how small the fridges are here. Since only small cartons fit, a carton of orange juice which would normally last us a week back home, now lasts about 2 days here. This has caused me to become very familiar with my local Albert Heijn grocery store!

This week, Chris started his new job at Guerrilla Games, which is located right in the City Centrum, looking out onto one of Amsterdam's beautiful canals. The studio is only a 20-minute walk, 10-minute bike ride or 5-minute tram ride from our flat. It's nice he has options on how he can get to work. So far he has felt extremely welcomed by studio management and his new colleagues and is looking forward to taking on the challenges of his new position. As for me, I've successfully completed two days of being a real Amsterdam housewife. I plan to start looking for work in mid-August, but until then I'm trying my best to relax, become familiar with our neighbourhood, and take care of looking for a more permanent place to live.

I guess the biggest adjustment for us so far has been the constant need watch out for the various forms of transportation on the streets. This is an important skill to learn so you don't get yourself killed and so you stop yourself from killing someone else! Honestly, we both have neck pain from looking left, right, left, right, and left again before crossing every single intersection. In addition to the millions of bicycles, there are endless amounts of trams, buses, scooters and pedestrians all crammed into extremely narrow streets. While there seems to be some method to the madness, collisions between humans and various forms of transportation are common here. So much so that every citizen is required to purchase personal liability insurance in case you are sued after walking into the bike path, knocking someone of their bike, and leaving them disabled. Fortunately, we purchased our insurance today! Even with the known risks, we can't wait to purchase our own bikes this weekend so we can join the masses and explore the city on wheels. The bike hunt is on! We'll introduce you to our new family members once they have been found...