Canal Boat Party!

These crazy Dutch! This past weekend, Renske and I were invited to go on a private boat cruise around Amsterdam's famous canals. There was a slight chill in the air, but the warm Sun counteracted it's effect and it was actually quite pleasant. The party was hosted by Anne-Marie and Erik, Renske's friends whom just returned from a nice long stay in South America. Clearly a good time was had by all, as after all was said and done, we had spent almost 7 hours cruising around the canals, BBQ'ing and having refreshments. 7 hours!!! On a boat!!! Doing not much of anything!!! Good times...

HAS ANYONE SEEN THIS WOMAN?!?

If you see or know this lady, please tell her that I have her old USSR passport. Yes, she probably doesn't need it since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but perhaps she needs it for border control, proof of age, etc. It will cost her 2 Euro (what I paid for it at a flea market on Queen's Day) and the cost of shipping to her new nation (nation must still exist at time of shipping!).

Amsterdam from 19,000 feet

Family day in the Vondelpark

Aaah, summer has started!! The weather has been fantastic for a few weeks now and we're optimizing our real Amsterdam back yard, having breakfasts, lunches and drinks outside in a private backyard in Amsterdam is ultimate luxury.


This weekend we invited the family over for an activity in the Vondelpark, followed by a dinner at the posh restaurant 'Herengracht'. At 2 pm my parents, sister and her boyfriend were here. Since parking is a pain here, I got in to help find a spot. Total parking costs for the day: 25 euro! Our walk to the Vondelpark took us about 10 minutes, a super busy Amsterdam makes for a restless pedestrian. You have to be alert at all times looking out for cars, mopeds, bikes and of course trams...

Once in the Vondelpark the amount of people seemed even worse. We walked for an extra 20 minutes in order to find a somewhat quiet spot looking over the water and typical Dutch architecture. My sister and I had planned on a 'painting in the park afternoon'. Out came the brushes, paint, pencils and canvasses and everyones creativity, inspired by our view. Once we'd all settled in, concentration hits! We were so quiet for about an hour before I had the good idea to poor some glasses of wine and prepare some crackers and brie. No one really touched their drinks until they were finished painting their canvasses. We had tons of fun, comparing each others art works and seeing how most of us didn't really paint the view but used our fantasy to finish the canvas. we stayed for a bit, drank some and snacked some and then took off in order to get to the restaurant in time for our reservations.


Right on the Herengracht (the richest and one of the oldest canals in Amsterdam) we find our restaurant. The service is great and the food is outstanding. Since it is asparagus season (really big in Holland, the Dutch love their white asparagus!) my dad and sister got the asparagus dish, served with ham and egg and fries. My grilled tuna salad was very yummie too.
Tired from the sun and the food we all went back home...

Bevrijdingsdag (Liberation Day)

Yesterday, upon Renske's advice, I went down to the main square (that Dam Square!!!) in Amsterdam for the memorial ceremony. Although the speeches were all in Dutch and I couldn't understand them, the most profound moment was the 2 minutes of silence at 8pm (observed throughout Holland). It was amazing to have thousands of people in the middle of this bustling city and have dead quiet all around you. Today (May 5th) was the party side of things - the day back in 1945 when a bunch of wheat-growing Canadians dropped from the sky and gave the meany German army the ol' boot ("Head east and keep going!").

















Liberation Day (Dutch: Bevrijdingsdag) is celebrated each year on May 5 in the Netherlands to mark the end of the German occupation during the Second World War.

The nation was liberated largely by Canadian troops. On May 5, 1945, the Canadian General Charles Foulkes and the German Commander-in-Chief Johannes Blaskowitz reached an oral agreement on the capitulation of Germany in Hotel De Wereld in Wageningen. One day later, the capitulation document was signed in the auditorium of the Agricultural University located next to the hotel.

After the liberation in 1945 the decision was made that Liberation Day was going to be celebrated every 5 years. Only in 1990, the day was declared a national holiday, on which the liberation would be commemorated and celebrated annually.

On May 4th the Dutch remember the people who have fought for and died during World War II, and wars in general. There is a remembrance gathering in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam and at the National Monument on the Dam Square in Amsterdam. On May 5th the liberation is celebrated and festivals are held in most places.

Source: Wikipedia.

Virtual Office

Working within a "virtual office" has it's pros and cons. The biggest challenge that I find is the time difference. Amsterdam is 9 hours ahead of Vancouver and 6 hours ahead of Toronto. You can see in the pics that I have these two nerdy clocks. Green is Vancouver time; White is Toronto. What is the future like 9 hours ahead, you ask? All I can say is, if you have Google shares, now is the time to sell them.

I typically work a 2pm to 9pm shift plus "on call" duties, which actually works out pretty well because I have the morning / early afternoon to go about being an Amsterdammer. There are also advantages to the time difference. For starters, I am fully working when Toronto folks arrive at work, so I am able to help them out and hand off a smooth baton to Vancouver folks a few hours later. The height of nerdiness, however, was figuring out my phone situation. In order to get phone calls to a Dutch mobile phone, I figured out the following call forwarding chain:

Calls to my work # => Forwarded to my Vonage # => If no answer, forwarded to a Skype number (New York area code) => Instantly forwarded to my Dutch cell #.

Technically, setting up the virtual office was very easy. All I needed was a high-speed Internet connection, my laptop, webcam and my Vonage phone (and an old school pad of paper).

Kudos to my colleagues, especially in Vancouver, whose assistance and cooperation is making this little work-from-anywhere experiment a success! Heineken's are on me (and, of course, I live a stone's throw away from the main Heineken brewery).

Koninginnedag (Queen's Day)!

These Dutch know how to throw a "city party"! Queen's Day was held this year on April 29th. Lots of ORANGE and GREEN (from the Heineken cans). Pretty much one big excuse to party.



Crowded? Uh, yeah.


My cousin Karen and I downing an Amstel (beer) near the Amstel (river).




These two Dutch kids were hilarious. The one brother would rap something about a farmer while his kid brother breakdanced. The microphone cable went into an empty shopping bag. They made an absolute killing. I'm guessing their rap went something like this "Farmer Jans had this super sucka cow... Made all the kittens go meow... Break it down, brother!".

Touch down, Amsterdam!

Renske led the charge into Amsterdam in late March; Gregg followed up on April 17th and set up a "virtual home office" in order to work remotely. We quickly settled into an amazing Amsterdammer house (built in the 1700s) with an excellent location.