Pre-Hitched!

Also known as "engaged", one Renske W. and one Gregg S., on the beautiful island on Leros, Greece, 06-26-2006.

Love to all our friends & family!

G & R


To answer the typical questions in advance:

1.) No, we haven't set a date and we don't know where it'll be.
2.) No, we don't know if there'll be an open bar.
3.) Yes, it was GREGG who popped the question to Renske, not vice versa.
4.) Yes, she had no idea it was coming.
5.) Yes, she cried (bonus tears).

Bike Culture ( I like it)

If cycling infrastructure in Vancouver was as good as it is in Amsterdam, you would see a completely new eco-system of bikes appear. Some cute and cuddly; some weird and kinda ugly. Here are some of these species of bike that I managed to snap a pic of:

1. The Worker Bee

Tough and designed for cargo. Handle bars double as a fool-proof lock.

2. Bike Parking Lots (I foresee these will eventually be known as "Barking Lots")


This bike parking lot is located right beside Amsterdam Centraal, the main train station. In a land where most bikes are pieces of crap and of the same colour, you'd better remember where you parked it after that weekend trip to Arnhem.

3. Movers 'n Shakers


Got 4 kids to haul around? New 32" Plasma TV and Xbox 360 Deluxe Edition (c) to get home from the store? Then you'll need at least one "friend" who has one of these beauties that you can borrow off of. Designed to haul large amounts. Stylish purple-pink colour optional.

4. Dutch Hotties (aka Nederlandse Lekkere Dingen)



Ok, this has nothing to do with bikes per se, but because bikes, cars and pedestrians are usually physically separated in Holland, cycling is actually safe! So what? you say. How does this benefit Joe Everyguy? Well, beneath that streamlined helmet and baggy green MEC jacket with reflective 3M safety tape is quite possibly a smoking hottie. Results improve with weather.

5. "Group" Drinking & Driving

Part of the darker side of the bike eco-system in Amsterdam, these 8-yob-powered beauties are surprisingly benign! Just other day I was on my bike when - completely mid-flight - a nice chap on one of these beasts offered me a cold beer. A fleeting Canadian thought ran through my mind "Is this even legal?". I said "dank je wel" and we parted ways with cheers.

Really though, think about it. Idiot drunk drivers in overpowered SUVs (Canadian option) or 8 yobs on a bike-powerful beer keg (Dutch option)?? The choice is clear. The worst that could happen during an accident with one of these suckers is that you would reek like draft beer and possibly have to join in on a World Cup football chant or anthem with your new friends: ...Wilhelmus van Nassouwe ben ik, van Duitsen bloed, den vaderland getrouwe blijf ik tot in den dood. Een Prinse van Oranje...

6. The Foot Soldier

The cannon fodder of the Amsterdammer bike culture. These grunts don't ask for or get any glory. They exist to be run into the ground, un-oiled or maintained in any shape or form and then unceremoniously tossed into the canals once the rust holding it together breaks free during your ride home on Queen's Night. I don't know why most bikes here are crappy or why they cost $150, but they do.

7. Planning & Infrastructure


The veins that make the whole thing work. Deliberate bike lanes are constructed on main thoroughfares throughout the city. Very few exceptions where this is not the case.

Physically separated. Different coloured pavement. Bike-level pedestrian activation buttons. Bike specific road signs. Completely integrated and planned infrastructure is available for cycling (or any form of self-propelled or light-powered cycles). It's that extra stuff that helps adoption hit that tipping point.

Interestingly enough, a bunch of proactive Dutch folks in the 60s, the Provos, helped lay the foundation for this cycling eco-system with stuff like their crazy White Bike plan. This plan saw a network of free white bikes that anyone could take or park at any time.

8. Vancouver: Amsterdammerized

People like the VACC are trying to improve cycling conditions in Vancouver. Drop them a few bucks donation if you'd like to see this sort of progress like this in Vancouver.

Typical Dutch Food: Krokette!

Mmmmmm..... Lekker deep-fried meaty, chewy goodness!!

General update (BBQ, Volendam, Wedding in France)

UPDATE!

It is certainly time for a major update and some pics! Since Gregg and I are halfway through our living-in-Holland adventure and time is flying by, there is a ton to catch you up on. We've moved into a new place! My friend, Carlijn and her husband are on their honeymoon, so we're housesitting. This place is situated in the middle of Amsterdam, on a busy street (they've put up orange flags all over the other day for the Worldcup, starting tomorrow!!!).

In a few weeks we'll go to Greece and after that we'll live in our third and probably last house in Amsterdam.





BBQ - Eastern Holland Style

Anyway, a while back my sister (Franka) and her boyfriend (Rick) organized a barbeque in their being-built-as-we-speak-farmhouse. A few months ago, they started building their house on Rick's parents' farmland. They are building their house according to old Dutch Farm House traditions and in October they'll live where the sheep used to shit (ongoing joke in the family). The Barbeque was held in the new sheep barn and for Gregg it was another 'typical Dutch Experience'. In the Eastern and more rural part of Holland it's quite normal to have 'barn parties', where beer is flowing and bbq-ed meat is pretty much all you can eat. One of the highlights was a gift that was handed over by Rick's mom: the 'first brick' of the house , a beautiful slate stone with their names and the building year of the house.
Oh, and of course the view and the baby sheep getting bottle-fed.

Trip to Volendam & Marken

The last Thursday of May was a holiday in Holland. (Some Catholic holiday where Jesus goes to heaven to create a nice spot for our after-life.) Gregg and I decided to go to a famous Dutch fishing village: Volendam. In our little Toyota Starlet we drove through a grey and wet Dutch landscape, but the village was worth our while! One of Holland's most famous hotels celebrated it's 125th anniversary. Back in the day it was custom for artists to pay their stay in the hotel with an original painting.

The walls in the hotel are covered in paintings and it feels like you're stepping back in time when you visit (the local priest was having an afternoon drink with some churchgoers). We also decided to take the ferry over to Marken, an even older and more untouched fishing community. The older generation of the community still wear old traditional costumes that used to indicate which town you were from and which social group you belonged to. The real kicker was that we had to deal with a real modern day problem: Our car battery was empty, since we'd left on the lights... Because of small town friendlyness we had help from a woman, her son and her neighbor and within half an hour we were on our way home.

Carolijn & Albert's Wedding

One of the highlights so far was our trip to Southern France for Carlijn & Albert's wedding. Friday morning we left for a twelve hour drive to a French area called 'Le Lot' around Toulouse. Tiny villages and gorgeous views, lots of farmland and summerhomes. Everything around you is picturesque and very French. We stayed in a 'gite', a house that we shared with some of my friends. On the day of the wedding the weather was gorgeous and so was the bride.

We, as guests, fell from one luxurious reception into an even more luxurious dinner and party. The chateau where the reception was held was breathtaking. The photos will show you what a dream location this is! We stayed an extra day after the wedding and relaxed at the pool and near the house, if anyone is planning on going to rural France, call us! We now know the best place to stay...






















Now that we're back in Amsterdam we've picked up our 'regular' lives again. Our holiday is coming up! Greece, baby!!!

Beeronomics 101

Beeronomics 101 by Prof. Gregg S.:

The price of beer (and alcohol in general) is insanely expensive in Canada. At a government regulated liquor store, you'll pay about CAD$11 for a six-pack of 375ml bottles, which works out to $1.83 per bottle - or - if you really want to nerd out about it - 49 cents per 100ml. Private cold beer and wine stores tack on another $3-4 to the price of a six-pack.

Then there's the Netherlands, where this crate (yes, that's right, I said 'crate') of 24 Grolsch beers cost me only 9 Euro, which works out to 39.5 Euro cents per 300ml bottle or 13 Euro cents per 100ml.


Even with a generous exchange rate of 1.45 CAD$ / Euro, that comes out to CAD$0.19 per 100ml of beer versus CAD$0.49 per 100ml in Canada (about 2.5 times cheaper). That's what you get for sending the Puritans over from the old world to set up shop in the new world. They muck everything up.








BUT WAIT! IT GETS BETTER (or worse, depending on where you are at at the moment)! Our local supermarket, Albert Heijn, recently started a 2 for 1 promotion for the Belgian white beer, Hoegaarden. 2... for.... 1! This sweet little deal converts into current currency (redundant?) at about CAD$3 per six-pack (ONCE AGAIN, FOR EMPHASIS: THREE DOLLARS $CAD PER SIX-PACK). "You know what, honey, I'll skip the latte today and just have a six-pack of Hoegaaden instead" or "I'm going to skip the bus and just walk so that I can buy a six-pack with the spare change in my pocket".

In Canada, this "premium" import beer will set you back $14 for a six-pack or $7 for a modest pint at a pub. Mmmmmm.... So for the price of 1 Hoegaarden in Canada, I can get 4.5 Hoegaardens in Holland? To be fair, though, I haven't taken into account the cost of a lemon slice, which Canadian pubs do include within the price of a Hoegaarden.

There is a dark side, however, to this cheap, readily available alcohol. As you can see from this shocking picture, the drinking and driving in the Netherlands is completely out of control (and loud, with singing, sometimes a bell goes off, etc):


All this typing has made me thirsty! Cheerio!

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!".