I picked her up on a rainy Sunday evening from the Amstel bus station which just so happens to be a convenient 15 minute walk from my house. On the way, I was pestered by a persistent (but harmless) homeless man who followed me for two minutes asking for a handout. He told me his name was Eric. He was so persistent that if I had had any change in my pockets I would have given it to him, but I unfortunately didn't. I greeted Emily at the bus station, where she had made friends with a lady with a baby (obvi!), and we set off for the apartment. We ran into Eric again. I felt like I needed to introduce them at this point:
"Emily....Eric"
"Eric....Emily"
After shaking him off, Emily told me all about her trip to Brussels and I gave her a play-by-play of plans for the next three evenings. We dropped our things back home and were out the door 15 minutes later. Both sides of the dynamic duo had packed a beer for the greeting at the bus station so we consumed those before hitting the town. At the tram stop, which was to take us half way across the city in the rain, we ran into Eric again (three times in one night). He still asked for a 5 Euro bill for his troubles, but we declined yet again. Emily said that we could probably expect to see him at the bar.
Em had been in the city less than an hour before she found herself in line for one of the best Sunday night hangouts in Amdam: De Trut. Luckily, we arrived just when the line started forming so it wasn't a long wait. Upon entry, I introduced my favourite fellow bargain hunter to the reason why the bar is such a great hangout - 1.50 entry and 1 Euro pints (the unisex bathroom is pretty cool too). It was a really busy night and the crowd was quite eclectic.
"Emily....Eric"
"Eric....Emily"
After shaking him off, Emily told me all about her trip to Brussels and I gave her a play-by-play of plans for the next three evenings. We dropped our things back home and were out the door 15 minutes later. Both sides of the dynamic duo had packed a beer for the greeting at the bus station so we consumed those before hitting the town. At the tram stop, which was to take us half way across the city in the rain, we ran into Eric again (three times in one night). He still asked for a 5 Euro bill for his troubles, but we declined yet again. Emily said that we could probably expect to see him at the bar.
Em had been in the city less than an hour before she found herself in line for one of the best Sunday night hangouts in Amdam: De Trut. Luckily, we arrived just when the line started forming so it wasn't a long wait. Upon entry, I introduced my favourite fellow bargain hunter to the reason why the bar is such a great hangout - 1.50 entry and 1 Euro pints (the unisex bathroom is pretty cool too). It was a really busy night and the crowd was quite eclectic.
With the atmosphere in the club geared more towards hanging out and chilling more than dancing, we took the opportunity to do a lot of the former. While we may talk on skype every third day, there is nothing like having one of your best friends there in the flesh; we both realized we were talking a mile a minute! We stayed until near closing and encountered a momentary DISASTER when we went to retrieve coats - mine was missing. Between flashing back to Emma's coat woes in 4th year and looking for a decent coat to take in its place, a guy returned with my jacket with apologies up and down that it looked like his. On the way home we stopped for some fries and peanut sauce (yes, like mayo, it's a condiment that gets a lot of action here in the Netherlands) and were treated to a wonderful skype conversation with Megan and Michael who had just enjoyed dinner at the Deeks residence.
Having no class on Monday was like having a good old Family Day as I remember them from years past. While we missed the unique Canadian traditions and long-developed customs of the holiday, we had our own fun on Monday. We completed two quick errands, a stop to the bank and the library, before devoting the whole day to Family fun - we explored around the centre of town, stopped into a few of Amsterdam's finer shops, and then retreated back to home base. There we played many a survivor games (you must be use to this by now!) and philosophized about our future Euro plans. The highlight of the day was the movie game we played (described in this post) where some of the movie scenarios created are just too good not to recount here: AWray and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jono and Schadinger, Michael Murphy and (oddly enough) Michael Murphy, and Bonnie and Me. This provided hours of entertainment. After such mind bending exercise, we made a delicious peanut chicken stir-fry, inspired by Steve's recipe, and wasted away the evening. The day flew by!
On Tuesday I had six hours of class so Emily stayed at home while I prayed for a quick and painless day. It wasn't quick and wasn't exactly painless (tough lectures) but I think this was just a product of knowing that Emily was in town. I got through the day and raced home to get to party planning. Emily had fixed a coffee for my arrival - it was a painful reminder of the good old Isabella days. I was able to debrief about my day and I was happy to hear that she had been able to keep herself busy in the city AND make it back to the apartment without the aid of a map (so clever!). We had leftovers for dinner, moved the furniture around for optimal flip cup shenanigans, purchased a 24 pack of beer for 8.50 Euros at the grocery store (isn't it insane?) and waited for our guest to arrive.
Tomorrow: The epic party, the birthday morning, and a sad goodbye.Doc's Prescription of the Day: Avoid Eric at all costs. He may be harmless, but he's persistent when you see him three times in one night. Peanut sauce, however, must be embraced wherever you may find it.
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