Netherlands

What happens in the Netherlands stays in the Netherlands. end blog.

just kidding!

Before leaving for the Netherlands, we spent one last day at London. On the last day, our host Matthew's girlfriend Sabina and her friend Heno from Slovakia was in town for the weekend. It was Heno's first time in London so we acted as locals and showed him around some sights like the big ben and the london eye and the jubilee gardens. We also saw the changing of the guards at buckingham palace again, it was so fascinating to see.

Sabina had a friend who also was in town, so she went to meet them at the train station and brought them to meet us at Trafalagar square - It was three and a half people from Poland, we were thrilled to meet more deaf people and spent the afternoon walking around and chatting even though we have never met each other or knew who we were, we quickly became good friends and exchanged names for facebook :)

As time night came, it was time to say goodbye, and we caught our bus to Amstel station in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Yes, the same Amstel as the Amstel beer) we immediately went straight to the city centre and began to explore Amsterdam. Now, if you know what amsterdam looks like (if you don't google map it) it is kind of U-shaped and basically, one wrong turn and you can go around in circles... that's what happened to us we saw the familiar sights and we were like "how did we get here again?" then went to another direction, and went back to the same place! So touristic of us!

Thanks to the Lonely Planet book, we stopped at a local frites shop where they served fries with mayo, and it was delicious (Next time you see me in america you'll see me dipping fries in mayo not ketchup).

We eventually found an internet cafe and looked to google maps to Iris' place - Iris was the person who was willing to host us through couchsurfing - she's hearing but took Dutch sign language classes (and some ASL) for two years, so she was eager to meet people who used ASL because people don't use ASL in Europe.

She was our first couchsurfing host, and we were her first guests, so it was a good experience for both of us! We arrived at night and chatted a bit, and then Iris was in the mood to go out, I was too but Tyler was tired and stayed in. So Iris took me to Leidsplein, a tourist hotspot with a bunch of bars, It was nice, but I asked her to take me to something local - so we went to the minds. It was less crowded and full of locals with Brand beer. I'll just say it - Brand > Heineken. End discussion.

A friend of Iris texted her and asked if she wanted to go to a rigoord (Squatting party) and sure we were up to it. It was so much fun there, full of "left" people and they were very cool with everything. We partied and danced until six in the morning!

On the next day, we woke up at 2 in the afternoon feeling quite blah. Iris contacted some Deaf friends of hers to meet up, so sure we were up for it at SoHo location where it is a strong gay area (Like Dupont Circle in D.C.) because they had happy hour specials 2 for 1 drinks, can't complain! There we met Rico (Tyler's former staff at YLC) and our fellow american Jason Lamberton who was staying with Rico. We had a blast chatting and buying rounds of drinks! Later we moved on to another bar with a fresh happy hour then went to FEBO for some munchies. FEBO IS THE BEST! after that we went to the watering hole and met about 10 Deaf people for a good time!

On the next day, we planned to meet Jason at the Anne Frank Huis, so before we went into the tram from iris' place, somehow, tyler had the door shut in his face and I was already inside. The tram left and we only could look at each other through the window. At arrival, we got lost, so I went ahead to the Anne Frank museum and waited for a hour and Jason showed up but no tyler... so we went ahead and went into the museum - TWO THUMBS UP - then went to the dam where we agreed to meet Iris at 18:00, Tyler was there and he was waiting for us for almost three hours! We got together for the night and enjoyed some drinks.

For the next two days, we bought the "Amsterdam Card" for 48 euros for 48 hours, it allowed us admission to any museum in Amsterdam, free gifts from places, free tram and discounts at restaurants/bars. We went to 20 places and enjoyed all of them. Some highlights: Rijksmuseum, The Heineken Experience, Van Gogh Museum (On his birthday March 30!) Jewish History (Joods Historich) museum, Rembrandt Huis and a canal boat tour.

After the card expired on March 31, we met up with Iris and her sign language class at the University of Amsterdam, they were thrilled to have Deaf Americans from Gallaudet attending their class. I was a bit lost with the Dutch signing but caught some of it. It was an enjoyable experience seeing a sign language class in a different environment.

Later that night, we went to an authentic dutch restaurant, the food was delicious and our bellies were stuffed! I had mashed potatoes with endive and a giant meatball. Tyler and Iris had sausage with mashed potatoes.

On april 1st, we went out to explore amsterdam one last time, Tyler wanted to visit the Anne Frank Huis, so as he went, I went and explored the Jordan and Nieuwmarkt area of Amsterdam.  Later we strolled down a street and spotted a lovely skull right in the window! We haven't saw any since, and went in the store. I love to collect skulls from different countries I visit and got to have one, so I did. We also ate Turkey Pizza, it was so good, I can't believe it's not that common in america! If you have a chance to do so, eat some turkey pizza! 

Turkey as in the country, not the bird.

The next day was Tyler's last day in Europe, we said goodbye to each other and I was on my own, but had a new travel partner in Iris. We visited Den Bosch which was southeast from Amsterdam for the SENCITY party!

First, we went to Sonja, Iris' sister's house. It was so cool! An example of what her neighborhood looks like: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kapturer/5361780174/ we had a barbecue with burgers, sausages, chicken wings, kabobs and of course, brand beer!

After the BBQ, we went to sencity, it was a blast! Iris introduced me to the organizer, and I told him that SENCITY NEEDS TO BE IN AMERICA. He gave me his business card, so... hope it will happen. Sencity was a blast, and the best party environment I have went to. Better than any Gallaudet homecoming or rockfest/brickfest party!

The day after, it was time to say goodbye to Iris. THANK YOU IRIS (and her roommate) SOPHIE FOR HOSTING US! You were great!

I took a day trip to a lovely small town Delft, which is the birthplace for famous dutch blue and white pottery for a couple of hours. After that, I then took a train to Rotterdam en-route to Belgium! 

And yes, you will have to wait for the Belgium blog :) thanks for reading!


One last note: Sorry to disappoint some of you for not mentioning coffeeshops, but coffeeshops aren't as popular in the netherlands with the locals as you would think. Most tourists, especially people from london, paris, brussels go to holland for a weekend to get drunk, stoned and go back home. I could go on and on about this but that's another topic for another time in person.