I made it; it is finally half term and I am pulling all of this together (as a lot of it was written a week ago before a traveler from Australia distracted me in the laundromat!) while waiting to leave for a plane to Madrid, Spain! I am so excited to go to Spain after studying Spanish for so long. I am also glad to be on break. Student teaching is absolutely great, but it does take a lot out of ya. Enjoy this highlight of my trip a few weeks ago! More will come after I return...(Photos will be forthcoming after I return.)
Despite feeling like I might keel over on Thursday (October 6th), by Friday I was mostly settled and able to head into school. And what a crazy, busy, important, and mind blowing day it was. Stress began to churn in earnest: I had more to do than I could have imagined. The lesson that day went well enough as we worked our way through the rest of Act One and the action really started to pick up. It was the reflections and the planning afterwards that really wiped my recovering self out.
Friday night was a co-workers birthday celebration, so I was able to head out to a new part of town to meet her and some of her friends for drinks. The bar, Cuba Libre, was cute, quirk, busy, and filled with pictures of everything from liquor bottles to a giant poster of Che Guevara. We managed to arrive while the cocktail deal was still on and discovered a Hemmingway inspired drink that…well, it would have made Hemmingway proud. It was nice to be out with a group of new people – I felt more legitimate. In a lot of ways I was hoping to meet more local people, until I realize that I do not know how. It’s frustrating, really. I can’t join the clubs of the uni next door since with the placement there’s no time and I guess I just never realized how difficult it was to meet people as a young teacher. This night perked me up and was enjoyable, despite knowing they aren’t people I’m likely to re-meet.
After a night out quite late, the alarm clock’s blaring at 5 am on Saturday was most unwelcome. Yet I dragged myself up and checked that my hasty packing from the night before was accurate and got myself ready to go. We were headed out at 6 sharp to catch our plane to Amsterdam! I was a big mix of really, really excited and really, really overwhelmed by the amount of work I still had to do. The tube ride, I admit, was difficult to stay awake for but the second I entered the terminal, my mind knew what to do and where to go; I was on travel autopilot.
And then we take silly pictures on the plane...
I do not think I have ever experienced two days go by more quickly than our two days in Amsterdam. We went straight from the airport into the city and as we stood on the plane laid out our must-sees: a canal tour and the Van Gogh Museum.
Conveniently, a main canal lie just in front of the central train station – a massively beautiful building that seemed to rocket up impressively in its surroundings, seeming more as a mansion or building of academia than a modern day train station. We took a stroll to see the offers and settled upon a tour by Holland International. They had a 100 Highlights Canal tour for 1 hour and if you went on one of their tours you got a discount on the Van Gogh Museum tickets.
During our tour the sky shifted between angry and gray with bullets of rain hammering the building, water, and oblivious Dutch bikers and as blue as summer cornflowers with sparkles of sunlight glittering the boat’s windows. The canals twisted and turned throughout the small, quaint city. Buildings sloped above us, resting haphazardly on each other for support. Their brightly painted bodies and the million bikes scattered and chained to every scrap of fence gave the city a unique and beautiful character. Above us hung these strange hooks which we learned were used for moving or hauling in goods since the buildings were tall and narrow with staircases too thin and steep to be used. This fact further endeared them to us and we smiled and snapped photographs of them and the millions of stone bridges and houseboats that dot the water.
I would like to live on a houseboat in Amsterdam!
A junction of two canals, complete with cute bridge.
Looking down the water, complete with swan.
Wandering down a long, straight street trying to avoid the bikes, we headed towards the Van Gogh Museum in the more residential and calm uptown area. The throngs of people – a mix of the Dutch and tourists despite the late season and massive amount of English – lessened and more and more trees began to appear. We passed a massive square where the famous and terrifying Madame Toussouds Wax Museum reigned queen on one side while a strange inexplicable statue dominated the other.
We don't understand...Something biblical or something from Homer? Or somewhere inbetween?
Continuing onwards, we stumbled upon a beautiful large reflecting pool in a wide open plaza. There we saw, quite on accident, the I Amsterdam sign! It was an exciting find, indeed. I feel that it’s one of those things you know exists but forget about. Finding it was akin to finding the TARDIS – an organic find of something I would have been sad to miss. We waited for a large group from Pittsburgh (if the Terrible Towel wasn’t a hint, I don’t know what else could have been!) to clear before claiming our letters and taking tons of silly photographs.
How could you resist when you could climb the letters? (You just can't sue Amsterdam if you're an idiot and fall off.)
The sign was just about a block away from the museum, so we continued onwards and skipped the queue with our pre-purchased tickets. The museum was busy but filled to the brim with paintings of Van Gogh and his contemporaries that I had never seen. While they had a few famous ones - the largest sunflowers, the self-portrait, the blue poster on Berkeley's wall, and the chair - there was a lot more focus on his development as an artist and tracking how his art changed as he moved from Holland to Paris. All this coupled with a few paintings to show how Monet went from realism to his traditional style left me a happy camper.
Waiting for the shuttle (it rains everywhere we go!)
We wandered about aimlessly, tracked down something to eat, and relaxed in the sister hostel while waiting for our ride to Noordjvick. The drive passed quickly as chatter passed between us, some Californian graduates, and a few Canadians on a pre-Uni trip. We had things to share about Amsterdam and about ourselves. The hostel itself was comfortable and had a very relaxed vibe. We curled by the windows with Dutch beers and chatted about the day before slinking off to bed.
The next morning brought more rain and clouds than sunshine, but it was nice enough to permit our walking down the block to the ocean. Shoes came off quickly and the cool sand clung to my toes as we ambled along the flat beach staring out at the gray ocean. Tumultuous clouds ambled menacingly above, splattering us with drop of rain and gusts of wind. We, and the locals walking dogs and themselves, braced ourselves and continued onwards. The water was warm and inviting, so I waded into the waves and laughed at my predicament.
Piper and I's pale feet covered in sand.
The beautiful beach!
Emily and I braving the rain!
Enchanting waves...
Piper headed back to catch her earlier flight while Emily and I spent a few last moments by the sand. We obediently left to catch a few last hours in the city. The new area was fun and quirky. We stopped by a cafe and I can say, it was all right, but not really my thing. The mix of languages and people everywhere was entertaining and led us into some cool shops and a delicious place to grab a bite to eat before heading to the airport. We waited until it was time with actual Amsterdam Heineken before leaving this beautiful city, its slanted houses and racing bikes, behind.
I was sad to leave and knew I must head back at some point. There are too many places in the world to go, I fear I will never know them enough...The weekend flew to an end and I was left crawling into bed and rising before the sun to collect my planning and head in to teach.
Post-travel tube journeys are the worst.
Much more to come on my return from Spain!
Hope you enjoyed!
Love,
Fallon
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