We quickly checked in to our hotel, the Hotel Bellington and Toolman rushed back out to meet up with Jono and met a few of his Amsterdam based friends. Jono was here on his way back from the UK to NZ. We walked around the city, then Toolman headed to the Nomad, a lounge bar that serves huge 3 course finger food dishes, while Princess caught up on some much needed sleep.
It was good to meet some people who were knowledgeable about Amsterdam and talk about all the choices we had coming up. Where to live? Where is this? How does public transport work here? Bicycles? Lots of boring but useful questions! We did have a good night though, and some of Jonos friends are Kiwi - always nice to hear our accent!
We were in dire need to be contact-able and so we got new SIM cards for our mobiles. Unfortunately we had no NZ plug adapter, so Toolman rigged up a quick way to charge his phone until permanent arrangements could be made:
Yes this is not recommended practice, but we needed to be connected - we are contact-able! We are both now available via mobile numbers:
Toolman: +31 6 1934 1481We noticed that the numbers differ only at the end, '81 and '79, which are our birth-years. Unfortunately, we got them the wrong way around and Toolman already gave his number out as '81. Toolman takes safety seriously, so the exposed prongs were covered with a sock to make them less exposed.
Princess: +31 6 1934 1479
The room we are in is small, but does have its own small bathroom, cable TV, and a kettle and fridge. Until we get a residents permit, we can't do anything like: work, rent a house, get a bank account, get a tax number, so we are stuck living in this room. The laptop has been invaluable.
Our hotel includes both wifi internet and a free breakfast, making it perfect for us to get the paperwork rolling and become residents, get tax numbers, find jobs and find accommodation. As CVs are going to be needed, Toolman got a wireless mouse and keyboard. Much easier to work on!
This is a particularly nice picture of us goofing around, we miss you all!
It turns out that the street our hotel is on is the most posh, famous and expensive street (PC Hooftstraat) in Amsterdam! Luckily the (2 star) hotel was not very expensive (or luxurious) but was perfect for us. Below is the view along from our window.
This road has some very expensive shops, and there have been lots of nice cars parked along the road at times. Toolman has been oogling plenty!
This is a nice black Ferrari.
And this is the new Audi R8. Toolman got a photo of one of these in a showroom in Shanghai, but this is on the street. He also saw a matching pair of black Maseratis (but no pics sorry) - was awesome! Plenty of money down this street.
In contrast, most of Amsterdam is very much public transport and push bikes. Traffic density in the city is very low, and there are lots of other forms of transport in use. Like these things:
Toolman is certain that they use lawn mower engines. They are 2 seater, but are so narrow they are allowed in the scooter lanes. They are not very fast, but the old people seem to love them, as we've seen lots of them buzzing about! If you look closely in the street picture above, you'll see another one.
(not our picture)
This city has an amazing amount of bikes. They litter the streets everywhere. The local junkies have a black trade in stolen bikes, so most people have very crappy bikes, in an attempt to minimise the likelihood of theft. And most people spend more on their lock then their bike!
There are some cool bikes though, like these bad boys.
Lots of lucky kids get front row seats to cycling around the city. No one here wears helmets, which is alien to us Kiwis who have been indoctrinated by the govt. enforcement of helmets. Our Dutch friend, Marloes, says that only German tourists wear helmets, and everyone laughs at them. So what do you think everyone? Safety nerd or peer pressured conformity?
We spent a night with our Dutch friends, Marloes and Robert. They cooked us a multitude of yummy Dutch foods and treats, washed down with all sorts of drinks. We ranted and raved about our travels, the drama of having to get jobs again, and discussed famous people from NZ and or the Netherlands. Robert recently told us that Lurch from the Addams Family movie was Dutch.
The tail end of the night got a little blurry, but the food and the company was excellent. Thanks guys! Dutch food is very tasty, and there are so many gourmet items that we have found in the supermarkets.
This city has a huge selection of foreign food in the restaraunts, but the number one local snack seems to be frites'. Luckily we like these too! There are shops on most corners selling them, especially around the pubs and suchlike. And yes, they do put mayonnaise on their hot chips unless you ask for tomato.
It took 2 days to find out that the immigration process had changed since we left NZ, and we no longer needed to register at the Aliens Section of the Police. We went to the Naturalisation department and talked to a lady at the information desk. She gave us forms that suited our situation - 1 year cultural exchange working holiday programme for NZ under 30s - and explained that we needed to make an appointment via the 0.20€ per minute phone number. Urg!
On top of this, the earliest appointment was over a week away! We had to take it, and wait out over a week with very little we could organise. We started looking for accommodation, knowing that the the process takes a long time. It turns out that there is not huge numbers of options, and the agencies are very slack, considering they charge one months rent for their show you the house service.
One of the few agencies that did show us a few places did have one place that was perfect. We asked the agent to go and find out how soon we could take it, and what paperwork the landlord needed. We ended up holding off other choices and nagging him for 2 weeks about the place. By our second week here we had cash and a resident permit, but couldn't seem to get the agent to get the paperwork happen. The rent for the agency offered place was €1100 per month, so you'd think the agent want that commission.
We went in and got our provisional resident permits, which all went smoothly. That afternoon, with all the correct paperwork, we went to the tax department to register for tax numbers. Not so easy! Again, we had to call a pay-number and book - we are now scheduled to visit on Feburary 11. This means that we can't work or get a bank account till after then.
We did look at lots of other places, and eventually we found somewhere that suited us. Our new flat is rented directly from the landlord, so there was no commission, and he was happy to let us move in straight away. So, as of January 25, we are now residing at:
Van Eeghenstraat 52Our flat is very central; it backs on to Vondelpark which is apparently great in summer. Our neighbor has generously offered her wifi for use, and so we are also online. We can't sign up for internet without a bank account, and can't get bank accounts till we have tax numbers.
Amsterdam 1071 GJ
The Netherlands
So as of this evening, we are both settling in to our new flat, and pouring over the internet websites for job opportunities. Toolman has had a few interviews already.
In the next post we'll get some photos and show you all around, but for now you can look at the pictures the landlord has at his website:
http://www.kyboma.co.uk/souswww/3epics.htm
Stay tuned to our now-current blog!
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