i am working in reception now which is somedays fun and other days extremely stressful. but its nice to have variety and work in the cafe as well. although right now its sunday afternoon and this place has never been quieter.
there are now about 35 people living at the willemsstraat, thats our staff community house. most of us are americans and germans. we have some dutchies, a korean girl, a french girl and a belgian guy. i feel like i live at the american embassy. and there are 2 girls named lindsay, both from wisconsin, how does that happen?
(our cleaning supervisor just found a mouse in the laundry detergent, our cat is not doing his job.)
apparently we had a massive storm friday night, something like the european equivalent to a small hurricane. we are only about a 45 minute train ride from the ocean so we get some big storms but not that often. this one was so big they named it. emma. my german friend asked why the bad storms are always named after women...
about 3 weeks ago my friend lukas and i decided to go out and enjoy the long-awaited sunny weather on a sunday afternoon. he told me he found a cool spot on a barge in the harbor by the library. this library by the way, is the largest one in europe. its 7 stories tall and has a sweet cafe on the roof with a spectacular view of amsterdam. there were many people outside enjoying the weather, cafes and restaraunts are putting their tables outside anticipating spring. we sat on the barge for a while taking pictures and met a nice guy named herb from canada. hes a pilot for singapore airlines and was in amsterdam for a few days. he was kind of shocked when he found out the 2 of us are volunteering at a christian youth hostel in the red light district. we talked with him a bit and then went to go explore the giant pirate looking ship that you can tour. its not free so we didnt go aboard but we went into the nemo, a childrens museum and looked around the giftshop. the nemo is cool, its shaped like the stern of a giant ship and you can actually climb to the top of it and overlook the interstate. it was a nice day with a good friend and spring is coming so i am looking to more adventures outside!
-our computers were down for a week! that meant we had to do reservations and bookings all by hand! it was a mess. i had to go work at the head office of tot heil des volks, the ministry that owns our hostel, and sit in front of a computer screen for 4 hours doing bookings. but now our internet is working and things are back to "normal".
-i got flowers for valentines day! they were from a girl but who cares, they were pretty pink tulips and i think it was the first time i ever got flowers on v-day.
-i went to a show in leiden holland a few weeks ago with a friend, annemarie. the band that played is called blessed by a broken heart and since annemarie did a ywam dts with the lead singer, we got in for free with backstage passes! they were really good. during the show a water heater broke and we all had to leave because they were worried about people getting electrocuted. the show went on as scheduled and we got to hang out with the guys after the show.
-we had to kick a cleaner out because he was getting too fresh with the girls here, staff and guests. he even asked me one night if i wanted to drugs with him! what a winner.
-my favorite guest was blacklisted this week. her name is mami. shes a 50 year old homeless japanese lady who plays music on the streets for income. she loves her life and doesnt want a "house" so shes stayed here off and on for 8 years. our shelter cat, tiger, has become her best friend and when she was kicked out last week she thre the cat out the window to the alley so she could take him with her. my roomate and another girl had to jump out the window to get the cat and no one has seen mami since. im really sad because i never got to say goodbye to her and she asked for me when they told her she had to leave. im praying that mami finds jesus and that ill get to see her again before i leave.
ok, ill try to update this blog each week. i think this one is more reliable anyway so it wont be such a problem anymore. thanks for reading :)
