Weeks 38 and 39 - M in Amsterdam and Arrival of Winter in Neuchâtel

Last weekend, Margaret went with two coworkers for a short trip to Amsterdam. She stayed home Friday morning, and that afternoon, the three of them drove to Basel for their flight to Amsterdam. After navigating through Amsterdam's mall-like airport, they caught a crowded train into the city center. After they found the hotel behind the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), they took a stroll through the old town, including the infamous Red Light District.

The Red Light District was filled with tourists pointing and laughing at the wares in the sex shops. Items for sale ranged from paraphernalia you would expect to find in an erotic shop to naughty Christmas ornaments. In addition to the shops, there were establishments with live shows that had explicit posters posted outside. The famous window displays, however, were a little separated from this.

Along one of the city's canals flowing through the area, there were buildings with large windows and women of various ages and physiques dressed in their skimpiest undergarments waiting for clients. Some sat and people-watched; others beckoned to potential clients coyly. In all, M found it somewhat depressing and preferred to focus on the swans and ducks swimming along the canal.

In additional to carnal pleasures, Amsterdam also offers psychedelic experiences. 18+ "coffee shops" were everywhere (not just the Red Light District), and it looked like few people were actually drinking coffee in them We did not step inside one, so we could not see the offerings, but we had no problem smelling pot from outside the doors as we walked past. In addition to the coffee shops, it was possible to buy psychedelic mushrooms and other substances all around town. Some of these items could be found in souvenir shops, which also sold t-shirts and Amsterdam snow globes and pretty much any drug paraphernalia you could think of. In all, Amsterdam seemed pretty surreal. One of M's co-travellers likened it to Las Vegas, but I don't think LV is even close.

Amsterdam isn't just about getting in trouble, however. With its canals, it is beautiful to walk through. It has good restaurants and several good museums. On Saturday, the travelers visited the Van Gogh museum. It was really well put together. In addition to the large collection of Van Gogh's own paintings, it also included paintings and drawings by his contemporaries, from whom he drew inspiration. The museum also nicely linked his art to his life history and had interesting anecdotes about the paintings. Afterwards, we walked around Vogelpark which was reminiscent of New York's central park or Munich's English Garden but smaller. Saturday evening, we had Indonesian for dinner. Amsterdam has a significant Indonesian population and is well-known for Indonesian cuisine.

The food was delicious, but a little too spicy for M. But she found it better than the Dutch food she'd eaten the previous night which had consisted of boiled cabbage, boiled leeks, boiled potatoes, hard-boiled egg, and butter in a bowl of water. Also Saturday evening, the group tried a local alcoholic specialty called Genever. Genever is a liquor that comes in a couple of flavors, but the original flavor is somewhat similar to gin but is more herby and less piney. The custom is to fill a small aperitif glass until the liquid bubbles over the top. You sip the liquid off the top with the glass still on the table until you can pick it up reasonably without spilling it everywhere. M thought this might be some ploy by the bartenders to make tourists look stupid, but she observed several Dutch also sipping hands-free on the bar.

Sunday, we took a boat tour of the canals. It was in a glass covered boat that went all around the city, including into the harbor. It was really interesting to hear the commentary from the captain regarding local monuments and history of the city.

One thing that was brought to our attention were the short guard rails along the canals which were installed by insurance companies a few decades ago in an effort to prevent cars from rolling into the canals. They supposedly paid for themselves in a year. Apparently, even today around 40 cars and bikes go in the canals each year. The rest of Sunday was spent walking around the city, going in and out of shops, until it was time to head back to the airport.

While M was galavanting through Europe's city of sin, Ken was brewing up his own trouble...literally. He took advantage of her being away to brew another batch of brown abbey ale, meaning he could waft in the delicious smells of barley and hops in peace.

This past week while friends and family back home got ready for a grand feasts and a few days off of work, the Boltons slogged through a normal work week. It doesn't mean, however, they missed out on the Thanksgiving festivities entirely. M and one of her old coworkers from California (who transferred to this site a couple years ago) decided to host a "real American Thanksgiving" for the project team of which she is a part. The lunch was to feature the old stand-bys of turkey (or a turkey-like bird), mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, stuffing/dressing, cranberry sauce, and, of course, pumpkin pie. Of course, we were missing several other important players like sweet potato casserole (with pecans and brown sugar, thank you) and cloverleaf rolls, but we couldn't make it too complicated. Keep in mind also, that we were serving this in the middle of the workday for lunch, so we didn't have all morning to cook. The coworker made mashed potatoes and gravy (veggie recipe provided by M) and bought half a dozen roasted chickens. That left M with everything else. The thing to understand is that there are no French's fried onions here, no Campbell's cream of mushroom soup, no Stove-Top stuffing, no Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, and no Libby's pureed pumpkin (let alone Mrs. Smith's pumpkin pie). Therefore, everything was made from scratch except for the pie crust, which M prefers to make by hand but she already had enough to do. To replace the fried onions, she deep-fried sliced leeks. The cream of mushroom soup was made ahead of time and frozen. Sliced sandwich bread was cubed and dried. Cranberry sauce was made with fresh cranberries (amazing that they were available) à la Alton Brown. And the pumpkin/squash was roasted, pureed, and strained by hand. It took a week and half the refrigerator space we had. However, the end result was...not bad. Some of our Swiss and French colleagues really liked the mashed potatoes and gravy and the stuffing. And the pumpkin pie (which actually was primarily pumpkin tart because we only had one pie plate) was a big hit. It was nice to share with our European colleagues and show them that American food is more than cheese burgers. However, with all the work, M's not sure she'll sign up to do it again next year. Maybe something with less people and more of a potluck.

Autumn appears to have let its guard down at the end of this month and got leg-swept by Winter. (Sweep the leg, Johnny!) Earlier this week, M had to go to a 2 day training in La Chaux de Fonds, about 20 km north and at a higher elevation. It was a winter wonderland, with everything covered in snow. She thought "it sure is nice that it's snowing up here in La Chaux de Fonds and not down in Neuchâtel" and then Thursday night happened. Thanksgiving night it started snowing pretty hard. When we woke up Friday morning, the hill side next to our bed room window was covered, and light was shining in the window off the snow. Then it took us 10 minutes to de-snow the car before driving off to work. Friday night a lot of the snow melted, but Saturday morning, the ground was recovered with a blanket of white. And all day Saturday, the snow kept coming down. Winter is definitely here.

Lessons learned:

1) Indonesian food is quite good, spicy.

2) Chocolate covered waffles rock! K and M had seen chocolate dipped waffles in Belgium a few months ago but had missed out on getting to try one. On the Amsterdam trip, however, M was able to get ahold of one of these delicious confections. It looks like a Belgian waffle, but it appears to be soaked in sugar and is probably fried. The donut/waffle is then covered in a fudgy glaze, very much like the chocolate glaze on a Dunkin Donut. Result is over-the-top deliciousness. M predicts some entrepreneur will make millions if they bring this back to the States.

3) Just because it snows more in Le Locle, don't think it won't snow in Neuchâtel.

4) Ski season is nearly here, but in our apartment, we don't have a good place to wax our skis and snowboard.

5) November is the month of the 13th salary which means we got a nice increase in our paychecks this month. During the year, you get paid 1/13th of your salary each month. Towards the end of the year, for one month, you get paid 2/13 of your yearly salary. Perhaps it's a way to try to retain employees for the entire year or perhaps it's to make sure that you'll have enough money for Christmas presents. Regardless, it is a bit of a morale booster.