crazy trip and a mad hostel hunt

Amsterdam
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I realize it has been a month or more since I have last updated, so I will try to remember and highlight what I have been doing the last few weeks. As I read through my journal I find references to Rob and Kristin, our friends from London who came to visit last month, as well as numerous Mexican food recipes. The weekend they came was so much fun. We went to a Keller Williams/Xavier Rudd concert that was probably one of my favorite shows ever. If you have never heard of either of these musicians, they're sort of one man jam bands and they each play ten instruments at least. I had never heard of Xavier Rudd before but I'm a huge fan now...of anyone who can play the digeridoo that well, while singing about peace and the earth. He put on an amazing show and the atmosphere was really cool. Oh, and I met Keller Williams (one of my favorite musicians) and bought him a beer! Crazy, eh?

kristin, bec, rob
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Needless to say we had a great time with Rob and Kristin. We dragged them around Paris and picnicked in front of the eiffel tower - always a favorite for the tourists. Actually, my dad and his fiancee had visited the weekend before and we had a great time too. It was so good to see them! We went to the Sacre Coeur, which I hadn't been to yet, and saw the Moulin Rouge and the Pantheon. Oh! and we also went to the Rodin museum, which was absolutely beautiful, one of my favorite museums in Paris. I bought them a bottle of French wine as an engagement present and they went off to see relatives in Germany. I'm really happy for them and I'm so glad they came to see me in Paris.

hostel?
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So a week or two after that our host family went out of town so of course we threw a PARTAY. Just kidding, we had a few friends over and we cooked dinner! (this is quite a feat for Bec and I). We made veggie fajitas and quesadillas and guacamole (can you tell how much we miss la cuisine mexicaine?) and we even made our own tortillas. It all came out brilliantly.

Finally to Amsterdam, which was two weeks ago. How do I begin to describe my trip? It was freezing and rainey most of the time, but Amsterdam is a beautiful city and the Dutch are so great. Unlike Parisiens they aren't all snobby about sharing their city with tourists, they are so helpful and completely non-judgemental. It really had me questioning what I was doing in Paris...afterall, friendliness and openness are characteristics I really relate too (plus it was much cheaper than Paris, as is most of the world). However, after a crazy two days I was ready to go home, even if the people are a little cold. First of all, our hostel that Bec had booked in advance, didn't exist. We were led on a mad hostel hunt across the bay to a shipping yard in a very sketchy warehouse district only to find signs for "Lum 'n Abner" pointing to a junkyard. Well, we ended up sleeping on a boat the first night and just kind of 'winging it' the second. Luckily our friends had made some friends that let us spend the last couple hours of our trip in their apt, since our train was at 6 the next morning. So in two days we did everything possible, and walked all over Amsterdam. We went to a lot of museums including Van Gogh - which was really cool, and saw the red light district and Vondelpark and drank a lot of tea in traditional Dutch teahouses. It was an awesome time and, although we could've planned a little better, a learning experience - not too bad for a first time travelling alone in a foreign country.

tea in amsterdam
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So I have been keeping busy and doing pretty well, although it's hard not to miss your family during the holidays. Ivan and Gladys put up the Christmas tree last night, so our house feels very festive now. Hope everybody is happy and healthy and that you all have a great Thanksgiving :)