BICYCLES! in Amsterdam

David and I went to a second-hand bicycle shop today and purchased, yes, that's right, bicycles! And mine is a beautiful pale pink -- the only one of its kind there. We then rode back home along the canal.

Takes a little getting used to -- I haven't ridden a bike since my early teens, maybe. And all the other bikes and cars and such. But there are bike paths. Now we can ride around Amsterdam!

Our assimilation into Dutch life just keeps on progressing...

More photos to come.

IAMsterdam

(David and Dirty Dancing dancers trying to do a model-ish pouty sexy look at dinner...)

This week will be the last week that we spend in the rehearsal studio -- next week we move into the theater in Utrecht. David and I will commute from Amsterdam to Utrecht. We -- and most of the creatives -- decided it would be nicer to live in Amsterdam even when we moved to the theater, because this way, at least we have more of a city life during what free time we find.

Things continue to be busy, although we are really getting used to the Amsterdam life. We make lunch every day, and have even managed to feed a couple of our colleagues on some days, thus saving them from yet another trip to Burger King. We feel very much at home in our apartment, and have gotten used to buying most of our weekly groceries on our day off at the De Natuurwinkel (organic food market) and buying chicken and other little bits during the week at the supermarket around the corner, as needed.

It's all simple and normal-seeming, but this is a routine that has been difficult to follow during rehearsals all over the world. Somehow, Amsterdam has been different and I am enjoying cooking everyday.

It's very special, living in Amsterdam. I wouldn't want to live here forever, per se, and there are things about the city and the culture that takes getting used to, but we've found a peaceful life pattern. We're appreciating our opportunity to have a sampling of life in Amsterdam.

I've even grown fond of our tiny oven. It cooks evenly and suits us just fine for what we need.

(David perched on the steps to our apartment while we wait to get picked up for work...)

Roasting Chickens in a Little Oven

I have been roasting at least one chicken a week, sometimes two, so that we could make sandwiches with the meat. Because David requires about 2.5 sandwiches per lunch/work day, I have found roast chicken very useful (this is in addition to 4 apples he consumes per day before lunch... not to mention various assortments of snacks... when David grazes, I often imagine what it must be like to feed, say, a giraffe at a zoo, which must eat crates of fruits each day). This way, he could build his own sandwiches as he pleases -- and he has become quite an artful master with his gourmet sandwiches (pesto, avocado, cucumber, lettuce, sometimes hummus -- of course, all organic -- or shall I say, biologisch)! It's kind of funny and amusing how we have become very domestic here in Amsterdam. Of course, there was the necessity aspect of it, what with the lunch options at our rehearsal studio (there is a limit to how much Burger King should be consumed per annum). But now that we have moved into a very comfortable lovely apartment, it's nice to eat at home, stay in more. We have discovered a fantastic gourmet food shop down the street that sells home-cooked lasagnas, moussakas, roasted vegetables and other delicious dishes that are entirely organic. And the shop is open until 9PM! Perfect for us. So we have developed a routine of making lunch each day (some days I make a stir-fry, other days frittata, too), and getting some organic take-away, heating it at home and eating dinner at home.

We will still go out to dinner -- it's easier for us when we work the hours we do, and it's also a hobby/breather in the evening. But we are enjoying our domestic pattern here in Amsterdam.

I do find the oven oddly small, though. (It's not like in New York where there is a compromise of space -- our apartment here is huge -- but the Dutch don't seem to believe in full size ovens.)

David at Work...

David -- our valiant Associate Choreographer -- and Craig, our ballroom choreographer, discuss the Samba after rehearsal, long after everyone has gone home.

David and his assistant Lucy oversee the the jive number to "Yes"...

Never ones to be unaware of a camera upon them, David and Lucy concentrate harder by posing...

First Day Off in our New Amsterdam 'Hood

Monday is our day off -- and today was our first day off living in our new apartment in our new neighborhood. We slept in (very much needed), and then walked around our neighborhood acclimatizing ourselves with the shops in the area.

We are in love with our new place, our new neighborhood.

The funny coincidence is, the "main," busy street perpendicular to our street is one that David and I had wandered into about two years ago, when we first came to Amsterdam together for a weekend. Since then we had recalled the street fondly, but could never place it. It turns out we are living right off of it!

We are very lucky, indeed.

Our apartment feels like a large farm house, almost. It is very airy and bright. The exposed beams on the ceilings are a nice touch, and the wooden floors and dining room table are gorgeous. The space somehow reminds me of a rustic Dutch version of our New York apartment... of course, it's much bigger, but I suppose our comfort and happiness in this new Amsterdam apartment makes me feel better about being away from New York yet again.

We have had a mellow, relaxing day, and I think we will continue to do so by way of eating dinner at home, hanging out, and maybe catching a movie later. (All American/English movies remain in English and are just subtitled Dutch, so we can still understand!)

Here are a few photos I took today:

Our living room, which overlooks the canal (Prinsengracht)

David in the kitchen -- we have a little balcony that overlooks a little courtyard.

View of the canal.... and houseboats...

View down the Prinsengracht from a bridge right off our street...

A couch being hoisted up along the facade of a building using the Dutch pulley system...

The couch successfully makes it up to the top floor!

A photo look back... at first week and half of rehearsals in Amsterdam

Now that we have settled into a *new* place that we are thrilled about and comfortable in, here are a few photos of our past -- what seemed much longer than two weeks -- time in Amsterdam:

(The foundation of the revolving rehearsal floor gets laid out in our rehearsal studio...)

(Tomoko, David, Lucy, and Anna at a creatives' dinner at De Belhamel)

(DD Associate Choreographer and Director pose smartly at the Bar Americain...)

(The DD Utrecht cast practice walking on a revolving stage...)

(Prinsengracht -- Canal view, 9AM -- what is now our OLD view from our OLD apartment...)

(Tired and tipsy yet happily comfortable in Cafe Toscanini, a NEW local Italian restaurant just across the canal in our NEW much lovelier Amsterdam neighborhood...)

Success! -- We've MOVED in Amsterdam!!!

Hurrah!

We have successfully found a lovely apartment, overlooking the canal, in a fantastic area of Amsterdam. We are very happy -- and I am currently typing on my computer in our new living room, which is very spacious and can readily accommodate the two of us tapping away on our computers at the same time without our suffocating. We haven't unpacked yet, but we both already feel much more relaxed, comfortable and happy. And we can't touch the ceiling! Yay!

Photos to come...

Living in "Pee Wee's Playhouse"

No luck yet in changing apartments in Amsterdam. We are still living in what Robin accurately called, when I told him of the apartment, "Pee Wee's Playhouse."

I saw two apartments today -- one near Chinatown, the other in de Pijp. The one in Chinatown was impossible. This apartment was like a New York apartment gone Dutch: random use of space, half refrigerator, and, what seems like the Dutch part, touchably LOW ceilings. The one in de Pijp was more human-sized. It was spacious and comfortable, and it would be fantastic to live in, if it weren't outside of Central Amsterdam. The truth is, life would be far easier and efficient to live more centrally, since the rest of the creative team is staying more of less within walking distances of each other.

So.

This all contributes to my current state of wanting to go back to New York. I am homesick. I miss our high ceilings!

In the mean time, I am browsing apartments on-line myself, to see if I could find anything.

GAH.

In Amsterdam!... and living in a crazy apartment

So. Here we are, in Amsterdam, kicking off the New Year and the Dutch production of Dirty Dancing.

The good news is, David and I made it here safely. Although rather hungover from the night before -- clubbing at Cielo with Simon, Shannon, Simone and Mig -- we somehow gathered ourselves together, finished packing and made it to the airport in time (just). We had a nice, pleasant flight, and all our luggage arrived with us.

The bad... or at least not-as-good news is... we are living in a crazy person's apartment. I don't know how else to explain it -- it is one of the oddest apartments we've ever stayed in. Things don't make sense to me in it. The location of the apartment is perfect: center of the city, on one of the main canals. Our living room overlooks the canal, which is a special and prized view to have in Amsterdam. One might say that our apartment is stylishly decorated: colorful antique-ish pieces of furniture, funky modern chandelier over the dining room table, flat screen TV with surround sound, there are many details to the apartment that might make a certain type of urban hipster very happy. Unfortunately, I am no such urban hipster and I find the apartment truly odd. First of all, the ceiling is very low. And I mean, very low. As in, so low that I could get on my toes and touch it. David smacked his hand on the ceiling while stretching yesterday. This can't be normal -- aren't the Dutch generally tall people? The kitchen is also a mess -- obviously designed by someone who wanted to seem like someone who cooks and entertains, but who doesn't, in fact, know how. Case in point: the stove has SIX burners, but underneath them, where there should logically be an oven, there isn't. The oven is on top of a very narrow refrigerator, and it is a toaster oven. Not even a real oven! So in this kitchen, I could have 6 pots going at one time, but only toast a single piece of toast, maybe two. What? The toilet is the size of a closet, and it is on the "first floor"; the bathroom, the bedroom and the spare room that is like a home office are on the "second floor," but really, the second floor is just a narrow set of steps above the "first floor" of our apartment (which is referred to as a "Penthouse"). To go to the toilet at night, we must very carefully tread down the narrow, steep set of steps and squeeze into the closet that is our toilet. If one were obese, one would have no chance of going to the toilet in this apartment. And then the bedroom: the bedroom has a triangular roof, is like an attic room, and has a massive wrought iron lamp that hangs low and center... thus, as David succinctly put, one cannot do anything in the bedroom other than sleep and have sex.

So... What do we do?

I need to move or I am going to go crazy in the apartment. I miss New York and our brilliantly appointed apartment, which makes sense. We are currently trying to get the Dutch producers to show us more apartments... which may or may not be difficult.

Crossing fingers...