Bikes!
October 19, 2018
We’ve finally taken the plunge and gotten our bikes! So far we’ve rented bikes to ride in the park, but up until now we hadn’t taken to the streets yet. We took our time looking, (we bought second-hand bikes to start with) because they are a lot less expensive and we figured it may take us a while to get the feel for what we’d want in a newer bike. My bike is getting delivered sometime this week, but in the meantime I’ve been riding JW’s a little bit. I’m not very comfortable on it yet, but I’m starting slowly. We’re going to sign James Wilson up for some lessons because biking in Amsterdam is nothing like biking in the suburbs of Virginia. James of course is a total natural and he’s biking all over town like a local. He has no fear.
We’ve also made some progress getting our apartment pulled together. I discovered an online site called Marketplace, which is similar to Craigslist at home. I was specifically looking for a sofa that converts to a (comfortable) bed for the guest room, a wooden dining table (we sold ours before we moved) and a leather love seat.
I lucked out right away and found a really cool 3-seater sofa that converts to a bed and we rented a truck and we’re picking it up tomorrow. I didn’t find the leather sofa, but I did find a great sofa for 100 euros that I figured would be a good alternative until I find a leather one. I went to look at it today, and it ended up being a bit of an ordeal . The family selling it lives on the top floor and the stairs are too narrow, so they told me I’d have to “arrange for a rope” to take it out the window. I’ve seen those ropes and let me tell you, it’s not happening.
The buildings here all have what look like giant metal meat hooks fastened to the top and that’s where the ropes are attached. I’ve seen countless people hauling furniture up the ropes since we’ve been here, and it looks incredibly dangerous and I just can’t imagine James and I trying to navigate a giant sofa from the roof of a building down to the sidewalk. The family understood, and the man called a couple of moving companies for me and arranged for student movers to come and get the sofa down for us. Now I’m paying double for my “bargain” sofa that I was only half heartedly buying in the first place! I think this will be the end of my Marketplace furniture shopping — the logistics are a bit too complicated for anything other than what can be carried (by James) on a bicycle.
In other news, James Wilson has been feeling a little blue again. I noticed his bedroom light was back on after I tucked him in last night and I went to check on him and we ended up having a long talk. He got emotional, and said he didn’t know what was wrong exactly, but that he just feels upset. We talked about home and what (and who) he missed there, and about what he likes and doesn’t like about living here. I assured him that everything he’s feeling is normal, and we can all expect to have ups and downs. He was much cheerier this morning when he left for school. I’m so glad it’s Friday. He’s off school all next week for half-term holiday (I love the European school system!!) and we are going to the Canary Islands. We are so excited for our vacation. I think it’s going to be amazing.
