In any case, today my roomate Paola and I decided we would stop living illegally in A'dam and go and register our residency with immigration services. Granted, this seems a little pointless considering that I have already managed to spend half my time here with no problems, but I will be venturing to Morocco in two weeks, I didn't want to have any trouble coming back. So on the map, it seemed like the office was a good ways away, but we were up for a bit of a exercise and so decided against taking the tram there, despite our roomates' suggestions. This was not a good idea. Our "jaunt", lasted approximately one and half hours-against the wind, on highway roads, in the rain, in the sun, through construction sites. It was a wee bit difficult and reminescent of another bike ride from hell minus the sheep. Nevertheless we arrived and were pleased to find that there wasn't very much of a wait. When the government employee finally met with us, he informed us that we each had different procedures, given that I'll only be 3 months and Paola will be here til the end of the year. He tells me that he's imput me into the computer and that before I leave the country, "I MUST go to city hall to "de-register" myself-this is very important." "Oh, why, what happens if I don't?" I ask with concern. "Well, we just eventually take you out of the computer." Oh, so you mean that if I don't 4 hours out of my day to go to city hall and deregister, you'll do it anyway? Right-I'm all over that then. Seemed a little too easy for me. For Paola on the other hand this was not the case, although I really question the necessity of any of this paperwork as it appears there are no consequences for not doing it, Paola is informed she must make an appointment with another government office, in addition to registering. "right, is that in this building?" she asks. "Oh no!" (chuckle chuckle) "that's not even in the city-you have to take a train to get there." "Brilliant" she says and I laugh because this is one more example of how ridiculously bureaucratic this country is and unnecessarily so. It completely fits with my friend Becca's observation about the Dutch. She pointed out to me that while it appears on the surface that the Dutch are very liberal and laidback, given their lax drug and prostitution policies for example, it is not the case. They are regulators--every thing in this country is regulated to the -nth degree and there are millions of procedures for every facet of societal life, none of which are particularly co-ordinated towards efficiency and ease as they are in North America. This over-regulation slightly skews my perception of the Dutch as laid back and easy going liberals.
Anyway, last Friday we spent the day walking through an area of Amsterdam called the Jordaan. It is the cutest area, with tons of little cafes and neat little shops built along the canal. It really makes you wonder why anyone would come to this city for its Red Light District and Dam Square. I've begun to realize that I enjoy less and less even the idea of a "touristy" place. The thought of someone coming to Amsterdam and associating it with the grimy, dirty, people-infested streets of the red light district instead of this:
is beyond me. Later that night we tried an indian restaurant, which was weak to say the least. For all its ups, the restaurants haven't been one of the memorable things about this city. With the exception of FEBO. What is FEBO you ask? Well, I'll tell-it's vending machine food but not just any vending machine-FRESH vending food. 
I know its so hard for me to actually fathom getting a sandwhich from a machine that does't taste like cardboard but the Dutch have mastered it. They serve all these different things, like croquettes, which are amazing and dangerous. Saturday, I spent the day biking around and running errands, got lost, but in a good way...fun to find a new neighbourhood. Saturday night, the resident assistant gave the nod for a "red light district" themed party for the houses, which seemed like a well chosen theme given that our window frames are painted bright red. Thankfully, while the decorations tried their best to be authentic, the party goers did not take the theme too far. Sunday, spent the day biking around and well, enjoyed a Sunday, nice to live a life of normalcy on occassion....not for long though, Morocco is in two weeks, followed by London, Paris and Krakow. Hope everyone is doing well. xxP
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