Sorry we missed a few days

Today's Highlight: Mark and Julie Wall
Do you know how much it costs to go see Feist in Amsterdam? 135 Euro! That is insane. I just thought I'd share that.
Sorry we've been incognito, but Amsterdam is a busy place. Last night we got lost in the red light district until almost 1 in the morning, so when we got back I was too shell shocked to write anything. Most of yesterday was spent in different music stores around the city. We finally got a hold of a bike for Adrian to use, so we've been speeding around from place to place oggling the beautiful Spanish (and a whole bunch of other) made guitars. We went to 4 different shops, and Adrian has realized that he can get a beautiful guitar here for half the price of ones at home. So, hopefully the income tax refund is enough to buy him a graduation present. After all that shopping we needed energy, so we got fries and then came home to eat supper and relax in front of the National Geographic Channel (don't judge, there was a very cool show on about a bear mauling a woman on a Polish TV show...) Then we went and got lost in the Red Light district, got offered coke, pills, E and everything else you can imagine and like the sheltered Nova Scotianers that we are, turned tail and ran away. Adrian is (by the way) very polite to shady people, and I think that it got us out of some sticky situations (not too sticky though, there are lots of cops around there at night).
I over heard one guy say (just to prove we aren't the only ones who feel like this) "I want to go back to the states and never see anything like this again" HAHA! Poor Guy.
Today, Adrian and I had a slow morning, cleaned up and did dishes so that the hosue would be clean for Bertie when she came home from Belgium (3 days late!) Apparently she got stuck because her car got hit by a garbage truck, but don't worry, she wasn't in it at the time.
Speaking of garbage- we saw the garbage truck take out the trash today. The underground dumpsters actually get pulled out of the ground by a crane attached to a truck, which empties them into the back then shoves them back into the ground. Sanitation engineers here have to have some pretty slick training I think.
We also went to a book store (after fries again...) and got a Dutch English dictionary. Adrian plans to be trilingual by the time we get home.
Tonight was the highlight of the last couple days. We went to dinner with Alex and Laura on an old boat, that has been squatted (taken over) by a restaurant! very cool. The whole hull is a dinning room with a stage at one end, and a bar at the other, where locals go on Wed and Fri nights for CHEAP homemade food and good conversation. There was a dog going from table to table, begging for scraps, and the owner was sitting in the corner drinking, eating and getting redder in the face and better in humour. We had hearty meals and cheap drinks and a great time eating in the ship's "mess".
The canal boats are deceptively big on the inside, the ones we watch from our window look almost flat on the water, but really they are the size of a small cafeteria, but with way more character, including port holes with red red gels (for ambiance?) looking out onto the canal.
On our way back in to Bertie's Adrian took me up on a dare I made him, and went to ask a neighbour if he could borrow their basketball (he's been eyeing it on their patio for the last week). It turned out that the ball was flat, but a very good opener to start a conversation with the couple on the terrace. It turned out that they didn't even live there, but were just watering the plants of a friend. Julie and Mark were from Minnesota, and moved to the Netherlands 10 years ago. We ended up chatting with them for a solid hour, and they gave us their phone number so we can go out for dinner/ go to a museum together. It was pretty amazing how easily we clicked, and how naturally the flow of conversation came. They shared a lot of our political and community views, and we could really understand each other as far as our feelings about Dutch culture. They are just packing their house to move back to the states, to a small town of 1000, where they bought a mid 19th century house, on the St. Croix river. It was a really unexpectedly enjoyable way to end the night, and I am sure we will give them a call soon.
Anyway, I have to meet up with Judith early tomorrow, so I'm off to bed.
Love to all
Adrian and Emma