It’s 10:19pm and (a very cold) 64 degrees. The sun has not set! A decent (I mean properly chilly) wind is blowing. A man just jogged by in shorts and a sleeveless shirt. I don’t get it. What is this place?
Amsterdam. Holland.
At dinner, I started a conversation with another solo traveler. Turns out that he used to work for one of The Home Depot’s marketing partners. The world CANNOT be smaller.
Afterward, I took the metro (very accessible) into city center to meet another Kenya volunteer for dessert. Apple pie!
This is summer in Amsterdam. According to more than one local, I came a week too late. The actual sun showed its face a few days ago. I haven’t seen it. Only clouds and drizzles. Amsterdam seems to be a clean and orderly city. Everyone rides bicycles. Frites (aka French fries) are around each corner. Colorful canals with tourists taking selfies. This is an overly simplified description of the city but it’s what I’ve seen so far.
I feel like I’m struggling to adjust to industrial lifestyle again. Honestly, it took 5 minutes for me to figure out the shower because I haven’t used one in over 2 weeks. How do I sleep without a mosquito net? I don’t have to share the bathroom with 5 other people? I mean it’s great but I miss those people. It’s also strange getting used to people NOT staring at me. Kenyan adults and children stared as volunteers walked by, the latter usually yelling mzungu.
Amsterdammers don’t stare. And that’s nice but it’s also a little weird. I got used to the gawking and everything else about Nairobi life. There’s not dust or livestock in the street here. No exhaust from traffic. No street vendors selling sandals or Maasai women pressing you to buy a bracelet. Everything that was challenging about Nairobi seems normal now.
The Jam 