Red light district

Found. Most of the girls probably will turn you off. The thumb of rule is you pay EUR20 for 15min. So you would either have to be a minute-man and finish the deal in 15min or bring loads of money. And there are also plenty of LIVE p**no shows lOL

Also found chinatown and a cheap bike place. Still haven't got a bike yet (it was sold out at the cheap place). Start working in 2 days....

I AMsterdam

I've arrived.

Had done all what I have to do at the expat center and viewed appartments (all in 1st day). Decided on the apartment I wanted and in process of signing contract etc.

Have gone to 2 museums so far- probably have to go back- Van Gogh museum and Amsterdam Historical museum. Museum card sells for EUR45, for a year I can visit any museum in Amsterdam for free, which is a very good deal.

Started taking tram and subway. System is a bit different but manageable. Talking about this I found people are being very nice to me. One lady showed me how to read the public transportation map (too lazy to figure out all of it myself...). But there were at least 5 people asked me about directions to places...maybe I didn't look lost enough for them. Never used a map for the first couple of days and managed to find ways to places wanted to go, as well as home- I think I'm pretty amazing ...

Still haven't found chinatown and redlight district yet, still don't have a bike- these are goals for tomorrow. Also wanted to visit royal palace tomorrow. Was there today, but palace was closed.

Nothing exciting about food here- just like new york- you can find any cuisine you like here in amsterdam

Funny thing is 40% of amsterdam is like New York  and another 30% is like China (especially stores like G star, vero moda, jack jones) - so Amsterdam looks/feels familiar to me either from the New York side or China side.

Overall- Like Amsterdam, it just rains too much (and another funny thing, locals here don't use umbrella unless it gets really really bad- only found that I was the only one using umbrella on the street....)

Goodbyes 1

Today is last night in DE. Had a happy hour to say bye to the clients. Drinks shots made me have a headache and apparently entertained everyone when i was buzzed LOL. fire alarm at the hotel at 3:06am (never had one for my entire 2 years staying here), went from 16th to the lobby and someone told us it was the false alarm and walked 16th floor right back. who's gonna fall asleep right away after 3am exercising..... what a night~~

Prep 3- Leaving Date

Leaving on Sept 22. & arriving on Sept 23 (6am), and then go to the bank with relocation people, and expat center at 11am, and apartment hunting at 2pm, should be very exciting 1st day in amsterdam. OMG have so much left to do, but did book my flight~