Lots of topics today. I'm not sure I'll get to them all, but I'll try.

Today I drove to the far north of the Netherlands. The company got me a rental car for the day to make the trip. I carefully noted the route to take the night before, but I didn't really have to look at it. The highways in the Netherlands are quite well marked if you know what cities lie in the direction you want to go. Fortunately (and because of a previous trip and a little study) I did, so I had no trouble at all in either direction.

I visited some colleagues that I'd worked with before. We have an organization consisting of engineers and scientists who support the R&D groups around the world. It was good to see colleagues again, and to spend some time in the technical world.

As I was driving back into Amsterdam, I suddenly had the realization that this move is going to be really great. It hasn't been the best week ever, so this whole thing came as a big surprise. I'm not sure what caused it, but I have several theories.

First, I think the ability to navigate back and forth across the country without consulting a map was very comforting. It gives you some sense of independence and accomplishment to finally know your way around a place.

I'm sure it didn't hurt that I'd spent the day with people I knew discussing technical details that I feel very comfortable with. In addition, I had a small chance to get my hands around some portion of the job ahead of me. I also met with a colleague who is going to be mentoring me for the first little while I'm over here, and I think that will work out pretty well.

The feeling was triggered while I was listening to the radio and noticing that I was picking out more and more Dutch words that I could understand. I suddenly had the image of myself a year or two from now speaking well enough to get by without much English and feeling really settled in and at home.

Now, I'm not taking classes yet, and I know getting there will be harder than that image, but it was a very good feeling, and it was the first time I really felt that way while I was over here. Its one thing to logically know that something will be good, but it's completely different to really feel it. I know this isn't all up from here. The next several months will still be quite rocky, but it feels like it was a first big step.

After I got back to the hotel and returned the rental car, I walked back to the Kopelcafe that I'd eaten a before. Its not a particularly good restaurant, but the staff is extremely friendly and service oriented (maybe they get tips from the people staying at the hotel next door. I'm not sure) and I've felt comfortable there when I was feeling down before. I think I wanted to connect it with the good feeling I was having. Somehow, I think it will make it an even better refuge when I'm feeling stressed out by the newness of everything.

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Tomorrow I move into the rental in Hilversum. I got a call that the furniture had been delivered today. Apparently they forgot the bed slats for the kids' bed, but we won't need those until January anyway, so not a big deal. I pick up the keys at 11:30 at the house, so I'll be taking a taxi with all my stuff over there.

I don't know when I'll have internet access again, so the blog might be sparse until I get back to the US for Christmas. I've marked a map with all of the Albert Heijn (supermarket lite, from a US perspective) stores in Hilversum, and my plan for tomorrow is to pick up some groceries, unpack my bags and then spend the day wandering around Hilversum and getting to know the area, especially the way to the train station.

Sunday, I'll sort though my lists and prepare for the week ahead. I've been a little overwhelmed by things so far this trip, and I feel like both my e-mail and my to-do lists have gotten completely out of hand. Hopefully, I can create some kind of organization for myself to get it all reigned back in.

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I promised to talk about Dutch culture a little bit, and I wanted to point out a difference between the Netherlands and the US that has struck me of late.

The Dutch seem to have a much stronger sense of personal responsibility than we do, and this manifests itself in some odd ways.

First, there's definitely a feeling that if you do something stupid, then it's your own damn fault if something bad happens to you. Many of my Libertarian friends in the States with empathize with that statement, but it doesn't play out in all the ways you might think.

For example, the Dutch (so far) lack the litigious culture that the US has developed. Part of the reason for this is that their legal system is VERY different than ours (more on that when I understand it better) but another part of the reason is that people who do stupid things and then sue, don't win. Judges and juries won't put up with it.

In addition, as it's been described to me by several different people, there's very little helping out a neighbor if they have a problem. Yes, people will call the fire department or police if there's a big issue, but if the neighbors have a tree fall on their house, there's not a lot of going over to help clean it up. That's the neighbor's problem and they need to take responsibility for it.

It also means that they support social programs, since they view poverty, homelessness, lack of medical care and unemployment as something that they, as members of a society, should take responsibility for. If they don't have these programs, the crime rates would be higher, medical expenses would rise and that would be their own damned fault. So they pay some of the highest taxes in the world in order to make sure some of the consequences of living together are taken care of.

Perhaps the strangest behavior that results from this feeling about personal responsibility is the way that anything that is left alone and not clearly in someone's possession will tend to get stolen. If you left your cart of groceries by the parking lot and went to pull your car close to load them up, there's a good chance the whole cart would be gone by the time you got back. Anything left unlocked, unattended, or unprotected will eventually get taken, and the police will probably scold you for not taking personal responsibility for your things.

Now, it's definitely not true that the Dutch are thieves. Theft is considered unacceptable. But if something is just sitting there "unwanted" or "unowned," well, then if someone didn't take care of it properly, they deserve to lose it.

And that's why the front doors of most of the rentals we looked at didn't have door knobs. You needed to have a key to open them.

You can see that there's some good and bad mixed up in this. It's not clear to me how it will affect us (if at all) but it's something I'm going to be looking out for.

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The title of this posts refers to some of the weather we've been having. Speaking of weather, I saw a beautiful rainbow on the first day back here. It was early morning, and the moon was up and inside the rainbow. I didn't have a camera, and I was too tired to use it if I had one, but I wish I'd gotten a picture of it.

Sorry to take so long to post. I made it to ground here in Amsterdam safely, but I've been a bit busy/jet-lagged, so please forgive the long pause.

Here's how the week has gone - Landed on Monday, took long car ride (2 hours) to meet with transfer people for an hour, then long car ride (2 hours) back to hotel in Amsterdam. Internet was free, so I Skyped a lot with M, but still managed to get to bed at a decent time and slept well.

Long, annoying and only moderately useful, all-day meeting on Tuesday followed by dinner and drinks out. Up until 2am trying to catch up on work.

Quick taxi ride with ALL MY STUFF!!! to a hotel near the airport for two full days of meetings, including drinks and dinner on Wednesday night - up until 2am (I seem to have trouble getting to sleep after one beer. Some of my friends would say that means I need more than one, but I think it means that jet-lag was catching up to me.)

Back to initial hotel after second day, and here I am. I got that "what the hell do I think I'm doing here" feeling tonight. Its easier to deal with when you know you're just tired and wrung out, but two more weeks (well, two weeks and two days) without my family is a long time, and I'm feeling tired (2 nights in a row up to 2am, and a 10 hour flight earlier in the week, why ever could I be tired?)

So I ordered room service in and talked with M and some co-workers from the US. Now I need to get to bed, but I wanted to give a little update first.

We did get the house in Hilversum. I've been struggling with figuring out how I can live there on Monday when I'll be away in the North of the Netherlands tomorrow and most of next week.

Turns out, its easy to rent furniture. They have expat packages, in fact, which has made it a lot easier. What didn't make it easy was the fact that they wanted me to be there to accept delivery, they wouldn't delivery on Saturday, and initially, it looked like it would take them 10 business days to deliver.

So, after much wrangling, we worked out that they often will pick up the keys from the landlord, move your stuff in, and return the keys when they're done. Oh, and they usually have at least one expat package of furniture sitting around waiting to be delivered the next day.

So, I'll pick up the keys from my housing agent on Saturday, and then I'll be really landed. I'll have to run out and get groceries. I'll let you know how that goes, but it should be interesting. I should probably also order internet service, or these posts will be few and far between.

I also got the work permit started (I hope.) I turned everything in to the company last Monday, but then it took a day or so to get a passport photo and have it sent down there. If all is well, they applied on Wednesday, and it will take about a week to finalize everything. If all is ill, then they haven't applied yet, and my December 15th Christmas trip is at risk. it turns out that once the process has started, I can't leave the country until I have the letter of acceptance.

After that, I need to "register" at town hall, including registering my address and my marriage certificate. Phew!

Again, we'll see how that goes. Now I need to go to bed. I drive for about two hours each way tomorrow for another day full of meetings. Someday, I'll actually get to work again. I know the top of the water is up there somewhere, but the last time I saw it was several weeks ago.

Well, tomorrow at 9 am, I fly back to the Netherlands. This past week was over in a flash. Of course, having most of the week jammed up with stuff probably had something to do with that.

Monday, I went in to the office here for half a day to get some paperwork done and to have lunch with some co-workers. Not much has changed here yet (no surprise, its only been three weeks!) but I started to feel more distance from them. They were curious about how things have been and what's been new, but some of the close bonding has started to slip away. No surprise, I guess, but a little sad when you're confronted with it.

Tuesday, M and I had our training in how to live with the Dutch. It was taught by an Aussie who's been living in San Francisco for the last 20 years and a Dutch woman who's just moved back to the US after living in the Netherlands for the last 12 years or so. She had a great deal of insight on what we're about to do, since she's made the move in both directions now. They were both pleased to see that we don't suffer from the (apparently all too typical) American mindset of expecting everyone else to adjust to our way of doing things. At least they commented on it a lot. It was nice to have the affirmation that we're going into this with the right attitude, but a little disturbing that they'd been so concerned about it in the first place.

Wednesday, the estimator for the movers came over and went through the entire house with us. We had to name everything as Main Shipment, Baggage, or Store. The baggage items will come with us on the plane as bulk baggage, so we'll have them as soon as we get over there. We can't take too much, but at least we'll have some pots and pans and toys for the kids to tide us over for the 6-8 weeks that the main shipment will take to arrive.

The rest of the week has been absorbed with getting ready for Thanksgiving, having Thanksgiving, and recovering from Thanksgiving. This will probably be our last real Thanksgiving for a couple of years, and we'll see if we miss it. Its always good to see family and friends around the holidays, but there's always some kind of additional stress associated with the whole affair. Again, ask me in a couple of years what I really think.

We also spent a lot of time doing odds and ends toward the move. Its been hard trying to respond to requests from the Netherlands during their business hours. I found myself jet-lagged and up at 11 at night to catch people first thing in the morning, and then getting up early (before 8am) to talk to them before they went home for the day. It hasn't been exactly restful, and I think its starting to take a toll on me. I'm absolutely exhausted and I seem to have a permanent knot in my back. Hopefully this will all ease off when I'm back at work next week, but I'm not counting on it. Eating better and getting more exercise will help a lot.

In other news, it looks like we'll get the house we liked. The contract has gone to the company for review, but we don't see any reason they won't agree. With any luck, I'll be able to move in on the first and I can actually make my own dinner for a change. Which reminds me, I need to go pack a couple of pots and pans.

Just three more weeks until we have to move our stuff. There's still way too much to do, but it will all get taken care of one way or the other. I have a better appreciation for what M needs to do in the next three weeks, and I feel a bit bad that I won't be here to help her out. I just need to make sure that everything in our new home in well in place before she and the kids come over. That way at least I'll be holding up my end of the bargain. Now it time to go pack.

Well, I’m back in the States for the week. I’m suffering pretty bad jet lag at the moment, which is why I’m up at 5am blogging instead of sleeping.

Friday was my day of meetings, and they all went pretty well. I am starting to finally feel productive and useful at work, and that will greatly help this transition for me. There’s still a ton of things to do, but its progress at least.

I sat with a co-worker on the train ride home and we talked at length about the differences between the Netherlands and the US. In particular, we talked about how the governments are structured. Here in the States, we really have a winner take all situation. If one party has one more vote, then they get to decide what happens. In the Netherlands, there are 16 political parties. One party never has a majority of the votes on their own, so they have to build coalitions with other parties to get that majority.

There are plusses and minuses to both systems. We seem to be able to remake ourselves quickly to fit changing situations, while the Dutch system changes more slowly. That makes us able to respond more quickly to change, but the rest of the world doesn’t know what to expect from us in any given year, while the Dutch don’t respond as quickly to change, but they form stronger international relationships since their policies are more consistent. But that’s just my theory at the moment. Ask me in a couple of years if I still believe that’s true.

At any rate, it was an enjoyable conversation. My co-worker has got a flexible mind and I think he’d enjoy living in the US for a couple of years to see how it really is. There are definitely good and bad things that I see on both sides of the Atlantic already, but I’ll wait until I’ve become a little more steeped in the Dutch culture before I really start talking about them.

Saturday consisted of getting up for breakfast, catching a taxi to the airport and flying back to the states. I completely failed to sleep on the plane (I really need to remember to get a face mask…) and so I was a little less than useful at our monthly get together that happened to be that same day. Sunday was spent mostly recovering, although the fact that I’m up so early right now indicates I didn’t’ recover much.

This will be a busy week. I’m planning on going in to work on Monday morning to do some paperwork (mostly expense reports) and have lunch with my co-workers. We’ll see how that goes. Tuesday is our culture awareness training for living with the Dutch, and Wednesday the movers come to take a general inventory of our stuff, so we need to have a decent idea of what’s going and what’s staying by then. Thursday we’re hosting Thanksgiving (which may not be the brightest thing we’ve ever done…) Friday will be full of running errands, and Saturday is the Older’s birthday. Sunday is the flight back to the NL. So not much time to breathe, really…

Next week doesn’t get much better. I need to apply for my visa on Monday, all day meetings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (while jet-lagged, probably) and then I hope to move into our rental over there on Sunday (if not before.) I’m not sure how all of this is going to work out, but I’m going to need a vacation before it’s all over.

Yes, I'm supposed to be asleep now... Live with it.

Dutch lunches at work - usually a sandwich, fresh fruit, milk and orange juice. The sandwiches are on white bread rolls with cheese, lettuce, tomato, and some other stuff - often some meat and sometimes boiled egg. No mayo, butter or mustard to be seen.

I wore the shoes that gave me blisters again today, and the combination of removing the extra insoles (they're built that way for some reason) and the Compeed made it livable.

Dutch phone numbers - very different than the US. A two digit (in big cities) or three digit (in other areas) area code followed by enough numbers to total 10 digits. 0 is always the first number for dialing in country, and a 6 as the second number indicates a cell phone. In the US, if you get a call on your cell, you get charged. Here, the caller gets charged double. That's why its important to know if you dialing a cell phone or not.

I can solve the ChipKnip problem by buying a pre-paid card, but then I have to pay a small amount for the card itself, and it can't be re-used. Oh well. Good thing I'm on expense account right now, right?

I learned on my second day of work that my boss will not be my boss going forward. Actually, on day zero I learned that there will be an extra layer between him and me by the end of the year, but now it looks like he won't be in his current position by then either.

I've been eating two chocolate croissants for breakfast almost every morning now, but overall, I fell like I've been eating less that I was in the US. Of course, tonight's very good dinner reversed that trend somewhat.

I feel like I'm picking up some of the quirks of language structure from the people I work with. Its hard to give an example (I'll keep my eyes out) but my sentence construction seems to get a little weird now and then.

Did I mention the bikes? In Amsterdam, you're much more likely to get hit by a bike than a car, and no one (I really mean NO ONE) wears a helmet. I think I did mention that one already...

The level of service is really different over here. You have to ask for everything you want. That's nice is a store when you'd just like everyone to leave you alone to look, but not so nice when you'd like to place an order in a restaurant.

Cars are really expensive to own over here. About 40% of the price of a car is various taxes (and taxes on the taxes.) I know some colleagues who bought an expensive car in the US, drove it over here for 2-3 years, then sold it for their initial purchase price before going back. You need to own a car for at least 6 months before importing it to the Netherlands, or they'll make you pay the taxes on it as an imported good.

I really miss M and the kids. Skype helps, but the time difference makes it hard to talk to the kids during the week. I stayed up later tonight to see them after school, but now I really need to get to bed before I collapse. I'd like to be awake for class tomorrow.

I meant to post last night, but it was 9 pm by the time I got back from the train and from dinner, so I just talked to M and went to bed instead.

Good news!!! The last two birth certificates came back legalized yesterday, so onward and upward!

Tuesday was a good day at work. I had a lot of meetings (which doesn't usually constitute a good day in and of itself) but since I'm still trying to get my feet under myself, it was helpful.

First I met with the HR guy at the R&D site. That was very helpful, since now I know who to bug when it comes to day to day issues. He also indicated that it should be possible for me to get a train pass paid for by the company (since I'll be taking the train almost every day.) That will simplify things greatly.

Next I met with my R&D and Marketing partners. These are the two people I will be working with the most over the next few years. The three of us laid out the general way we want to work together, etc. I really like them both, and I think we will have a lot of success together once I get up to speed, but that will still take some time.

I also met with my admin. She and I went over my schedule for the next couple of months, and she went off to start booking tickets, etc, for the rest of my trips this year. Its going to be good to have someone to handle the day to day chores of working, and I can already see that I'm going to need to delegate more to her than I expected, since I'm already realizing that the job will be as big as I have time to make it.

I had an interesting insight yesterday as well. A couple of years ago, I worked for my current R&D partner. Now I decide how much budget he gets to work with, so the roles are a little bit reversed. If this were me, I'd have no real problem with this switch. I just don't recognize hierarchies very much. I tend to be willing to shoot my mouth off to whoever needs to hear it (and some who don't) and I always focus more on results than process. However, my R&D partner is Austrian, and their culture is much more hierarchical. Knowing him a little bit, I don't think he'll have a problem with our new arrangement, but he might have a problem if other people in his organization get wind of it. Yes, yes, we're all adults here, but when your particular buttons get pushed, you sometimes react in very negative ways, and that's what I'd really prefer to avoid if possible, so I'll have to keep this history between us under wraps as much as possible, which just reconfirms that this needs to be an anonymous blog.

I also had a very pleasant train ride back to Amsterdam with four co-workers from the R&D site. They were all a bit younger than I am, but with that comes the excitement and energy of youth, and its always fun to talk technical things with technical people. I felt like I fit in reasonably well, and I talked up my position as a help to them, since I can guide the R&D group in deciding what expertise to focus on and what to outsource. Yes, we want to get the projects done at the best cost, but we also need to control bits of expertise and knowledge, and that's what I want these guys working on. So, hopefully, I can secure the interesting parts of their jobs for them while giving away the annoying and repetitive tasks to cheaper people.

We also talked about the differences between the US and the Netherlands. There are surprisingly few in terms of culture, but whenever you stumble over one, it takes you by surprise. As we talked about mass transit (we were on the train, after all) it occurred to me that they have no idea how important cars are in the US. Yes they talked about convenience and image and status, but at the end of the day, they concluded that if gas prices got high enough, everyone would just start taking mass transit, not realizing that there are VAST areas of North America where mass transit isn't, and will probably never be an option.

Today was spent in Amsterdam in a series of LONG meetings about various projects. We started at 9 am and finished at 4 pm with only a couple of breaks in between.

It was good to get an overview of what the businesses are up to, and although I didn't feel useful in the meetings, I did get a better idea of how I can be useful in the future. I made a list of information to get and questions to ask and people to meet. Now its just a matter of getting and asking and meeting and then doing something useful with all of that. That's the part I think I can do, but I need a battle plan first.

I've now experienced the "joy" of Dutch meetings. Well, maybe that's not fair to the Dutch and maybe its just the culture of my company here, but it was certainly notable...

There seems to be a tendency - well, let's call it a need, or compulsion - to reopen topics that have been previously discussed in the meeting. As an example, we were discussing on of the projects today, and it became clear that the schedule is going to be very tight for us to complete everything we need to get done. The big boss rightly pointed out that we should focus on doing the most important things really well and on time, and leave some of the less important parts for a little later.

Now, that is perfectly fine and normal, but he kept bringing up this same point, again, and again, and again. His direct report acknowledged the point with increasing levels of conviction - "That's a good point." "I agree with you." "I concede your point." "You're preaching to the converted." Finally the big boss started to bring it up again, and everyone laughed. The big boss was clearly embarrassed, but continued to have to stop himself from bringing up the point again.

This wasn't the only time I've seen this behavior, and I've seen it happen with big bosses and with lowly engineers. At least this time there weren't two people trying beat their different points to death.

I'm not sure what to attribute this behavior to. I've read (and been told by colleagues) that the Dutch culture has been heavily shaped by living behind dikes for so many years. You may not like your neighbors and the mayor of the town may have more money and power than you do, but if the dike breaks, you all drown. Because of this, everyone's opinion is given equal importance, and everyone feels they have a right to voice their opinion and have it heard. Decisions are made after lots of discussion, and while not everyone may agree in the end, a concensus is reached.

I'm not entirely sure if that's true, but I have cultural awareness training tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have more insight after that.

I also happened to run into yet another colleague from the US. We spontaneously agreed to have dinner tonight, and I wasn't sorry. He and his wife used to critique restaurants in Chicago for a high end restaurant consortium, so he naturally knew a very nice place to go.

I can highly recommend Lof (which means praise) in Amsterdam. When you walk in, you think it might be a pizza parlor or a little cafe, but you quickly discover you're mistaken. There is no set menu. The chef wanders around the city during the day picking up whatever ingredients he thinks are freshest and then creates a very limited set of choices for dinner. We had four options for appetizers, four for main courses, and three for dessert. The waitress recited the options from memory, and we picked as we went. I can't really classify the food, but I had broiled fish over a bed of parsnip slices and young asparagus stalks and covered in some kind of buttery cream sauce. Everything was very delicious, and the atmosphere was very relaxed and casual, and the prices weren't outrageous (€124 for the two of us including appetizers, wine and dessert.)

Well, I'd better get off to bed. Since I'm in training from 9-5, I'll need to get some work done before then.

The second week of work started today. I'm starting to feel a little more in place. I now have a pass for both of the buildings I belong in, and more and more people know who I am. I even learned how to deal with the open seating arrangement here in Amsterdam. Basically, the first one to get to a seat, gets to sit there. That's right, there are no assigned desks. Its first come, first served. I don't think I like it, but I can at least deal with it.

I did discover something else annoying. The lunchroom (or canteen as they call it here) in the building in Amsterdam only takes ChipKnip as payment. This is basically a big pain in the butt, since you really need a Dutch bank to get one. If I had one, it would be really convenient, since I could also use it to pay in most places that don't take credit cards (such as the train ticket machines.) I'll ask the admin the next time I'm in the office here what I should do, but it wouldn't surprise me if there is no good answer, since all of the Dutch have the right cards.

None of this will be a problem once we have a Dutch bank, but it still isn't clear to me what exactly we need to make that happen. I've been given a list of the things we are supposed to need and then told that we don't actually need them all necessarily. I get the feeling that most of the rules here have some exceptions, but its not clear how to find out what the exceptions are.

What is clear is there is a chain of documents that we will need, but I'm having trouble laying it all out. It all hinges on us having the proper legalized documents, and we're still waiting on birth certificates for the Younger and me. To make matters worse, I was about to call the states to complain (or at least ask where things were) when I realized that their average processing time is 3-4 weeks, and this Friday will just be three. In any case, if we don't see something by the end of the week, I'll call see what can be done.

Tomorrow I travel back to the R&D site to meet with more people. It should be a good, but long day. I want to be there before my first meeting (at 9 am) so I need to get on the 6:30 train. Which means away before 6. Bleh!

In addition, I don't expect to get out of there until almost 5 pm, so with an almost two hour commute, that puts me back here at the hotel after 7. Hopefully I'll be smart enough to go for a run before dinner, but I'm not necessarily counting on it.

Well, better get off to bed.

I was expecting a pretty lonely weekend of hanging around my hotel room and catching up on some e-mails and other organizational issues, but things turned out a little differently.

First, I managed to stay up until 4am on Friday night playing computer games (in anticipation of my weekend to myself) and then woke up at noon on Saturday. Needless to say the day got off to a slow start.

I walked back to the bookstore and picked up a Dutch to English dictionary. I'd gone back on Friday night, but I'd misread the days it was open and gotten the hours mixed up. It's a pretty nice store with a good mix of books in different languages. I have to go back and buy something I want to read in Dutch so I'll have more incentive to learn.

I'd arranged to meet a friend of my cousin's at 4 pm. He moved here with his girlfriend (now wife) about two years ago, and my cousin dropped me his name as a resource for questions. I didn't know what to expect, since sometimes these things work out well, and sometimes you have nothing in common and nothing to talk about.

As it turned out, it was great. We talked about everything from family to politics to our work (which overlaps a tiny bit) to getting around in a new country, to culture. We went to three different places and had drinks and dinner. I finally headed off to the hotel at 9:30, much later than I'd expected. It really nice to know someone else in the city. He suggested we all get together when my family's here, since his wife grew up in Amsterdam and really knows where to find things and how to get things done. All in all, an excellent evening.

So, of course, I managed to stay up late again on Saturday. It took a little to wind down from the social evening, then I got caught in another computer game (well, we all have our addictions, right?) I forced myself to get up at 8am on Sunday, since I knew this sleeping late thing wouldn't work when I had to go into work on Monday morning. I was all set for a day of sorting clothes and running a few errands, and generally coping with living in a hotel in a new country when the phone rang.

It was a colleague from the US. He's in town for the week on business, but he'd just flown in and needed some help staying up and passing the time. For those of you who aren't regular travelers, it's very important to stay awake until the normal bedtime in your new time zone. You also want to get as much sun as you can on that first day to help your body readjust its internal clock.

So we grabbed breakfast and then he suggested we go see a castle. My first thought was, well, that has to be far away, and I should get those errands done, but I suppose I can blow the day on this instead.

It turns out the castle was about a ten minute drive. Muiden Castle is very close, and compared to Central Amsterdam, it's a different world. I sometimes forget how noisy cities are, but going out into the country side really brings that point home. It turns out my colleague had lived over here on and off for a few months many years ago, so he knew his way around better than I'd realized. It was great to get out of the city, even if only for an hour or two. We wandered around, sat on a bench and ate lunch and then headed back to the city. It was great to see him and we agreed to meet up for dinner on Friday night (since his flight is out on Saturday and he'll need to be back in Amsterdam anyway.)

After that, I needed a run, so I took the same route as before to Westerpark. I avoided the wrong turns of the last run, but I'm still tuning the route, just in time to move on. I'll be moving to a hotel in Bussum when M and the kids come over so that we can be closer to Hilversum and our house hunting, so I'll have to find a whole new running route. (If you follow the link on Bussum, you'll see Hilversum just south of it. If you zoom out a little farther, you'll see Amsterdam to the west.)

Well, I better head off to bed. My internet runs out at 10pm and I need to iron a shirt for tomorrow and then get some sleep. No staying up late tonight for me.

So today I reported for work in earnest. Or so I thought...

I got up this morning, bought a couple of chocolate croissants at the bakery around the corner (they were so-so, but so-so for chocolate croissants is still pretty good.) By the time I reached the train station, the backs of my heels were pretty sore, and I knew I wouldn't be able to make the 10 minute walk to the office at the other end of the train ride.

I stopped in the drug store in the station and discovered something wonderful. It's called Compeed - blister gel plasters. These are oval shaped sticky pads that seal very tightly to your skin. You put them over the blister and they completely prevent any additional rubbing. They may have some pain reliever in them as well, since as soon as I put them on, I felt fine. The did seem to form some sort of goo that leaked onto my socks, but a small price to pay for instantly being able to walk again. They're made by Johnson & Johnson, but I've never seen them in the States. They are more than €1 each, but well worth it in my opinion.

When I got to the office, it was clear that they were only barely ready for me. It seems everyone expected me to show up on December 1, since that's when my visa documents should be ready. Its true that I can't get paid over here, but my US office has agreed to pay me and send me over here on business trips until the Visa comes through.

Anyway, HR and the administrative staff scrambled around and put something together for me. I got a phone, a badge, and a place to sit. I found out I have an admin (well, everyone with my job title has the same admin, but its still a good thing) and I got a buddy.

A buddy's job is to guide you for the first few months in your new position, and I'm really happy with my buddy. He's in the same job position as I am for a different set of products. He has about four years of experience more than I do, and he's very good at giving advice and guidance. We talked for a couple of hours and I'm glad to have him available to help out when needed.

Overall, I did almost no actual work today, but I got exposed to my co-workers and I'm starting to find my way. I did realize that an hour and 45 minute commute is a long time, even on the train. Tomorrow I'll bring a book.

I've also realized that while I can probably get by for three years without ever speaking Dutch, I will need to learn to understand and read Dutch. This morning there was an announcement that my train had been canceled. If I hadn't picked out the name of the city I was traveling to, I would have stood on the platform waiting.

As it turned out, it was worse than that. I asked a conductor for some help, and she confirmed that the train was canceled and suggested a different route for me to take. Just as I got to the platform for the new train, the same conductor happened to wander by, spotted me, and told me she'd just heard them announce that the original train was back on schedule. The new route would have taken me many minutes out of my way and very likely added an additional transfer to my trip, so missing that second announcement would have been almost worse than just standing on the platform and catching the next train.

So, tonight when I got back to my hotel, I looked up book stores and found a highly recommended one just a few blocks away. It wasn't open tonight, but it is open tomorrow until 8, so I should be able to drop by after work and pick up a good Dutch to English dictionary. I'm supposed to start getting Dutch lessons soon, but I figure starting to read the newspapers by picking out words in the dictionary can't hurt as a start.

So overall, today was pretty good. It is good to have a phone finally, and having a buddy really helps me feel more comfortable in the job. I now know who to go to if I need help, and I have a way to call them if I need them, so I should be able to work out the rest.

I'll still be happier when M and the kids are over here though.