Beautiful weekend spoiled by criminal act

The weekend started out on a positive note as I arrived to Brussels on Friday night and went out with a bunch of AIESECers to a club party organized by a group of the EU. I started late on Saturday but we filled the entire afternoon with tons of sightseeing. I must give a huge thanks to Pedro (a mexican on the Belgium national committee) who spent his weekend taking me around the city. And then on Sunday we went with a few people to the beautiful city of Brugge. Pictures are coming soon. I bought chocolate, drank belgian beer (the peach flavor is awesome), and ate the famous belgian french fries and waffles.

Unfortunately the weekend came to a close when I was informed Monday morning that the office had been burgled and 8 laptops were stolen, including my own :-( It is a piece of shit 5 year-old laptop, but still, it was mine and I'd kept it in great condition over the years. I find it kind of ironic that nothing this big happened to me during 2 years in developing countries, but that after a little over 2 weeks in the Netherlands I would be robbed. Strange, huh? Just another point proving that crime exists EVERYWHERE and not only in developing countries.

Summary of a great weekend

With just a week in the country I was already antsy to get out and do something beyond the city, so with great connections I was able to plan a weekend to Amsterdam and it was amazing. I slept for maximum 5 hours total and saw tons of the city including the Red Light District (5 min), churches, canals, the streets, the discos, ducks, boats, the city center square where the palace is, and a beautiful big park.

I must give a huge thanks to Mischa who hosted me at his family's apartment home. Within ten minutes of walking through the door he gave me keys to the apartment, a bike, a cellphone, and a map of the city! And on top of all that he offered all the fruits and food in his home and his mother cooked for us. All of this made the experience so wonderful and relaxed and comfortable and Mischa has raised the bar for hospitality.

Photos of Amsterdam are here. But I didn't take any at night of the discos :-( but at least you can see the city.

1st time getting lost in Holland

Well, I knew it was going to happen. My first experience trying to travel to somewhere outside of Rotterdam and I got lost. But so much more than that happened. Getting lost was combined with my natural spaciness and here is the story...

I arrived to the Central Station in Rotterdam at6:15 to take a traine at 6:29. This wouldn't be a challenge for any normal person but being my first time buying a ticket and finding the platform, that amount of time was unrealistic. I first had to pull out money, buy something to get coins, and find a ticket machine that takes coins instead of cards. I couldn't use a credit card because they only take Mastercard and not Visa. So weird!!!

Finishing the story:::
I go to the platform to take the train and I had missed it by 3 min! Ok, no problem. I was going to just take the next train. But somehow I missed that one too :-S uff So I was definitely going to be late meeting my friend who was going to pick me up from the train station. As I waited for the next train I decided to ask somebody instead of assuming and he explained to me that because of the bad weather everything was delayed and they were changing platforms (how was I going to know that!) But he helped me get to Amsterdam and the only problem then was that I was 1.5 hours late, my friend had gone back home after waiting for at the station, and I had left his phone numbere and address in the office. So my only hope was going to an internet cafe to look up the map he had sent to my email earlier that day. And thank god I connected to the internet because he was online and came for me immediately. Phew, no problem. All is well.

Settling in

Here are some photos finally. They begin with a walk down the street we lived on in Mexico and to the office. Then a few going away photos with my friends. And at the end are just the few photos I have taken so far in Holland. You can see them here.

Alive and well in Holland

I can't even begin to describe all of the culture shock I have lived through in the past 4 days, but I will try to give you a hint of the experiences I've had:
- A supermarket that doesn't accept VISA! :-O I never though I'd see the day
- Bicyclists receiving as much right of way as pedestrians (or more)
- Cube-shaped apartment houses next to a pencil-shaped apartment complex
- An open-air market selling anything and everything under the sun, including turkish pizzas and the not-so-popular european fashion
- Kroket - fried meat and potato sausage thing

I'll try to write more later but I've actually got to work :-P Cheers!