We’re back home! It’s weird and wonderful at the same time. But let’s see, what happened these last days..
On Monday I had coffee with Gwynn Mac Donald who I met at the Fringe Festival. She has her own theater company and she had hooked me up with some interesting people in the theater business. I don’t know of I wrote this but it’s so easy to have ‘coffee’ with (business) people in NY. Maybe it’s the same here but I was surprised by their enthusiasm to have me over and talk about their work. It’s something I’d like to continue (back) home since I always felt so motivated after these ‘coffee’ talks. Anyway, I had a nice chat with Gwynn and she is very interested to work with Dutch (female) theater writers in NY so who knows we might be able to do something together in the future. Later in the day I met Paul for the last time. He is working on a big play for NY and Amsterdam in the summer of 2009 and he might need some marketing assistance in the spring. No idea how to do this with my job but these are interesting prospects.
Tuesday Jacco and I had to work for the last time. It felt weird, saying good bye, especially for Jacco who worked there full time for 6 months. Last week I had already said good bye to the Arabic women at the language center. Aisda, one older very motivated lady gave me a big hug and couldn’t stop kissing me on the cheek…phoeh. That night, we had a good bye dinner with Jacco’s colleagues at Mole, the Mexican restaurant we have grown very fond of. It was a fun evening but we missed Angela who had to work during the evening. That night we walked back home thinking we both have met really nice people. Hopefully we’ll see some of them again.
The following day we pretended it was weekend, slept in, had breakfast at Orchard, walked through the city, did some packing and had dinner at Centro Vinoteca in the West Village. We had been there before with Wayne, Dana and his brother and wife. The food was again wonderful. The next morning we did some last minute (gift) shopping and in the afternoon we started packing. We soon discovered we needed to buy an extra suitcase which would set the total on 6 suitcases, one already taken to Amsterdam by Mark and Chiara, and we came with 4…oh well. We would buy the suitcase the next day since we had to hurry to meet Janneke and Matthias for dinner. We met at 5 points, a nice restaurant with really good food. Janneke & Matthias gave us a fare well card with a fridge magnet of NY, so we couldn’t forget. After dinner we wanted to show them the cocktail bar ‘Little Branch’ but they had a private party so we ended up at Cowgirl where we ordered a pitcher of Frozen Strawberry Margarita’s and hours later got kicked out of the bar. All in all a very fun last New York night!
The next day we went to say good bye to our second breakfast place, the diner run by the Greek family. A filled stomach and a big hug later we went home to finish packing our bags. At 4pm we looked around our New York home for the last time and closed the door. Jacco had ordered a taxi at the hotel next door so that was very easy. When we rode across the Williamsburg Bridge we felt sad, also excited to go home but sad to leave another home.
We arrived at JFK on time to have a small dinner and to unwind a bit. We were supposed to leave at 8.30pm but during the security check (we already left the gate) all power in the airplane went down. It got pitch dark and then the pilot told us that there was a problem with one of the generators so we had to go back to the gate to fix this. I’m always very grateful when they discover errors like this on the ground instead of in the air but Jacco and I got a little worried about our transfer time at Heathrow. After a delay of about 1,5 hours we actually left JFK. The flight was ok, we didn’t get any sleep at all but the time past rather quickly. When we got close to Heathrow the pilot told us that we had to circle in the air for a few minutes due to heavy traffic. Our hope of catching that transfer got very small and when we finally landed we knew we couldn’t make it. So we went to the transfer desk at terminal 5 (the spotless new terminal!) expecting a flight one or two hours later. It turned out that all these flights were booked and that the first two seats were on the 14:30 flight,…5 hours later! We quickly informed Jacco’s parents and my mother that they shouldn’t come to Schiphol yet. I don’t even know how we passed the time but we must have looked like zombies. At last we could board the plane and I fell asleep immediately. Turns out you can sleep uncomfortably in a chair, as long as you’re dead tired. Jacco wasn’t so lucky but this time it was a short flight. We arrived 20 minutes early and were happy to see all of our suitcases traveled with us. We even got happier to see our welcome party in the arrival hall, my mother, Jacco’s parents, Wendy, Roland & Timo, Isabella, Wilmar, Rosa & Ewout, Ap, Yvonne and Shirley. And a big banner of ‘Welcome Home’. The other surprise was to see Timo walk and even run. Six months is a long time! This welcome woke us up instantly and we tried to catch up a little bit with coffee at the Delifrance cafe. And then finally home, (my mother bought us a taxi ride) we were greeted with flowers, cards, groceries and a big pile of empty Starbucks cups in all sizes. And all that space…it did feel immediately as home again which we thought was weird after 6 months…but good, very good.
So, after 6 months back in Amsterdam. I guess this will be (on of) the last blog from this address. Thanks to everyone who welcomed us back and we can’t wait to see you all again and catch up!

In the evening we met Fanneke (who had a 2 day stop over in NY) for a drink in Oliva, a Spanish place where they have live salsa music after midnight. Sunday we slept in, had breakfast at our other place (Orchard) and visited the ‘apple festival’. Again,…it’s really fall! Then we went to Starbucks for coffee and internet. Jacco designed a Crumpler bag for me which is being made this week, very happy with that! In the evening we got take out from the dumpling house and watched an episode of Doctor Who. I think it was the most quiet and relaxed weekend so far.
Sometimes I have to tell them a bit more about a topic and in that case I have to stick to the textbook they work with. There is just one thing I skip all together and that is the story about the exploration of New York and the help they received from the native population, which resulted in a ‘fruitful co-operation’… B-shit patriotic propaganda. Fortunately Gina, the teacher, agrees and is fine with me quickly turning the page to a different subject.
We order our first cocktail at the bar. They have a cocktail menu, but it doesn’t hold many items. The idea is that you just tell the barman (’mixologist’) what you like. So I tell him I like whiskies and bourbons, and I don’t like my cocktails too sweet. And off he goes. Saskia tells them she would like a fresh, slightly sweet cocktail, and they oblige. Something cool about the cocktails: they have ice ‘cubes’ fit for each specific glass. This means your drink doesn’t dilute too quickly! Never knew you could take cocktails to this level.
The Jeff Koons exhibit is still on the roof (three huge sculptures, my favourite is the balloon dog), and the city skyline at dusk provides an amazing backdrop for these sculptures. We ordered a drink, and shot some pictures and video. And just stood there, taking in the amazing views.
After a very nice walk around the park, we ended up at the northern-most tip of Manhattan, where a bridge connects this part of Manhattan to the Bronx. People were playing baseball in the park, a little league game was on in the ballpark, and some wonderful autumn colors on display throughout the park. We had some coffee on the corner of Indian Road & West 218th (!) Street, and then made our way back to the subway station.
Tip for the skirt wearing women! Unless you want to relive a famous Marilyn Monroe moment, STAY AWAY from the subway grates! Because, yes, it does work.













