Sunday, May 11, 2008

Day 1: From home to Amsterdam

36 hours and counting
It's 11pm in Amsterdam on Mother's Day. Yesterday, I woke up after 5am with a laundry list of things to do before I left for the airport later that afternoon: Pay bills, go to the post office, pack my second bag of civilian clothing. Fast forward to later in the day, I met Jo and Phaidra at LaGuardia. Flew to Boston where we met Christy, SBJ, Stacy, and Mike. A bland "lactose free" meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables, along with cheddar cheese and crackers awaited me. The flight was uneventful.

Shortly after 8:00am we landed in Amsterdam. Upon arrival, I discovered Lindsey made the flight too. Most of us collected our baggage, except for Stacy. Her main bag with kit, clothing etc. was lost in transit. Making our way to the hotel via train, tram, and foot was a testament to our "effort" and "endurance." Since we arrived early, we could not check into the hotel until mid afternoon. We left our bags and headed back to the tram to head into the city for some food and sightseeing. Teena joined us. The group left the hotel moments before she arrived. But she was able to catch up and met us at the tram.

We were tourists for a bit: starting at the DAM, making our way to New Market, the Red Light district for lunch- this was an accident- followed by a very quick tour of Rembrandt Huis, and then back to the hotel for practice.

Back at the hotel more of the tour party arrived: Sadeana, Jess, Melissa, Ines, Chris, and Drew. By the end of practice we were complete, Jules and Ellie were the last to arrive.

There was dinner, curry chicken mostly and some beef. Stories were shared. Jess has learned about nenehs, bunnies, smartasses, and biggins. There was a team meeting and now it's time for bed. I didn't sleep much on the plane. So I've been up for 36 hours more or less. Although, this has been one of the longest first days of a tour, I'm really excited to be here.

Good night,

Tyshawn

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