Spinning, spinning wheels

Another week has gone by, and we have both power and WiFi again. Hooraaay. After that initial outage, there were about another two days of inconsistencies in power and internet and then things finally stabilized. Fortunately, I didn't lose any food from the un-refrigerated fridge, after my lovely little ill-timed grocery shop. I notice no difference in anything post-electrical work from pre-electrical work, of course, but hopefully that will be the last time this building needs a major overhaul while I live here. Student housing is only available to me until the end of this school year, so next summer I'll be moving out - to where? Who knows. But hopefully wherever it is, it is with with both my spouse and my cats accompanying me. The housing market is a nightmare out here (as it was in my home city), so I've been advised to seek out a broker sometime early 2026 with the understanding they'll have a waiting list but may be able to start looking for potentials months in advance for us.

I've begun collecting pictures of street signs pertaining to cycling for my own amusement and also because maybe they'll be of interest or use to someone in the future, moving to or visiting the Netherlands. I don't have enough to upload yet: there are a few I want but haven't snapped, but if that's of interest to you, I intend to upload them next week alongside my regular update. I've been cycling regularly (post back pain) and have been enjoying it a lot! My commute to my main university building is about 6 kilometers (~3.5 miles) each way - most of which is riding into the city from outside of it, and some of which is riding downtown. The outskirts piece of my ride is my favorite - there are a couple long stretches of mostly straight, mostly flat path surrounded by trees on both sides. This time of year leaves are yellow and red, and the fallen ones make lovely sounds, texture, and smell as I bike through them. I ride past markets and vegetable stalls, several canals, and when I get into the city proper it's usually near central station, so the streets are bustling with tourists and locals alike. I like the peace of the morning ride, seeing people out and about headed to work, or on errands, and passing older folks out exercising or chatting out front of their places of work or residence. I enjoy riding alongside bakfietsen driven by a parent, and waving when the kid in the front looks over at me and blinks. And I like watching the architecture change as I move from residential and small business into the tall, narrow, famously Netherlands-style brick buildings downtown and back again.

And speaking of downtown, the ride through the city hasn't been unmanageable, as many people actually warned me it would be. But it certainly isn't pleasant, either. Mobs of pedestrians, hundreds of bicycles, and a handful of cars thrown in for good measure means paying attention and having good reflexes are necessities. Add to that, trams and busses, little Canta cars in the bike lanes, and unexpected construction that leaves one trying to remember which alleyway connects last minute, and it becomes a lot to manage all at once. I understand why people - locals and foreigners alike - don't like biking downtown. For me, though, I find more of the stress comes from the crowdedness of the city spaces rather than, say, the danger of riding in a city not made for bikes. Yes, there are people walking out into the bike lane, cyclists with -400 manners shooting past or in front of you (or stopping abruptly in front of you), and cars unfamiliar with navigating narrow one-way streets. But by and large, the people in downtown Amsterdam are cyclists themselves. Cars and pedestrians are likely to look for bikes before moving, are more likely to stop if a cyclist is coming, and, critically, have means of moving around that do not require sharing space with cyclists. There are roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks in many, many places. So, while I wouldn't say it's a relaxing experience to bike through the city center, I always feel safer than I ever did riding back in the States, through any city or town streets that were shared by motor vehicles.

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I don't have much new to report on any other level, really. Things are going about as smoothly as they can be at the moment, and I'm grateful for that. I'm hoping I'll hear about my second loan disbursement soon - I'd like to be able to budget come the new year, but I don't yet know when nor how much to expect in the remainder of my loan. I'm doing what I can to stay positive on the money front and simply take on what I can, one piece at a time. Many of the Americans I've met who have emigrated here did so by selling their house in the US - a luxury we obviously do not have - but I'm certain there must be ways to do so without a major nest egg. Finding those people has been a little more difficult, but my hope is that I'll meet more of them the farther along I get in my own visa changeover. I've joined several American immigrant communities to sniff out the answers to my random questions as well as questions I hadn't yet thought of, and the information has been very helpful, even if it comes from a large number of people who moved with wealth to do so. Our path is a little different, but I have found the communities here supportive, and I think will do what they can to help me get a business up and running - not in a financial investment sense, that is, but in providing their guidance and hindsight from going through their own transition - and that in and of itself is invaluable to us. I think these groups of people are also likely to be my first customers when I open shop, and for that I am also very grateful.

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With an admittedly small amount of updates to give, I am off to bed for the evening, ready to tackle the weekend ahead of me. I don't like this block's schedule as much as last - I only have two classes on one day a week, and the other days I'm commuting in and out for one two-hour class at odd hours of the day. I think by the time I get used to it, the block will be ending, and I'll be on to a new schedule anyhow. Ah, well. Such is life!

Thank you all so much for giving this a read, even through the boring ones with few or no photos. I'm mired in academic writing at the moment, and though I still love to write, some of the creative juices are feeling a little thin today. The Academia(tm) part of academia is my least favorite - ironic given I'm hoping to go into research - but a necessary one. Normally creative writing helps shake off some of that frustration from and overly-formal, stiff writing, but today I find I'm just a little bit tired of looking at my own words. Hence the desire to do an update primarily picture-based, soon. I might expand my little collection of bike signs to street signs in general - let me know if you have opinions on the matter; I haven't yet decided. Also! It's just about holiday season, and I love sending mail. If you'd like a postcard from the city, let me know. Send me an email through the contact form, and I'll scrawl a nice little message for you or the intended recipient and pop it in the mail this week. I used to do a wide-spread card-writing campaign for anyone who wanted to receive or send a little love during the holidays, but since I've done away with almost all forms of social media, I don't really have a large pool to cast into anymore. I miss it!

Be well this week and remember to take care of yourselves! Always stretch when exercising, so you don't end up like me last week, and remember to drink water - again so you don't end up like me last week.

Many hugs to you, and I'll see you in the next one!

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