9th Stop - Amsterdam

I left Copenhagen bright and early Wednesday morning and had a long drive ahead of me. Instead of racking up the mileage on my car and taking the cheaper route (toll bridge), I headed south for the ferry to Germany. Coincidentally, I was on the same highway that I took three months ago when I went to Iris’ birthday party in Malente. No time this time, however, to stop in Luebeck for Germany’s best Marzipan or Hamburg for a visit of Europe’s second biggest harbor!

I made it to Amsterdam early evening for what could best be called an appetizer visit. Indeed, I was there for less than 24 hours. But 24 hours was just enough to get re-acquainted with Janet and meet the rest of her growing family.

I met Janet about 10 years ago on a beach in the South of France. We managed to stay in touch at first through e-mail, then with a visit to Amsterdam seven years ago and also by helping connect her with my friend Nate while she was in Mexico... Facebook eventually came along and that just made things easier. 
Now I got the chance to meet her son, Antonio, and his Italian father, Enrico. We had a lovely visit, and I was very happy to hear about all of the exciting things on the horizon for them, including a second child only a few months away! Enrico is also studying computer programming and will be making a major career change a year or so. I told him about a couple of great sites where he could start out working as a freelancer: www.scriptlance.com and www.elance.com

After her pregnancy and some time off to take care of the newborn, Janet will be looking for work in international development agencies based in Amsterdam. I want to wish them the best of luck and thank them for hosting me for a short but sweet appetizer. I’m really looking forward to seeing them again next week when I return for the main course in Amsterdam ;-) and in Cape Town, South Africa in August!

Next stop: back to square one, Nice!