I miss Sir Tobys....

My bed is the one on the very top right hand corner next
to the wall, this a a deceptively appetizing picture, go
jogging and smell your sock afterwards... then make
the sheets all REALLY old... 

This hostel is well... awful... it smells terrible.. you have to push a button to get the water to come out... yes just like in some really annoying public bathrooms and yes just like in those annoying bathrooms the water will only last for a minuet and a half!!! What the hell!!! I miss my old hostel Sir Tobys... Oh well Senior Hostel you get me for one week then BAM! I'm out, room rented or not. If you want to know what hostel this is then E-mail me, the guys working there are really nice and I don't want them to know i'm talking smack about their hostel.. but it's seriously shit.

Sleeper train from Amsterdam...

Well look what I found in Amsterdam! Awesome!

    Okay so I ended up staying for the rest of yesterday and all today in Amsterdam. and now all aboard for the night train! Yep that's right! Zoe took a sleeper train!!! Let me tell you what... weird... super weird experience.. but yeah okay lets rewind the days.....

Amazing Bar!!

     

 
     So I left to go get myself some train tickets, I found out also that the station was stupidly close to the hostel :( not more than a five minuet walk... you're killing me Amsterdam... seriously killing me.
 
    However that is not what I'm talking about, that's stuff of being upset from yesterday not today! The point is that at the train station the only tickets for Prague were tomorrow afternoon for 189 euro or tomorrow night for 145 so hell why not :) Course that means that i'm going to have to hang out in Amsterdam for basically another day... ;)

Arabic toast that Nassim taught me
and I promised him I would not forget!

 
 Well red light district here I come! I don't know if its cause it was the middle of the day or what but it deffiniatly wasn't nearly as entertaining as I thought it would be and every museum is super expensive to boot so I jotted back on down to the Hostel to see if anyone had any cool ideas. So sitting at this little table in the common room I meet my new friend named Nassim! He is from Algeria which is in North Africa however he has been living in Paris for a bit and get this... he learned english from watching American movies!!! What?? Absolutely fantastic!! The multilingual culture over here makes me feel like an idiot.

Part of the lovely walk!

     Anyways he sat down at the table I was sitting at and we got to chatting and ended up hanging out  for the rest of the day! Come night time we decided to meander into a bar we found along our wandering and it was insane!! Well just really cool looking really. Since the night was fairly dead we were able to sit up at this crazy round table set like a window display! Upon which we were soon joined by the local cat of the establishment. One thing about Amsterdam is that there are sure a lot of cats! All over! Not that I am complaining I am simply making an observation!
    

Hey Amsterdam i'll come back when i'm rich and famous kay?

        Wow, well there are some key differences between the states and Europe... might I fist say that it is really strange having English not be the first language. Changing money is a pain in the ass and the ATM's over here  in Amsterdam are hidden in the walls. NOTE: If I do this again I will be purchasing a map of the country i'm visiting before leaving... I got lost on my way down here and I think I may have gone through the wrong line getting into the country in the first place (I said I have nothing to declare, which I didn't.. right?) I certainly hope that doesn't bite me in the ass.. So back to the reason for needing said map... 

Not the airport, I was to frazzled to
even think about my camera.
instead.. bridge..

       I get off the plane and arrive in what I can only describe as a mall.. with Bars!! What?? Yes it's true, and in the airport proper too... which I suppose is really cool unless you are trying to find an information booth or somewhere to purchase some smokes, so I found an ATM (not hidden inside of a the wall inside the airport) I didn't know how my bank would respond to me getting money out of a foreign ATM and everything I read said don't get money out at the airport but I needed some local cash.. So to the ATM and viola now I have local money! A crisp 50 Euro note! oh wait... shit... Okay I say to myself obviously I've gotta get this changed down cause I'm fairly certain that buses won't give change. So I got myself a delicious donut like raisin biscuit thing for a Euro and was given a dirty look from the shop owner who insisted I give him a smaller note, but oh well it was either that or American USD so tough cookies! Eventually he took my 50 Euro note and gave me change. 

       Change in hand I happily made my way to the buses... only to be blocked by the equivalent of an orca card. Essentially a re-loadable card for the tram, bus and train... double shit. Now it has started raining. My bags are really heavy. And I'm fairly certain that they must be picking stuff up off the ground cause I think they are getting heavier as I walk.. Okay. Back into the airport/mall. That's where the bus driver said I could find a booth selling tickets. Little booth... gynormus freakin' airport.. *sigh* okay they must be by the train since there isn't a place inside of the airport for buses, so down to the train platform I go. Back and forth back and forth trying to find this mythical machine for what feels like forever (probably more like a half an hour) However now i'm getting sweaty as well as damp. Its definitely not here so I make my way back up to main airport to wander about.

     Finally I find one of the ticket booths but I have no re-loadable card to put funds on!!! NOOO!!! A nice woman tries to help but I don't think she realized I didn't have one of those fancy re-loadable cards. So now I'm frustrated angry and upset. At this point I'm no longer looking for any damn tickets! Nothing! No! I'M TIRED, HOT, UNPLEASANTLY DAMP AND GAH!!! I just want a place to sit down!!! I'm now on a mission for an Ice cold beer in one of those bars in the airport. I'm just going to set my luggage down and chill out....

     But lo!!! A ticket station with a person!!! No way! I almost run to the damn line I'm so of tired of all my back and forth all day. Note: My plane arrived at 12:30 and its now almost 2pm.. yeah. So I ask the lady about buses and tickets for them into central Amsterdam and she gives me a strange look ”you know you can just take the train too right?”
“Well how much is the train?” I'm really quite tired at this point cause its the equivalent of my normal 4 am and yes no sleep on the plane
“4,50 Euro, one leaves in three minuets and the next will be in another hour.”
 “I'll take it.”
Note: They use a comma instead of a decimal point when displaying money.. I don't know how much more of this that I am going to be able to take. A COMMA! WHAT??? Sigh... Okay onward...

    So back down to the train platform and onto the train that I now posses a ticket for! Yes its crowded but I don't care. Off at Amsterdam central station!!! Boo yea!! Off the train and onto the train platform! I am so close to the city! I walk all the way to the south of the platform humm that's odd it just stops in all train tracks... back north more train tracks... what?!


Note: It may be prudent to point out that I have never ridden a train in my life and have never seen a train station that I can remember except from Harry Potter.

Okay so now way out on the top bit like I assumed there would be, the exit must be down the stairs... YES! Now to the street outside in central Amsterdam!


Note: Sorry for all of these but its really so much more ridiculous with more information, if I had gone down the stairs on the other side of the station I would have had no problem.. instead I get this....

Oh wait..no.. Boats... :( going to places whose name I probably wouldn't be able to pronounce if you paid me. Okay so I will just walk down to the water (the part of central Amsterdam is on a canal, so this must be it.. or at least turn into Amsterdam central) now this logic would have worked if I had gone the other direction on the water. But no, I went the one way that would bring me absolutely nowhere. Maps... really important things.

That darker section of the bricks is what I fondly refer to as
"The Danger Zone"

     So walking down what I thought was a side walk I was almost side swiped by a passing little boy on a bicycle I wish I could remember what exactly it was that he yelled at me as he flew by me but damn if I could remember. It may have been dutch.. it was defiantly angry.. I think the jist was get the hell out of the way! I was startled by this young boy then, WHOA what the?? A moped! Confused I look around some more, they have three parts to their streets -cars-bike/moped-walk- Sometime the distinction between the bike lane and walking is blurred/unnoticeable, if at all there even. After fifteen minuets of walking that felt like an hour I realize I must be going the wrong way so I start to look for someone to ask directions of …

That's a LOT of bikes...

"excuse me.." No reaction.. however in the back of my mind I remember my friend Virginia saying something about how people in paris dont say excuse me they say" Pardon". Maybe its an EU thing. So "Pardon" I shout and sure enough she turns! YES! ...and then proceeds to explain that indeed my logic is correct but I went the wrong way on the water, but it's faster if you just go under the station. Once I have directions I start out on my journey revived. Looking around I see stations of bikes, hundred of them, everywhere. Some are locked and others say what I think might be donation or retal but with the luck I've had today I'm not even going to risk it. Though I must say I'm quickly running out of energy.

     So under the train station I go over another little canal and I think she said Dusseldorf for the street but her accent was very thick. So more walking but at least this looks like the Amsterdam I was expecting. I had asked her about the flying pig which was the only hostel I could recall from my reading, I knew it was close but where?? finally I ask one of the many money change/hotel fining stores (I was really hoping that they weren't going to make me pay for the direction) the man was very nice and pointed me down a side street right next to the store, “Take that right and then one more, its on the left.”

      Finally!!! Walking down the street at almost a run I finally saw the sign.. a beacon of hope!! Thoroughly soaked from the rain and tired I take my bags upstairs to the empty six person mixed dorm room, stash my stuff and lay down on a BED for what I thought would be just a minute.. however it was 4 pm local Amsterdam time and the equivalent of 7 am in Seattle and I still hadn't slept... So big surprise when I wake after dark to what sounds like a crazy party downstairs, this is Amsterdam after all. However i'm tired and still suffering from jet lag so I change out of my wet clothes into my pj's and crawl back into my safe warm bed.

Cats are everywhere here! This one is chillin' out on a keyboard

     When I wake up next, it's to a room full of people and a silent establishment. The bar must now be closed so after 3AM then... and dark. I feel as if I've slept in past noon. Sometime in the night all the rest of the beds filled up so I quietly dress and go downstairs to reception which is open 24 hours. My lack of planning has gotten on my nerves so I go to grab a fdorors book on the Netherlands and prepare to learn some local information.. but this was all stuff I already knew from just perusing the internet. It made no reference to the maniacal bicycle riders and their special lane for themselves and mopeds.  Or for that matter about the bikes that may or may not be for rent. NOR did it make any mention of how incredibly expensive this place is... Where to get cheep eats and how to pay to get on a tram. Well that was a useless few hours...oh well. So I put that down and pick up water for elephants. Can't sleep anymore anyways, might as well read.

      Soon I'm joined by a hashish smoking french man who can barely speak any English. I ask him if he is here on vacation, by his puzzled gaze I realize that it must different word for him (or he doesn't understand a word I just said), holiday? Sorry yes, are you on holiday? He smiles and says yes, (thank you British TV!) he gets five weeks of vacation pay a year from the pizza place he has been working at for three years... 3 years at a pizza joint and 5 weeks of paid vacation!!!! oh what the hell? He chiefs up and at this point I wish I smoked so we could have some sort of comradeship and something in common, but instead I politely decline and attempt to hold a conversation with a stoned french man who can barely speak English... (a foolish endeavor at best) I quickly find this situation not going anywhere and decide to go outside instead to find myself an ATM.

    Its six am so I remember my sisters warning of most rapes happening between 5-9 am so I zip up my leather jacket and put on my hat trying to look as tough as possible. The more apt warning however should have been for the street cleaners zipping down the alleys and spraying water everywhere! GAH! I didn't find any ATMS (I didn't know at that point that they were hidden in walls) but I got thoroughly lost and not lost for well over an hour. When I came back I talked to the night reception lady (from Australia btw where they teach Japanese in the elementary schools) and found out that there were in fact two ATMS just around the corner. Oops. That's what I get for not asking. There was a nice free breakfast at 8 in the morning of toast, jam, peanut butter, fruit, hard boiled eggs and cereal. I'm using today to stash my stuff here and get my train ticket and then do some sight seeing. I'll head out in the morning cause Amsterdam is an expensive city! Holy shit!!!

 Adios!

-Zoe

 Note: I should have learned Spanish. Yeah mom go ahead and laugh and say I told you so :)

Goodbyes

It's okay nice Airport men I'll be back eventually....

        Goodbyes are bittersweet and lovely. I wish all these smiling faces could come with me on my journey a different journey or at least make one on their own, be it big or small. It is so nessarry to enrich your life with wonderful expirences and i'm just now starting to truly understand that. But everyone has their own path and no path is the same..

Oh no! Don't cry!!!

      Besides like I can say anything about traveling at this point...HA!! Oh my I think  may pee my pants.... here she goes off into the sky and the fork in the road less traveled. I'm stoked!!








So with this I say Adieu to Seattle and all my wonderful friends and family for however long I'm gone. I love you all!!! Peace out!!

These drops are  giving me an ominous feeling...

Bravery? Foolish Endeavor? Crazy Lady??

     Why is it that everyone says it's so brave to travel? I've had a hard time wrapping my head around this concept. Yes, its difficult, lonely and terrifying. Albeit exiting as well, but brave? Maybe I'm missing the whole definition on brave itself, maybe I just missed the class on being scarred of traveling, why tho would you ever want to be scarred of something so fantastic??
     On the flip side however you have the naive young girl all bright eyed and bushy tailed ready to take on the world, just to be stomped on mentally with culture shock... humm 

    Don't worry I'll try to keep my wits about me..

Fear is the mind killer...

     America is a nation ruled by fear. The drivers are scared of oncoming traffic and over-steer to avoid a hefty increase in insurance and in the process scare the other drivers following them, the people in walking across the street are scared of the traffic that might not stop and all the rest of the people around them because you will never know who the next serial killer is. “In god we trust..” It should read “in no one will we trust except for ourselves” .. and most people don't even trust themselves. So how is anyone here supposed to find their calling or their true self with this continuous barrage of fear. Careful if you go to college make sure its a degree where you can get a good job cause you don't want to be working for Starbucks with a philosophy degree and 76,000 dollars in student loans. Watch out if you are feeling blue, better head on over to the shrink and get some pills. Don't trust too many people cause they might just turn on you! Big brother is watching!

There is an itching in my spine, tho sometimes its a tingle. With the day of my departure coming so much closer the butterflies begin. Tehya, my sister, and Sam, my father, are both trying to convince me to stay but these pleads are falling on deaf ears. For the first time in my life I feel on the way to my self discovery and rebirth. I can not wait to begin my journey. Since I was a little girl i've had this strange feeling of my imminent death in my mid 20's but being here now I think that the death will be of my old self and I will be reborn anew and more wise to myself. I can't wait for it. To see my limits and go through with my thoughts and desires. It will be an age of discovery for me. Something that has needed to happen for a long time. I hope to study Thai Chi to center my soul and Laughter Yoga to brighten it, Speak with old and wizend gurus to deepen it, and run across the globe to widen it.