A day in the life of "the machine"

9:00--wake up

9:15--wake up

9:30--seriously, wake up
Marcel, another cleaner that sleeps above me, is my alarm clock. He's very patient.

9:40--make decision to eat breakfast or shower
Current score: Food 15 Hygiene 0

9:45--eat breakfast
It's either pancakes, french toast or fried egg and toast. Pancake day  is obviously my favorite. On fried egg days I usually get granola and yogurt. Something about eating the yolk of an egg weirds me out.

10:00--shift starts
It's either clean the small downstairs bathroom, tidy up outside, or sweep and mop the stairs. There's 3 cleaners so we each get one task. I guess I prefer outside but all are relatively easy.

10:30--Short Bible discussion
Led by the day's CS (cleaner supervisor). I like this time of our day. We chat and drink hot chocolate. It's fun and usually entertaining and not super serious... true of the CS's as well.

11:00--time to work
Spend the next 2 1/2 hours making beds, cleaning sinks and mirros, vacuuming and mopping. Or if you're on bathroom duty (every cleaner gets a 10-day bathroom stint) you do that the whole time. Neither job is particulary hard. I think prefer bathrooms.

13:30--lunch time
We eat unlimited toasted sandwiches and leftover breakfast and leftover dinner from the night before. I've gained the nickname "the machine" and I'm proud.

14:15ish--finish up working
Either vacuum and mop the reception area by yourself or tag team the cafe with another cleaner. Pretty easy.

14:45ish--spend the next 4 hours doing some kind of combination of the following:

• napping
• playing chess
• hanging out with staff
• playing football (the kind you play with your feet)
• snacking
• meeting and talking to guests
• walking/biking around town
• surfing the (painfully slow) internet
• going to a jazz bar

18:30ish--eat dinner.
The food is great! Tonight was sweet and sour chicken and rice with banana-chocolate cake and pudding for dessert. Yum.

18:50ish--eat another portion of dinner

19:30--spend next 6 hours doing some kind of combination of the aforementioned activities

1:30ish--go upstairs
I always stay up pretty late, The 18-bed room I sleep in often has weird smells and loud snorers. So its either beat the snorers to bed or go to bed when I'm so tired I'll fall asleep nevermind the smells or noises.

1:35--make decision whether to sleep or shower, seeing as though I didn't shower in the morning.
Current score: Sleep 8 Hygiene 7
Yes, that means there are days I dont shower. Judge me, I not ashamed. I don't think I'm the only one who takes less showers in the winter.

2:00--Fall asleep (hopefully)

4:00--Dream of watching Sportscenter or going back to Cuba or eating chick-fil-a or being one of the 15,000 in Coleman Coliseum or Ashley Jackson...

9:00--repeat

White-washing picket fences

This is normally the point where I'd say "Why's it gotta be white?" to try to create an awkward racial moment... But I'll refrain.

I've been here a week now and I'm starting to become a pretty quick bed maker. I can take out the trash, spray down windows and sinks, and vacuum and mop floors with the best of them. (Don't tell my mom)

The weird thing is I'm enjoying it. It's like I'm one of those kids who was convinced by that one guy that white washing picket fences is fun.

I think there's two reasons I'm enjoying being a cleaner in this hostel:

1) The location. Amsterdam is a beautiful city. When the lights reflect off the canals at night it's particularly nice. (I'll try to do pics soon)

When I first arrived in Cuba last year, every little thing I did seemed exciting because it was a new place. So when I played basketball or shopped at a market, it wasn't just playing basketball and shopping. It was playing basketbal and shopping... IN CUBA! Or when I went to Peru a couple years ago and volunteered at a local school, in my mind it wasn't helping out at a school everyday. It was being at TA... IN PERU!

Get what I'm trying to say? The mundane things, for me, become exciting when I'm in a new place.

2) The people. The staff here is composed of mostly college aged volunteers from around the world. Seeing as though it's a Christian hostel, they're all Christians but obviously the same isn't true of all the guests. It's been cool to talk and hear different people's (staff and guests) beliefs and stories about how they ended up in Amsterdam.

One week in and I'm already a little sad I'll only be here another 3 weeks. I'm starting to realize that when I travel I think I'd rather be in one place for a while and really get to know it rather than see a lot of places for short amounts of time. Plus I feel like I'm "part of the family" already. Everyone's been super nice and fun to hang out with.

The point of all this I guess is that when you're white washing fences in a new and beautiful city with a bunch of cool, interesting new frineds, life isn't so bad.

Naked girl, naked girl... Christian hostel.

Well, not completely naked. But they weren't wearing much, that's for sure. This was my first night in Amsterdam and the shameless prostituion in the well known Red Light District was hard to miss.

I was heading to the hostel I was staying at for the night--a Christian hostel, I had been told, where there was a possibility I could work and stay there for free. But as I was walking, I got the feeling I was heading the wrong way as the number of barely dressed women increased. Naked girl, naked girl... Christian hostel--I turned a corner and there it was. One hour in and I knew Amsterdam would be an interesting city.

Here are some things I've noticed over the past few days:

-Everyone bikes. Everyone. I guess most Americans (myself included) have this type of attitude towards bikes: "As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists" But here it's normal, almost essential, to cycle most places. Parking is hard to find and super expensive when you do find it.

-The term "coffeeshop" does not reefer (intentially spelled wrong) to a cafe type restaurant in which one may go to ejnoy a nice cup of joe. Well, maybe you can get a good cup of coffee, but that isn't their main item of interest. I don't know, I guess "Weedshop" or "Marijuanashop" don't have the same ring to it.

-Almost everyone speaks a decent amount of English. This is probably because the Netherlands and northern Belgium are the only places where the people speak Dutch (I think) so it's necessary to learn English. This fact has ben very helpful... especially when I'm lost. It'd be tough to be in a country where I dont understand anyone and no one understands me.

-"Hi my name is Amsterdam..." All other cities attending meeting "Hiii Amsterdam." Amsterdam continues, "...and I'm a sex addict" Seriously, this place really loves their sex. Sex museums, sex shops, sex for sale, live sex shows. It's crazy and impossible to miss.

I hope to find out more about the city as I'm here. I'm gonna do the work and live for free thing at the hostel for the next four weeks so I'll be here a while. Yea, I guess that's all for now.

[Insert short, possibly witty sentence to end blog entry here]