Ik ben weer nat... en ik ben het zat.

A week-and-a-half into my re-immersion in Amsterdam, and I'm still feeling the effects of the transition pretty heavily.

The weather has been absolutely atrocious.  It's like we left Ohio in the dog days of summer -- mid-August heat and humidity, sunburns, sweat, and mosquitoes -- and landed in Amsterdam to experience late-October / early-November conditions:  skies of battleship gray, buckets and buckets of rain, high winds, and cold fingers.  The only contants, as it turns out, are the mosquitoes and the humidity.  Absolutely every surface here seems to be immediately susceptible to mold, mildew, must, and moss.  Our basement has flooded twice since we've been back (once likely from the weather, once from plumbing problems).  Shoes and jackets are perpetually stinky.  It's simply inescapable... this morning, and seemingly every morning.

Ik ben weer nat... en ik ben het zat.

Coming back is not the same as staying.

Ears ringing, throat stinging, elbows (and knees and shoulders) banged against me as I pushed through tens of thousands of screaming strangers.  Several of the people in the crowds physically accosted me at different point along the way, slapping at me and yelling in my face.  The air was filled with smoke and sirens.  Some strange, cold substance was raining down on my neck, my back, my legs.  It was absolute pandemonium.

And I hardly could have enjoyed myself more.

For yesterday's World Cup semi-final match between Holland and Uruguay, I joined 40,000 of my closest friends at the Museumplein in central Amsterdam -- watching the big game on the big screen, in the midst of the most unimaginable orange insanity.

When the Dutch team scored a goal, the sound of the crowd was deafening:  cheers, air-horns, vuvuzelas, bells, whistles, and music blasted over the sound system.  Confetti and fireworks shot up into the air.  Bright orange flares spewed acrid orange smoke.  And everyone jumped up and down -- making the Museumplein seem like a rocky orange sea.  People crashed into each other:  complete strangers hugging and high-fiving (and this from a culture where eye contact with strangers on the street is generally avoided).  And best of all, the Dutch team won 3-2, making it into the championship game for the first time in 32 years (and providing the opportunity for its first world championship ever).

It was an unforgettable experience.

And to think... I'm going to be back in Ohio for the championship game!  It'll be hard to be away from all the pandemonium in Amsterdam (especially if the Dutch team could pull off the win), but I'm definitely going to be cheering from wherever I'm at.

Speaking of which, does anyone know a good place in north-central Ohio for watching soccer with an enthusiastic crowd?!?  If there is no such place, I'm going to have to create one in my parents' living room.  I wouldn't miss the championship for the world.

I saw them installing this piece of art at the H88 earlier this morning.  It looks like it's going to be amazing, so I thought I'd pass along the word, for anyone who will be in Amsterdam this weekend...

Sachi Miyachi born in Tokyo and lives and works in Amsterdam, is a performance and installation artist.

She studied anthropology, philosophy and art at the Wako University in Tokyo and came in 2004 to the Netherlands where she did the Gerrit Rietveld Acadamy and Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam.

In 2007 she won the AIAS Prize of Honour (International Association of Independent Art and Design Schools)

Miyachi does refined drawings and installations that are often constructions of "forgotten memories". She takes in what meets her in her direct environment and searches as an archeologist the usable history data to tell a story about the urban change and identity. Rituals and other daily actions are a important part of her work.

For Artspace50, Miyachi will show 'The frame'.

A picture frame is a container for a picture intended to enhance its subject matter, make it easier to display in a space. 'What enhances today's life?' is the key of Miyachi's frame. By a use of mass produced daily objects, Miyachi creates the special frame in a grotesque manner to emphasize how our today's life and memories have been framed in a mass-consumption society. With a site specific context, the viewer will experience to face on Miyachi's approach to the world.

When and where:
Friday, 9 of July
from 20:00 till 23:00
Herengracht 88 sous, Amsterdam

curated by Avantia Damberg (contact@avantiadamberg.com)

This afternoon, our family watched the Dutch national soccer team improve to 2-0 in World Cup action.  Everyone's saying that they're disappointed that they haven't seen "the real Dutch team"  show up yet -- that they're not attacking enough, not flashy enough, not aggressive enough -- but I say that if we've won both games without even allowing our opponents to score a single goal, we're doing pretty well...

This time, we watched the game at the H88 (our church's ministry center).  It proved to be a great spot for such an experience:  plenty of room for spectators, comfortable seating, a massive screen with a crystal-clear digital image, a powerful sound system, and a wide array of inexpensive snacks and drinks (since we could bring the stuff ourselves).  But of course with this situation, the disadvantage could be that we're not enough mingled with the rest of the city -- that we're too much inside of some "Christian bubble" (even though, naturally, we'd be very welcoming of any guests who were invited in to share the experience with us).

It all got me to thinking, though:  Where is the best place in Amsterdam to watch the World Cup? If you have any suggestions, I'd be very glad to hear them (and maybe even give them a try over the next couple of weeks).

I've watched a couple of the games (not involving the Netherlands) in my house -- which is very comfortable and convenient, but I miss the companionship of other soccer enthusiasts when I watch games at home... And honestly, it's just not that fun.

I watched the first half of the Netherlands' first game of the tournament at the Hotel Arena.  It's a beautiful cafe, with large screen televisions situated out on a lovely terrace.  The crowd's level of enthusiasm was medium (noticeable but not quite manic -- which I actually found to be a comfortable level of energy).  And it was nice to be in a cafe environment, where we could be served a variety of drinks and snacks.  But the disadvantage was that the screens were hard to see for all the sunlight, the service was poor, and the drinks and snacks were absurdly expensive (about 12 euros for two drinks and one small snack).

And finally, I watched the second half of the Netherlands' first game at my kids' school.  There, it was fun to be with my kids -- and with a bunch of extremely zealous children in general -- and it felt like it was a truly Dutch environment.  But it wasn't the most comfortable.  The viewing experience was sub-par.  And, well, there were also some annoyances being in a room full of extremely zealous children, too!

So all of the venues that I've experienced up to this point have had their strengths and their weaknesses.  But I'm curious to hear:  Are there any other good places I should check out?!?  The next game is on Thursday evening...