Here I am, in my sunny apartment waiting on the movers.

The last few weeks have flown by, with guests, and packing and meeting friends.

Last night, some of my lovely gayboy friends came by to help me carry the 10 boxes down to the first floor.  As both of my colleagues are away on holidays, one in Japan and one in Africa, I’ve been working from home all week. Which has been ace, actually.

I can get up and work in PJ’s from 9-12.30, then jump in the shower and run around to the local Boterham store (if you are in Amsterdam you should check this place out, get a yummy fresh made sandwich and fresh OJ and sit along the canal and eat watching the boats!) Then with boterham in hand back to the house and make a cuppa and chill for a bit. Run through another couple hours emails and orders with the sun streaming in the windows behind me, then go out for a beertje and a chat with whomever is around. Having the laptop in the house has been great as I can check emails from LA around 8pm ish and make sure all is in hand, thus saving waiting another 24hrs for an answer.

Yesterday I cycled to the Geemete to de-register in the city, I went down to where I registered and was stared at and handed a sheet. I expected nothing less as they are really rude in that office, true disgruntled civil service that are the same no matter what country you are in. So I cycled then to the town hall to hand in the forms. What a difference, big smiles, nice chat, I mentioned this to a Dutch mate last night and he was just as shocked as I, “What? a NICE person in the civil service?? How did you find her??”  LOL. So there you go .. as of 21st September I will officially no longer be a resident in AMS

How do I start to tell you how I feel about that? Hmmm…

I do love Amsterdam, even a lot of the things that bugged the hell out of me at first, I now like. Like waiting 20mins until the waitress can be bothered to acknowledge your existence when you are dying for a beer, I now carry a book or ipod and just chill. Not getting anything up to 5cent change back when you buy something, I now pay by pin or realise that its great not having a heap of 5cents in your change jar.

I really love my friends here, I know that sounds like a stupid thing to say, I mean who doesn’t like their friends? But really I have been so incredibly lucky to have met almost the most incredibly fantastic people. At least 20 of which I know I could call real true, call them in the middle of the night, persuade them to call in sick and go off traipsing somewhere, will sit with you for hours in a hospital kind of people!

I am really happy with what I’ve gotten out of my time here, I know I can go out  into the world and Create a life for myself, Create a community,  Create a professional identity in a huge corporation, Create a Home I love.  Without the back up of, oh you must be so and so’s daughter or cousin or workmate or whatever. I turned 30 here and I do think I really went from kid to adult in the 18 months I’ve been here.

In truth I think it was that change in me, the time to really assess what it is I want that has brought me to this decision. I know I can make the big decisions and I know I have the balls to make them work for me. The truth is that although I know I could stay here for years and make a life here, my life is too important to waste on a job I don’t love, that I don’t think makes anything of my talents.

All that noble stuff said, I’m CACKING myself.

I was crap at Uni the first time. I hated it; hated the place, the people, the crap weather, the lack of money, the living in some-one’s garage in Limerick!

To think that this time 3 weeks I’ll be in a classroom full of impressionable kids, with my fantastically calm and capable cousin as the teacher, FARK. Double pressure, if I screw up my whole family will know! I cant spell (as witnessed by all the wiggly red spell check lines as I look up) I am rubbish at maths, I cant say my name in Irish. I will be assisting a class of 8-12 year olds… chances are they’ll be teaching me!!

I’ve been behind a desk (allegedly) for 8 years…. 8years of half decent pay and 18 months of very decent pay. What am I doing walking away from that?? Nuts, that’s what I am.

I have (apart from a few hiccups) lived away from home from 1996 … I will be a bag lady sans abode for the next 9-12months. Part time with my mum in the midlands, part time with my gf in Dublin, and part time on the Dublin-Sligo commuter route! *groan* Looking round my lovely and incredibly empty apartment, yes I do believe I am crazy!

Still somewhere in there I do believe that I am doing the right thing….. *fingers crossed*

I have wanted to blog, I have wanted to talk to you and ask advice, but silence was needed for a while.

After 7.5 years in Media, I have handed in my notice and will return to study at the end of September.

Some might argue that walking away from a job i know back-ways with a fab paycheck in a great city in the middle of a recession, is bordering on madness…. there are times I agree. However, the “office job” was supposed to be temporary and now its day has passed.

My job is great and like I said comfortable and salaried, relatively stable and poses no great challenge.  But its not what I love, and moving to another company showed me that in dayglow colours. The vast majority of my 7 and a bit year stint was in Dublin in a place that became a second home to me, I loved the people, the job just allowed me time with them. The job here … was the same stuff, minus the family, so in essence it was a husk of the old world.

I am glad of it though, the opportunity to move to this city and make a new start for myself. Being here has been amazing. I have to say I’ve never clicked with somewhere as quickly. I adore Amsterdam. Its a fantastic place rich and diverse and in constant contradiction with itself. It is very settled in who it is yet constantly rebelling against the preconceptions of what those who throng its streets and canals think of it.

Again for me it was the people, I have met a group of people here that are outstanding. In 18 months I have met people I feel as if I have always known.  Truly I have been very very lucky.

But it was not meant to be permenant and the door has opened to a new part of my life and I’d be a fool to close it.

I applied for and was accepted to do a postgrad in Montessori method teaching for 3-12yr olds. I begin on 29th September in Dublin.

This will remain Elf-in-Amsterdam, regardless of the Elf’s coordinates on the planet, a large part of her will remain in Amsterdam.

(plus I have loads of drafted crap I have to put up here relevant to Amsterdam, that I havent finished as I wsa to busy enjoying the place)

First week in Amsterdam, have to say I feel like I have been here way longer.

I like it, alot. The only thing I miss about Dublin is family and friends.
Work (or what I know of it) is ok. The office is nice, out a bit, but the people are great.
All the downstairs revenue nad corporate staff are lovely. There are (or will be) four staff in my office, only one I know, there is a lady in sales I haven’t met yet and a publicity guy who hasn’t started yet.

I’m off to Paris on Tuesday to meet my boss. Wasn’t expecting to be going anywhere so soon so clothes have been an issue, or to be more exact shoes.. I only have one pair with me!

Anyway, about the city…

So where I am living impresses everyone I have met, its a REALLY nice area.
The apartment itself is great, small but perfectly formed, STEEP (and spiral) stairs leading to the 3rd floor. Then large sitting room, with a sofa that would seat 6 easy dominates the sitting room, three windows look out to the street, and across to the neighbours. Its and interesting mix of modern (IKEA) and old dark wood furniture. Little corridor to Kitchen that houses the (compact) bathroom with a really good wet room type shower. Large kitchen (i know some houses that don’t have kitchens this large) fully equipped and a bedroom off the kitchen. The bed is huge, easily a King size! and great storage everywhere!

So far no noisy neighbours, although the fact that the window are original and single glazed means that you do hear everything, but its a mostly quiet street.

We had some fun getting here, in the form of a taxi driver that thought we said Blodestraat and not Bloemstraat…… he left us in the middle of the red light district!! Not near where I live (not far tho… but it feels it with 30-something kilo’s of bags!! So we get here and the estate agent arrives …. eventually…. while we wait in the SNOW!!

Thankfully it was a long weekend so I could clean the apartment, it wasn’t dirty but it was very dusty and the dust was really making my nose and throat painful!

Went food shopping…. Albert Hijen, best compared to Superquin. there are 2 near me.. so thats handy. Food shopping used to freak me out in Paris, just as everything was very different, even tho i had been to France before… the food in Paris is different, and VERY differnet from Ireland at that time. Now I think we have such a range of european things that its no so freaky.
One thing is the food here (ready meals and so forth) are really high in calories… hmmm… I guess all that cycling pays off.

Speaking of cycling I am thinking about getting a bike, mostly cause I need more excercise and there is no point in handing out money for commuting and then again for a gym…. just getting a bike makes sense….

As for the commute, well if im outside Westermarkt (3min walk) for 8.27 I can get a tram to Waterlooplien and then a Metro to Sparklerweg….
and if I take the right exit (and not the wrong one like I took the first day) I can get to the office for 9am!

I’m not sure if I had any expectations going into the job. Just needed away from the hell of the previous place and well something to get out of the house for as I had just broken up with someone.
In any event it was pretty much perfect (if a little rocky at first) but truly I’m not sure if an office can suit a person any better than that office suited me. After the many many many emails from the early jumpers will attest, I shall in their wake repeat, I have made friends there that I hope I will always have.

So having seen me through various chapters of my life from my cousin Kierans death, my grandmothers illness and eventual death, my relationship with Louise, my nephews babyhood (he’s now five) and many many other chapters, it really was a rock for me. To go in there day after day to people who cared about me and who I cared about. I cant say we felt we set the world alight with what we did on a daily basis, but I know we all felt we did what we did brilliantly and had one hell of a laugh on the way.

From the wreckage of last Dec/Jan when we realised and digested the news of the sale and closure.. or transaction as we (didn’t) like to call it, I have been given the opportunity to move to Amsterdam and work for CBS. Doing what, I’m not too sure, bit of this .. lot of that…. tad of the other I expect, but its an amazing chance and one that, for the most part (at least 72.4%) excited about.

I officially start on the 25th March and hope to move over on the 22nd March.

This, I’m hoping will be somewhere I can leave my thoughts of the experience.

Seeing as its now late… and there are many days to come… I’m off to bed!!!