Anyone here spent time in Amsterdam? (Updated)

[Antiloop33rpm]

Re: Amsterdam

I am not much of a club person, although, I remember listening to some of the music coming from Rotterdam during the mid and end of the 90's so I am loking forward to checking out what is going on in the city (and I will take your advice and try that club out).

I actually came across a cool little cafe in Den Haag (after talking to a waiter at a bland bar who recognized my as being Canadian by my pronounciation of 'about'). I am actually really digging the Dutch cafes and there were certainly some very cute nerdy cools as well.

 

[indense]

Re: Amsterdam

ronald, are there any big dutch retailers on line for things like electronics, cameras, etc..? I would like to do a little price comparison before leaving.

 

[ronald1987]

Re: Amsterdam

The authority of consumer electronics is Media Markt, a German chain.
On this website you can also compare products for sale here, and see what they cost.
I allways use this site to convert Euro's into other currencies.
BTW, those first 2 sites are all in Dutch. But don't worry about that, all the product names are pretty much copied from English (for example, a DVD player is a DVD speler, a digital camera is a digitale camera).

 

[indense]

Re: Amsterdam

Thanks again, ronald. Are the prices listed the final prices? Meaning, taxes are already included in the prices, or are taxes added afterwards?

 

[ronald1987]

Re: Amsterdam

If it says 'winkelprijs', which often is the case on that 2nd website, the store price is meant (that would be with taxes I guess, usually the only place where prices are listed without taxes, is the wholesale trade).

 

[indense]

Re: Amsterdam

Thanks again Ronald. "winkelprijs" makes me giggle.

next question: do most people have cable or satellite? and what are the major cable/satellite companies? I'm still trying to figure out how to get Leaf games.

 

[ronald1987]

Re: Amsterdam

most people have cable TV, but some in some immigrant neighbourhoods sattelites are to be found on nearly every appartment!
this provider also offers digital TV. We have this at home, and we have something like 90 channels, including NASN (North American Sports Network), which broadcasts mostly baseball but also some Canadian Football games. I've also seen some Icehockey on that channel (though not nearly as much as baseball).
We also have a bunch of British channels but very few North American channels.
But anyway, if you have cable TV like the majority here, you won't be able to watch the Leafs but you will still receive 4 english language channels (BBC1, BBC2, BBC World, CNN).

 

[indense]

Re: Amsterdam

Ronald, next question: I've been browsing the apartment rental sites and I've noticed two things - not a single mention of central air conditioning or any other kind of air conditioning. Is this because the summers are mild enough not to require air conditioning?

Next next question: Almost all of the apartments are furnished and many have balconies and rooftop patios and yards but I haven't seen a barbeque. Do the Dutch not barbeque?

Thanks again in advance.

 

[ronald1987]

Re: Amsterdam

Indense,
I think having an airconditioning system installed in your own home is a North American luxury. I have never seen anything like it here, or anywhere else in the northern countries of Europe.
This might have to do with the fact that a lot of housing is quite old, and thus was built before the airconditioners were widely affordable for the public.
It probably has to do with the climate aswell. It's the end of November now, and it's 15 degrees outside. It could have been May aswell, as far as the weather is concernd. The summers are not extremely hot (think around 20 degrees), with a heatwave or two being the temporary exception nearly every summer.
Winter, then again, is not extremely cold (think around 0 -10 degrees), with, again, a cold period or two with temps around -5 being the temporary exception.

BBQ's are standard in North America, in Holland, having your own BBQ is mostly reserved to (wealthier) suburbanites. People that don't have a reasonably largre yard in a suburban area (and that are a lot of people), sometimes go to the public parks, such as the vondelpark, to barbecue with the entire family. I'm sure you will see entire Turkish families in Amsterdam, gathered around a BBQ on a summer evening.
You could of course go to a grill restaurant or something like that if you miss BBQ food.

Allways glad to help you with any questions you have.

 

[EnviroTO]

Re: Amsterdam

Dutch is a relatively easy language to learn. Highly tonal languages, notably Thai or Vietnamese where an English person hears "ma" and there are multiple meanings to it which cannot be figured out by the context of a sentence, seem far more difficult to learn. The fact that Dutch for the most part is not tonal and uses a roman alphabet makes learning it relatively easy.