2009-10-03

Amsterdam Day 2

In an unexpected twist, I woke up this morning feeling really nauseous. I didn't throw up but I was tired and definitely not hungry. Boo, bad start! Tomas, Albert, and I enjoyed some male bonding by walking over to the local farmer's market. This took us past Amsterdam's 1924 Olympic Stadium, which was pretty cool. Oh how far we've come since then!

Despite feeling pretty poor, I bucked up enough to check out the Red Light District. Tomas and I walked around, said hi to the ladies, and even visited the Sex Museum. I may have had more zeal for this tour if I hadn't been so nauseous but I found the whole scene to be pretty underwhelming. Still, I'm glad to have checked it off my list.

On the way back to the apartment I bumped into Joy Roth, a Rice alum and former ARA Board member--again, what a small world! I spent the evening resting up a bit. As I hadn't eaten all day, I was pretty tired. Lucia is such a good mother that she was able to take care of not only one boy, but two. She established that I had a fever and helped me treat the symptoms. The #1 treatment method was shooting Borovička, a Slovak dry gin. Oh yeah, that'll cure what ales you!

Lucia and Tomas are also great cooks. We decided to stay in for the evening so they prepared a wonderful meal of fish, potatoes, and spinach with garlic. Under normal circumstances, I would have shown them how much I appreciated their culinary skills by devouring everything they put in front of me. This night was different, though, and the smell of the garlic almost made me lose my stomach. Yikes, something was clearly wrong!

However, I knew I had to eat, so I joined them for dinner and had some cereal. I managed to eat it all and immediately felt better. My fever was gone by the end of dinner and I was beginning to feel like a new man. We spent the rest of the evening just sitting around chatting and discussing deep philosophical questions.

At one point Lucia brought out some mango and berliners (the doughnuts mentioned in my blog about Berlin) and I ensured that there were none left. Ah yes, there's that appetite I know. I'm back, baby! Still, I'm heading to bed to ensure that I'm rested and ready for my last day here.

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