Cafe Tuin + Writing Postcards

Given the beauty of Amsterdam, I decided that today I'd walk around and get back into photography. Usually photography for me is mostly a summer time activity. That's because in the winter, by the time I get off work it's too dark to take photos. The weather also doesn't help because my poor fingers can't handle the cold and who really wants to be outside taking photos with the wind slapping against your face so hard that it makes your eyes teary?... Only super passionate photographers, that's who.

Anyways, so because I have all this day light and the beauty of Amsterdam, i decided to take advantage of my current situation (i'm trying to find hobbies to fill the time here, okay?!)  and take a stroll around the neighborhood. My roommate/friend Shane told me that Jordaan would be a great neighborhood to walk around in. Not to mention, Google called it the "Greenwich Village" of Amsterdam. Ugh, I actually miss NYC, so perfect.

Taking my amazing Sony Mirrorless DSLR, that I really only know how to shoot in one setting, I started my 30 minute trek along the many canals of Amsterdam. Here's some photos from today.

                  

And then (confession time) i put my camera away and started snapping photos on my iphone. Because lets be real... it's just SO MUCH easier. womp. But i'm glad I did because the iphone caught a picture of a rainbow!

Actually, right after I snapped the photo of this, saw that there was a rainbow, I might've been like "GOD?! THAT YOU?! YOU TRYNA TELL ME SOMETHING?! WHAT YOU SAY??? IT'S GONNA BE OKAY THAT I'M UNEMPLOYED AND YOU GONNA FIND ME AN AWESOME JOB?!"

hahhh just kidding..... err...

ANYWAYS.

As i was walking I remembered that I wanted to try writing and mailing postcards. I use the word "try" because i've never mailed anything internationally, and if it was gonna be to complicated to mail something, well forget about it. But of course, the Dutch totally got my back and it turns out that mailing any mail internationally has one standard price. Amazing. It doesn't matter if you're mailing it within Europe, or Korea, or the US.. all one price. WHY DOESN'T THE US DO THIS?!

So with my postcard and stamps in hand, I set out to explore more of Jordaan... but of course it started sprinkling rain and it got real cold... so i was like... fuk this, I'm unemployed, i'm going to a bar.

And so I sat down, ordered a beer at 1:45pm at Cafe Tuin and begin to write some of my postcards. And not gonna lie, I felt like I was in the middle of a romantic story... just me, some beer, writing letters, in a foreign country...

Then of course the bartender had to ruin the moment by asking, "so is this what unemployment is like? you just drink and write postcards in the middle of the afternoon?"
.......... oooofff........
But then i was like, "yeah. you jealous?"
and he was like, "yeah, actually".
and then he weirdly asked if he could read one of my post cards... to which I let him. Hahhhh

But he was super kind and when I asked him for any recommendations around the city, he sat down next to me and started writing down a list of things to do in his neatest handwriting (he told me he was trying really hard to write neatly. hahhh). And then of course, another dutch person had to input their list of things to do... so there at the bar was me, sipping on some beer while two men wrote in their neatest handwritings things for me to do. lolllllll

                  

 

And then as I was getting ready to leave to go to my pilates class (because that's what I can do now, go to pilates in the middle of the day... AND afford pilates) I realized that I had forgotten all about touring Jordaan. But that's okay, i'll try again some other time.