Play Areas with More Relaxed Safety Standards

Frankendael park

I went to meet some friends in a park today. It was a park that we'd never been to before. We arranged to meet in the playground. Just as I spotted my friends, my 2 year old ran onto a bridge in the playground. I greeted my friend and that's when I realised my toddler had completly vanished.

We entered the park through this gate as shown in the photo above. I thought if there was a gate like this, then the playground would be enclosed. Can you see the bridge in the background in the photo above? Well, the bridge leads down some stairs and out of the playground to an open field.

It took half an hour to find my toddler. What is the point of enclosing a play area with gates, when they can run out into a field???

Amstel Bos

Then there's this beauty. It looks very attractive and is a lovely idea. A ship wreck for the kids to play on. Only, the back end of it is actually in water. Quite deep water...WTF!!!

Our Local Playground, off Van Boshuizenstraat

It may be difficult to spot, but behind the digger is a children's playground. Up until a few days ago, where the digger is now was a skateboard crater. Last week 15 teenagers were using it as part of a lesson to learn BMX-ing. 

The most amazing thing is, that despite being IN A CHILDREN'S PLAY AREA, there is NO FENCE around the heavy machinery or rubble. I have no words.

Weird Wildlife

I expect to see dogs being walked and was mildly surprised by the number of neighbourhood cats. I was very surprised to see dogs being cycled around and pushed around in buggies and on bikes.

And then. I noticed a flash of green moving in the trees...there are loads of parakeets in Amsterdam. 

You may also notice something blocking the sun for a moment and wonder if it was an airplane flying above and look up...to see a heron. They are beautiful, graceful birds, who I've noticed frequent the same place and sit there watching the world.

Can you spot the heron with her baby, nesting on top of an old chimney?

Colours of a City

I've noticed that when spending time in a city or country, my dreams and sense of a place are affected.

For instance, Barcelona and Sydney filled my dreams with bright colours. 

The sun shone and made everything shine. I noticed more people wearing brightly coloured clothes. My dreams were vibrant and I really noticed the strong colours in my dreams. 

I've lived in Israel, where the colours seemed more dessert like, mustard, orange and olive. 

The colours in Thailand were those of a jungle, greys, dark greens, browns and yellows.

So, what about Amsterdam? 

I think this wonderful painting by Jozef Israeli's of three ragged-looking children on the beach captures the colours of Amsterdam.

What's on the High Street

It took me a while to appreciate the differences between a shopping street in UK and a shopping street in Amsterdam. 

Typical Shops	London	Amsterdam
Betting Shops	High Frequency	N/a
Charity Shop	High Frequency	n/a
Off licence (beer, wine and cigarettes)	Medium Frequency	Low Frequency
Retail parks	Medium Frequency	n/a
Specialist food shops, e.g. good quality cheese, bread, meat	Low Frequency	High Frequency
Pound shops	High frequency	Low frequency
Book shops	Medium frequency	Medium frequency

Anne Watches Over the City

Photo Montage: Michel Dankaarts, LBi Lost Boys 

© Anne Frank House© Anne Frank House / Anne Frank Fonds

What is it like to be Jewish in Amsterdam?

To live in a city which has seen so much sadness and so many atrocities. To tred on the streets where others who had their lives cut-short, walked. To meet people whose parents parents only survived because they hid, often separated from their siblings and parents at a very young age, some of them never meeting their parents or siblings again. My children play with the grandchildren of those survivors. 

Anne Watches Over Amsterdam

There are constant reminders of the past. By Central Station, there is a large poster promoting 'Anne Frank - the musical' (see above photo). Anne looks down, smiling over the Amstel, towards the city.  The Dutch place great emphasis on being the same as everyone else. There is a Dutch expression, that in a field of wheat, if a sheaf sticks his head up above the others, it will be cut down. It is not good to be different. So, being Jewish is often a discrete activity here. The boys in my children's school only put on their kippot in the classroom. There are no outward signs that we are different once we are in public, outside of the school. The Jewish school is frowned upon by many Dutch people. 'Why do they need their own school?'.  Conversely, I've found the Jewish school a less racist and a more culturally open and accepting place than the Christian school my children attended previously.  I am very happy that my children are learning about Jewish festivals, such as the festival of Trees (Tubishvat) and not about Zwarte Piet.  I also feel strongly that we should each know our own identity and be strong and comfortable with it. If we were all the same, the world would be a dull shade of grey. I prefer my world to be full of different colours.  

Before 1939, 1 in 10 people living in Amsterdam was Jewish. 

There aren't very many Jewish people living in Amsterdam in comparison to London. It is painful to think how many people could have been living here if it wasn't for the Holocaust. 

There were 75,000 Jewish people living in Amsterdam before the Holocaust. See Holocaust.  Now there are approximately 12,000 Jewish people living in Amsterdam. It feels good to be one of those 12,000 and to stand up and be counted.

The Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam

I visited the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam. Gone were the gold leather wall coverings, stolen by the Nazi's. There are lockers under the benches in the synagogue. Each synagogue member had their own locker in the bench with a key. After the war, many of the lockers remained locked as no-one had the keys when their owners did not return after the war. The population of the synagogue was so diminished, the post-war congregants moved to a small room and locked up this large synagogue.  Today, the synagogue feels more like a museum and less like an active place of worship.

"Only a small percentage of the Jews in Amsterdam survived the Holocaust and returned from camps and their places of hiding to their city, also known in Holland as Mokum (Hebrew for city). The community’s great synagogue-complex (now home to the Jewish Historical Museum) remained empty and had to be exchanged for smaller place of worship outside the city center."

Falling in Love with Amsterdam

There have been ups and downs, shocks and surprises, frustrations and confusion, but I am now beginning to love our new life Amsterdam.

There are lots of amazing things about living here. 

Here are the top 5.

1. The Landscape

Five minutes from our house, we have a windmill, beautiful countryside and the river Amstel (above). Two minutes from our house we have a canal, with grasses growing either side and herons and ducks hanging out. There are two parks in less than 200 yards from our house. One has a skateboard track, a playground and a massive field (below). The other has a little play area and sandpit. Our street feels safe and is not busy. We are still only a 20 minute tram or cycle ride from the centre of town. 

2. The Cycle Paths

My journey to take the kids to school is a 5 minute cycle ride. What I didn't realise was that there are cycle paths where cars are not allowed. There is a whole network of cycle paths which get you there more quickly than you can driving. 

It's so wonderful to be able to fit exercise into my daily life with the children as I'm cycling everywhere now. Being outside and having fresh air, even in the winter is making me feel healthier than ever. My skin is clearer and I generally feel great. 

3. Independent Shops

Unlike our local high street in the UK, there are few empty shops, no betting shops and no charity shops.  There are no big retail out of town outlets. High streets are bustling and thriving. You can buy top quality fruit and vegetables from a grocers, fish from a fishmongers and you buy nails and glue from an iron mongers. A bit more cycling around to get what you need, but once you've figured out where to find what you need it is pretty good. You can buy fresh flowers cheaply and they last two weeks.

There are many more independent shops, particularly food specialists which sell amazing bread, cheese and fruit and vegetables. 

4. Regular calendar events

There's always something around the corner to look forward to. Winter starts with the lovely lantern festival, St Martins. Then there is the arrival of Sinterklaas and his helpers in November, which finishes on 6th December. This is followed by Xmas and there is a light festival running for December and January. Amsterdam is lit up at night by light installments.   Next week, we'll be picking Tulips in Dam square. 

5. C&A!

Hair

Having had the same hairdresser for 6 years in London, venturing only to another salon when I had a discount voucher, I know what I like my hair to look like when I step out of a hairdressing salon. Sleek and smooth. I've had blond foils for years and recently had a fringe cut. This is the result of my last hair cut. That's me in the middle.

I've been in Amsterdam for 3 months now. I've heard people having bad experiences in hairdressers. Once I met a friend who arrived late. I asked her where she'd been and she said she'd been in the hairdressers. Now, in London, you know when someone's been to the hairdressers. You notice how shiny and finished their hair looks. This lady had nice hair, but it didn't look like she'd been to a hairdressers. Curious, I thought.

A few weeks later, I received a recommendation of a hairdressers from a friend also from London who had a good haircut. 'Hooray', I thought, 'finally, after three months I can have good hair again'.  

I did not take into consideration that the salon specialises in hair for those blessed with curls. 

I went in wanting this....

And I came out with this.

Comments received so far include:

'Mummy, did the wind do that to your hair?'

'Wow, that looks like several hair styles in one'.

In order to achieve this look, I had a condom-like plastic cap placed over my head. Hair is pulled through tiny seive-like holes and bleached. Now, twenty years ago, I remember having one of these things on my head, but now in UK everyone uses foils. It gives you a headache as it's so tight and you can't see anything either.

To be fair, the end result of the weird cap is more natural than the stripey look you get with foils. The weirdest part for me was the finishing. A lot of mousse was used and I was asked to lean forward and my hair was scrunched dried. Wow, not been scrunched for twenty years either. But this is the fashion here. It's a different way of doing hair. The cut is not bad, but not quite what I had in mind, I did agree to go with what the hairdresser advised and maybe it suits my face better than the trendy style above. The hairdresser was very welcoming and friendly to me and my nearly two year old. The coffee in the hairdressers is amazing.Should I go back? I can't decide. Who knows? Feedback welcome!