I quit

I just cycled home from work for the last time, laden down with three bags full of presents (some so thoughtful! like the copy of Everything Worth Knowing from one guy who heard me talk about The Devil Wears Prada exactly once, and the stroopwafels! so many stroopwafels!) I'd finished up by about 3 and spent the rest of the afternoon surfing the internet and chatting. I've learned more about some of my colleagues in the past month than in the previous three and a half years - I think handing in my notice flipped an honesty switch somewhere, and now people feel they can say anything to me because I'm leaving anyway (and to be fair, vice versa, I've let rip on more than one occasion this past month).

I still think it hasn't quit hit me that I am now unemployed (albeit only for a week) - mainly because I have nothing to compare this whole job-quitting malarkey to. There is a huge difference between walking out the door at the end of a three week temp assignment and handing in one's security badge featuring an almost unrecognisable photo of oneself taken at the age of 22. I think it'll only really hit me on Monday morning when I wake up and realise that there is no job to go to, and moreover that I have two days to sort and pack my worldly belongings before Fedex arrive.

In the meantime, I have a weekend full o' fun ahead, with the highlight (hopefully) being my leaving do tomorrow night, where the theme will be Come Dressed As A Song Title. A full recap and photos will follow! In the meantime, tell me what you would come as...

Getting down to the nitty gritty

I've been so busy enjoying myself over the past week I've done exactly no work on the really important stuff I need to sort before I move. Instead, I've been drinking in the park, swing dancing in public and staying up until 2am arsing about on the internet. I think I've hit a second wave of denial about leaving. My friend Franco, recently repatriated to Toronto, said this to me earlier:

"You are really, really, really going to miss amsterdam. after i came back i would lie in bed and i could feel myself riding my bike along the canals. never had a connection like that with any city before."

I've also spent a fair bit of this week talking all things Amsterdam with another friend, who had a potential offer of a transfer to San Francisco and was going through actual physical distress at the thought of leaving here. It's made me think about the effect Amsterdam has on people - it's a kind of Neverland playground for expats where real world rules don't apply. No mortgages, no rat race, no real responsibility, no fixed plans. Spontaneity, relaxation and ridiculously short bike commutes are the order of the day. It's all so easy - who wouldn't want to stay forever?

Except, it's dawned on me over the past few months that there's more to life than easy. Being in a second stint of long distance with Oran hasn't been easy. Missing my family hasn't been easy. Growing apart from friends through a pure lack of proper catch up time hasn't been easy. And as much as I've settled in here, and as much as I'm slightly scared of settling in somewhere new, somewhere less utopic, I think the payoff makes it all worthwhile. Come three weeks from now, I may be crammed on a tram during rush hour instead of sauntering through the park on my bike, but, when it comes down to it, I will be home.

Sob

So much for the moussaka. The boyos are not moving in now after all. There is a third boyo so they have decided to go looking for three bedroom apartments.

Back to square one for me...

Baby steps

One of my main worries about leaving here has been to find replacement tenants for my apartment. (I say "one of" because the main worry I've had here for the past week has been the nightmares, including The One Where The Strange Guy Grabs Me By The Neck and The One Where I Get Blown Up In A Car On The Family Farm). Anyway, I'd figured I would have to place an ad on some expat website to find people to take over my lease in July, but it now seems that two friends may be up for taking it on.

Anyway, one of said prospective new tenants is Greek Aussie and he decided he'd give my kitchen a trial run this afternoon by making moussaka from scratch. I, of course, couldn't say no, seeing as he was MAKING MOUSSAKA FROM SCRATCH (using his mother's recipe, bell book and candle, and I mean he was following detailed step by step instructions from an excel spreadsheet he had created the last time he watched his mammy make moussaka). Score on both fronts, it would seem, and I am hoping for confirmation from him and the other new tenant in the coming couple of days, which would be a Very Major Tick on the List Of Very Practical And Boring Things I Have To Do Before I Go, So Boring In Fact That I Haven't Blogged About It.

Photos of the moussaka and consumers thereof over in yonder sidebar - it was bloody gorgeous.

Little miss worst case scenario

It turns out I had nothing to worry about! The apartment is no longer in the red light - the ladies of the night moved west when the tram lines went in on the street outside two years ago. So now all we're looking at is a great apartment on a lovely street well within our price range and with absolutely everything we could want including two big bedrooms and a south facing balcony.

So, we're taking it. Done deal! It feels like we've been on a wheel of good fortune for the past two weeks and turning this down in favour of shopping around would cause all sorts of karmic anger. Not that we could turn this down, mind. So hello Dublin 7!

Now to important things like finding a decent local and the nearest Tesco...

And so it begins

Oran viewed our first potential apartment in Dublin this evening. It has some very firm pros - great decor, not too pricey, parking space, and most importantly owned by a friend of my sister's so we know we're not getting a bum deal. HowEVER, it's on a street best known for its late night kerb crawling activity and less than ideal for my commute to work. What to do...? We are both extremely inexperienced as far as renting in Dublin goes - the market has shifted completely since we last lived there five years ago. Part of me is reluctant to sign up with shady agencies (they're all somewhat shady, no denying it), but if it meant getting a place closer to work... Plus we're up against some pretty tough timelines - I start work on July 9th and am facing into a three hour round trip commute from a sofa bed at my parents' place if we don't have something sorted out by then. Right now we're keeping everything crossed, but as I type the one and only decent rental website is down and I am taking that as a sign.

In the meantime I am planning ticks for some of the boxes on the list below, the first being tomorrow when I embark on my last booze cruise round the canals. The weather is (hopefully) set to stay in its current tropical state, which should make for three hours of bliss. If it rains I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to reschedule - here's hoping the weather and apartment gods get together tonight for a pep talk.

The to-do list

I should probably be spending more time on making more critical lists like Things I Need To Cancel and Things I Need To Ship Home, but this one is much more fun. I'm hoping to knock as much as possible off this list in the next four and a half weeks, with a little help from my friends.

Bars

( ) Wijnand Fockink (Best Bar Name Ever)
( ) Nemo roof terrace bar (one of the loveliest views over the city and, in my opinion, best experienced on a scorching hot sick day)
( ) Gollem and De Zotte (mmm Belgian beer)
( ) 't Arendsnest (mmm Dutch beer)

Restaurants

( ) Vooges
( ) Garlic Queen
( ) Nieuwmarkt fondue place
( ) Malaysian cafe place
( ) Gusto (purely for the pasta in the parmesan wheel)

Other

( ) BBQ on my balcony
( ) Karaoke night
( ) Disco bowling at Knijn
( ) Booze cruise (set for this Friday, everyone invited!)
( ) Games night
( ) Club Rascal

Four and a half weeks to go...!