Barbecue

Barbecue in Amsterdam

Job

It has been really fast with looking for a job and the girl who had an interview with me (Gwen) told me to come for a trial in the restaurant. It was the same as always. I was curious and excited but I was also nervous and I did not know what to expect. At the moment, I have to say that it was way better than I expected! In fact, I really liked the restaurant and I would like to start working there. It was totally different than Adelitas by the way.

I really liked that they had a special small attractive things for people. Firstly, whenever someone comes to the restaurant they will get the nachos chips with pico de gallo for free. I think that it is quite a nice gesture and it makes people happy even though it does not cost much. I was shocked when I saw the Margarita because it was huge! Moreover, they always give customers extra small pitcher with margarita with words – this is Pilones. When people pay, we gave them a small bucket full of candies with the bill. These all are just small details but it made the space better.

My working started funny because I was at the bad location. Fortunately, the second Pilones restaurant was just next to this one. I have to say that it was not easy. The biggest difference was that all restaurants in Amsterdam are super small and that´s why it is not normally divided into servers and barman. It was quite unusual for me to take the orders, put them into the computer and then make the drinks myself, bring them and then wait for the food. Literally it means to do everything except for the food. On the other side, the bar is quite small so it was fine. Moreover, we were there four girls working there. I met a Brazilian girl who taught me everything. Everybody was friendly and I already missed the atmosphere of such bar – friendly people, latin music and good mood. I was surprised that I also met a Czech girl there. She went to Amsterdam to study her bachelor studies but she liked it here too much so she stayed. Seriously, I don’t know why but there are so many people from the Czech Republic! It was also great to hear Spanish language again! Even though I was already working in the Mexican restaurant, the food was completely different. I mean that the selection was different. During my break, I tried tacos with bacon, cheese, chicken meet and it was delicious! Also the funny part was that the computer was half in Spanish and half in Dutch. Therefore, I had to ask about everything ten times. In the beginning, I was little bit worried that I could have problem that I don’t speak Dutch but I was nicely surprised because when I said hello, everybody automatically started to talk in English.

Before Pilones, I had an appointment in the bank ING and I finally received my Dutch account. They will send me the real card with my name home but at least I can start using it. We already experienced that they did not want to accept cash or non-Dutch cards. What the hell is wrong? I just could not believe it.

Barbecue

Friday was an amazing day! In the morning we decided to check the cheapest shop in Amsterdam called Dirk. On map, they were saying that it is “only” 15 minutes by bike. When we were biking there, it was quite close. When we entered the shop, we were already surprised! Everything was way cheaper. Normally, it is difficult to find something for less than 1 euro in Albert Heijn. Here, they had many things for this price. The first thing we found was whole wheat pasta for less than 1 euro. It was the same with everything. We were surprised. We spent a lot of time there buying all the stuff. I was trying not to shop like crazy because I took also one bag and one backpack. We were also doing shopping for that evening´s barbecue. They way back was crazy! I could not even ride my bike with all the stuff. Fortunately, I have a front holder for my bag on the bike. It seemed to me really far to go back. We even lost Romca on our way home. Anyways, we were happy to buy everything cheaply.

For lunch, we decided to cook together with Romca and we were making Fajitas. We saw a few recipes but we basically tried our best. We bought chicken, fajitas spice, peppers, onions, chilli sauce and tortillas. It was quite simple. We were just stewing the vegetable, then we cooked the meat with spice and sauce. Lastly, we added cheese on it. I used my skills from Adelitas and I tried to pack the tortilla in a good way. I was surprised but it was so delicious. Maybe, we could have added also some salad because on the plate it looked quite plain but it was so tasty! We were taking pictures the whole time to have it recorded.

I wanted to take a rest after, but we had a lot of things to do. Unfortunately. We needed to continue with our homework for Valutation and then we needed to put the meat into the oil and spice to have it prepared for the barbecue. Therefore, I did not have time to rest at all. Before 3 pm we decided to check the school gym. I have to say that I was nicely surprised that school offers different types of memberships for the gym and they have six locations in Amsterdam. They have a lot of types – for 3, 6, 12 months and also just for gym, for group exercises or sports. I liked the most the option with group exercises for 160 euros per a whole year. I think it is a good price if I go there at least once per week. Moreover, I guess that it will be cold and rainy weather and this is a perfect opportunity to do sport anyways.

I went there with Kristyna. Normally, you can sign up for a free trial and you can try the centre three times for free. Later, if you are satisfied you can buy the membership. They even have a finger print entrance! So there is no way to cheat. When we went there, I wanted to sign for the trial but everybody was busy. They let me go inside right away because I wanted to go directly to the class called Fit Fight. When I was reading the instructions, I knew that it is going to be fighting and boxing with music but I did not expect much from it. When we started I liked it a lot! Even though I was exercising next to the really muscular guy and it looked funny in the beginning, it was so interesting! The teacher – guy – prepared the choreography in advance and he was changing the music and the exercise. The whole class lasted for one hour and it was also quite demanding! After the end of the class, I was also decided to buy a membership. I was so happy and full of energy! The next day my body hurt!

After gym, it was time to have a party! We were excited because we decided to organize it in order to meet new people from our building. We agreed on borrowing two grills. Romca made my hair curly before and I liked it a lot! We also prepared the vegetables, cheese and meat. We started around 6 pm with Jeremy and few Czech friends and another people started to come gradually. Later on, we started to prepare the food. Our meat was delicious!

I always love barbecues. Some people had sausages, meat, cheese, vegetables, burgers... Actually I was surprised that so many people came with food. Our vegetables did not need to be done so after meat we just ate our cheese. For many people it was weird that we were just eating cheese from the grill but for us it was normal. I was enjoying the atmosphere a lot! The weather was perfect and I felt warm only in the t-shirt. We met new girls from Spain and they were nice and friendly. Unfortunately, they had to leave earlier. In the middle of the night I was watching others enjoying the party and I think we did a good job.

Afterwards, some people went to the official party because they already bought the ticket. We decided not to buy the ticket because we are not big fans of these big crowded party. I always prefer being with friends than just randomly go to a big club where it is impossible to dance and there are big waiting lines. Our RA team told us to go to the city centre around 11 pm. We quickly cleaned the place and we went to the club. I don’t know why some people wanted to walk but I was sure I was taking my bike because it takes a lot of time to walk somewhere. Actually, we were heading to Coco´s. We were only a small group of people because we split but I would say that it was still a success that we were more than 10 people. When we entered the club it was almost empty. We also did not have to pay for the entrance. It was great! We had space to dance. Then, we noticed their special action – 9 shots of Jagermeister for 10 euros! It was such a good deal! We immediately decided to buy them. They were serving it in test tubes! Since it is my favourite alcohol, I loved it! Even better thing was that people were randomly buying the shots, so in the end we had a lot of them. I guess that explains many coincidences that happened after.

Firstly, Kristyna fell from her bike and her knee did not look good. Actually, she was bleeding. Then, Romca told me she could not find her phone. I did not know how it happened because we were taking pictures on her phone and suddenly we could not find it. We already heard many stories that it is quite common that people steal a lot in the clubs but still it was crazy. We tried to find it but it was impossible. I tried to call Romca but the phone was turned off. The worst thing is that Romca got this phone lately – only three months ago. Unfortunately, it was not the most expensive phone but I felt so sorry for it. Then, we split again and I could not find her anymore. I was waiting for a long time in the queue for the bathroom and then I was trying to find another people but the club was already super crowded. Anyways, I liked the music there and I wanted to stay there.

I wanted to check my bike and I went to find it. I was successful but I realized that we had a problem. I totally forgot that we locked the bikes together with Romca and I did not know where she went. I tried to call her but the phone was still off. What to do? I was sure she did not go home. I was convinced that she did not leave without me. But she did. I guess that she was angry because of her phone. We tried to call Jonathan who already went home also. I was just looking at my bike and I wanted to take it so bad but I could not. Then, we went to the nearest pizza place to have something to eat. What I remember is that we had a lot of things to laugh about. I almost forgot about my problem with the bike. At that moment, I realized that I should really learn how to get home by walk because I was completely lost. Unfortunately, Ibi and Jacopo suggested they could take me on their bike porter. I went with Ibi and it took us a lot of time to get home. I had a great time this night!

When I woke up, I had a splitting headache! Basically, whole Saturday I did nothing. I was suffering. We went to the city centre with Romca to buy another phone – successfully. It was a hard task because they did not want to accept our normal credit card, neither cash. This day, our Czech friends who are studying in Maastricht this semester also decided to come. I felt exhausted but I could not just say I was staying in the bed. Therefore, we were walking with them and we did a city walk with them. I was happy to see my best friend – Matej. He was talking a lot about his exchange and I would say he was satisfied with sport activities, party, school, accommodation in Maastricht. He was just complaining a lot about studying but I think he already knew it was going to be exactly like this.

They were drinking the whole day! Since we met them after lunch, they were drinking! We went to the very city centre and them we were sitting in front of our accommodation. Jeremy was cooking for them but around evening he got so tired that he just went sleep (I was not surprised).

Unfortunately, we had to leave our group to cook something for dinner and we were also working on our homework. Our friends went out after but I did not feel like partying again because I did not want to spend the whole Sunday in the bed. I did not even want to see alcohol! In the end, nobody slept in our room because it is quite small. I just saw them today in the morning because they were in a hurry to go back. They also invited us for their special party called Cantus on Friday. I have to decide if I will go because I already heard about it a lot. You just pay for the entrance and then you have all beers and alcohol included! The things is that I should finally start studying... So I will see. Anyways, it was so nice to see them in Amsterdam!

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