My First Visitors

Last week was the week of "My First Visitors" since the start of my life in the Big Apple. Olivier arrived from Seoul on Saturday 6 December to stay here for the week. Reason for his visit? Not me, but a training at Columbia Business School...what a coincidence and fantastic to have him here!

Anyway, I tried to get him over his huge jetlag, his departure from Seoul was approx the same time he arrived in the US, so that felt kind of weird... Olivier kept on going very strong through Central Park, along 5th Avenue, Wall Street and SOHO where we crashed in Félix, a nice spot for aftershopping drinks or just a Sunday afternoon (when it's raining).

After the long walks, being confronted with this city full of people, cold weather, noise and highrises, the drinks did the rest!
On Sunday night we went to a Rangers hockey game, they played the Calgary Flames in Madison Square Garden, `the world's most famous sports arena´ as the enthusiastic New Yorkers call it. It was a nice game played by the Rangers but they failed to fight and score...and the Flames did not...so they won. Bad luck!

During the week I met with H & M who were in town for a wedding - a Dutchie getting married with an American girl. We had a great diner in TAO, a restaurant with a giant Buddha statue inside. Shopping and having diner were the main ingredients of the days they spent, looked like they were enjoying it!! And last but not least, I had lunch with Alexandra at Union Square, it was special to catch up with her after such a long time.

Olivier was in town all week long, so on Friday we were off to Meatpacking District and wanted to go to one of the topspots out there: the Spice Market. Both entourage and food of this Asian Fusion restaurant were not disappointing at all!
Saturday we went clubbing in the Mansion, we had a fantastic night full of dancing and drinks, among the crowd that was dressed for success...

My dear visitors, thanks for coming over, it was a special week!!

Lighting the Tree

Each year, as a tradition a giant Christmas tree is elevated at Rockefeller Plaza, famous for its Rockefeller Centre called "the Rock".

And every year the unofficial start of the Christmas Holiday Season is the "Lighting of the Tree" event, marking the first time the lights are turned on in that giant Christmas tree. The event attracts thousands of people wanting to see the tree lit and is broadcasted live on NBC with an impressive line-up of celebrities. This year, for the 76th edition, Beyonce and the Jonas Brothers among others made the crowds go wild.

"THE TREE IS LIT!!"

As you can imagine, I was very honored to be invited for a Lighting of the Tree Party, hosted by a Dutch law firm, on the 15th Floor in Rockefeller Centre. Together with a couple of colleagues I went to the party (which was not an easy thing as all streets were blocked and thousands of people tried to come as close to the tree as they could...). After some convincing negotiations with a police officer we were in the Rockefeller building, ready to see the tree being lit.
We met a lot of other Dutchies, some American lawyers and enjoyed the great view at the tree and the icering, where New Yorkers and tourists normally skate and flirt. The crowds were standing in the cold, we were standing on the 15th Floor drinking a Heineken beer...what a life we have!

After warming up the crowd and the countdown, the climax of the tree lighting was there exactly at 9pm, the thousands of little coloured lights were glowing in the dark. I'm still wondering how they managed to put so many lights in that tree..

New York city life - First impressions

A first impression and maybe more a reflection on life in New York City, well, after two weeks of being a New Yorker...

Life here is convenient when you belong to the ones that can afford it, life is tough when you can't. This is a crystal clear division in sociey here. Up till now, daily life has been quite easy for me with all the exciting things the city offers. Work long days, go out late, work-out hard and enjoy the city's 'amenities' to the full extend.
However, life is not easy for the men and women in the street, asking you for a dime or a quarter. I realise myself everyday how lucky I am, each day that I can wake up without the main concern how to survive the day. I'm concerned about the weather, probably work and what nice things I can choose from that day. That makes me smile, happy. And makes me talk to the doorman of my apartment building and give that spare quarter to the guy who needs it.
Another part of life here is the non-judgement of who you are and where you come from and at the same time the strong society judgement who you are, what you do and how much money you have.
People are taken the way they are, when sitting in the subway people just start talking to me and their fellow subway-ers sitting next to them, no matter if you're a banker or homeless. Sharing their opinion, discussing, laughing, about whatever topic you can think of. I guess this has to do with the fantastic melting pot of cultures, races, and people this city is and the openness and endless enthusiasm of the American people, I love it!
On the other side, there is the continuous judgement in society who is good and who is bad, dominated by the media and the public. If you are a rising star, if you are rich and famous, the people will adore you, celebrate you and the places you're going will be more popular than ever.
But if you fail to be successful any moment and lose your money, you will drop in the rankings of society and a new star will be there to replace you.

These first 'encounters' make me think this is probably why the city will never stop living, never start sleeping...and that there is more to discover...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving, as you may know, is one of the most important holidays in the States. Many travel to their family to celebrate and eat the Turkey, watch a good football game and enjoy being together for a couple of days. Thanksgiving traditionally is a harvest festival, a time to say thanks for the harvest and express gratitude for what you have in general.
In the US the celebration always takes place on the 4th Thursday in November.
Furthermore, it's the start of the so-called "holiday season" all the way up to Christmas, despite the current bad economics times, shop till you drop...!

Thanksgiving in the City means watching the Thanksgiving Parade go by. A fantastic line-up of big helium filled balloons of well known cartoon characters, big bands and celebrities... Early this morning, I went watching the Parade just around the corner of my apartment, on 57th and Broadway, trying to get as close to the action to shoot some nice pictures.
The weather was great, the balloons impressive and the kids were thrilled by seeing their favourite cartoons coming by!

CLICK HERE FOR AN IMPRESSION OF THE PARADE

Exploring the City: Brooklyn Heights - Orange Street - Downtown

After a party in the Museum of Natural History I woke up with a little hangover, just a small one...
This Saturday I was going to explore New York beyond 'the City' (Manhattan), I promised myself during the week. So after a nice anti-hangover breakfast at Colombus Circle I jumped into the subway (metro, tube or underground) and headed south. Well prepared and protected against the cold, because it wouldn't stop freezing today.
30 mins later I found myself walking in a Brooklyn street, not knowing where to go. Bought a map in a big bookstore and walked up to Brooklyn Heights, a small and nice neightbourhood close to Brooklyn Bridge and the East River. From here the view towards downtown Manhattan is really fantastic!!
Found a street called Orange Street, it made me smile and proud of our Dutch national color. The atmosphere is much more peaceful and it's rather quite in this part of town, compared to Manhattan.

Later on I went back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge to Battery Park (Downtown/Financial District) where you can see the 93 meter high Statue of Liberty standing on it's little island.
One amazing discovery: you will see probably more squirrels than pigeons in Battery Park..!
Click on the picture to see the pics that I made today!

NY Saturday in November

Cold times and charity in the City

This time of the year is the so called holiday season, the seaon for giving, with Thanksgiving coming up next week on Thursday all the way up to Christmas.
A lot of charity is being done to provide the poor and hungry with food and housing to survive the winter. One of the more outstanding projects is the City Harvest project, now a professional charity organisation that started gathering leftovers from NY restaurants in the 80's to feed the hungry. Read more in the NY Times or visit their website.

And this time of the year the winter started with temperatures between 22 (-5 Celsius) and 37 (+3 Celsius) degrees Fahrenheit.
I really love this weather because of the clear blue skies and the dry, cold. This picture I took this morning from my apartment when the sun came up. Every morning I walk to the office in around 10 minutes. It's a great to wake up and see the City getting crowded again after slowing down during the night, although it never stops...
To my suprise most of the people keep on doing what they normally do, despite the weather: running in the park before going to work, standing in line outside for popular restaurants and selling drinks and food on every street corner!

Sunday in the City

This cold, windy day I walked in the Park, right behind my current apartment building.

Central Park is a typical place to go on a Sunday for many New Yorkers, at least that's what I discovered today. Running, biking, walking the dog, playing rugby, soccer or cricket, all of this I saw happening in the Park today.

The nice ice ring sponsored by Trump is already in use and some groovy music kept the crowd moving around. A hot chocolate and hot dog warmed me up a little bit. Also a wedding and even some photoshoots were going on in the green city lung that was transforming from autumn to winter outfit as you can see on the pictures.

As part of getting to know the City I spent my evening at Madison Square Garden to see an NBA game: the NY Knicks against the Dallas Mavericks, theoretically an easy game for the Knicks. The show was great and the basketball exciting.

What a great experience the Americans can make out of an ordinary basketball game, including tv-commercial time-outs!
By the way, "Magic Johnson" was one of the VIP visitors this evening, he's still a very tall guy...

After 4 regular periods of 12 minutes the game went into a five minute overtime in which Dallas was the best...or was NY screwing up?!

Anyway, let's say didn't play their best ball in the overtime and they lost, because of missing almost all shots..!

Despite the loss of the Knicks I had a great evening, sitting next to a real estate broker and a NY fire fighter. DEFENSE!!

The score after 4 periods....

The keys to my first NY apartment

Feeling a little more refreshed, but still jetlagged, I woke up in a rainy City. Forecast showed me that it was going to be like that all day.

But I wanted to have something to eat outside the hotel, so I walked to a deli called Europa Cafe on 7th Avenue, close to Central park. My feet were completely wet when I arrived despite the $5 umbrella that could not protect them from the buckets of rain coming down...

Getting back to the hotel I got a cab fully loaded with my stuff that I called "all my life in 2 and some more suitcases" and drove to the apartment building where I would stay in the coming months. It's on 57th Street, close to Central Park and the office, a ten minute walk every day should be sufficient!

My first NY apartment is a nice furnished studio apartment on the 7th floor, facing south to the street, with all that I need as a new New Yorker, all in one room as big as my former dining and living room in Amsterdam. But with a doorman and all kinds of convenience that you will never find in Amsterdam. Anyway, see the pics for an impression!

Now I'm off to see where the nearest supermarket is to get some basics, just to survive the weekend.

Arrived in NY!

Today, Friday 14 November I arrived in the Big Apple for a new adventure in the coming years.
After preparing my apartment for renting it together with Rosario, without her help it would not have been able to do it in time, and some more goodbyes in cafe Gambrinus, one of my favourites in Amsterdam, I arrived in NY city today!!
A morning full of emotions, happy to go and sad to leave family and close friends, I was ready to jump on the plane. A one way ticket to Newark Airport did the rest.
Now I have arrived in the city, after a ride with William in his big Ford (5.3L V8 for the ones that are interested) that brought me to the heart of Manhattan. Today is a rainy day here, like it was in Amsterdam. But I'm prepared to start exploring and surviving the jetlag that will come around 9pm this evening, I guess...

More stories to come in the next days, my first weekend as a resident of the city that never sleeps.

Farewell week...

My last weeks in Amsterdam have started and saying goodbye to friends is now a daily exercise...

My family organised a weekend of being together in Domburg (small village along the Dutch southwest coast) and enjoying the feeling of having your close family around you, something that I'm definitely going to miss.

We had a wonderful Italian diner on Saturday in our family home, prepared by the cooks among us (NOT ME...). Bowling with live comments of the brothers and playing a board game lead to the natural competition that will pop up between us, my brothers and me, when there's someting to win, an exciting game!

Sunday was great for walking along the beach and some more relaxing moments.

A super exciting of the last Formula One race of the year did the rest, Lewis Hamilton got the champoinship, think he deserved it!

Monday I had a Mexican farewell as the sister of Rosario would be leaving to Mexico in a few days and we realised that I would not see her for a long time, so we went off to Los Pilones, one of the best Mexican restaurants in town, at least the Mexicans say that..!

Saying goodbye to my close friends that I know since I was studying in Utrecht (a relatively big city in the Netherlands) was on Tuesday, we had a fantastic diner in restaurant Eau de Vie and on top of that I received a pair of very Dutch cufflings to remind me of my roots and our friendship. I'm going to miss our monthly drinks!!

On Wednesday I drank some beers in Gambrinus, a local bar, with a mix of friends and colleagues who joined from different places...

Saying farewell to my ING colleagues in Amsterdam was last Thursday. They organised drinks and many of the colleagues I work with or have been working with were there. The colleagues in my department made pictures of themselves against a hilarious background of me among other things, all put together in a digital photo frame, thanks guys!!

The recruitment colleagues brought some typical great Dutch stuff like a CD called 'Ik hou van Hollands' with songs of Fransje Bauer and Wolter Kroes. Will miss you all and we keep in touch!

Farewell friends and family...

Last Saturday I had my farewell party to say goodbye to friends and family, it did not feel like saying goodbye, I think the reason was that I was super happy to see all my friends, family and friends of friends!!

We had a great time in the Amstelhaven, a funky DJ was playing a really nice mix, we had great fun and danced happy into the night.

Now I have to turn into a reader, because all the books I received as a present, most of them about or connected to NY. They will definitely be going with me, thanks!

I came by bike to the party, I left in a taxi and one week later I could find my bike still waiting for me in front of Amstelhotel, I think I'm going to take it with me to the US, although people warn me the New Yorkers are not really used to bikers in the streets...

Anyway, here are some more party pics...



Thank you all that came along to say goodbye, I remember this night for a long time and it will make me smile, while thinking about it!

Getting to know the Big Apple

In the last two months I have been twice to the Big Apple to get to know her better. To get to know my future colleagues I worked for one week as a member of the HR department (my day-to-day colleagues in a few months), gaining a first experience in american working culture. Compared to the Dutch environment a lot of things are weird, no, different.

Besides working, I got to know pieces of New York's Dutch expat world, all about housing and learned more about getting around in this amazing city...

My first impression:

• service level here is heaven compared to Amsterdam
• very convenient lifestyle
• apartments are small, prices are big
• everything is possible, as long as you pay (even a luggage cart at the airport is not for free)

The start - working and living in New York!

Sinds augustus dit jaar ben ik me aan het voorbereiden en verheugen op een nieuw avontuur in mijn leven: werken in New York City!
Een droom die ik had over werken in het buitenland wordt vanaf half november werkelijkheid, een avontuur waar ik met veel nieuwsgierigheid naar uit kijk.

En waarvan ik jullie graag op de hoogte houd via deze Blog.

Veel leesplezier!

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Since August 08 I'm preparing for and looking forward to a new adventure in my life: to live and work in NYC!
This dream about living abroad that I have had will turn into reality from mid November, I'm very curious to the adventure and the challenges that I will face

With this Blog I will keep you up to date and involved in my life in NYC.

Have fun!

JW - Wim.