Back in the Zadel

After a year of working on the sidelines, I am now partially employed in my chosen profession. I have been teaching ballet to little girls since March, but now I am finally back on stage. It is only a part-time job and 6,000 miles from home, but it's a lot better than nothing.

Before I went to Barcelona, I considered that they might offer me a more permanent job. It was certainly never guaranteed, but stranger things have happened. Instead, I was asked by a visiting choreographer to audition for a company he worked with in Amsterdam. I went to Amsterdam on vacation a few years ago. It is a great city, but nowhere near Barcelona. Fortunately, KLM has several flights every day. Unfortunately, I would have to pay for it. Once you have the job, plane tickets flow like wine, usually in business class. Before you get the job, no one wants to pay for anything.

Having already flown from Hong Kong to Doha, Doha to Barcelona, Barcelona to Porto and Porto to Barcelona, a quick flight to Amsterdam was practically routine. One of the great things about Europe, at least the EU parts, is that it is easy to fly or take a train from here to there. The bad news for people who like to collect stamps in their passport is that none of the airports ever stamp anything. They put an exit stamp when I flew out of Barcelona back to Doha, since I was leaving the EU, but there are no entrance stamps anywhere. I went to five different airports and took eight flights on this trip and my passport was only stamped once.

The detour in Amsterdam meant that I would lose two free days in Barcelona. Instead of seeing the sights, I went to another country. It was far from a waste of time. The choreographer told me who to talk to. I would love to say that I gave a spectacular audition because of my natural talent and grace. The truth is, I had been working practically every day for almost two months just before the audition. When you dance with people who are better than you are, it only makes you better. Had I auditioned straight from my dormant year in Hong Kong, the outcome might have been less exciting.

Much like I did with Tel Aviv, I will be commuting back and forth between Hong Kong and Amsterdam. I will never be in Holland long enough to have any kind of residency status, just like Israel, but that usually means lower taxes. I will have to look into EU tax laws. Israel was surprisingly accommodating to foreign workers. Americans love to complain about taxes, even though we pay less than most of the world, but I am already paying in two different countries. Holland will be number three, so the less they gouge me, the better.

One of the biggest differences between Amsterdam and Tel Aviv will be the living arrangements. In Tel Aviv, they put me up at the Melody Hotel, across the street from Independence Park, which is a short cliff away from the beach and Mediterranean Sea. This was a charming little boutique hotel with bicycles that I rode to work and the best hotel breakfast I have ever had anywhere in the world. I'm sure there are plenty of nice hotels in Tel Aviv, but this one will always be my first choice whenever I go back.

In Amsterdam, I am on my own. No one is putting me up in any hotels. Fortunately, there are other dancers in the same position. Finding a house to share was pretty easy. I was in Amsterdam for two days and I found a place before I left, excluding a few phone calls and emails. It is almost like a time share. When I'm there, everyone else will be somewhere else. I currently have one roommate, and will eventually have two, but I will almost always live there alone. I will probably treat it more like a hotel than a house, except there is no front desk, housekeeping, swimming pool or gym. But there is a full kitchen with everything I would ever need. It is a full-size house, but I am renting a bedroom and sharing a few common rooms. I look at it as an apartment. As an apartment, it is more than big enough for me, but it is enormous for a hotel room. Three people could easily live there at the same time.

One thing Amsterdam has in common with Tel Aviv is the bike culture. Both cities are easy to ride in, and Amsterdam takes bike riding to another level. Riding a bike to work in Tel Aviv was easy. The bike was owned by the hotel, it is a mostly flat city and it was only a two mile ride. Amsterdam is also flat, but there are no free bikes. When I started to seriously think about working in Amsterdam, I looked up bike rentals. It turns out there are a million places I can get one at a reasonable price. But then I found the house. It is less than a mile to the theater and even closer to the rehearsal space. If I don't feel like walking less than 20 minutes, there is a tram a block from the apartment that goes straight to the theater. I like the idea of riding a bike to work, but it is so close, I don't need to in Amsterdam.

I have been to Amsterdam, twice now, but I know nothing about living there. Americans can easily visit without a visa, but anyone who works there has to endure government bureaucracy. I figure the Netherlands cannot possibly have more paperwork than Israel or, the emperor of bureaucracy, China. If I can successfully navigate China's labyrinth, any other country should be easy.

The hardest part about working in another country is usually finding a place to live. It only took a few weeks to find my first apartment in Hong Kong, but we searched for three or four months to find the one we are in now. I'm told that it is pretty hard to find a place in Amsterdam. Obviously, I got lucky. My accidental timing must have been perfect. It also helps that I will not be living there full time. Roommates are easy when you are all in the apartment at different times.

I don't speak a word of Dutch. Some of it looks pretty easy. Yes is ja and no is nee. Some of it might be more challenging. Liability insurance is aansprakelijkheidsverzekering. Then again, I don't know much Hebrew either, and I was fine in Tel Aviv. And almost everyone in Amsterdam speaks English. If I were living there full time, I'm sure I would learn a lot. Since I will only be there in short spurts, and mostly working, I am worried that I will not learn anything. I worked in Israel for a year, but I know precious few words and phrases and can't read any of it. At least Dutch uses a recognizable alphabet.

I miss going to Tel Aviv. The people were as friendly as can be and I ate some of the best food in the world. Amsterdammers seem pretty friendly, but it is too soon to tell. You don't really know what people are like when you go there on vacation. You have to deal with and/or cause local problems.

Amsterdonians? Those Dam people? Yet another thing to figure out.