My job yesterday wound up taking a lot longer than I expected, so that combined with a late start meant I never did get out in the afternoon. Frankly, I was overdue for a pyjama day! It was a similar thing today, where I just couldn’t stand the thought of facing the crowds downtown. I decided to focus on preparing the house for my hosts, enjoying final cuddles with my charges, and beginning the packing process.

I did go for a walk around my neighbourhood, between rain showers. I could definitely live here. You get a lot of the same conveniences as downtown, but without the crowds, similar to the neighbourhood I lived in in London. I can understand why my hosts chose this location when they had the opportunity to live in a canal house for a time.

Since I’m trying to set the kitchen to rights, I didn’t want to cook today and so I looked for a nice lunch in the area. After much Googling, I realised that I wanted Mexican-y flavours. I passed a burrito shop on my way to the Rembrandt House and regretted not trying it out. Ever the optimist, I did a search for Mexican food in my neighbourhood, certain that my only options were the two I knew about and which are very expensive. Well, to my delight, the restaurant near Rembrandtplein, Salsa Shop, has recently opened a restaurant a kilometre from my flat! So that was my lunch decision made.

Well, I ended up having the absolute best Tex-Mex of my life in Amsterdam of all places. My burrito was made fresh to order with rice, black beans, seasoned chicken, spicy sweet corn, “pico de gallo”, cheese, lettuce, and sour cream. I then had a pick of a wide range of salsas to suit all palates and I went with their second spiciest, smokey pineapple. I splurged and added some chunky guacamole with homemade tortilla chips and a fresh Mexican-style limonada. Add in all the Cholula hot sauce I could ever want and I was in paradise. It was actually quite cheap by Amsterdam standards since my meal cost €14 (20CAD) and I had enough leftovers for dinner!

It’s been an amazing stay in Amsterdam, but I’m ready to move on. There is no way I could keep up this pace for much longer and work is about to pick up anyway. I’ll be in Manchester two full days and only plan for one of those to be a touristy day. Then, on to Hebden Bridge on Sunday and then to my sit on Monday, where I’ll be for a solid month. Once again, I have to say that I am so inordinately grateful to have had a chance to truly live in Amsterdam for two whole weeks and to have gotten to know my way around part of it. I really hope to be back one day!