Amsterdamned

Here I sit in the same cafe where I drank Heiniken with Krysta Niedernhofer and Tina in 2001. They have a wireless network. 10 Euros for 2 hours. My flight leaves in 2 hours, so I need to hop back on the train, but I've already made a new friend - a homeless guy who speaks some English.

I was next to the Amstel river trying to get a satellite signal in my BGAN terminal (it wasn't working). So I called my communications guy Gino (more on him later) on my Irridium phone. It looks funny because it's a satellite phone. So I'm sitting there with my right hand on the keyboard and my left hand holding the phone, everyone is making comments in Dutch while they're walking by; I'm trying to hear what Gino has to say over the din, and this guy comes up to me and says, "Are you calling Osama Bin Laden?" I immediately notice the STRONG smell of alcohol on his breath. I lose the phone signl with Gino, which gives this guy the opportunity to tell me his whole life story, which is actually pretty interesting. He sleeps on the ferry boats along the river because they run all night. And he stays on them until the coppers kick him off. Then he goes and finds a new one. He's originally from Morocco, but he speaks French, Spanish, English, and some yiddish (on account of all the Moroccan Jews, he claims). He introduced himself as "Bill" (I shit you not) and as he was talking, he proceeded to open and consume a 26 ounce can of Amstel beer. He finished it in the space of our 10 minute conversation. Then Gino called back, so I had to let Bill go. The only unsavory characteristic about Bill was his strong tendency to spit a lot when he spoke. "Sorry, American friend," he said, "I am a little under the influence." I thought, how apropos, drinking Amstel next to the Amstel. The guy has some community pride. He wanted the rest of my unspent Euros. What was I going to do with them? Go get 'em Bill. Had I not been so preoccupied with getting my BGAN working, I would haved gotten a photo of him. I guess I'll be thinking more next time.

I need to shake it up to the airport. Hopefully I can get my BGAN working in Damascus in about seven hours from now. Gino told me the satellite was down when I was trying to link up earlier. I'm glad I found the wireless network.

Written and posted at 5:38 p.m. Amsterdam time, 10:38 a.m. CST.