Where in the world is.....

So. I've been "in country" for two weeks now, and it's time for an update. Things are busy busy at the moment - getting the new show ready to open on Friday. Hopefully life will slow down a little after that, but I hear that September is a busy month for corporate shows, so it seems unlikely. It's a little hard to complain about being too busy, though, as I sit in a comfy cafe sipping coffee and blogging. (For those who know Amsterdam, I'm at Gary's Deli. Back in my first time here, it was called Gary's Muffins, had multiple locations and was one of my favorite hang-outs. Now there's just one location, but it's close to my apartment and is fast becoming a favorite again.)








To recap: After arriving, I dove right into rehearsals. Rehearsals are going very well - I've felt productive every day this week. The cast is great, and the show is going to be very funny. There are still one or two scenes that are frustrating us, but we've got time to figure it out.






The tech side of my job is on the back burner at the moment, but I've been watching closely and talking with the other techs, and I feel like I'm only a put-in away from being ready to go. The set-up is complicated, with heavy use of video projection and cameras, but I'm pretty sure I have enough of a handle on it to run a show, if not a full understanding of everything it's capable of.







In my sparse free time, I did get in a trip to the magical Efteling theme park (but was too busy enjoying myself to take many pictures).




Also, this past Tuesday, my roommate Hans and I had a party at our apartment.








The apartment is great, by the way - very spacious and pleasant, with a nice balcony. But yes, Mom, the stairs are really steep!










Things are under way with my visa, and I should have a local bank account by the end of the month. One of my credit cards refused to service me while I was out of the country, so I had to cancel it, but the other one didn't seem to have a problem. And I've left my bank account open in the States as well. Paypal says I have to open a Netherlands account and then send money to my own US account, but that seems easy enough. iTunes won't let me switch to a Netherlands account until I have a Netherlands bank account, and won't let me buy anything until I switch so we'll see how that change over goes soon (although no problem with playing items I had already purchased).

I'm typing this on my new MacBook Pro, which I've been adjusting to fairly easily. There are things I like and things I don't like, but that's always true of switching to a new operating system. (I saw Wall-E last night and was amused by the obvious parallels of Wall-E to a PC and EVE to an Apple product, but I was surprised by their insistence on showing the good points of each kind of product. It's quite a good movie, if you haven't seen it.)

In brief, things are going well. It still doesn't quite feel real, but I'm slowly settling in. Hope all is well in America. Drop me a line if you get a chance!