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November 17, 2005

Settling in

I'm slowly making friends in Amsterdam. Today LorreDonne invited a few of us moms over. She is a beautiful Italian woman, instantly making me feel like Generic White Woman. My simple Seattle style seemed so boring in comparison.

I enjoy meeting new people but I realize if I were to live abroad I'd really need to speed up my friendship making skills. I remember Michelle M. referring to me as one of her best friends to one of her co-workers and I was surprised since we'd only been friends for 5 years. Most of my friends I'd know since kindergarten or at least 7th grade. Now I've known her for 11 years and can feel comfortable with the best friend label.

On another front, book club was great. I was concerned when I asked the host if I should bring a bottle of wine and she said, "this group isn't big wine drinkers." Uh oh, what was I getting into? My neighborhood book club places equal importance on wine and blended cocktails as the literature itself. So off I rode on my bike with a loaf of nut bread smashed on the back.

I needn't have worried. The wine flowed and the discussion was lively. We'd read Refer Madness by Eric Schlosser. The book covered three topics, pot, migrant workers and porn. No better place for a book discussion like this than Amsterdam. Two of us had read Schlosser's last book, Fast Food Nation and were expecting another book as full of life changing revelations but this book didn't do it. None of us found much reason to be surprised about any of the findings. In fact, I now question the strength of Schlosser's arguments that decriminalizing marijuana and pornography will reduce the underground market. My liberal brain was optimistic that by legalizing prostitution and tolerating marijuana Amsterdam would be one peaceful city. It is not and I think the Dutch aren't even sure what to do about it.

The book club ended on a thoughtful note when a woman who works for Doctors Without Borders suggested this book was ridiculous in its criticism of America. She said no matter how ridiculous America's laws may be, every aspect is a better quality of life than what the Doctors Without Borders sees in Africa.

Posted by jana at November 17, 2005 1:35 PM