Expat life in Philly

Goodbye, Philadelphia!

2009-02-03T16:07:00.003-05:00

After living in the States for 13 months, I had to say goodbye to Philadelphia last week.

In the past 13 months, I've seen a lot of the United States: Out of the 50 States, I've visited 24, and the District of Columbia. I've experienced a historical presidential race, while the economy fell hard. I've gotten some great work experience as a Business Analyst; I've been running, playing soccer, bicycling, doing fitness, canoeing, shooting, skiing, snowmobiling, and lots, lots of driving. I've visited 14 sport events, and became a huge fan of the Philadelphia Eagles! I've celebrated Independence Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas on 'the American way', and Sinterklaas the Dutch way ;)

I've been on the beach in January, only two weeks after I walked through the snow at -20; I learned how to play Beer pong, I got to know Philly as an amazing city, and I've seen how an online bank keeps its customers' faith in thought times.

However, every good thing comes to an end. Where I had a Honda Accord, I know ride a bicycle; where I had a penthouse apartment with concierge, I am now apartment-shopping in Amsterdam (always fun...); and the clear sky and hot summer have been traded in for grey and rainy weather. I'm looking forward to continue my career with ING in Amsterdam in April; thanks for all the e-mails I got from everyone!!

Daniel van der Veen

Here are some final Philly-pictures:

The Sunshine State

2009-01-22T10:40:00.002-05:00

After visiting the Smokeys and Atlanta, the road trip went on towards Florida.

The first stop in Florida was Tampa, a huge city in which it took us about 30 minutes to drive to a restaurant or bar. Unfortunately, it was very cold here – about 45 degrees – which basically means that everything stands still; no beach bars, empty clubs, and we could forget our day on the beach. After visiting a centre where bobcats and tigers are being taken care of, we drove on towards the South.

Before hitting Miami, we stopped in the Everglades for an airboat tour. They use the airboats because the water isn’t very deep, and these things basically fly over the water. We saw some alligators and pelicans, and the ‘captain’ was able to pull some nice stunts with the boat!

After this outdoor experience, we drove on towards ‘The city where the heat is on’: Miami! Finally, we hit tropical temperatures- it was in the 70s this weekend. So Saturday, we stayed on the beach all day! Our hotel was only one block away from the beach, which was very nice in this weather!!

It was fun to see the neon lights like we were in Miami Vice. We also visited the area Little Havana – a Cuban area within this city. Hearing Spanish on all the streets was fun in general; just like the palm trees, ferrari’s, beaches, clubs… But, everything has to come to an end :( So we’re in the car now, after making a stop next to the Kennedy Space Center, on our way back to Philly where it’s supposed to snow. Brrrrrr!!

Road trip... To the hot, sunny, Southern US!

2009-01-14T23:49:00.002-05:00

After my last days with ING Direct – the year really flew by! – I will finish my time in America with a trip to the Sunshine state: Florida, by driving there straight through the South.

Last Friday, my friend Paul arrived in Philly. After a weekend filled with sports (visiting the Flyers on Saturday evening, and watching the Eagles game in the Irish pub on Sunday afternoon) we started driving Sunday evening. After a hotel break in Virginia, we arrived in the Smokey Mountains Monday afternoon. This was a beautiful sight – the clouds in the mountains indeed makes it look like it’s ‘smoking’, and the snow on top of the trees in the highest area was beautiful! Unfortunately, many roads were closed in winter time because of icy conditions, so we drove off to our next destination.

We arrived in Atlanta GA in the evening. As a ‘Southern city with Northern influences’, the city has both the original old-Southern style houses, as well as a nice skyline. It was over 50 degrees in ‘Hotlanta’, which is known for two things: the CNN headquarters, and the Coca-Cola center. At CNN, we got a tour behind-the-scenes to see where the actual recording of their shows take place. Coca-Cola (which was found in Atlanta in the 19th century) created a huge museum in Atlanta, where you can see historical commercials, advertisement signs, and soda machines, as well as a 4D-theatre (where you not only see a 3D movie; it also lets you feel the wind and rain) and you get the opportunity to taste many different Coca-Cola products from around the world.

Atlanta was definitely fun for a day! However, not warm enough yet. So we’re in Florida now, to enjoy the sun for another week. To be continued!!

Road trip towards the cold

2009-01-05T22:38:00.006-05:00

After my first American christmas, with a lot of food, many presents (even for the dogs) and a christmas party where the decorations in the front yard led to a traffic jam, I made a trip to the most Northern states on the East Coast: Maine and New Hampshire.

We left Philly Tuesday evening with a rented SUV (not because of the low gas prices, we just wanted to survive in the snow.. and gas prices were low anyway :) ), and stayed in Hartford, CT. On Wednesday we left early, but caught a lot of traffic because of the snow! Around 6 pm we took a ferry in picturesque Portland, ME, towards Peaks Island. Since Maine is known for lobsters, ordering one in the hotel restaurant for the heavy price of $15 was the first thing we did! After this meal, we went to a local bar, where new years eve was celebrated with live music.

The next days gave us a chance to get to know the island, the small city of Portland and its area. On Friday we drove to the White Mountains in New Hampshire for some outdoor activities. We tried to ski, but it was very icy; the temperature of -17 didn't make it very pleasant either, so skiing wasn't the best! A trip through Kancamagus Highway was much better: this road has stunning views over the White Mountains. Sunday, we finished the weekend with snowmobiling, which was awesome! Here are the pictures:

Christmas in NY

2008-12-22T18:52:00.003-05:00

Last weekend I visited New York for the christmas season: beautiful store decorations, snow in Central Park, and the 72-feet high Christmas Tree next to the Rockefeller Center. While we were there, we also saw the Top-of-the-Rock: the roofdeck of the Rockefeller Center. While it's not as high as the Empire State Building, it does have a beautiful view over Central Park!

I also ran into a Dutch Eatery, named DankU (Thank you). They sold poffertjes (small pancakes) and kroketten (a fried roll filled with minced meat / mashed potatoes - very fat and very delicious). In case anyone is going to NY soon: it's on 57th Street, next to 6th Avenue!

After all the shopping and Starbucking (it was 18 degrees) the Eagles played Sunday at 4.15 pm. Being addicted to American Football already, I had to see the game! Unfortunately, the New York Jets played at the same time, which made it hard to find a bar to go to where they'd show the Eagles... A search on Google however, told me that Tony Lukes (a -locally- famous Cheesesteak restaurant owner) owns a bar in Manhattan, which is always filled with Eagles fans! That was indeed the case: the bar was all green, and the Cheesesteaks were delicious! Too bad the Eagles lost against the Redskins. Here are some pictures from NY:

Weekend in the Pocono's

2008-12-08T23:05:00.002-05:00

Last week, I´ve spend a long weekend in the Pocono´s, a mountainous are in PA. After a two hour drive from Philly, we arrived in the most cosi house in the US: with four bedrooms and three entertainment-rooms, there actually wasn't any reason to leave the house! I spent the weekend with a group of people from Philly & the suburbs. A pool-table, air-hockey and about seven tv's made it even more comfy.

But the fun part was the environment: the city was traded in for 'pure nature'. It snowed right before we arrived, deer walked by our house, and the house was next to a nice (but frozen) lake. Next to walking and driving around, pooling, air-hockey'ing and chilling, not much happened! But we did make some pictures:

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T23:49:00.002-05:00

Last Thursday, Novermber 27, was Thanksgiving day in the US: the day on which everyone gets all their family together to eat as much (turkey) as possible. Because it was my first thanksgiving, I tried to get the most out of it!

My co-worker Blair invited me to his house for a dinner, that started around noon in his house in the suburbian area of Newark, DE. His son 'Little John' celebrated his first birthday! With a gefeliciteerd (congratulations) decoration, I tried to give him an international experience at a young age. After we filled the 6 feet table with all the turkey & other food, there was barely space left for the plates! We managed everything and enjoyed a great meal while watching the Macy's parade and Football games on his 50' TV.

The next meal was scheduled in Philly's southern suburbs at 4pm. Again turkey, this time combined with potatoes, carrots and mais. After too much (but very good) food ând some great conversations on the differences between the holidays in the Netherlands versus the US (for example, try to explain the Sinterklaas story in the US...), we left to go back into the city for the Eagles game!

By now, I am completely addicted to all the sports in the US. Therefore I wanted to go to another Eagles game this year! Since they haven't been playing very well the last few games, the tickets dropped in price, which was a great opportunity to see them on Thursday. And although it got kinda cold, it was definitely worth it: they beat the Arizona Cardinals with 48-20!! After 6 touchdowns, the stadium was going comletely crazy.

Summarized: a long, gezellig, and entertaining Thanksgiving day which I won't forget! Thank you Blair, and Carrie's parents for having me over! Here are some pictures of the day:

I'm dreaming of a white... Thanksgiving?

2008-11-22T23:04:00.003-05:00

This is how the weather turns around on the East Coast: two months ago, during the ING Direct Cycle4Savings ride, it was 80 to 90 degrees daily, perfect temperature! Last month the fall started (see below), however I was usually able to leave my jacket at home, which I hadn't used since May anyway. But last week, it started snowing! With Thanksgiving ahead, it's a cold start of the party-season.

Many cities in the US are built with a simple mind: all the streets are straight, and run from East to West or from North to South. Every 300 feet there's an intersection, and all the space in between these intersections is a block. Not difficult if you're in a new city and you're looking for something; there's only four ways to go... However, there's a huge disadvantage in the winter: the wind blows full-speed through these streets, and makes the temperature feel like it's at least 10 degrees colder than it actually is!

It gave a nice view though, from the ING Direct office in Wilmington, Delaware:

Fall pictures

2008-11-17T20:09:00.000-05:00

Fall in North-East US is a beautiful thing, for about two weeks at least, when leafs start changing colors. All the colors of the rainbow can be seen together; especially when the sun shines, it gives outstanding views! Unfortunately, it rained a lot this fall, so the leafs fell (too) soon… :(

Here’s a selection of pictures I took around Philadelphia and Wilmington:

76ers

2008-11-13T22:16:00.003-05:00

Hockey, Baseball and American Football. What's missing? Basketball! This sport is relatively small in Philadelphia, because their NBA team ‘76ers’ are not performing very well. Moreover, the games are hard to see from the nosebleed section (inexpensive seats, but you are so high up that your nose will start bleeding). Therefore most fans watch the games on TV.

However, thinking about the fact that my time in the US will be over in only three months, I realized that a basketball is definitely another must-see. A co-worker hooked me up with cheap tickets, in a section where my nose didn’t start bleeding :)

The 76ers (last in the Atlantic Eastern League) played the Utah Jazz (first place in the Northwest Western Conference). It was a very good game, unfortunately the 76ers ended up losing with 93-80.

Although it was not as busy as the average Flyers or Eagles game, it was filled with entertainment: hip-hop music, short games during time-outs (like kids dunking via a trampoline) and of course the cheerleaders were there. Another important tradition in the US occurs right before every game: the national anthem. Here’s the video (of the anthem) and some pictures of the game:

Presidential Elections

2008-11-06T22:54:00.003-05:00

Many people asked me how I experience the Presidential Elections, being an 'outsider in the middle of it'. Well, a short summary: it was like a popularity contest, focusing on public performances more than on the way this country should be led in the future. However, it was a unique experience to see the amount of media attention, and attend activities in the city (such as Bruce Springsteens performance, or Hillary's speech earlier this year).

One of the other things I noticed, is the media's influence on the elections. Comparing the conservative foxnews.com with the democratic msnbc news, both suggesting they have breaking news, you'll see many differences in the news topics and the way the news is brought to viewers. Fox news (the biggest channel in the US) allways tries to warn people for terrorists, criminals, socialists, illegal immigrants, and government supported health care like in extremely liberal Europe. Moreover, Barack HUSSEIN Obama is young and unexperienced, his friends are terrorists, he used to be a muslim, doesn't show patriotism, and wants to spread the wealth by giving your hard-earned money to someone that doesn't work as hard as you do. Here is an example of the propaganda, one day after Obama's victory:

On the other side, according to MSNBS News, the republicans want to have a war in as many countries as possible, give tax cuts to all the rich people, and try to find oil (no matter what the damage to the planet is) so that the economy can keep rolling. In other words: a vote for McCain only creates more problems.

The channels themselve deny any influence in terms of propaganda or preferred political party. But a quick search on Youtube (for example, searching for keywords "Obama Fox") shows another perspective. Obama told a reporter that if he would only be watching Fox News, he would not even vote for himself!

Anyhow, for him, it's party time now:

Phinally

2008-11-01T23:12:00.003-04:00

Last Wednesday, de Phillies won the World Championship Series of baseball for the second time in their history. After 162 games and three best-of-seven playoff series, they were finally able to finish it, which means that the city phinally got rid of the Curse of Billy Penn!

After the city of Philadelphia waited 28 years for this, there was a huge desire to celebrate! After they won the final inning, there was a picture of people partying on Broad Street on TV; this made most people in the bar decide to go there too. The result: Broad Street was packed! It was great to stand in between all the partying people - no matter who they were, they all partied together and high-fived each other. Yeah, I waited 28 years for this to happen too, buddy!

On Friday, the Phillies arranged a parade through center city. Unfortunately, I had to work, but here are some pictures of the activities!

Orange Days of Giving

2008-10-30T18:26:00.003-04:00

Every August, ING Direct US organizes the annual Orange Days of Giving. On this day, almost all the workers from one location (East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest) do something different: instead of working at the bank, we were building houses, painting schools, and fixing a school's playground (for example, by painting a map of the United States on the ground). We finished this day of hard work with a nice party on Wilmington's riverfront. Work hard, play hard! Pictures of this day are at the bottom of this message.

You might be wondering: how does ING Direct US do this, with the current market situation where many banks don't even survive? Thanks to wise decisions in the past: our mortgages were never sold to investors, like many mortgage lenders did. Because we lended out our 'own' money, and because we want to help the financial situation of Americans by encouraging them to save more money, a conservative approach was used while originating mortgages. This means that customers need to find a house that fits their needs, yet is appropriate to their financial situation. If they do this, we will offer them a very competitive interest rate. This standpoint in the current market, combined with genius marketing and a customer friendly approach, made ING Direct US a strong survivor of the current crisis. Below is a video of our CEO, Arkadi Kuhlmann, where he explains why this strategy is chosen. His book is very good by the way! Moreover, here is a news article about ING Direct US!.

Howdy y´all !

2008-10-20T21:22:00.003-04:00

Last week I visited the second largest state of the US: Texas. This state is bigger than France, but also less populated - 24 million residents in Texas, versus 64 million in France. My uncle & aunt live half an hour south of Dallas, where I entered a completely different world: instead of large cities, a lot of traffic and working, I was chilling in between dogs, horses and turkeys. The fact that it´s another world became clear the very first minute, when a little snake blew into their pool!

After two days of relaxing, enjoying the 80-degree weather, and driving around in enourmous pick-up trucks, me and my aunt&uncle drove to Texas' capital Austin on Monday. Dallas - Austin is a three-hour drive, and Austin is the liberal centre in conservative Texas. During the day, we visited the State Capitol and the Texas State History Museum (about the history of this once independent state, and about the time where it was part of Mexico - ironic because of all the current issues with Mexicans in the South!). At nighttime however, it became clear what this city is all about: it´s the ‘live music capital’ of the US – Sixth street is a street filled with live music bars, and even on a Monday night there´s live music everywhere!

On Tuesday we visited the largest urban bat-location in the world: about 1.5 million bats spend their summer underneath a bridge in Austin! 18 inch holes make this the perfect location for them. Unfortunately, these flying rats had already taken off to Mexico to look for more heat. After visiting Mount Bonnell (spectacular views) and the Oasis (a restaurant near a lake, that fits 1.800 people - yes, everything is bigger in Texas!), we drove back to the ranch near Dallas.

Texas wouldn´t be Texas, if residents didn´t walk around with their ´protection´. The residents love the second amendment, and nearly everyone carries a gun with them. While I don´t completely agree with this reasoning, it is a lot of fun to legally shoot outside-doors (don´t worry - only on cans!). My cousin showed me his 9mm glock and sniper rifle, and after we found some empty cans and bought ammo (for sale in many regular grocery stores), we shot on a piece of wood and some empty cans. Another American experience for me!

On Wednesday morning, it started raining - something unique for hot Texas, so it was time to get back to the East Coast. Here are some pictures from the Lonely Star State.

Bruce Springsteen in Philly

2008-10-11T00:22:00.004-04:00

Last Saturday, I joined about 100.000 people in Philadelphia for Bruce Springsteen's open-air concert on a crowded Benjamin Franklin Parkway. This concert, organized within one week, had the intention to show support for Obama and encourage people to register to vote in PA. Here's a video and some pictures (this time, I didn't take them myself!)

American Football

2008-10-07T23:34:00.003-04:00

September and October are the best months for many Americans: the Baseball season ends (and finally gets a little exciting, after 162 games), while American Football and Hockey start. In a city like Philadelphia (known for its passionate sport fans), you just can´t ignore it: on one day everyone in the city wears red-white shirts to support the Phillies, the next day they´ll wear orange and black for the Flyers, and if the Eagles play, the city totally turns green.

Last Sunday I got the opportunity to visit an Eagles game. By now, I´ve been pulled into sports completely, so I was more than happy to go!!

The fun starts a few hours before the game, when people start Tailgating: fans park their SUVs on a huge parking lot, open their trunk, get a barbeque and the fun begins. Many of them don´t even have a ticket - they´ll just hang out and listen to the radio!

Once you walk into the stadium you´ll be completely overwhelmed - 70.000 people are cheering for the team. After the anthem the players walk onto the field, supported by cheerleaders and loud firework. Our seats were in between many die-hard fans, who listened to the radio during the game and created some great entertainment in the breaks!

A few weeks ago, I visited a sport that is not that popular - but it was fun to see (again, thanks to tailgating): Polo! Although I didn´t have high expectations, it was a lot of fun... Especially to see how horses are being transported (see the last picture!) :)

Cycle 4 Savings!

2008-09-21T22:01:00.007-04:00

When the following e-mail came in, I didn't have to think very long about my answer: 'Who wants to help ING Direct US in September by encouraging people to save their money, by performing random saving acts while we´re biking down to Washington DC in three days in orange jersey´s?' Being Dutch, born on a bicycle, they didn't have to ask me twice!

After a few training rides in Delaware in the previous weeks, we started this ride last Wednesday. 40 associates from different locations came together to leave on ING Direct-labeled bicycles. After a great kick-off event with a protein-rich breakfast in Wilmington, the ride to Perryville, MD started. 42 miles with many hills later we arrived in this small town, where we encouraged locals to save their money by picking up their restaurant bill (so that they could put that money in an Orange Savings Account)!

The next morning was early, but that was necessary since we had to bike 57 miles (of which many miles uphill) to Baltimore. It was a long ride, but thanks to a truck full of energy bars and sport drinks (it's still America) we made it. In downtown Baltimore, we encouraged local commuters that used their bicycle by giving them money for their Orange Savings Account. Save your money, ride a bike to work!

On Friday, we had to finish by biking another 50 miles to DC, but thankfully not as hilly as the first two days. However, we got lost in the industrial area of Baltimore (even though two following cars had GPS) which made us race to a meeting point, 10 miles before DC. At this location, the COO of ING Direct US and the mayor of Washington joined us to finish this event! After arriving at City Hall, a press conference was given and the bikes were donated to the city's school system.

We finished this event with a nice dinner and some beers in DC, and a few hours of sleep later we left with the bus back to Wilmington. It was great to be a part of this event!

Here are the pictures:

This guy with the orange cap is DC's mayor!

The magnificent view...

2008-09-16T23:14:00.005-04:00

During my last visit in New York I finally got a chance to 'climb' the Empire State Building. And it's definitely worth a visit!! At night, the highest point in this huge city gives you breathtaking views on all corners; here are some pictures (click on them for a larger size):

East Coast road trip

2008-09-10T23:19:00.002-04:00

Last week my brother visited me from the Netherlands. We made a road trip on the East Coast: after 2 days of Philly, we visited Atlantic City (hanging on the beach & in casino's), spent 3 days in NYC (still amazing) and went to Cape Cod, Boston and Cambridge.

Cape Cod is a special area. Its shape on the map led to the nickname bicep of America. It is a lot different compared to other parts of the US: houses are colorful, there are not as many fast food places but there are a lot of fish restaurants, ice-cream shops, and lighthouses. We did a whale watching tour in Hyannis: a tour of four hours on the Atlantic. After about an hour, we found a group of whales: huge!! The baby whales are really nice, they stay on the water surface and are curious about the boat, so they keep playing around it. On the way back we ran into a large group of dolphins that kept swimming in the waves of the boat!

The next day, we travelled along to Boston. This city has a lot of old area's and has the Freedom Trail, a 2.5-mile walk through the city which leads to many historic sights. It ends at the Bunker Hill monument, where you can walk up the stairs (296 steps) to get a nice view over the city!

On Sunday we went to Harvard University in Cambridge. It was nice to see this campus, after reading the Harvard Business Review many times while I was in college. The student live looked pretty nice, with many terrasses and squares which is (unfortunately) unique for cities in the US...

Here is a video of the Whale Watching tour & pics of the trip!

Sharon, PA

2008-08-29T23:26:00.000-04:00

Last week, I took a trip to Sharon (PA) for training. This city in North-West PA (a 6-hour drive from Philadelphia) is a real authentic old-American town that never left the ´70s: a huge difference compared to the East Coast metropolitan cities. Although I wasn’t sure what to expect from this area in the middle of nowhere, I had some interesting new experiences in this local community!

After crossing Amish Country in PA, we arrived in Sharon on Sunday evening. No decent restaurant in Sharon was open, except for the McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and the Applebee´s. On Monday, we noticed the difference with the real world: houses with 41 acres for $ 150.000, and many stores were ‘the largest in the US’ (the largest shoe store, the largest candy store… yeah right).

After our daily training session we had dinner in the Hickory Bar & Grill, a local restaurant with a lot of meat dishes but the only vegetables were salads. (Later that week, I found out that vegetables were not invited yet in this area.) After dinner we arrived in a local bar, with a few bar chairs and three tables, and one-dollar drafts. And it is still (somehow) allowed to smoke in there.

Tuesday was the best day of the week. After training we went to ‘Quaker Steak & Loop’ (nickname: Best Wings USA). Why Tuesday? Because they have ´all you can eat chicken wings’ from a buffet! The menu of chicken wings contains 19 different types with varying heat levels. The SHU values (Scoville Heat Unit, which stands for the units of water that it takes to lose all the heat traces) were on the menu. The most extreme wing is the Atomic, but before you eat it you have to sign a release form! The side dish is fried onion rings, served on a car antenna. I had enough after a few Buffalo wings and many BBQ Honey wings (yes, they were good). And, I added a nice t-shirt to my collection; see the picture below (especially the back)!

Via ‘depression road’, a road filled with closed factories where no one ever comes, the trip continued towards ´The Last Lap´. This bar was, like almost everything in Sharon, all about Nascar Races (even though the closest race track is hours away). As soon as the 11 of us walked into this bar we heard someone say ‘that happens once every few years!’ (a few strangers walking in). My colleague Mark was playing 60´s and 70´s hits on the Jukebox, which made it easy to make friends in this awesome bar. Unique detail: the liquor bottles contained the prices of a drink, making it easy for the bartender to remember.

Wednesday, we visited a nice Italian place (although I still prefer genuine Italian sauce) and Thursday was definitely time to go home…

The great American outdoors

2008-08-24T11:12:00.002-04:00

I enjoyed the great American outdoors the last few weeks. Since I love the summertime, and there are plenty of hills around Philly, it was time to check out the nature side of the East Coast!

I made a few bike tours in <Fairmount Park, a gigantic park just outside of Philadelphia´s center city. Here, you will see the Boathouse Row (with nice lights - like christmas, but they have it on every night), jogging- and biking paths, many monuments, and Wissahickon Creek (or Forbidden Drive): a great mountainbike path next to the river.

Moreover, I did a kayak tour on the Brandywine River, at the Pennsylvania - Delaware border, in a bright orange kayak. Pictures are below!

King of Prussia Mall

2008-08-10T10:59:00.002-04:00

One of the most popular things to do in the US in your free time, is going to a shopping mall. The King of Prussia mall, the largest shopping center on the East Coast, is only a 20 minute drive from Philadelphia's center city. Last Saturday I took a trip down there to see why everyone is so impressed by this mall!

You park your car on a huge parking lot, where you get a cold feeling - all you see is a lot of asphalt and an enourmous ugly brick building. However, take a step into this building, and you'll notice a big difference!

With more than 400 stores, 13.000 parking spots, a theater with 16 cinema´s (including IMAX), two Starbucks, and a tennisstadium, this complex is huge - even for America! When you enter the building, the first thing you get is a map of the complex, and there is a guy in a suit telling you where you can spend your money. Big stores from Macy's, Bloomingdale's and JC Penny's are there, as well as smaller stores like Armani and Hugo Boss. Non-clothing stores are also available: FYE, Sunglass Hut, Radioshack, Borders, Bodyshop... Anything you need. After you've been walking around there for a while you understand why many people in the US max out their credit cards.

After a few hours of shopping, you'll get hungry. It would not be America if someone didn't think of that: three big foud courts host dozens of restaurants, many of which are fast food chains. This was my opportunity to check out the Cheesecake factory: a nice meal combined with a superior cheesecake dessert! The Dutchies should be jealous of this concept!!

Before I knew it, I was shopping for many hours... Time to drive home (with a Starbucks Frappucinno)!

Extremes

2008-08-02T13:51:00.002-04:00

The US is a country of extremes. Everything is big, much, and far. The climate in this country definitely fits in this description: six months ago, I could not stay outside for more than 5 minutes because of the cold. However, between May and September, it is so hot that you go from airco to airco... Moreover, it can change any minute to extreme thunderstorms with a lot of rain, flooding basements and roads.

Other parts of America are even more extreme. In the South-East, you will allways be affraid of the tornado season. The north has a combination of low temperatures and wind which makes it impossible to even walk outside. And the South-West is a major earthquake target.

I took this picture from my apartment last week:

Amstel Light

2008-07-25T22:16:00.005-04:00

Although I have more than 200 channels on my TV (compared to 30 in the Netherlands, of which 8 were sort of interesting), I do not really watch it a lot. The long commercial breaks are getting annoying and living in the city (with amazing weather) is way too exciting for that! However, when I'm cooking or cleaning my apartment, I usually have a sportsgame on in the background. And the following commercial always shows up, which makes me feel really proud!

By the way - try to order an Amstel ´Light´ in Amsterdam, and people will laugh at you. What´s up with all the light beers? Give me a regular Heineken please!

Some random news

2008-07-22T23:36:00.003-04:00

- Last Friday (July 18) was the premiere of the new Batman movie: The Dark Night. In the US, this comes along with a hype around the country: many places showed the movie several times during the night between Thursday and Friday. I got the chance to see this movie last Saturday, on an iMax screen in Tropicana in Atlantic City (after a hot, but nice day at the beach). The movie is amazing! And I left the casino with an extra $100. Welcome to the good life!

- I bought a bike! I use this (very non-American) to bike in the city:

Bikes are used for entertainment, they are used in mountains and parks. Biking in the city is pretty hard because there are only a few bike paths and many drivers don't really look out for bikes...

- During the third heat wave of the year, the ING DIRECT soccer team are in the playoffs this week. Tonight, we won the first playoff game! The next game is this Thursday already.

The next picture of Philadelphia was made by my friend Chris, who came to visit me in June. It was taken from the airplane. Click on the picture for a larger version!