1. We needed something from Deutsche Bahn so we called. Just like most other German firms they also have a service number. It is one of the weirdest concepts on the planet: you call a service line, it costs you much more than a regular phone call, and they put you on hold forever!!

2. So we went to the station. It is still shocking to me that some of the tellers answer a firm “nein” when you ask to speak English to them. I mean, these people work in a place where the traffic is half foreign. They also say “nein” in a way that make me doubt their answer. They are not apologetic or shy about their broken English. They just don’t want to be bothered.

Of course, the workers at the Bahn are much better than the reps at the T-Com store. I don’t know if you noticed it, but now they have pins with flags of different countries attached to their shirts, each flag represents the language the worker can communicate with the customer. I really need some assistance here: why would anyone wear flags across their chest, if they don’t speak these languages.

3. Once on the train, the non-German rider can be exposed to a very peculiar routine. Every time the train is approaching a station, the conductor speaks for 10 minutes in German, then he or she turn to English and announce: “soon we will arrive to Hanover”.

4. Finally we arrived to Amsterdam, to a birthday of a friend that worth all of this hustle-gay friend with deep knowledge of soccer (lick your wounds, Michael Ballack). Amsterdam is a crazy city: one half is pacing the streets and shops like there is no tomorrow, the other just chill in coffee houses, the traffic is impossible, and you need to take a loan to park your car there for more than an hour.

I love Amsterdam. I love its tolerance. I love how the canals are part of your life, I love how people keep their street-level windows open, like there is nothing to hide. I love how flat it is–it will take a dog three days to get lost, I love how compact it is, so compact that foreigners can’t just live in their neighborhoods but must participate in the daily life. My awe of Amsterdam is the main reason why the last election’s results shocked me so much.

5. And still, no one cares when you drive your car from Germany to Holland. I can’t say the same about the road back.