Amsterdam to New Amsterdam

The reverse culture shock is pretty much over. I am still slightly jet lagged but jet lag is a lot easier to deal with when you have gained six hours than when you have lost six hours. I am full of energy in the mornings but tire as the day progresses. Other than that and resisting the urge to say, dank u well, everything has returned to normal.

Jami is looking for a new place to live because one of her roommates decided to move home on the eve of lease resigning day. Since Jami and her other roommate have jobs, I am in charge of screening apartments. You get two types of brokers when apartment hunting in Gotham: rental agencies and private owners. Private owners are usually reasonable people who own a building and want to rent it to you. New York apartment rental agencies were apparently schooled in Obamanomics and will go out of their way to make things as difficult as possible. First they take a DNA sample and biometric photo of you at the rental office. Then you sign away your soul in blood and only after all of this has been processed will they show you an apartment. It's ridiculous. At one place I tried explaining that the apartment was for my girlfriend so all this paperwork was meaningless. She insisted that she was not allowed to leave the building with me unless I agreed to give her my first born son, and a kidney, for testing purposes. Another place refused to even talk with me and only reluctantly agreed to allow a maintenance man to let me in for a look around the apartment. Despite these annoyances, it has been a good experience. I'm learning a little about the city, getting a chance to explore, and getting a little exercise.