Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. It’s been over two weeks since I left Vancouver to move to Amsterdam. All the nervousness and apprehension that I was feeling before the move has faded away. I settled in very easily into my furnished apartment, and work has been great so far. All the people in the office (about 25) are super social and are great to hang out with.

I finally got to see some of the city this past weekend. After work on Friday, all my coworkers were going out for steak and I decided to eat at home (I’m a vegetarian, and steak dinners don’t really work for me). Since I don’t have a phone yet, I was detached from them for the first time. I decided it was time to go see what kind of gay night life Amsterdam had to offer.

I went to a couple of bars, Soho and April that were pretty crowded until about 2, then everyone sort of faded off. I tried going to a dance bar called Exit, but Friday night was a dead night for them. There weren’t many people in the club, which sucked to find out after I payed my cover. I met some cute guys from Boston, but they were jet-lagged and left fairly early.

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Before moving to Amsterdam one of my main worries was diet. I had been a vegetarian for almost ten years, and previous travels to others countries had proven difficult to find an adequate variety of meals. In Hungary for instance besides street falafel and cheese pizza there was not a lot of dishes that didn’t contain some form of meat or meat by product. I wasn’t sure what the situation would be like in Holland. Especially coming from Vancouver, one of the most vegetarian friendly cities in the world. I knew they were famous for their cheeses, but that was about it.

When I arrived here I found that it was quite easy to stick to a restricted diet, and there were even a couple of other vegetarians in my office. Meals for me here regularly consisted of pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, falafel (again, and coincidentally my favorite quick fix food here), and sandwiches galore. I didn’t feel cumbersome to my dining partners until one work trip to France.

We were there for one night for some meetings with a client, and at night we went looking for somewhere to eat. Previous coworkers had boasted about the French food many times before, so the people I was with were very excited to go out for dinner. We walked around the town looking for a place that could accommodate me, and were pretty much out of luck. Everywhere we went said that the only veggie dish they had was the house salad. We ended up eating at an Italian restaurant, and believe me the unfortunate irony was not lost on me.

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Having working in media buying for an international gay brand, I have come across some awesome gay magazines that are just not readily available in North America and thought I would share! Definitely check them out and all do international subscriptions too!

Winq

My first pick is Winq Magazine, based out of Amsterdam! I love working with these guys and think this magazine is really well done! It’s a lifestyle magazine geared specifically to Dutch and Belgian gay men, which I find makes the fashion and styling a lot more edgy than what you see in North American mags. Best part, they have just launched a North American edition in English! Yahoo! www.winqmagazine.com Read the rest of this entry »

As Topher mentioned earlier this month in his post, nn the month of November, men from all across the globe are participating in “Movember” (November + Mustache = Movember), or “No Shave November” to promote awareness for men’s health. Participants start clean by shaving on the first of November, and go the whole month without shaving their mustache….The idea is that men (or a hairy woman, I guess there’s no real limitation) can register on the official Movember website and collect donations.

Nic has registered with Movember to accept donations that go to Prostate Cancer Canada for Prostate Cancer research.

Click here to support Nic raise awareness for the cause, and make whatever denomination of donation you can.

Prostate Cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men - it will afflict 1 in 6 men and is a greater threat for those with a family history of the disease.

Topher and Dan are growing their staches to create awareness, and I believe Topher is doing his own fundraising in Amsterdam, where the proceeds go to Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Cancer Research Fund.

Click here to learn more facts about prostate cancer…

After the 7th Pit Stop in the race around the world, 5 Teams remain after The Poker Girls get a bad hand, fold, and get eliminated from the race. The remaining teams include:

The Gay Bros: Dan & Sam
The Globetrotters: Herbert & Nathaniel
The Lovebirds: Meghan & Cheyne
The Dad & Son: Gary & Matt
The Jungle Fevers: Brian and Ericka

The Gay Bros are the 1st to depart to Stockholm, Swedan by plane, then train and finally by ferry to an amusement park, where they will find their next clue. The Lovebirds 2nd to depart, The Globetrotters are 3rd, The Dad & Son 4th, and The Jungle Fevers will be leaving last.

The flights to Stockholm are at 6:55am and 9:25am the next morning. But the airport seems to be deserted and its late in the evening and none of the ticketing counters are open. This is the part of this game that I would hate if I was playing. I can’t deal with the uncertainty of flights etc. Like how could you sleep? The next morning, the first three teams get the first flight, but the last two teams to arrive (The Jungle Fevers and The Dad & Son) have to take the later flight at 9:25am.

Next up is the train, and The Gay Bros and The Love Birds make it onto the first train, with The Globetrotters catching a second train a bit later.

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In this episode, the teams say bye bye to Dubai, and head off to Amsterdam, The Netherlands (where Topher is) on a midnight flight, leveling the playing field for all teams, as they will all arrive at the same time. While they were waiting for their flight, all the teams sit down together and chill, taking advantage of the little break they are getting. The GayBros decide it’s time to come out of the closet to the other teams. “We’re the token gay team,” they announced. It was a great ice breaker, and all the teams had a good laugh, saying that explains why they had matching shorts on the beach…which was actually their mom’s idea.

As they arrive, they dash to get into their Mercedes, but Brian from The Jungle Fevers freaking out about not being able to start the car. All the teams get a decent lead on them, before some random guy goes and helps him start the car. The teams are en route to the tallest building in the city, Martinitoren. There they find the Roadblock. They have to pick one member of their team with strong legs and keen eyes, to go up the narrow staircase and count all the bells, and get the correct number, which is 62.

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As most of you know, I’m an American and recently received my Permanent Resident status in Canada after 2 years of waiting. You’d think after all that time and the hoops you have to jump through it’d be over by now, but naturally it’s not.

After you “land” as a permanent resident, you then have to wait for your Permanent Resident card to arrive in the mail, which apparently can take anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks. This isn’t a huge deal if you don’t do a lot of traveling, but if you do- it’s a complication for sure. Apparently, you’re not allowed to cross the border without your PR card on any kind of commercial carrier- and if you don’t have your card yet, you have to go and apply for what they call a “Travel Document”, and you have to apply for it while outside of the country at a Canadian Embassy!

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Wow. That’s the best way I could think of to describe the concert I went to on Friday. Well, that or Fucking wow!

After work, three co-workers and I went down to the Heineken Music Hall to watch Groove Armada. I knew a couple of Groove Armada songs from when I was younger, the only one I could remember by name was “Super Stylin’”. So, I’m not really into them that much, but when I was asked to go it seemed like a fun idea, so I got a ticket.

I am SO glad I did. The show had a bunch of other performers, most notably Toronto DJ Deadmau5, upcoming DJ Kascade, and legendary British DJ Pete Tong.

When we got there, the schedule for the performers was posted everywhere. The show started at 9p.m., and went on until 6a.m. SIX A.M.! Oh my god. I know it was a DJ set, but they were still serving alcohol and everything, it was something you wouldn’t find in Vancouver. At least, not that I’ve seen.

We entered the hall and immediately I was impressed with the sound quality. No matter where we were in the giant warehouse like venue, you could hear the sound crystal clear. I’m no audiophile, but compared to the PNE, this was heaven.

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Now that I’ve settled in to living in Amsterdam, and I no longer feel like a tourist I felt that I needed some activities besides drinking and working to fulfill my life.

Back in Vancouver, in the summer months I played, along with many other cast members, in a gay friendly soccer league called Out For Kicks. I’ve played soccer pretty much all my life. At the age of four, my parents enlisted me in mini-soccer.

I remember crying a lot because I never got to touch the ball (a mix of only child syndrome, paired with my geek-fueled lack of aptitude for any physical activity). In the last game of my first year, I finally started finding it fun. All the players on the field except me were in a giant mass trying to kick at the ball. Someone kicked it out of the flurry of tiny kicking feet right near me. I took the ball and raced down the field. I got to the opponents goal, and kicked as hard as my little leg could kick. I ended up scoring, ran over to the side lines to tell my parents that I now loved soccer, and have signed up again every year since then.

Vancouver was the first city I lived in that had a gay friendly team. When I found out about it, I immediately wanted to join. It’s been one of the greatest things I’ve ever been involved with. Our team has travelled to Montreal, Seattle, and Portland, meeting many awesome people along the way.

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