Citizen James

Yesterday was a busy and tiring but productive day. The Holland Maiers awoke at 5:30 AM for a feeding and then got dressed, biked to the station and caught the train to Amsterdam. We went to register James' birth with the American authorities and apply for his passport. The trip was a learning experience in a lot of ways. First, we realized what a pain it is to carry around the baby carrier while walking in a rainy city. We did not opt for the stroller-carseat-carrier combination because in general we are not getting on and off of public transportation with the baby. For walking in the neighborhood we use the pram and for most of our business around town we use the hug a bub sling. We brought the sling and the car seat on the train and soon discovered the sling would have been sufficient.
We arrived in Amsterdam and made our way to the Photo shop that makes passport photos according to US standards. A regular passport photo will not do. The photo place is open from 9:30, and the consulate is open from 8:30-11:30. We propped James up on the stool for his photo then walked to the consulate. We did not manage to walk directly to the consulate, but instead we walked near it, around it, past it and THEN to it. Once inside things went very smoothly. Since Mike and I are both American citizens, James citizenship is automatically American. If one of us were Dutch his options would be a little different, exactly how I am not certain. I have learned that America is unique in that we grant citizenship to any person born on our soil, reagardless of their parentage. Most countries do not do this-- as we learned in an early Dutch language lesson "the Netherlands is full" but this is true even of countries with a less dense population. I think America's laws are this way because of our history and the amount of space we have.
The trip to the consulate was uneventful and pretty easy, all things considered. We have walked through all the checkpoints, filled out all the forms, taken the oath and signed on the dotted line. James is now officially American, and a baby passport should be on the way in two weeks.
After that we set out into the rainy Amsterdam streets to look for something to eat. We were really interested in finding a sushi place-- but failed miserably. Instead we ended up in an Argentenian steakhouse and had a DELICIOUS meal. We were the only patrons, as it was still a little before noon. We had a relaxing meal before heading back to the train station. The train's rocking motion put James right to sleep, which made for a pretty relaxing day for him. Actually, the rocking motion put us all to sleep on the ride back to Enschede. A woman across the aisle commented that the whole family was asleep!
The most interesting part of the day had to do with our layover in Amersfoort. In train stations it is customary to pay to use the WC. Sometimes there is a bathroom attendant and sometimes not. In many train stations the bathrooms look like large steel vaults, they have a coin slot on the outside and only after you put in your 50cents does the door unlock. I call them robot bathrooms because they mechanically clean themselves between users. At the Amersfoort station I approached a bathroom of this type and looked and looked for the coin slot but couldn't find it. I tried the door and it was locked, but the light outside signalled that it was free (as in not occupied). I simply COULD NOT figure it out. Finally I noticed a sign on the door that said the only way to pay for this toilet was to call a number with your mobile telephone. I am not kidding. Some of you may know that we do not have a mobile phone. We don't consider ourselves good candidates for a mobile phone. We tried one once when we first moved here, but broke it AND lost it simultaneously. Needless to say, I was not able to use this bathroom.