Day 17 - January 25, 2011

So after Courtney, Amy and I got home from our screening of 'Mad Cow' at three in the morning, I had the privilege of sleeping in the middle of what the three of us lovingly referred to as "3P."  We had taken a bed from another room so Courtney could stay with us instead of being shipped off to a hostel by herself.  We called it '3P' because the van that holds nine persons to take us to set everyday is called the '9P' so our three person bed is called the '3P.'  While climbing into the middle of the '3P' i realized that the foot of my bed was soaking wet.  The blankets on top weren't wet but the sheets and the mattress were soaking.  I think there is foul-play going on with one of the girls on set.  She and I just don't get along, mainly because she is useless and every time I see her on set she is napping, so that could have something to do with it.  But this wetness could be in retaliation for something.  Just speculation, but who knows.

Today was our glorious full day off.  I planned on sleeping in and maybe going on a canal cruise with Amy like I mentioned earlier, but I was woken up at 9:30 with incessant phone calls from our Production Assistant, Bo.  I figured since she was calling me so much that it must be important.  So after ignoring her third call, I decided to ring her back.  A lot of the crew actually didn't have a day off.  Many of the people who work for The Content Factory were required to be on set for a different film that they had started before 'Amsterdam Heavy.'  It was a film called STUK, which in Dutch means 'piece' and can be used to refer to a beautiful woman or some such description.  I think the film was based on a play that was running in London when I was there last January because the plot sounds very similar.  So a whole bunch of people were working on another film and they needed the production kit, that I was responsible for in regards to 'Amsterdam Heavy,' for the movie that they were finishing up today.  So I made my way down to the lobby in the pajamas to make sure I was there when they swung by the hotel.  Since I was already up, I decided to stay down in the lobby for breakfast.  I have actually grown quite fond of the bread, butter and jelly and coffee that has been my routine for breakfast.  It actually reminds me of my Grandma's house, because when we would stay over, in the morning we would have bread, butter, jelly and frosted flakes.  So it is rather comforting to have this kind of food for breakfast.

When Bo arrived to pick up the call sheet I traversed back up to my room to spend some time creating the call sheet for tomorrow.  Half-heartedly because I really don't enjoy doing the call sheet because there is such a large margin for one thing, or everything, to go terribly wrong.  When Amy got up we headed down to the Waterlooplein market, I kind of adored it because it was very second-hand and if you are in the mood to dig you can find some really great stuff.  But I don't think Amy enjoyed it all that much because she was eager to just walk through quickly and press on to a different venture.  We continued to walk through this massive flower market.  It is incredible that even in winter, the tulips that are everywhere are so bright, and vibrant!  Picture Below:

I've decided that if I ever lived in Holland that I would constantly have tulips around my house.  One, because they are very pretty and two, you get fifty tulips for 5 Euros.  That is a deal.  Next to the flower market was a Pankooken House (Dutch for pancake) so Amy and I decided to have lunch there.  The pankooken here are thin, buttery and absolutely delicious.  I ordered an Apple Pankook and it was easily one of the best things I've had in Amsterdam so far.  But, as filming would have it, Amy was called away for a meeting so I was left to my own vices.  I bought some souvenirs, some funny and some practical, and then I took pictures because it was finally a sunny day in Amsterdam, so I wanted to make sure that I got some blue sky pictures of my stay in Holland.

So now that the canal cruise was out of the question because I didn't really feel like going by myself, I decided to head to the STUK set to watch everyone work on set.  I got what I will call an 'encouraging' email from Rik suggesting that I attend to shoot for moral support.  Honestly it sounded more like a guilt trip but I figured since I had nothing else to do that I would go and keep people company for a little while. 

Example of me keeping Rik company while he edited film.

My visit to the STUK set was a dual purpose one.  I knew Carlijn would be there and we desperately needed to get the next days call sheet out so I sat on set waiting for her to arrive so we could wrap up tomorrow's duties.  It was actually a good thing that I went because I ended up working all day on things that should have been done before.  So my day off which started out grand turned into working until nine or ten o'clock at night.  The silver lining was that we were allowed to stay for their wrap party (drinks, dancing, company).  But I really just wasn't in the mood.  I stayed for maybe fifteen minutes into the wrap party and then decided that it was in my best interest to head home and get some sleep.  I rendezvoused with Courtney and Amy at the hotel and we watched Sex and the City in the 3P until 11 and then we were all asleep.  Right now I have the potential to sleep for twelve hours because our call tomorrow isn't until one in the afternoon.  Here's to hoping that I'll get a good nights sleep.

Kisses,

-M