squatting

i am finally getting around to posting some pics of what the place looks like. most of these were taken on arrival day, after about 10 minutes of being here. i wanted to capture what the place looks like at its tidiest. but i must say, it is staying much neater than our regular house does.

on our second day here i mentioned something about going home while on a walk. naomi was surprised to hear that we were going home (as in wisconsin). david turned to her and said 'naomi, while we are in amsterdam, when mom says 'home' she means the houseboat'. i thought that was pretty smart of him.

this is a shot from the terrace step looking tward the kitchen, my desk area, and then the kids room (where the partially opened stained glass doors are in the distance). the bathroom is behind the piano and beyond that, the front door. the owners told me that this place used to be a 2 unit - you can see the two front doors in later pictures. i am not sure when it was converted to a single family dwelling.

during the apartment search in december i failed to mention an odd thing i came across from a few people. they were all concerned about when we were leaving and wanted to make certain that we were not staying past our april 30th scheduled departure. i found it odd that two or three people asked me if we were going to change our minds and stay longer. turns out there is a squatter problem here in amsterdam. this is taken from wiki:

In the Netherlands, if a building is empty, not in use for twelve months and the owner
has no pressing need to use it (such as a rental contract starting in the next month),
then it can be legally squatted. The only illegal aspect would be forcing an entry, if that
was necessary. When a building is squatted it is normal to send the owner a letter
and to invite the police to inspect the squat. The police check whether the place is
indeed lived in by the squatter — in legal terms this means there must be a bed, a
chair, a table and a working lock in the door which the squatter can open and close.

I was surprised that so many dilapidated boats line the canals. i was certain that the one next to us was unoccupied until the tenenant stuck his head out his door to tell me my bicycle was blocking his access. upon telling him we were his new neighbors he made strange contorted faces at the kids in an attempt to make them laugh or perhaps to scare them, i don't know. i wonder, is he the rightful occupant of the place or just somebody squatting?