Day 17 & 18: Ajax Soccer & A Quick Lesson in Viral Street Marketing

Slow day for much of Saturday. Friday was a bit of a long night, so it was nice to sleep in. The biggest event of the day was the Ajax soccer game versus AZ, the former club of USMNT star Jozy Altidore. Many folks in our group tried desperately to get tickets, but the game appeared to be sold out, and the only tickets available were beyond our price range. Two members of our group managed to get tickets and attend the game in person. The rest of us found a pub on Rembrandtplein to watch the game at. I journeyed to the flea market at Waterlooplein earlier in the afternoon looking for a cheap Ajax jersey to wear, but there were none to be found.

What a game it was, though! I'm excited for Colin and Louis because they were present for about as thrilling a finish as you can hope to see in soccer. The game wasn't decided on penalty kicks, but it came down to a dramatic overtime finish with Ajax scoring the go-ahead goal after fighting their way back from a two goal deficit in regular time. It was an awesome game to see on TV, and I can only imagine how the atmosphere must've been just a couple miles southeast at Amsterdam ArenA (they capitalize both A's in "Arena").

We celebrated the comeback victory with a night of drinks and dancing, taking full advantage of our last Saturday night in the city.

Sunday was almost equally quiet as Saturday. I did homework in Oosterpark just around the corner from where we live. Lots of folks out with picnic bags and frisbees taking in the gorgeous, balmy weather we've had here in the wake of Saturday's rainstorms. Later in the day, I caught up with Dr. Wilson, Erin and Melissa from our group, and we went to get dinner from Sinbad's, a Turkish place near our residence. The weather was so nice that we took our meals to go and ate them in the same park. In the evening I noticed many more people grilling on small charcoal grills, which I thought would be an excellent idea if we actually lived here and had a grill to use. Later, I walked down a few blocks to the ATM, and I noticed an awkward pattern in the sidewalk. It looked discolored or stained. It took me a second to notice that what I was looking at was actually an incredibly clever piece of movie marketing.

There are poster advertisements in bus stops and on buildings all over town for several different movies; some of which even have monitors showing the trailers. But I hadn't seen The Wolverine advertised like this before. Very cool. Wish I'd thought of it myself.

Almost the entire group capped off the weekend with drinks at Kriterion around the corner, one of our favorite spots of the entire trip.