Amsterdam - Phone

Yesterday we went out again to find a phone.  Went to Vodofone (the most widely known phone store in Europe).  They told us our best option was to buy unlocked phones (which means you don't have to sign up for a plan) and then when we move from country to country we could just buy a new SIM card (cheap).  This would be a phone we could just buy minutes and data gigabytes for and no contract required for a plan.  The Vodofone store did not have unlocked phones but there are two places where they are available;  Saturn and Media Market.  There was a Saturn Store (kind of like Best Buy) just up the street near Central Station where we could get one pretty cheap.  We finally find the store only to find our they are rearranging their phone department and have NO phones of any kind for sale until that is complete.  Now ain't that just dandy!!  Ok, we ask they guy there if he knows where the Media Market is and he says, yes about an hour plus Metro ride away.  He politely gave us directions on which Metro to take and how to find it once we arrived.  We thanked him and went out to the nearest Starbucks (one on every corner here like everywhere else) for their free wi-fi and googled Media Market.  What we got was a Media Market one stop from Central Station on the bus (first stop being a couple of miles out towards the suburbs, maybe 10 minutes away).  We found the right bus and the driver told us when to get off.  We found the Media Market after asking in a little department store and getting directions out the back door of the store into a little outdoor mall.

We bought Samsung phones and were directed right across from that store to buy our SIM cards and we were good to go.  Of course other than basic set up procedures, there are no instructions on how to use this smart phone: but, hey were two smart women, right?  Our brand "spanky" new phones in hand we can now call each other and maybe Erwin (the only other person we have been introduced to by e-mail in the Netherlands).  Whoopee!   We are patting ourselves on the back.  We find our bus stop and hop on and are back to Central Station in no time.  

Upon returning to our happy home, we charge up our phones and put our new phone numbers in each other's phones.  So Terry tries to call me and it rings.  I tap the green phone to answer and it wont pick up.  UhOh!  I try to call her and the same thing happens.  It rings but you can't answer.  Huh.  I google operating instructions for Samsung phones and it comes right up (in Dutch).  My Dutch is limited to hello, so not much help.  We put the phones away for another day.

This morning we got up and went to find a Gym called "Health Club Jordaan" not to far down the canal.  Found it on the first try.  The receptionist, whose name is Jolene, gave us a tour and the low down on programs we could join.  They have 1-3 month memberships (designed for tourists and ex-pats) and it was a really nice facility.  We signed up.  Interestingly, the 3 month membership is cheaper if you go at non-peak hours 7:30 am to 3:00 pm.  (perfect for us).  Apparently the Dutch prefer to exercise later in the in day.  Peak period starts at 3:00 - 9:00 pm.  Works well for us.

As we were filling out the forms to join the Gym, our phone numbers came up.  We told her we had spanky new Samsung's, but couldn't figure out how to answer calls.  Terry ask her if she happened to own a Samsung phone, and wonder of wonder she did.  We told her about our problem with calling.  She tried really really hard not to smirk at us or laugh.  Anyway, it seems that with the Samsung, when the phone rings you SWIPE the green phone left to answer and the red phone right to hang up. Us Apple product users TAP the green phone not SWIPE the green phone.  I ask you, "How were we to know?".  She was not very busy at the moment so she showed us a few other handy things on our "spanky" new phones.  Now if we can just remember them long enough to get home to practice.