Believe it or not, out in Dam Square, right in the heart of Amsterdam, are a number of American style hot dog stands!  I have always loved hot dogs from the time I was in first grade in elementary school and they had Hot Dog Day with such yummy hot dogs that all the moms came to have lunch, too--a hot dog, potato chips, milk, and a chocolate cupcake nestled in a little brown cardboard box--so I was so happy to see them.  It was nice to look out the window after dark and see them cheerily glowing out there, a nice reminder of home!  I made friends with the proprietors of the stands, they were all super nice and friendly and love cats, too--one even offered to take care of Tiki if we ever needed him to, even for the whole winter!  So of course Cindy has to have her own hot dog stand and join in the fun with her friends!

Cindy, you are leaving the American Sector!  I spend most of my time on these very long trips feeling a little torn between desperately missing my life back home and all the fun things I'd be doing there if I weren't on the other side of the world, and desperately trying to cram in every possible experience and adventure and art museum where I'm visiting before I have to leave and go home!  I count off the days left not sure if I want them to fly by so I can rush back home, or if I want them to creep by so I can fit in more sights and experiences!

Cindy models the latest coat fashions in Amsterdam!  I've always lived in California where a coat is more often than not something to do with paint, and a winter scarf is something you only bring out once a year on Christmas eve as a holiday fashion accessory, if you even remember you have one and can find it.  If you're from California, European winter is a total shock to the system.  It is so unbelievably cold in January and February in Europe, the first time I got off the plane and felt the temperature, I thought it must be some kind of rude, awful joke or sensory hallucination and wanted to get right back on the plane and go home!  Even worse, we were expected to go outside and walk in that cold if we wanted to see anything!  Our first few outings were extremely short and mainly involved buying warm mittens and scarves and hot drinks and a lot of shivering and disbelief.  But after a bit we got used to it and didn't even really notice our lips turning blue.

Cindy hangs out in Uri's dressing room!  This is just what a TV star's dressing room is like, at least in Europe:  lots of yummy things to eat and drink, magazines, a TV to watch, and a couch to laze on, and every two seconds someone knocks on the door to come in.  Next door there is usually a "green room" which is even better--lots of catered party-like dishes and even better drinks, it's just like a party!  And then you have the hair and makeup room where if you peek in the door, the people you just passed five minutes ago who were looking very plain and ordinary are being made up like crazy and their hair sprayed with ten kinds of spray so that the next time you see them, you barely recognize them, they are all sparkly and wearing fabulous dresses and wobbling on high heels!  My specialty when I go to a broadcast of any TV show is to fill my pockets with as much candy as they can hold, I love candy!  So I would never really wear a sparkly silver dress like in this picture--no pockets!

Cindy has a screen test!  Yes, that's right, when you have star quality it doesn't matter where you go, someone will want you to star in their commercial, especially if you're hanging around the show biz world and TV studios and all those talent scout types.  So it was inevitable when one day I got scouted right out of the hotel cafe's window to make a commercial for Vita-meata-van-der-vegamijn.  I think I hid pretty well what I thought of the taste of their product, so it was kind of weird they didn't call me back.  I was probably too glamorous I'm thinking.  Maybe I shouldn't have demanded to shoot my screen test on a red carpet and have three personal assistants for Tiki?