Rotterdam after Dark

Since I have been in Rotterdam, I have not been out and about after dark.  Since, so far, the sun sets about 9:30, that hasn't really been a life-style choice so much as a function of the fact that the only places open after 6pm are the disco-techs and I am not really much of a disco-tech kind of gal.  However, since I went to the Dutch Cafe on Tuesday, I finally got a chance to experience "Rotterdam After Dark" (well, I suppose, more correctly, I got a chance to experience "Rotterdam After 6:15").

The Dutch Cafe meeting place is located, very conveniently, about 250 yards from the Oostplein Metro exit, one line over from D-lijn, which is the line that runs by my place, so I wasn't really that concerned, about getting lost or about running into trouble.  Moreover, since I live in the "bad" part of town, I figured that going into downtown Rotterdam would be pretty safe.  Weeeeeeeell . . .

By the time I got to the metro station I could tell that things are different at 7pm than they are at 7am--primarily because people are wearing even weirder, even more bizarrely '80s outfits--sequined member's only jackets and Michael Jackson hair circa "Thriller", I kid you not.  I got off the metro at "Oostplein" (East Square) and headed out to find the cafe.  Then an older fellow started talking to me in Dutch.  Eager to try out my fledgling Dutch I said "pardon?" and looked quizzical.  That was when he started telling me, in English (so I wasn't mis-translating), how beautiful I was and what a nice accent I had and how we should get together and (as I was skipping nimbly away) how he would find me real soon (and, as nice as it is to hear that one is beautiful, sometimes there's just something wrong about it).

Since I never have to get off at Oostplein, I wasn't that worried about running into my little friend again and I decided that I would chalk it up to European weirdness and let it go at that.  Toward the end of the evening, when we had started to slip back into English (I just haven't yet heard "creepy old man" come up in Dora the Explorer), I was telling the two girls from my class about my experience.  So one of them, who always uses Oostplein, said that that very morning, as she was heading down into the metro, she saw a bunch of the Politie (police) taking down a guy "Cops" style, hitting him on the head with their batons and handcuffing him as he screamed obscenities.  So we were all getting a little concerned about the Oostplein situation and were chatting about it and we ended up walking to the metro station together.  Well, when we got down there, there was a youngish guy, staggering drunkenly and sobbing hysterically coming from the other directions.  So we were wildly avoiding eye contact (think Riley and the kittens) and hurrying toward the ticket counter (where there are RET employees) and there were a few security guards there questioning another couple of guys and looking really serious about stuff.  So now I plan to avoid Oostplein as much as possible.  One of the girls was asking if I could pick her up some pepper spray, if I was planning on coming back to the States sometime soon.  I will have to say that that had crossed my mind a couple of times as well but I think I would be surprised if it was legal to carry pepper-spray in the Netherlands.

Anyways, I made it safely to the Rijnhaven metro stop (and safely home as well, just for the record).  Rijnhaven itself was actually very beautiful, with the very tail-end of the sunset just outlining those tall buildings which were all covered with bright lights and transmission towers and things.  I wanted to stop and take pictures but I decided that the better part of valor would be not standing around on a dark, abandoned metro platform with my back to everyone and with my attention elsewhere.  The walk from the metro to my neighborhood gave me a little pause, as well, as it was not well lit.  However, the closer I got to my place, the safer I felt.

Although I found out, after I got here, that South Rotterdam is not really the best part of town, I haven't really seen anything to make me feel nervous (only being out in broad daylight might be part of that).  Most of my building is currently empty (I think that I have only meet 4 people in the elevators in the whole almost three weeks that I have been here) so that may change once it fills up with students but so far so good.  What made the neighborhood so pleasant Tuesday night, though, was that everyone around here is Muslim.  There are several restaurants in the area that I hadn't seen open the whole time I have been here and it took a little while for it to click that this was because everyone is celebrating Ramadan (which must be absolutely terrible at this high of a latitude, if you think about it).  Anyways, since I was coming back after sunset, all of those restaurants were open and there were families out walking around together and there were little children playing in the street and it was like a big block party.  It was actually quite pleasant and festive (and they were quiet by about 10:30 or so, which meant I was able to go to sleep in a reasonable time, too) so I was pretty pleased with the whole deal.