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.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Dutch Cafe
Tuesday evening was the "Dutch Cafe." It is a program put together by the Language Institute here at Erasmus. Since they recognize that most people in the Netherlands speak English and that there is, therefore, limited opportunity and incentive to actually put Dutch into practice, they have started this program this year. It is modeled on a similar program of several years which they have had for international teachers and employees of the University. Everyone from the five classes was invited to get together at a cafe for an hour-and-a-half to speak only Dutch.
We went to the Hoofdstuk II, which is, literally, "Chapter 2". (I didn't ask, but it didn't seem like the kind of cafe that serves marijuana--most of those places are, as far as I can tell, in South Rotterdam in the way seedier parts of town. At least that is where I periodically see little bitty zip-lock bags with pictures of marijuana leaves on them (I keep wanting to take a picture of the baggies for you guys but I am never in a part of town where it seems like a good idea to start randomly taking pictures of things)). The cafe was really nice (it was a Tuesday evening so I assume that things may be different on the weekend) and it was quiet enough that you could hear other people talking fairly easily. There were lots of big wooden tables and comfy chairs and all of the walls, under the edges of the windows, were lined with all kinds of old, picturesque books that you could read while you sipped your cappuccino. They also had some pretty, pleasant-looking tables outside.
Tuesday night was the first night of the Dutch Cafe so I decided to give it a shot and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The coordinator for the Language Institute was there and so was one of the teachers from the course (I think they plan on rotating the baby-sitting) and this week it was the lady who teaches our class. Four students from my class attended, two students from one of the other classes, and six or seven students from the German -speaking class came, so from the "normal" classes, our class had the greatest representation by far. The German students, because of the similarity of Dutch to Deutsch (see what I did there?), have a big advantage over us English speakers. Not only have they gone through the whole book but they seem to speak much more quickly and fluently. They are also pretty sure of themselves--the kept getting told to stop speaking German and to speak only Dutch and one of the guys said "Hey, we're so far ahead that we don't even need to practice anymore." That was when the girl sitting next to me, who is in my class, asked if my family had emigrated because they hated Germany, like everyone else she knew.
Communicating only in Dutch was more difficult and also easier than I had expected. On the one hand, everyone else is taking just as long as you are to come up with recognizable sentences (except the Germans, of course) and so there is less pressure to hurry up and say something. Also, since we were meeting the other folks for the first time, we were able to use the bulk of our Dutch vocabulary since it has been pretty much devoted to first-contact type situations. I think that later cafes might be more difficult as you try to discuss things beyond your home country and when you arrived in Rotterdam. Also, the teacher and the LI coordinator did a very good of facilitating conversation: I know I didn't really want to start out with asking perfect strangers personal questions about themselves. Also, you accidentally pick up a lot more vocabulary than you know, what with listening to the radio and hearing people on the subway and, when you really have to, even if your sentences end up being simultaneously juvinile and convoluted, you can usually end up with something resembling a comment or question.
On the other hand, no matter how much vocabulary you can pick up from watching Dora the Explorer and Sponge Bob Square Pants dubbed over in Dutch (Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon, Jr. provide programming to Dutch TV and Dutch TV streams it over the internet), there are certain times when that fails you and, if you aren't careful, you kind of end up frozen, thinking "Why can't I remember to verb "to tell", why, oh, why . . ." (It's "vertellen", by the way, not really the most difficult verb to remember) And the half sentence seems to stretch on forever . . .
But the teacher and the coordinator were really good about giving vocabulary help, as well as giving pronunciation and idiom tips and, all in all, I think it was a really useful experience, as well as being a lot more fun than I had really anticipated. We actually ended up hanging around talking (mostly in Dutch) for over two hours.
We went to the Hoofdstuk II, which is, literally, "Chapter 2". (I didn't ask, but it didn't seem like the kind of cafe that serves marijuana--most of those places are, as far as I can tell, in South Rotterdam in the way seedier parts of town. At least that is where I periodically see little bitty zip-lock bags with pictures of marijuana leaves on them (I keep wanting to take a picture of the baggies for you guys but I am never in a part of town where it seems like a good idea to start randomly taking pictures of things)). The cafe was really nice (it was a Tuesday evening so I assume that things may be different on the weekend) and it was quiet enough that you could hear other people talking fairly easily. There were lots of big wooden tables and comfy chairs and all of the walls, under the edges of the windows, were lined with all kinds of old, picturesque books that you could read while you sipped your cappuccino. They also had some pretty, pleasant-looking tables outside.
Tuesday night was the first night of the Dutch Cafe so I decided to give it a shot and it turned out to be a lot of fun. The coordinator for the Language Institute was there and so was one of the teachers from the course (I think they plan on rotating the baby-sitting) and this week it was the lady who teaches our class. Four students from my class attended, two students from one of the other classes, and six or seven students from the German -speaking class came, so from the "normal" classes, our class had the greatest representation by far. The German students, because of the similarity of Dutch to Deutsch (see what I did there?), have a big advantage over us English speakers. Not only have they gone through the whole book but they seem to speak much more quickly and fluently. They are also pretty sure of themselves--the kept getting told to stop speaking German and to speak only Dutch and one of the guys said "Hey, we're so far ahead that we don't even need to practice anymore." That was when the girl sitting next to me, who is in my class, asked if my family had emigrated because they hated Germany, like everyone else she knew.
Communicating only in Dutch was more difficult and also easier than I had expected. On the one hand, everyone else is taking just as long as you are to come up with recognizable sentences (except the Germans, of course) and so there is less pressure to hurry up and say something. Also, since we were meeting the other folks for the first time, we were able to use the bulk of our Dutch vocabulary since it has been pretty much devoted to first-contact type situations. I think that later cafes might be more difficult as you try to discuss things beyond your home country and when you arrived in Rotterdam. Also, the teacher and the LI coordinator did a very good of facilitating conversation: I know I didn't really want to start out with asking perfect strangers personal questions about themselves. Also, you accidentally pick up a lot more vocabulary than you know, what with listening to the radio and hearing people on the subway and, when you really have to, even if your sentences end up being simultaneously juvinile and convoluted, you can usually end up with something resembling a comment or question.
On the other hand, no matter how much vocabulary you can pick up from watching Dora the Explorer and Sponge Bob Square Pants dubbed over in Dutch (Nickelodeon and Nickelodeon, Jr. provide programming to Dutch TV and Dutch TV streams it over the internet), there are certain times when that fails you and, if you aren't careful, you kind of end up frozen, thinking "Why can't I remember to verb "to tell", why, oh, why . . ." (It's "vertellen", by the way, not really the most difficult verb to remember) And the half sentence seems to stretch on forever . . .
But the teacher and the coordinator were really good about giving vocabulary help, as well as giving pronunciation and idiom tips and, all in all, I think it was a really useful experience, as well as being a lot more fun than I had really anticipated. We actually ended up hanging around talking (mostly in Dutch) for over two hours.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Hee kleine meid, op je kinderfiets . . .
Herman van Veen is, apparently, a super-famous Dutch singer, at least with the older generation. He has kind of crooner style. For class on Monday, we had to listen to one one of his songs and try to write out the lyrics from listening to it. It is kind of pretty song and it was recorded in 1973. I have attached a link to the video that we saw in class, which is all shades of "Sunrise, Sunset" (you know, the kids are getting older and growing up and leaving). Our teacher said that she chose this song in honor of one of the guys' (really adorable) little two year old daughter. I have provided the original lyrics as well as a loose translation into English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO7_tp0rD7c
Kind of pretty, right?
Now, when I was looking for this video, I found an old recording which, from outfits and things, seems to have been made not that much later than 1973. It is a recording of Herman van Veen performing a slightly different version of the song at a concert. It is worth watching if only for the bizarre dancing around that he does at the end of the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evWRXu4xdfU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO7_tp0rD7c
“Hee, kleine meid . . .” By Herman van Veen | “Hey, Little Girl . . .” (Poetical) English translation |
Hee kleine meid op je kinderfiets, De zon draait steeds met je mee Hee kleine meid op je kinderfiets, De zomer glijdt langs je heen Met je haar in de wind en de zon op je wangen, Rijd je me zomaar voorbij, fiets Hee kleine meid op je kinderfiets, Je lacht en je zwaait naar een zwaan En de vijver weerspiegelt je witte jurk, En het riet fluistert je naam En het zonlicht speelt in de draaiende wielen, Schitterend strooi je het licht, fiets Hee lieve meid op je kliene fiets, Als een witte stip in het groen Slingert je blinkende kinderfiets, Zich dwars door het zomerseizoen En je rijdt maar door en je fiets wordt steeds kleiner, Plotseling ben je weer weg, fiets | Hey little girl on your little girls' bike, The sun is turning with you Hey little girl on your little girls' bike, The sun is slipping away from you With your hair in the wind and the sun on your cheeks, You’re passing me by on your bike Hey little girl on your little girls' bike, You laugh and you wave at a swan And the pond reflects your white dress, And the reeds whisper your name And the sunlight plays in your spinning wheels, Sparkling with brilliant light, your bike Hey little girl on your little bike, Like a little white dot in the green Shining and playing on your little girls' bike Passing through the summer And you ride on your bike getting steadily smaller, Soon you’ll be gone on your bike |
Kind of pretty, right?
Now, when I was looking for this video, I found an old recording which, from outfits and things, seems to have been made not that much later than 1973. It is a recording of Herman van Veen performing a slightly different version of the song at a concert. It is worth watching if only for the bizarre dancing around that he does at the end of the song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evWRXu4xdfU&feature=related
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)